Life | Book Chatter

The Boy has been out of school for a while but The Girl just finished this past Friday (thank goodness!) No more homework! No more speeches! At least, for a little while. I can’t tell you how happy I am about it. It’s like, summer has finally started. Sort of. Still cool here in So Cal but I love it.

Yesterday, I got to spend more time with bloggers. Fizzy Jill emailed me last-minute and asked if I wanted to meet-up with her at Vroman’s. Wallace was also joining us for the fun so I cleared my calendar and headed to Pasadena to see this lady:

Erica Bauermeister is most known for her first book, The School of Essential Ingredients, but she was there last night promoting her new book, Joy for Beginners. It was a very casual, laid back reading and I must say, I really liked her personality. I’ve not read anything by her but I know she has a pretty good following from her first novel. I’d like to read her first book as I am a total foodie. However, the bookstore did not have it on the shelf. Can you believe that?

After the reading and some browsing, we headed across the street to check out a Thai restaurant I had Googled. It was pretty good and I’m pretty picky about Thai food. If you are ever in the area, give Nine & Nine a try.

After our meal we just hung around and talked about blogging. It was great to just kick-back with friends and talk books.

What did I end up buying?

My obsession with Jo Nesbø continues.I like how Sandy tried to steal him from me when she visited Norway. TRIED being the operative word here. She couldn’t find him! I guess he’s saving himself for me.

Today I had to run a bunch of errands and I am just now able to sit down. The Hub is not feeling all that great so he is napping (I suppose the evening with the kids wiped him out). I’m about to plop down to finish The London Train (in between loads of laundry of course) and we’ve got nothing special planned for dinner. Maybe some roasted tomatoes, gluten-free pasta and shaved parmesan?

Hope you are enjoying a nice, lazy day. That’s what Sundays are supposed to be. Now if someone would explain that to The Family then I’d love you forever.

It’s one of those long weekends that you just want to savor, but the time is zipping by again (for me anyway). If I could push a pause button, I would.

Yesterday, we celebrated a friend’s 75th birthday at a local Mexican restaurant. We had a private room and it was a lot of fun. The margaritas were flowing and the food was good and everyone had a great time. Afterward, we all headed back to our friend’s house to have coffee and dessert.

Coffee duty was mine, because it was one of those big coffee makers and I had used one before for PTO (that makes me a professional), but I measured something wrong because that coffee could have burned a whole through your stomach. My heart was beating out of my chest for hours afterward. I have to tell you, I worried about some of those older folks as I laid my head down to sleep. They were drinking it like it was going out of style!

Today, I’ve done nothing but errands. I did manage to squeeze a nice lunch in with The Fam, but now we are just sitting around being lazy. I was supposed to write-up two reviews, but my review mojo is nowhere to be found at the moment. In a little while, we may head over to a friend’s house for tacos but it’s windy as heck and cold! What happened to our warm weather?

If we don’t go, I will hunker down with In Stiches by Anthony Youn. It’s pretty funny and Tony is like several of the boys I knew in high school. Oh! I have book club on Thursday and I still haven’t read the book (The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet). I started it, but got stuck. I mean, REALLY stuck. Has anyone read it? Does the story move along at some point?

To all who attended BEA and BBC, welcome back and to everyone else, happy Sunday to you!

Note: I am having trouble posting comments on some of your Blogger blogs. It’s not recognizing my Google account or even letting me post anonymously. I mentioned it to some of you but if you’ve been wondering why I haven’t stopped by, this is why. I’ve been reading, but can’t always comment. I know some others are experiencing the same problem. Not sure what to do about it.

Chatting with friends about books and life…