Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving it next Thursday! Are you excited? I know I am! I love turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie! (My oh my do I love pumpkin pie!) Thanksgiving is unusual, though, in that I think it's one of the major holidays here in America that just doesn't get enough attention. We eat for a day, lie around groaning, and then IT'S TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

Wait. Stop.

What is Thanksgiving for? Just the eating?

Well, it does all surround the eating, because it was the Pilgrim's way of celebrating that a) they had food, and b) they weren't dead. So yes, the eating is central, but so is the giving thanks for things, like not being dead. And having food.

So ends our somewhat skewed history lesson, and begins ....

My List of Things I'm Thankful For This Year!

1. Family and Friends
2. My house
3. Books, my own and other people's. (Especially Under Heaven, Jane, and the Sookie Stackhouse books)
4. Movies, particularly Toy Story 3 and How To Train Your Dragon
5. Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M's
6. Pumpkin pie, cookies, breads, and muffins
7. Stephen's Hot Sipping Cocoa
8. My new poodle jammies (Thanks, Jenn!)
9. My husband and I both have cars
10. I've been on four vacations this year: Romania, Las Vegas, Disneyland, and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It's been amazing!
11. My dishwasher might be loud, my clothes washer might occasionally smell funky, but by dang I'm not washing dishes or clothes by hand, and I am eternally grateful!
12. As of this moment, no one in our house has thrown up for 18 hours!
13. Boy has discovered LEGOs, Harry Potter, and Indiana Jones.
14. Boy can read
15. Cynthia Rylant's book, In November
16. The Charlie Brown Holiday Specials (Will anything ever be better than the Great Pumpkin? Or Snoopy making toast and popcorn for Thanksgiving, then pulling out an entire meal for himself and Woodstock after the kids leave?)
17. Shaun the Sheep
18. The Parasol Protectorate
19. My bed. (It's big and soft and warm!)
20. Baby Girl can talk!

And that's just to begin with!

If you're looking to get into that Thanksgiving mood, try these: 'Twas the Night Before Thankgsiving by Dav Pilkey, In November by Cynthia Rylant, The Thanksgiving Treasure by Gail Rock (out of print, but worth finding), A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Potpourri

Potpourri - n. (French) 1. A bowl of dried stuff that smells good for several years before becoming so dusty that it starts to smell like a mummy.
2. A random mixture of informational tidbits.


I swear: this is exactly how the dictionary defined "potpourri!"

Anyway, we're going with definition number 2, as I need to post a random bunch of stuff that I'm sure you will all find edifying.

First up: I finished the rough draft of my SUPER SECRET ROMANIA PROJECT! Alas, it is very rough at this time, and so I do not know when it will see the light of day! (And, by the way: I jokingly called the book My Grandmother Is A Bat! on Twitter a month or so ago, which apparently caused someone to a)think I was serious and Tweet/blog about it and b) keep asking me, essentially, if my vampires "sparkled" or were "the icky kind." THERE ARE NO VAMPIRES. A monk at Snagov Monastery made me promise, and I'm sticking to that promise!)

Second: I have seen some cover sketches for my next book: TUESDAYS AT THE CASTLE, and they are AWESOME! I'm in love with this cover art, and so exited to get something more final that I can show you all! TUESDAYS will be out September 2011!

Third: I have launched a new website/blog with my friend Amy Finnegan called Bookshop Talk. It's a place where she and I and any of YOU can post reviews of their favorite books. Check it out: http://www.bookshoptalk.com/ If you want to post a review, send it via the site to Amy. (Please no reviews of, um, erotica or reviews that look like this: tHis izz my fave cuz the Guy is soooooooooooo hottt!)

Fourth: Monday, October 18th I will be on THE TELEVISION promoting my upcoming events with fellow redheaded Bloomsbury author, Julie Berry! You can see me on Mountain Views with Ori Hoffer, Park City TV, at 6 pm, or watch it online at http://parkcity.tv/live .

Fifth: Julie and I will be at the King's English Bookshop on the 20th at 7 pm, and at The Purple Cow Bookstore on the 21st at 6:30. We're working out a little song and dance for y'all, so please come see us! There's addresses and such here on the site under News- Events.

And Sixth: my To Be Read pile by the bed is overflowing yet again. Which makes me both happy and exasperated. You can follow me on Twitter: @JessDayGeorge or on Goodreads.com, to find out what I'm reading and what I've read. 'Cause if you're a bookworm like me, you're always wondering what people are reading. I have seriously leaped over furniture to try and see what a total stranger is reading. It's embarrassing, but nobody's perfect.

(Seriously: stop judging me!)

And come and see me and Julie Berry this week!