The Nicest, Strange Thing

I'm not a big believer in coincidence, but the nicest, strange thing happened to me this evening. I went to Barnes & Noble tonight. A very pleasant looking man held the door open for me. I looked at magazines; I shopped; I ate cheesecake; I looked at magazines again. Finally, I'm ready to wait in line and make my purchase and the same pleasant looking man lets me go in front of him! Since we checked out at roughly the same time, it's no big surprise that he held the door open for me as we left. We get to our vehicles, and he's parked right next to me. I debated to myself, and then I spoke; he replied and an agreeable, albeit short, conversation endued. Mostly we talked about the soap bubbles in the fountain in the shopping center, but still. It was an enjoyable little chat on a night when I was feeling a bit lonely.

It was the nicest, strangest thing.

I said I did some shopping at Barnes & Noble. I looked at several art books before deciding to purshase one. I was impressed by The Art of Personal Imagery by Corey Moortgat. I only glanced through the book, but it looked like there were several techniques taught. One drawback (?) that I saw was that all the art showcased is her own, so the styling is very similar throughout the book. That can be a minus, as it can get a bit boring and repetitive, or it can be a plus, as it is visually cohesive. I liked what I saw.

I also looked at Layers by Shari Carroll. I only looked at a few pages in this one before I put it away and went on to something else. It seemed too scrapbooky to me. I have a scrapbook, but I don't scrapbook. That is, my pages are mostly just pictures and journaling on plain colored backgrounds. Oddly enough, I just don't get into making the mini-collages out of my scrapbook pages. In fact, I don't really enjoy scrapbooking at all.

I almost bought Collage Unleashed, but decided that it was a little fabric oriented for me right now. I'd love to work with fabric more than I do -- which is hardly at all -- but I just don't have the space for it right now. I can barely get to my sewing machine in the office and I'm afraid to run it on my dining room table. It weighs about 60 pounds and my dining room table is glass topped. I'm definitely going to put this on my amazon wish list though!

I ended up with Journal Revolution. I'd been wanting it and Visual Chronicles since I first saw them in Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago. I went with Journal Revolution over Visual Chronicles simply because I could find one and not the other. Journal Revolution made me cry when I first picked it up, so I'm thinking it is a book I need to own.

I also bought the current issue of Cloth Paper Scissors. I don't know why I don't have a subscription to this magazine, as I have every issue!