An update & Holiday Wishes

Apologies for the lack in new material on the blog. Some things happened that pulled me away from the Internet for a bit, then Thanksgiving and Christmas just snuck right up on me! You know how that happens. 

But, during my haitus, I have been batting around some ideas for reformatting how I list events. I would like to offer more content on the site, but also want to continue providing you with reading event information since it is the whole point of this site. I will use my time off for Christmas to set things up so we can kick off again in January with a bang. 

In the meantime, I'm pretty active on Twitter and Facebook, so feel free to stop by and say hi to me there. I have a wealth of book recommendations is you need help with a gift idea. :-) Have a wonderful holiday!

BANNED wrap-up Part Deux

I'm back with a few final mentions that I missed in the first post I created about the BANNED event that took place last week. 

Some of you know I'm upset with SPiN Milwaukee. Here's why: they promised a sweet donation certificate with a value of $1,000 that could be used toward a private room rental at their establishment. I was thrilled and excited with their generosity. Until...they blew me off after several email follow-ups with, 'it's on our To-Do list' and let all of the pick-up deadlines pass. I don't want to make this a negative post, the fun stuff follows, but I had to get that off my chest. It was a perfect opportunity for this new business to get some free PR and generate good will as a sponsor of this fundraiser. And now, instead of singing their praises, I've decided to spend my money at local businesses whose generosity lead to a very successful event.

 Alright, negative feelings behind, let's get to the good stuff! I have pictures from the BANNED event! Our photographer was Joseph Laedtke, and his pics are gorgeous. I can't thank him enough for spending time and his great eye with us. :-)

Steve Ehler, president of Larry's Market, did such an incredible job putting together the oddball baskets we presented them with. I'm not sure whether Steve knew what he was getting into or not, but when given a pile of books, gift certificates, jewelry and other odds & ends, they performed beautifully, creating stunning displays. And my apologies to those who received the baskets I put together. Mine were, uh, not as well formed! lol. But it's all about the contents, right?

Check out these cute book loving, ladies! And I promised one attendee to find out what the berries are that were featured in several of the displays and Laurel from Bloom is getting back to me with that. I will update this post as soon as I know!

Say CHEESE!! And there it is. The mustard seed gouda raw milk cheese that we devoured. Joseph must have been fighting people back with a stick to get this shot before we nom nommed it all up!

 Mmmmm, absinthe. Did you tipple a sample while you were there? 

To view all the pics from that night, check 'em out here. I'm working on finding out about purchasing options. If you're interested in purchasing some of the pics, please let me know and I will keep you in the loop with that info.

Banned Books recovery

Well, it finally happened. The Banned Books Event was last night! In the month we spent planning it, I never thought it would get here and now I can't believe how quickly it came and went! So today is being spent reflecting and relaxing. Cleaning the house that's been neglected recently was supposed to be on that list as well, but, eh, I suppose I have all weekend to do that! ;-) 

So on to the reflecting. The event went off so much better than I ever could have hoped for! Especially when, at the start, a wardrobe malfunction forshadowed a whole different tone. 

I bolted out of the house, with the zip on the back of my super cute polka dot dress halfway down. It was hopelessly stuck. I figured my co-host, Lori, would help me get it once I arrived at Great Lakes Distillery. After her attempt, the joint attempt between her and her husband, a donated alligator clip, and some rough work with a stapler, I gave in and accepted that I was going to be sharing that tattoo I keep hidden with all the lucky event attendees! Luckily, while in the bathroom, I decided to try taking the dress off and working on it that way. It worked! And that little tattoo continues to remain a mystery...

The set-up was great: a huge silent auction table with 21 stuffed baskets of goodies, banned books on display, a plethora of raw milk cheese platters from WI Milk Marketing Board (that mustard seed gouda never stood a chance!), and a banned book themed catering table from Mel and Mangia Mangia.

We talked books, we discussed volunteering for the literacy center, and we embraced our freedom to read. Ryan gave an awesome tour of the distillery and I learned that Doug, the master distiller, hand zests the lemons for the citrus honey vodka. Morgan, a bookseller with Next Chapter Bookshop, spoke about the history of Banned Books Week. Jeremy Lowther, the illustrator who designed Thesaurus Rex for the event was in attendance as well as another of our sponsors, Kati Hatfield. Boris and Doris of the Shepherd Express stopped by as well. 

In the end, I had an amazing time and I hope everyone else did as well. I met so many wonderful people We raised more than $1,200 (I still have to go add up advanced ticket sales), which will be donated to the MPL Foundation and raised awareness on the scope and breadth of book challenging and banning.

Several people asked if we would do it again next year and I'm here to say: Absolutely! Stay tuned for information on the Second Annual Banned Event as well as photos from this year's. Thank you again for those who donated, participated, attended, bid, spoke, shared, and supported this event. We couldn't have done it without you. ;-)

Suggestions & Ideas!

I have several ideas of what I would like to do with this site to involve fellow readers and build bridges in our local reading community. I'm currently a bit distracted as we plan and organize the Banned Books Week Event and September is one heck of a busy bookish month!

Not only are there are a lot of amazing readings going on, the book festivals are kicking in, and the holidays are right around the corner. So with all of this going on, what would you like to see happen around here?

I would like to host a Wisconsin Author Reading Challenge. With this, we would give ourselves one year to read 8 books by Wisconsin authors. You create a list of the authors you would like to read then share it via your website, blog, Twitter, or on the Challenge page that I will create. Then we check in when a book is finished and have a chat about it!

Does that appeal to you? What ideas do you have?