SUNDAY POTPOURRI

There I was, just clicking around the Blogosphere, and it came to me that, since my URL here has “snow” in it, and since my name is Laurel-Rain Snow, I really needed to honor snowy images.

Okay, I’ve probably posted about this Big Bear cabin before…in fact, I know I have done so over on Snow Impressions. called “Remembering a Little Cabin in the Woods,” dedicated to the erstwhile cabin in Big Bear (once-upon- a-time owned by my second son).

This photo (incidentally featured as my blog header this week!) was snapped in 2004, when I spent some time there.  That same week, I took the photo of my two granddaughters, then aged seven, which is the blog header for Snow Impressions.

What a week that was!  While the kids spent time snow boarding and sledding, I enjoyed myself poking around in the interesting shops in the village.

Later, we all went to the movies, in the quaint village theater.

The snow season will end soon, so I thought I’d better take this opportunity to showcase some snow photos and rhapsodize about those experiences.

WEEKEND POTPOURRI

Revised TBR Stacks

It’s a rainy Friday, and as I contemplate the various choices for the weekend, I’m thinking…movies!

Crazy Heart, with Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal, has just opened in my neighborhood theater.  I’ve been waiting for this one!

It’s also a good weekend to curl up and read, so I’ll be doing some of that.

I know…I should go to the gym before I do anything else!

Or clean house…except I did quite a lot of that the other day, and even rearranged some of my space.  Hey, how do you like the look of my office now?

Bookcase "Divider"

Another View

A Niche in the Closet

A POTPOURRI OF BLOG HEADERS

My newest featured blog header is straight from my family moments.

I’ve written about the sculpture at California State University of Fresno, where I have spotlighted various family moments over the years.  There’s a whole story about that, which can be found in my history of this sculpture on one of my Sunday Salon posts.

It was one of those accidental moments, which is why it ended up on my Accidental Life blog.

So then, today, as I was reflecting on which blog header to use, I thought about those “sculptured moments,” and picked this one.  It’s a recent “moment” with two of my grandkids.  I thought it would be perfect to spotlight it here.

WEEKEND POTPOURRI

After a rather crazy and hectic week, I was so looking forward to just vegging out today.

As if.

No sooner had I posted some blogs, checked my e-mails, and then curled up on the sofa in my office (which feels cozier, somehow, than the living room sofa!), the phone rang.

I guess I could have ignored it.  From the Caller ID, though, I could see that it was my daughter.  And I already knew, before even picking up the phone, that she was going to ask if Noah could hang out with me for a few hours.

Not that I mind hanging out with Noah.  He is very self-sufficient and used to my obsessive computer ways.  Also, as beautiful as it is outside today, it was only natural that she and her husband would want to ride the bike.

As she was dropping him off with his Taco Bell lunch, I took some photos of her for her Facebook profile page, but she didn’t like them.  So we didn’t accomplish that task.

After lunch, Noah and I went to pick up the mail, followed by a quick trip to Target for some stuff I needed and for a DVD for him to watch.

I read for awhile, then I came back to the computer to tweak some stuff…like creating a Review Policies page here, and adding a photo/link to it in the sidebar.  Something clever I saw over at Sheila’s blog, Journey Through Books.

Then I did the same thing over at my Creative Moments blog.

I’m really loving the book I’m reading.  It was a library find, and something that will work for the Awesome Author Challenge.

A Stephanie Plum mystery, this one is called Eleven on Top. I’ve been meaning to read these Stephanie Plum books for, well, forever!  So now I am.   What a feisty, intriguing character!

Judging from this one, I know I’m going to have to start at the first one and read all the way through.

MEET NEW BLOGGERS/AUTHORS HERE!

This week, I’ve had the opportunity to meet two intriguing bloggers, one of whom is a published author.

Martha Cheves has shared her intriguing combination of blogging and recipes.  She is the author of cookbooks and a blog devoted to cooking and blogging.  Sound a little like Julie & Julia? Check it out.

Sarah Sammis shares her blogging journey, and describes and illustrates how her blog has morphed from its beginning phases to its present form.  She also talks about her future plans.  She’s someone to keep your eye on; a role model, perhaps.

SUNDAY POTPOURRI

I absolutely cannot believe that ten days have gone by since my last post here!

During that time, though, I’ve added another blog here at Word Press—Creative Moments. This one is dedicated to my new pursuits…my WIP, if you will.

It’s kind of a way for me to motivate myself to write something new each day…Just like CURL UP AND READ is dedicated to working my way through my TBR stacks.

This weekend has been devoted to Bloggiesta, an exciting journey in spiffing up our blogs.  I’m focusing on my newest blog, but all of my Word Press blogs are getting some small makeovers.  For example, I added a favicon.  And then I went through all the blogs and added a sub-page for my blog links, to get them off of my sidebar.

That takes awhile when you have seventeen blogs!

Now I’m going to take a break and read the Sunday papers.  It’s almost ten o’clock and I still haven’t done that!

More later…

HAPPY NEW YEAR POTPOURRI

On this, the first day of a New Year and a new decade, I am full of thoughts.

For the past few days, I have been formulating my plans for the year, including creating a list to document the books read this year.  Last year, at the beginning, I wasn’t even “blogging” in the true sense of the word.

I had created my first blog in April 2008, and even posted a few times…maybe once or twice a month.  I didn’t even know how to break into the blogging community.  Who knew there was one?

But then all of that changed this year, sometime in the summer.  I had created my second blog (Reflections) , which I planned to dedicate to “reflections and musings” and I had done a few reviews there.  Then I began discovering “ning” sites, one of which was called “Book Blogs.” Yay!  From there, I entered a whole new world…a community, if you will.

So 2010 will be my actual first full year of the blogging journey.  Since that summer day, I have created fourteen more blogs, bringing the total to sixteen!

Crazy, huh?  But each one has a function.  Five of them are dedicated to the books I’ve written.  On the sidebar, you’ll see links to each of my other blogs, plus a few other sites, including my website.

I have learned a lot from other bloggers, and I plan to learn more.  It’s a whole new world, one I’m excited to be a part of, and I wake up each day, full of purpose.

This New Year is wide open with possibilities!

“WAITING ON WEDNESDAY” POTPOURRI

This meme is hosted by Breaking the Spine.

Today’s selection for me is the newest book in this great series.

What an exciting series this sounds like!  Cynthia’s Attic:  The Magician’s Castle, by Mary Cunningham, will be released this month.

Check our more about this fabulous book and its author over at the interview on DAMES OF DIALOGUE today.

Here’s what Amazon says:

Magical costumes, disappearing stairs, and a spooky attic filled with dusty antiques what more could two, adventurous, young girls ask for?

Sebastien the Great, a magician whose fiancée, Kathryn, has disappeared through the magic trunk vows revenge. If Cynthia and Gus don’t find a missing page from the Book of Spells, Cynthia’s family will face financial and personal ruin.

Follow this time-traveling duo as they journey back to a 1914 Swiss castle where Eva, Sebastien’s grandmother, gives them clues on where to begin their search. Their journey takes them through miles of tree tunnels, an enchanted garden ruled by a cranky rock monster, and high into the majestic Alps.

But the adventure doesn’t really start until they get the surprise of their lives and are sent fifty years into the future, have a shocking encounter with another set of best friends, and receive a fresh set of clues that could lead to Kathryn’s return. But at what price?

POST-CHRISTMAS POTPOURRI

Here we are, counting down to the New Year.

The first year in the new decade.

I did another post about this…how difficult to believe that a whole decade has gone by since all that Y-2K furor!

Now we have different worries to contemplate.  Will the economy turn around?  Will the war ever end?  What does all of this mean in our daily lives?

Well, I see the evidence of the poor economy everyday (in my budget!) and when I go to the mall and see still another favorite shop closing!

When one of my favorite restaurants closed—the one near the movie theater, where I always went either before or after the film!—and I thought that was bad.  But then another one across the mall closed, and a shop where I get some of my collectibles also is closing.  Some good sales are there in the interim, but I’m sad, nevertheless.

I am grateful for my humongous stack of books.  I could “dine out” on these for quite awhile.  At last count, I still had about 144 books left (after starting the count at 166!).  But I keep adding to the stack, with contests won and Amazon Vine selections.

In some ways, that big stack is comforting.  Like finding treasures in the back of your closet (I found a favorite jacket that I thought I’d lost!).

Well, that tells you a little about the state of my closet!  LOL.

So there I go, again, seeing the glass as “half full.”  But that attitude will go a long way toward helping me adjust to life during these challenging times.

Hope all of you are finding your own way in the decade ahead.

PLAYING WITH HEADERS

Creating new blog and website headers is something of an obsession.

It’s like getting an urge, this desire to grab the camera and capture different images.

This photo was snapped this morning.  Of course, I had to move things around and rearrange the space to accommodate the objects.  Capturing the “real world” in which I live is all right, but to spotlight particular objects, some tweaking is required.

I love these swans, and the bear on swan collectible (from Boyd’s) is a fairly recent acquisition.  Adding my own creations to the mix helped me feel that satisfaction.

So now this particular image is my website “header.”