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Tuesday, March 31, 2009

March Reads

Geektastic ~Edited by Holly Black & Cecil Castellucci
Oh My Goth ~ Gena Showalter
Hunted~PC & Kristen Cast
The Thirteen Treasures~Michelle Harrison (this one of the best written books I've read in a while)
Wit~a play by Margaret Edson
Angus, Thongs, & Full frontal Snogging~Louise Rennison (this book is HILARIOUS!)
Twilight Director's Notebook~ Catherine Hardwick

Books read so far this year- 20
Goal for the year-100


February
Kingdom Keepers:Disney at Dawn~ Ridley Pearson
The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl~Barry Lyga
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist~Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
Night World vl 1: Secret Vampire
Daughters of Darkness

Spellbinder ~LJ Smith
Zombie Queen on Newbury High ~ ~Amanda Ashby
Prophecy of the Sisters ~Michelle Zink


January
The Tales of Beedle the Bard
~JK Rowling (Brilliant!)
Kingdom Keepers:Disney After Dark
~Ridley Pearson (A must read for any Disney fan)
Fade to Blue
~Sean Beaudoin (not released until Spring 09) (This one had me guessing until the end)
My Sister the Vampire:Switched~Sienna Mercer (Vampire books for the Middle school set. Really cute books)
My Sister the Vampire:Fangtastic
~Sienna Mercer

Monday, March 30, 2009

ooo! Another shout out!

Author Marie Rutkoski gave me a shout out in her blog
http://www.marierutkoski.com/journal/283!


She is the author of Cabinet of Wonders, which I am currently reading, and it is really really good so far. She is one of the authors I met in NY at the signing and a fellow Battlestar Galactica fan :) Fellow sci-fi nerds unite!



How cool!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

NYC 2009

A group from the school where I teach went to New York over spring break. Being the NY fan that I am, I went as well. On these trips you pack as many things in as possible and in some cases you get just a fleeting glimpse. It was a fun trip but we spent waaaay too much time on shopping excursions and very little time in Times Square and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A few highlights:
*We got to go out on the observation deck this year at the Empire State Building (it was icy last time). NYC is gorgeous at night at that height.


*The Statue of Liberty is an awesome sight regardless of how many times I see it.

*Instead of going with the group to Chinatown and eat at Puglia's in Little Italy, I went to the Books of Wonder bookstore to an author signing. There were about 45 authors there. I bought 7 books (bc I had to pay full retail I couldn't afford many more). The authors signed in three shifts and it was a madhouse trying to find the author you wanted.
The authors I found:
Aimee Friedman -The Year My Sister Got Lucky
Maureen Johnson-13 Little Blue Envelopes
Barry Lyga- Boy Toy (he also wrote The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Gothgirl, which is fantastic)
Carolyn Mackler-The Earth, My Butt, & other Big Round Things
Justine Larbalestier-How to Ditch Your Fairy
Maryrose Wood-Why I Let My Hair Grow Out (she was kind enough to sign my book even though it wasn't her time. I had to leave in order to ride the subway to meet the others fot Mary Poppins)
Marie Rutkoski-The Cabinet of Wonders (she is also a fellow Battlestar Galactica fan!)


*We saw Mary Poppins. It was a good show & the sets were amazing. I didn't get to stagedoor afterward like I wanted to but I did buy the poster with the cast signatures that they were selling for charity.

*We spent THREE HOURS shopping on 5th avenue. #1 I am not a huge shopping fan. #2 I don't have the money to spend in stores on 5th avenue. #3 I would have preferred to have spent that time in Times Square. But I did buy socks and camis in H&M. And I saw a beautiful sapphire and diamond necklace in Tiffany's that I want if I ever become stupidly wealthy (as in more-money-than-sense wealthy.)

*We saw Mario Lopez filming a segment for Extra. AC SLATER!


*We took the NBC tour and saw the studios for Saturday Night Live (it's so small!) and the Today Show.

*We stood outside the Today Show and got on tv. If you were watching at 7:30 Tuesday morning you might have seen me!

*We had only one hour in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That was barely enough time to find the part I wanted to see and run through that tiny section. I needed more time!

*I made my way to the Nederlander, where RENT was, to see what the theatre looks like now. I was curious about how different it would look.

Over all it was a great trip. Few people griped about things, most people were on time and when we did have to wait it was only a couple of minutes. It is hard to please everyone on trips like this, but I think they did a great job planning this one. So far I've made four trips to NYC in two years. Wonder when my next one will be.....

Friday, March 20, 2009

Follow me in NY!

I am going to New York with a group. I am going to try to update periodically through Twitter since i won't have internet access. Follow me!

www.twitter.com/childofthe80s

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

NKOTB

I went to the New Kids on the Block concert in Nashville last night. I had begun losing my voice earlier in the day -thank you seasonal allergies- so it was pretty much gone by the time I got to the concert (no yelling for me)

Say what you will (and really? are we 13? Why make fun of something that someone likes?) but I loved this concert. I saw them twice during their heyday in the late 80s/early 90s. They were just as energetic and did a good mixture of old favorites and new songs.

We had tickets in the second balcony. They were pretty good seats but a little far away. The Jabawockeez performed first and were pretty cool. During the intermission while they were changing out the stage, a guy from the Sommet came by and told us they had extra floor seats that hadn't sold and wanted to know if we'd like to move. HECK YEAH I wanted to move! The seats were amazing! And during one song the guys came out to a little stage just FOUR ROWS behind us. OMG!
I was able to smuggle my camera in (along with half of the audience) and got some great pictures. Here is a sampling:




I am so glad that they came to Nashville. Ever since I heard they planned to reunite I was hoping to see them again. They didn't disappoint!

Friday, March 13, 2009

best candy EVAH! *nomnomnom*


FOUND THEM! FINALLY! These little yummy bits of sugar and candy coating only come out at Easter (WHY?!?!) and as soon as Valentine's Day was over I was on the look out. Camden walmart had a spot, but no candy. Huntingdon walmart had neither spot nor candy. Hubby found them today at the Paris walmart....and bought all seven bags. (what! don't judge me!)

It's taking all I have not to scarf a whole bag tonight.
The greatest thing about Jolly Rancher Jelly Beans is that unlike Starburst or Jelly Belly beans, I love every.single.bean. Even the blue raspberry beans (and I don't like the blue raspberry hard candy)
Love love love love love these jelly beans.


Carry on.

Thursday, March 05, 2009

It's all Barbie's fault

Have you heard this one? A West Virginia lawmaker wants to ban the sale of Barbie dolls. Here's what the article said:
His bill, HB 2918, would make it illegal to sell Barbie dolls "and other similar dolls that promote or influence girls to place an undue importance on physical beauty to the detriment of their intellectual and emotional development." (go here to read the rest)

First of all, I played with Barbie (and still collect them) and not once did I look at Barbie and think that she had the ideal body. What's amazing is that even though I played with Barbie I developed quite well emotionally and intellectually, thankyouverymuch.

Seriously, I think what is more detrimental to girls and their body image are the magazines that post a picture of Jessica Simpson calling her fat or all of the hoopla over Oprah gaining weight (zomg! Oprah "ballooned" to 200 pounds!) or any other article that thinks it's ok to make comments about a woman's body. Also, other girls are more detrimental on body image than Barbie. Girls are brutal! But they didn't get that way because of Barbie.

When I first heard about this idiotic legislation my first thought was PLEASE! Give me a break. Really, with everything going on in this world, Barbie is the thing this guy decides to target?

Sunday, March 01, 2009

February books

February
Kingdom Keepers:Disney at Dawn~ Ridley Pearson
The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl~Barry Lyga
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist~Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
Night World vl 1: Secret Vampire
Daughters of Darkness

Spellbinder ~LJ Smith
Zombie Queen on Newbury High ~ ~Amanda Ashby
Prophecy of the Sisters ~Michelle Zink

January
The Tales of Beedle the Bard
~JK Rowling (Brilliant!)
Kingdom Keepers:Disney After Dark
~Ridley Pearson (A must read for any Disney fan)
Fade to Blue
~Sean Beaudoin (not released until Spring 09) (This one had me guessing until the end)
My Sister the Vampire:Switched~Sienna Mercer (Vampire books for the Middle school set. Really cute books)
My Sister the Vampire:Fangtastic
~Sienna Mercer