Ta-da! Here is the soldered pendant I learned how to make.

I was working with a crummy soldering iron (blame all mistakes on the tools, right?) but it was still fun and not as difficult as I thought it would be. My husband is afraid I have found yet another hobby.

We did go to Borders on Friday and we even lucked out and got to hear poetry from several high school students who were doing a reading. There were poems about death, angst, forever love and the like, but I give the kids tons of credit for just having the nerve to get up and read. That’s hard work.

I also made it to the library and picked up the latest from Alexander McCall Smith, Blue Shoes and Happiness. I can’t wait to see what Precious Ramotswe is up to in this latest installment.

Is it Friday afternoon yet? I’m ready for the weekend to start but first I have to put up with an all day meeting tomorrow. I’m still trying to figure out how to sneak in a book and read it. If anyone has a good idea let me know.

Here are my plans for the weekend.

Finish a book. I feel like I’ve been reading the same books forever. I’m enjoying them but I am ready to move on.

Vote for my favorite American poem.

Learn how to make soldered pendants. I hope I don’t harm myself in the process.

Go to the library.

Date night with my husband at Borders.

Take nap(s)

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

I went to Anne Lamott’s book signing at Barnes & Noble tonight and had so much fun. The bookstore was packed and people were even leaning over the second floor balcony just to listen to her. I found standing room only among the travel section. Seeing such a crowd gave me hope that literature isn’t dead in Dallas.

“I don’t know what to make of the concept of Dallas,” Anne started off saying and immediately got the evening off to a lot of laughter as she read from her latest novel, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, and answered questions from the crowd.

She said that through reading she found a refuge for her fears and how for her the act of reading, turning the book pages and hearing the slide of pages turning becomes a meditative experience. Words of a true bibliophile.

Someone ask her what some of her favorite books were and she named: Intuition by Allegra Goodman, The Wife by Meg Wolitzer, Happy All the Time by Laurie Colwin and the poetry of Sharon Olds and Mary Oliver. I’m adding these to my list of course.

Now I just want to grab all of her books and read them one after the other. To read more by Anne Lamott you can find a current article in Oprah’s magazine.