My Recent Reading Adventures!

Okay, I kind of led you to this post under false pretenses, as there hasn't been a whole lot of reading going on this past week.  But I did go on vacation, got two teeny tiny tattoos (sorry, you'll have to stick around a bit to see them... or simply scroll down), got a complete blog design, and just yesterday I got an awesome early birthday present!

It all started Friday, May 6th.  The Hubs and I left Virginia to travel to Oklahoma.  On the way out the weather was mostly nice, but it was sad to see the tornado damages along the highway.  Early morning Saturday (since we'd been overly stupid optimistic and had decided to drive straight to OK without stopping) we finally hit Arkansas- seriously, Tennessee, you are longer than any state has a legal right to be.  I-40 was flooded for many, many miles so we were forced to take a detour.  The Hubs was asleep as I made my way through some pretty scary rural areas and I'm pretty sure I heard some banjo music playing when we passed a particularly run down area of trailer homes.  One had a sign that read Indoor Yard Sale.

Now I love me some yard sales, but I also read a whole lot of Stephen King, so I knew it was a trap.  Instead of getting eviscerated by some overly related brothers, I stepped on the gas pedal.  The Hubs blissfully slept through our near death experience.  After stopping way too many times to pee, we eventually arrived with all our organs still intact in Oklahoma.

We spent Mother's Day with my mother-in-law mostly playing Phase 10 and Skip-Bo, where I ended up getting this hand:

 Needless to say, I did not win that round.  I can't whine too badly though, since I refuse to shuffle cards on the basis that I have no card shuffling skills.  The cards would be better shuffled by a simple game of 52 Pick Up than by my shuffling them.

On Monday, I met met up with my friends and had much fun.  Went to dinner with Courtney and Ame, and met all their book club gals- Andrea, Mandy, Tracy and Ame's friend Dawn.  We had a blast drinking margaritas and eating fajitas.  Well, except Mandy, who prefers her hard won girls night's out to consist of a liquid dinner.  I had a blast, and loved meeting the girls.  I'm also joining the book club despite the fact that I live over 24 hours away.

Tuesday was our big day- literary tattoos!  We had a great lunch at BJ's (which I can't say, write or type without giggling like a teen watching Beavis and Butthead for the first time). Then we went to get our ink!  My friend Michelle came with me, Ame and Courtney, and of course the Hubs was there to hold my hand because I wasn't sure how great tattoos on my big toes would feel.

I have wanted a tattoo on my big toe since freshman year of college when one of my dorm buddies, Piper, got hers done.  But like most things I talk about getting but am too lazy to get, it took about 15 years to actually get done.  I decided to go simple and get the stars that adorn the Harry Potter book pages on both toes- so each toe would represent an open HP book.  I got them pretty small, so it's not something that will be overly obvious to anyone unless they dare to get that close to my feet- which I only recommend after I get a recent pedicure otherwise you do so at your own risk. Here's how they turned out:

Courtney got a wonderful quote from a C.S. Lewis novel, here's the link where she explains it, and Ame got a quote from Shakespeare in Love as it's one of her favorite movies/screenplays- and why doesn't Joseph Fiennes make more movies?!.  Here's some pics:

 Courtney's view of her tattoo artist's collection of awesome Garbage Pail Kids cards!

 I also have a great pic of the face Ame was making whilst getting her ink, but I'm pretty sure she'll hunt me down and kill me if I post it.

 Tuesday night was also karaoke at Henry Hudson's.  I have never sang karaoke, and with good reason.  But Courtney sang a special song for me, Help! by the Beatles, and she also did a crazy cool version of Jump by Kris Kross.  I did realize my life long dream of singing a Bangles song, and forced Courtney and Andrea to help me sing Manic Monday.  But only after I'd had several beers and an Irish Car Bomb.  And somehow not a single person's ear bled!  Some glasses were broken in my attempts to hit some high notes, but I think it was simply from people trying to knock themselves unconscious to escape my singing voice.

Wednesday I was all set to meet the Immortal Holly, but the weather was bad and fate obviously decided that Holly and I contain too much awesomeness to be in the same city at the same time.  It might have caused spontaneous human combustion, so I guess we'll have to meet when the moon is in another house and there's less chance of us causing freak accidents.  Instead the Hubs and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings with Ame, Courtney, Andrea and her husband, Jeremy, and their adorable son Jonathan.  We played trivia, which for Ame and I can be more of a contact sport due to our competitiveness, but we were all having a super smart evening and much fun was had.

Thursday was a bit of a downer because it was our last day in OK, but I did go to Hastings and buy some books.  Courtney and I were surprised to learn that dying-teenager writer Lurlene McDaniel had written a book about hot-teacher-getting-it-on-with-young-student book Prey.  So of course I had to get it!  Will send it to Courtney when I'm done.

I also scored books from Ame and Courtney gave me DUFF on audio... but I'm still listening to Discovery of Witches with a million more cds to go.  I really thought I'd listen to a lot of audio books during all that driving, but our car rental has Sirius Satellite radio, so we basically listened to that non-stop.  My mother-in-law also gave me a book, because I obviously finally have my friends and family well trained- the best way to shut me up is to give me something to read!

The trip home was slower, as we did stop for the night in Tennessee.  Perhaps traveling on Friday the 13th was a stupid move, but we survived.  We watched Cirque De Freaks on cable so now I want to read the books!  And I did read (finally!!) in the car on Friday and Saturday- finishing Dead Reckoning and starting The Golden Acorn and Prey. The weather on Saturday was crazy- rain, creepy, thick fog, and sunshine.  And then Bambi's girlfriend decided to take a stroll across the highway, but once again I saved us by screaming, "Oh, poo!" (or something like that), and Aaron was able to use his amazing driving skills and avoided introducing deer to Kia. 

Lucky me, I was off yesterday and today.  So last night the Hubs let me get my birthday present a bit early (because if the world ends on May 21st, than I don't even get my official birthday day on the 22nd!) so here's what I got:

My Kindle and Nook meet and attempt to ignore the obvious tension between them.

The Nook Color!!!  It's beautiful!  I love my Kindle, and I still think it'll remain my main e-reader, but I did download Angry Birds and Zombies Vs. Unicorns as my first Nook purchases.  So according to some article I read once, I am now a Nookie.  Yeah, I think it sounds dirty too.

So that was my reading adventures!  Not a lot of reading got done, but a lot of memories were made, and I got to spend time with the best friends I've ever had and meet some new friends as well.  And despite the fact that I couldn't check my email on a regular basis (we were staying out in the country so we had to go "in town" to get internet access), Lori was still able to complete my beautiful blog design!  Now if I could only catch up on some review writing so that I can put my new rating system to the test...