Pictures of Me And My New Real-Life BFF

Only 2 DAYS left until the good times at the Utah Literary Awards!  For those wondering, the event will be held in the auditorium on the main level of the library, at 7:00 p.m.  All are welcome.

Holly Cupala,  soon-to-debut author at the forefront of everything YA, has chosen today to spotlight The Way He Lived on her blog! The column is called Book Cooks, and features recipes from great YA novels/authors.  Check out my recipe here (hint: during the 2002 Olympics, images of this food graced many a collectible pin).

Some might have noticed from yesterday's clandestine video that this birthday I was the proud recipient of the American Girl Samantha doll.  I have dreamed about owning Samantha since I was nine years old and first discovered the American Girls series.

Now, I am not so much a history buff and I am not so much a doll buff, but I loved the American Girl books.   This was back in the day when there were only three doll/book setups, and American Girl wasn't the thriving enterprise it is now.  Samantha, the lively orphan from Victorian days, was my favorite, and I vowed to make her my own.   However, at that time she was $ 75--pricey enough to make her out of reach.

As recently as 2006, Samantha was still a dream:

And now: