Retail Wednesday Thursday Edition

Oops. Meant to post this yesterday, but I forgot. I was so busy doing important stuff like cleaning and making a flier for my Dad and watching Firefly and voting for So You Think You Can Dance (which, btw, was aMAzing and can I just say that Cat Deeley is adorable and should totally get an Emmy for host!) and I forgot!

So, no Cover Love Thursday this week, because I've got some good stories. Oh man, the crazies were out in force this last week!

So on to the Awards!

Close but No Cigar Award:


A woman came up to the information desk and asked for the book Snow Storm and the Revolving Fan.
Me: Do you mean Snow Flower and ...
Woman: (cutting me off) Oh, yeah. Snow Flower and the Revolving Fan.
Me: It's actually the Secret Fan.
Woman: I don't know. The book by Lisa See.
Me: (find her the book and try not to laugh at the image her book title has provided)

Book Titles That Make Me Laugh Award:


A teenage girl asked me for this book... which happens to be in our etiquette section.

Phone Freak Award:


I answer the phone.
Lady: Hi, I was in your store about an hour ago to buy this book. I bought it because this church is bringing in a special speaker to talk about it at the end of July and I wanted to read it before then. So I called this morning and talked to Christine and they couldn't find the book, so she checked with the manager and then they found it and put it on the side for me. I came in and bought it and the girl at the register tried to give me something for the store. Some kind of card or something. But I don't have a computer and they needed an e-mail so I couldn't get it.
Me: Okay. (what is your point and btw, there is no Christine here and no one even has a similar name)
Lady: Well, I have a flier here from the church and it says that the book is available at Borders book store and it has your address and phone number and then it says that the book is $11.99, but when I bought the book, my receipt says $14.99. I thought it was strange when I bought it, but I didn't say anything, but when I got home I saw that this paper does say that it's available at Borders for $11.99.
Me: The price of the book is $14.99. I'm not sure why they put $11.99 on the flier. No one has arranged anything with us and we aren't able to do special pricing like that. The prices are all set by the company or by the publishers.
Lady: But the flier says that it's available at your store for $11.99. Why would they put that?
Me: I'm not sure where they got that number from. Give me one second. (Pull up Borders.com to discover that the special on-line pricing is... you guessed it, $11.99) Okay, I see what happened. Whoever put the flier together looked it up online and put the sale price. Unfortunately that price is only valid online. It even says it on the website.
Lady: But the paper doesn't say anything about that. Why didn't someone tell me when I bought this book?
Me: Because it's not our flier. They put that out without contacting us or telling us anything.
Lady: Well, they're advertising your store.
Me: And we appreciate that. But we can't honor a price that someone put on a flier that isn't from our store.
Lady: So I can't get the $11.99?
Me: The only thing that we could do would be to have you bring back the book you bought, we could return it and then order the book online and have it shipped to you. That would take about a week.
Lady: Well, I don't need it until the end of July, but I figured I'd go ahead and get it now, since I was there and you had the book. So if I come in they can give me the $11.99?
Me: We would have to order it. But just to let you know, I don't know how long the book will be on sale on our website. I couldn't guarantee that if you came in next week it would still be $11.99.
Lady: Well, they would change it for me, right?
Me: No, we don't have any control over the website prices. If it's on sale you would get that price. If it's not, we can't change it.
Lady: Well I think in this instance you should since there was a discrepancy in the flier price.
Me: That wasn't our discrepancy. We can't help what some random person puts on a flier that they make.

Look! I made a flier where everything is half off! Why won't you honor it?!

Lady: So you can't give me the $11.99?
Me: Only if we order it through our website while it is still on sale.
Lady: When are you working? Because they won't let me return the book. They'll want to know why I'm returning a book and buying it again.
Me: As long as you have your receipt it won't be a problem to return the book.
Lady: But they won't know to give me the $11.99 price if you aren't there.
Me: The price is automatic on the website. It won't matter who helps you order it, the price is set right now. That's why I told you we can't change it, so if it's not on sale anymore, we wouldn't be able to give you that price.
Lady: Well, I just don't understand why you can't just give me that price. They should have told me when I was in the store, since it was on the flier.
Me: (losing it just a little) It's. Not. Our. Flier.
Lady: Oh, I understand that, but they shouldn't have put that on there.
Me: I agree.
Lady: I don't know when I'll be able to get a ride back over there. That's why I came today. Because my husband could bring me. He already doesn't like bringing me there, he's just going to love this.
Me: I'm sorry. I guess you just have to decide whether the $3 is worth making another trip over here.
Lady: I'm not someone to quibble over $3.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

This actually has nothing to do with the story,

but it was the only picture with the word "quibble" and it made me laugh so...

Me: (OH REALLY BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN ON THE PHONE FOR 15 MINUTES WITH YOU OVER $3!)
Lady: I guess I'm just going to keep it. It isn't worth coming back and going through all that. Thank you (hangs up)
Me:

And that's it for this week! Hope you're having a great summer!

Two for Tuesday: Lame Edition

I woke up and realized I hadn't written a post for today. And that I had NO idea what I wanted to write about. But I'm trying to keep myself on schedule for the summer so I had to do something.

So here are 2 random facts about myself:

1. I hate talking on the phone. Like with a passion. Like I will do anything to avoid calling someone. Or answering the phone. Or whatever. I would rather text, e-mail, wait until I see them, smoke signals would be better than talking on the phone.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

2. I have about a trillion stuffed bears. I got one for every Christmas since I was born until last year. And I bought them for myself. I named them (almost all) with names that started with "B" such as Bernard, Belinda, Boo, Betsy, Bob, and so on.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

This is pretty much one of the cutest GIFs ever.

Now it's your turn! Tell me a random thing or two about you!

Inspiration Covered

As those of you that have been following me for a while know, I have been working on a YA novel. I wrote the first VERY rough draft during NaNoWriMo in November and have been trying to figure out where to go ever since then. I've rewritten the opening scene at least 7 times, tried to keep going on the rewrite I started in January. I'm stuck.

So I was looking for inspiration.

First I did a search for castle pictures. There are a lot of gorgeous pictures. A. Lot. I felt inspired just looking at them. Here's a couple:
(The one I wanted to show you the most is all rights reserved and I don't want to step on anyone's proverbial toes. So just go HERE if you are interested. GORGEOUS!

This is a scene from Edward Scissorhands, but it's exactly how I picture Layla wandering through  Tavares' castle.

From Internet Pop Culture. I love this. The sky is PERFECT

From timepassages tumblr
This is not what I envisioned the entryway to be, but once I saw that picture I thought it was PERFECT!

This is from PlanetWare

So I got all excited and everything. And then I decided that I wanted to do a faux cover. I've always wanted to do one, but never have. This also forced me to title my book something. Which I've been trying to do. It's hard for me to get excited when it's just "that Layla thing." Now it feels more real and I'm hoping that will get me writing again.

Tada!

I'm still not ENTIRELY happy with it, but I like a lot about it. And it's just for my fun, so...
As for the title -  In the book I reference Magic or Enchantment as almost a living force (very inspired by Mercedes Lackey's 100 Kingdoms books) but I didn't like the terms "Magic" or "Enchantment" so I looked up both word in various languages thanks to Google Translator. "Magiciste" is I don't remember what, but it is different enough that I like it and looks enough like Magic not to be too confusing. And so I decided to use it for the title. For now anyway. But I likes it :D

What do you do to inspire yourself when you're dragging on a project?

Polaris part 2!

So yesterday you saw the pictures, (if you didn't you can go HERE) and the first of our ridiculous videos.

Last year they had fantastic guests like Ethan Phillips who played Neelix on Star Trek: Voyager, and Kai Owen from Torchwood and Mark Sheppard from Battlestar Gallactica. For book guests they had Kelley Armstrong and Robert Sawyer, plus SO many more.

I went to one panel, 30 years after the Empire Struck Back and one of the panelists was Craig Miller who worked on the Star Wars movies and had all these fantastic behind the scenes stories and stuff.

There were also two panels on Lost, since the show had just ended that year, and the discussion there was so interesting.

Kelley Armstrong, Alyxandra Harvey, and Michelle Rowen hosted a panel on What's Next for YA Fantasy and Supernatural Readers that was a lot of fun and we went to one panel on what to read after Harry Potter.

Larry Stewart (the master of ceremonies and a hilarious guy who is going to be there again this year) did a reading of a chapter of Harry Potter that had the entire room (which was packed to the gills) roaring with laughter and completely enthralled (I'm crossing my fingers he does another one this year).

There was a panel about vampires (cleverly called Then Buffy Staked Edward) in which several people argued heatedly against sparkles no matter how the panelists tried to direct the conversation, and one on Steampunk, which we attended because we were wondering what it was all about.

One of my favorite panels was called "The Book was Better" and the panelists were Violette Malan and Marc Mackay. It was fascinating and they were hilarious. I will never look at a movie adapted from a book the same way again. They are SO limited that it amazes me anyone is ever able to pull it off. We enjoyed it so much that we went to a reading by Violette Malan and got free signed books from her just by showing up! Also went to a reading/discussion by Nikki Stafford and to the one by Michelle Rowen.

Here's another ridiculous video:



There were also games you could play - they had a StarGate game that was kind of like bingo, except not. You got a sheet of paper with a bunch of StarGate symbols on it and then those symbols were hidden all over the building - little squares of laminated paper stuck on pillars, in rooms, behind benches, on the ceiling, etc and those papers had numbers on them. So you had to write down the number on your paper and the person that found the most won a free entry to this year's convention. There was also a Clue type game, which we didn't play because we were kind of confused and overwhelmed by the awesomeness that was Polaris.

Here's another ridiculous video:


SO this year Naomi and I are really excited because we know a bunch of the special guests. (And by know I mean we have watched the shows they were in, because we don't actually know them, though that would be super cool)
There's Armin Shimmerman who played Quark on Star Trek: DS9 and Principal Snyder on Buffy, Ben Browder from Stargate SG-1, Adam Baldwin - JAYNE! (Browncoats unite) and to make THAT even better, Jewel Staite is going to be there too! Yeah Kaylee! She also was on Stargate Atlantis as Dr. Keller.

The two big author guests this year are Charlaine Harris who writes the Sookie Stackhouse series that True Blood is based on and Brandon Sanderson, who writes fantasy and is best known now, probably, for being chosen to finish Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.

The panels look really good and I'm going to be on a couple this year. I even submitted a Lost panel that was accepted :D, there's one on the genre of YA, and so many others that should be fascinating.

AND they're doing a Whedon singalong with the Buffy episode "Once More with Feeling" and then Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog!

So, it's too late for pre-registration, but you can still buy tickets so, if you're free on July 15-17 and can make it to Toronto, you totally should come. Or you should make plans for next year.

You can go HERE for more information or just to check it out.

So... have you gone to any super fun conventions? Anything planned for this year?

POLARIS

I promised AGES and AGES ago to post about this and now it's almost a whole year later.

But that's okay, because I still want to tell you all about it and it's not too late to plan to come this year! But more on that later...

Naomi and I heard about Polaris through the amazing Nikki Stafford as she was one of the author guests last year. (I keep hoping she'll be there again this year, but no word yet *crosses fingers*)

Polaris is basically a sci-fi/fantasy convention that covers books, movies, tv shows, fandoms, etc. etc. etc. It is big enough to attract some really great author and actor guests, but small enough that you feel right at home and the panels are small enough you can actually say something and easily engage in the discussions. I loved pretty much every second of it.
Get ready for some pictures!

 Naomi likes to take pictures of people eating. Also food.

 See? food...

Naomi by the TARDIS! We'd barely started Dr. Who at this point. The Friday night party was all Dr. Who themed and now that I'm a regular Whovian I wish we'd come prepared!

 We stayed at the Sheraton where the conference was held. It was really nice, but we had to walk down like 3 halls like this to get to our room. It felt like it went on forever (in a good way)

 This was a steampunk fashion show. So cool.

 We met up with some of the Nik at Niters for dinner on Saturday. This was the coolest Coke bottle chandelier!

 Some of the Nik at Niters! So nice to put names to faces :D

 Naomi and I with the lovely Nikki Stafford! This was the second time we'd had a chance to meet her and it was such fun.

 Ex-ter-mi-nate.

 Naomi and I went all out on the costumes for Sunday (I made both of them, finally getting a chance to put my sewing skills to good use) I went as Delenn from Babylon 5 and Naomi was an elf or something. People kept guessing different random things. She just wanted the sleeves :)

 Nature meets ... machine? Loved this little Wall-E that was randomly in our hotel hall!

 Scary elf!

 I love those sleeves. Love them.

 And me. This was a fountain near one of the entrances to the hotel. Sunday, everything finishes around noonish, but we stayed through till Monday so we wouldn't have to drive 8 hours on exhaustion. So we walked around and took random pictures.

 Loved this cabinet

I remember now why I didn't put this up right after we went. It was because I had put together some of the video we took, but YouTube wouldn't upload it for FOREVER. So. I will post one here and the others I will post tomorrow. Tomorrow I will also tell you a little about the panels we got to join in on AND give you the scoop on this year!

So I leave you in suspense with this...

Cover Love Thursday: Forgiven

I had never heard of this book, but I saw the cover and I want to read it.

Look at this:

Gorgeous, no?

What I like about it: That red! It's so eye-catching. And the way her hair is all flying out behind her! I love the typeset of the title. The composition is just stunning.

Here's the GoodReads synopsis:
Kula Baker never expected to find herself on the streets of San Francisco, alone but for a letter of introduction. Though she has come to the city to save her father from a cruel fate, Kula soon finds herself swept up in a world of art and elegance - a world she hardly dared dream of back in Montana, where she was no more than the daughter of an outlaw. And then there is the handsome David Wong, whose smiling eyes and soft-spoken manner have an uncanny way of breaking through Kula's carefully crafted reserve. Yet when disaster strikes and the wreckage threatens all she holds dear, Kula realizes that only by unlocking her heart can she begin to carve a new future for herself.


mmm.... books....

Retail Wednesday Time Once Again

Guess what!? I actually worked this week!

Guess what that means?! I actually have some good stories!

so without further ado... I give you

THE AWARDS

Phone Freak Award:


I answered the phone.
Guy: I was wondering if you could tell me if you had a few books?
Me: Sure. What books?
Guy: No Exit and Other Plays by Sartre
Me: (looks it up) Yes, we should have that one. I'd have to double check the shelves, but why don't you tell me the other ones so I can look for them all at once.

Guy: Okay, how about Critique of Pure Reason by Kant?

Me: Sorry. That would have to be ordered.

Guy: What about The Republic by Plato
Me: Is there a particular translation you need?
Guy: What?
Me: If you need it for a class some teachers require specific editions.
Guy: (hurriedly) oh, no. Never mind.
Me: We should have a couple of different ones.
Guy: (ignoring me) What about Discourse on Method by Descartes?
Me: We should have it.
Guy: Okay thanks.
Me: (stopping him as he's about to hang up) Don't you want me to check and see if we actually have them?
Guy: (hurriedly) That's okay. Bye.

Was he just taking a poll?

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Or perhaps it was simply a philosophical exercise

Private Amusement Award:


I was walking through our teen shop when I saw a guy in his early 20s browsing in the graphic novel section. He had that look of someone trying to find something specific, so I asked if he needed help finding anything.
He kind of hesitated and then grinned a little sheepishly, almost blushing.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

At this point I got a little nervous. What was he looking for that would embarrass him like that?
He leaned in toward me and almost whispered, "Do you have Halo books?"
I almost laughed. But I didn't. Give me a little professional credit. "Sure!" I said brightly. "They're back in sci-fi/fantasy." I led him toward the section and showed him where they were and walked away, biting the insides of my cheeks to keep from smiling too broadly until I was well away. I felt like saying, look, you're talking to someone who mainly reads YA and middle grade novels. I don't think you need to be embarrassed about reading books based on a video game.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Cutie Patootie Award:

I was on the register and a mother came up with her 3 or 4 year old son. He handed me this giant dinosaur book from our bargain section.
"Oh, do you like dinosaurs?" I asked him. He smiled up at me and nodded his head vigorously.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

His mom smiled and said, "Tell her what you want to be when you grow up."
He got this really intense look of concentration on his face and said, "I want to be a pa-wee-un-tologist."
I about died from the cute :D

see more Daily Squee

Oh my werd, like this. SO. CUTE.

And that's it for today!
(p.s. pardon all the LOLcats today. Blogger wouldn't let me upload any other pictures. *grrr* Not that I don't always have a hefty dose of them anyways :D)

Two for Tuesday: Books you HAVE to go read. Now.

I have been doing SO much fun reading since I got out of school. It's like I'm trying to suck up as much "fun" stuff before I get bogged down in theory and having to analyze everything again.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Sorry, I just can't seem to resist these adorable LOLCats!

And I recently read two amazing books that I wanted to plug a little bit because I loved them so much.

The first is Divergent by Veronica Roth.

Seriously. Read this book. Oh my goodness it's like amazing. See I even went all italicky on you to show you how serious I am. I found the beginning a little bit slow, but then I was all ZOMW I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M ALMOST DONE NO I DON'T WANT IT TO END WAIT WHAT THE HAY BALE OH MY WERD FREAK OUT AND WHOA.

So read it.

Here's my Goodreads review (because I'm lame lazy and don't want to rewrite the thing.)

Honestly, at very first I was interested, but not totally sucked in. Yeah, that didn't last long. Oh my goodness I love this book. I love Tris and Tobias and Caleb and Christina and Will. These characters are so vivid, so vibrant, so astoundingly real that you just can't help but hold your breath for them.

Beatrice has known for a long time that she's just not selfless enough to spend her life in Abnegation. But that means she has to choose a different faction and turn her back on her family. Easier said than done. And now that she's in the middle of Dauntless initiation she's even more confused as to where she belongs. She's taken a new name, making new friends, and even getting a tattoo (or two), but does all of that really change who she is or who she wants to be? And what will she do when everything she's worked for starts crashing down around her?

Go. Read. Love :)


And the second book is Myra McEntire's Hourglass.

I just finished this on Saturday and I didn't want to put it down. From the very beginning I was hooked on Emerson's voice. I hit this one line, which I can't remember exactly, but it was about a guy screaming like a lady who's forgotten to take her panties off the line when the preacher comes to call. I mean, who comes up with a word picture like that! I loved it. Definite laugh out loud moments, but a lot of intensity too. Time travel, hot guys (yes plural), mysterious men, loving family, and did I mention TIME TRAVEL?! So fantastic. You totally should go read it. Like right now.

Emerson just wants to be normal. Which is really not easy when you have to walk through southern belles just to get into your house. But she really doesn't want to see this new "consultant" her brother hired. She knows he's just trying to help, but she's had enough of hokum and hospitals. Then she meets Michael and he sees the things she sees. And he tells her she's not seeing ghosts, she's seeing time ripples. And she just might have more power than she could ever have realized. But what is she going to do about it? And what is Michael hiding? They have the opportunity to change everything, but can they trust each other enough?

Both lovely ladies have blogs and stuff (you can get to them by clicking on their names) and, if you haven't bought either of the books, they're both ON SALE and you can get to that by clicking on the titles.

So those are my two for Tuesday... have you read anything you loved lately? DO TELL! I'm always looking for my next fab read :D

The Age Dilemma

I think this is the first writing related post I have done in MONTHS.

My problem is I came out of NaNoWriMo totally stoked about my new project. But then I workshopped it in my fiction class at school and got so much feedback (good btw) that my brain rebelled and every time I tried to restart I froze.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

One of the biggest problems I am still having is figuring out how to make my characters FEEL like the age they are supposed to be.

A number of people commented on my opening scene, saying that they thought the MCs were like 13. Great, except they're supposed to be just out of high school. Now granted, after reviewing it I realized that my first scene basically stunk. But I don't want people reading this thinking that Layla and Moira are 13 when they're supposed to be 18. But then later, people got confused and thought they were older. Like in their 20s. *headdesk*

So I started thinking about why I have a problem with this. I read a lot of YA and MG (middle grade) novels. A lot a lot. Like 90% of my pleasure reading. I want to specialize in children's and adolescent lit for my doctorate (if I go there, but that's a whole nother story). I have younger siblings. I spend a lot of time around 15-17 year olds.

BUT I am *mumblemumble30mumblemumble* years old and sometimes I wonder if I'm just too disconnected? I know there are a lot of people older than I am writing fantastic YA fiction, so I don't think it's that.

However, I never had anything close to a "normal" (whatever that means) adolescence.
1. I was homeschooled. my entire life. The first time I set foot in a classroom was in college. I love the fact that I was homeschooled. I think it was fantastic. But my entire view of high school life comes from books, tv, movies, and random conversations I've overheard. That's easy, just make your character homeschooled, right? Except that doesn't work since her parents died and she lives with her cantankerous grandmother *sigh*

2. I graduated high school when I was 16. Yes. 16. Then I spent a year student teaching my younger brother and sister. Then I worked for 5 years. Then I finally decided to go to college. Oh. And we moved to a new state in there too. So I feel lost when I try to write about any of that kind of stuff. Because I never experienced it. Not really.

So my characters end up sounding too young. Or too old. Because I am a mixture of both. Sometimes I will goof around and act like I'm 13. For serious. But then I'll act my age and I'm all professory and professional. But no one EVER guesses my real age. Which I appreciate.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

This is kinda how I act. Sometimes. Both sides of this :)

When I'm writing dialogue between two girls that have been friends, and practically sisters, since they were little, I write it the way Naomi and I would talk. Or the way she and some of her friends might talk. But those are the parts that people said made them sound too young. But I'm basing it on real people that are actually older than the age of my characters. So I get confused.

My point is that I'm not sure how to make sure my characters "act their age" and what does that mean anyways? And does it matter? Every person is different, right? So some 17 year olds act 12 while others act 22. How do you clarify that in your writing. Do you just find an organic way to slip their age in near the beginning? Or do you not think about the age thing at all? Am I being too overanalytical? Should I end with some funny posters?

Where was this three months ago?

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Something Random for Your Friday

I was totally going to finally have my Polaris post up from our trip *cough*last year*cough* BUT I didn't quite get to finish it. So next week. Promise (see, now I have to do it).

So instead I decided to do something random. Because there isn't ever any of that over here. *sarcastafont engage*

Except I honestly can't think of anything random.
....
....

Boring, huh? Aren't you glad you came all the way over here?

oh! I know. Last night we went to the carnival that always comes through on Father's Day weekend. We don't ride the ... rides (that sounded redundant) normally (Naomi was a big fat rebel and actually rode some yesterday). No. We go to a carnival for the FOOD.

My top favorite carnival foods in no particular order:
1. FUNNEL CAKES - no fried dough here people. No, it has to be the funnel cake. The crispy, fried, delectable goody covered with enough powdered sugar to choke you. Nothing better.

2. Chicken Gyros - oh. my. goodness. I love these pita filled wonders with their yummy chicken and their crisp lettuce and juicy tomatoes and drippy cucumber sauce. *drool*

3. Ribbon Chips - these are a dying breed. I haven't seen them for like 2 years. The curls, the crisps, the fake cheese sauce that burns your mouth and tastes oh so good!

From HERE

And that's all I've got. What's your favorite fair or carnival food? *props chin on hands* *waits*

Cover Love Thursday: Possession

You know you judge a book by its cover. We all do. And there are lots of books and authors I've discovered because of a little bit of cover love :) Not that it's the final or only criteria for picking up a book, but there's a reason they put so much work into these covers!

Today I decided to post a favorite cover of mine recently.

I have to admit, I wasn't that thrilled with it when I saw it online, but in person it's absolutely gorgeous. It's all shimmery and lurvely.

and the story inside is even MORE fantastic! Okay, so I've gushed about this a bit before, but today is the official web tour for this book TOO.

I wrote a non-spoilery review last week, which you can read HERE AND if you want to join in the festivities you can go to Elana's loverly BLOG or to the WEBSITE because she is all awesomesauce and stuff.

What I love about this cover: It looks plain white in the picture, but it's actually kind of pearly and shimmery. I love the simplicity of it. The letters are raised just slightly and the colors! Oh the colors are so PRETTY. The purple and the green and the ice cube and the butterfly. Love it.

So have you gotten your copy yet? huh?!? What on earth are you waiting for!? Go HERE. or HERE and do it NOW :D

Retail Wednesday for You and Me

Um. Yeah. It gets hard to come up with clever titles after a while.

But LOOK! It's BACK! Retail Wednesday has returned to your computer screen! Aren't you excited?! Aren't you dancing with glee!

From HERE

Okay. Maybe not. Maybe it's just me :D

For those of you that might be new here (though I don't know if there are any of you) I work at a Borders and a while ago I decided rather than getting annoyed at people I should just write down their stories and make myself (and others) laugh about it. Because people are crazy. And I am a writer. And this is FAR more therapeutic than spitting in their coffee. (not that I would do that. I don't work in the cafe. ;)

AWARD TIME!

Book Titles That Make Me Laugh Award:


I saw this on an endcap and did a double take. Yes. Yes, this is actually a book.

The perfect answer for the allergic type I guess? I love that they are PEDIGREE POOCHES. No mutts for this knitter. No. Sir.

Private Amusement Award:


I answered the phone.

Woman: Hello, I was looking for a specific book.
Me: Okay, what book?
Woman: I was looking for a Super Horoscope book. I need Gemini and Scorpio.
Me: Hold on just a second and I'll see if we have them.
I put her on hold, but as I was trying to check, another customer accosted me and refused to leave me alone until I answered their question. I finally make it to the section, discover that we only have Gemini and return to the phone.
Me: Sorry for the wait.
Woman: Oh, that's okay. My psychic told me that I'd have to wait today.

Me: (to myself - why couldn't your psychic tell you if we'd have the books in stock?)

The best thing is that I found this on a psychic blog!

But seriously. I don't believe in the whole psychic/astrology thing, but if it made more people this patient I wouldn't mind.

Outright Bizarre Award:


Our deposits are picked up by Loomis, the armored car company. We have had the same guy forever and he's super nice. He walked into the store with his little cart with our change order on it. A customer looks over as we walk by.

Man: Hey, is that for me? (grins)
Loomis: Only if you want to go to the state prison. (smiles back)
Man: Oh, I've already been there. (turns back to browsing)
Me: !!!!!!!!

And that's it for today! Thanks for stopping by :D