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Jules<\/font><\/strong>: Hello? Anyone out there? I just swept away the cyber-cobwebs and am ready to post for the first time in a week. For the holidays, I took a blogging break in every way — no posting, not even reading my favorite book blogs (so, hey, if something big happened, please point it out to me and\/or send me a link, since you can assume I’m way way<\/em> behind on your blog). We here at 7-Imp hope everyone had a wonderful holiday — and a restful and peaceful one, as well. <\/p>\n It’s safe to say I’m flying solo today, since I know for a fact that Eisha’s not home. More on that in a minute . . . I’m also keeping things simple this week with just one lovely image from Lauren Castillo<\/strong><\/a>, whom I interviewed<\/strong><\/a>, you may remember, back in April, and whose illustration work I love. This is Lauren’s wintery holiday greeting, Fox in the Snow<\/em>, which she is graciously allowing me to post here this Sunday. I’m digging it in a big way right now, since it was about, oh, sixty-five degrees in middle Tennessee yesterday. <\/p>\n I also have to throw in one more image, though. Remember when I featured<\/strong><\/a> my friend and former colleague, photographer Jeffrey Levi Palmer<\/strong><\/a>, last month? Well, he snapped this on his holiday travels, I believe it is (I failed to ask him exactly where), and he’s also allowing me to share today. I love this. I don’t know if someone decided to go vegetarian, or if he (or she) has a sweetie with a very colorful nickname. I love that somewhere there’s the object of someone’s great affection who answers to such a meaty moniker. I think a story needs to be written about this couple.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So, I hope folks are around for our weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week—whether book-related or not—that happened to you. Absolutely anyone is welcome to list kicks, even if (or especially if) you’ve never done so before. <\/p>\n 1). Yup, no kicks from Eisha, ’cause she’s in middle Tennessee, visiting family. And this means, yes, we got to visit with her yesterday. We had a lovely brunch together with her and her husband. (Can I just quickly say that the spinach, feta, and tomato omelette I ordered was to die for?) Though I forgot my camera, she snapped some pics, so maybe we’ll share one day. I think 99% of the pics are of my four-year-old, though, who thinks the sun rises and sets in Eisha, and who was doing lots of posing. <\/p>\n 2). Oh, and Eisha gave me a beautiful necklace she got during her travels to Seoul<\/strong><\/a>. And a handful of sweet, thoughtful gifts for my girls. <\/p>\n 3). The holidays were great fun, and my girls didn’t actually spontaneously combust, which I feared at one point might happen (Christmas Eve, to be precise). <\/p>\n 5). . . . and I got THE PERFECT MUG, a gift from my husband, all thanks to a tip from Jama<\/strong><\/a>!<\/p>\n 7). I’m saving the best for last: The holidays with friends and family and being loved and having a roof over our heads and being employed and our health and happiness. Whew. That’s a lot in one, but I’m very thankful, especially during these hard economic times. <\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/porkchop.jpg\")
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4). Not that the holidays are all about the loot, but kick number four is receiving some good books and some good music (such as the resplendently harmonizing Fleet Foxes<\/strong><\/a>, whose new CD is pictured to the left here) . . . My mother also gave me a stocking filled with stuff in which to indulge myself — chocolates, bubble bath, etc. Her slant on this gift was that any mother with young children who fuss, as siblings are wont to do, deserves such a thing, to which I say AMEN and DAMN SKIPPY and RIGHT ON. Plus, stockings are one of the best things about Christmas, don’t you think? <\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/mug3.JPG\")
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6). I’m reading The Road<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Cormac McCarthy<\/strong><\/a>, my first McCarthy read. It’s very bleak yet so haunting and driving and terrifying that I can’t put it down. As an antidote to the bleakness, I’m re-reading Wicked<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, since I was given Maguire’s Son of a Witch<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and the new A Lion Among Men<\/strong><\/em><\/a> for Christmas. I love re-reading Wicked<\/em> now, over ten years later. I’m a different person from the first time I read it, so it’s like an all-new read. <\/p>\n