Sunday, March 6, 2011

SUNDAY THIS AND THAT

The last month has been extremely busy and stressful, but all good kinds of stress!  I PASSED my certification testing for dog training which is very exciting and satisfying!  After 8 months of studying and training my little Piper, we finally can relax for a bit before I get my business off and running.  At the moment I am shopping around for a logo/website designer, etc, and working with some terrific people over at dogTEC who specialize in helping dog businesses get off of the ground.

We are off to Orlando in a week to partake in all of it's Harry Potterness and Disneyness... we are all super excited!  We were in Disneyland about 3 1/2 years ago when we only had one child and she was 8.  Now she is 11 and our youngest is 4, so it should be fun!

On the book front I am still reading Ken Follet's Fall of Giant's and loving it.  Now that I am done stressing about exams and training I can get back into it!

On my immediate TBR list on my kindle are the following:

Here's the blurb from Amazon.com:
While observing exotic animal trainers for her acclaimed book Kicked, Bitten, and Scratched, journalist Amy Sutherland had an epiphany: What if she used these training techniques with the human animals in her own life–namely her dear husband, Scott? In this lively and perceptive book, Sutherland tells how she took the trainers’ lessons home.

The next time her forgetful husband stomped through the house in search of his mislaid car keys, she asked herself, “What would a dolphin trainer do?” The answer was: nothing. Trainers reward the behavior they want and, just as important, ignore the behavior they don’t. Rather than appease her mate’s rising temper by joining in the search, or fuel his temper by nagging him to keep better track of his things in the first place, Sutherland kept her mouth shut and her eyes on the dishes she was washing. In short order, Scott found his keys and regained his cool. “I felt like I should throw him a mackerel,” she writes. In time, as she put more training principles into action, she noticed that she became more optimistic and less judgmental, and their twelve-year marriage was better than ever.

What started as a goofy experiment had such good results that Sutherland began using the training techniques with all the people in her life, including her mother, her friends, her students, even the clerk at the post office. In the end, the biggest lesson she learned is that the only animal you can truly change is yourself.

Full of fun facts, fascinating insights, hilarious anecdotes, and practical tips, What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love, and Marriage describes Sutherland’s Alice-in-Wonderland experience of stumbling into a world where cheetahs walk nicely on leashes and elephants paint with watercolors, and of leaving a new, improved Homo sapiens.



I have only so far downloaded the sample but I LOOOVE what I have read and will be reading it on my trip.


And after reading the reviews of this in our local paper:


Here is the blurb from Amazon.com:


In Harkness's lively debut, witches, vampires, and demons outnumber humans at Oxford's Bodleian Library, where witch and Yale historian Diana Bishop discovers an enchanted manuscript, attracting the attention of 1,500-year-old vampire Matthew Clairmont. The orphaned daughter of two powerful witches, Bishop prefers intellect, but relies on magic when her discovery of a palimpsest documenting the origin of supernatural species releases an assortment of undead who threaten, stalk, and harass her. Against all occult social propriety, Bishop turns for protection to tall, dark, bloodsucking man-about-town Clairmont. Their research raises questions of evolution and extinction among the living dead, and their romance awakens centuries-old enmities. Harkness imagines a crowded universe where normal and paranormal creatures observe a tenuous peace. "Magic is desire made real," Bishop says after both her desire and magical prowess exceed her expectations. Harkness brings this world to vibrant life and makes the most of the growing popularity of gothic adventure with an ending that keeps the Old Lodge door wide open.


I just ordered the sample of this and will be reading it this afternoon... any of you read it?  What did you think?


AND:
I have been wanting to read this for ages, and I understand it has a lot of super twists and turns that bloggers sometimes have a hard time reviewing it without revealing any spoilers. 


In fact there is not really a blurb, only a couple of high profile reviews on Amazon.




























I have wanted to read this for a million and a half years!  I think it will be a fast read, perfect for our vacation.  The second book has just come out.  


Here's the blurb from Amazon:


Fans of Louise Fitzhugh's iconic Harriet the Spy will welcome 11-year-old sleuth Flavia de Luce, the heroine of Canadian journalist Bradley's rollicking debut. In an early 1950s English village, Flavia is preoccupied with retaliating against her lofty older sisters when a rude, redheaded stranger arrives to confront her eccentric father, a philatelic devotee. Equally adept at quoting 18th-century works, listening at keyholes and picking locks, Flavia learns that her father, Colonel de Luce, may be involved in the suicide of his long-ago schoolmaster and the theft of a priceless stamp. The sudden expiration of the stranger in a cucumber bed, wacky village characters with ties to the schoolmaster, and a sharp inspector with doubts about the colonel and his enterprising young detective daughter mean complications for Flavia and enormous fun for the reader. Tantalizing hints about a gardener with a shady past and the mysterious death of Flavia's adventurous mother promise further intrigues ahead.


And that should keep me busy enough!  


Have a wonderful day!

9 Blabs:

Karen and Gerard said...

Congratulations on be a certified dog trainer! Now that would be a fun job!

Sheila (Bookjourney) said...

Congratulations on passing!!! And ooh I want to read A Discovery Of Witches!

Natalie W said...

Hi Lisa! For some reason I thought you weren't blogging anymore and I stop by to check things out and you ARE blogging!! So I'm perusing..
I have been reading about your dog training adventure and it sounds like your having a blast. Congrats on passing! It must be so fun to work with the dogs.
I am so envious, DISNEYLAND!! I love Disneyland and we were hoping to go this summer but will have to wait until next. You guys have fun and can't wait to hear about it.
TTFN
Natalie

Lisa said...

Thank yo so much Karen, Sheila and Natalie!!!
and although I am not overly active at the moment, I still love the book blog world and have no plans on leaving!

:0)

TheBookGirl said...

Congratulations to you and Piper!
Hope you all enjoy yourself in Florida...I envy you the warm weather :)

Lisa said...

Thank you SO MUCH Book Girl!!!

Anna said...

Congrats! That's wonderful news!

Jessica said...

Congrats! Disney World sounds like so much fun; you're going to have to let us know how the Harry Potterness is. :) And you asked if I was re-reading Harry Potter - well, I'm actually reading it for the first time *bows head in shame* lol - it's a great series so far. I'm sad that I'm approaching the end.

Amanda said...

Congrats!!

The Shamu book looks so great! I'll have to check it out. I totally relate to the car keys episode. By the way, I read Discovery of Witches (review on my blog). I like a lot of it but it was a little too close to a Twilight for adults. Still, I am looking forward to book 2.

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