Tell Me Tuesday: A Pat On The Back

It's always nice to share fun things with friends. And it's always nice to remember all the great things you've done.

Tell me something you've done this week that you are proud of yourself for!

Here's mine. This week I coached my daughters last soccer game. It was my first time coaching and even though I was very nervous, I did it, and survived.

The Clockwork Three

You may remember I got to meet up with Matt Kirby the other day at the Author Blogger Social. Matt was nice enough to send the ARC of The Clockwork Three on a blog tour.

The synopsis from Goodreads:

Three ordinary children are brought together by extraordinary events. . . Giuseppe is an orphaned street musician from Italy, who was sold by his uncle to work as a slave for an evil padrone in the U.S. But when a mysterious green violin enters his life he begins to imagine a life of freedom.
Hannah is a soft-hearted, strong-willed girl from the tenements, who supports her family as a hotel maid when tragedy strikes and her father can no longer work. She learns about a hidden treasure, which she knows will save her family -- if she can find it.

And Frederick, the talented and intense clockmaker's apprentice, seeks to learn the truth about his mother while trying to forget the nightmares of the orphanage where she left him. He is determined to build an automaton and enter the clockmakers' guild -- if only he can create a working head.
Together, the three discover they have phenomenal power when they team up as friends, and that they can overcome even the darkest of fears

My thoughts: The storytelling follows three kids in their own journeys around the city. Each has a personal journey they must attend to and end up finding and befriending each other. It's a fun blend of mystery, action, crush's, hardwork, friendship, determination, and hope.

I liked best what the author, Matthew Kirby says about what kind of book The Clockwork Three is, "It's not quite fantasy, not quite historical fiction, nor is it steampunk, but it borrows from all three genres."

A few more details:

Title: The Clockwork Three

Author: Matthew Kirby

Genre: Middle Grade

Release Date: October 01, 2010

Publisher: Scholastic Press

ISBN:0545203379

Pages: 400

Price range: $12-15

Buy it here: (Book &/or Audio)

        

FYI: The Kings English is hosting a launch party for The Clockwork Three at 6pm on Sept 30th, 2010. Go check it out. Matt will be answering questions, reading a passage and signing books.

Wordless Wednesday: Hip Dog

(I snapped this in July 2009 while filling up at a gas station.)

Flashback Friday (late on a Saturday night)

About two years ago my family and I were:




It's kinda fun to see how much my kids (and couches for that matter) have changed!

Tell Me Tuesday: Tricky Speedometer

We own two cars. I forget how nice that is until one of my friends talks about how they have to share their car with the spouse (we sill live in 'College County' where it's generally more the case than not).

Since I have the kids most of the time, my car of choice is the roomier minivan, while hubby opts for the sedan. A few times over the summer though I foundnd myself driving 'hubby's car'.

And not just driving it, but driving it faster. It made me wonder if it was just the size of the car, the fact that I was alone, or just that I felt a rush when driving a little sporty thing with the wind in my hair.

What do you think??

My Car

Dodge Caravan ('03)

Hubby's Car

Honda Accord ('98)

Anyone notice that? What is the purpose of setting up the speedometers like that? My first guess was that the newer cars are set up to possibly 'discourage' speeding. But I haven't been in other cars to test this out.

How do you think this compares to your car(s)?

Childhood Was Good

I remember when I was little, say elementary school little, looking forward to ABC's lovely Friday night TV line up. TGIF was good to me then. I know their four slotted shows changed around a few times but for the most part they were all pretty good. Full House, Family Matters, Step by Step, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Dinosaurs, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and my personal favorite Boy Meets World. I mean could it get any better than that?

Today, my friends, is Ben Savage's 30th birthday. So I figured it was only fitting to remember some good times from the show.

Being a male-point-of-view show, and seeing as how boy crazy I was back the, I'm sure only made me like it more!

Good friends who always stuck by him. Funny friends who put him in crazy situations.

Plus how cute was Corey and Topanga's first kiss? Kinda reminds me of my first kiss. Only it wasn't at school. And he wasn't handcuffed to a locker. And I didn't have super long hair.

Happy Birthday Ben. Thanks for many years of wonderful television programming.

Awesome Afternoon at TKE Paranormalcy Signing

Yesterday Olivia, Meagan and I headed up to SLC to The Kings English to see Kiersten White and pick up a signed copy of her book Paranormalcy. We got to hear her answer a few questions and then made our way through the adorably lovely bookstore to stand in line.


Standing in line was half the fun though as I ran into several fun bloggers that I knew like Heather from FireandIcePhoto, LT Eliot, Mary, Alaina, and Aubrey from My Pile of Books. Also some favorite authors like Bree Despain, Emily Wing Smith who let me hold and touch and kiss her adorable new book Back When You Were Easier To Love (comes out in April 2011).

Ok seriously dont look at this picture too closely I don't know what is happening with my face. Maybe I'm just overjoyed with the fact that I'm holding this book. the only thing that could be better is if I got to keep and read it too.



These lovely ladies have helped to make my summer wonderful. It's a blessing really, to be inspired by such talented people.

Kiersten was a doll. I swear I've met her somewhere before but for the life of me I just can't place it. Anyway can't wait to dive into this book now that I have myself a copy of it!

Fridays Fab Five Cranberry Style

I'm playing with this meme, Fridays Fab Five from Frogarita's Bookcase.

The only rule is you can't use the same answer twice!

1. What is your favorite season?

Spring

2. What is your favorite activity in that season?

Dancing in the rain

3. Which season do you hate?

Winter

4. Why?

I don really hate the entire season, I just dislike that it means everyone hibernates and hardly comes out of their house (becuase it's so darn cold to be outside). All the other seasons my neighbors and I sit outside and visit while our kids play.

5. What is the first thing that comes to mind when I say Autumn?

Halloween!

Utah Book Blogger Social Cranberry Fries Recap

Natasha over at Maw Books along with Suey from It's All About Books and Becky from One Literature Nut hosted the 4th installment of the Utah Book Blogger Social. I went to the winter social and had a fabulous time and knew I couldn't miss this one.

Natasha has gotten us all together and helped the local authors connect with those of us who are into blogging. It's a win win for everyone really. :)

During a delicious dinner I got to mingle with the lovely Lisa Mangum author of The Hourglass Door that I enjoyed (and her second book Golden Spiral was released earlier this year), told us all about her day that was full of books (author appearances, book signings, and this party).

Later Valynne Maetani and Bree Despain joined us and we all talked about the lovely book we recently finished, Matched (by Ally Codie, released Nov 30).

After everyone was done eating, we went around the circle and introduced ourselves (and our blogs or books depending). I'm not certain but I'd say we had about 60% bloggers and 40% authors. It was a fantastic turn out. (Here is some of our circle.)

Natasha had asked that we all bring a book for a swap so we threw them in the middle and all took a turn running in to grab what we wanted. I snatched a book that Bree had her eye on (but graciously let me have) If I Stay by Gayle Forman (I've seen the lovely cover on friends blogs and have wanted to pick it up for a while.) Then after everyone had a turn there were some extra so a few of us went in for round two and I picked up Day For Night by Frederick Reiken. Very excited to add these to my to be read pile!

I also came home with an ARC of Matt Kirby's book A Clockwork Three being published by Scholastic that he's sending around on a blog tour and yours truly gets to start it!

I also met a few other nice people like author Leisha Maw who is adorable and has a great blog, Sheralyn Pratt author of The Rhea Jensen Series, City Of Angels, Barbara Richardson author of Guest House, a fellow blogger Graham Bradley who writes over at Graham Chops. And of course a few friendly faces I already knew like Caty from Book Bound and Brodi Ashton.

Thanks so much to my dear friend Jenni for letting me borrow her pictures. And no, we didn't call each other and coordinate outfits. :) Just pretend it's the new uniform for Team We Love Books!

It's always fun to see ARC's around. Both Matt Kirby (The Clockwork Three) and Bree Despain (The Lost Saint) brought their books to show.

Stuff in my Brain

I literally spent the entire day yesterday cleaning. A little something I like to call "Back to School Scrubbing" (as in a little more deep than usual). My 4 y/o was sweet to help me with several parts (even things like the toilet!) right up until her little friend came home from kindergarten. There is nothing like the joy that comes with having a fabulously clean house and of course getting to enjoy hanging out with my daughter.

*****

Have you ever been on those websites where you leave a comment and have to type in all your info and then no picture shows up next to your comment? I dont think I've ever shared this with you guys yet, but I've been using this fabulous thing for over a year. Hop over to gravatar and sign up. You can add your email addresses and a different avatar for each one, or the same for any. It's wonderful.

*****

This week I got a call from my kids preschool on the official starting date (yes I realize everyone else has already started, but I'm willing to forgive them because it's a great program). Looks like my kids will be starting in two weeks. It's a bit later than usual but I'm just so happy that they're both so excited about going. We got to meet my sons teachers who came over to visit with us and my daughters teachers will be here around 8:30 this morning. She can't wait!

*****
There was a time this summer I didnt read a book for about 3 weeks. Then when I tried to get back into it I was scrambling for a book that sounded good. Now I have a nice thick stack of to-be-read books on my nightstand and another few coming my way from friends who have read books and want to spread the goodness around. My book life is good!