Monday, December 17, 2012

Quick Catch Up

Thanksgiving was delicious and fun as usual!
 Went to Scottsdale to meet up with some of my extended family after Thanksgiving, can you tell which one is my dad and which one is his brother? I asked my Uncle Pat to tell me about their trip to Ireland, I hope we can go on one of our own.
 My dad turned 70 we celebrated by going to dinner & seeing Lincoln. I made my dad take his photo in the Hitchcock display since he was the one who introduced me to Hitchcock movies.
 Debbie and I have been getting things done for our parents 50th wedding anniversary party. Here is part of the hand written invite I made, thank you Debbie for being my sounding board & editor.
 My brother Mark and sister in law Ashley are back for Christmas break!!! Debbie gave Ashley a baby shower and I helped a little.
Don't worry I fit in some silly & cuddly time as well. 


Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Days of Blood & Starlight

Normally when I read a sequel I am able to skim/skip a lot of the beginning because the author has to explain  things that the reader might have forgotten about book one. So I was shocked how Laini was able to make the information fresh and new. I did not skip one word of Days of Blood & Starlight I drank every single one in. At first I was sad I could not read it faster but then when I got close to being done I wanted to cry because I didn't want it to be over. I have really come to love these characters and I can not wait for the third book!

Friday Laini's tour brought her to Changing Hands in Tempe! Debbie and I were so excited to get to see her again. We met Laini at Project Book Babe and both started following her blog and soon started talking about her like we were really friends. So as you can guess we were super excited for her signing and Melissa and her husband James came along with Mimi & her crew as well making it an extra good time.  

When I was re-reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone I was inspired by one of my favorite parts of the book to make a t-shirt. I had even forgotten to show Laini, thankfully she noticed and her reaction was perfect!
I turn into such a fan girl at book signings guys, I'm always a little embarrassed after and yet I still don't change. I think in this picture I am telling Laini how I could not stop thinking about Akiva. 
 The guy taking pictures saw me get all comfortable and joked about how I was moving in. So part of me is embarrassed but if I was to do it all over again I would do it the same. And you know why because Laini told me how she wanted the third book to end! Have you seen the movie The Young Victoria? Oh I love it I hope you have. Well there is a scene where Albert is getting excited about his ideas for helping the working class, then apologizes. In response Victoria says "there's no need to apologize for being passionate." Which is how I feel as long as your passion isn't hurting you or those around you.


When I first read about Akiva's widow's peak it wasn't something I had really thought about. So I googled widow's peak and was surprised at how many of my boyfriends have widow's peaks. (Just to be clear not all below are my boyfriends, you know you have to be more than a pretty face.) But can you see who I traced for the model of Akiva?
(Top row Colin Farrell, Jude Law, Daniel Craig, Wentworth Miller, 2nd row Leonardo DeCaprio, Chris Hemsworth, David Beckham & Gavin Rossdale)
I love making t-shirts & bags (in case you have not noticed) my favorite way is using freezer paper I kind of explained how it works here when I made Harry Potter shirts.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Are You Ready For This?

It has been awhile since I have got sucked into a novel series and I have missed it. The sequel to Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Days of Blood & Starlight comes out November 6th! (Happy birthday Mimi!!!)

In preparation I have been listening to Daughter of Smoke & Bone and once I am done will read the first seven chapters of Days of Blood & Starlight online here. Did you know the author Laini Taylor is coming to Changing Hands November 9th? Have you read Daughter of Smoke of Bone yet? Well come on what are you waiting for read it and then come to the signing! My friend Melissa is listening to it in the car right now (if she can make time anyone can make time!) and we have been talking about it which is getting me even more super excited! 

Come on guys Batman is doing it, you should too!

Friday, October 19, 2012

New York Last Day

Our last day started with us getting up and singing happy birthday to Lindsey.
 Poor girl it was the saddest singing of happy birthday. Debbie had lost her voice and we had just woken up, oh it was not pretty, but sang with love! Oh and since Debbie had lost her voice she kept whispering and Lauren kept thinking she was telling secrets.
Then Lindsey Debbie and I headed to High Line Park where I was going to finally meet my author friend Elizabeth Eulberg! You can read more about how we became online friends here and here.
 It was so great to finally meet Elizabeth and she was even nicer and funnier than I expected which is saying a lot. Really she took time from her day to show not only me but my sister and friend around and we had such a good time.
 We sat and watched the traffic go by.

 We started at the end of the park so we ended up in the West Village and oh man it was gorgeous.

 Elizabeth pointed out some TV sights for us, the friends building.
 Carrie Bradshaw's front steps, which has a chain stopping people from going up.
 Then we found a little coffee shop Think Coffee that had good grilled cheese sandwiches and had an early lunch.
I was finally able to give Elizabeth her I heart Darcy pins that I have had since Prom & Prejudice came out back in Jan 2011.
 She signed my books! Debbie and I did carry on and yes I did have four books in mine! And did you notice the London fabric Lauren gave to me!

Then we headed back to Lauren's and it was time for Debbie and I to head home. It was a fast trip but I did see two rats (one on the street, the other in the subway) had a bum call me baby, so very successful and so much fun!

There were some funny things that I forgot to blog about before so I am going to mention them now so I can remember them later. 
~ Lindsey calling yahoo yay-hoo
~Debbie gasping when she found out The Black Keys were playing
~Looking for acorns at Ground Zero
~Lauren asking the cop if there were any eating facilities close by and Lindsey adding "or otherwise known as restaurants"

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

New York Day 3

We started off the day by walking to Central Park. 
And although it was beautiful we were not really in the mood for walking.
So Lauren took us to Little Brown Chocolate so we could get Nutella shakes, which we were in the mood for. Then we heading over to Lexington Avenue for a street fair where we found even more Nutella.

We went in to Grand Central Station to use the bathrooms and change out of our boots, Lauren brought flip flops. We didn't want to carry our boots all day so we looked for lockers, there were none there but there was a lost and found unfortunately it was closed. Lauren and I thought we could talk a nice police man in letting us leave a bag and come back to get it later. Sadly the person behind the counter was a woman and it was a no go.
I some how left out this photo Debbie took of Lauren and I looking like a couple of little old ladies. Debbie Instagramed this photo and commented on how she can't wait to take trips as old ladies. What Debbie didn't know that is exactly what Lauren and I were talking about.
Then we headed down to the 9/11 memorial





Before we entered the memorial we read about The Survival Tree and were touched by what that tree represented.

Look at how it has grown, it wasn't easy it took a lot of care but it has healed and kept growing. While we were there The NYPD Emerald Society Pipes & Drums played which of course made me cry.
I kept thinking about this post by Meg Cabot telling about 9/11. It was a moving experience being there and remembering.
 Next we headed to The Staten Island Ferry, it is free and you get a nice view of the Statue of Liberty.



 We had planned on eating on our way back up to Lauren's but we were to hungry to wait so we asked a cop on the Ferry if there was a good place to eat close by he sent us to Pier 76 restaurant.

 We all shared pizza, pasta, salads  and sweet potato fries and they were all very good!
 It was cold but I loved seeing the Statue of Liberty with the misty sea on my face.
Oh yeah and we stopped by Magnolia Bakery on the way home.  Who are famous for their cupcakes which none of us got. They had pumpkin cheese cake, I will always pick pumpkin anything.