Dear Readers of A Good Blog is Hard to Find!
Some time back I read the Elizabeth Gilbert book, "eat pray love" and was taken away by this young woman traveling to Italy to revel in it's food and language, visit to India to visit an ashram, and trip to Indonesia to reconnect with a healer from Bali. Not a southern book, but a book that let this now southern woman travel to places she always dreamed.
Growing up a small town Kansas girl my mother instilled in me a love of travel from other countries by purchasing me this set of encyclopedias that came with a letter a month then a set of books on countries that came with stickers that you placed in the book.
That's not all, I received a world globe from Santa one year and a real adult Smith Corona typewriter with typing manual my fifth grade year. I did not realize it then but she gave me all the tools I would need to travel a lifetime of learning and writing to places I have never been able to afford to go.
You see unlike the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, I have never been able to take a year off to go find myself. But I have found myself indeed, first, through the reading of books and second, from writing my story of my life in books, "The Pulpwood Queens' Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life", Grand Central Publishing.
Because of reading and writing I have been able to travel places I never dreamed I would be able to go through my imagination and more recently, in actual traveling to the places I dreamed.
I could hardly wait for the eat pray love film starring Julia Roberts because I wanted to see visually the places that I had read. A bunch of us caravanned over to Marshall, Texas, one Sunday after church, to watch the movie and like the book, I became lost in the film.
Every year I have a birthday party for myself where I invite all my friends, not for the presents, but for their presence. Then it dawned on me as we were all sharing a meal after the movie, I announced to the group, I would have an EAT PRAY LOVE Birthday Party!
The Party is tomorrow night! I have invited all my friends but if you are in the area, come join us at our house which I call Grand Central Station. Yes, it will be crowded but everyone is all bringing an Italian, Indonesian, or Indian dish! I am tackling an assortment of truly exotic shish ka bobs! I plan to outdo my last year's theme party of "Julie and Julia" where I prepared Julia Child's dishes!
I have encouraged everyone to come dressed in a costume from one of the countries to put us in the EAT PRAY LOVE spirit! The incense will be burning, the candles lit, the festive party decorations, umbrellas, and paper lanterns will be on. My house is your house, so to speak. And the one thing about the south is, we do know how to throw a party!
Email me at kathy@beautyandthebook.com for directions. I have learned that life is about not things, but about our relationships with others. For me that is God first, my family and friends and I invite you all is not to be here in person, in spirit!
Thank you for the tremendous amount of birthday greetings. I am humbled and greatly blessed by your enormous blanket of love.
My wish for all of you on my 54th year on this planet is to indeed EAT PRAY LOVE! You can find yourself too in the reading of books and in writing your story! I encourage you all to do so. It's all about the story folks and sharing that story with others. The story you do not record or write is a library lost to your family and friends. Besides, nobody can tell your story as well as you can. And this blog showcases some of the best southern storytellers in the country, so don't miss and comment on a single day!
Big things are happening in the Wonderful World of The Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Clubs! Won't you join us on our mission to promote literacy! I have some big southern TRAVEL plans so check out our website often at http://www.beautyandthebook.com/, click on Pulpwood Queens on how to join our book loving fun! Follow along on my daily to weekly literary travels at http://www.pulpwoodqueen.com/ and this NEW blog site I am hosting, http://www.southernauthors.blogspot.com/ as a different southern author is featured every day for the Best of the South when it comes to reading! For an excellent book loving resource, check out http://www.readinggroupguides.com/ as I occasionally do a guest feature there and of course, I am now up on Facebook, at Kathy Louise Patrick, please friend me and for my unique southern Hair Salon/Book Store, Beauty and the Book, please fan me!
And now to truly celebrate my birthday, this video, which in my opinion is the #1 Best Southern Party Band EVER, The B-52's singing, "LOVE SHACK!"
Kat on a Hot Tin Roof, RUSTED!
Kathy L. Patrick
Hairdresser to the Authors
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Clubs
Senior High Youth Leader for the First United Methodist Church AND
Literary Chair for The Rotary Club of Jefferson, Texas
Beauty and the Book
608 North Polk
Jefferson, Texas 75657
903-665-7520
http://www.beautyandthebook.com/
http://www.pulpwoodqueen.com/
http://www.southernauthors.blogspot.com/
http://www.readinggroupguides.com/
4 comments:
Kat -- You inspire once again...asking for presence not presents. I do not know anyone else who could come up with that and really mean it. Thank you for being the most "real" person I know!
Oh how I wish I could have been at that birthday party! And the love shack video over the top fun. I can't imagine anyone traveling for any length of time anywhere and discovering more than you have in other people.
You make everyday a new birthday party!
Drats! Now there's a party I shoulda been at. Kat, you are a party all by yourself.
Just sharing with you that I loved the video. I once danced in front of hundreds of screaming fraternity guys during Greek Week in college while dressed in a bikini to Roam by the B-52's. Good times. I was much younger then and that was, of course, before the 6 children wrecked my poor body.
Your bday sounds wonderful! I would so be there if I lived closer!!
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