Hop & Follow Friday! (14)

Happy Friday, lovelies!

This week flew by--and not necessarily for a good reason! My purse was stolen on Tuesday evening at work and my NOOKCOLOR was in it! I feel like I lost an arm or something! Seriously, I have to relearn what life was like before! LOL! Ah well, staying positive and moving on...and it's FRIDAY!!!

TGIF is a weekly meme hosted by Ginger at GReads where she poses a thought-provoking question to prompt some blogger discussion!

This week's question:

Summer Love: Where's your ideal place to take a summer vacation & get lost in a book?

I guess I have two answers to this.  First, my ideal, awesome, super dream summer vacation spot would be this awesome 14th century watermill-turned-vacation cottages in Normandy (France).  There is this small "complex" of cottages that you can rent 1 or more and it is situated on very picturesque land with waterfront view (duh, watermill!).  It looks like a perfect, dreamy location for a relaxing summer getaway with a good book (or 8) and a bottle (or 4) of wine. *sigh* Someday.  My second, more realistic answer, is that I would like to take a vacation to the Outer Banks in North Carolina, where my husband's family used to vacation, and rent a small house on the water for a week or so and just relax with a book.  I'm very much the type of person who likes to kick back and relax away from people on vacation. 

"Follow My Book Blog Friday" is a weekly meme hosted by Rachel at Parajunkee's View where bloggers make new friends, including this week's featured blogger--Mickey @ I'm a Book Shark!  Pop on over to Parajunkee's blog and join in the follow fun!!  All you have to do is follow the featured blogger, write your own post answering this week's question, and then leave your link!  Oh yeah--and then follow some new peeps!


This week's question:

Q. In light of the Summer Solstice. Also known as Midsummer...let's talk about fairies. What is your favorite fairy tale or story that revolves around the fae?

Ooo...I'll answer both, I think! My favorite fairy tale is Cinderella.  I know, I know--boring answer. I did a project on the Cinderella story for a storytelling class last fall and kind of fell in love with the huge variety of Cinderella stories out there. I love that it is so adaptable and almost every culture has some version of it.  Everyone should check out Vasilisa the Beautiful because it was a really cool version of the story.  In terms of my favorite story that revolves around the fae, I'm a huge fan of Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely books. I was kind of in love with that series not so long ago! I really love Marr's writing--her storytelling is fabulous!

The "Book Blogger Hop" is a weekly bookish meme where you can get to know fellow bloggers! It's generally hosted by Jen @ Crazy for Books, but this week it's hosted by Lori @ Lori's Reading Corner.  Stop by and join in the fun!

This week's question:

When did you realize reading was your passion and a truly important part of your life?

Is it a cop-out to say when I started reading on my own at the age of 5? Seriously, reading has always been that important to me. I actually think I could read a little on my own in pre-school and it's the kind of passion that just grew and grew and grew! I read so much that by 5th grade I had read more books (according to my accelerated reader points--not even ALL the books I read) than anyone else in the entire school. (I got a t-shirt for it!) The local public library made me sign up for adult summer reading when I was 12 because I read too many books otherwise (and then I discovered Danielle Steele and no one stopped me). Reading kind of faded into the background in later high school and college. I didn't stop reading, but I didn't read very much during those years (YA was NOT as prominent then as it is now or I might have continued).  I "rediscovered" my love of reading in my senior year as a way to connect with my students (while I was student teaching) and as a way to escape from the stress of school (and everything else I had on my plate at the time).  Ever since that rediscovery (which I will openly admit began with Twilight at the recommendation of my students), I haven't turned back once!

**I have a real hankering to host a giveaway for my lovely followers! Let's say if I can get to 200 followers today I'll put up a giveaway. Spread the word.**