Birthday & a snow day

I had a great birthday yesterday.  I took the day off of work and so did Dan.  We went to Caribou, where I got my free coffee.  We sat there for a while just enjoying the day.  Then we did a little shopping.  We were going to go see a movie, but we came home and watched Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.  Then picked the kids up from school & daycare and ate some pizza for dinner.  My friend came over, she lives in Chicago and I don't see her too often.  We hung out and watched a movie as well.  Overall a nice day.  I finally got all the Vampire Academy books so I can re-read them.  I got some cute Emerald earrings from Dan.

I wake up this morning and it's snowing and there's snow on the ground and X's school is cancelled.  So I decided to just have a snow day and stay home.  Not much planned for today.  I'll probably just watch some TV and get some laundry done.  My dad is coming over later and going out to eat to celebrate my birthday.

Happy Leap Day!

Book Club - January

We read A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

 

Sixteen-year-old Mattie Gokey has big dreams but little hope of seeing them come true. Desperate for money, she takes a job at the Glenmore, where hotel guest Grace Brown entrusts her with the task of burning a secret bundle of letters. But when Grace's drowned body is fished from the lake, Mattie discovers that the letters could reveal the grim truth behind a murder. Set in 1906 against the backdrop of the murder that inspired Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy, Jennifer Donnelly's astonishing debut novel effortlessly weaves romance, history, and a murder mystery into something moving, and real, and wholly original. Includes a reader's guide and an interview with the author.

 I really enjoyed this story, which was basically two stories.  One story involves Mattie and the things that she learns and her decision to leave home and go to New York to attend school.  She is conflicted since she is the oldest and her mother has died and so that makes her in charge.  Also she made a promise to her dying mother that she would take her of her younger sisters.  The story also involves Grace, whom we never really meet because her body is found at the beginning of the book.  We get to know her through letters that she gave Mattie to burn right before she died.  It was interesting to get a glimpse of what life was like back then and how hard it was for women to speak their minds.  In the end we learn more about Mattie and we also learn the events that lead to the death of Grace.  It was a quick read and worth reading.

The book for February is Stay With Me by Garret Freymann-Weyr