National selling children’s authors in Utah are putting this fabulous event together to help low-income children get books of their own! Read more about it on their website where you can also register and/or donate.  (Show your support on Facebook .)

There will be a day event featuring authors teaching classes and an author panel, and an evening event with comedians, bands, and an auction.  Some of my friends and I will be there helping with the auction so come say hi if you’re there.

Workshop Authors: Anne Bowen, Laura Card, Kristen Chandler, Kristyn Crow, James Dashner, Bree Despain, Ann Dee Ellis, Jessica Day George, Sharlee Glenn, Christine Graham, Mette Ivie Harrison, Matthew J. Kirby, Mike Knudson, Kristen Landon, Sheila A. Nielson, Sydney Salter, J. Scott Savage, Emily Wing Smith, Wendy Toliver, Rick Walton, Dan Wells

Author Panel: Ally Condie, James Dashner, Bree Despain, Jessica Day George, Shannon Hale, Brandon Mull, Brandon Sanderson, Sara Zarr

Date/Place: Saturday August 21, 2010 at Waterford School

On Friday night, my friends and I had a party.  We haven’t had one since the end of February so we were all having withdrawals.  I felt like I hadn’t seem everyone for an especially long time because I wasn’t able to go to the party in February due to midterms so it was nice to spend some quality time with my friends.

As usual, we just enjoyed each other’s company with lots of fun conversation.  We talked about books we recommend and we even made plans for almost the entire year, taking a lot of the guess work out of our get-togethers. We have some fun things planned in the next few months so stay tuned for the recaps. I’m very excited!

Saturday felt like a big day of nothing, honestly.  I didn’t get up until late because I didn’t get home from the party until around 1:30 am.  And, Corey and I just hung around home for most of the day.  We cleaned, I did some homework (very little), and we went to Office Max to buy some Post-its to help me with annotating for my summer term class.  Wait … what?  Summer term class? You probably thought summer term didn’t start until June 21st, huh? You’re right. It doesn’t, but I already have homework for that class.

I received an e-mail from my summer term class teacher last Wednesday.  Here’s a little tidbit of that e-mail:

Welcome to English 295 for the summer term! This may seem a little premature, but I wanted to give you a heads-up as to what we’re doing. This course is on “writing literary criticism,” … and so I’ll be asking you to examine texts from the inside out, moving from basic summaries of the text you choose to work with to a critical examination in light of a theory or issue which you find particularly prevalent in the text.

… [I]n the event that you aren’t aware yet, the set of texts we’ll be working with for summer term is (drum roll, please) The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. … I’m telling you this now because within the first week of classes, I’ll have asked you to finish reading all four books and make a decision about which of the [four] you want to focus on during the term….  I think it’s fair to give you all a chance to start reading now so that you won’t feel overwhelmed by reading in the first week.

There you have it. I not only have to keep up with my full-time job, church calling, and homework for my current class (which isn’t light I might add), but I also have to read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in the next five weeks and remember enough to be able to critique them using different literary criticism theories. It was nice of my teacher to give us some time to accomplish this, huh?

Don’t get me wrong.  I’ve always wanted to read these books.  I even tried reading The Hobbit seven or so years ago.  (I couldn’t get past page 42, but I wasn’t an avid reader back then.)  I’m just stressed to the max with trying to make sure I get them done in time.  Luckily, I don’t have to go to Girls’ Camp anymore so I’m going to take the time off work that I would’ve taken to go to camp and use it to read!

On Sunday, Corey and I went up to Aymee and Dave’s, my niece and nephew-in-law, so Corey could watch the LOST series finale with them.  All three of them are huge fans, Aymee and Dave since day 1 and Corey since this January.  (Corey watched the first five seasons on Hulu in January to gear up for the final season.  I would’ve joined him if I didn’t have as much homework as I did/do.  I did see a few episodes here and there so I knew enough to get by, but not enough to have a firm grasp on the show or all the characters.)

I really enjoyed the series finale.  I thought it was well done and I cried several times.  Corey sent me this link earlier today.  It’s a guide to the series finale and helps you understand what happened and how it affected the entire series.  I think it’s quite insightful.

On Monday evening, I went to dinner with my birthday twins–Debbie, Sue, Christie, and Kayla.  Okay, we’re not really birthday twins because all our birthdays are on different days, but we all have April birthdays.  This yearly celebration has become something of a tradition for us, and it’s one that I look forward to all year long.

We went to Iggy’s Sports Grill last year and we went to The Mayan the year before that.  This year, we went to the Cheesecake Factory.  Yes, I ordered the 1600-calorie slice of carrot cake for dessert.  But! I didn’t eat the entire thing all at once. To be honest, if I hadn’t been so full from my meal, I would’ve eaten the entire thing right then and there.  It’s so delicious and worth the calories!  (It’s out of my system now for another six months so I can go back to eating healthy again. )

It was a little harder this year to find a time when all of us could get together.  We actually had to reschedule three different times because of things that kept coming up.  But, it was worth the wait and all the schedule juggling that took place because I always have such a great time with these ladies, and I love spending time with them.

It’s already four days into February and this is my first post. I really need to blog more, but that would require playing less Facebook games when I have free time.

Anyway, on Saturday, my friends and I threw a party for Bree Despain, the author of The Dark Divine.  I feel like Bree and I are BFFs now, she was that personable.  She was so much fun to get to know and I loved hearing about why she wanted to become and how she became an author.

Not only was meeting Bree a lot of fun, but so was the party.  My friend Debbie was the one with the idea and once conceived, she and my other friends hit the floor running to make everything a great success!

Most, if not all, the marketing for The Dark Divine has included the color purple because of the gorgeous cover.  (At some of the book events, they even had custom nail polish named after the book.)  Because of the cover, we decided to decorate with purple balloons and other purple and black decorations and most of us wore purple to the party.  (I have to say that color wise, this was definitely my favorite party. )

The Dark Divine takes place around Thanksgiving so we had a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner.  It was so yummy! (I love being able to eat Thanksgiving dinner more than once a year. I used to request it for my birthday meal when I was younger.)

We had prizes too.  I was excited for the prize given to the person who wore the most purple.  But, alas, that game/contest was canceled a few days before the party because not everyone in the group had something purple to wear. Instead, a prize was given to the person with the best manicure or pedicure.  (Debbie knew I was disappointed about not being able to win a prize for wearing the most purple so she gave me a prize anyway–lavender bubble bath–because she knew it was inevitable that I’d win. The bubble bath is “divine” as I’ve already taken a bath with it.)  Another prize was given to the person with the best story about a time when they wished they had a cell phone, but didn’t.  (The main character, Grace, wished she had a cell phone more than once in the book.  But, her parents wouldn’t let her have one.)

My group of friends and I can get a little crazy at times.  We’ve been known to scare away people or make people nervous with our laughter and overall joviality.  Before we started to ask Bree questions, I warned her about our group.  Of course, I made it seem like I was innocent and wasn’t part of the devilishness to which most of my friends protested and corrected me. I only mention this because of the inscription Bree left in my book when she autographed it.

To Jennifer-
Thanks for the love & support. I had a great time laughing with you all. You’re right; this is a crazy bunch.
<3 Bree Despain

I laughed when I read it and I was happy we had made such a good impression on her.

It was a very fun party!  If you ever have the chance to meet Bree, I definitely recommend that you do.  She’s very down-to-earth, sweet, and funny.  And, as I stated in my review of The Dark Divine, I definitely recommend that you read it.

PS–For the record, I know I didn’t wear very much purple to the party.  But, in my defense, if the prize for wearing the most purple would’ve still been available, just trust the fact that I would’ve won.

Happy birthday, Caryn!

I decided I needed to post something uplifting on my blog to lighten the mood. Anyway, last Friday, I went to a party with my friends.  We decided to have a gift exchange, eat yummy food, and just enjoy each other’s company.

When we walked into the party, we noticed a cardboard stand-up of Taylor Lautner, the actor who portrays Jacob Black in the movies.  My friends Christie and Cami bought it for Danylle because she loves Jacob Black.  They even wrote a fun poem to go with him.

I had my second experience with a cracker since Danylle gave each of us one.  I got another green hat, but my friend Sue was kind enough to trade me.  It might have something to do with the fact that she hates purple. I also got a yo-yo in it and a joke.  “Q: Where do sick gnomes go?  A: To the Elf Centre.”

We had Cafe Rio style salads with real Cafe Rio tortillas and dressing.  It was really yummy!  But, we always have good food at our parties.  Christie found an ice cream cake decorated like New Moon so she bought it for the party.  It was very neat!  The things you can do with cakes.

After dinner, we had a gift exchange.  It was lots of fun.  It seemed that everyone was in sync with who they were giving to because everyone loved their gifts.  My friend Luisa had me and I never dreamed she’d get me the thing I wanted the most for Christmas–a slanket! I’ve already put it to good use at work because the air conditioner blows right on me.

The party was a lot of fun.  Cami and Christie did a wonderful job of putting it together!  I love these women so much and I’m so glad they’re my friends.  I look forward to another year of great fun!

I have now seen New Moon twice and it’s better than Twilight for all the reasons Twilight bugged a lot of the fans and non-fans.  The special effects are better, the acting is better, the adaptation is better, and all the little nuances are better.  For example, I loved that Victoria’s hair is actually red instead of strawberry blond.  The sparkling was done better too, which definitely added to the story since that’s a part that most fans love.

I actually only have four complaints about the movie, but they’re super small, which is a miracle. The first, what the heck did they have Alice wearing throughout that entire movie?  Her outfits were so unflattering and made her look frumpy.  The second, the circling around Bella’s room during the months she was a zombie made me car sick.  The third, the new Volvo.  It’s not silver.  The fourth, the flashback with the old Volvo added to the inconsistency with the new Volvo.  However, all of these complaints are made better with the addition of Jacob’s smoking pecs, abs, and hip dents!

I didn’t get a chance to go to a midnight showing.  I decided to be responsible and go to bed so I could go to work the next morning.  (However, I didn’t end up getting to sleep until 4:00 am on Thursday night anyway because of the antibiotics I’m taking. Grrr!)  But, I’m glad I waited so I could go with my niece Megan.  We had fun at the movie together, which made all the difference.  (Pardon the pictures.  They were taken with my crappy phone camera.)

On Saturday, I went to the Twilight Lexicon New Moon Movie Event with my friend Ali.  Corey and I hang out with the Vigues all the time, but I’ve never really just hung out with Ali.  It was a lot of fun to go to the movie together and we’ve decided to hang out with just the two of us more often.  (Also, if you’re wondering, neither Ali nor I won any of the raffle prizes.  We’ve decided we’re just unlucky.)

It was fun to see the movie with all my other friends too.  We have so much fun together and we always look forward to our get togethers.  This time around, it was a little crazy because we were trying to help Lori and Laura with everything for the movie event, but it was still good to see them and all of our out-of-town friends too.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing the movie a third time next week with my in-laws.  And, I’m actually trying to talk Corey into seeing it tomorrow.

All you Twilight haters need to see New Moon because it’s better.  It also captures the essence of the Twilight Saga almost perfectly so you’ll understand better why the fans enjoy the stories so much.  Plus, there’s a lot more action for you manly men.

Yesterday, some friends and I went to Park City for a girls’ night out.  Actually, it was more of a girls’ couple of days out since we stayed the night there too.  Debbie’s parents have a timeshare there and we were able to stay in a double room for a great deal, especially since we were dividing the cost between us.

The nine of us ate at a not-so-good restaurant on Main Street.  We were trying to find something that all of us would enjoy and that wasn’t too expensive.  Unfortunately, in Park City, there isn’t a lot of inexpensive, good restaurants to choose from.  And, most of the inexpensive restaurants are fast food joints and we definitely didn’t want fast food.  However, even though the food wasn’t spectacular, the company was awesome and I’d eat there again if I was with the same friends.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel.  We were planning on playing some games, but we ended up just enjoying each other’s company by talking and taking pictures with my computer.  We laughed a lot and had a ton of fun.  Around 10:30 pm, Christie and Emily went home because they had other plans.  The rest of us stayed up until around 2:30 am talking and having a good time.

Today, we went shopping at the outlet stores.  I didn’t get anything and neither did anyone else really.  I guess it was between seasons and there wasn’t much to choose from.  Plus, I’m really anti-buying clothes right now.  I don’t want to buy something I’ll only wear for a little bit.  Corey thinks I should because I can’t keep wearing clothes that are too big for me.  Maybe, once my pants won’t stay up, I’ll go buy some new clothes.

It was so much fun to spend the evening and day with my friends.  I’m so lucky to have them in my life.  And, the trip was a much needed break from reality.