Sunday Salon: February 5, 2017

My life in books:
I managed to confuse myself by doing a non-book related Sunday Salon two weeks ago and I got off my Sunday Salon schedule. And the world didn't end :-)

Since my last Sunday Salon that actually talked about books I've read the following books:

• The Golden Son by Shilpi Somaya Gowda--I loved this book!
• Still Life by Louise Penny--a fun mystery set in small town Canada. It's a series I look forward to reading
• March: Book Two by John Lewis--interesting graphic novel of his life in the civil rights era
• March: Book Three by John Lewis--the best book in the series
• The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds--I liked this author's voice

I also joined four book reading challenges this year (my first since 2012!):

• Read all the YA Award winners (hosted by Annette at My Head is Full of books)--read the books that won the 2016 ALA Youth Media Awards
• Read Your Own Damn Books (hosted by Estella at Estella's Revenge)--read books from your own TBR shelves
• Travel the World through Books (hosted by Tanya at Mom's Small Victories)--read books set around the world
• Literary Escapes (hosted by Escape with Dollycas )--try to read books set in all 50 states

My life outside books:

I got to travel to Sacramento with a colleague for a couple of days this week. We were actually at the University of California Davis for a conference about the new California State Framework for social studies. Pretty boring for most people, but in my new job as a Social Studies Coach, super important and useful!

My daughter is home on a short break from boarding school. She brought a friend home with her since the friend lives in South Korea and couldn't go home for such a short time. The girl is really nice and they are having a fantastic time, but for me it's as if my daughter isn't home. I am so used to the two of us spending time together when she comes home, but that isn't happening this time. Poor me. I think I better get used to this as she gets older.

I have been taking part in a lettering workshop/challenge for the last month and am learning so much! Becca is a woman who lives in Ottawa, Canada and she led the online lessons in January where we learned the basic strokes of modern calligraphy. In February we are learning the lower case letters. She has a Facebook group of 7,000 plus people and it is the most supportive group; it's incredible! I realize that I have a need to be creative, but I am not artistic. I can copy, but I don't create well. So learning modern calligraphy by tracing, copying, then free-handing is perfect for me. I have become a little pen-purchasing obsessed :-)