A cold, an awesome mani, and my 10 all time fave books!
Blogging two weeks in a row?! What the what?! š
1. I have a cold. (Yuck!) J is sending me some chicken noodle soup from my fave deli (what a sweetie!), and Iām quickly burning through a box of Kleenex. Le sigh. But that leaves me plenty of time to watch some Netflix. Since Gilmore Girls ā all seasons, all episodes ā is on Netflix streaming, Iāve been reacquainting myself with its awesomeness. For some reason, the bitchiest characters are my fave. Maybe itās because they say things that I would never dream of saying, but theyāre kind of trueā¦mean, but trueā¦
Like Michel! How awesome is he:
And Paris! OMG! <3
Also, Iāve found and watched all of Bitten. Because Clayton!
OMG!!! And how many naked butts can one show have. Apparently a lot. Thank you, Lord!
2. My friend Candace came over and gave me the best mani ever. I mean seriously. Look at this:

Okay, so maybe I shouldāve gotten over my Hello Kitty obsession a couple decades ago, but that so didnāt happenā¦
3-5. So a couple of weeks agoā¦or moreā¦whoopsā¦I got tagged in a post on my personal Facebook page by a friend. They wanted to know my 10 fave books of all time. I figured some readers here might also be interested in this one. Iām counting this as #3-5 because itās gonna be a long one! So, off the top of my head, my top 10 books:
1. The Rainbow Goblins by Ul De Rico

My aunt gave me this book when I was very little. She passed when I was very little, but some of my earliest memories are of her reading this book to me. Something about it just sucked me in and stuck with me all these years. I think it has to do with all the vibrant colors in the pictures. That mixed with the ugly goblins. It made me start thinking about the supernatural at a very young age. One could say that all Mexicans are into the supernatural (Dia de los Muertos anyone?), but Iāve always been somewhat obsessed. Iām pretty sure it started with this book.
2. Beats me, Claude! by Joan Lowery Nixon

I think only Texas people know about this book. Joan Lowery Nixon was writer who lived in Texas. She wrote a TON of middle grade horror booksĀ that I absolutely loved. (I devoured everything she wrote during fourth and fifth grade. Faves include The Seance, The Name of the Game Was Murder, The Haunting, Donāt Screamā¦etc.) So itās a little funny to me that the book that stuck most with me was one of her picture books. Whenever J says something and I donāt have an answer, my reply is: Beats me, Claude! I finally had to hunt down the book for him because he didnāt get my reference. Itās a simple book with three mini-stories or chapters, all leading to something really sweet. I liked the lesson in it and the sweet relationship between Claude and his wife. Itās pretty damned funny!
3. Oh, The Places Youāll Go by Dr. Seuss

Really anything by Dr. Seuss is awesome. The way he uses words and layers in deeper meaning into his silly rhymes⦠Some people might not see that these books are saying so much, teaching so much, but they are. And they do it so subtly. Beautifully. Dr. Seuss was my first exposure to a wordsmyth, and I think heās brilliant.
4. The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper

This middle grade series got me addicted to reading. I think I was still in lower school when I read it (maybe 3rd grade?), but I got sucked in and couldnāt put it down. I think I re-read these books so much that I wore through the binding. The idea that these siblings could go on an adventure to save the world from the end of times⦠Yup! Totally up my alley.
5. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler by E. L. Konigsburg

Two siblings running away to live in a museum?! Count me in! I couldāve maybe dragged my little bro with meā¦although at that time, he was going through the whole āyou have cootiesā thing. So annoying! Although I have to say, if I was going to go live in a museum when I was a kid, it probably wouldāve been the Museum of Natural History in Houston, because thatās where I lived and the museum I begged to go to every weekendā¦I was (and still am) a nerd! So sue me!
6. The Dark Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop

I read these books in high school. (I think the first one came out when I was a sophomore⦠There was a year between each installment and boy did that feel like FOREVER.) Bishopās writing changed the way I looked at writing, books, and the fantasy genre. Iād never seen a magic system so unique. Still donāt think Iāve seen anything since then as unique as that. I also loved that it was a matriarchal society. (Girl power!) Sheās currently writing another series, The Others, and sheās really done it again, IMHO. Sheās reinvented the Urban Fantasy genre in a totally original way, and I looooooooves it. The third book is coming out this coming March, and I canāt wait!
7. Mercy Thompson series & Alpha & Omega series by Patricia Briggs

I canāt pick just one book by Briggs. Theyāre all awesome. I love her depiction of wolves and I love her romance. The guys are all swoon worthy, IMHO. Her writing is the perfect mix of kick ass and romance.
8. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

Okay, so a bit of a departure, but MAAN was my first foray in Shakespeareās works. If I thought Dr. Suess was a wordsmythā¦boy, was Shakespeare the master! And the banter between Benedick and Beatriceā¦
<3 <3 <3
9. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

Really brilliant writing and a scary look at the future! Even if the book sometimes got a little too techy for me, I loved it. Devoured it. The characters felt really real, and the storyline was believableāeven if it kept me up at night.
10. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

Austen is the original romance writer. I love this book. I love the characters. I love the movie version. I love it all. I also love Jane Austenās other worksāin particular Emmaābut I love this one most of all. This classic is not one to be missed. And to have such a strong female protag in that day and ageā¦scandalous. But Elizabeth Bennet, even when sheās falling for a man and he loves her back in an age when a love match was rareā¦even when she could save her and her family from the poor houseā¦refuses him on principal because heās wronged her sister.
Sheās got some real cojones!
Thatās all for this week. Everyone have a very Happy (and safe) Halloween!
