Vacation, Books, Emails

Just got back from vacation. I went to Tennessee, specifically Knoxville. I really enjoyed my trip there. It was a great city with plenty to offer and I soaked it all up. Well, I rested and walked around and did a little shopping and just basically relaxed. I found a lovely book shop on Kingston Pike (the main road) called Carpe Librum (love that name!) and bought a couple of books there. Of course nothing beat the $3 bookshop I found off the interstate just before you leave Georgia. Yes, I stopped and yes I bought many books there. How could I not? Of course I am starting to gather several piles of books that need to be read, so perhaps I should take a break from book buying for a bit. Hmmm. As for the trip itself, it was a long drive, but most definitely worth it. I'll definitely be visiting Knox again. And now I am back at work and waiting for my next vacation, which I am debating taking during December. By the by, I packed a few books to read on vacation and do you know how many I actually read - 1! Just one! I wound up reading the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series ( I bought it on a whim). That book was just such fun to read and completely light and fluffy that I ended up buying a couple of more books in the series (for a quarter a piece at a church yard sale). I even got the t. v. series, True Blood, on dvd and started watching it last night. Unfortunately, due to bad weather conditions, I lost power and couldn't finish watching the first episode (the little bit I did watch had me wondering what had taken me so long to jump on the True Blood bandwagon - it is just that good!). I have the second book in the series in my purse and am hoping to start it this week. I also have Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella on my night stand waiting to be read. Oh and I started to read Dirty Girls on Top by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez last night (by flashlight) and so far I like it. Its kind of nice to read a book sprinkled with a little bit of Spanish in the text ( I haven't read any Spanish since I was writing my thesis). As far as Team Ulysses goes, well I sort of let that fall behind a bit, but I will be picking up the behemoth of a book and diving back in. I watched Lost in Austen for the Everything Austen challenge (will be blogging about it soon), so I am caught up in that challenge, of course I need to start Sense and Sensibility since that was on my list to read for the challenge. I have yet to read anything for the Japanese Literature Challenge 3, but I do now have the books I want to read in my possession, so that makes it easier to get started. And I have a huge stack of mags that I bought to read on vacation that I never got around to - so I have brought a few to read during lunch at work. Oh and I just found out I won a copy of The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer from S. Krishna's Books and that totally made my morning! And I read this fab email from a dear friend of mine that really made me smile. I had written to her whinging about a friend of mine who has really started to make me feel badly and how that negativity has been affecting me to the point where I no longer even want to chat with said friend anymore, and well, lets just say that my dear friend put it all in perspective for me and cheered me up a bit. What else, hmmm, I am feeling a bit healthier. I got up early and walked on the treadmill and felt really good about it. I just need to keep it up. I'm only 31 and already I feel as if I have the body of a 90 year old. I need to get in shape and start feeling healthy. My AIH is under control and everything seems to be fine, so I figure now is the time to go for it! Its crazy to me that I allowed myself to get so unhappy based on a disease that is completely under control now. UGH! I think I need to check myself because I was beginning to wreck myself (love that quote from Bethenny of Real Housewives NYC!). Anyhow, all is good in my bookish life. Hope everyone is having a fab week. Happy Reading!!!