Happy Eight Years to Me

Eight years ago I finally acted on something I'd thought about for a long long time and I sat down and created a book blog. And what a ride it's been since! So many things have been part of my life because I hit that publish button! It's big enough that I can't really imagine what I'd be doing right now if I had decided against hitting that button. It's a weird thing to think about.

So, I wanted to highlight some of the firsts for this blog, but then I remembered that I did that already for my five year celebration. You can click here if you are interested in that list. Very fun! Not a whole ton as happened since then. Just more awesome author events, more awesome connections with bloggers, great read along experiences, the start of my own adventure in writing, and Bloggiesta still going strong three years later!

All I know, I'm happy to still be here! It's not over yet!

Random Time!

STUFF THIS WEEK:

** This week I was featured on my library's blog! Awhile back they asked all the staff to list ten things they love that can be found at the library. So I thought back to some of my favorite library checkout experiences and came up with a pretty eclectic list. That list showed up on the blog this past week and I KNOW you all want to go see what I came up with!  Maybe you can even guess a few of them before you click over there.

** We seem to have acquired some new books these past two weeks. I want to read them all really bad. Imagine that.

** Kyle Chandler was featured in my Entertainment Weekly magazine today! That makes me so happy! I guess he's going to be in a new show. Cool.

** Well, so guess who's coming out with a new album in April? All Broadway show tune covers! I love it! I can't wait!




 ** I desperately need to do something with my hair. So I made an appointment finally. Then the next day my hair person texted back to say she'd broken her knuckle and could we reschedule for two weeks from now. This is the definition of going crazy!!!

** So it's official. We are going on a European vacation again this summer. SWEET! And scary. Travel is the best but it also seems to cause a lot of anxiety, you know? Anyway, my son is going to Nice France for study abroad and when he's done, we plan to meet up with him and then travel around seeing Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Italy. (The half we missed last time around!) So, if you've been and you have "must not miss" suggestions, I'm all ears.

My great grandpa immigrated from Wimmis Switzerland.
I can't wait to make the pilgrimage to see this village!

** I decided this week that I like Fallout Boy. Hmmm. Who knew?

Wow. That drummer.


** One night this week I didn't get to sleep until four, the next night I woke up at four and couldn't go back to sleep. Don't you love it when that happens. My brain just needs to chill out already.

** Okay, I really want to read for a bit, so. BYE!!!

Getting to Know You: Favorite TV Shows

Oh man. I don't know if I can narrow this one down!

But first, my thoughts on TV in general. I used to try to NOT watch TV. It was like an actual effort. Then one day I thought, why am I trying to avoid it? Is it a bad thing? Does it make me not get other things done? What's so wrong with TV anyway?

And then I thought I'd try a new thing and watch what I wanted to without having to justify it and/or my time or whatever. It was then I realized that TV is sort of like reading in that you get immersed in a story and fall in love with characters. So if I could enjoy reading, why could I not enjoy TV. Know what I mean?

So I think of both as a means to telling a story. Since reaching that conclusion, I've enjoyed TV watching with the same sort of passion as I enjoy reading. And it makes me happy. (And now that I'm writing more, I find TV shows helps a lot in learning about character development!)

Which is all a long way to say, I'm not ashamed that I like a lot of TV shows!

Current favorites:

Amazing Race (fun to travel the world with this show)
Survivor (I just keep finding the social dynamic of this show compelling)
The Walking Dead (the characters are fascinating)
Arrow (it's just pure and totally cool, this show!)
Downton Abbey (though it just ended again)
Sherlock (though it's hardly ever on!)

Lapsed Favorites (Shows I watched but have gotten way behind on!)

Once Upon a Time (I got bored, sadly.)
Sleepy Hollow (too much crime solving, I just want Ichabod and that's it)
Reign (couldn't keep up, though I loved it)
Vampire Diaries (I've pretty much lost interest in this though I'm curious enough I may just binge watch when the current season goes to Netflix)




Past Favorites (going pretty far back in time here!)

Friday Night Lights (drama filled and intense!)
Parenthood (same as above)
Moonlight (fell in love with Alex what's his name)
Pushing Daises (fell in love with Lee Pace. This show is my kind of funny.)
American Idol (I loved this one but haven't watched for the past couple of seasons)
Heroes (loved those first two season, and then...)
Star Trek: New Generation and Voyager versions (lovely memories)
Early Edition (fell in love with Kyle Chandler)


Favorites I Enjoyed Solely on Netflix (or DVD) After the Fact

Prison Break (probably my most favorite TV watching experiences ever!)
Robin Hood (awesome twist on a favorite tale)
Merlin (same as above)
Gilmore Girls (my kind of funny!)
The 100 (just watched the first season and am very intrigued)
Dr. Who (I know there's a current season, but I've only ever watched on Netflix!)
Hell on Wheels (great time period)
Firefly (best scifi show ever!)

Shows I WANT to Add to the Line Up

Supernatural (I feel like I'm missing so much not knowing this show or these guys!)
The Originals (if only to watch Daniel Gillies)

Do you see a trend? I tend to enjoy drama filled, angst ridden, fantasy/paranormal/scifi, medieval character driven shows. I'm not at all into sit coms or crime shows. Solving mysteries bores me (though Pushing Daisies was along these lines, it was so so different! and Sherlock? well, what can I say? It's Sherlock!) and laugh tracks irritate the crap out of me.

Given all this, what shows should I be watching that are NOT on my line up?

Want to share your favorites? Link up over at Jenni Elyse's blog today!

The Walking Dead Discussion: S5E12 Remember and S5E13 Forget (Spoilers!)

I skipped talking about last week's Walking Dead, so today you get a two-fer.

Last week, we arrived in Alexandria and wow, did it look awesome. Everyone had a shower (except I think Daryl. I would LOVE to see him clean up just a little, you know?) and Rick shaved his beard off and. . . swoon! Sheesh, he looks nice. Yes, I'm a fan of  the no-beard Rick. And then there's an awkward just out of the shower scene with some new person named Jessie. Were there sparks or were there not? But anyway, shes's married. So, there's that.





And Carl connects with some kids. And everyone, almost, gets a job. And they get food and they get interviewed by the sort of creepy city leader (dang I already forgot her name) and it's all very weird.

And everyone is on edge and they refuse to separate and they all sleep on the floor together in one house.

But Rick decides to become a cop again and he gets in the uniform and slow-mos down the stairs and it's all very... weird.

This week, things get weirder. You can totally tell that something is going to go down. Carol and Rick and Daryl are planning something, I'm not sure what, but it involves getting and hiding weapons outside the wall. Then Carol gets caught in the act of stealing them and the kid (Jessie's kid, yes?) gets threatened with death by walker. Or he can choose cookies. What a creepy Carol we saw there, yes?

These guys are plotting something!

And Daryl gets wooed by the gay guys with spaghetti and a motorcycle and they want him to be the next recruiter. And it's all very creepy there too.

Michonne hangs up her sword and becomes a cop like Rick.

And then they all go to a party and sneak around like they are going to be poisoned or something. Sasha has a freak out and I'm not sure what's going on with her.

Carl is trying to figure out that weird girl. Not sure what she's about either.

Oh, and Rick kissed Jessie! Sort of. But the look. Oh my word, the look. That was intense. Jessie is in trouble now! And she has the creepiest of creepers of a husband. So, that might get interesting.

Jessie and Rick 

Then it all ends with Rick leaning on the wall and rubbing his hands down it while a walker rubs hands down the other side.

I DON'T GET IT!!

Things are just very weird, that's all I'm saying.

What do you think is about to go down?

Top Ten Tuesday: Forbidden Love!

I couldn't decide on a topic and now the day is nearly over and I've still not written a post! I hate it when that happens.

But I'll give it a shot with this one.

Ten of my favorite books if you enjoy books with forbidden love:

1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
2. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
3. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
4. Scribbler of Dreams by Mary Pearson
5. The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima
6. The Queen of Atolia by Megan Whalen Turner
7. The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye
8. Tristan and Isolde by lots of people
9. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
10. Sunshine by Robin McKinley


And here, forbidden love means falling for the enemy, or a person in a completely different "tribe" than you, or someone you should just totally stay away from!

Yeah, so I know there's some really great ones missing from this list, but I couldn't go on forever now, could I? But I would love to know, what's your favorite forbidden love story? Which one must I totally read NOW?

See what topics others came up with over at The Broke and the Bookish!

Book Review Discussion: The One by Kiera Cass

Book: The One by Kiera Cass
Genre: YA Dystopian
Rating:★★★★☆
For: Fun
From: The library

Short Synopsis: The selection is down to four girls by the time this book starts. America is pretty convinced she loves the prince, but is still not totally sure. They start playing the game of who is going to tell whom "I love you" first. It's a little bit silly. . .until it's not and things suddenly get serious.

My Response: Again, I'm fascinated by how much I've enjoyed this series. It's mostly fluff and all about the love triangle and making one look one's best in order to make someone fall in love with you. But then again, if you go a little deeper, there's so much more to it. I guess it's a tricky thing balancing this fluffy seeming story on top of a society and a world siuation that is anything but fluff. The crazy ending came out of nowhere and I think my eyes bulged out of my head a bit! I was worried there weren't enough pages to solve everything! But somehow it did and in the end, I felt that this was a great ending book. I especially loved how, even though we pretty much knew how things would end (I mean, the title of the book, hello!) we still weren't sure until all was said and done!

Bottom Line: Great dystopian series that mixes the fun with the serious!

Let's Talk About: So here's what I'm wondering today... how important is it to you that you not know what's going to happen at the end of a book? I wondered about this throughout this whole series given the fact that it was all pretty obvious. I figured somehow readers weren't bugged by that. And I wondered the whole time how the author would keep us reading even though we knew! Yeah, I find it to be a pretty cool feat that she pulled off! What do you think?

Other Reviews:

Speaking of character deaths, I didn’t realize how invested I had really become with the story and the characters until I found myself sobbing over them. The deaths hurt as much as the deaths did in The Hunger Games, and I think that’s saying something. From Drunk on Pop

So, even though The One didn’t totally live up to my expectations (sigh), this series is still one of the most engaging stories I’ve ever read and I will always hold the first book on a pedestal. From The Obsessive Bookseller

There were so many tense scenes, that made this final book in America’s story so gripping. The One is probably one of the best conclusions I have read so far! From Heart Full of Books

I will also admit that this book really surprised me at the end! From Girl in the Pages

Currently!

Listening: I know I'm a little slow to the party, but I discovered Hozier this past week or two. I especially love Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene:

Watching: Survivor, Walking Dead, Amazing Race and Arrow. All the things I'm watching. I did finish up season one of The 100 on Netflix and.. OH. MY. WORD! Didn't season two just end on live TV? Here's hoping they all show up on Netflix soon. Though I've already been spoiled for a certain thing that I know happens that makes me just crazy in the thinking about :(

Reading: I finished up the Selection trilogy by reading The One this week. That ended with stuff I wasn't expecting! Then we decided to bag Winter's Tale for book club and read Wonder instead. So I devoured that in just a couple of days. Awesome. A much better choice for a book club book!

Writing: Ah. Yeah. So. I did manage about 1000 words toward my ending chapter, but they are awful words! Still trying to think about what else should happen to end this story!

Blogging: Some how, I'm still thinking of all sorts of things to blog about! How does this happen? I still need people to do a challenge for Bloggiesta. Will it be you? PA- LEEZE? My 8th bloggiversary is coming up in a week. I have no plans for any huge celebrations, but I may do a "remember this" sort of post. Hmmm...we'l see.

Eating: I made these cookies to take to family events today. Stuffed S'more Cookies. As you can seem, some of them had their stuffing leak!

Lasagna is in the crock pot right this very now, which we'll be eating in just a few minutes. And... I fell in love with a German gingerbread cake thing that I made for a party at work. Oh! And we went out to dinner last night to a Lebanese restaurant. YUMMY! And they had belly dancers too! LOL.

Crafting: I don't even think I stepped foot into my craft room this week. Or the week before that for that matter. Maybe even the week before that too!

Miscellaneous:

• It snowed a little this week, but then it turned gorgeous again.
• Went to a another gig last night at a place called The Loading Dock, which was really and truly on a loading dock!
• Trying to figure some stuff out that's causing me ulcers. If it ever gets figured out, I'll share then!
• Well, I can't think of anything else to report, so I'm off to go visit family! TTYL!