What is the first thing you notice about people?

Appearance. Things like whether or not someone takes good care of themselves (cleanliness, weight, etc.) and whether or not they are willing to look up and acknowledge me. Where I work, a lot of people won't even give me the time of day just because I wear an apron to work.

What song always makes you happy when you hear it?

I can think of a couple right now. "Love Song" by Taylor Swift and "September" by Earth, Wind and Fire.

What fashion trend do you just not get?

Skinny jeans. Hardly anyone looks good in them and yet every store I go into sells almost exclusively skinny jeans.

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The rules are pretty simple:
1. Every Monday post a photo with a little or a lot of yellow.
2. Please only post photos you have authority to use.
3. Include a Mellow Yellow Badge or a link to this blog in your post.
4. Leave the link to your Mellow Yellow post below on Mr. Linky.
5. Visit other blogs listed ... comment & enjoy!

This shot was taken in Atlanta on our recent vacation. It's the capital building which is modeled after the capital building in Washington, D.C.

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What is the longest love relationship (partner) you have had, and if it has ended, why?

My current and only boyfriend. We have been together 3.5 years and even though there isn't a person in the world that can annoy me as much as he does I love; I don't know what I would do without him.

What is on your bedside table?

I don't have a bedside table.

How many pillows do you have on your bed? Do you make your bed every day?

Anywhere from 3-5, it depends on if the boy toy is staying over or not. I personally own 3 pillows.

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This week's question:

Mariel suggested this week’s question
Book Gluttony! Are your eyes bigger than your book belly? Do you have a habit of buying up books far quicker than you could possibly read them? Have you had to curb your book buying habits until you can catch up with yourself? Or are you a controlled buyer, only purchasing books when you have run out of things to read?

Yes, yes and yes! Finding a treasure in a used bookstore or in the bin at the library is almost as exhilarating as reading the book itself. I have the TBR pile to prove it. Sometime's the pile of books waiting to be read is so overwhelming that I am tempted to just walk away from it and be done with it. Then I realize all of the adventures and the new friends that I will miss out on if I take that route.

For the time being I am trying to be good about not buying any more books until I read some of the ones that I already have in my house. I dread ever having to move and I try to use that as motivation for not buying more books although I think that I might set up a reward type program. If I get ten books out of the house then I can buy a book, maybe. I'll see how that works out. I don't remember the last time I bought just one book ;)

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The rules are pretty simple:

1. Every Monday post a photo with a little or a lot of yellow.

2. Please only post photos you have authority to use.

3. Include a Mellow Yellow Badge or a link to this blog in your post.

4. Leave the link to your Mellow Yellow post below on Mr. Linky.

5. Visit other blogs listed ... comment & enjoy!

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The rules are pretty simple:

1. Every Monday post a photo with a little or a lot of yellow.

2. Please only post photos you have authority to use.

3. Include a Mellow Yellow Badge or a link to this blog in your post.

4. Leave the link to your Mellow Yellow post below on Mr. Linky.

5. Visit other blogs listed ... comment & enjoy!

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Which household chore do you dislike the most?
Dishes - especially if they have been left in cold, gunky water. Something about putting my hands in even slightly slimey water gives me chills.

What's the best museum you've ever visited?
That's a toss up. As a child there was a museum called Imagination Station that was great because it was made for children. We could run and play and touch everything and it was such a blast. As far the most intellectual museum that I have ever been to, that honor would have to go the the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. It really opened my eyes to how awful things really were.

It's Star Wars Day today. I've never seen any of the Star Wars movies. What "common" movies haven't you seen?
I don't know if these are common movies but I get grief for not having seen Boondock Saints, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Layer Cake and few other movies that my boyfriend just loves.

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This weeks question:

Which is worse?
Finding a book you love and then hating everything else you try by that author, or
Reading a completely disappointing book by an author that you love?

I would be so much more disappointed with a book by an author that I love than with a second book by an author that I have just discovered. If one of my absolute favorite authors such as Dean Koontz, Clive Cussler or Nora Roberts put out a book that I hated I would be crushed.

I don't mean that each other only writes books that are similar to previous books but each auther has a certain sense of style that works for him/her. For example, the humor and the insights often found in a novel by Dean Koontz are staples and any book by him that lacked those things would be a greater disappointment than a second novel by an author who's style is not familiar to me.

This is one of the reasons that I was so upset when I did not enjoy Catherine Coulter's FBI series. I love her work but the first of her FBI books that I read left me feeling cold because the characters and the story line were not up to par with those of her romance novels. It's left me questioning whether I would like the thriller series by Nora Roberts.

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I have decided to participate in this week's Wednesday Weirdness so here goes . . .

1. Is there a particular smell that turns you on? If so what is it?
I have never really thought about this but I can't honestly come up with anything. Maybe my boyfriend's old cologne but unfortunately they quit making it.

2. Have you ever tried or considered trying a Master Cleanse type method to lose weight?
I don't know exactly what the means and I am not sure I want to know so I guess the answer is no.

3. When you browsing a book store for reading material, do you find yourself checking out a book solely based on the cover design?
The cover design is what usually draws me in initially but if there isn't more to the book than just pretty wrapping I won't buy it.

4. Which 80's trend were you least happy to see come back this year; big shoulder pads or neon?
Ugh, big shoulder pads. Neons can be done but shoulder pads just look horrendous.

5. How long do you think could you disappear for until someone would notice your absence and start looking for you?
A day or so. My dad doesn't always notice when I leave but between him and Zack one of them would notice that it was quiet and that they hadn't heard anything from me. At least that is what I hope ;)

6. Have you ever walked out of a movie and asked for your money back? Which movie(s) and why?
No, but I should have. I hated See No Evil and Texas Chainsaw Massacre and I should have walked out instead of hiding behind Zach the whole time.

7. Have you ever changed your plans because of something you read in your horoscope?
No. I will admit that I occassionaly glance at my horoscope but I have usally forgotten it withing minutes.

Want to participate? Go here!

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Question:

Ever watched a movie that got bad reviews, or didn’t do well at the box office and think to yourself, “Man, this should have been a HIT!!!”?

• Big Fish


• Adventureland


• Meet Joe Black


• The Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind


• Love Actually


• Fool's Gold


• Click


• Just Friends


• Drop Dead Fred


• 8 Heads in a Duffle Bag

And there you have it. If you want to play along check out

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Question:

Yesterday, April 15th, was Tax Day here in the U.S., which means lots of lucky people will get refunds of over-paid taxes.
Whether you’re one of them or not, what would you spend an unexpected windfall on? Say … $50? How about $500?
(And, this is a reading meme, so by rights the answer should be book-related, but hey, feel free to go wild and splurge on anything you like.)

I did get a refund this year and unfortunitely most of it went to bills and other unfun stuff like that but I am going to answer this question as if bills didn't exist ;)

If I only got $50 back I would probably just put it in the savings account and not worry with it but if I had $500 to spend on whatever I wanted . . . the first thing would be a real bookshelf. I mean really, check out Mt. TBR right now, it's pretty sad. Obviously at some point I would have to buy books and I would probably spend some of that money trading my books with people overseas. I can't afford to do that very often with postage being so high but I enjoy doing it when I can. I would also spend some of the money on ink and label making supplies.

As for non-book related things, I could always use new clothes and going out with friends. I also would do some upkeep type stuff to the car although that might by considered a bill in a way. Other than that, I can't think of anything but I also know me and it wouldn't take long to spend $500. What about you, what would you spend the money on if you had it to spend?

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This week's ten on Tuesday asks that you list your ten least favorite foods.

• Brussel Sprouts


• Liver


• Asparagus


• Sunny up eggs


• Red-eye gravy


• Tomatoes


• Turnip Greens


• Mushrooms


• Dark chocolate


• Coconut

So there you have it!

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Question:

I saw that National Library week is coming up in April, and that led to some questions. How often do you use your public library and how do you use it? Has the coffeehouse/bookstore replaced the library? Did you go to the library as a child? Do you have any particular memories of the library? Do you like sleek, modern, active libraries or the older, darker, quiet, cozy libraries?

I love libraries of all types, always have and probably always will. It does not matter to me if it's a brand new library or an older one as long as it's organised and well maintained; it's a place full of books, how could I not love it? As far as how I use my local library that has changed quite a bit over the years. Since joining bookcrossing I do not really use the library to check out books but I do go there every couple of weeks to scour their for sale racks in order to find books to send to other bookcrossing members.

The one outstanding memory that I have going to the library when I was little is one that still makes me laugh. I started reading novels when I was quite young and I remember going into our local library when I was no older than maybe eight or nine at the most. I walked into the library and the lady sitting behind the circulation desk greeted me; without asking me what type of books I was looking for she says kindly, "the children's books are on the left." I put my hands on my hips and promptly told her that I no longer read children's books, I read novels in a very haughty voice. The look on her face and my mother's laughter behind me as she heard me say this still make me laugh to this day. You will be happy to know the lady recovered quite quickly and helped me pick out some books that although I do not remember the titles I remember that I enjoyed very much.

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This week's ten on Tuesday asks the participants to list ten things on their to do lists.

• Have that talk with the boyfriend that I've been meaning to have for a few days now


• Start packing up my books (yikes)


• Organize my iTunes


• Update my iPod


• Start cleaning the house


• Go apartment hunting . . . again


• Catch up on my reviews


• Send packages to my brother


• Finish current book


• Finish organizing all the photos I just scanned

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This week's question:

The opposite of last week’s question: “What’s the best ‘worst’ book you’ve ever read — the one you like despite some negative reviews or features?”

This week's question was a really tough one for me as I have only started paying attention to book reviews. I was tempted to mention Twilight as a few other players did and I absolutely have to agree with Mo on her BTT choice of The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown but then I started going through some of the books that I have read recently and it hit me. I absolutely adored The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova despite its length and sometimes endless detail. I loved the story, the characters, the history, the setting . . . pretty much the entire novel and yet I have seen a lot of people disagree.

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This week's 10 on Tuesday prompt is: What do you like to do on vacations?

• Sleep


• Read


• Take tours


• Find the closest bookshop


• Discover new foods/dining experiences


• Shop


• Relax


• People watch


• Take pictures


• Go to museums

To find more visit:

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This weeks question:

“What’s the worst ‘best’ book you’ve ever read — the one everyone says is so great, but you can’t figure out why?”

I really had to think about this one because my mind kept going back to The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne which I have hated since I read the first sentence/paragraph. But, when I really thought about it, the worst 'best' book that I have ever read is actually The Cider House Rules by John Irving. I finished it because I was sure that there was going to be something at the end of the novel that would be redeeming, something that would justify the time I spent on the book. I was wrong.

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This weeks question is: What do you want to do with a little extra cash?

Any time that I have some extra cash I stash some away into my savings account and make sure that all of my bills are up to date if they are not already. If I had some extra money to do some impulse shopping some of the things that I would consider spending it on would include a new laptop, a nintendo DS, a Wii, a new phone, some new clothes, a new bookshelf (because let's face, I probably coud not have enough bookcases) and the shipping of some books that I really need to get out of my house. Those are the things that would top the list if I had extra spending money.

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