Super excited

It made me do backflips!!! Beautiful cover art for the DVD release!!! Now all I have to do is (patiently?) wait until March for release!!

To the bugger

Too the Bugger who took/misplaced/trapped/borrowed the Christmas box: I remind you of Karma, and hell hath no fury like a black cat who has been scorned. Not to mention you aren't too bright to misdirect an authors package. The pen is mightier....

Thanks to D for taking the photo. A look at a small craft project I did for a certain kitten for the holidays...

One Week, 8 shows, and counting

NYC experienced the coldest night (in the last 2 years) on record last night. Luckily, my heat was functioning. Devon was not so lucky... I hope you have heat soon D!!! It appears Old Man Winter is upon us, although we have yet to experience significant snowfall.

One Week, 8 Shows, and counting... To my long anticipated Holiday. I have to dig out the suitcase and begin the packing process this afternoon. I depart at the crack of dawn next Friday. Getting things settled in the apartment is on the list of things to do. Auntie D will be taking care of the girls while I am away (and vice versa). It's wonderful to have a friend to look after them, especially one the girls both adore. We are all blessed...

A friend of mine is traversing the eastern coast in a wild round of auditions, you can read about his travels and experiences here.

Yesterday was a very busy day. I left the house at 10 am and didn't return home until about 4:30 in the afternoon. Just enough time to check the email and then head off to the theatre.

I'm looking forward to time off. I won't be blogging while I am away. This is going to be a nice, quiet vacation. I'm flying solo this time around.

Love and Light to you all!!!

Quickie

Still alive and kicking; moving forward and making progress.

Costume Imp will be moving to a Wordpress domain soon. I've gotten the site registered, but haven't begun posting there; I'm just beginning to learn how to use the new site, it is different enough that I can't just sit down and 'do it' like I can on blogger (when blogger decides it's going to function).

Holiday plans have been laid, tickets purchased, cars rented, opera tickets secured, and I must begin to start finalizing my personal itinerary. It sounds quite extravagant in writing, but really it is just a simple trip to the inner gulf of Sunny Sarasota/St. Pete/Tampa. In lieu of a really expensive vacation now, I opted for a cheaper version now, in the hopes of squeezing out a few extra days in Italy later in the year. After all the insanity contained in the latter part of 2006, I'm looking forward to some nice quiet days on the beach and visiting old friends. Hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate and grace me with some 80 degree weather while I am down south. It's a tad early in the year for guaranteed HOT weather, but it will be better than the frozen apple...

Speaking of frozen, I have the space heater and the oven on now. I awoke to a rather nippy apartment this morning. The heaters have been on for about 2 hours now, and it's still only about 47 degrees INSIDE. I pulled the kitty comforter out and wadded it up on the couch; both kittens are buried inside and refuse to come out into the 'arctic tundra.' Phone calls to the super and management company have been made. I have yet to attempt seeing if we have Hot water as usually no heat = no hot water. I may be strolling up to my friends place for a shower shortly...

That's the news from here. I have a lot of puttering to do today. I have a sewing project to finish for a friend this afternoon that I must get started on, and then dinner with a fellow Broadway babe/costume designer this evening. It's going to be a busy day off.

Hope things are going well for you, where ever this finds you.

Love and Light.

Frustrated

It seems as though every time I go to log onto blogger to blog, I can't. Down for service or some other such crap. The bane of a free service I suppose.

Things here are going great. Life is pretty good and work is managable. (Can you tell I just booked my plane tickets for vacation?!)

Yes, I will be jetting off to sunny Florida in a couple of weeks for some long overdue rest and relaxtion. And I'll be able to see some friends too. Perfect.

I've had several notable comments in the last week but don't have time nor passion to write about them now. Although I will say Jennifer Hudson did a great interview and performance on Letterman earlier in the week.

Hope all is going well with you, where ever you are.

Love and Light!

Best and Worst of the 2006 Reading List

I made my way through at least 76 books this year. I told you I was a heavy reader. So here's the breakdown.

My most read author of 2006: Mercedes Lackey. 14 novels total and that number jumps to 19 if you include the ones I read that she co-authored with James Mallory. Most of her books were rereads for me, although I did process a few 'new' books of hers.

First Runner up/Most Read Author: Raymond Feist. 11 Books, most of them new to me, very little ReReading in his tally.

Second Runner up/Most Read Author: Anne Rice. 5 books. All of them ReReads for me. I always run The Witching Hour Cycle once a year. Old favorites. The Witching Hour is still the most engrossing novel I've ever read.

Third Runner up/Most Read Author: Terry Brooks. 4 Books.

Best New Author to my reading cycles: Chez Brenchley for Bridge of Dreams. Look for the next novel, River of the World in April 2007.

Biggest Disappointment: Aerie - Mercedes Lackey. A complete turn around in character development. I no longer cared about the main characters, she alienated me from The Dragon Jousters Series. Plus is wasn't up to her typical story-telling ability.

Of the 76 books, 33 of them were ReReads, and 43 were New.

Honorable Mentions: The Cloudmage Series by S. L. Farrell. Brilliantly written and engrossing.
The Amber Wizard by David Forbes. Now if he would only get the next book done and continue this incredible story. A very commendable first novel.

Upon reviewing the list I realize I must make note that I didn't ReRead any Diana Gabaldon books in 2006. Odd, as they are usually part of the yearly cycle at some point. I'll put them on the list, but as you can see, I've started rereading the Eye of the World series by Robert Jordon, and that means I have 10 more significantly wordy books to get through before I start browsing anything else.

This years list includes 5 Newberry Award Winning books, that I remembered enjoying so much in my youth.

Happy Reading and Writing to you All. I'm off to get a jump start on 2007's list!

2006 Reading List - Final Report

It started as a curiosity. Just how many books to I read a year? The tallys have been made and this year, I processed at least 76 books. I'm sure I forgot to enter some of the books I read, but I surpassed my goal of 52 before we even reached the 3rd quarter of the year. The best and worst of this years list will be displayed in a seperate post, along with the tallys of the most popular authors from this years List.

2006 Reading List - Final Report

1. Nefer the Silent – Christian Jacq *Reread
2. The Wise Woman - Christian Jacq *Reread
3. Paneb the Ardent - Christian Jacq *Reread
4. The Place of Truth - Christian Jacq *Reread
5. Running with the Demon – Terry Brooks *Reread
6. Knight of the Word – Terry Brooks
7. Angel Fire East – Terry Brooks
8. American Gods – Neil Gailman
9. To Light a Candle – Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory
10. The Egyptian – Mika Waltari
11. Maskerade – Terry Pratchett
12. Pyramids – Terry Pratchett
13. Hogsfather – Terry Pratchett
14. Shadow of a Dark Queen – Raymond Feist
15. Rise of a Merchant Prince – Raymond Feist
16. Rage of a Demon King – Raymond Feist
17. Shards of a Broken Crown – Raymond Feist
18. Krondor: The Betrayal – Raymond Feist
19. Krondor: The Assassins – Raymond Feist
20. Krondor: Tear of the Gods – Raymond Feist
21. Talon of the Silver Hawk – Raymond Feist
22. King of Foxes – Raymond Feist
23. Exiles Return – Raymond Feist
24. River God – Wilber Smith *Reread
25. Warlock – Wilber Smith *Reread
26. Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment – James Patterson
27. The Witch of Blackbird Pond – Elizabeth George Speare*Reread
28. Cheaper by the Dozen – Frank B. Gilbreth & Ernestine Gilbreth Carey*Reread
29. Maximum Ride: Schools Out – Forever – James Patterson
30. Book of the Dead – Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
31. London Bridges – James Patterson
32. Bridge of Dreams - Chaz Brenchley
33. Flight of the Nighthawks – Raymond Feist
34. Light Before Day – Christopher Rice
35. The Outstretched Shadow - Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory *Reread
36. To Light a Candle – Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory *Reread
37. Joust – Mercedes Lackey *Reread
38. Alta – Mercedes Lackey *Reread
39. When Darkness Falls - Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory
40. Sanctuary – Mercedes Lackey *Reread
41. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
42. Holder of Lightning (The Cloudmages 1) – S. L. Farrell
43. The Fairy Godmother – Mercedes Lackey
44. Mage of Clouds (The Cloudmages 2) – S. L. Farrell
45. Children of the Night – Mercedes Lackey
46. Heir of Stone (The Cloudmages 3) – S. L. Farrell
47. Mapping the World of Harry Potter – Mercedes Lackey Editor
48. Magic’s Pawn – Mercedes Lackey *Reread
49. Armageddon’s Children – Terry Brooks
50. Magic’s Promise – Mercedes Lackey *Reread
51. Magic’s Price - Mercedes Lackey *Reread
52. Book of Shadows – James Reese *Reread (unfinished)
53. The Amber Wizard – David Forbes
54. Winds of Fate – Mercedes Lackey *Reread
55. Winds of Change – Mercedes Lackey *Reread
56. Aerie – Mercedes Lackey
57. Rabbit Hill – Robert Lawson *Reread
58. Island of the Blue Dolphins – Scott O’Dell *Reread
59. Storm Warning – Mercedes Lackey *Reread
60. Storm Rising – Mercedes Lackey *Reread
61. Storm Breaking – Mercedes Lackey *Reread
62. Angel and Demons – Dan Brown
63. The Witching Hour – Anne Rice *Reread
64. Lasher – Anne Rice *Reread
65. Taltos – Anne Rice *Reread
66. Blackwood Farm – Anne Rice *Reread
67. Blood Canticle – Anne Rice *Reread
68. Ball of Fire: Lucille Ball – Stefan Kanfer
69. Wrapt in Crystal – Sharon Shinn
70. When Darkness Falls - Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory *Reread
71. The Eye of the World – Robert Jordon *Reread
72. Oepidus Wrecked – Kevin Keck
73. Fang Shui – Catfucius
74. Title Not Revealed – nor author
75. Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead – Raymond O. Faulkner
76. The Great Hunt – Robert Jordon *Reread

2007

Happy New Year! It was a great night of celebrating. I laughed more last night that I have in months. My face hurt by midnight! The food was excellent and the company was even better. Many blessings upon you readers for the new year.

I had to run to the office supply store this morning. I needed new files and folders for things. Today should be about filing and finalizing end of the year things, but I have the very sneaking suspicion that I'll end up on the couch in a movie marathon, one of my boxed sets (X-men, Indiana Jones, The mummy, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, South Park, Stargate Atlantis). The only reason I'm not in front of the TV now is that I can't decide what I want to watch. hehehe Plus I am compiling the final reading list and preparing the best/worst of it.

I had an amusing walk in the rain to the office supply store. It started as a classic James Dean walk, warm but hazy and raining. The city is relatively quiet, especially in comparison to the last several weeks. Within one block of the house I started noticing the wet trash laying everywhere, confetti, cheap plastic hats, steamers, and noisemakers. It drew me out of my James Dean reverie enough that I had to check and make sure I was still in NYC; it was starting to look like New Orleans post mardi gras. I wish I had had my camera with me on the trip. The most amusing discovery on the trip was seeing 4 empty bottle of champagne stacked inside the ATM section of the bank.

Happy New Year one and all!

Love and Light.