Out with 2009...and not too Soon!

As you can tell by the title, I was not too thrilled with 2009. It began [crappy] day ONE and didn't quite let up. I hate to sound maudlin at the end of the year, but I would have to chalk this one up as one of the worst. And, I still have much to be grateful for. My family is healthy and happy, my marriage is in tact, my job is rewarding and yet the world seems to have crashed down around me during this year. I won't go into details but I have some uplifting ways to end this post.



1. I have been keeping a gratitude journal since Thanksgiving and it's been a wonderful uplifting piece of the Holidays. In fact, I give it credit for my literally sailing through the last month or so virtually stress-free! :) I will definitely continue this tradition into 2010.

2. My resolutions are as follows (besides #1): to use my gifts of baking and teaching to help others, to meet my weight goal, and other religious goals that I don't really need to display to the world.

3. I would like to let people know about this great website called 29 Gifts (there is a book too). I am definitely going to sign up on Jan. 1 (tomorrow) to start my decade off on a positive note http://www.29gifts.org/
I love the calendar where you can keep track of what you give and what you receive.

4. I will remember what my priest told me recently: "Even if you end up with nothing, you still have each other."

Faith, Hope and Ivy June

This was a sweet book that I picked up in audio from NCTE and my own children really enjoyed hearing it as well. Ivy June is chosen for a first-time exchange program with a wealthy school called Buckner Academy. She will go and live for two weeks with Catherine Combs in Lexington, Kentucky and Catherine will then spend two weeks in Cumberland Gap, Kentucky. This is like city mouse and country mouse but so heartwarming it makes you want to cry. I really did at the end! Driving around with tears on my cheeks. Naylor is adept at creating a beautifully scenic story full of endearing humans. This is a great novel for any tween and Ivy June's grandfather (Paw Paw) will surely bring to mind any beloved relative of your own. The audio version was very well done by Karen White, whose accents for the city and country families was wonderful!

Kindle!

Merry Christmas! I can't believe I got so caught up in the Christmas spirit that I forgot to blog! I have been reading though....

The biggest news is that Santa brought me the Kindle I've been so longing for and we're off to Indiana today- I have 4 books packed in one tiny, thin little e-reader. I am so geeked about this. On the way to NCTE this year I started up a conversation with a woman about her Kindle and we talked the rest of the flight. I have been obsessed with the little thing for about a year now. My husband's greatest worry is that I'll bankrupt us with loading books onto it. Currently, I have the following: The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton and The Life of Saint Benedict (can't forget the Benedictine part of me). Why no YA books? Well, I'm currently trying to finish LIAR by Justine Larbalestier in ARC form and then I am working on other ARCs from Penguin (which aren't available in Kindle format). Well, I had to compromise somewhere.

I did, however, blow through Splendor by Anna Godbersen, which is the 4th book in the Luxe series. This is my guilty little YA pleasure. History and slightly better "gossip girl" stuff rolled into one. Better clothes by far.


I was glad Godbersen stayed true to the characters she had created but it was a little too neat for me in the end. The novel didn't really imitate real life for me but teen girls will find twists, I'm sure. A couple of the characters really did learn the hard way, but too many people seemed to show up at "exactly" the right time. Here is a short synopsis by character.

Penelope- Tired of life with Henry who isn't interested in her after he returns from the war, Penelope goes looking for more "excitement."

Henry- is finally experiencing and learning what it is to be a real man and not a spoiled rich boy.

Elizabeth- is carrying Will's child but learning dark secrets about her husband's past.

Diana- is following her dreams even though she has all she could have ever hoped for.