Cheap books! For you! (And DVDs!)

I'm moving at the beginning of August and I'm trying to get rid of some of my books. It was hard to part with them but some of them had to go. But now my loss can be your gain. I am selling these books at VERY CHEAP prices. Here is what I have.

**Add a $3.99 shipping cost to any price** USA only!
 **If you want multiple items, add 3.99 to your total plus $1 for each additional item**

**Some prices are negotiable. Make me an offer**

Back in the World by Tobias Wolff - $1.00

Tithe by Holly Black - $1.00

Wake by Lisa McMann - $1.00

Barrel Fever by David Sedaris - $1.00

My life in France by Julia Child - $2.00

Comprehending Cults: The Sociology of New Religious Movements by Lorne L. Dawson - $2.00

Youth in Revolt by C.D. Payne - $2.00

Red Fish, Blue Fish, One Fish, Two Fish by Dr. Suess - $1.00

The Snowman Touch and Feel book - $1.00

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater - $1.50

Native Son by Richard Wright - $1.00

Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell - $0.50 

Sucker Punch by David Hernandez (library edition) - $1.00

The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell - $3.00  *Hardcover*

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (ARC) - $2.00

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher - $1.00

Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher (library edition) - $1.00

True Believer by Virginia Euwer Wolff - $1.00

Fire in the Blood by Irene Nemirovsky - $2.00 (library edition)

Remember me to Harold Square by Paula Danziger - $0.50 (library edition)

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant - $2.00

In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien - $2.00

The Voyage of Argo by Apollonius of Rhodes - $1.00

Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular by Rust Hills - $1.00

Chinese Handcuffs by Chris Crutcher - $1.00

Girl Goddess #9 by Francesa Lia Block - $1.00

Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen - $0.50

BurgerWuss by M.T. Anderson - $1.50

Wicked by Gregory Maguire - $2.00

The Pistachio Prescription by Paula Danziger - $0.50

Rick Steves' London 2009 - $0.50

Save the Everglades by Judith Bauer Stamper - $0.50

Haunted by Chuck Palaniuk - $2.00

The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty - $1.00 *Hardcover*

On Writing by Stephen King - $3.00 *Hardcover*

Boomsday by Christopher Buckley - $1.00 (library edition)

Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv - $1.00

Away by Amy Bloom - $1.00

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly - $2.00 **Hardcover**

Kardashian Konfidential - $1.00 **hardcover**

Rhymes with Witches by Lauren Myracle $1.00

I also have some DVDs: *Again please include $3.99 for shipping*

Little Miss Sunshine - $2.00

Rachel Getting Married - $2.00

Elf - $2.00

Wedding Crashers - $2.00

Pirates of the Caribbean - $2.00

Spiderman (Tobey Maguire version) - $2.00

The Notebook - $2.00

Spiderman 2 - $2.00

I Love You, Man - $2.00

The Wrestler - $2.00

Beauty and the Beauty 3 Disc Special "Diamond" Edition Blu-Ray and DVD Combo Pack - $15.00 **NEW, still sealed, never used**

If interested, please leave a comment or send me an email at juliees39@gmail.com. All items will be sold on a first come, first serve basis. You will pay me through PayPal.

Thanks for shopping!

My new favorite reality show...

Hey guys!

Remember how a few weeks ago I mentioned that I was working at a camp on an island in Maine? Well, the camp is dedicated to birds, and they recently installed a web-camera next to an Osprey nest on the island. What does that mean exactly? It means that you can watch this Osprey (that's a large bird of prey for those who don't now) live from anywhere in the world! It's crazy!

I know that may not sound interesting to many of you. You might wonder "okay, why would I want to watch some bird?" But trust me, you should try it. The Osprey laid three eggs this year, and they hatched about a week ago. (I was on the island when they did and saw it happen. So cool!) So now there are three very cute little Ospreys in the nest. You can see the parent Osprey feed them and, over the weeks, watch them grow. You also get some a glimpse of beautiful Maine. I wouldn't recommend watching it for hours on end, but it's fun to check in on it every once in a while and watch for a few minutes.

You can check it out here. This is truly reality TV - unedited and unscripted!

Cheap Thrills

After the disappointing news this week, I decided this weekend I would do a little shopping to cheer myself up.

Actually, it wasn't just the news that made me want to go shopping. I've also been doing a lot of online browsing lately, but all the places I like to look at (Kate Spade, ModCloth, Anthroplogie and J. Crew, and sometimes a few others) are all way, way out of my price range. So then I start feeling sad and feeling like I'll never be all fancy and stylish. But then I just have to go out to my favorite cheap stores and remind myself that you don't need a lot of money to look great. I think as long as you have a strong sense of style and little creativity, you can always look good, no matter what your price range. That is especially true here in the US, where we have so many designer-discount stores (like Marshall's) and thrift shops. (Sometimes there are thrift stores in other countries, but discount stores are not very common, at least not in my experience.)

I started out at my favorite consignment store here in Tampa and, well, a shopping miracle occurred. Yes, a miracle: I was browsing through the dress racks when I spotted a beautiful black and white BCBG silk dress. And it was my size. And it was only $28. AND it still had the original store tags on it - it had been $238. I'm still confused about how this happened, by the way. If it had the tags on it, why didn't the original owner just return it? But oh well - her loss was my gain! I tried the dress on and it fit and it looked great. It really is a beautiful dress, as you can see below. 

At that store, I also saw some really cute Betsy Johnson sandals. They had big, crystal bows on them. BUT the store wanted $45 for them, and that seemed like a little much to me. Maybe next time...

Then I headed up the street to a thrift store. This thrift store can be kind of hit or miss. It's a giant store, full of racks and racks of clothes, but about 80% of what's on the racks is no good (in my opinion.) It's too worn out or stained or just not stylish. BUT there is always that 20% that's amazing. I've found some really cute dresses and tops here, even a purse or two. I don't normally look at jeans in thrift stores, by the way, because it's hard to find jeans even in a regular store. So no, I won't be having a Sisterhood of the Traveling pants moment any time soon. Anyway, I browsed through the dresses but didn't see anything I liked. I wasn't in the mood to look at the tops, so I headed over to the jackets, where I found LOTS of nice stuff. I saw a really cute blue rain jacket, although it was too big for me. I ended up getting two jackets - one red one that's really warm and has lots of nice details, and a white, Ralph Lauren jacket, which also still had the tags on. (Does no one keep receipts!? ). I have been looking for an nice white jacket for a while, so I'm glad I found this one. 

Also, the jacket was half-price because it had that orange tag, so it was even cheaper than the already super cheap price.  Amazing! True, it's a little warm out for jackets, but I'm moving to a colder climate soon, so I need it! I also got this cute little bag. 

PS. That's my library card in the corner of the picture. Haha.

ALSO - last night after work, I went to Marshall's and browsed around. They had a lot of cute stuff, but I decided I would only look at the Clearance stuff. But even with that limitation, I still found some really cute stuff. I tried on some Jessica Simpson shoes, and they were cute, but they were $26 and I didn't really need them so...that was a pass. But then I found these really colorful platform sandals, and they were only $18 so I caved.  They're made by Sperry and are very comfortable. I just love the colors! It's so summery. 

Okay, and that's all your fashion for today. I'll be back to book-reviewing soon...maybe.

Disappointment

Hey everybody!

After all the excitement yesterday about the free cupcakes, I actually have some sad news to share today. Such is life. We all go 'round the wheel of fortune. (Okay, I'm being a little bit over-dramatic).

Yesterday I heard back from one of the agents who had been reading the full manuscript of my book, Cardboard Characters. (I posted earlier about how I was in querying-mode.) And unfortunately she turned me and the book down. So sad. Rejection is normal in the writing world (and in life in general) but I'm still sad. I was really interested in this agency and thought they might be a good fit. And what really stung was that, in the email, the agent (who shall remain nameless) called my book by the wrong title! She said "good luck with Cardboard Cutouts!"

Actually, this is not the first time this has happened.

Anyway, there's still another agent out there reading part of the manuscript and several others who still haven't responded to my first query. I still feel hopeful that I'll find an agent eventually. The book has been well received by bloggers (another one just posted a great review yesterday) so apparently some people like it. I guess maybe it's just a matter of finding the right person, and there are so many factors that go into that: They have to be looking for new clients, looking for YA, not really interested in trends (my book is not about the undead), not have something like it already on their list, and on and on. It's almost like dating - finding the right person at the right time is practically a miracle.

Cupcakes!

Just a quick post because I HAD to share this with you guys.

So...a local cupcake place had a giveaway on Facebook for 19 cupcakes! Can you believe it! Even crazier is that they've been doing this almost every day, and each day that add one more. Like, 18 on the 18th, 19 on the 19th, 20 on the 20th, and so on. Well, I won on Tuesday, the 19th and today I got to go into the store and pick out NINETEEN cupcakes!!

It was such a fun experience, like living a childhood dream. I went in and said, for example, "I'll take three of this, two of that," and so on. And then I walked out without paying for them! Crazy!

I'm living with my brother this summer, and hopefully these cupcakes will last us all summer. (Although, tonight after he ate his first one, my brother said "hmm, I could go for another one." So that is worrisome.) I think we're going to keep some in the fridge and freeze the rest. Hopefully they'll keep well in the freezer.

Have any of you ever had a childhood dream fulfilled? What was it?

PS. If you live in the Tampa area, you can try your luck on the store's Facebook page here. If you're from somewhere else, they have the stores all over - it's called Gigi's cupcakes - and I think many of the stores have Facebook pages and do giveaways. They are so yummy!

Daydreaming...

My head's in the clouds...

Summer's here, and I have more free time, and I have been spending a lot of that time daydreaming...

I think summer was just made for daydreaming. With the heat, and the free time, there's nothing to do but stay inside with some lemonade and stare out the window and think. (Okay, there are probably some other things to do. In fact, there are a lot of other things I should be doing: organizing my stuff, packing and unpacking for grad school...but whatever.)

What have I been daydreaming about, you ask?

Well, not about the new story I'm writing, like I should be. No, most of my daydreams involve thinking about the future and imagining different paths I could  take, and places I could end up. I like to think about where I might live in the future, what my house will look like, whether I'll live in a town or city, what my daily life will be like, who I'll marry, all that. I think it's interesting that, in this point in my life, nothing is set in stone, and everything is still pretty open. I wonder if when you get older, you still daydream about the future. Is it really possible to imagine a future when everything is already set?

Anyway, I know John Green once said that imagining the future is a form of nostalgia, and I don't agree with that. But that is another post for another time.

I'm back!

Sunrise in Maine

Hello everyone!

Whew, it's been a while since I updated. Well, not that long, but it feels like it, especially here on the internet, where everything moves so fast. And, I think, because so many things have happened to me in the past few weeks.

As I mentioned earlier, I was on vacation in Maine. Specifically, I was volunteering at a camp that I've worked at and attended for many years. I met so many nice people and did a lot of work. We were very, very busy, getting the camp ready for the summer sessions and welcoming the campers.

Some of the things I did: I painted a bathroom yellow (see photo below) which is harder than it sounds! The hardest part was making sure the paint didn't go all over the place, like on to the new shower. I also helped move food onto the island and some new mattresses for the beds. That's the tricky thing about an island: Everything has to be brought over, and it usually involves many boat trips, and walking up and down the docks. The last week I was there volunteering, the camp was in session, so I helped out in the kitchen, making breakfast, lunch and dinner for thirty people. But even when the work is hard, somehow I still had a lot of fun. I think it's the people. Everyone who volunteers there is so nice, and when you spend all day working with someone, you tend to become friends very quickly. In fact, I think sometimes working with someone on a difficult job, like washing dishes, strangely makes you better friends. Maybe it's because you have to cheer each other on to get through it, and then when you're done, you have this great sense of accomplishment that you guys - and only you - share.

Bathroom I painted

In fact, I was thinking about that a lot while I was there, and since I've been back - how experiences that are so unique and singular really bind you to the people you experienced them with. I remember we talked about this once in my 12th grade English class, while reading the book Under the Net by Iris Murdoch (which, confession: I didn't actually read). In the book, three of the characters go swimming together on a beautiful night, and the narrator observes that, after that, they're much better friends, because they want to talk to someone about this amazing experience, and they're the only ones who truly understand what it was like and what it meant, because they were all there. You can describe it to an outsider, and show them pictures even, but they might never fully understand why it's so important. It's kind of a paradox, because these important moments are the ones you most want to talk about with someone, but you can never really describe them. So, in the end, the only people you have to talk about with are the people that were there. Do any of you feel that way about a certain place or event? Well, that's how I feel about this place in Maine, and I think it's part of the reason why I've stayed such good friend with the people I've met there, some of them for more than ten years.

Well, that, and the fact that so many of the people that go there are truly amazing. For example, my friend, Barb, whom I met years ago while volunteering, picked me up to take me to the airport. On the car ride, Barb told me all about the thing she had done in the past year: taking a trip to Cuba, acting as a parent to a college student who had come to Maine from Wisconsin, befriending the hockey team of her local college. I was amazed to hear about  how full and busy her life was. I hope I have that much going on when I'm older.

And now I'm going to share some pictures, even though I just ranted about how other people might never really understand the how special a place is. I think you'll get a pretty good idea from the pictures. If you would like to find out more about the camp and its programs, you can do so here. 

A boat ride

Terns