things that made me smile

I had a great weekend. Seriously, I can't remember when I last had so much fun in one weekend (probably because most of my recent weekends have been consumed by speech ... but we won't go there!). So here's what made me smile:

• Saw my words in print--in a place other than my blogs, the NC Advance, or Amazon! On Friday, I got author Denise Hunter's newest e-newsletter, and in it ... she quoted my review of A Cowboy's Touch! Granted, she didn't say it was me, so no one else knows, but oh, the thrill of seeing my words in her newsletter! I work hard on my reviews, so to have an author say she liked it, well, that pretty much made my day!
• Spent Saturday "babysitting" in the girls' dorm. I was there from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and while I will get paid for my time, it didn't even feel like work. (Isn't that the best kind of job?) While there, I ...

• Finished reading Heart of Ice. It's a good one--check out my review (which probably won't get quoted by the author ...)

•  Watched My Fake Fiance with some of the girls. I'm probably too old for it, but can you go wrong with Blossom's Joey and Sabrina the Teenage Witch? I don't think so!

• Went on an Easter Egg hunt! I'm pretty sure the last time I hunted eggs was eight (?) years ago when cousins Kate and Beth and sister Val came out to visit me at Grace. By the way, my team "won" by collecting the least amount of eggs, and we got all the leftover candy! I ate far too many Starburst jelly beans and then left the rest of my share at the dorm.

The winning (or losing, depending on how you look at it) team: Lindsey, Jessica, and me. We collected a whopping TEN eggs (out of 200)!

• Found a movie music station on the dorm parents' DirecTV. I love movie music, and it provided the perfect accompaniment to my reading!

• Played DDR ... and possibly became addicted! I bought the game from Amazon because I thought I would enjoy it (plus, it was over 50% off), but after playing it once decided it really wasn't for me. I'm not incredibly coordinated ... Then Janet (the girl who spent the last two Christmases with me) asked me to bring it Saturday. She played for hours, and she finally convinced me to try it. It's so fun! I've played four times in the last three days :-)

• Chatted on the phone with college roomie Jen. It had been far too long since we'd spoken, and it was great to catch up! (Note to self: Do a better job of keeping in touch with friends.)
• Took a nice ... windy ... walk with Blendy. We need to do that more often! (Dear Blendy--I'm linking to your blog, so you should probably update it!)
• Went to the dentist this morning. (I can see those questions now: Yes, Monday is still sort-of the weekend because we don't usually have school on Mondays. No, dentist appointments don't usually make me smile.) No new cavities is exactly what I wanted to hear! (Plus, I didn't get the flossing lecture. So either my mouth looks better than it should, or my dentist is giving up ... )
• Had lunch with Jo, a girl I've known basically since she was born nearly 18 years ago. We're going to be starting a Bible study if we can ever get our schedules to mesh ... but for now, it was nice just to spend a 30-minute lunch with her!