Tag Archives: Meet-up

Bookish Talk

BLAH, My Hand and other stuff…

45 Comments

BLAH1

This weekend I got to meet-up with some other book bloggers. I love meet-ups like this because I get to talk books for several hours non-stop. In the first photo above, you have Amy (My Friend Amy), Jill (Fizzy Thoughts), Other Jill (Rhapsody in Books) and yours truly. It was called BLAH which stands for Bloggers L.A. Happening and was the creation of Other Jill. Creative, huh?

BLAH2

In the second shot, you have the same players, minus Other Jill but including Florinda (3 R’s). Why couldn’t we get one pic with all of us? Because no one wanted to ask someone to take our picture. Anyway, we met for coffee at Barnes & Noble, did a little browsing and then headed over to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch. Of course afterward, there was more browsing but I didn’t buy a thing! I didn’t have to because Fizzy Jill brought me two books (Silver Sparrow and A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty) and then Other Jill brought me The Last Policeman and some tea, all the way from Ireland!  Thank you ladies!

Concrete Stain

Do you see that floor above? That is concrete stain and that was a little project I was working on courtesy of Pinterest. The staining went well, but when I peeled off that blue tape that you see in the lower right corner of the photo, the stain seeped into the wall which meant that on July 4th, I found myself sprawled out on the floor, painting that trim.

Let me just say that painting at that angle totally screwed me up. I pinched my ulnar nerve which controls the last three fingers on my right hand and they are totally dead. No feeling, no control whatsoever which means typing is ridiculously hard. I am using voice to text when I can, but this means a number of things:

*I am not able to comment on a lot of the blogs I read right now because I have to preserve my hand for work, which allows me no rest at the moment.

*My Facebook posts will be shorter and don’t be surprised if you only see “likes” from me for awhile.

*Reviews may include more typos than I usually have (LOL). I try to catch them and I do in fact see them, but when the thought of clicking and backspacing is enough to make you cry, you learn to live with the typos.

I’ve talked to doctors and chiropractors and right now they are telling me to let it rest and I am doing hand exercises to see if the nerve will release itself. So far, the exercises haven’t helped much. Maybe a little.

As for reading, I am reading The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and loving it. I am also reading Nesbo’s The Redbreast.

What are you reading?

Bookish Talk, Life

The Sunday Salon: School is out!

27 Comments

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
Erica Bauermeister

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?

Nesbo Double Header

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.