In Which Thoroughly Obsessed Thursday Squees.

Do you know what a "squee" is?

No?

In reality it's probably close to what you're imagining.  It's something like jumping up and down while making a noise akin to an "Eeeeee" and a squeal.  Yes, it's obnoxious.  But it's so full of enthusiasm that you can't help but find it infectious.

I have squeed quite a lot in the past twenty-four hours.  You all know my favorite site, right?  The SmartBitches site was an extremely powerful find for me in the winter of 2008/2009.  I was contemplating my MLS (Still am!  It's just far away!), and I was falling back in love with romance novels after a long and uncertain hiatus (Hello, nasty breakup.  Thanks for momentarily ruining my thoughts on romance novels).  SB (SmartBitch) Candy and SB Sarah were like a breath of fresh air.  They wrote like I think.  They were smart.  They loved romance novels.  And they were in no way ashamed of their love of a long-derided genre.

This week, SB Sarah was scheduled to speak at the Connecticut Library Association Conference, and I was scheduled to be there, except that the universe likes to laugh at me from time to time.  OK.  The universe likes to laugh at me a lot.


I woke up on Monday morning and read this article on Smart Bitches, and no joke, I nearly wept at my desk at work.  WHY WAS I NOT THERE MEETING AND FANGIRL-ING AT SMART BITCH SARAH???  I went home and did not drink heavily (Because I'm trying not to do that during the week... much), but I seriously thought about it.

Cut to: last night.  I'm visiting Granny and Granddad Jones for our (mostly) monthly get-together, and Granny starts talking to me about one of our mutual acquaintances (Relevant background: Granny and I worked at the same library for 10 years.  She still works there.  And so does this mutual friend), and how he left something for me.  Something AWESOME.  Like a copy of the Official SmartBitches Handbook, Beyond Heaving Bosoms: A Smart Bitches' Guide to Romance Novels.

And inside was THIS:

In case you're wondering, that says:

"To Elizabeth [no, my real name is not Kate]- Happy reading- may we all live happily ever after with the heaving bosoms of good reading.  SB Sarah   PS- where were you?! :)"

So yeah.  My obsession this week is all things SB Sarah and SmartBitches.  Because honestly, there's nothing quite like a badass woman's kind and encouraging words to help you move forward in your quest to be a badass woman.

I sent a thank you email to Sarah (who I have emailed a couple of times regarding various issues/fun things re: the Bitchery), and she could not have been more gracious and kind.  Are we paying close attention to her next local appearance so we can squee in person?  Yes, yes we are.