My Wonderful Secret Santa Gifts.

This year was the second year I participated in Blogger Secret Santa events. I love giving gifts, especially books, so I think this is a great way to get a little more involved in the blogging community.

The first swap I participated in was the Persephone Secret Santa event. This swap focuses on those impressive Persephone editions. These books are so beautiful and while I am just beginning to explore their titles, I have been impressed so far.

I was excited when my package arrived and to find it so beautifully wrapped:



When I opened it, I was excited to find this!



The title is Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple. Also included was the matching bookmark for the edition, a card from the blogger who sent this to me, as well as a crocheted/knitted bookmark!

I want to send a HUGE THANK YOU to Col from Col Reads for sending me such a lovely gift! I collect bookmarks, so the crafted one will find a loving place with my collection, as well as the Persephone one, and I am so excited to have a Whipple on my shelf. I have heard wonderful things about her books! THANK YOU, THANK YOU! :)

The second swap I participated in was the Book Blogger Holiday Swap. I participated in this one last year as well, so I was excited to sign up again. My package came a few days ago, and when I opened it, I found lots of wonderful goodies:


I am a bit overwhelmed by the generosity of my secret santa (I still don't know who they are). Included in my package were a number of bookmarks, a keychain, and a sticker in addition to the four beautiful books that now have a home on my shelf. The bottom two are by Cindy Pon (Silver Phoenix and Fury of the Phoenix). I haven't read either, but I have them both on my TBR, and I was excited to get them! The other two titles are Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot and Our Town by Thornton Wilder. Both are plays that are on my project list and I cannot wait to get to both of them!

Thank you Secret Santa! I will love them all forever!

Weekly Wrap-up for December 27, 2010: Holidays, Anniversary, and BOOK LOOT!

I love the holiday season. I love seeing my extended family members. While most of my aunts, uncles, and cousins live in the metro-Detroit area, we usually only get together once or twice a year. Christmas is always one of those times. Both of my parents are one of six kids, so I have a lot of aunts, uncles, and cousins to visit with. :)

Christmas Eve was spent with my dad's side of the family. We all pick names and purchase a gift for the name we drew. My aunt had my name and bought me two more sets of our dishes since they are being discontinued! I was really excited and they are already washed and in the cupboard.

Its always a fun time and there were a lot of laughs this year. Last year, my aunt and uncle (who were hosting this year) adopted twin boys from Russia. They had no idea what was going on last year, so it was fun to see them all excited this year. The highlight was when they opened Star Wars themed guns and were chasing each other around with their storm trooper helmets on. Quite funny, let me tell you.

Christmas morning was spent with my immediate family, where Matt and I got SPOILED. Everyone else did too. My parents are always extremely generous and since all of us kids exchange gifts as well, there were large piles of beautifully wrapped packages waiting for all of us. Besides the books which I'll talk about in a minute, I got Seasons 1-10 of Friends, a Le Crueset Canister set for our kitchen, a Le Crueset crock for all of those bulky kitchen utensils, new salt and pepper shakers, a tart dish, some jewelry, a second set of sheets for our bed (yay for new sheets!), and a bunch of wonderful little items that have already been put away. After gifts we ate a big breakfast and talked before Matt and I headed over to his parents for lunch and more gifts.

At Matt's house we arrived just in time for the big gift giving extravaganza. We only exchange with his parents, but I don't think our 6 nieces and nephews minded. They were opening gifts left and right from their grandma and grandpa! I got to hold the baby (she's about 9 months or so), so that was wonderfully fun. :) Matt's parents got me a subscription to Paula Deen's magazine (I LOVE Paula. I would adopt her if I could) as well as a beautiful necklace. Then we ate, again, and stayed to chat for a few hours before heading home to check on the kitties and empty our full Jeep.

We headed back to my parents for gifts with my mom's side, where we do a one gift exchange as well. My uncle got me an IKEA gift card, which is perfect as I need a new desk. We sold Matt's HUGE one when we moved and he took mine, which was big. I'm getting a smaller one, but the gift card will be wonderful. We're also going to get some wall shelves for around the apartment, so yay for IKEA. We ate again (I was about to burst by this point), before pigging out on my delish apple pie and banana splits and cookies. I was good and only had a scoop of frozen yogurt, since I have been watching what I am eating, but it was wonderful.

After that, we headed home and I unpacked a few things before calling it a night and passing out for 12 hours.

Sunday was spent cleaning and unpacking while Matt was at work. When he got home we got cleaned up and went out for an AMAZING dinner to celebrate our anniversary. We had the most delicious calimari and I had a shrimp dish (YUM). It was low key and wonderful, just like what I wanted. It is hard to believe that we've been married for a whole year already, but I am excited to be moving forward together in 2011. If you feel like reading some sappiness, I wrote a post yesterday for Matt. It is cheesy. :)

Now on to the good stuff, BOOK LOOT!

I made out like a bandit this year and got a good deal of books, much to my brothers' disgust. They told me, after moving us in here, that they never want to move my books again. :) Well, now I have a big chunk of new titles to shelve and figure out where to put. My classics shelf is bursting, so I might need to clear some space on my other shelves.

I should point out ahead of time that I had to take this on my phone, since the cord for our camera is packed in one of Matt's boxes and I don't feel like digging around for it.

From top to bottom:
Kim by Rudyard Kipling
Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
NOT PICTURED:
Pegasus by Robin McKinley
Halt's Peril by John Flanagan

This stack is actually of some recent acquisitions. I figured I would throw it in here for kicks. :) I picked up The Painted Veil by Maugham after a conversation with Amanda at The Zen Leaf about his work. I had to replace a title on my list and figured a novel by Maugham would be a great fit (the work I replaced was "The Dead" by James Joyce, since it is included in The Dubliners which I also have to read. No sense in reading it twice). I already read it (I was excited about it), and it was EXCELLENT. I have also read Pegasus already and my post went up sometime last week. The book by Flanagan is another book Matt picked up for me recently and is the ninth book in the Ranger's Apprentice series. I love that series and needed this one in hardcover to match. :)

Kim, Moby Dick and Nicholas Nickleby are all on my list and since I was given a gift card, I picked them up on a trip to the bookstore. Moby Dick failed to win in a readalong poll, but I am still planning on reading it this year and soon.

From left to right and top to bottom:
Big coffee/tea mug
bookmark
Vanilla Caramel Tea
Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
Eygyptian Mint Green Tea

This is all of the loot I received from the Book Blogger Holiday Swap! My package came a while ago and I opened it then, but because of the camera situation, I am just now getting a picture up. I was so incredibly excited for all of these goodies and my Santa was super thoughtful and generous! And I have to say that the vanilla caramel tea is delicious. Thank you!

From top to bottom and left to right:
"Richard III" by William Shakespeare
"As You Like It" by William Shakespeare
"Antony and Cleopatra" by William Shakespeare
"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare
"The Taming of the Shrew" by William Shakespeare
"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare
The Iliad by Homer (Robert Fagles Translation)
The Inferno by Dante
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
A Christmas Carol and other Christmas Writings by Charles Dickens
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
The Sonnets and A Lover's Complaint by William Shakespeare
NOT PICTURED:
a renewal of my subscription to Bookmarks magazine!

All of these lovelies I opened on Christmas morning! My sister was responsible for the pile of Shakespeare wonderfulness and the Homer. I was really excited for the Shakespeare since I am planning on reading a good chunk of his plays this year to get them out of the way. :) I love both sets of these editions, and this is a great pile to choose from. So many wonderful plays!

The pile on the right was from my parents, and yes, those are the beautiful Penguin cloth bound editions that I am in love with. I just love these editions and I know that I talk about them often, but look at how pretty! I am excited to get these on the shelf next to their brothers and sisters. Now I have all of the released titles and just have to wait till April for the next four to come out (Middlemarch, Dracula, A Tale of Two Cities, and Gulliver's Travels). I have a book problem, did you know that?

My parents also resubscribed me to Bookmarks magazine, which I have been getting for the past year. I am so excited for the next edition to come into my hands. :)

Well, that was my book loot from Christmas. I hope you got some books as well!

Happy Reading everyone!

Honest Scrap Award.

I received this from StephTheBookworm, so I am continuing on. I have to list ten honest things about myself and then pass it along to other bloggers!

1. When I was younger, I really like reading a lot of old, historical type novels, like The Little House on the Prairie. I was obsessed with pioneer life and living in the country. It’s no wonder that of the American Girl Dolls, I owned Kirsten, the one who lived in the country. I think this helped inspire my history degree.

2. I graduated from college in April 2007 with two bachelor’s degrees. One was in English and the other in history. In addition, I earned a minor in Social Studies, as well as earning my Michigan teaching certification for grades 6-12. Unfortunately, I’m not teaching at the moment as there are virtually no teaching jobs in Michigan.

3. I love high heels. I own quite a few pairs and wore them almost every day when I was teaching. I used to tell my students it was so they could hear the authoritative clicking as I was walking around their desks, but really, I just love them. I am still in search of a cute pair of purple heels, but I’m not giving up yet.

4. I have played the trumpet since I was 11 and I absolutely love it. I’m not an incredibly awesome player, but I am pretty good. I play every Tuesday night with Matt for a community band in the area run by our old high school band teacher. With all that being said, I am pretty tone deaf and can’t carry a tune to save my life.

5. I like to own the books I read. There is something about having them right there whenever I want them that appeals to me. However, this causes problems because I currently have too many for the space I have and they get rather expensive.

6. I collect bookmarks. I like unique and original designs, but I also own a lot of commercial type ones based off of favorite book series. I probably own something like 70-80 bookmarks, and yes, I have used all of them. I like picking out a bookmark to match the book I am reading. Sound insane? Probably.

7. I have only been pulled over once in the eight years I have been driving solo. It was when I was 16 and running late to school. Even when I cried the officer still gave me the full ticket (he wasn’t a nice guy). I have had a perfectly clean record since then.

8. I love dogs and cats. Growing up, my family has had 3 yellow labs. The first dog we had, Sandy, died when I was in fifth grade and it was my first experience dealing with death. Our second lab, Shelby, was with us for ten years. She ended up getting cancer and we had to put her down when I was a senior in college. Our third lab, Sadie, is quite honestly the biggest personality of the bunch and she just turned 3. I can’t wait to have a big house so I can have labs. Matt has a cat, Hemi, who I will be living with after the wedding. She is super cute and I can’t wait to make her pose for pictures with books.

9. I love to write. I’ve entered the 3-Day Novel Contest a few times, as well as National Novel Writing Month. Of those, I’ve only finished 2 novels and honestly, they’re horrible. I’m working on a new novel now (young adult) with hopes of finishing it and reworking it. I love to write and hope I can make a future out of my work. I kind of consider my blog practice. Any writing helps!

10. I love music and probably own too much of it to really listen to it all. Some of my favorite bands/musicians include: Switchfoot, Disturbed, The Juliana Theory, In This Moment, Nightwish, Muse, Within Temptation, Josh Groban, Adele, August Burns Red, Blue October, Enya, Linkin Park, Dragonforce, Stars, Fall Out Boy, Michael Buble, HIM, Norah Jones, Straylight Run, Kelly Clarkson, Plumb, Ronnie Day, Silversun Pickups, Seether, and about 50 million others.

I’ll be tagging bloggers in comments! Or you may steal if you so wish!