My first meme

I've been tagged by I Buy Books for the 8 random things meme. I've never participated in a meme before and after catching up on my blog reading I think I may be among the last few in the blogosphere to list my 8 random facts/habits. So I won't tag anyone else since most have been tagged already. But here goes:

1. I am 31 years old and have never had a cavity (something I am very proud of :)

2. I think I am one of the few people on the planet that cannot stand watching any of the Star Wars movies. Much to my husband's dismay, I despise them. Not a big fan of Lord of the Rings either.

3. I am literally allergic to exercise. Seriously. Everytime I work out I break out in itchy hives. This has been a rather recent development. To get around this annoying issue I take Claritin or Zyrtec before I go jogging. Which doesn't always work, but I guess it's better than nothing. I'm hoping the hives will one day disappear as mysteriously as they came.

4. I am three inches taller than my husband, therefore it's pretty rare for me to ever wear heels. Flip flops are my footwear of choice. I should probably just get over it, own up to my height of 5'9", and wear heels with pride. There are some benefits to being tall I suppose...one in particular is it takes more time for unwanted pounds to show up on a taller frame because there is more area to spread it over! Regardless, I feel like I am always trying to lose 10 pounds. Sigh...

5. I've never read Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice (both are on my TBR list for this summer).

6. I am a packrat and surround myself with clutter. Not matter how hard I try, I just do not have the knack for organization and simplification.

7. My favorite place in the world is Hawaii. Someday I will get back there.

8. I am one of those people that must get at least 8 hours of sleep a night in order to be productive and not cranky...I'm 10 minutes late for work every morning because I've hit the snooze button one too many times.

Speaking of sleep, I am headed upstairs to bed. We spent the entire weekend painting our family room. We painted over hideous faux wood paneling which required 2 coats of primer and then 2 coats of paint. Not to mention the built in bookcases we had to paint around. I am wiped. But the room no longer feels like a dungeon!

Before I sign off - has anyone read Black Girl, White Girl by Joyce Carol Oates? I just finished it - great book.

I'm back

I know I have been MIA for the past month, recent weeks have been crazy busy, although most weeks seem crazy busy. I definitely think I need to scale back my activities before I run myself ragged. I feel like I haven't had much time to do any significant reading lately and that's never a good thing. I look forward to lazy summer evenings lounging on my porch with a good book and the crickets chirping (or whatever it is that they do) in the background. Those days cannot get here fast enough. In any case, I recently discovered Bloglines and have been reading what everyone's been up to - you've all been very busy!

Lately, I've had a minor obsession with buying knitting books. Just today I found three more I want. I need to slow down with the purchasing because I can't knit as fast as I am buying the books! It's all the beautiful pictures that entice me into thinking "Yeah, I can do that..." and while maybe I can, most of the patterns I am drawn to would take me forever. But does that stop me from buying the books? Nooo, of course not. This time though I am going to be smart and take these three out of the library and determine realistically just how many of the patterns I would knit before I invest the money. In no particular order, here they are.

Sigh...I want. But I don't need.

I did manage to score some great finds at a library book sale the other weekend. I picked up several hardcover craft books for $2 a piece.

But the best find of the day was Michael Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White. This is one that's been talked about a lot in the blogosphere; I was so happy to see it laying on the table I let out a little shriek when I spotted it. I'm glad to own this one as it is a rather hefty book; I know I can take my time with it and not have to worry about getting it back to the library.
Which is exactly what happened to me with Michael Gruber's The Book of Air and Shadows. I got about 225 pages in and was way overdue my 2 allowed renewals so I had to give in and bring it back. I marked down my page number though and have already requested it again.

Other books I have out of the library include The Post-Birthday World, The Teahouse Fire, and Rise and Shine. I've got my reading cut out for me!

And from this point forward I vow to be less sporadic with my posts. With summer coming and the promise of extra reading time, I am sure I will have lots to post about. One more thing...Picnik is my new favorite tool - it's a very fun photo editor and is completely free.