Books, book signings, shopping, scrapbooking, life.

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Last week I found out that Paolo Coelho has a page in Flickr. Somehow that just made me happy.  And perhaps even more so when he added me as a contact! Yeap, these kind of things can really turn my day around and bring a smile to my face! It's no secret I can be quite dorky.  But it's all good.

These are a handful of my recent favorite pics from Paolo Coelho's photo stream in Flickr. And I believe I have mentioned here before how much of a big fan I have been of his books ever since I read the Alchemist, one of my all-time favorite fables, about 10 years or more ago. And by the way, The Alchemist has now been turned into a musical too! Here is the link to the musical's website.

And because it has been a while since I have updated my lovely blog friends on anything going on in my world, I guess this is destined to be a long post.

Last Friday I had the amazing opportunity of stopping by a book signing by author Teresa James. She wrote a fictional book called Below Judaha. And I am glad I waited to post this until after I finished reading her book so I can tell you what a fabulous read it truly is! 

Her book is a sweet and inspiring story about an Apache Native American girl who lives on the Blue Mountain Reservation in New Mexico. She travels to the East Coast to attend law school with the purpose of helping her people keep the land on Blue Mountains untouched by developers. This is a journey that much like life itself, includes loss, sadness, beauty, love and the pursuit of our dreams. A great read indeed.

And while we are on the topic of totally inspiring and uplifting reading materials, it is about time I share with you how much I am in love with the new book Life Artist by Ali Edwards.

So full of rich content. Not only amazing inspiration in terms of layouts and ideas, but a great deal of good writing. She shares so much about her life philosophy, her journey in this whole Life Art path she has chosen and with which I have undoubtedly felt so deeply connected with for so long now.  I am a big fan of her previous two books, but I think this might just be her best so far!

Do not miss Lainie's podcast with an interview of Ali Edwards about her book. 

You can download the podcast here.

I am still totally bummed that I couldn't make it to Kansas to meet up with Tiffany due to some work related commitments, but we are planning a get together in her area next year! And I truly cannot wait to see her.

And this weekend I got the chance to spend some quality time with my long time friend Christie. We only live a few houses around the corner from each other, but somehow can never get the chance to get together (life and work keep getting in the way) but this time we did. And I am so happy we did. She is a wonderful friend. We love so many of the same things. I truly feel grateful for her friendship throughout all of these years. Talk about people that inspire you in so many ways!  You know, one funny tidbit about our friendship, Christie and I first met on line at a message board. And later found out that our children were on the same classroom in Kindergarten. And that we were neighbors! Talk about coincidences!  Now our children are in fifth grade. Time sure flies, doesn't it?

So Christie and I ended up driving to the city of Tracy to what seems to be one of the biggest scrapbook stores in California called Youngplay Memories. And while we were there, we also checked out some adorable shops in their downtown area.  So many cute crafty places!  I certainly had to take pictures of all the eye candy!  We even encountered an adorable cat that lives in one of those shops!

I also found some cute Cinderella dolls...and no, I did not buy those pictured here, it was just part of my window-shopping-drooling experience and it deserved to be documented.  I certainly do not need any more dolls, but I can't help to totally fall in love with these artsy creations every time I see them.

And last, but certainly not least (I was sharing in order of events) my dear Canadian friend of many years Nicole just sent me the most adorable picture of her insanely CUTE children...I just got it in the mail yesterday (along with a totally amazing care package filled with scrapbooking goodness) and I just simply had to scrapbook it immediately (thank you so very much Nikky.)  I'll share a picture of the page I made, but you'll have to pardon the picture, I did not have enough time for a re-take and I did not have the best lighting conditions at that time in the morning.  Aren't those two smiling faces just about the cutest you've ever seen? I totally think so!  :)

And if you've stayed with me this long, I think you deserve a brownie point, a star, or something good for keeping up with what could be noted as the longest post ever. For me at least. 

Have a great Tuesday, or what's left of it anyway.