Happy New Years!

I have been very much enjoying my vacation to Arizona and am sorry that it is nearly at an end. I got to see Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which I enjoyed though I'm sure the book is better, and True Grit, the remade Western that was better than I thought it would be thanks to the awesomeness of the Coen brothers directing and some good acting. I got to go to the enormous Asian market and the delicious Vietnamese restaurant, Pholicious, for their excellent Bun (Rice Noodle Salad with Caramelized Pork and Shrimp). Mostly it has been nice to just relax and not think about being home and broke. We're here to the 5th and we'll probably have a low key celebration tonight, especially for me since I can't actually drink any Asti Spumante to celebrate the New Year.

Since it is the last day of the year, I figure I would reflect a bit on this year, which to me has just flown by with the exception of the last semester of school (which dragged on impossibly long). I started my job at the Archives last December and it lasted until mid-August, and though it wasn't the most exciting job ever, I did enjoy working there and getting to meet and hang out with Rebecca. She has since moved back to Missouri to help out her family, but it was nice talking to someone who has similar experiences and educational background, especially as I was doing distance ed with the university and rarely saw other library students. I loved being able to talk school, books and life in general with her. I also completed my Youth Services Library internship, which was an awesome experience and allowed me to get some hands-on experience with dealing with parents, students, and programming. My good friend Kira was pregnant for the first time and gave birth to her daughter Lucy at the end of October. I found out I was pregnant in the middle of November. And I finally graduated with my Masters in Library & Information Science. So all in all a good year.

Yay on vacation!

So I am finally on vacation in Arizona! My hubby and I arrived late last night and slept really good, until an idiot friend of his decided to text us at 6am to ask what time it was. I told my hubby that we should call him at 2-3am his time (3 hours behind Arizona time) and ask him that question. We are here for two weeks and the weather is slowly getting better. It's supposed to be 72 and sunny on Christmas Day, so should be lovely. Definitely better than the frigid, though non-snowy weather we've been having in South Carolina. Am excited as I just registered for a workshop put on by the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in MA, on using the Whole Book Approach to enchance a child's reading experience. Very much looking forward to that in February. I would love to visit the museum myself, as I am a huge picture book fan, though not a lot of opportunities to go to Massachusettes.

Anyways, I had found this article through one of the library groups I am apart of on Facebook and thought I would share, as it is promoting libraries. The article is entitled "12 Ways Libraries are Good for the Country", and can be found here. Another bonus about libraries is that in times like these, where the country's economy is going down the drain, is that a lot of the programs are are free or at a reduced cost.