Deals! Deals!

Caught your eye on the deals part right? Well, it's actually the opposite. I went to Target yesterday and the retailer is already prepping for holiday shoppers. I was there to look for nothing in particular, maybe some soap. A saleslady approaches me and tells me about their app called Cartwheel. I fish out my old iPhone 4 and surprise! The app doesn't want to load on an old device. Boo hoo to me.
It's a good thing since I wasn't even supposed to buy anything, let alone a Monster High Doll that was 50% off. Anyway, the point is, there's a lot of stuff out there that are not needed, but they looked appealing because of the discount.

Here's a story on USA Today that even suggests that Black Friday deals aren't all that in the first place. Well, this rant is really about not splurging on stuff that looks appealing at first, but doesn't really seem like a good idea. By the way, I'm not getting rid of my 3G iPhone 4 because it only costs me $80 a year to keep it running. I am on a prepaid plan. I don't use my phone much: I use the wifi a lot to send text messages and I have a landline. I can look up maps and stuff on the 3G network, send tweets or check FB. It's a sweet deal.

Okay, on to other news...LibraryReads voting ends tomorrow, Nov. 20th.
So far, here are my recommendations in no particular order, I love them all!

Poverty and loneliness - two subjects that would probably make readers recoil from, actually gives this book so much life.

The stories will linger with you and you might even re-read some to get that feeling back once it's gone.

Robert hosts a wild bachelor party for his immature younger brother when things go horribly wrong when he unwittingly invites sex slaves to the party.

The writer is brilliant in capturing the essence of the foibles of people engaged in seemingly inane things but it stops you dead in your tracks when you are hit how profound they actually are.

This twisty novel has so many layers - it talks of guilt, of making sacrifices, and ultimately, the ties that bind together loved ones.

All these books will be published in January! Happy reading!
Share your comments below.

Workshop : Christmas tags and prepping

I hosted a workshop yesterday where we made Christmas tags.

They are so much better in person! I know Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I should be prepping for that holiday first, but I'm trying to make my presents this year and I haven't started! I plan to crochet a few Amigurumi dolls and I just pray that I make it!

These tags will look so cute adorning my handmade presents. I am quite excited. If you want to order this kit, you still have time! This kit is retiring and they are only available until supplies last!

These are the stamps that go along with it: Oh, What Fun Stamp set

**Disclosure, I work as a demonstrator for Stampin' Up and will get a small commission from your purchase.

It's Friday!

Fridays used to mean a lot to me when I worked only in the weekdays, now that I work Saturdays as well, Fridays are not as sweet. "It's Saturday!" is not quite the same as "It's Friday!"

There is still something to look forward to at least in the social media realm. #FridayReads is a favorite hashtag, People talk about what books they're reading. Perhaps due to the weekend, where presumably people will have time to read; it doesn't apply to me since I start a book any day of the week! My #fridayreads is "The Summer Before The War" by Helen Simonson. I adored her book, "Major Pettigrew's Last Stand" - We discussed it a while back at our book club, and our session was quite lively and a lot of our members loved it!

I also just finished  "The Vegetarian" - a psychological thriller about a Korean woman who inexplicably stops eating meat and affects her husband and her family in strange ways. Read some advance praise for it.

It's a gorgeous cover, but oddly, I like this cover better, which I found from Portobello Books:

Usually, book covers don't mean a lot to me. Except when I know I have a choice and I strongly prefer one over the other. There was only one instance where I went out of my way to purchase a book with a different cover and it's for this book:


I really didn't like the cover on the right, but I wanted my own copy after reading it at my library. Thankfully I found the one on the left. It was considerably well-worn (bought it from an online thrift store), but I was pleased with the cover. The book is a hilarious take on motherhood. I read it when I was pregnant with my first child. Might have been the most inexpensive therapy for me.


**Have you chosen a different imprint to get the right cover of a book you liked? Share in the comments below!

Digital Stamps

I'm in trouble. I just discovered digital stamps! Aaah. What does this mean? It means instant gratification. I buy a stamp from Mo's Digital Stamp or A Day for Daisies for example, I print it from my printer and voilà, I have a perfect image already set and ready to color! There's no package to wait from the UPS guy or Amazon's 2-day shipping. I instantly have it. It's insane.

Here's one of the images that I colored:

My crafting/paper obsession is proving to be a costly endeavor. I might have to switch to digital painting or learning languages (I'm forever studying German and Japanese). The distraction is also wreaking havoc on my reading! I get sent tons of galleys to read and I really want to read 80% of them at least!

I can understand how people love to color lately. I personally love coloring people. It's too bad that most of the coloring books available feature animals, geometric shapes and landscapes. Also, the paper is thin so my Copics will go right through them. I'm quite crazy about my Copic markers at the moment.

Oh, before I forget, the Q and A session with Eve Chase is today at 1 PM PST/4 PM EST.
http://penguindebutauthors.earlyword.com/black-rabbit-hall/

See you there!

Black Rabbit Hall chat with the author tomorrow!

Tomorrow I'm going to participate in a chat with a new author, Eve Chase:

If you have read the book and want to ask the author some questions, please join us tomorrow, November 11th at 1 PM PST/ 4 PM EST

It's the story of Amber and Lorna alternating between 1969 and present day. How are their stories connected? What is the secret of Black Rabbit Hall? Atmospheric and engrossing, it will take you to Cornwall manor- a place filled with innocence and dark mystery.

Won't you join us? Share your comments below. By the way, I rated it highly and voted for it on Library Reads, a venue for librarians all over the country to highlight titles that readers should look out for.

Copics!

I can't remember how I found about Copics. They are excellent markers for coloring. Copics are alcohol-based which means you can blend them - no streaks!

Last Friday, I attended a papercrafting workshop at Long Beach that started at 8 a.m. (thus the absence of a blog post that day!). Initially I thought maybe I shouldn't have registered because there are tons of Youtube videos and tutorials on the Web for free. However, I found something valuable in working in a group setting (I was in a table with 4 other women - surprisingly, no men!). I got to see other people's work (each attendee had a different take on coloring even when following directions projected on a screen). I also realized that there is no right or wrong way to do art.

Here is what I did in my first try.

And then I got a bit better with shading:

I learned two things that day: shadows are very important (it gives life to the image from being flat to dimensional) and colors play a big part in blending. Here is a color chart from Copic:

By the second day (I took all the classes back-to-back), here was my last work:

I

I was really proud of it because I was satisfied how my shadows and colors played out. Have you taken classes in person vs online, which one was more satisfying? Share your comments below.
I can tell that I really enjoyed the classes because I'm already looking for more classes to take in person! Here are some classes from the Copic website.

Librarian nostalgia (oh and it happens to be Thursday! Coincidence)

I love my job. Before I became a librarian, I can remember exactly when  I wanted to become a librarian. I was visiting the Atwater Village Public Library after a rough day at work (I was a customer service representative). I had studied journalism and French and I felt like I was going nowhere. Surrounded by books, the place was heavenly. There was a lone librarian working in front of a computer and I immediately wanted to be that person. I imagined what her day was like: park her car, go in, order books, talk to people what books they want to read, help them find things, look at databases, surrounded by books and knowledge...I already felt confident about my communication skills, even though English is my second language (I have to remind myself that sometimes) and I'm tenacious with research and discovering. I just knew that I wanted to work where I had something to do with books and people. And here I am, after a decade of working as a librarian (I had a short stint at a law firm as a digital content librarian - tons of fun but I'll write more on that later) and I don't take anything for granted.

Yesterday, I received this in the mail:

Through the years, I've had the opportunity to attend annual ALA conferences and I've met some fabulous folks at the publishing houses. In one of the talks that I've attended, I found out that librarians all over the country talk about books even before they get published. I got on their mailing list and now I get all these books to read before publication so I can order and recommend them to patrons.  How cool is that? I've reviewed quite a few books and have gotten a few featured on Library Reads - what a thrill! More importantly, I have recommended lots and lots of books to patrons - I enjoy hanging out near our new books section and just chatting with people: asking which authors they follow, asking them what they're currently reading, and asking them what their favorite books are. I look back and it's quite fitting that I found my dream job in the very place where I get to work!

Do you find libraries useful in your life? Share below!