Bookworm Jenny

I am super glad that it's Friday today! It seems to have been a long week- I think that is b/c it's my first time to work a full week in 3 weeks. I had a good week though. The weather was gorgeous, and I was able to spend some time outdoors walking with my sweet puppy and playing tennis.

Yesterday I had some great news! Someone called me about wanting the sweet Ike puppy! She is supposed to pick him up tonight. He will have two boys to play with too! I am so excited. Two puppies finding homes in less than two weeks- I may have found my calling! Just kidding, I seem to have a new calling each week- but I will continue to rescue dogs. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't. They are one of God's most precious gifts.

Last night my husband and I went out for a little relaxing date night. He had a really rough day at work, so I took him to the Kitty Kat Lounge aka Fat Catz for a little unwinding and blues music. They have the BEST Cajun chicken quesadillas! Then we headed over to Caffe Tazza for their artist night and a little more live music and vino. We brought sweet Oscar along for the trip to Tazza and sat outside. It was beyond lovely! Then Greg ran me over to Barnes and Nobles and bought a new book...

Which leads me to a few book recommendations! I have been reading, when I should be painting- but I think I love reading just as much as I love painting- so it is a tough call! If' you have noticed my new quote on my blog header, you would know that I am a HUGE HUGE HUGE Jane Austen fan. I love the books, movies and even books written about Jane's characters today. I picked up Mr. Darcy's Diary by Amanda Grange for my trip to San Francisco. Mr. Darcy is by far my favorite male character in any book I have ever read. I have a little fiction crush on him... but it doesn't even compare to the crush I have on my husband -so no worries. I highly recommend this book. It is such a great companion to the original novel. It is seamless perfection and a great read!

My next book to recommend is Twilight by Stephenie Meyer A lady I work with, who knows my reading obsession, handed me her copy and told me I would love it. I have seen this book around book stores all over the place, but the cover never really attracted me. I knew it was about vampires- and that is not normally my reading scene. Well I started this book 2 nights ago, and with minimal reading time I am already on page 350! It is a page turner, and I was excited to find out they already made a movie about it that comes out this fall. It has Cedric from the Harry Potter movies as Edward. It also has several books that follow it, which is exciting for reading nuts like me. I predict I will have them all read by October- sad but true.

While I was looking up info on the Twilight movie, I came across Keira Knightley new movie The Duchess. Well, I love Keira Knightley. I think it is because she stared in Pride and Prejudice- favorite book, and movie love is rivaling my Breakfast at Tiffany's love. I thought I might really like this movie because of its time period, and I vaguely remembered a book that I wanted to read ages ago called Georgiana: The Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman. Turns out that it is the same story- so I ran out and got this book. I am hoping to read it before I see the movie, which comes out today. The books are always way better than the movie, which sometimes makes watching movies a let down- but oh well! I am sure I will see it anyways.

Well, that turned into a long rambling post of my reading thought process.

I'll leave you with a few of my favorite quotes about reading:

“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island.” ^{- Walt Disney}

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read.”
^{- Mark Twain}

“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.” ^{- Mason Cooley}

“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” - Groucho Marx

“There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all.” <sup>- Jacqueline Kennedy

My mom just told me that my sweet niece Katie has finally started to enjoy reading real books. She picked up one of my all time favorite series last night for the first time! The American Girl Series. Oh how I loved those books when I was her age! She started out with Samantha, since she has the doll. I wish her many years of reading pleasure!</sup>