Want to countdown to the release day of AUSTENTATIOUS with me? If you post this widget in the sidebar of your blog and let me know about it, you’ll be entered to win an ARC of AUSTENTATIOUS! Bookmarks came in today too…I LOVE them!
A Medley of Stuff
This weekend we visited my in-laws at their lakehouse because Butters wanted an opportunity to get his catamaran out on the water while the lake level was so low. It was quite low and we all did a bit of exploring, looking for arrowheads and stumbling over fish bones and racoon prints. The rest of the weekend I spent on the covered porch reading Girls in White Dresses and then Ammie, Come Home, while watching in awe as the hummingbird population came to dine on my MIL’s candy apple red sugar syrup. The good news? It RAINED while we were there!! Still waiting on rain at home…
This week, I am reading and watching Practical Magic, in preparation for this Practical Magic Blog Party, in which I will be participating. I’ve never seen the movie or read the book, but I’m very enthused.’In other news, I received a blog award from the lovely Eve Marie Mont, who has a fantastic looking YA coming out in April 2012, called A Breath of Eyre. Thank you, Eve! 
The Rules of the blog award are as follows:
1. Thank and link to the person who nominated me. (see above)
2. Share seven random facts about myself. (see below)
3. Pass the award along to 5 newfound blogging buddies.
4. Contact those buddies to congratulate them.
Seven Random Facts About Me:
1. I’ve never seen Casablanca or Gone With the Wind all the way through.
2. My favorite colors are red and turquoise. Sometimes together.
3. I am not a cat person. That is an understatement.
4. Scholastic book fairs and book order forms still thrill me.
5. I love the Olympics, the swimming events most of all.
6. Never in my life have I pulled an all-nighter.
7. I think Butters’ dislike of cream cheese might be rubbing off on me. That’s unconfirmed.
Five (Relatively) Newfound Blogging Buddies:
1. Nightstand Debuts: For Books Both Sinister and Strange (a group blog that features Eve and several other authors who always keep it interesting).
2. Austen Authors (a group blog that features whole mess of authors writing Austen sequels and retellings, including me, on occasion)
3. Blurb Is a Verb (awesome source for authors)
4. Natural/Artificial (Stephanie Perkin’s blog. She is the author of Anna and the French Kiss, which I LOVED.)
5. Austenesque Reviews (All Austen all the time!)
An Austin-tatious Ninja
Thanks to all who participated in my little quiz–I thought it was fun and very enlightening. Only one Peru; only one cream pie, and only one Sherlock Holmes. Most of you would clearly be content reading Jane Austen with a slice of cake on a terrace in Paris. Me too!
Today I am going a little crazy. I am painting my nails a glittery Austin-tatious Turquoise (OPI), which is already totally over-the-top for someone like me. And not only that, but I am currently wearing a ninja t-shirt (from this etsy vendor) and black cargo shorts. And I plan to wear this for the rest of the day, right through the PTA meeting, at which I will be chatting up any number of parents about the programs in my son’s school library. And…AND…I will be donning all six colorful Reading Ninja wristbands to complete this ensemble.
I am very psyched about this Reading Ninjas program. I’m starting to distribute the wristbands for kids who have reached various point levels for reading books and taking quizzes, and I think the kids and the teachers are a little excited about it too. I mean, who’s not excited about becoming a ninja? I love my t-shirt and wish we could all have one! A school full of ninjas with multi-colored wristbands…reading and skulking…silent but smart. LOVE it!