Books, books, books...

I've been doing a lot of reading lately.

Since I barely use this poor blog, I thought I'd at least record my book adventures here.

I recently reread

Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind

This is... perhaps my tenth time reading this book. I enjoy it for a good light read.  (Light read at 848 pages...)  I like it because the main characters are less people and more avatars of good, justice and wisdom.  They make mistakes, but their intentions are always pure and when they screw up, they acknowledge it and work to fix it.  A lot of people complain about this series for that exact reason, but I find it appealing.  It's like reading about super heroes only in fantasy.  Yeah, they're over-powered in some ways, but in the end I'm reading about someone I think I'd like to be like.  A lot of characters in modern fantasy literature kind of make me feel a little slimy and I certainly don't want to be them.

That said, I now skip over all the torture scenes.  Too much.

On that same note, I'm currently reading

Stone of Tears by Terry Goodkind (982 p)

The sequel to Wizard's First Rule and also a book I've read many times.  I'm sort of easing my way through this series when I have some downtime away from the computer.  I'm about halfway done.

When I'm at the computer, I'm reading

Abraham & Mary Lincoln by Kenneth Winkle (162 p)

The school where I work has a very nice library online.  There are tons and tons of books on history and science and religion and whatnot.  I'm just in hog heaven browsing through the titles!  I'm about 1/3 of the way through this one but I'm eating it up.

Cartoonified

I've been having a lot of fun drawing recently.  I think I was a tiny bit burned out on doing images in my typical stamp style.  They're fun in their own way, but I needed a change-up.

I've been stretching my wings a bit lately by doing some images in a more cartoony style.  Expect to see some stamps in the shop soon.  I'm having a lot of fun with them!  They're very playful.

I hope you will like them, when I get them posted!

New Neighbor

We've recently had a Great Horned Owl move into the neighborhood.

Picture from here

I've seen him a few times and I've listened to him call just about every night this week.  Very relaxing.

Plus, I haven't been woken to the raucous noise of a cat-fight outside my window since he arrived.

Delightful.

Neglected

Wow....

This place is so neglected.

I don't really have anything to update right now.  I've been spending the majority of my days feeling miserable at work or at home in bed.  I've been doing a lot of reading.  Picked up the Dragonriders of Pern.  I've read a couple of the books in the past (Dragonsinger is one of my favorite books ever), but now I'm really trying to sink my teeth into the series.

Not much else to say, so I'll leave you with a music video of my current favorite band.  Seriously though, check them out.

http://youtu.be/ojYK6CW8gdw

More birthday

Last night I had plans to have dinner and then go to a basketball game with my friend, Julie.  My manager at work has season tickets to the Suns here and gave everyone a couple tickets to random games for Hanukkah.  I just happened to draw the tickets that were during the time I'd taken off for my birthday, so that was convenient.

I met Julie and Ben, her husband, at Cornish Pasty.  While I do love Cornish Pasty, I'll admit I don't normally have it twice in the same week, but whatevs, it was delicious.

Did that stop me from getting Banoffee Pie again?  Oh heck no.

Ben and Julie are awesome.  They have this magical ability wherein you can hang out with them and NOT feel like a third wheel.  Fabulous.

Anyway, long story short, we were running late and I seriously was not looking forward to driving around downtown Phoenix and neither Julie nor I really care for basketball all that much...

...so we ditched and the three of us went and played mini-golf instead!

It was a lot of fun.  We all sucked royally but there was much laughing and goofballery.

Thanks to Ben and Julie for a wonderful evening!

Surprise!

My best friend is amazing.

And wicked.

But mostly amazing.

Our simple day of lunch and errands suddenly took a turn when her sister and mom showed up at Cornish Pasty (one of my favorite restaurants in the valley) with presents for my surprise early birthday party!

After a yummy dinner we went to a movie (Breaking Dawn pt 2- no, I hadn't seen it yet).

Plus I even got a banoffee pie for dessert!

Excellent start to 30.

Heart

Yesterday was a bad day.

Things at work were rough and I was feeling very grumpy and depressed.  (Not to mention the woman I share a cube with came in and shared her lovely flu germs with me.  Not cool.)

But today that has completely and totally turned around.  Why?  

Because of you!  All of you amazing folks who never fail to provide a kind word or a spark of inspiration.  You are such a wonderfully caring and friendly group of people.  

I adore you all and thank the stars for the good luck of happening to wonder, "If I made digital stamps, would anyone like them?"

<3

(Also listening to Largo al Factotum from the Barber of Seville always perks me up!)