Kelley:
My first book that I can remember reading over and over again in elementary school was Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers. Man, I knew exactly where it was on the library shelf and was always so sad when someone else had checked it out. That book instilled a life-long love of reading and libraries.
I eventually moved on to the Nancy Drew Mysteries and Cherry Ames Student Nurse series. But as it happens, life gets in the way with college, dating, and marriage. I never gave up my love of reading but I kind of gave up the library – until my first child was born. It was then I discovered the library again.
And, also discovered what I wanted to do with my life – I wanted to be a librarian.
My favorite line in the movie “The Mummy” with Brendan Fraser is when a drunk Evie (Rachel Weisz) stands up and proclaims “I am a Librarian!” So that’s what I became.
I love every minute of my job in a public library. Currently, I am furloughed because of the pandemic and I miss interacting with our patrons. So when I suggested to Jaclyn – who is my friend and coworker – that we should do a podcast/blog, she was all for it. And, here we are.
Some fun, random facts about me: I love candy, the more sugar, the better – orange circus peanuts, bottlecaps, chewy sweetarts, runts, etc. Vodka is my go to drink but I also like beer and wine. I love beertasting and winetasting. Lake Michigan is my happy place. I don’t like to participate in book discussions. I don’t like to have to read on a deadline – believe it or not I used to write reviews for School Library Journal. It was so stressful! But, I love connecting people with books and I hope you will find something in our blog that you will connect with…even if it’s just a cocktail. Cheers!
Jaclyn:
I’ve been reading for fun my whole life. I can recall receiving one of those Fisher Price cassette players as a preschooler and listening along, over and over, to those recorded stories that made a little chime when you were supposed to turn the page. I don’t need the cassettes or chimes anymore, but I’ve never stopped consuming stories. I’m not a very critical reader…if I’m entertained I’ll tell you it was a good book, and I have a hard time not finishing a book I started, because WHAT IF THE END IS AMAZING?! And my to-be-read (TBR) list grows faster than I will ever catch up with. But I love trying!
I’m a big fan of the sun, my pool, cheering on my nieces and nephews at their respective events, gummy candy, whiskey and a good Netflix binge. I live in southeast Michigan with my hubs in a super fun, social neighborhood. I went to MSU and Wayne State and have spent the last 15 years of my life working as a public librarian. No one loves their job every day, but I love mine 99% of the time, and I miss it. When Kelley, my friend and coworker, suggested we fill our furlough time by creating this site and podcast, I loved the idea. I hope you love it too.