AUTHOR BOOK SIGNING

Looking for for a great Christmas present for your favorite book lover? Well, Ally Condie, fresh off her latest book tour, thought it would be fun to get some local authors together for a pre-Christmas book signing at my local library. Among those authors are, Kristen Chandler, Ally Condie, Bree Despain, Jessica Day George, Nathan Hale, Jed Henry, Brandon Mull, E.J. Patten, Rick Walton, Dan Wells, Robison Wells, and Tyler Whitesides. As an added bonus, books will be on sale at a 20% discount. Hope to see you there!

SO MANY BOOKS, SO LITTLE TIME

There are books that I have loved and that I would love to read again, but...there are so many books out there that I do want to read and that list is just getting longer and longer. That has been my thinking for a long time, but this fun little essay from the New York Times has me rethinking that silly little excuse. I'm now trying to decided which to read again first: The Harry Potter series or the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

p.s.

My copy of LOTR has him on the cover:

UTAH SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

I would like to take a moment to interrupt this incredible streak of not blogging to say:

Did you see the new  lineup for the 2012 Utah Shakespeare Festival?

I don't believe I've seen any of the 3 Shakespeare plays (so yeah for new-to-me stuff), am quite excited about the prospect of To Kill a Mockingbird, and who doesn't love Les Mis? 

The only thing that could make it better would be putting Stones in His Pockets (one of my favorite plays ever at the Festival) in the Summer lineup.

Oh well, I guess I will just have to go twice next year.

BOOK LOVE

What does one do when one has an aching ankle that prevents one from getting around much or sleeping at 2 o'clock in the morning? Two things: first, one reads and second (at 2 o'clock in the morning) one watches that Texas Book Festival on C-SPAN2. 

The result is a few books being added to my GoodReads account. But let's just stick to a few of the books I've added as "read."

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Gorgeous book in verse that follows a Vietnamese family who flees Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War and ends up in Alabama. I love, love, love books in verse and this one was just splendid.

The Sojourn by Andrew Krivak

Reminded me something of Hemingway in both style and content. Only about 200 words but packs a powerful and touching story.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

What is there to say that hasn't already been said about this book? It was simply amazing in pretty much every way.

Leaping by Brian Doyle

A collection of essays--"Why Write" and the section entitled "Grace under Duress" are must reads. (If you ever get the chance to hear Doyle in person you must take it--he is so fantastic and dynamic)

SHOPPIN'

Fall is my absolute favorite time to go shopping for clothes. It is my favorite season and coincidentally it has the cutest clothes. Before I tumbled down my stairs I was getting out and about a bit and have these awards to give:

Worst Dressing Rooms: Target

I love Target (if you could count the number of receipts in my wallet from Target you would understand) but their dressing rooms are miserable places that make me took fat and hideous.

New favorite skirt:

Haven't actually worn it yet but I'm super in love with its flowy softness.

Latest "must have" as spotted on Pinterest:

Source: polyvore.com via Courtney on Pinterest

Forget everything above but the coat (actually no need to forget everything as it is all pretty nice). That coat is to die for.

Latest obsession that I haven't let myself indulge in (yet): boots

New Favorite Store: Express

There is one very simple reason for my new love of this store: I wear a size 4 in their jeans. They sure do know how to make a girl happy.

ADELE

I count myself quite fortunate to have climbed on board the Adele train way back when she released first album in '08. Lately I have found myself absolutely obsessed with her recent album and with "Someone Like You" in particular--as in scanning radio stations (the downside to not purchasing a hard copy) looking for the song (fortunately a lot of other people must also be obsessed with it as well because I can usually find it). She is just as gorgeous as her voice and this particular clip of the song is just stunning:

FASHIONISTA (OR NOT REALLY)

So my sister Janel, who has her own very nice fashion blog here, has been telling me that I need to put more me in my blog--specifically more pictures of me. So I decided to take advantage of her up-and-coming camera skills and have her take some pics at a recent family pumpkin picking outing. Of course I felt completely awkward posing for the pictures so I did what I always do when I feel awkward: I grabbed a niece or nephew or two:

How sweet is my nephew in that last picture--I don't look particularly stunning but I just had to include it.

BRUISING

Saturday night I monumentally failed at walking down a simple set of stairs and have now spent the last two days flat on my back with my bruised and sprained ankle raised and wrapped in bandages. With nothing else to do, today I have firmly planted myself in front of the television with laptop (naturally) in my lap. After a few hours of browsing blogs, Pinterest, and watching daytime TV, I've been forced to resort to doing something I've been neglecting for a little while: blogging. To kick off this new run of blogging, I thought I'd start by not showing any gross pictures of my ankle (you are most welcome), but by instead sharing a little something that has already made the rounds of popular blogs--sorry for the repeat but it is just so much fun:

Up next: either a look at a recent weekend photo shoot, an introduction to my new favorite store (if I were mobile today I'd be showing off my new favorite jeans), or maybe a little book review!

Anyone local have a pair of crutches? I casually blew off an offer to look for a pair a couple of days ago and am now regretting that silly, silly decision.

CHINESE FORTUNES

I've been eating Chinese food a lot this week (yes I said this week!) and check out my fortunes:

Fingers crossed that they come true and hurrah for "real" fortunes as opposed to those stupid advice fortunes some places try to hand out--who wants advice? I want promises of money and miracles and love!

Saw this over at French By Design today:

Totally agree.

RAINY DAYS

This weather (yesterday and still today) plus the sad wet-hair day that it created

happily resulted in the first hot chocolate of the season

which nearly made everything better.

GUESS WHAT I'M DOING TONIGHT...

I'm going to see my very first ever 3-D movie! And while it may be true that The Lion King is not one of the top 10 movies one must see in 3-D, I'm still awfully excited.

IT'S FALL...

...and it is even beginning (at certain times of the day) to start to feel like it. 

I'm looking forward to:

1. Pumpkin Anything

2. Sweaters, Sweaters, and more Sweaters

3. Gorgeous Leaves

4. The World Series

5. Cocoa and Hot Apple Cider

I'm also in the process of looking for a great Fall movie (old or new) and take a decent Autumn picture.

ROAD TRIP ANYONE?

I've just recently finished a book (the book itself is really not that important) that has me aching for a cross-country road trip. More specifically, I want to drive Route 50 (the loneliest road in America), then find lots a great dinners, and visit Graceland. I so badly want to do this that I have decided it is time to create a bucket list. Here goes:

Courtney's Bucket List:

1. Travel Route 50

2. Visit Graceland

3. Travel Route 66

We'll it's a start anyway.

image via