Heart in the sand

Who were the true host and hostess of this little wedding rehearsal and dinner at our home last night?  It certainly wasn’t Chris and I!  Their initials were G and S.

S charmed the socks off of everyone and I suspect talked their ears off.  Chris bought them their own bumblebee and dragon party hats and I think S wore hers the whole time.   G likewise turned on his own charm and made fast friends by giving away “hearts.”  The more he liked a person the hearts he gave away.  You always know where you stand with G.

We laid down a blue tarp and spread out sand and beach toys and brought the beach to the party since we couldn’t quite have the party at the beach.  I can tell you that the kids loved that!  Even a few of the adults, truth be told…  ;)

G took his job as the ringbearer very seriously, only getting tired right in the middle and having a seat  right where he stood.  Not bad for a five-year-old.  This evening, he will hold a large seashell with the real rings inside.  We practiced this morning and I stood in for the flower girl.

Shortly, we’ll all get dressed up  and head out for a beach wedding – dragging along beach toys for S to play with during the festivities.  My only hope is that we won’t end up in the water.  I’m tempted to wear my swim underneath my sundress just in case.  My children love the ocean.  No, I mean, they really love the ocean.  They are going to think it’s a dire sin that we will be that close to the water and not be able to get in.

We just might end up back at the beach tomorrow for a real swim after my piano studio recital.

One of my late Christmas presents from Chris this year as the Barnes & Noble nook, a rival reader to Amazon’s Kindle.  I must say that I love my nook, and it keeps getting better!  Each new software update, particularly the latest, has brought fun goodies.

So why did Chris end up choosing the nook?  After he compared it to the Amazon and the Sony Reader, he ultimately choose the nook for several reasons:

• A space to add a memory card if you want to hold even more books.  This may or may not be a moot point as your entire library is stored online as well.
• The nook also has wifi capabilities, with instant access and more features when you inside a BN store.
• Over a 1,000,000 books.  At the time, more books were available at BN than at Amazon.  I am unsure if that is still true but I think it is.  I believe Sony’s books can be read on the nook as well.
• I can read e-books checked at my local library on the nook, not on the Kindle.
• Chris liked that the nook used Android software.  This means nothing to me, but it was pretty cool to Chris, my software engineer hubby.
• Navigation is handled via a touchscreen (personal preference).

My nook finally arrived the first week of February and I am thrilled with it!  I was one of the original scoffers of e-reader technology.  I thought I would miss the feel of a book in my hand and turning the pages, but no, I can’t say that I do.  I reads like a book, feels like the weight of a book, and you can swipe the touchscreen with your finger with the same motion as turning a page – and your page turns.  It’s pretty great picking up one book knowing you have just about your entire library with you at one time!

I am able to upload my own docs and pdf files to read as I wish.  Formatting may not be perfect, but it works for me.  I can also upload .jpgs to use as screensavers – I have thoroughly enjoyed this.  Opening the cover I purchased for my nook and seeing rotating pics of my family.  (I honestly had no idea if this is a feature on the Kindle or Sony products).  I can also adjust the font size to any size I’d like – nice!

The latest software update included two games:  Sudoku (yes!) and Chess.  It also included (get this!) a web browser!  Sweet, huh?  You have enable a wifi connection and be connected wirelessly, and it does work, albeit a little slow.  This latest update also made page turns a little faster as well as some other nice minor details.

Sure, sure…every rare now and then it freezes and I have to power it down and back up and then, but that happens to any tech product I own.  I don’t see it as a major issue.

Cons.  Yes, there a couple of downsides.  Any book with charts, I am not able to increase the size of the charts to a readable size (one book had this issue that I know of).  Hopefully this gets improved upon.  Also, there is a notes, highlights, and bookmarks feature.  I love marking up non-fiction books with notes and highlights, however, doing this on the nook is a bit cumbersome.  I can go much, much faster with a paper version so I don’t usually make the effort to highlight unless it’s really, really worth it.  Hopefully this improves as well.

A pro or a con, depending upon your budget and perspective:  it was way too easy to buy books!  You can download free samples to preview if you’d like, but either way all you tap is “buy” then “ok” and you have your book in seconds!  Seconds!  Truly amazing.  Just stay within reach of a cellular tower and you have a gazillion books at your fingertips.  Amazing.

A book lovers dream.

And I highly recommend a handy-dandy cover no matter which reader you choose.  It’s just cuteness!  I chose one with a picture frame on the front so I could put in a nice pic of my gorgeous family for me to look at everyday.

The Rules:

1. Post these rules on your blog.
2. Tell about your six quirks.
3. Tag six bloggers to do the same.  (Yea, I’m not into tagging anyone.  If you want to participate, please do!  Pop back in and leave me a comment to let me know! I’d love to see your list!)
4.  Leave them a comment to let them know you’ve tagged them so they can participate.

My list of quirkiness:

1.  I have a nightly routine.  If I swerve from that routine in any way at all, then I will not be able to sleep until said routine is completed.  OCD, much?  I take my medicine, brush my teeth, check on the kids, check all the doors, make sure the garage door is closed, my bed blankets have to be juuuuuust right, I read for a bit, then finally turn out my light.  The only time I deviate from this routine is when I have a migraine.

2.  I cannot eat blue food.  Blueberries or anything resembling that is just off-limits.  Blue = bad.  I don’t like or am allergic to nearly all fruit.  Bananas are the exception.  The fruit I actually like, I am allergic to.  No fair.  I hope that quirkiness goes away in Heaven.  I’m so dessert-limited because of this fruit handicap.  I would really love to love fruit.  Thank goodness chocolate is not a fruit.

3.  I freeze when it comes to home-decorating purchases.  Even frames.  Especially furniture or lamps or art or knick-knacks.  I wish I had the money to pay an interior decorator to do it for me.  Not sure why the prospect of decorating my own home freaks me out.  I don’t know where to start, I guess.

4.  Pickles are evil.  Truly.  I don’t even like to smell them.  The crunch when other people eat them even makes me cringe.  And no, I did not eat them when I was pregnant.

5.  I sometimes avoid fiction books because I love them so much.  Makes no sense, I know.  But when I start a fiction book, I HAVE to finish it right away.  As a result, life around the house tends to shut down until I’m finished.  I sometimes prefer non-fiction to fiction because I actually have to read slowly to learn and process it all.  Fiction books – I can easily read one or two in a day.  An expensive habit to avoid, as well.

6.  If something is popular, I tend to avoid it for a very, very long time and at all costs.  Doesn’t matter what it is…books, movies, tv shows, clothes, food, etc..  It takes me awhile to warm up to something that is popular and is truly good.  I hate falling for fads.  Unless it’s Starbucks.

7.  As a performer, I actually do not care for performing solo on stage.  I much prefer being a part of an ensemble whether it be a praise band at church, or a piano duet, or some other arrangement.  I don’t mind standing in front of hundreds of people playing keys, as long as I’m not by myself.

8.  If I get nervous, my hands shake.  Very uncool if you are a pianist which requires, you know, using your hands.

9.  Did you really think I would keep this list to six?  Another quirk…

Look forward to reading yours!