Sunday 31 July 2011

Dollar Book Deals Around Town!!!

             Let me begin this post by saying what a crazy week it has been!!!  Not only did I turn twenty-seven, but I also got a new job!  This week I begin a new career as a school librarian.  For the past few years, I have said that I could not imagine a better job than an elementary school librarian.  Now is my chance to inspire kindergarden through eight graders every day.  


               I would also like to thank everyone for participating in my birthday giveaway.  Congratulations to Leslie the Hug Bandit this year's winner.  


           The subject of the post is about some of the book deals I found around town.  Normally, I find most of my book deals at The Book Bag in Gulfport or at the library book sales.  However, I found some awesome deals in some very random places this week.  All these items are a dollar or less.



These are classics sold a dollar a piece at Walmart.  They remind me of the Penguin 
two pound classics I purchased in Edinburgh.


These two came from the Hudson's Dirt Cheap on Pass Road.  The store
has tons of books in stock right now, and they are all being sold for seventy-five cents a piece!


The other day, I stumbled across a treasure of dollar books at Dollar Tree.  
They are all over the stores on end caps as well as temporary displays.

Happy Birthday to me indeed!


Saturday 23 July 2011

Birthday Giveaway!!!!


          I decided to mark my twenty-seventh birthday with my first ever blog giveaway!  The giveaway includes the following items....

  • Hardcover of Eat My Globe: One Year to Go Everywhere and Eat Everything by Simon Majumdar 
  • Hardcover of the novel How to Buy a Love of Reading by Tanya Egan Gibson 
  • Book Lover frame made by my friend Leah of Mermaid Ink
  • Four custom bookmarks made by me!  
Here are the official rules....

  1. Giveaway ends at 9 PM Central Standard Time on my Birthday Thursday July 28th.  
  2. To win the contest you must be a follower of The Baking Book Bunny
  3. Answer this question under comments for this post... What was your best birthday present you ever received?
  4. Following me on twitter will allow you a second entry to this giveaway.  My name is BakingBookBunny on Twitter  
Best of luck!!!  

Wednesday 20 July 2011

Wedding Books Still to Read!

         Here are a few books I need to read before the wedding!  I doubt I will make the goal, but they are here on my shelf when I feel the wedding bug kick up a notch.  













Sunday 17 July 2011

Two Weekends Worth of Randomness

       These past two weekends have been the busiest of the entire Summer.  Not only during the week have we been unpacking and getting ready to open the library, but I am also balancing wedding stuff.  Last weekend a group of us went to the Festival of San Fermin in New Orleans instead of Pamplona Spain!  The "bulls" are actually Roller Girls with horned helmets and whiffle bats.  The run kicked off at eight am in front of Ernst Cafe off of Magazine Street.  We had all had a great time enjoying the spectacle of the Big Easy event.  There were plenty to be seen!  We saw Elvis look alike on scooters, matadors, and a sea of white with red.  Here are some very moments of the event.


*Gathering Bright and Early*


*Empanada Truck!*


*Opening Parade*


*Effigy of Pope or San Fermin* 


*All the crowds*  


*Balcony of Ernst Cafe* 


*Edward, Leah, and I having fun*


*Release the bulls!*


*She smacked me a few good times*  


*Some Austin Roller Girls we met*


*Enjoying the Spectacle*  


*D.J. and Edward Chilling out at the truck*


*Some more "Bulls"*


*Notice anything off in this picture?*


*Leah and D.J. as the day heated up*


*Fish and Shrimp Tacos!*


*Edward and I towards the day*

     I ended out last Saturday going to Ship Island with Leah and her Aunts.  It was for an evening reenactments at Fort Massachusetts in order to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the only resistance the fort ever experienced.  It was lovely to watch the sun set on the island.  




        Yesterday I went to pick up my altered wedding dress at Victorian Lace, Timeless Bride on Government Street in Mobile, Alabama. I am excited about how the dress turned out, and cannot wait to schedule my bridal portraits! After lunch, we went to an antique shop and then to the flea market off of Schillinger Road.  There are some very random things there.  

Here are some random things I found yesterday... 
  1. Butt Implants for your underwear
  2. A little gray kitten for sale for five dollars
  3. A crafted wood bed with camouflage bedding  
Today I am just enjoying the couch and the rain.  Maybe there will be more adventures next weekend....

Wednesday 13 July 2011

Wedding Scrapbook Goodies


           My wedding is less than three months away!!  Therefore, I am beginning to think of all the pictures, and the scrapbook I will create with them.  Here are a few nice treats I found shopping around online to get my creative juices flowing.  Most were found on Overstock, but some can also be found on Two Peas in a Bucket.  

*This is from Martha Stewart's Line of Edger Punches*



*This Circut Cartridge is called Tie the Knot with some great little cuts.*


*This paper even though for heritage or family tree albums has beautiful classy paper I love*


*This is a archival sparkly mist to add a nice touch*


*These are so cute!  They are embellishments from Angelous*  
        
In other news, I go to pick up my dress on Saturday!!

Friday 8 July 2011

Matched... or rather hooked...


             Let me me begin this book review saying that my favorite read in middle school was Lois Lowry's The Giver.  So when I saw that Matched by Ally Condie in the blogosphere was described by comparing it to The Giver I had to read it.  I am very happy that I put it to the front of my reading list!  It turned out to be a more adult type of version compared to my middle school read.  Condie creates a society where every person is dictated by the choices made for them by the government.  People are only allowed to enjoy a hundred different types of songs, books, poems, etc. Everyone in the society has to die by the age of eighty no matter what their physical state, and their jobs are chosen for them as well.  The most significant moment of a seventeen year olds life is their matching ceremony where they are given the person they will marry at the age of twenty.  This person is chosen by a formula known as a matching system.

           This story follows the adventures of Cassia after she discovers here match is her childhood best friend, which proves to be an unusual circumstance.  However, the day after her matching ceremony she goes to view a data card with her matches information only to have the picture of another childhood friend flash on the screen.  Despite being warned that this is just a glitch in the system, the incident along with the death of her grandfather sets the plot spiraling into motion.  Cassia soon begins to question if the society really has everything all figured out while she falls in love with both of her matches.  Even though the second one is forbidden to be with her.  

          I completed this book within twenty-four hours of reading it, and am excited for the second installment set to come out in November.  Condie really was able to create a lot of drama within in the confines of the societies restrictions.  She also did not do too bad with the love story.  My favorite thing about Matched is that it gave me a lot of food for thought such as books like Scott Westerfield's Uglies series.