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Showing posts from October, 2015

Writer's Workshop: I swear there was a ghost...

I grew up in the country...in a pseudo-farm house that had been built in the early 40s by distant relatives, one of whom still lived next door in another house he and his father had built together when he was younger.  When we moved in, the previous owner (not related to the family in any way) claimed that she would wake up in the mornings and cupboards in the kitchen would be open, the coffeepot would be on, and the toaster would be down.  My parents thought nothing of it.  I, on the other hand, am convinced that the house was definitely haunted based on several personal experiences.  Footsteps in the upstairs hallway were a constant occurrence when everyone was downstairs; everyone said it was just the house settling, but I knew different. Incident 1 Fast forward a few years and my sister and I were probably in late elementary school; I was about 10 or so and she was 8.  It was summer and we were sitting at the kitchen table coloring when all of a sudden we both felt like we had

Teaser Tuesdays

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Teaser Tuesday:  Furiously Happy:  A Funny Book About Horrible Things Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn @ A Daily Rhythm . Here are the rules: grab whatever you're reading, open to a random page, select no more than two sentence (NO SPOILERS), share the title and author, and GO! Here's today's teaser: "That's the moment when I realized how incredibly lucky I am to have spent eighteen years with a man who can laugh at bad gun-control jokes while a severed bear head is lying on his pillow" --page 76           Furiously Happy:  A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson I have been eagerly anticipating Lawson's second book since she announced it was in the works and I have not been disappointed!  And I'm super stoked that she doing a book tour and actually coming to Powell's in Portland.  Yeah, buddy!  If you've never heard of Jenny Lawson, I highly recommend her blog, The Bloggess , and her first book, Let'

Teaser Tuesdays

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Teaser Tuesday:  Shadowgirl Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn @ A Daily Rhythm . Here are the rules: grab whatever you're reading, open to a random page, select no more than two sentence (NO SPOILERS), share the title and author, and GO! Here's today's teaser: "Anger rolled up inside her and heat pulsed from her hands to her feet.  She tried to calm down, tried to break its hold, but the image of fire flashed in front of her eyes and all at once, it exploded out of her." --page 54           Shadowgirl by Kate Ristau I'm really enjoying this little nugget of awesome from a PNW author.  I'm normally not very into fey stories or the like, but this one's pretty good! Happy reading!

Beyond the Books: Worst Movies

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This week's topic:  The Worst Movies I Have Ever Seen Oh man, oh man!  I love movies.  Like, love them!  But, boy, have I seen some doozies!  Here are a few that rank among the absolute worst I've seen: Fantasia Maybe I would appreciate this film more now, but when I first saw it as a child I hated it...with a passion.  Parts of it scared me.  Parts of it were so freakin' boring.  I didn't like it one bit.  Because of these reasons I have yet to bring myself to watch it again. Michael I don't know why I hate this movie, but I do.  Maybe it's Andie MacDowell...or John Travolta in this particular role... Shallow Hal I like Jack Black.  I dislike Gwyneth Paltrow.  Plus, this movie is so offensive on so many levels that I just can't take it.  Bad movie! Meet Joe Black A lot of people love this movie and, while it has some great scenes (peanut butter), it's overall pretty bad.  It's awful that I find the bus scene hilarious. 

Writer's Workshop: 10 Reasons I Love Fall

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Fall is definitely my favorite season of the year.  That honor used to belong to Spring, but it's all about Fall now.  I just love it!  Here are a few reasons why: Crisp, Cool Weather I am not a fan of warm weather, so Fall is the perfect foil for the horribleness that is Summer.  I love stepping outside and breathing deeply of the fog filled morning.  It's refreshing and feels oh-so-good on my lungs. Pumpkin Everything I have yet to order a Pumpkin Spice Latte (from anywhere...basic?), but I love all things pumpkin.  Pie, candles, pumpkin pie spice, lotion.  If it's pumpkin, I'm game.  Mmmm Changing Leaves Ah, science.  It's so beautiful! Halloween! Only the BEST holiday of the entire year!  I love spooky things and what better time to partake in things like that than Halloween.  Scary costumes, candy, scary movies, little kids dressed up so cute!  And I absolutely love carving pumpkins!  I love it all. Snuggly, Cozy Blankets Curling up in a cush

Story Starters: The Scoop

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  “Don’t you trust me? “No.” “Smart man.” Peter quickly cleared his throat.   Sitting would be a disadvantage in this situation.   Instead he shuffled around the chair, placing his hands on the back, before returning his gaze to Jenny.   She stood across from him, coolly watching his every move. “I’ve been thinking, Peter,” she started, examining her nails.   “When you brought your story to me, I’ll admit that I was intrigued.   Nobody accuses the Grahams of embezzlement and extortion.   Nobody.”   Jenny eased herself down into the chair behind the desk facing Peter, smoothly crossing her legs.   “This is a serious accusation and I don’t know if I’m prepared to give you free reign for the kind of investigating it would require.” “It’s my scoop, Jenny.   I’m not backing off.” Jenny chuckled.   “Oh, of course not.   Who said anything about backing off?” Confusion entered Peter’s eyes.   What was Jenny playing at?   “So, I can do the story?” “Yes,” she said.   “But don’

Teaser Tuesdays

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Teaser Tuesday:  If I Stay Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn @ A Daily Rhythm . Here are the rules: grab whatever you're reading, open to a random page, select no more than two sentence (NO SPOILERS), share the title and author, and GO! Here's today's teaser: "They are rough and hurried, like they don't consider eyelids worthy of gentleness.  It makes you realize how little in life we touch one another's eyes.  Maybe your parents will hold an eyelid up to get out a piece of dirt, or maybe your boyfriend will kiss your eyelids, light as a butterfly, just before you drift off to sleep.  But eyelids are not like elbows or knees or shoulders, parts of the body accustomed to being jostled." --page 63           If I Stay by Gayle Forman Been meaning to read this for a while now...finally getting around to it. Happy reading!

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Habits to Quit

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and it's a way to share what you're loving in list form. The topic changes every week, so there is always something new to discover! This week's topic is:  Top Ten Bookish Habits I Want to Quit/Have Quit .  I have a lot of book habits...and habits are hard to break!  Here are some I'd really like to work on: 1.  Dog-earring pages!  I am horrible at this and always manage to lose bookmarks, so I find that dog-earring a page works best.  However, I ONLY do this with books that I own!  I used to do it to library books and then I felt horrible, so I stopped.  I NEVER do it to books I borrow from friends because I am of the mindset that you return it in the EXACT same condition as it was lent to you.  I am now adopting this with library books, too.  I have recently been using a beer sticker as a bookmark (haha) because it's the perfect size and only has printing on one side (that's how