The Many Faces of Silent Bob

My friends' Don and Laura's cat, Bobby (a.k.a. Silent Bob) is a very multifaceted cat.

He loves watching the birds outside.

He always enjoys a nice, warm patch of sunlight.

And he is fiercely protective of the telephone -
especially when he's expecting a Very Important call!

But Bobby is also a very sweet boy.
Just look at that face! :)

And that's why I LOVE him!

Book Review: First Date

The latest BookSneeze book I read is "First Date" by Krista McGee. This YA novel combines pop culture, romance, typical teen issues and matters of faith all in one story.

17-year-old Addy Davidson is chosen to appear in a “Bachelor” type reality TV show called “The Book of Love,”, where she and 99 other girls from around the country will compete to be the prom date of the President’s son. But the last thing poor Addy wants is to be thrust into the limelight – she’d much rather stay home in Florida, where everything is familiar and predictable. But what Addy doesn’t realize – at least not right away – is that God has a plan for her life that is much different from her own.

I found it hard to get into the story at first; the beginning progressed a bit too slowly to hold my interest. But I stuck with it, and was happy to find that the story does pick up the pace about a quarter of the way in. I was pleased to see how, as Addy came to accept her newfound role as a TV celebrity, she opened up – and began to mature both as a Christian and as a young woman. I enjoyed watching Addy’s friendship with fellow contestant Kara grow, and felt Addy’s heartache when she began reading her late mother’s journals from her parents’ missionary days. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to any woman looking for an intriguing yet wholesome read.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In celebration of this great, green Irish holiday, I present to you a little video I made myself starring the one and only Merlin the cat!

Seven Snippets Friday

I skipped last week, but now I'm back with a long overdue Seven Snippets Friday! :)

- 1 -

My Birthday was last Friday. I turned 33. My friends took me out to lunch, then later at work my co-workers and I enjoyed a pecan danish bought just for me by the library director. She also gave me a single long-stemmed rose and a card signed by everybody. I was touched, because that was only my second week working there!

- 2 -

I'm not a sci-fi buff, but since we hadn't seen each other in awhile a couple of my writer friends and I met up at a meeting of the Science Fiction Society of Northern New Jersey at Well Read Books in Hawthorne. Later, one of our friends had to catch the train back into the Bronx, but the rest of us went on to grab a bite to eat at a nearby diner, where we ended up spending another three hours together enjoying each other's company.

- 3 -

Signs of spring came early around here; Monday, Tuesday AND Wednesday were absolutely gorgeous! On Wednesday I took a nice, long walk around the neighborhood, something I haven't done in a LONG time! It felt really great, and I took some nice pictures, too.

- 4 -

I finally finished another BookSneeze book that I'd been sitting on for awhile. The book is a Christian YA novel called "First Date," about an introverted Christian high school girl who gets chosen to participate in a "Bachelor" type show. I'll be posting my review of it some time this weekend. :)

- 5 -

Happy St. Patrick's Day! How are you choosing to celebrate tomorrow? Will you be eating green bagels for breakfast and corned beef and cabbage for lunch? Will you dress in green clothes? I don't actually own any green clothing, so I'll have to figure out a creative way to show my inner Irish self!

- 6 -

I ordered customized address labels from Zazzle.com this week.I used one of my favorite personal photos for the labels and wrote my name and address in a funky font. The labels came out really well, and I can't wait to start using them. :)

- 7 -

R.I.P. Little Til, the adorable little earless bunny who was accidentally crushed to death by a cameraman on Wednesday. Poor Til was a real furry little heartbreaker, even without ears, and I am certain that he will be missed by countless cuteness lovers like myself (and animal lovers too, of course).

Until next week...

Spring is Here!

(The daffodils are here! The daffodils are here!)

Spring is one of my favorite seasons. Open windows, nice breezes, gorgeous sunshine, beautiful flowers...I'm telling you, if I could just bottle this weather up and keep it like this all year 'round, I would. I totally would.

Today, being it was my day off from working at the library and I had little in the way of errands to do, I decided to take a nice long walk around the neighborhood this afternoon. As I walked, I took took some pictures, chatted with some neighbors, listened to some music, and even talked to my best friend Daria on my cell while I walked. Yes, I'll admit it, I multi-tasked and didn't exactly "unplug" during my walk, I still got exercise because my legs were moving, of course - and besides, everything else I was doing made me even happier, so it was definitely a win-win for me on all accounts.

My favorite picture from today is the photo I took of the newly sprouted Daffodils over at the library. I set it up deliberately to get the library in the background; I feel that including the building only enhanced the shot.

The sky was almost cloudless and crystal blue.
(and yes, that's a plane passing by the cloud)

One more daffodil photo, taken in front of a nearby home.

HAPPY SPRING!

Pleasantries

Today has been a truly good day for me.

For one thing, I had off from work today, which was nice because the weather was downright GORGEOUS! Perfect spring temps, nice warm sunshine, flowers starting to bloom, and being able to be outside without a jacket on...priceless.

Secondly, I spent some time over at Barnes & Noble. I browsed their supply of journals and used books and somehow managed to refrain from buying anything; then I skimmed the pages of the new Sharon Tate book called "Restless Souls," which I've heard some controversy about so I am hesitant to read it, but I wanted to see the pictures, which were, for the record, VERY cool. After that I headed upstairs to their CD and DVD section, where I did buy this:

I knew it wouldn't be long before I caved; it was just so totally fantastic getting re-acquainted with this series and its characters that if I hadn't found it here I would have bought it online. The nice thing about finding it in B & N was that even though it was a little more expensive than I would have paid online, the clerk took off the 10% member discount for me even though I told him I was not a member! That was really nice of him to do.

After leaving Barnes & Noble, gleefully clutching my new Daria boxed set in my arms, I stopped to pick up some books I'd requested at the library. On the way out I stopped at their used book room, where I also found these gems:

That's one more for my ever-growing BSC collection, and two Wallace & Gromit books I didn't even know existed! I'm a huge Wallace & Gromit fan, so these were a really lucky find. :)

Like I said, it was a good day for me! :)

Birthday Fun

Yesterday was my birthday. I'm officially 33 now! Not that I feel any differently...yet.

It was a really nice day overall. First, my friends Adrienne and Lucia - along with two of their co-workers whom I'd met before - took me out to lunch at Chili's.

I had a chicken sandwich with Swiss cheese, bacon and tomato, which came with a side of fries. It was really delicious, but it was more than I'm used to eating at lunchtime, so I had leftovers to bring home. :)

The strawberry lemonade I had was great too!

I got a chocolate milkshake for dessert.
It was thick and creamy. Yum!

Adrienne and Lucia being silly, as always.

After lunch we all had to go to our jobs. At the library, I was treated to a pecan danish ring, plus I was given a single red rose and a card signed by my co-workers. It was really sweet of them to celebrate my birthday when they've only known me for two weeks! :)

Adrienne and Lucia gave me this awesome notebook
and magnetic bookmarks.


These are all the cards I got this year.
The piggy one to the left is from my best friend Debra.
The yellow one in the front is from Adrienne and Lucia.
I'm going to keep these on display in my room for a long time!

It was a very happy birthday for me this year! :)