For Natascha

I know it's too late for your first day of school (and your first day of work), but I saw this and thought of you. Congratulations on the new job, the new school, and being back in STL instead of jetting all over the world.

Literary Cat of the Day

Princess Arjumand from To Say Nothing of the Dog. Yes, I know that this is the literary cat of the day post and I'm referencing a book that has a dog in it's title. The dog is important but it's the cat that causes big trouble. I read this months ago, but I'm still thinking about this book. Part mystery, part comedy, part science fiction, part romance, this book pokes fun at multiple genres and references so many of my favorite books its hard for me to stop gushing about it. Just read it, you will be happy you did.

Two Words

Steampunk Romance

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Finally a subgenre just for me.

Book Trailers

Thanks to Smart Bitches Trashy Books, I'm all about the book trailers now. Does any other genre do this or is it just a Romance thing? Anyway, here's what I'm going to be reading soon:



Sherry Thomas is in my TBR pile already, but I keep adding more of hers the more I read about her. Now if only I could stop reading the Feehan. She's ridiculous but addictive.

Holiday Roundup

We survived the rush of Christmas week. Between Nora's Birthday and assorted family get-togethers it was a bit of a whirl. Here's a few photos to give you the gist:

A Few Days In the Frozen North

I had some extra vacation days saved up and so after Jason's final final and before Nora's birthday, we took a quick run up to Chicago to check out the Christmas Market, Santa at Macy's and a few sights. We had a great time, although Nora greatly preferred the luxurious Best Western with it's indoor pool to doing anything else in town. I found it amazing that we could find a hotel room in Chicago the week before Christmas cheaper than a cabin in the Carbondale vicinity but I'm glad we did because we had a great time. It was nice to get away for a few days before the craziness of a combined birthday/holiday set in.



Writing a letter to Santa at Macys.

In line to see Santa at Macys (she asked for gingerbread and candy).


Freezing at the Christmas market
Filling up the suitcase so we can't pack to go home.

Small World

I just had a strange incident. I was looking for an artist that was at a craft festival earlier this year so I looked at the festival's website. Bizarrely, I'm in the photo at the top of the page. I was there for just a short while, but somehow I got captured.