Sunday morning randomness - October 17, 2010

• I just found out that the final book in the Earth's Children series by Jean Auel is coming out in March 2011. And apparently this is old news (announced last May) but it's new to me. And kind of ridiculously exciting. I started reading her books when I was (too young) in middle school or maybe junior high, and I'm hooked despite the fact that they're a bit on the trashy side and that the last one wasn't as great as the rest. Still! Still! I'm hooked, and they tell a great story and they are extremely detailed and researched. I respect that. 
• I'm currently reading Anthony Bourdain's latest, Medium Raw. I haven't decided if I'll write up an extended review or not. Right now I am loving some parts but underwhelmed with others.
• I can't decide what to read next - The Great Typo Hunt (from my library pile), Room (waiting for me at the library), College Girls: Bluestockings, Sex Kittens, and Coeds, Then and Now (library pile), When Bad Things Happen to Good People (recent booksale score), Odd and the Frost Giants (library pile), Fury (library pile), The Penderwicks (library pile - yes, I have far too many books out at once), or Everything About Me is Fake...And I'm Perfect (recent thrift). Or something else.
• On Friday, my husband and I went to the High Museum of Art for a member preview of the new Titian exhibit. (I wish we'd taken the tour the author of that article took, but time was limited.) While there were only (only!) four spectacular Titian paintings on display, they were surrounded by equally striking pictures from his contemporaries. (My husband reminded me that we'd seen a larger Titian exhibit on our trip to Spain years ago.) Gorgeous. Words fail me. I fell in love with Titian when I was in college and studying abroad in London. I was wandering through a museum (I think it was the National Gallery, but I can't remember now) and met up with a tour of little kids. So I sat down and listened to the tour guide explain, detail by detail, one of Titian's paintings. She didn't talk down to the kids at all, but she also took her time with them. And with that, love.
• We also walked quickly through the Dali: The Late Works exhibit. I need to go back to fully process that one. Wow.
• And we also managed to get to a friend's art opening briefly that evening. We had the kid with us, and she was displeased with the entire situation, so we didn't stay long. But at least we got there at all, which is unusual for us. The gallery was in the backyard of a private home and everything felt really private and intimate, like we'd stumbled upon a secret (that a ton of other people happened to be at - maybe not so secret...). Thus ended my day-of-culture...
• I had wanted to go to the Little Five Points Halloween parade yesterday and then blog about it and show you all sorts of pictures, but everyone else in Georgia had the same idea. We couldn't find parking (yes, we should've just taken MARTA) so we gave up and went to a playground instead. 
• Tomorrow I'm mailing what hopefully is the final part of our Medicaid application for the kid. A few pages, kicked back for additional signatures, now acquired. Think good thoughts for us.