Updating Template

Please bear with me as I'm updating my template.

Thanks to all the new visitors that have dropped by my blog! :) I have added your blogs to my links. I hope this was okay with you all!

Vacation Time!!!

I am too excited. On Monday 8/14 at 8:45 a.m. I will be on my way to the Riviera Maya in Mexico. We're going to be staying at the Grand Gala Esmeralda Beach Resort & Spa. Just typing the name of the resort makes me feel so happy. Yes!!! I will be there fore 5.5 days and will return on 8/20. This is a well overdue break.

But I have been stressed....can you guess why??? That's right - what books to bring! Good Lord, this is giving me such a headache. As I've mentioned before, I have been on a buying spree. Danielle & Iliana - I will definitely post all of my purchases as soon as I get back. I've been kind of scared to because that will mean I will have to own up to all the money that I have spent. And I know that it's not going to be pretty.

One book that I definitely will be reading is The Birth House by Ami McKay. I actually received an ARC from Harper Collin's First Look program. Since the review is due on September 1st I have to get cracking. I peeked at some pages and so far, so good.

So back to my dilemma. There is so much I want to take with me and I really don't know how to narrow it down. I'm thinking of bringing a smorgasborg of genres - classics, cozies, contemporary fiction.

Here goes the possible list:

The Birth House by Ami McKay (Fiction)
The Keep by Jennifer Egan (Fiction)
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer (YA)
Probable Future by Alice Hoffman (Fiction)
Seventh Heaven by Alice Hoffman (Fiction)
The Glass House by Ashley Gardner (Mystery)
Murder Under a Mystic Moon by Yasmine Galenorn (Mystery)
Dinner at the Homesick Diner by Anne Tyler (Fiction)
Class Mothers - forgot the author's name (Fiction - about rich parents)
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (Fiction)

I'm at work right now so when I get home I will add more to this list. Then maybe I can narrow it down.

BTW - Nancy, you are so lucky to have received two bags of books from your mom!! :)

Reviews coming soon

I've read some great books in the last couple of months. They include Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman, and The Abortionist's Daughter by Elisabeth Hyde.

I will be posting reviews by the end of the week. I must note that I was impressed by what I read, particularly Never Let me Go and The Ice Queen. Both left me naked, sad, whisftul, and extremely verbose (I'm such a wiseass sometimes! - must be due to my lack of sleep).

By the way, I've been buying books like they've been going out of style. I have issues. I need help. I.............can't...........stop..........buying.........

Currently Reading....

So far, so good. I'm only 34 pages into the novel but I'm already attached to the characters. I've heard so many good things about Anne Tyler's writing so I thought I should find out why she is so well-loved.

Busy Busy Me!

Whew! Have I been BUSY!!

Let's see....still taking my grad courses. BTW, health care can be very depressing. After studying about the "donut hole" and other issues, I feel our health care situation is just getting worse. But I digress....

At the beginning of the summer I took the first half of Anatomy & Physiology. It was a full semester crammed into 5 weeks, 4 days a week, 5.5 hours a day (I took the evening section). I highly recommend taking this route if you feel suicidal or are a glutton for punishment. I had quizzes every day, lab assignments every day, lab practicals every week, and lecture exams every week. I had to learn the whole skeletal system in two days. I had to learn the whole muscular system in two days. I had to learn the whole nervous system in two days. You get the picture.

While I was taking this, I was finishing up a grad course at another college. Confused? Well, I'm earning my Master's at one college and decided that I needed to finish my pre-reqs to get into a nursing program (I want to become a nurse practitioner or a head nurse and then take over the world) and so I began taking courses at a second college. Hence, the A&P course. Oh yeah, and I'm a full-time Office Manager, the only female in my office driven by testosterone-laden boys, and work on marketing, too.

Where was I? So the grad course I was taking at the same time was killing me because I had an asshole teammate who was lazy, did not pay attention, and was generally a shithead. Yes - I had my first e-mail argument and let me tell you, I almost put my fist through the computer.

I did do well in both courses - I got an A for each! YAY!!!!!!! Lots of stress but I work hard because I'm an over-achiever who will sacrifice reading to do good in my courses. It was hard putting my books down to write papers and study the human form.

So, as soon as I finished my A&P course, I started my next grad course, which I am finishing right now. It's going pretty well so I'm happy. This course finishes on 8/14, at which time I will be taking a well-deserved break and going on vacation. Then, on 8/21 I begin the second half of A&P for the fall semester; on 8/22, I begin my next grad course. In the spring semester, I will be taking microbiology, medical terminology, CPR certification, working on my fingerprint clearance, studying for the nursing entrance exam, taking grad courses, will still be working, and pondering over what the heck Lost is really about.

Oh yeah....I'm going to be an aunt, a titi, an auntie! My brother is going to be a DAD! This is very bizarre for me! First, because I am the oldest so I was expected to start the baby farm, and second because he just became a certified teacher and now a certified daddy. The first grandbaby for my family, too. I have big plans for this kid. Baby Einstein videos, cute outfits, and lots of books. Oh yeah! This baby will definitely be getting TONS of book from this bookworm :)