Happy Saturday evening and then Sunday! It is fabulous Texas fall weather, which means it can change from one day to the next, but this weekend has been quite tolerable. The pumpkin patch had its opening day, and the kiddos enjoyed the fresh air and the multitude of pumpkins! We were the first customers, spending $20 while everyone else was paying attention to opening ceremonies (we wanted the best pumpkins!) See another photo here.

I then tried my hand at some Bookmark-making, and I am just not as talented as Laura from I'm Booking It. She had a giveaway for her bookmarks and will again in a few weeks. I've got to get my hands on a bookmark of hers so I can see how she does it. See hers here and here, and then see my crappy ones:

The wire I used was 28 gauge and was thin and curly ($2.99). Those heart charms were $4 for 4 of them. I had all of the other beads already from earlier bracelet making days, but those charms and ribbon are expensive. And it was a hunt looking for sheer ribbon that was less that $4.00. The whole crimping bead at the ribbon side is aggravating for someone who is all thumbs like me. I think I put too many beads on there also. Laura has instructions here if you are in the mood to try this yourself. The first one shown has pretty glass beads that look simply white in the picture, but they are muted pastel shell colors. My favorite is the last one I did, the red beads. Maybe I'll find some other bookmark-making sites and get some inspiration for paper-type bookmarks.

Reading wise this week, I finished The Wildest Heart brick of a book and that review is scheduled to post the 19th. That took almost two weeks to finish! I am now working on Elizabeth's Women by Tracy Borman which is reading well so far. I wish historians would expand on all theories, but I guess once they form an opinion on something, they believe it full force.

The New York Times announced the third annual New York Times Great Read to be held rain or shine on Sunday, Oct. 14. www.nytimes/greatread. Did you know it will be Teen Read Week October 18 - 24th? I wrote a little article about it here, stop by! And then, the 24 hour-read-a-thon is coming October 24. Are you participating? You can even sign up to be a much needed cheerleader if you don't want to commit to reading. I will try to participate as much as possible, which means I'll just have to commit to staying off the iPhone and the computer! Last spring I was a cheerleader and was amazed at how much reading some bloggers did. I also noticed that a lot were wiped out after that, so I am going to be happy if I can fit in 8-10 hours of reading. With two kids and a house to take care of, I can't expect to ignore motherly duties altogether.

Luckier people got to visit the National Book Festival in Washington D.C. this week, and there are some fun pictures at RhapsodyInBook's blog here. All I've got to say is Dallas is a big place, so why can't we have a book festival here?

So that brings me to a Book Event that I WAS able to attend. Even though I was working, sssshh.. I attended a Teleconference on Wednesday that featured authors Cathy Marie Buchanan and special guest Sandra Gulland (author of the Mistress of the Sun and the Josephine B. trilogy). Cathy had recently written the bestseller The Day The Falls Stood Still, (see my review & her guest post) and to wrap up her blog tour they did this conference via telephone. I got to hear her voice and some of our fellow bloggers voices as well! If you want to hear what we talked about, and hear my voice (at about 36 minutes you will hear me & at the very end saying good luck to Cathy, sometimes I am a total dork).. then click this link for the audio version. You can easily scroll through and fast forward and rewind at your leisure. Participating bloggers other than myself included Margaret from Historical Novels.info, Marci from Serendipitous Readings, Julie from Booking Mama, & Nicole from Linus's Blanket. Since I was working I kept my phone muted most of the time so all of my background noise at the office wouldn't bleed through. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad I did it! Go listen to it now, and learn about the historical background behind the Niagara Falls, the main characters, and the writing process for Cathy! she is now going on real-life tours at bookstores etc, and you can see her list of signing events here in NY and Canada.

This week I added a new giveaway also, for a reissue of Margaret Campbell Barnes' "The Tudor Rose". A last minute idea from Sourcebooks, so I had edited my previous review post to include the giveaway details. To enter for this book giveaway, visit the post here. And congrats to Amy at Passages To The Past on her newest electronic acquisition, who will now be as hopelessly addicted to the iPhone as much as I am. Don't forget to find a snazzy cover for it like I did =)

Happy reading!