Birthdays, TV, and Questions

Just a quick check in. Sunday we worked at the Secret Santa for our local school kids at Wal-Mart for four hours. GG & I had our birthday on Monday. We both had the day off so that was cool. We did a little Christmas baking but mostly just enjoyed being together.

Yesterday, the 18th was my sister's birthday. Of course throw in some work, Shmoo taking his finals this week and the major holiday that's coming up in six days and you can see life's been pretty full. Not that I imagine it's been any less for all of you.

I have TEMPTED (by Megan Hart) sitting on my desk waiting for me to write the review. I hope to have that up. Tomorrow? Maybe?

Some quick questions for you.

1. Did anyone see the BIGGEST LOSER finale last night? Didn't Julie look awesome? Those twins kicked some booty didn't they? GG predicted they would both be the winners. Of course as soon as you saw them it was pretty obvious they'd done well. Sheesh. 51% of their body fat. They are literally half the person they used to be. Julie too. Neil looks like a completely different person. I bet people he used to know don't even recognize him.

2. Okay, how about ALVIN & THE CHIPMUNKS? I think they did a good job with the chipmunks. They were so cute. Of course stupid script, but we enjoyed it. We ended up going with our boys, both girlfriends and one other of Beanie's friends. That was lots of fun. Worth seeing for cute factor and nostalgia, but if you aren't into that...wait for the DVD.

3. Have you tried some new fantastic Christmas treat? I have! One of my co-workers brought in chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips. I've had other versions of this cookie before, but these were just the right amount of chocolate and not overwhelming with the peanut butter chips. Since I sit at the end of the cubicle row she wanted to leave them on my filing cabinet. Uh, yeah...NO! Way too much temptation.

My list of Twelve Books I Can't Wait for in 2008 is up at TGTBTU or Sybil's as I refer to it. Paranormals, historicals, westerns... Huh, imagine that. Of course it starts off with TEMPTED. Yeah, yeah, I'll post up my review. Really, I will.

Take care out there. It's busy and crazy.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Does a mild mannered librarian and romance junkie by day who is a kickass super hero by by night wear a cape? Inquiring minds want to know.

The totally cool Super Librarian Wendy took pity on my sad tale of having no decent UBS any more and told me about a great store in our area. We were able to meet today and not only did I score some awesome books (Cheryl St. John and Terri Brisbin!) we were able to have lunch together. It was great to meet Wendy and be able to talk, in person, about books and book stores and the blogs we have in common.

Now I'm hoping we can all convince her to go to Dallas so we can get the scoop from four different POVs and voices. While they each love romance Sybil, Jane, Kristie and Wendy all have their own inimitable voices. Frankly, I can't wait to hear, see and read their tales.

Thanks Wendy, it was fun AND I found a good UBS once again. As for the cape...I'll never tell.

Friends of the High Line

With all the wild stuff going on in Romancelandia these last couple of days I decided to post on something completely on another topic.

Picture taken from FRIENDS OF THE HIGH LINE website. All images courtesy of Joel Sternfeld. © Joel Sternfeld 2000

So I'm on The Good, The Bad, the Unread and chuckling over the Penis Song with Edward Norton and Brad Pitt the other day when Shmoo comes in because nothing invites a 17 year old's curiousity like his Mom listening to a song with the word penis in it.

Anyway, since I'm not dead yet, I take a click over to YouTube because Shmoo knows that song was not in the movie FIGHT CLUB which is confirmed when we read at YT that it's a song Norton and Pitt sang on the set. Shmoo adores the movie FIGHT CLUB and while I'm both a Pitt and Norton fan I haven't seen the movie all the way through, much to Shmoo's disgust. I've seen some bits here and there but, I'm not fond of violence, so I don't stay and watch the whole movie. The men in my life have assured me over and over again I'm missing out.

Shmoo leaves me alone on YouTube because I'm completely getting into all the clips they have on Edward Norton. I think this guy is beyond good looking because he's smart and clever and sweet, and smart, and... You get my drift I like Edward Norton. One of the clips was from an interview Mr. Norton did with Charlie Rose about the Friends of the High Line a movement in NYC to convert an old elevated train track that was closed in 1980 into a park in New York. You can see in the photo above that Mother Nature has already begun reclaiming the tracks for her own. The track is a mile and a half long and goes through two or three major neighborhoods of Manhattan. Like Mr. Norton I found the history of the High Line and the idea to make this space something green and wonderful for the City of New York completely fascinating.

I thought some of you might too. They broke ground on the project in 2006 and will be finished in 2008. One of the places I didn't get to go in NYC was Central Park. I'm going back someday. Hopefully in 2008 after the High Line is finished and I can walk it and tell you all about it.