Good Music, Good Books, and Good Friends

First off, Happy Birthday to my little sister! She's 20 today and we kicked off her birthday with a great breakfast at our parents' house. The whole fam will be coming back over in about an hour for cake and ice cream.

Following breakfast and after pretending to do some housework while my brothers actually cleaned, I headed out for some Saturday errands. I started by shopping for an outfit to give my sister for her birthday. During the commute, I listened to a cd I just picked up this morning, Gary Allan's Living Hard. I love it! My favorite song right now is "Watching Airplanes" and that's the reason I bought the cd, but I love the whole thing. Shopping at Store #1 took longer than expected (and I spent more than expected :o) ), but I eventually made my way to the library.

I need a book for Monday and I just realized the logic in checking the book out from the library rather than spending money on yet another textbook. Unfortunately, there's only one copy in my county library system and since I just thought to look into this today, there wasn't enough time to get it ordered to my local library. Nevertheless, for a free read I'll spend extra gas. So I travelled about a half hour to the East side and got my book and then headed toward home, stopping at Walmart on the way.

I had a list of things to get and should have just stuck to it. Instead, I got distracted by the knowledge of increased funds in my checking account since yesterday was payday and decided I needed makeup. I've had a hard time lately being happy with my makeup and am constantly trying new shades and brands. Anyway... at long last I was ready to check out and I stood behind a girl whose hair and back looked extremely familiar.

I couldn't know for sure that it was who I thought, but I took a chance and bumped her with my cart. No response. I didn't blame her, the place was a madhouse and anyone could have bumped into her with a cart. So I pushed my cart up next to her and sure enough, it was my life-long friend that just moved back to town with her husband. We talked for close to an hour I'd guess (though I can't be sure; I'm a horrid time estimator). Not only was it great to catch up with her, but it was great to know that good friendship like that seems to always stay alive. I kept thinking of things to mention to her, and she'd bring up the subject on her own, like she was reading my mind! One such topic was the Stephenie Meyer Twilight books. I haven't yet mentioned these on my blog, but it's time I do...

Months ago, my hall advisor down at school told me I should read the books. I kept hearing the same advice from various sources and finally, on Christmas Eve, I was shopping with my dad at Target and saw the first book (Twilight) on sale for like $7.00. I remembered hearing about it, so I bought it. At the time, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I've read many, many books in my lifetime--most of which I have enjoyed. But these three books (Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse) reminded me that I love to read. I had sort of lost sight of that fact in college because reading is only ever an overwhelming assignment forced upon you. This month I have started reading for fun again, and all because of these teen vampire novels. Who knew that the girl who always claimed to hate anything encapsulated in the "fantasy" genre would become so fascinated?

If you have some free time, pick these up. They're quick reads and well worth it.