Happy blogiversary

Today marks one year of blogging! That's all I really have to say, just excited to have stuck with this with much more dedication than I ever have any journal or diary. I love getting to share little bits of my life with whoever is out there reading! So thanks for reading, and here's to another year of grand adventures!

The Perks of Being a Bookseller

Today was one of those days when I remembered why I like my job. We had a visit at the bookstore from our Random House Inc representative, which happens once a quarter generally. He comes with a big box of books for us to take, talks about what is coming out soon, and chats up what great books we should be on the lookout for.

I LOOOOOOOVE getting advanced readers copies of books, it is one of the highlights of my job. I love getting to read a book before most people do, getting to form an opinion on it based solely on how I reacted to it, not whether it received any acclaim, or how well it happens to be selling. Just me, a book that catches my eye, and how it sits with me. Aaaaaahhhhh....I picked up a new one from David called Safer, which looks dark and intriguing. I'll let you know if you should pick it up when it actually comes out!

But the real highlight of my day came later. As a receiver, I open the boxes that come through our store, and one of the perks of that is when publishers send ARCs, I usually get first dibs on them. Well, let me tell you, I literally shrieked today when I opened a box, and beheld an ARC of the new Lisa Lutz book Revenge of the Spellmans!
(I must admit, I was also by myself when said shrieking occured, and I may have danced a little, too.) I devoured her first two books last month in about 5 days, and absolutely loved them! You should read them. No really, go get copies right now, and read them. You can borrow mine. You won't be sorry. The books are about a family of private investigators, who are a little kooky, a little dysfunctional, and very lovable. I laughed, I cried (yeah I know, I cry about everything!). I have been super excited for her third book to come out, which will be in March. That seemed oh so very far away. So right now I am a happy girl. I started it on the bus and am already 60 pages in. Very helpful on my reading quota!

A fine way to start my weekend indeed. Though Kevin and I also decided to go see the new Friday the 13th movie tonight, which means I am never going camping again. Bummer. Anyway, this weekend we are sticking around Seattle, hopefully working on the garden a little, reading a lot, and I plan on finishing Kevin's scarf before it gets too warm to wear it!

A Nice Long Weekend

Adam and Erin were kind enough to loan us the use of their house and dog and cat this last weekend while they were off on a skiing trip. Kevin and I decided to take a long weekend in Bellingham, with the original intent of going snowshoeing. That idea was kiboshed when Kevin hurt his back last week, but we still had a great time hanging out in our beloved B-ham!

We mostly just laid low over the weekend, doing a lot of reading, taking Brindzi for walks in the gorgeous sunny weather, eating good food, and enjoying each other's company for three days without other things to distract us! Plus, Adam and Erin have a really comfy huge bed! What a treat!

Sunshine and reading, nothing finer!

Book 6 of 52! It's a heartbreaker!

We wore Brindzi out with a swim at Lake Whatcom!

Even Gryffin had a lay in! But don't try to take that blanket from him, he will cut you! Little bastard ;)

The highlight of the weekend was of course when Adam, Erin, and Corbin returned on Monday and we got to have a little quality time with our littlest nephew! He's so great! He's getting really awesome at crawling, and boy is he talking a lot more! We had a nice couple of hours with him, and enjoyed watching him spastically crawl all over the place and laugh manically whenever he saw Gryffin!

Jackson Visit

Matthew and Terri celebrated their 3rd wedding anniversary last week (Happy Anniversary!!!!) , and to celebrate, they left Jackson with my parents and Nate with his dad, and had a couple days together without the boys. Kevin and I of course jumped at the opportunity to get a visit in with the families on Bainbridge, and loved getting to help babysit Jackson. Kevin sort of threw his back out at the end of last week, so he didn't get quite as much play time as he wanted, but he is now on the road to recovery and hopefully will actually be able to hold Jackson next time we see him! Not that he can be held for long! He is a crawling machine, and can stand up really well when he is next to a chair or couch, and is figuring out how to walk alongside things as well! He might be an early walker like his Auntie May May! He almost has a tooth out, you can definitely feel it when you put your finger in and he chomps on you, so it should rupture anytime now! And of course he's yapping away still, and is a terrific mimic! Here are some pics from our visit:

He has perfected the art of carrying toy in mouth to crawl elsewhere where he can continue to stick things in his mouth!

Aunt Lo gets some love!

Yay football! Next up, soccer!

Trying out his new Phil and Teds clip on high chair. These things are great! He can sit at the table with everyone. Corbin has one, too, and it seems like such a no brainer when you have limited space or are traveling! And they get to sit with everyone!

Looking a little boozy, I don't know what they put in his milk! :)

Banging away to the sound of Grandpa playing the guitar!

Grandma couldn't resist this adorable rocking horse! He liked it for about three seconds, and then wanted to crawl some more!

We also had a great visit with Kevin's family, played some games and ate lots of good food! We've decided that we like our families too much, because it makes the idea of moving remotely far away very unpalatable! Not that we have figured out anywhere to go, but if the case came up, we'd be torn!

In other news, I've decided I want to read 52 books this year. At the moment, I'm a little behind, but have no doubt I will catch up and average a book at week. And I would like to make at least 1/5 of them to be nonfiction, which is always hard for me to pick up. I love getting lost in a good novel, but tend to read nonfiction at a much more leisurely pace and with a novel alongside it! So we'll see how it goes, but I'm excited to give myself a little reading challenge!

Little Drummer Boy

I think Jackson has a future in music. He lights up whenever someone plays the guitar or sings, and he loves to drum along! So cute! More pictures from our weekend helping babysit later!