Happy Thought: Ella Enchanted

Oh, I remember the first time I found this book. I was in sixth grade, and I was searching the library at my new school. (As a middle schooler, I didn't need to wait for my class to go to the library. I could just go whenever I wanted. I thought this was awesome.) 

This was the cover it had back then: 

A retelling of Cinderella? With a cursed, rebellious heroine? Of course I checked it out. 

And you guys, I fell in love with this book. And I haven't really fallen out of love since. It ranks in the top five of my Favorite Books of All Time. (And at this point in my life, I've read thousands of books.) 

I know there was a movie with Anne Hathaway, but if you've only seen it without reading the book, you're missing out. 

This is what the book looks like now.

Here's the description: 

How can such a fairy's blessing be such a curse?

At her birth, Ella of Frell was the unfortunate recipient of a foolish fairy's gift--the "gift" of obedience. Ella must obey any order given to her, whether it's hopping on one foot for a day and a half, or chopping off her own head! But strong-willed Ella does not tamely accept her fate. Against a bold backdrop of princes, ogres, giants, wicked stepsisters, and fairy godmothers, Ella goes on a quest to break the curse--once and for all. 

Happy Thought: Muir Woods

I drove across the country this month, and I got a chance to see stuff I'd never seen before: red hills, deserts, the Grand Canyon, the Pacific Ocean!

But I wanted to share one of my new favorite places. My mom, who helped me drive across the country, wanted to see some redwoods before she left for Charlotte, so we took a trip to Muir Woods National Park.

These aren't my pictures by the way. All of mine turned out blurry, because we went very late in the day.

Click here for source.

Isn't it awesome? Doesn't it look just like a fairy tale?? It actually reminded me a lot of The Secret of Kells.

Click here for source.

Click here for source.

Anyway, Muir Woods is what scientests call an "Old Growth" forest, which basically means that there's a mix of young trees and really really old - and big - trees. One sign showed a tree that was a thousand years old! But "Old Growth" forests are rare nowadays, because when more people moved into the area, they cut down a lot of the biggest trees for lumber - they needed it to build buildings.

Kind of sad actually - A forest like this is definitely something to see!

Click here for source.

Happy Thoughts: The Christmas Edition

The tree turned out nice this year.

Happy Holidays, lovely readers!

I hope they've been wonderful and merry and bright. I hope they continue that way all the way into the new year. (2012!! Can you believe it's only five days away?)

My holidays have been splendid so far!

I got an e-reader for Christmas - yes, dear reader: I will soon join the ranks of the Kindle- or NOOK-lovers. But unfortunately, it can't be a happy thought for THIS month. I need to go pick one out and purchase it, and first, I'm trying to read my way through all my hard copies before I get too excited about my new toy and its digital library. (But I am SO excited. - Can you tell? I'll be able to buy my OWN e-book. SQUEE!!)

Another awesome gift came from my sister. Does anyone remember this show?

Click through to check it out on Hulu.com

We loved it when we were kids! It ranked right up there with Disney's TV series for Chronicles of Narnia. Because she's awesome and thoughtful, she gave me the box set - definitely a new Happy Thought.

Another Happy Thought?

(It's the holidays. I'm full of happy thoughts this time of year. :-P)

I'm going to make cookies these evening! Giant Oatmeal Spice Cookies to be more specific. They're my very favorite cookies in the whole world (outranking even my ginger chocolate chip cookies!). Probably because I only let myself make them this time of year, which makes them extra special.

Here's the recipe in case you want to try it out: 

Giant Oatmeal Spice Cookies

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground ginger
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups quick cooking oats, uncooked
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)


Combine flour, soda, salt, and spices; set aside.

Combine butter and sugar, creaming well.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Add flour mixture, mixing well.  Stir in oats and nuts.

Drop dough by ¼ cup measure, five inches apart onto lightly greased cookie sheets.

Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Yield about two dozen.

NOTE: You can also convert these to regular-sized cookies. For spoon-sized drops, my oven cooks them at 375 for 8.5 minutes. (Your oven may be different!)

Happy Thought: Audiobooks

Okay, I know that this is a kind of a big category. But they are my NEW FAVORITE THING.

Of course, I wanted to share them with you.

I've stayed away from audiobooks for most of my life. I have to admit: I'm not the best listener in the world. And plus, I just like the feel of books - the texture of pages, the shape of the binding, the smell of paper.

But I found myself in a bit of a bind this month. I'm making some of my presents for Christmas this year, and they require sewing. (I know - Ashley, my main character, can't say. She tells the Lost Boys so several times. But I actually do it for fun. Ironic, huh?)

I can knit and read at the same time, but I can't sew and read at the same time. So, I sewed in the evenings instead of reading.

And I found that I totally missed reading.

I mean, I tried watching TV while I sewed, but that wasn't the same. Plus, I had to look away from the television while I worked, so I didn't take in all the details.

Which led me to audiobooks. Or more specifically, to the audiobook section of my library.

And I'm totally a fan now! It's bringing me back to the days when grown-ups used to read to me. A long time ago now, but still, it's pretty awesome. The actors hired to read the audiobooks do voices and everything, and even though I'm still not wonderful at listening (and often have to replay sections), it's really refreshing to hear someone else bring the books to life.

The pics will show you all the audiobooks that I've listened to this month, and I recommend them all highly. :-)

I confess, though: I'm only a fourth of the way through Chime.

 It's good so far, though!

Happy Halloween!!!

Here are our pumpkins! You can tell which one I carved and which one my sister did by the food we used.

(I love candy. She loves carrots.)

Sorry for the poor photo quality! I was using my cameraphone.

And I was a clown!

This costume comes all the way from the 70's. My aunt wore it in high school. My mom wore it in 80's and 90's when I was a young trick-or-treaker. And I wore it tonight to answer the door.

I made the hat myself, but sadly, it fell off too many times as I was dashing this way and that. We went through FIVE baskets of candy. O.O

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Happy Thought: MY BOOK!! (Take 2)

Okay, so I really did this month's Happy Thought post a few weeks ago, but I just wanted to add a couple things on to that.

Starting with these:

Spotted at the Cotswold Books-A-Million

Spotted at the Southpark Barnes & Noble

It's a strange feeling to walk into a bookstore and find your own book, even you're looking for it. I kept telling myself not to get my hopes up - lots of stores don't unpack their merchandise right away, because there's always so many new releases to unpack. And at first glance, my eye skipped right over it. Since the book has been lying around my house for a few weeks now, my mind just goes, Oh, there's your book. No biggie. 

But then you see it, and it sinks in, and a slow satisfaction creeps in, filling you from the tips of your fingers to ends of your toes. It is - without any exaggeration - a dream come true, and a very happy thought.

If I were Ashley, and Tink lent me fairy dust, I would be flying right now!!!

TODAY!!!!

HAPPY RELEASE DAY, EVERYONE!

 But especially to Always Neverland, my little book baby, who heads out into the great wide world today. :)

(Amazon must be on Seattle time, because it hasn't switched from "pre-order" to "in stock." Yes, I did just check it at 2AM. That's totally normal for an author on release day. :-P)