The Winner of Lively Librarian's 3rd Contest is...

Stevethree! Congratulations! Please email me at livelylibrarian at comcast.net to claim your Amazon gift card. The winner was chosen by random using http://www.random.org/

Love your favorite book to film adaption, it's the same as mine! Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.

Thank you to everyone who shared their favorites. I'll post another contest soon! Have a great weekend!

Summer Essentials-2010 version

Summer is within reach here in Chicago. Kids are playing baseball and soccer on Saturday mornings in the parks, pools are being cleaned and filled and dandelions are already changing from the yellow flower to a white ball full of wishes.

I spent yesterday getting my backyard deck ready for the summer season of barbecues, cocktail nights and dinner parties. On my large deck: new patio furniture, new citronella candles and hanging baskets full of ferns and herbs. My backyard is a beautiful oasis and I spend almost every minute of the summer gardening in my vegetable beds or lounging on my deck.

For this year here is my list of summer essentials:

A Good Book for Lounging in the Hammock. I am reading Wild Romance: A Victorian Story of a Marriage, a Trial and a Self-Made Woman by Chloe Schama. The true story of Theresa Longworth who married and then fought her aristocratic husband to acknowledge their marriage after he left her for another woman. This sassy Victorian woman became a world traveler and writer in an era when women weren't known for their independence or their brains.

Moisturizer with Sunscreen. Obviously a summer must. I use Aveeno Positively Ageless Moisturizer with 30 SPF. I love this product which absorbs quickly, is non greasy and has the loveliest smell.

Chilling Tunes. My music of the summer is Jamie Cullum and Amos Lee. Cool jazz mixed up with some pop and soul and you have the perfect chilling music. I love the music of Jamie Cullum so much I'm flying to Denver in July to see his concert at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Ya, he is THAT good. Now make a tour stop in Chicago please Jamie.

Farmers Markets and CSA's. Support local farmers and enjoy foods good for you and the environment. Looking for a market near you or interested in buying into a Community Supported Agriculture program, visit Local Harvest.

Ravinia For those of you in or near Chicago, Ravinia Festival the outdoor music park is a tradition as soon as the cicadas start buzzing. After years of lackluster musical acts, they finally booked a season worth getting excited about. I scored tickets to Sting and Sheryl Crow for under $30 each. Sure the parking is a nightmare, picnicking on the lawn might not be for everyone (so get pavilion seats) but most of the time it's worth the hassle to listen to great music on a warm starry Chicago night.

Reisenthal Bags. The perfect bags for the beach, hauling fresh produce home from the farmers market or carting books from the library to the house. I have the city shopper and it is my favorite summer bag.

Birkenstocks. Ya not just for tree huggers anymore. Absolutely the most comfortable shoes I own. Mine saved my feet last year with all the walking I did in Oxford. Worth every penny. Check out the collection here.

Hand Lotion. My hands look a little weathered by the end of the summer after months of gardening. The BEST hand lotion on the market in my opinion is Baume Du Jardinier Gardner's Hand Healer. I go through this stuff by the tube full. Love it.

Blackberry. I finally joined the crackberry cult. Disconnecting from my Blackberry for the summer...let's be honest, it's not gonna happen. On the boat, in my garden, I will be connected. Totally connected...everywhere. How did I ever live without?

What are YOUR summer essentials?

Lively Librarian's 3rd Contest!

Hello Readers

It's time for another contest on Lively Librarian!

For a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card just answer the following question by leaving your answer in the comments.

What is your favorite book to film adaption?

The winner will be chosen by comment number at random and is not based on your answer. If you are a blogger or have a URL please feel free to share that info! Deadline to enter is 8:00 am 5/7/10.

I will post the winner's name by noon on Friday, May 7 on Lively Librarian and the winner must contact me at livelylibrarian at comcast.net with an email address to claim your prize.

Good luck and thanks for reading!

P.S. The picture above is my favorite book to film adaption. I'm sure that doesn't shock any of my readers.

Home Views

Here is a little secret... I am the daughter and sister of 2 women who like myself, are home spys. (Oh and cemetery lovers, but that is another post.) To summarize a trip with my mom and sister, we shop, eat, wander through cemeteries and tour homes. During our trip to Charleston last month we toured a number of historic homes and gardens organized by the Historic Charleston Foundation. Here is what I found interesting about Charleston homes.

• The kitchen is not the heart of the house. In the Old South, kitchens were often separate buildings in the yard due to residents fears about fire. As kitchens were moved inside the homes they were almost an afterthought. In the dozen or so homes we toured, we never saw large kitchens or open concept living. There were no kitchen islands or great rooms, but small rooms which flowed into one another. The kitchens are often small and in the middle of the house, surrounded by cozy libraries, formal dining rooms, expansive entry ways and almost always surrounded by large verandas and porches. I found it fascinating that the hostess wants to be out of the kitchen, mingling with her guests outdoors or enjoying formal dining. A very, very different style from the Midwest and one I really liked. It created a much cozier atmosphere, but also one of formal living, where guests still dress up for parties and enjoy a cocktail in a library not standing around a kitchen island and the hostess mingles with her guests throughout her home and garden.
  

Last year during the weeks I spent at Oxford (my mom was my companion for the trip) we had a nightly ritual. First we enjoyed a delicious meal with friends at our college dining hall and then we walked. We wandered through the streets of Oxford, often at dusk, just as people were arriving home from work, sitting down for dinner or relaxing in their gardens. Dusk...just as the lights come on but it's not quite dark...is the perfect time to glimpse the way people live.

However because I don't want to get arrested for being a "Peeping Tom", and a glimpse into a house when walking by is a quick fix, I feed my home/real estate addiction through films, TV and the Internet. It should come as no surprise that I religiously watch HGTV's House Hunters and House Hunters International. And then there are my 2 favorite websites dedicated to all things home spying. I've been reading The Real Estalker for a couple of years and love it. Hysterically written and always full of big, beautiful usually celebrity homes. Recently I found the site Hooked on Houses, the perfect mix of regular homes, before and after pictures, featured celebrity homes and the houses, brownstones, vacation getaways etc we love from our favorite movies. There are dozens of your favorite film homes listed on the site (Father of the Bride, The Holiday, Notting Hill, An Affair to Remember, Twilight) but my favorite movie house of all time, is Diane Keaton's beach house in Something's Gotta Give. You'll find a few movie homes adapted from novels such as Atonement, Brideshead Revisited, Chocolat and Gone with the Wind. Enjoy the tours!

Treasures at the Library Book Sale

My local public library held a book sale over the weekend and I stopped by on Sunday afternoon to browse. After a relaxing morning spent listening to Jamie Cullum's latest jazz album, browsing used books on a rainy afternoon was really the perfect way to spend the day. Here are the treasures I purchased, total cost: $12.

Chief Modern Poets of England and America 1960
Shakespeare's Major Plays and Sonnets 1948
Victorian Household Hints
Picnic: 125 Recipes with 29 seasonal Menus
Clambakes & Fish Fries: 23 All American Seafood Celebrations
Fine Art Reproductions: Old and Modern Masters
Watercolor Techniques
Painting Country Gardens in Watercolor, Pen & Ink
Private View: Inside Baryshnikov's American Ballet Theatre
The Kennedy Style: Magical Evenings in the White House
Once Upon a Time in Great Britain: A Travel Guide to the Sights and Settings of Your Favorite Children's Stories

I've already read through Once Upon a Time in Great Britain and have tons of ideas for my next trip to the UK. I'm now happily devouring the pictures in Baryshnikov's American Ballet which is really the most gorgeous coffee table art book. Find out when your local library sale is...you might find some treasures while supporting libraries.

How Much Do You Haggle for a Bargain?

A few years ago after I had Lasik eye surgery I bought my first pair of Maui Jim sunglasses. I liked the light weight and wrap around style of the glasses I chose and they provided good protection for my light blue eyes. What I didn't like was the rather cheap plastic they were made of. After a few hot months in my car the frames got a bit loose until finally last year one of the lens fell out. I know, I know, don't leave your sunglasses on the dashboard. But alas, I often forgot. Regardless of my carelessness, the sunglasses lasted a couple of years without major scratches.

One of the perks of buying a pair of Maui Jim sunglasses is the warranty. For $10 you can send your glasses back for repair, and if past your 2 year warranty, they call you will a quote for repair or replacement. Last week I dug the glasses out of the glove compartment of my car and shipped them back to Maui Jim with a check for $10. Within a few days I got a call from a guy with a quote for repair. Since the glasses were in such bad shape the quote was $120 for an entirely new pair. Not bad really considering I paid twice that for the glasses. Well I wasn't interested in paying that so I told the guy no thanks. Well that's when the pressure started. I got the "Well I'm trying to work with you here, I want you to be a satisfied customer..." and the "Well how about I make it $60, I'll charge you just for the cost of the lens replacement." Ya, still wasn't working on me and at that point, him slashing the price to half the original quote merely pissed me off. He continued for awhile about having to ship them back to me un-repaired instead of recycling them as I suggested and finally I just said goodbye and hung up. (I had already replaced them with a nice pair of sturdy Ray-Bans) That got me to thinking, do you have a limit for a bargain?

I'm a bargain shopper but I'm not a negotiator. Funny since my father's side of the family are hagglers extraordinaire. The only place I'll bargain is abroad with street or market vendors or in Little India in Chicago. If they expect you to haggle, I usually will give it a try. But I hate wheedling with a seller for a better price. Drives me crazy the people who try and get a better deal at a garage sale, like they offer 50 cents for a 75 cent piece of crap. Oh and don't even get me started on the deal makers at flea markets. Now I love a bargain, but if a glass serving bowl is $1.00 at a yard sale, I'll pay the $1.00. No negotiation needed.

What is the price of a bargain? And who pays the final price? Pride or Pocketbook?

Interested in books on bargaining? Check these out:

Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People

Bargaining with the Devil: When to Negotiate, When to Fight

Garage Sale America

The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Garage and Yard Sales

RLA CE Program on Screencasting

This morning I co-presented a program at the North Suburban Library System on Screencasting. The program was organized by RLA CE (Reference Librarians Association Continuing Education) and sponsored by HW Wilson. For more information on the program visit the RLA webpage.

I had a great time presenting with Mick Jacobsen, a friend from library school, fellow Synergist and my go-to tech guy. I also had the opportunity to meet and present with Stephanie Kerns, a librarian at Northwestern University's Galter Library who did an interesting presentation on using screencasting tools in academic libraries.

For those of you visiting my blog who were in attendance, here are the links to training tools I mentioned.

PHPL 23 Things
PHPL Computer Group