Hi Friends! I hope your week is off to a great start.  It can be a little tricky getting motivated after a long holiday weekend that I know many of you were lucky enough to have.  Me?  Nah.  I’ve been working like a dog. 15 out of the last 16 days I’ve worked and had just the actual day of Thanksgiving off, but hey, who’s counting.  Our trip is coming up so until then, duty calls.

My sister was so sweet and sent me early holiday gifts:  two books!  Matthew Kenney’s Everyday Raw Desserts and Ani’s Raw Food Desserts

I raved in this post about Ani’s latest book with my book review

I have reviewed many other cookbooks…

And in this post I raved about Matthew Kenney’s books

So my sister hit the nail on the head with an Ani book and a Matthew Kenney book.  So much so that I actually already owned the Ani book she sent me, but that’s ok.  I will pass it along to another friend!

My bookshelves overflow with books and recipes I hope to make one day in this lifetime.  I have more recipes than time, right now!

My sister also sent a couple books for Skylar

And the book fun continued when my sweet friend, Kristen, sent Color Me Vegan which is a new-to-me book. 

The chapters are broken into colors with nutrient facts, info, foods, and recipes according to that color.  Super cool!  I haven’t read it in detail yet, but in just thumbing through it, I am loving it!

Remember this post?  I mentioned that I ordered this book on the recommendation from a friend

From yesterday’s post about Fudge, Chocolate, and Holiday Baking, it was wonderful to hear about your fave fudge, chocolate, and dessert recipes.  And to hear what you plan to make and bake this holiday season.  

Vegan Creme de Menthe Bars (No-Bake)

Questions
1.  In this post I asked you for your fave books and there were amazing suggestions and recommendations in the comments.

And I know that Jenna recently posted her Holiday Book List

What books are on your to-read list?  Or anything you’ve read recently, or ever, that is just so good you want to tell me about it?  Would love to hear your list!

2. Do you make time to read books?  Or magazines?  Or do any pleasure reading?

I really want to start reading more.  I mentioned it on my post on 9/10/10, almost 3 months ago, and I give myself and epic fail at making time to read more books and do pleasure reading since then.

Why? Life and work have been way too full to sit down and make time to read but that’s what vacations are for, right?

Plus, I do so much of my reading online, i.e. blogs, the internet, email that there are just not enough hours in the day to sit down with books and magazines but that just means I need to realign my priorities and unplug more, I think.  Which I plan to do on vacation!

3. In general, do you prefer to receive (or give) gift certificates or actual merchandise?
This is hard because I do love it when people take the time to select an actual gift for me, something they think I would really enjoy, and they put thought and time into it to select it.  It makes me feel so special that they took the time to pick something out for me.

But I confess, lately I feel so busy that when I am the one doing the giving, I usually just send a check or give a gift certificate.  And I figure that way the person can just pick out what she wants anyway.    I don’t always have the time or mental bandwidth to select an actual gift for someone.

Hard call!  But what do you like better? Gift certificates or actual merchandise?

I’m off to get my 20 minute at-home workout in and then I have an appointment I am rushing to get to.  Bye!