Book Club Christmas

Our annual book club Christmas party was this past Friday night!  Our Christmas parties always include books, lots of food, and a fun (but evil) dirty Santa game.  I like our Christmas party cause we usually hang out a little longer since we are at someones home.  This year, my sweet friend Becky (also known as "The Other Becky") was our wonderful host.  If anyone wasn't in the Christmas spirit before arriving there, they sure were after.  Here home was beautifully decorated and Christmas was displayed in every possible room.  I loved it!

For our dirty Santa game, we always bring a wrapped booked and then play it the traditional way.  And if you open a good book that lots of us want to read, you better look it...it is more than likely going to get stolen.  We don't hold back on the sort thing.  I opened up a compilation of 4 Stephen King stories.  I've honestly never read Stephen King, so I am looking forward to bringing him into my list of authors.  (And these stories are the less creepy ones.)

This was a great wrap up for our year and we will meet again after the holidays!

Count Myself Blessed

Usually when Nicole comes home to visit, she is swamped with family she needs to see.  And I totally understand and will never let it hurt my feelings if we have to a drive-by hello.  I just count myself lucky to get to see her at all when she visits.

But this last weekend, she carved out time for us to not only see the movie, but to also have an impromptu dinner with several of the girls from book club (some were missing and were missed).  We had so much fun and it was like she had never left.  The conversation is always great with this group of girls.  We are all so different from each other, but also alike...does that make any sense?

I was telling Nicole after that I love how this group has no drama.  We share in each other's lives, and listen to hard times and good times...but we all just mesh.  No one is fighting for the "rooster" spot...ya know?  No female competition.  It is a true blessing in my life. 

Christmas...Book Club Style

Last Friday was my book club Christmas party. We started the night at Seven47 for dinner. We had reserved The Vault which is a neat room there that you can reserve for free. I love the food at Seven47 and the atmosphere is fantastic.


After dinner, we came back to my house for a little book talk. After we shared books, we enjoyed some fantastic desserts and then had a fun dirty santa game...book club style.



I can't believe I have been in this book club for three years now. The group has evolved over the years, but one thing is certain...we are a group of girls that loves books and loves to share them with each other.

I can't wait to see what 2012 brings for this awesome group.

My Favorite Group of Girls

Last night, our book club met at the Warren to enjoy some great food, good conversation and book reviews and then see Water for Elephants...one of our favorite books brought to life on the big screen.

So, let's start with the good. Book club was awesome. We had a wonderful time (and might I say the nachos were extremely TASTY)! I think we easily have over 60 books in rotation right now. I can't think of a better group of girls to share my love of reading with.


Now, the not so good. First off, if you haven't read Water for Elephants, I highly recommend it. This is a beautiful story. But there are parts of the book that are very hard to read. The imagery is just too realistic. So, when those scenes were brought to the screen, they were even more disturbing. I had a very hard time watching them and my friend Nicole, just couldn't. She had to leave the movie. Although we know that no animals were actually hurt, it was so painful to watch the animal abuse. Aside from those few scenes though, the movie was beautiful. They did a great job of translating the book to the screen and there really weren't any deviations from the story. Reece Witherspoon and Rob Pattinson were both fantastic. It was "super swooning" for both of them.


So, do I recommend you see this movie. Sort of. If you have a super soft spot in your heart for animals, this may not be the movie for you. But if you think you can get through those tough scenes, then see it. It really is a good story. I honestly have no desire to see it again though. And I probably won't buy it on DVD, but I am glad I saw it and I am always happy to see my favorite books turned into movies. (BTW, you can read my review of the book by clicking HERE.)

Next book to screen is Something Borrowed on May 6. I just read it this week and will have a review out for you guys in a few days!!! I am super excited for this one.

A Weekend Filled with Books, Music and a Movie

What a weekend!

It all started Friday night with book club. We met at The Warren Theatre for dinner at Oscar's. Great food and great conversation!


After that, we went to see I Am Number Four. Most of us have read the book and just had to see the book brought to life on the big screen. (You can read my review of the book by clicking HERE.)


I think the movie was done very well and very closely depicted the book. It's so fun to see what I had imagined as I read the book match so closely to what the director imagined too. This movie was pretty intense in some scenes though. The Mogodorians are pretty dang scary. In fact, I had a nightmare Friday night and I swear I was imagining there was a Mog standing above our bed. Scared me to death.


I gave the book to Quinn for Christmas, so he, Tony and our friend, Madison, met our group for the movie too. Ashton didn't want to see it and after the Mogs being so scary, I was very happy she didn't come.


Saturday afternoon we took the kids to see Beauty and the Beast at the Civic Center. It was wonderful! They did such a great job with this show. If you ever get the chance to see it, I highly recommend it.



I love spending weekends with the people I love and doing the things I love. I can't imagine any other way that I would rather spend my time.

Tolstoy to Twilight - January Edition

Friday night was book club night. It was a perfect cold, January night to meet at a local coffee house. I know I've told you that we don't all read the same book...instead we share books and pass them around the group. Can you believe we currently have over 50 books in circulation right now? Just imagine how much money we are saving by sharing. Pretty dang smart if you ask me! (...and yes, I am tracking where the books are...that is just too many to try to put to memory...)


We had a new girl come check us out this month (Welcome Lindsay!) and she was an amazing fit. Our group is just so wonderful and diverse. I love each one of these girls for their individuality. That is what makes this group so amazing.

Next month we will be going to a movie after we meet...one of our favorite books will be hitting the big screen!!!

Shabby Souls Christmas Gathering

Friday night, the Shabby Souls (which have been re-named...more on that later) met for our annual Christmas party.

We had such a fun time discussing new books and doing a crazy book exchange.

clockwise starting in the top righthand corner...Crystal, Nicole, Laura, Me, Hayley, Natalie, Kelsie and Karlin (Kim was also there...she is behind the camera.)

We currently have about nine girls who regularly come to book club. You can only imagine the diversity in the books we read. Because of this diversity, we have given ourselves a new name...that I absolutely love.

Tolstoy to Twilight

I think this name completely captures our group. We read everything from the classics to the latest and greatest. It really is a great mixture.

2011 will be a great year for T3.