Haul/Organization: My New Kindle!

Even though I utilized an exclamation point up there, I admit I still have mixed feelings about needing a new Kindle. I had a Kindle 2, and she was a beautiful, wonderful device whose death in a tragic accident was utterly undeserved. *sniffle*

This is also a bit of a stretch on "new" as I bought it at the end of last month (right BEFORE I received the Books a Million coupons in the mail. Figures. -_- I could've held off on a new Kindle if I'd known I would have huge book hauls at great prices!).

I waited a couple of months before purchasing a new Kindle 3, because my 2 simply wasn't salvageable. I decided to go ahead and buy an official Kindle cover, which I never did for my 2. The 3's seem more...flimsy, and I'm fond of my mother's cover, which I got her for her last birthday.


I loooove the color red and am pretty much endlessly resentful that my rosacea makes wearing red a no-no. :(


I bought the one with the light. It's not FANTASTIC, but it'll let me read as a passenger in a car and whatnot, so that's awesomesauce in my book!

I had to go through and individually select each book I wanted to redownload, then reorganize them into categories. My poor, worn out thumbies aren't used to all this hard work now that I don't have time for video gaming anymore!


The category system came out just after I bought my dearly departed 2, and it made the Kindles SO much more user friendly. Now if they'd just make the screensavers customizable without a hack, they'd be darn close to perfect.


The skin is from Decal Girl, which is an AWESOME skinning website with excellent customer service. The design is called "Mystery" and I didn't pop the extra cost for matte since I have the case. The cover is more green and less gray than I expected, but I still loves it. It has a Jeeves meets Poirot feel to it (even though Poirot novels are generally my least favorite of Christie's). It's a bit sad that I'll never get to SEE the back, because of the cover. Ha. Ha.

I'm happy with him so far, but I miss the larger directional buttons on the 2. I have large hands and broad thumbs that don't like the itty bitty new one. I'd hate to be a dude trying to deal with it.

Book Haul!: MyComicShop.Com

I blame this ENTIRELY on my friend Cassandra, who told me of the Existence of My Comic Shop.Com, a website so full of awesome that you can customize the theme to the comic series of your choice!

This site allows you to order back issues and ship them in-bulk, thereby saving a lot on shipping (and, thinking back to my childhood, travel - my mother truly loves me, because she drove me all over the southern United States on my epic search for LSH comics released before I was born). They also buy comics, and I'm going to see what I can sell them of some non-LSH comics I have.

I placed the order about a week ago, and it arrived today! Sadly, the bottom of the box had not been particularly well taped, and was open:



Inside, however, they were extremely well packaged:





And here is my silly haul, which I REALLY should have waited to order, but they had an alternate cover for the current Legion run #6, and that one is hard to get. I had to go for it!


I didn't buy the 1,050 Years of the Legion collection when it first came out because I have the stories included individually, but there are a couple of interviews I wanted, so I picked it up.

For pure, unadulterated geekiness, I gave in and ordered The Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century (say THAT three times fast!). The TV series aired on WB!Kids, and I actually didn't watch it when it first aired because the art is...yeah, strange, I was mad at DC for the crapocity that is the threeboot (not defunct! YAY!!!), and I didn't...er...actually GET the WB at the time. Now I know it's a shame, because despite the fact that Brainiac 5 is a strange amalgam of Lt. Commander Data, a transformer, and a Gundam, the series is freaking ADORABLE and has endless nods for long-time fans like me.

So now I'm mad it was canceled. STUPID WB! *sulks in the corner* The comic series only ran for 13 issues with the first season, and I picked up all of them except the two they didn't have.

I also picked up a few I'd missed in the new Levitz run (the "unboot" in my head).

Book Haul! The Sequel!

I headed out Saturday afternoon armed with the 30% off coupon being offered by our local Books-a-Million and my discount card. They claim they redid...something in the building (they were closed for a couple of weeks) but I can't see it. They certainly didn't take time to organize the graphics novel section, which is why they never get any money out of me for those sorts of books.


Total cost $39!

I don't generally buy like this, admittedly, but Books-a-Million is my favorite place for bargain books, and all but one of these was one. Plus, there's 30% off the entire order AND it was tax free weekend on school supplies (including books). This definitely seemed the right time to indulge!


I bought some young adult books, because I openly confess that I thoroughly enjoy the current rise in YA SF and fantasy. I suppose fantasy owes a lot to Harry Potter, while SF owes a good bit to Scott Westerfield's books and, tragically (in my utterly biased opinion because I can't stand the series) the Hunger Games series. I enjoy YA SF and fantasy because I find the authors keep a better handle on characters and plot than many authors for the adult market.

My selections: ~Scott Westerfield's Behemoth (his steampunk series, book 2; original price $18.99) as well as Specials (OP: $9.99) and Extras (OP $16.99; it was $3.97 in either hardback or paperback, so I went with hb!) from the Uglies series. I read Uglies on my Kindle about a year ago, and have been waiting to get my greedy hands on the rest of the series at a good price ever since.
~Sherrilyn Kenyon's first book in her Chronicles of Nick series (OP: $17.99). I've seen Kenyon at Dragon*Con a couple of times. She's a warm and engaging speaker who happily embraces her nerdy side, but I just can't engage in her adult series. They lean heavily toward traditional romance, though with definite fantasy elements. Since I'm not a personal fan of bodice rippers (though I'm all for people who are!), they just don't hold me. But I like her so much I wanted to give this series a try!
~Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Angel (OP: $19.99)


Here's my mystery selections!
~Death by Design by Laura Childs (OP: $16.00): I sometimes avoid American-written mysteries because you never know if the emphasis will be mystery-with-a-dash-of-romance (which I enjoy) or romance-with-a-dash of mystery (which I don't). I wouldn't have picked this up without the bargain price, but three books for $3.97 is hard to beat!
~The Calling by Inger Ash Wolfe (OP: $13.95)
~The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall (OP: $14.00): I've heard of this series from fans of British cozy mysteries, so I was excited to see it as a bargain book. It was going to find its way to my Kindle soon at full price!


Random! I collect picture books, and I enjoy Lane Smith's work, so here we have his silly take on the Founding Fathers (OP: $16.99). I've found Dave Barry a bit hit and miss lately, because I prefer his columns to his themed books about history and whatnot. This one looks more like the latter, and is the only book I bought at full price ($15.00).


Think this'll keep me busy for a while? *g* Especially since work's starting back, and I won't have nearly as much time to read as I do over the summer. :) This pic includes the books in my previous haul.



If I'd bought these at full price they would've been a total of $159.89 before taxes! I brought them home for $39.87. Awesome!

Shopping Extravaganza!

I'm not usually a big shopper (unless I'm on vacation), but I needed an outfit for an interview, which meant driving to the Big City (TM). I went to Cato, my home away from home, and hit the clearance racks pretty hard. I love the fact that they make plus sized clothes that just look like clothes.


I ended up getting all this for just a smidge over $100. Pretty sweet, right? Including the jacket, shirt, and necklace for my upcoming grad school interview. :)

But then, you see, I got this 30% off my entire order coupon at Books-a-Million (I actually have two *happy sigh!* and will be going back this weekend when it's also tax-free) and brought in this haul for $30, $12 of which was the headphones, which are actually for my mother.


I'm reading Leviathan at the moment - steampunk for teens! SWEET! I'm impressed thus far. I saw the sequel as a clearance book as well, so I'll be picking up the second one.

Then I needed a make up mirror and the prices at Ulta, thanks to my coupon, were comparable to other places, so I picked one up. I also got my first Urban Decay palette (so we'll see if they're reeeally all that), and then I TRIED to get $17.50 worth of ULTA products to get a free gift, but it turned out what I bought was on sale and didn't say so. Heh. So I didn't make it. But I still get to try out the products - I'm really liking the lip gloss.


Okay, these are just silly 0_~ I had to run by CVS and use some extrabuckness to pick up a back-up of Sally Henson's Raisin the Bar, which is a go-to lazy color of mine, and my mother (who has me doing her nails now) adores it, so I decided to get a back up, just in case. The Wet n' Wild is green with gold glitter, and was cheap; I picked it up because green and gold are the colors of the school I work at.




T.J. Maxx is my favorite place for photo albums! Bronte likes them too, apparently.

Warm-up Post: MAC's Nail Lacquer "Obey Me"

Largely because of my sensitive skin (as well as the fact that I really, really like sleeping in the morning), I am a newcomer to everything cosmetics. I'm trying to put together a face routine that will hide but not tick off my rosacea, but my heart probably belongs to nail polish. My nails aren't wimpy!

So here is my first high-end buy, which I'm chuckling over (really, like I can afford this stuff). It's from MAC, and yes, it's nail polish - I HAD to have something from their Wonder Woman line, and as the lipsticks were sold out, I went for the nail polish.

Don't I feel snazzy with this box?



I rather like the packaging, actually; it's well contained but much easier to access than a lot of mailed boxes.



I'm a bit amused that even though it's impossible to get to a MAC store in the south, they're mailed from Kentucky!



Of course, the packaging is adorable! I can't possibly throw the boxes away, now can I?! Combining DC and cosmetics is too awesome for words.





Then I had to do a size comparison. It's tiny compared to other brands, so it had better be as fantastic to put on and wear as the reviews and swatches I read! :) I'm wearing China Glaze's For Audrey today and I'm not in a hurry to take it off, so it'll be a few days before I try this out.



The navy blue companion color (Spirit of Truth) looks gorgeous and tempting, but given the size and my budget, I'll be skipping it.