I spent the afternoon looking up ISBN's to check publication dates as a means of sorting hardcovers to go in either the fancy-pants "New Releases" section or in with the paperbacks. This is the glamorous life of a bookseller. I spend a lot of time with my computer. But, the really great news is that we got our first book shipment a week ago today. (However, it's entirely too small. We're placing another order ASAP.) Last week was the first week I went to the store to work every day. It was wonderful and awful and stressful and fun. The good does outweigh the bad and everyone is so excited and supportive. Just the same, it was nice to take the weekend off.

Our July 4th weekend was a blast. We hung out in John's hometown of Cumberland City (which is actually not a city, but a quaint, little town of about 300-350 people in 5 square miles) for a parade in the morning of the 4th. A picture of John and his mom and I watching the parade was on the front page of the local paper on Tuesday. Neat, huh?

At around noon, we met Sara and Chris back at our house and took them with us to a family get together at my great aunt's house. Sara, for the first time ever, got to experience the joys and terrors of swimming in a creek. It's mostly wonderful--all nice and freezing, cold, clear water. But then, suddenly your foot will land on a slimy patch of leaves (hopefully) and the water will be stirred up and... Well, it's a little freaky touching something slimy you can't see. I grew up swimming in creeks more often than pools, but all our L.A. apartments had pools, so I've gotten spoiled lately.



Charlie and Colton are about one summer away from being better swimmers than me. I have the buoyancy of a rock.

We hung out at my sister's house for dinner and then headed back to Cumberland City for the fireworks show the town has become famous for since John and I moved away. There are activities there all day on the 4th and when we got there my great uncle (brother to the great aunt whose house is beside the creek) was performing.



I hadn't heard him sing since I was a little girl. For a very short time, I took buck dancing lessons from a man I knew only as Mr. Spicer in Dickson. By the time I started, he was old and the other girls were supposed to teach me. All I really wanted was one of their flouncy red and white gingham dancing dresses, but that never happened. What did happen was that my cousins and I would dance in our jellies (which were louder than you'd think, compared to regular tap shoes) to the music of my great aunt and uncles.

This weekend, Sara invited us to a Murfreesboro Bluegrass festival called Uncle Dave Macon Days. It was super cool. There were tons of booths with handmade items for sale. Little areas of musicians were scattered throughout the area. And! Two Lincolns! Count 'em! Two Lincolns!



Any event with Double Lincolns walking around is inevitably going to have a high kitsch factor, but there was a feeling of genuineness and sincerity throughout the day. It was actually really lovely, in a way that made me homesick for another time. It was especially ironic when I, in fact, ran into one of the buck-dancing-in-jellies cousins...and she was competing!



In a way, I'm sad I didn't have the dedication to stick with dancing. It would be nice to be a part of the local heritage and keep something like that going. Maybe I'll sell a book on it?

I also ran into an old co-worker from L.A. I was very excited to see Stacey again. We worked together in the first bookstore I worked in. We were the two girls from Tennessee. She moved back into the area last year, too, and I was really happy to bump into her.



Here are a couple more pictures...



My new favorite picture of John. Mmm, deep-fried twinkies!



Sara and I by a waterfall in the Murfreesboro Greenway.

John put some more of our 4th of July pictures on his lj.

Labels: family., friends., John., tennessee., travel/tourism.

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Yesterday I finished reading the Hemingway novel that everyone says is his worst: To Have and Have Not. I've owned this book since at least '99, but hadn't read it. I originally bought it as a junior in high school for the huge research paper I had to write. It was one of three books I focused on, but I never actually read it. I just picked through it and pulled out quotes. Not the way to enjoy a book or write a paper.

I finally started reading it last week on a vacation with my mother-in-law, her two sisters, her mother, and a friend. We took a cruise from Miami to Calica, Mexico, by way of Key West, where we toured the Hemingway house. While it was interesting to be there, the house didn't feel very authentic. It felt more like a money-making scheme than a museum and our guide was just a little too practiced. A little too smooth. I'm not saying they shouldn't have a uniform speech that all the guides say, but this one made me feel like he wouldn't be able to answer any questions not covered by his spiel. That's probably not true, either, but that's how it felt.

I started reading To Have and Have Not on the plane to Miami because I knew it took place in Key West. Maybe it is his worst, but I really liked it, actually. My problem with it has nothing to do with the content, but with the synopsis on the back of the book. It ends by saying that Harry Morgan's "adventures lead him into the world of the wealthy and dissipated yachtsmen who throng the region, and involve him in a strange and unlikely love affair." Doesn't that sound like he'll fall in love? Or maybe, I don't know, at least meet a woman? Well, Harry only talks to two women in the whole book, one of which is his wife. I have the sneaky suspicion that whoever wrote the synopsis read about as much of the book as I did in high school. Either that or they just watched the movie. I haven't seen the movie, but I did a little research on it yesterday and found out that it takes place about ten years later (present day for the year it was made) than the book and instead of smuggling Cubans in Key West, he's trying to get members of the French resistance away from the Nazis. Oh, and of course he isn't married yet. Lauren Bacall plays a character named Marie, which is the wife's name in the book.

Except for a stack of four, all my books are still in boxes, waiting for me to build shelves for them. As I sit here, anticipating what will feel like Christmas when I get to unpack my books and put them on new, custom shelving, Amazon.com, a.k.a. Enemy #1 for independent booksellers everywhere, is pushing its new ebook. For the record, I'm anti-ebook. I hate the idea completely. It was on the cover of Newsweek, with the subheading, "Amazon's Jeff Bezos already built a better bookstore. Now he believes he can improve upon one of humankind's most divine creations: the book itself." This annoys me on so many, many levels.

Labels: books., family., travel/tourism.

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Admittedly, I've seen very few Hitchcock movies. That said, and without any pretense of my knowing anything about Hitchcock whatsoever, I really like Vertigo. James Stewart is one of my favorite actors. And I'm oddly fascinated by Kim Novak, even though I've only seen her in three movies. The bookstore I used to work in sold art, too, and we once had a painting of one of the California missions and I thought I'd been told that it was the one in San Luis Obispo and that it was the one in "Vertigo." Well, this was totally wrong and, after visiting San Luis Obispo earlier this year, it was pretty obvious. The mission in San Luis Obispo didn't resemble the painting or the movie. I'd already seen the one in Santa Barbara and didn't think much about it. But, for some reason, after seeing the mission that I thought was in the painting look so dissimilar, I decided I wanted to see the right one before leaving California.

Our departure from the Golden State is getting closer and closer, which means we're cramming more and more California landmarks into our remaining time. We spent this past week on a wonderful trip in San Francisco. We drove up the coast, which was gorgeous! There was an area just before Monterey when Highway 1 was hugging the sides of seaside cliffs. Sort of scary, but very beautiful. We got to San Francisco on Monday evening and left Friday morning. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were packed with beautiful sights, cable car rides, and very sore feet.

Like an idiot, I'd forgotten to check online before I left home for which mission is the one with the scene. So, I called my mom and she looked it up and said it was the one in San Juan Bautista, which was just a little side trip off of the 101.



It's a perfectly lovely place, but ummm...as you can see...no tower. And the bells are exposed. (If you haven't seen "Vertigo," you should know that a big part of the movie revolves around Kim Novak and Jimmy Stewart being at the top of a tall, enclosed bell tower.) Okay, no big deal. Mom had also said that Mission Delores was in the movie. The problem with that is that, well, they go on a long drive to get to the bell tower and Mission Delores is actually in San Francisco.

In the meantime, I completely fell in love with San Francisco. We saw everything we intended to see and made some cool discoveries. One thing I didn't expect to like very much was Alcatraz, but it was actually extremely interesting. The island has a long history, outside of Al Capone.

It was in the Alcatraz gift shop that I started thumbing through a copy of Footsteps in the Fog: Alfred Hitchcock's San Francisco. The awful truth: There is no bell tower! They filmed exterior shots at San Juan Bautista, but the tower was added in later. I guess that was probably a wise thing to do, to keep wackos like me from bugging the poor nuns at what I'm sure would end up being called Hitchcock's mission. We went to Mission Delores the next day, which I did remember from the movie, but it wasn't quite the same.

The most annoying part of it all is that I still don't know what mission was in that painting. I guess now I'll never know.

Labels: movies., travel/tourism.

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After a very full weekend, I'm trying to make use of my first day of not working. So far, I've taken John to work and uploaded photos. I'm picking John up later so we can go to a party tonight close to the studio. Why? Because tonight's episode of Slacker Cats was one of the two animated by the studio where John works and they're having a party, that's why! Technically, John's work has been on TV before, but not animation, so this is pretty cool.

As I said before, our weekend was pretty packed. It started off with seeing Pink Martini at the Hollywood Bowl on Friday night. They were fantastic! It was the first fireworks show John and I have been to, as well. I'd been to a fireworks show as a kid, but I didn't really remember it. We saw a falling star during one of the first few songs, while we sat there eating our picnic-style dinner. Just the kind of evening LA is really good at.

Saturday we went on a 3-hour whale watching trip out of Long Beach (Rainbow Harbor, right next to the aqaurium, to be exact). We saw at least six blue whales and a couple of them surfaced twice. Here are some of my pictures. The whales are actually gray, but when you see them just under the surface they're this beautiful aqua color. We also saw several sea lions and pelicans and a swordfish.

To wrap up, because I need to get busy and run some errands:

Yesterday we stayed home and watched the Titans come very close to beating the Colts. I finished reading Away, which was pretty good. And we saw 3:10 to Yuma, which was pretty awesome.

Okay, gotta go!

Labels: books., John., los angeles is weird., movies., travel/tourism.

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John and I bought a tripod about a month ago and finally used it this weekend. We took it to Disneyland so we could take pictures at night that weren't blurry. These are the ones that turned out the best. Enjoy my dorky Disney love!

Labels: disney., John., travel/tourism.

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In alphabetical order by file name.


feeding bat rays.


boot car parked on verdugo.


bubbles + beach + sunset.


huntington library.


unexpected lighthouse tour with my dad.


it took several trips to the zoo before we saw this sumatran rhino...he had pink eye.


bathroom in the santa barbara mission. the sign says: "If you need to leave a message... PLEASE USE CHALKBOARD --PLEASE-- do not DEFACE WALLS." there was no chalk.


defunct zoo.


sneaky socks.


tesla coil at griffith observatory. (I'm still not really sure what it is.)


huntington park water tower.


mist from bridal veil falls in yosemite.

Labels: family., los angeles is weird., travel/tourism., zoo.

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So, weekend before last, John and I spent Saturday at the Huntington Library. It was beautiful and the book room made me breathless. I literally had to stop and breathe. Here's an example:



This was, like, the least cool book we saw and it's actually pirate booty. Are you catching this? Captain Morgan's (yes, that Captain Morgan) pirate booty was the least impressive book we saw. Ponder that one. Two words: Gutenberg Bible.

Jim and Adam were here over this past weekend. They went back to Atlanta yesterday morning. And John and I still haven't quite recovered.
Here's John getting home Thursday afternoon and finding his buddies hanging out in our living room. He didn't know they were coming...hence the odd, confused smile he's wearing.
Here are some more pictures. We had a fantastic time. I didn't want them to leave. I laughed almost the entire time they were here.

Labels: books., company., friends., travel/tourism.

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I'm leaving tomorrow for TN. I'll be back to work by Monday morning. Not really a very long trip...I now realize.

Labels: travel/tourism.

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I uploaded some pictures of my weekend. John and I went to SeaWorld to indulge our childish love of marine animals, especially large, blubbery mammals.

Labels: travel/tourism.

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We've been back in CA for a little less than a week now. I was greeted by a note on my car, which, from our bathroom window, looked like it could've been a parking ticket, that said, "I LIKE TO BUY YOUR CAR. MIKE (818) ***-****." It was right after reading this note that noticed a patch of paint on my front bumper pealing up and down with the white underneath exposed, and that Mike apparently wants to buy a crappy-looking car.

My job is ridiculous. Like a circus sideshow. Or Pat Robertson. We're down to a skeleton crew and we're all starting to go crazy. Sort of like having cabin fever, only the cabin is a store being run by wishy-washy, selfish weirdos.

Ever since coming back though, I've had this excited feeling in my chest. The weather is warm and clear, just like it was ever June visit I used to make to my Grandparents' house. It makes me want to go to the Queen Mary or the zoo or the beach. Something touristy. It's a strange feeling, like something good is coming, in the midst of depression and funk.

Labels: los angeles is weird., travel/tourism., work.

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John and I took Misty, my sister-in-law who has been here almost a week now, to Knott's Berry Farm. Knott's is one of the few LA attractions John and I hadn't already seen, so it was nice to do something new with Misty. And it's a pretty good amusement park. The quality of the rides is about the same as in Six Flags Over Georgia (the only Six Flags I've ever been to, I think), but the atmosphere was nicer. Not quite Disney nice, but nice. There are a lot of roller coasters there, so I screamed a lot today. The lines were practically nonexistent, too, so that was cool.

There was a ride in the "Fiesta Village" section called "La Revolución" And they woudn't let me ride it...because the restraint wouldn't come down over my breasts enough. Seriously. People bigger than me in ever other way had no problems whatsoever.

Apparently the revolution will be fought by the flat-chested? No! The other half (or whatever portion we are) will rise up and demand fair treatment! Vive la revolución de los pechos grandes!

Labels: disney., travel/tourism.

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John and I are leaving for our little four-day (and a night) vacation tomorrow after I get off work. We're meeting my parents in Williams, AZ, and then riding a train to the Grand Canyon. We'll be heading home on Wednesday.

I'm really excited, even though getting ready for such a short trip has been considerably more stressful than I would have ever imagined. Not to mention that when we get back, summer will officially be over. No one else is going to come to visit until October.

I got an incredible sunburn on Monday, at Bolsa Chica State Beach. We were there during a red tide...so that was a little weird. I'm peeling now. It's disgusting, but at least it doesn't hurt to move anymore.

If you have a minute, check this out. You'll like it. Really.

Labels: travel/tourism.

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Okay, so I've already mentioned that I'm reading A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby, a.k.a. Funniest Man in Britain. Or maybe not. Truth is, this one just isn't that great. I mean, it's not bad really... It's just that I don't much care whether or not I finish it. After all, I have other books I could be reading that the whole world knows are good. It's a matter of loyalty, I suppose. I've read all his other novels... What if I run into him at Book Soup? (Not that I actually shop there, but I could.) Oh, sorry Mr. Hornby, I've let you down this time. I just didn't care if they threw themselves over or not. Not the most lovable characters, this lot. And I'd say the "this lot" part just to sound more British. Not that it matters anyway.



I'm in desperate need of a vacation. I've had family here and more coming soon, and that's great and all...but I physically need to move. A customer was telling me yesterday about how she accidentally left a book on a plane and wants to know how it ends. And all I could think was, Ooo. I wanna get on a plane. Pitiful. Of course, this time last year I was just about to leave Switzerland. Switzerland! Now I'm excited about maybe spending two days in San Diego!

As you may have guessed, what with the lack of entries lately, not much is going on with me at all right now. I talk about what I'm reading because that's literally (ha ha, books, literally...need vacation now) all that I've been doing. Except for laundry. Today I'm going to do laundry.

What's weird about this nothingness is that the little voice in my head (you know, the one that says things like Is that canteloupe ripe yet? and I wanna go home. I hate these people. No, we don't sell magazines. No, I don't remember who wrote The Devil Wears Prada and did you even try looking yourself at all?) it's been being very writerly lately. Sometimes I do that. My inner-monologue voice will play everything out like it's happening in a story. I'm starting to realize that this only happens when I'm really bored. As though I'm trying to point out to myself that this is the point in the story where I'd be tempted to close the book and turn on the TV.

Labels: books., travel/tourism.

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Well, my sister was here. And my two nephews. And my brother-in-law, with his aunt and niece. The six of them, my parents, and John and I stayed at a Best Western across the street from Disneyland and spent Tuesday and Wednesday in the parks. We went all over LA, criss-cross style, for the two days we weren't in Disneyland. They left on Friday.

On Friday, I was totally, as my dad would say, bummed. That night though, we went to the Hollywood Bowl and saw Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion. And that was really cool. One of the show's guests was Maude Maggart, who sang songs like "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "Moon River," which I really enjoyed. (I found out later that she's Fiona Apple's sister.) Also in the line-up were Old Crow Medicine Show (they were probably my favorite), Leo Kottke, and Karan Casey. And, of course, the rest of the skits and music that are usually on the show. It was a lot of fun.

I'd talk more about my sister...but I don't want to get all mopey again.

Labels: company., disney., family., travel/tourism.

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I just put up a quick review of Who Will Run the Frog Hospital, which I finished yesterday. So. Good. (And the first review I've written in months, I realize.)


small world.

John and I have purchased some new shelves for our living room. I completely adore them. Tinkerbell and Ariel (yes, the mermaid) now have space to breathe...that is, they would have space to breathe, if they weren't made out of resin.

We went to Disneyland today. (I am so in love with this man who suggests we spend an entire day in the one place in the world where I act like more of a child than he does.) And we took oooodles of pictures. But I'm not putting them up until I can figure out a way to make their file sizes reasonable. My laptop's resolution is 1600 x 1200. All pictures look amazing to me. I get all sad and whiny when I have to make them look all pixelated to get the file size down. I'll get over it.

Labels: books., disney., John., travel/tourism.

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My parents were here over the weekend. They stayed with us in the dorm, too. (Just in case you were worried, they both got a bottom bunk.)

We went into the city yesterday. Had lunch in Chinatown with our boss and some people we work with, then walked to the Brooklyn Bridge. It was gorgeous! Then we went to Ground Zero, St. Paul's Chapel, and Battery Park (where the sculpture that used to stand between the towers has been relocated). It was a pretty emotional experience. There was a banner inside the church from Mom's hometown in IL and, the one that made me cry, a banner from Oklahoma City. There was a woman walking around in front of the temporary plaque of names screaming, "Bush is the terrorist who killed all these people."

Heavy stuff.

We also went to Times Square, took a boat tour around the island, and went to the top of the Empire State Building.

On our six-month anniversary.

The Chrysler Building is my favorite thing about New York. It literally took my breath away.

Labels: political stuff., travel/tourism.

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