Flirty Aprons GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

I came across this giveaway at Grosgrain- and these aprons are just adorable! What better way to get in the spring mood than a bright, sexy fun apron like these ones? My only difficulty is choosing a favorite- I like them all! Follow the link to enter:

Flirty Aprons GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

A Good Day

Today was one of those days where I woke up sleepy but the sun was shining and it woke me up quickly. I finished a fantastic book (Mistborn). A friend from my second year of college chatted with me on facebook- she wanted to double check that I was the one who made the knit stuffed piggy for her because her second daughter loves it and walks around with it and sleeps with it. That just touched my heart. It's in the mid or upper 70's and not a cloud in the sky. It's gorgeous out so I went for a walk. On my way back I stopped at the mailbox and although we got the typical junk mail and coupons, and even an electric bill, it's ok, because I also received a book, My Single Friend, by Jane Costello, thanks to the lovely folks at Simon and Schuster UK. (I no longer wonder what book I'll read next :). And we also got our security deposit from our previous landlords- which we have been waiting for since June (Long story- not really their fault, not really ours either- lots of missed phone calls and miscommunications, 2 addresses on our part, etc. We visited our landlady when we were in NY for Christmas and she fed us (She's a older Italian lady- she always fed us!) and she hadn't known her daughter had been unsuccessful in sending us the deposit back (no clue what happened in the mail, they had our address at the time). She was quite upset, and kept trying to call her daughter (her daughter manages renting out the apartments upstairs, where we lived), and we gave her our most recent address and phone number- and today we received it after so long.

It's a gorgeous day, I have a new book, our savings just got a boost. I think I'm going to eat some grapefruit and then head outside to read until Tom gets home from work. I hope everyone else is having as good a day.

Mistborn, By Brandon Sanderson

I just finished Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. My copy was one I received as a giveaway from http://www.bookloveaffair.com/ .

Mistborn is a fantastic book! The characters were dynamic and fantastic, the world was described in wonderful detail, and the magic was unlike anything I've ever read in fantasy. Brandon Sanderson is a wonderful author. His systems of Allomancy and Feruchemy were so fascinating. He kept you on your toes too, adding little twists and turns in. And the themes of trust, love, and friendship are so well done. I had so much trouble putting this book down that I got barely anything done yesterday! I highly recommend this book and I'm off to find out information on the rest of the series!

More Books in 2010

I've read 4 more books since I last updated about them:

-The Other Queen, By Philippa Gregory- I have read 5 or 6 other books by Gergory and this is the only one I didn't absolutely love. I'm not sure if that is due to the changing first person perspective every couple of pages or due to the fact that I had very little prior knowledge of Mary, Queen of Scots. I usually like multiple perspectives, but this book fell a little flat for me. The White Queen, The Queen's Lover, and The Other Boleyn Girl are books I heartily recommend.

-The Guardian, by Nicholas Sparks- This definitely was not what I am used to with Sparks. He combines romance with thriller- but it totally works! My only wish was that I'd like to know more about what happens after the climax. This kept my heart racing, but also had the tender teary moments one is used to when reading sparks. I liked it.

-Chinese Cinderella, by Adeline Yen Mah- A Heartbreaking story, but I'm not sure I'd equate it to Cinderella. I'm a huge fan of Cinderella variations and even did a paper on them in college (That Folktales and Fairy Tales class was awesome), but while Yen Mah was an unwanted child, she always had her aunt, and there were also siblings from the same mother that shared her plight, albeit not to the same extent. Still a great read (and a quick read- I read this in less than a day). I've added Yen Mah's "Falling Leaves" to my books to read list.

-Survival in Auschwitz, by Primo Levi- This was not what I'm used to for concentration camp survival stories. While Levi goes through what the camp is like and what happened, that takes the back seat to his analysis of how they survived, what they thought as prisoners, and essentially, how humans can treat each other as the Germans treated the prisoners, but even more so, how the prisoners treated each other. I'd love to see a female perspective written in the same way. Very well written!

That brings me to a total of 8 books so far. I haven't yet picked what I'll be reading yet, but I've crafts to do!