VIA I'm Not a Bridezilla, But I'm Close, Sara Rue Said

I slept in until noon today and I definitely wasn't planning on that. Actually, I got up at eight to finish my cookies and then I went back to sleep at ten, planning on only sleeping for about thirty minutes. Silly me for not setting an alarm. It wouldn't be a big deal but I'm going to a Christmas/Birthday party at two o'clock so I have zero time.

I am not in Iowa City anymore, I'm at my parents house very far away from Iowa City. Actually not really, only about in a hour and a half. So far my mom has pushed a hydrating nasal rinse on me because I have a small nose and asked me if I'm eating enough fruit in Iowa City. Gotta love moms! My boyfriend brought his presents for my parents over yesterday but my dog has started to open them. Woops!

Last week was a good reading week for me because I had nothing else to do. I didn't finish quite all the books I wanted to, but I never expect that I will. I finished The Eyre Affair, The Moment Between, and The Red Necklace. I also posted a review of In A Gilded Cage, which I finished two weeks ago. I did some deep thinking this week about how people look at you when you read certain types of books, and how it doesn't really matter. Today I plan on finishing The White Garden by Stephanie Barron and The Clumsiest People on Earth edited by Todd Pruzan. I am also reading The Luxe by Anna Godbersen right now and I must admit that I am hooked! This week I also plan on reading The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, and Sex Lives of the Roman Emperors by Nigel Cawthorne. I was only planning on reading four YA books for my self challenge, but I ended up purchasing the first three of The Luxe series and I might end up reading all three before I turn 20. We shall see!

Happy Holidays and Happy Reading!

Spring break is almost over and I'm quite sad about the whole thing. I've had a taste of summer and now it's all I can think about. I'm feeling a little sick today, or maybe I'm just embracing my last lazy day. I'm planning on spending time in bed, watching TV, and reading. I haven't finished five books quite yet, but I think I can make it happen by the end of the day. Essex County

is the real stand-out book I finished and I can't wait to review it. I think it might be my favorite graphic novel.

I'm still hard at work on my Day Zero Project. I've come close to completing two more projects on my list and have several of the long term projects going too. The project has really forced me to change my attitude about life. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by all the things I need to and want to do (and not doing them) I now just see these as things I will finish eventually. Something that will be checked off a list. It's a little freeing, and empowering to realize you can complete your goals with planning and passion.

In other news, my book buying ban has twelve days left. I went to Barnes and Noble this week and even thought I felt like buying a lot of things I resisted. And you know what? I'm still alive. Two things are getting me through this ban. The first is the $40 I taped to my calendar. If I get to April 1st then that money is mine to buy books with. The second is the Goodreads application on my iPod. Now if I see a book I want in the store I just scan it and add it to my wishlist. Once the ban is over I can go through my wishlist and see what what books I'm still pining for and what I can probably forget about.

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.

Week One Update!

I'm happy to say I survived week one!

The toughest part at first was drinking the 3 liters of water. But by the third day, I was able to do it easily (and without my kidneys yelling at me!). I also had problems the first few days planning out meals since I didn't have the book yet. But I received it last Wednesday, and basically just planned meals based using the F.Y.T. (Flatten Your Tummy) list and avoided those on the F.L.A.B.B. (Fat-Loading and Belly-Bloating) list.

My "meal off" was last Tuesday. It's tradition at our house to have pizza on Tuesday, so I wanted to share in that tradition. Even though it was my "meal off" I still kept my portions small and only had one slice.

Saturday, the 4th of July, was my "off" day. I did this for two reasons: I wanted to enjoy all the wonderful food my husband was planning to make and I also wanted to be able to enjoy a nice burrito from Chipotle. Well, I was able to enjoy the BBQ, but found out Chipotle was closed on the 4th :(. Oh well..I'll just hold out until this weekend!

I'm really happy with the way I've been feeling. The exercise is giving me more energy. The water has made my skin glow and keeps my appetite surpressed. I've noticed my pants feel more lose than they did just a week ago. I'm happy to announce that in week one, I lost 6 lbs!! Now, I know my weight loss won't continue to be this fast/easy, but I'm willing to work for it!

Week Two Update!

I've survived yet another week! I lost 2 lbs this week, so that makes a grand total of 8 lbs!

All aspects of the diet are coming easier now. The three liters of water is natural and I've discovered some really great healthy receipes to make for my family. Last night, we had chicken steamed rice (steamed, instead of fried!) with brown rice. I cut up about 2 large chicken breast and grilled them. At the same time, I was steaming some brown rice. I mixed the two together, added some veggies we had left over from earlier in the week, and Voila! I added a touch of soy sauce to add a bit of zing to eat. My boys loved it, and didn't even notice that it wasn't fried rice!

On my day off, I was finally able to partake in the Chipotle burrito I'd been craving for two weeks. It was delicious, but boy did I fell disgusting afterward! I'm definitely not used to eating that much at one time!

I also found myself following my "healthy" rituals even on my day off. I continued to drink the water, exercised, and got my full 7 hours (actually 9!) of sleep.

I'm very impressed in the change in me! I plan to continue on some of the aspects of the Game On Diet even after the challenge is over.

Ok, so here are the scores at the end of week two:

HoHos Week 1 (682) plus Week 2 (645) = running total: 1327
Twinkies Week 1 (775.60) plus Week 2 (734.80) = running total: 1510.40
DingDongs Week 1 (794.60) plus Week 2 (838.80) = running total: 1633.40

Impressive, eh!?

Hey everyone! Help me welcome Sarah Raymond, author of Signs of Martha to the blog today! She's helping share some This or That questions from John, one of the characters from her book! I liked John a lot — He's real down to earth, just a solid, steady guy. Let's see what he thinks about-

Spring or Fall
Spring is planting time, when the new year is dawning and you haven’t started worrying yet about the price of corn.

Past or Future
The past is over and done with and there isn’t a darn thing you can do about it. Look to the future or you’ll end up in the gutter of regret. It’s the truth.

Marvel or DC Comics
Neither, as I don’t have time for comic books. On a rare holiday I might read a science fiction novel.

Legos or Lincoln Logs
Lincoln Logs. Call me old-fashioned.

Detailed planning or spontaneous decisions
If you want to get somewhere in life, I’m afraid you have some detailed planning to do.

Turkey or Ham
I’ll take either, or whichever there’s more of.

Sweet or Salty
Sweet. In life, I mean. You need a little sweetness, but not too much or your teeth and your attitude will erode down to sorry pits.

Ocean or Mountains
Mountains, absolutely. They’re like the future. You have to look up.

Hardcover or Paperback
Hardcover. What I buy, I keep, and hardcover books are for keeps.

Truth or Dare
Truth and nothing but the truth.

M&Ms — Peanut or Peanut Butter
What kind of question is that? I’m still thinking about scaling mountains and about truth.

A one room library or Books in every room in your house.
A one-room library. Everything in its place.

Gum or Breath Mint
Breath mints keep me fresh.

Painting or Photograph
Photographs, I believe, are more dependable.

Uncertain theory or Absolute fact
Fact. Absolutely.

Thanks so much for stopping by to share with us! And I still maintain that the M&Ms question is totally legit! Who doesn't love M&Ms?!: P

This week Suey asked Geekers to share their plans for this weekend's 24 Hour Read-A-Thon...and a few of you took on the challenge.

Molly (The Restless Reader) will be experiencing her first Read-A-Thon. She writes: "Instead of worrying about the number of pages read, my overall goal is to just enjoy the experience."

You might want to amble over to Charlie's house (Life Happens) if you are looking for something good to eat. She plans on: "Food? Snacks? ALWAYS. I prefer lots of these things. I may get a cheese/grape/strawberry plate I spied at the store the other day. It's light and good for you...or I may get Easy Cheese and Chicken in a Biscuits...we'll see how it turns out. The less crumbs on the books the better."

Melydia isn't planning on participating in the Read-A-Thon this year, but she has a strategy anyway. Check out her post on Utter Randomonium for some good advice.

Melanie from Cynical Optimism is mixing a book festival and shopping at the farmer's market into her day of reading. She writes: "The Southern Festival of Books runs Friday-Sunday. Saturday specifically i intend to see Harold Ford at 10, the authors of American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us at 12, Brian Yansky and Paolo Bacigalupi at 2:30, then at 3 Dr Bill Bass and author Jon Jefferson are talking about their book!" Check out her blog for some live posts about the festival on Saturday.

There were nine other responses to this week's Weekly Geek's post - and they are all great...so check out the links on this post.

Whatever you're planning for this autumn weekend, I hope it is wonderful...and that you find some great books along the way!

Most of the archaeological sites and features, which date back to prehistoric, classical, medieval and early modern periods, were discovered as a result of stringent planning permit monitoring procedures and field surveys carried out by MEPA and the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage (SCH).

These newly unearthed archaeological sites include extensive areas characterised by a high density of prehistoric and classical pottery scatters, classical tombs, rural walls with long stretches of megaliths and ashlar stones, historic paths, ancient enclosures and water systems. Rural structures worthy of preservation such as giren (corbelled huts), apiaries and small vernacular buildings were also identified.

These archaeological sites and features are of local and national importance and contribute towards the understanding of the cultural landscape of the area.

A number of single chamber tombs and small catacombs have been recorded in Mġarr and Żebbiegħ. These tombs indicate a well established human presence in the classical period and could provide data for establishing the location of settlements and ancient roads in this period. The classical period features provide an archaeological landscape which is distinct from the prehistoric one, even if both overlap the same geographical space.

The undeveloped landscape in Mġarr and Żebbiegħ is characterized by the presence of extensive stretches of karstland, interspersed with small pockets of reclaimed agricultural areas. Within the surviving karstland, a large number of cart-rut systems and ancient quarries are recorded. An industrial site containing a kiln complete with water channels and a cistern has also been discovered. Some of these rock-cut archaeological features date as far back as the Bronze Age.

As expected, within such a primarily natural landscape characterized by active agricultural areas, one comes across a number of traditional rural structures in various degrees of conservation. These rural structures include old pathways, apiaries, giren, animal pens (some of which underground), cisterns, silos, post-holes, vine trenches and water channels which have a varying level of cultural or historic importance, but which collectively presents one of the most interesting agricultural and historically rural landscape in Malta.

A WWII shelter at Jubilee Square (Wesgħat il-Ġublew) and Fisher Street have also been scheduled by the Authority.

This area, with its substantial number of archaeological sites as well as rural and military heritage features is one of the most complete and complex rural and cultural landscapes in Malta with a history that spans over 7,000 years.

Source: Malta Today [December 23, 2014]

Kitty and Ben plan on tying the knot. Kitty’s mother, so excited that Kitty has found “a keeper” begins planning a large, ostentatious wedding. Kitty and Ben want something much smaller, so they plan to elope in Las Vegas. Kitty’s producers even arrange a special live televised episode of Kitty’s radio show “The Midnight Hour.” When word gets out that Kitty’s planning on making a trip to Vegas, she is approached by Rick, Denver’s Vampire Master, and is asked to give a message to the Vegas Master, Dom. Kitty obliges, after all, she and Rick do have a special “partnership” as leaders of their respective “species.” When Kitty and Ben arrive in Vegas, they discover their hotel is holding a gun show. They are surrounded by hundreds of gun-toting bounty hunters. Not exactly paradise for a lycanthrope!

Kitty begins searching for guests for her show. In a city like Vegas, it can’t be that difficult. She soon learns about a show at The Hanging Gardens, one run completely by lycanthropes. But there’s something off about the Vegas lycanthropes---no wolves.

While Kitty is off on her search, Ben has discovered that being a wolf has some advantages. He sits in on a round of poker, and soon learns that he can sense how his opponents are doing. He signs up for a poker championship. Kitty is thrilled for him—she’s happy that he’s accepting and taking advantage of his “wolf.” But during the championship game, Ben outs a cheater, and is abducted. On his wedding day, nonetheless. Kitty reports him as missing, but everyone seems to believe that he’s not missing, but simply has a case of cold feet.

As usual, Kitty finds herself in danger. She’s discovered a secret behind The Hanging Gardens show, and an explanation for the lack of werewolves in Las Vegas. How will she protect her life, and save the man she loves?

Vaughn does another amazing job with this installment of the Kitty Norville series. As always, the character development is spot on. It’s amazing to see how Kitty’s character has grown, both as a person and as a wolf. The secondary characters add a great deal of interest to the book as well. So, once again, I’m impressed! Another highly recommended book!

This past week Becky wanted to know what reading challenges you are participating in or hosting this coming year. She also wanted to know how you plan ahead for the next year. Do you make lists? Or do you just read whatever catches your attention?

Kerry wrote a great post taking about why she does challenges, lists the ones she is interested in, and give ideas for other challenges she would think about joining. Overall, her goal consists of 3 challenges and 43 books.

Gautami also signed up for 3 challenges which she says is her max amount. She prefers to read whatever takes her fancy than planning everything out.

Rikki isn't fond of sticking to lists, but also signed up for 2 challenges and is hosting a Steampunk Challenge of her own.

Becky is hosting three challenges (42 Challenge, A-Z Challenge, Young Readers) and one mini challenge (Connie Willis). She's also signed up for quite a few challenges hosted by other blogs and lists a few that have caught her attention, but she isn't sure if she'll sign up or not.

Melanie is signed up for 4 challenges, but has also set a personal goal of reading some of the Russian books off her TBR list. (If anyone knows of a Russian challenge, please let her know!)

Zee hosts the Nordic Challenge and has signed up for at least 9 others. She planning on getting a post up with book lists for all of these within the next couple days.

Chelsea is a new Weekly Geek who hasn't done any reading challenges in the past and isn't sure that she'll sign up for any this year (unless she can find one that gets her to read a wider variety of books).

Katherine hasn't thought about which ones she wants to do this coming year, but lists her favorites from past years and a few that she'll be looking for in 2011.

Carina has signed up for 9 challenges and has 2 that are on-going from this year. She's looking for imput as to what your favorite reading challenge and if there are any you would recommend.

Hannah has signed up for more posts that she originally thought she would. She's up to 5 starting in 2011 and 2 carrying over. She likes the structure and setting goals for herself. She's still looking for more suggestions!

Margaret has only signed up for 3 challenges and has mixed feelings about them. While part of her likes the structure, the other part stops wanting to read a book as soon as "should" read it.

Lifetime Reading Plan has reading goals that she has set for herself based on the book The Lifetime Reading Plan. She has them broken into 6 categories and hopes to read them chronologically.

Amat Libris loves reading challenges! She has signed up for 2 and is thinking about a few more. Her goal for next year can be summed up in three words "Read. More. Books."

Alex wants to sign up for them all. The problem is making sure it is manageable, which should be too hard to this list-maker.

Florinda tries not to sign up for too many due to her mixed experiences with them in the past. She is signed up for at least 2 and is going to continue working on her own Blogging Authors Reading Project.

Suey is going for more general goals after seeing how spontaneous of a reader she really is this past year. However, she's still keeping an eye open for a good challenge.

Jacqueline didn't even realize there were reading challenges prior to this week's post. She isn't sure that she would like being over structured with her reading, but she's ruling out the possibility of doing one if she comes across something great.

Have you posted about your reading challenges yet?
Link up here!

I'm SO sorry! This was supposed to post on Friday, but apparently blogger's scheduling has failed me.: ( So, a few days late, here is a fun This or That questionnaire with the author of My Beating Teenage Heart (among with several others).

Spring or Fall

Spring because it means there are months and months of warm weather ahead of me whereas during fall I find it impossible forget winter’s right around the corner. My absolute favourite month is May.

Past or Future

Past. Not that I prefer it because who can say what the future will bring but I do tend to get very nostalgic about certain periods in my past, especially my years in Dublin in the 90s.

Marvel or DC Comics

I read more graphic novels than comic books and am a bigger fan of Drawn and Quarterly, Slave Labor and Fantagraphics than either Marvel or DC.

Legos or Lincoln Logs

We always had Lego at my house growing up so I have to go with them. I wasn’t sure what Lincoln logs were and Googled them and they look really cool too. I don’t know why I never had any of those!

Detailed planning or spontaneous decisions

Detailed planning, for sure. You should see all the research print-outs I amass when going on holiday.

Turkey or Ham

Turkey. I could practically have it every day for a week without getting tired of it. I don’t like ham but crispy bacon is yummy.

Sweet or Salty

Salty. I’m a potato chip fiend. I discovered Pop chips not long ago (they pop their chips rather than frying them so they’re healthier) and they’re amazing. When I was young I sometimes used to eat Oxo (bouillon) cubes on their own because I was crazy for the salt. Kinda gross, I know.

Ocean or Mountains

Ideally both like in Vancouver but if I had to choose I love being near the water so have to vote for ocean.

Hardcover or Paperback

Paperbacks because they’re lighter and more portable, though I’m not a fan of e-books (which are the ultimate in portability). I prefer reading a physical copy of a book, even if it’s one I borrowed from the library.

Truth or Dare

Truth, because I’m a chicken!

M&Ms — Peanut or Peanut Butter

Peanut butter. And now I’m craving some!

A one room library or Books in every room in your house

Ideally I’d prefer a library but since our apartment is small right now it’s more like books in every room.

Gum or Breath Mint

When I’m over in Ireland or England I go mental for spearmint Polo mints but normally I prefer a long lasting gum like Excel sweet mint.

Painting or Photograph

I like both a lot but I’m better at taking photos, when it comes to painting I’m purely a spectator.

Uncertain theory or Absolute fact

The detailed planner in me is drawn to absolute fact but my curious mind is pulled in the direction of uncertain theory. Ultimately curiosity wins here, I’m going with uncertain theory.

Thank you SO much for stopping by today! I seriously love your answers!:) PB M&Ms ftw dude, FTW!!

These are the last challenges I'm signing up for. The 1st in a Series and 2nd in a Series Challenges are hosted by Royal Reviews. I haven't read a lot of series but this year I have found a few and there others that I would like to try out. For right now I'm planning on doing the Curious level of each, which means I'm reading 3 books that are the 1st in a series and 3 books that are the second. I know I'm going to end up reading more books that are second in a series though, because I have a couple of series that I read the first books of recently and I want to read the second. Series are dangerous because if you like one then you want to read all of them immediately. For this challenge I have chosen three series and I am planning on reading the first and second books of each.

1. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig and The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig
2. A Catch of Consequence by Diana Norman and Taking Liberties by Diana Norman
3. The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. by Sandra Gulland and Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe by Sandra Gulland

I'm also thinking about picking up a YA series but haven't quite decided yet.

One of the first words students of the Spanish language learn is “vamos” (let’s go). Here in Ecuador (and I suspect many other Latin countries) “vamos” is pretty much a way of life. By that I mean that many (most) things are done on the spur of the moment, without much planning. People will take an idea or suggestion and run with it, dropping everything else along the way. For example, the other day I idly mentioned to Lucho that the door between the kitchen and the dining area served no useful purpose and that it might be a good idea to remove it. He agreed with me and then said “do you want me to take it out right now?” Or when I ask someone what they are planning to do for the day, half the time they’ll tell me and then say “vamos, do you want to come with me?” This means that plans change in an instant and on any given day I’ll end up doing about 10 things that I never expected to do.

I’ve given up telling Merry what our plans are more than a few hours in advance because invariably something changes and we don’t end up doing what she was looking forward to doing. And I’m not the only one who does this. Sometimes I think that people are being extremely vague, or even evasive, about what they are up to, but the reality is that they may have a goal in mind, but they just don’t know if they will be able to accomplish it anytime soon.

Sometimes it is hard for me adjust to this because I am a planner at heart. I’m the kind of person who likes to make a list of things to do at the beginning of the day and cross them off as they get done. I still make my lists (at least mentally) but I scale back on the things I want to do, and if I don’t get something done, oh well, maybe it will get done another day. In the meantime I may get some things accomplished that I hadn’t planned on getting done that day. I have learned to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves. So for example, if the cell phone company calls and tells us that we have to do something in their office downtown, I’ll also find something else to do while I’m there, like checking our P.O. Box or buying some paper at the bookstore.

As you can imagine, partly because of this “last minute” culture, the passage of time is viewed a little differently here. People often arrive late, and many things take much longer than originally planned; but it is all much more accepted than it would be in the States. Of course, this varies depending on the person and some people are much more difficult to pin down than others. For example, one of Lucho’s sisters is notorious for showing up hours late or not getting things done on time. She is also extremely busy because she works two jobs and is involved in many other endeavors. That means that there are many opportunities for her to be “detoured” into something new. So everyone knows that if she says she is going to be somewhere “right away” it will be at least an hour. If she says “1/2 hour” it may be a couple of hours, and if she says “one hour” well, we might as well wait until the next day!

Also, everyone seems to take on new projects quickly (“vamos!”, let’s do it!), without as much preparation as I’m used to. If an opportunity presents itself, they take it, be it something small like going over to a friend’s house for coffee after running into them on the street or something big like trying to buy the apartment next door because it happens to be for sale, or starting in on a new business because a friend needs some investment cash (and by the way we need the money tomorrow). Projects are dropped just as quickly too. So someone can spend all evening discussing the perfect undertaking with you. Lots of plans will be made and future meetings scheduled. Everyone will part full of energy and enthusiasm for the next steps. Then, inexplicably, you will never hear from that person ever again. Someone else got to them and “vamos” they’re off to the next venture.

Today I also have Kristin Tracy vising the blog. She is the author of Sharks and Boys, which I reviewed a short time ago (click to read review). I gave her a list of 15 pairings and asked her,

This or That

Spring or Fall Fall: I like leaves. But I’m allergic to leaf mold. When I visit New England, this is a real problem.

Past or Future: I can smell a trick question a mile away. PRESENT.

Paperback or Hardcover: If I’m mobile, I want paperback. If I’m adding it to my library or having an author sign it, I want hardback.

Pen or Pencil Pen: I am a permanent kind of person.

Hot Dogs or Hamburgers: Neither. I like fruit salad. And falafel.

Marvel or DC Comics: I cannot choose.

Black or Brown: Brown boots. Black dress. But not together.

Tweety Bird or Woodstock: I like real-life falcons. They are my new favorite. I now consider cartoon birds inadequate.

Legos or Lincoln Logs: Legos.

Detailed planning or spontaneous decisions: BOTH. Because my detailed planning usually leads me right into bizarre conditions that require spontaneous decisions.

A one room library or Books in every room in the house: One central place. But smaller bookcases throughout house.

Ocean or Mountains: Both. It’s called Maine. Or Ireland. Or Big Sur.

Painting or Sculpture: I only buy paintings at this point. But this could all change. Because I really want to buy a totem pole.

Gum or Breath Mints: I chew gum. And sometimes I add a breath mint to it.

Snow White's Evil Queen or Sleeping Beauty's Malificent: Ooh. I don’t like evil, robed women. They terrify me.

Thank you so much Kristin! I loved your answers! Robed women are definitely terrifying!

Luxury yacht by Norman Foster

VIA «Design yacht»

The Manchester team - one of only two operating in non-Kurdish Iraq – has just returned from three months of fieldwork there.

During the team’s time in Iraq, Islamic State militants destroyed ruins at the ancient Assyrian capital of Nineveh and are reported to have bulldozed an Assyrian palace at Nimrud and the classical city of Hatra too, as well as wrecking museum artefacts in Mosul.

But despite this, the archaeologists, who returned to southern Iraq in 2012,, continued to work at Tell Khaiber, which is close to the ancient city of Ur, where Sir Leonard Woolley discovered the fabulous 'Royal Tombs' in the 1920s.

The team, directed by Professor Stuart Campbell, Dr Jane Moon and Dr Robert Killick from Manchester, described their Iraqi colleagues as resourceful, innovative and resilient, even when times were bad.

“Everyone is quite rightly expressing outrage at the destruction in and around Mosul. The sad fact is, there is very little one can do to prevent deliberate vandalism by well-armed fanatics.

“But if the militants think they can 'erase history' we are helping to make sure that can't happen: it is the information that is important and not the objects. Our project is actually doing something positive for the Iraqis, and that is appreciated,” Dr Moon said.

In the course of their fieldwork this year the archaeologists discovered, among other things,  50 new documents, written in Babylonian, and found evidence for a scribal school operating at the settlement, which dates to around 1500 BC.

These were in a public building the size of a football pitch, and of an unprecedented format, believed to be an administrative complex serving a capital city of the Babylonian empire.

Professor Campbell said: “We found practice texts in the form of lists of exotic animals, and of precious stones, also evidence for the making and recycling of clay tablets. The whole complex dates to the 'Dark Age' following the fall of Babylon and the disintegration of Hammurabi's empire.

“For a time when this key area of Babylonia was thought to be de-urbanised and chaotic, we have evidence of sophisticated administrative mechanisms and large-scale distribution of grain and other commodities.”

Before returning to the UK, the archaeologists deposited 300 new artefacts in the Iraq Museum and set up a temporary exhibition in Baghdad as well as visiting universities that teach, or are planning to teach, archaeology.

“What we can do is make new discoveries to be proud of and help our Iraqi colleagues and the rest of the world to understand and appreciate what the antiquities actually tells us,” concluded Dr Moon.

Author: Kath Paddison | Source: University of Manchester [April 07, 2015]

I that Vasilly had done a post on what books she had to read this semester at her blog 1330v. I thought this was such a great idea I had to steal the idea to use here! I'm taking seven classes this semester but two of them are business classes and therefor not really that interesting, so I'll just skip those books (the classes are Nonprofit Organizational Effectiveness I and Foundations of Entrepreneurship in case you were wondering).

I'm taking a class called Film and Literature that is all about visual essays. For this class we're going to watch a film essay every week and have other essays that we read. I was really excited when I saw the book list for this class because it included some books I've wanted to buy for awhile. This includes The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present

and The Lost Origins of the Essay

. These are both humongous essay collections that will take me forever to get through, so I'm really excited I'll be required to read from them this semester. We're also reading Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: The American Classic, in Words and Photographs, of Three Tenant Families in the Deep South

. I'm not really sure what this one is about other than it deals with sharecroppers from the South. The final book for this class is The Pleasure of the Text

by Roland Barthes. This one appears to be about why people read, it's a very small book, only 80 pages so I'm interested to see what it's about.

The second English class I'm taking is Literature and the Book: Renaissance Texts as Technology. There are no books for this class but we will do a lot of readings online. I'm planning on using my nook to take the pdf's with me to class so I'll be sure to let everyone know how that goes. Even though we don't have books I know we're going to read Shakespeare, Donne, and Spenser, as well as texts about how reading formats have changed. I looked at the syllabus for this class yesterday and we're taking seven field trips!

The final English class I'm taking is Advanced Nonfiction Writing: Nature Writing. An opening just came up in this class yesterday and I was thrilled because I waited all summer for it to happen. I love nature writing and I'm excited to do some of my own. I'm also excited because while this class meets twice a week, only one meeting is actually in a classroom. The other meeting every week is at an outdoor location. For this class we're reading Nature Writing: The Tradition in English

, which appears to be an anthology of nature writing. A quick glance at some of the writers has me excited because they include Thoreau and Annie Dillard who I know I enjoy.

I'm taking an anthropology class that we're using the textbook Introduction to Physical Anthropology

for. I don't have much to say about that one. I'm also taking piano lessons but as far as I know there isn't a book for that yet.

I'd also just like to mention where I purchased the majority of my books. I rent expensive textbooks but for my book for English classes I just Better World Books. I'm mentioning this simply because I support this company. They offer free shipping in the United States and they use the money they get from the books to support global literacy organizations. If you have to buy textbooks anyway you might as well support a great organization as well.

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.

Katie appeared to have forgone any makeup and had her hair scraped up into a messy top bun.
The mother–of-one perused the show section of the store enjoying a some alone time retail therapy.
Katie had taken centre stage the night before as her husband Tom Cruise was honoured by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre.
Polished and preened to casual and comfy: Katie looked stunning on Thursday night at an event honouring her husband while she opted for comfort yesterday
The 32-year-old actress looked stunning in the black dress with green sash, which she teamed with black sandals, as she posed with Cruise outside the event.
However, it was inside the event that Holmes really stood out from the crowd, as she glowed while applauding the honorees at the ceremony.
The couple were also accompanied by Cruise's 16-year-old adopted son Connor as the Mission: Impossible actor was presented with the Humanitarian Award - the highest honour bestowed by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a Jewish rights organisation which also educates people about the Nazi Holocaust.
Too much choice? The 32-year-old actress looked at shoes and enjoyed some alone time in the Barneys store in Beverly Hills
Cruise, who played a German military officer who planned an assassination of Adolf Hitler in the 2008 film Valkyrie, was honoured for his support of the organisation throughout his life.
Absent from the ceremony was the couple's five-year-old daughter Suri, who is perhaps too young for such an occasion.
Late night? The mother-of-one appeared tired as she made her way around the store. The night before she had joined Tom at a party
Despite reports that she and her husband are planning to have more children, Holmes recently insisted that she is happy with the size of her family.
She also said that Cruise and ex-wife Nicole Kidman's adopted children Connor and 18-year-old Isabella get on incredibly well with Suri.

Red carpet royalty: Katie was looking picture perfect at the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Annual National Tribute Dinner on Thursday evening
She said: 'They're great kids, a great brother and a great sister to Suri, and she's a great sister to them. It's not, "This is stepmotherhood and this is motherhood".
'I'm not worried about it (having another baby). She's got really good friends and great cousins, so I feel happy about it.
'We have a really busy household, and it's really fun and fulfilling. There's always something going on.'
source: dailymail

VIA Dressed down day? Katie Holmes opts for casual comfort shopping day

It's been a big day for me! Today I was on KRUI's show Not Your Literati to talk about English Major's Junk Food. It was a great show and if you haven't heard about it before and are in the Iowa City area you should tune in next Sunday at 11 AM. They also put a post about our interview on their blog today, and you can download the interview if you care to listen to it. Just head over to Not Your Literati. They also have posts on their blog about past shows so be sure to check it out!

Last week was crazy busy for me so I didn't get quite as much reading done as I wanted but I was a lot better about getting posts done on time. This week I reviewed Harriet the Spy and Villette. My children's book this week was Old Bear. Rather than writing a review of the children's book this week I decided to do a vlog and read the book. This seemed to work out pretty well so I think I might do this more in the future. Friday I complained about the University of Iowa's Intro to the English Major and yesterday I had a picture of a weird initial letter.

This week I'm planning on finishing three of the four books I'm reading. I'd like to finish The Woman in White, The Jungle, and The Secret History of the Pink Carnation. I'm going to put Pride and Prejudice on hold until I finish those three. I've got three awards recently and I will probably post those this week, and then I'm considering doing a post on literary talk shows. I was inspired to do this by Not Your Literati. There are a few other podcasts I listen to that I'd like to highlight. It should be an exciting week!

Happy Reading!

I have finished my 19 Going on 20 Challenge. My goal was to read four YA books because I didn't read very many when I was a teenager, so I thought I'd read a lot during my last month of a teenager. Not so surprisingly, I really, really enjoyed this. A lot. Mostly because I found The Luxe, but still.

At the same time though, I don't think I would have enjoyed these books in high school. It's weird how that happens, isn't it. When I was in high school I would have been too caught up in my image to be caught with a copy of Sorcery and Cecelia or whatever. Now I welcome the release. It's nice to be able to read something that isn't super serious. And I enjoyed how catty the girls were in the books I read, but I didn't enjoy cattiness in high school.

If you couldn't tell already, my favorite book out of the pile was The Luxe, and now that my challenge is over I plan on finishing the whole series. I'm reading Rumors now. I wanted to read a variety of books for the challenge, but it was hard because all I really wanted to read was The Luxe.

If you want to go back and see my reviews I'll give you a list. The first book I read was The Red Necklace, which I enjoyed but in retrospect might have been the worst book. Then I read The Luxe which I could not put down. After that I read A Great and Terrible Beauty, which I didn't enjoy as much as The Luxe but I'm still planning on finishing the series. And finally I read Sorcery and Cecelia, which was probably the most creative book but I didn't like it all that much.

I was planning on reading a lot of Jane Austen this year anyway, so it only makes sense for me to sign up for Haley of A Life (And Lies) Jane Austen Challenge. There are three levels and I will be signed up for the middle one, or the the Lover level. This challenge runs from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010. So since I'm at the lover level that means I have to read four books by Jane Austen and four spoofs, sequels, prequels, re-writes, etc.

Here is my list:

1. (J.A.) Mansfield Park
2. (J.A.) Emma
3. (J.A.) Persuasion
4. (J.A.) Pride and Prejudice
5. The Jane Austen Book Club
6. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict
7. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
8. Mr. Darcy, Vampyre