Monday's Postcard: Mono Lake

Happy Birthday to my sister and this postcard is from her! She visited here in 2008 on a photography field trip. The crazy rock formations are called tufa towers, they are made of limestone.

Monday's Postcard: Malaysia

A postcard of some palaces in Penang, from my Dad in 1993. Penang has a huge expatriate population from many other Asian countries and the UK. Many folks from other countries retire to Penang, they promote this through a special visa program that allows people to stay for 10 years at a time.

Monday's Postcard: Casares

A postcard from the Costa del Sol in Spain.

Burts Bees Shimmer equals puffed up Lips!!

I love Burts Bees lip balm. I use it all the time. And the other night I could not find a single tube in the house, so instead, I used what I thought was the next best thing, the Burts Bees Shimmer.

The one on the left in this photo that has some red color to it. Well, I walk back into the living room and Ryan asks me what's wrong with my lips. "They look all puffed up," he says. "It's just chapstick," I say. "I don't like it," Ryan says. "Looks like Clown Lips," he says. Seriously, I thought that puffed up lips was what guys wanted. After all, why do all the movie stars get their lips pumped up? Why is Angelina Jolie so popular? Supposedly, it is all about the pouty lips. But not in my house. My boyfriend likes plain old chapstick lips. :-) Good, cause that is what I like too!

Monday's Postcard: Peabody Ducks

The Peabody Hotel in Memphis is famous for it's ducks who live on the roof and march through the hotel to frolic in the fountain in the lobby.

Books I read in January 2012

I know you guys were wondering if you would see this again this year!
I really wanted to quit posting my reading list, but I had emails from so many people asking me to continue.

Writing the little "reviews" of each book was so much work and that was what I was resisting, so this year, I am not going to review EVERY book that I read. I will give you the list and perhaps write a bit about the books that were my favorites each month.

Also, I want to add the books that I abandon. These are books that I start that I never finish. There were many every month last year. Often I get a recommendation and I start the book and I don't like it, so I don't bother to finish it. So this year, you will get that list too.

Photo is from Kansas City, KS public library.

Miracle Cure by Harlan Coben

The Cutie by Donald Westlake
First Cases ed. by Robert J. Randisi (short stories)
Make the Bread, Buy the Butter by Jennifer Reese (library) ***great, I recommend to my foodie friends!!
The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol (library) dark thriller

Haunting Jasmine by Anjali Banerjee (library) romance with a literary twist very cute
The Distant Hours by Kate Morton (library)
The 13th Hour by Richard Doetsch (library)-time travel thriller
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot (library)
The Piano Teacher by Janice Y. K. Lee (library)-- set in Hong Kong, if you like Empire of the Sun/Lisa See etc.
The Faculty Club by Danny Tobey (library) fantasy
Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan (library)-short stories
The Exile by Diana Gabaldon (graphic novel)--cartoons for adults :-)

Nancy Drew The Legend at Miner's Creek by Carolyn Keene

Nancy Drew The Legend of The Emerald Lady by Carolyn Keene
Three Day Town by Margaret Maron (library) one of my favorite authors, but I prefer when her protagonist is in NC. In this one, they visit NYC.
What the Night Knows by Dean Koontz
Swamplandia by Karen Russell
Clemmie by John D MacDonald

The Total Tragedy of a Girl named Hamlet by Erin Dionne (library)-YA fun

Murder One by Robert Dugoni (library)

Abandoned:

Veracity by Laura Bynum (library)--scifi fantasy and I just got tired of this stuff too, couldn't finish and got other books from the library that I wanted to read more!
Smoking Poppy by Graham Joyce--just got tired of this author

21 books, Hard to pick a favorite.

Wild Card: Yosemite

Today's wild card is from my good friends, Diane and John Steele. They were visiting Yosemite last year and sent me this gorgeous card. I just love these retro advertising posters for the National Parks!!