Out and about in blogland

I think I'll talk about other people again today in order to direct you away from asking me questions about how much I got done again this week. (Cough cough)

So many of my favorite bloggers just had some good stuff to say this week. Barbara talks about the simultaneous disappointment/relief of finding out that her project just wasn't going to work, and moving on to a new one. I love her candidness.

Diane made me laugh with her post about why she won't write your life story. I commented that I'm not even published and people who know I'm writing tell me I should write their life story.

Carleen got me all excited about music, which truly doesn't take much, yet there you go. Her upcoming debut, Orange Mint and Honey, is just around the corner, (February 14, I think?) and is going to be a Target Breakout Book.

I walked around Target yesterday afternoon and felt alternately excited and overwhelmed about how many intriguing books they have on their very small shelf space. Excited because, well, books just do that to me. Call me a dork. Overwhelmed wondering if little ol' me will ever get to be one of those. (Yeah, I know, finish the book, Julie. That's the first step. Heh.)

Gail and I are reading The Memory Keeper's Daughter (Kim Edwards) for our mini book club at the moment. (Mini, as in just the two of us, and we talk about it while we're walking trying to move the sack of potatoes.) This is an absorbing book. Twists and turns at every juncture, and yet a steady pace, which has got to be a hard thing to pull off.

I did have some success in all of my resolutions this week, except I think I gained back the weight I lost in one meal at Carino's Italian Grill last night, so I can't move the counter just yet. (Darn that Gorgonzola cheese.) I also spent a whole evening napping in front of the TV instead of staring at the laptop computer. Perhaps I can actually do something another night. I bought this amazing little paint by numbers kit at Toy Joy in Austin several months back--you basically paint your own reproductions of some semi-known works on these tiny canvases. I intend to get that out and have some artist's dates with it soon.