Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Reading has become my new craft

It has practically been a lifetime since I last posted anything here. My reasons for this jump from "too busy at work", "nothing new to post", "sick", "lazy"....this list goes on and on. I get on here daily though to read new posts on the blogs I follow and end up annoyed when not enough of my friends have posted anything new in the last 24-36 hours. I realized yesterday that this wasn't fair of me, if I'm not posting anything new, how can I "demand" this of them?!? Of course, I closed my Blogger window shortly after this revelation and probably went right back to FB stalking or possibly doing some work.
This morning after I told the 3 person in my life that I finished my book last night, the 2nd in 5 days, and that I'd counted and have already read 9 books in 2010, I got to thinking..... Then, after going to lunch with a dear friend and making a fun trip to Borders with her, I thought about this again. While walking back to my office $56 poorer and a heavy 5 cent Borders bag, sweating my toosh off in this crazy summer heat (note to self, no matter how freezing office is, no black pants till September), I realized how much I wanted to head straight home to read on my balcony vs. going back to work! Of course, we can all say that we would rather be doing anything other than sitting indoors for 9 hours a day, especially during the summer months.....but this reading has really become an obsession! I can't seem to read a book fast enough to move on to the next!
This is usually how I am with craft projects. I'll have 3 more lined up in my head, all supplies purchased and will sit hour on end working to finish one to start the next. This "replacing" crafts with reading became more obvious when I realized that I haven't walked into an AC Moore, Michaels or JoAnns since around early April! This is beyond words for someone who 6 months ago was making weekly or bi-weekly visits to 1 if not all 3! Well, this money isn't getting saved up in my checking account, it isn't going into a savings account, and unfortunately it's not being saved up for vacation spending this summer/fall. It seems that all this money is going straight to Borders (and yesterday, even a $13 purchase at Barnes & Noble). That's right, 2 days in a row now I've gone book shopping on my lunch break. I now have 7 new books (6 today, 1 yesterday) plus the one that I pulled off my overflowing shelf last night that I decided I want to read next. Luckily it's not a lengthy book, so I should have it finished before the weekend and can move on to one of my actual new, new ones :-) My new "current read" was purchased last summer.
I spend all this time in Borders - either downtown or in Silver Spring with Jon and I usually spend my time looking at the titles by the authors that I love the most (Sherryl Woods, Nora Roberts, Kristen Hannah, Elin Hilderbrand), since I never really need to buy another book I tell myself I'm there to browse....I read the back covers to those that either the title or cover/spine of the book grab my attention and I then stand there trying to figure out if I already own this book (usually if I've read it I remember that I've read it, but my collection of "to reads" is ginormous). Last night I decided to make a list of books currently owned by my favorite authors so that I can carry this with me to reference, and add to as needed. In case you missed it in past posts, I enjoy making lists :-)
While making my "what I own" list, I decided to also make a list of what I've read this year. I used to do this every year and thought it was great to look back and see what I read in the past 12 months - it always gave me a goal to reach or exceed the following year as well. I missed doing this the past couple of years and I wanted to get something together now before I forget all that I've read in 2010.
Here is the list so far:
"Dear John", Nicholas Sparks
"Sunday's at Tiffany's", James Patterson
"Flamingo Diner", Sherryl Woods
"How to Knit a Love Song", Rachael Herron
"The Last Song", Nicholas Sparks
"The Carrie Diaries", Candace Busnell
"About That Man", Sheryll Woods
"Ask Anyone", Sherryl Woods
"Along Came Trouble", Sherryl Woods
Plan to start reading tonight: "The Wednesday Letters", Jason F. Wright
Just 2 hours to go, then home to ready for the evening.....everything still far to painful to even consider working out tonight!