The Library Store on Wheels rolls on!

If you think I’ve been busy after my recent bout with Hobbit fever, you can’t imagine how busy Mrs. Yeti has been getting her store’s new Library Store on Wheels…well, on wheels! It’s been a long, hard journey for Mrs. Yeti (aka Christine Romero) and her co-pilot Sarah Lancaster, from concept to actual execution, but, yesterday morning they finally took their award-winning Library Store on the road and Angelenos ate it up!

And we, for one, could not be prouder of the ladies behind the wheel. Sarah and Christine worked their butts off to make this happen, and their artful attention to detail shows in every nook and cranny of this rocking new Library Store truck. Or so I hear. I haven’t actually seen the truck in person yet, but, I do know that Sarah even designed the linoleum pattern on the floor herself! Cool, huh?

The Library Store on Wheels will be rolling across the southland for the rest of this week and part of next week as well, trying to hit as many different corners of the vast L.A. Library system as they can. For a full schedule of which branch they’ll be parked at each day — they’ll even be parked outside Hollywood’s Amoeba Records on Wed. 12/19 — please visit the Library Foundation’s blog here. You can also follow their every move at The Library Store on Twitter.

Greta and I will be touring the truck for the first time today at the Sherman Oaks library. So, if you’re in the neighborhood drop by and say hello. Or better yet, do some holiday shopping and buy some of the fun, eclectic stuff that The Library Store has to offer.

I mean, hey, Christmas is right around the corner…

Hobbit Fever!

Longtime readers will know that I am something of a geek when it comes to all things Middle Earth. Not only did I see most of The Lord of the Rings films at least twice on the big screen, but, last week, I had the chance to do the same thing with the soon-to-be-released The Hobbit as well.

Last Tuesday night, went to a Hobbit screening with Mrs. Yeti while our friend Tevana babysat Greta — they watched The Wizard of Oz, so, at least they enjoyed a great literary film as well!  — and then last Friday, I took Tevana to another Hobbit screening as payment for babysitting. Turns out Tevana is an even bigger Tolkien fan than I am, so, our post-screening discussion of the movie (which was amazing and may be even a little better than the first film of the LOTR trilogy, if you ask me) was positively nerdtastic. She answered all my questions like a true Tolkien scholar. So awesome!

Better still, said discussion was held at Denny’s over steaming plates of their new Hobbit-themed menu offerings — she had the Shire Sausage, which I highly recommend, and I had the Pumpkin Patch Pancakes, which are as good as they sound! — so, we had fun.

Another fun thing I got to do, in my new persona as a roving journalist for the airline industry (don’t worry, I don’t actually call myself that…yet), was cover a story about the touch down of Air New Zealand’s new The Hobbit-themed aircraft at LAX. Adorned with beautiful full color images of the cast, the plane was gorgeous and the event was held atop LAX’s landmark Encounter restaurant, so, that was pretty cool too.

Anyway, if you’re interested in reading my account of the day, click here. And if you’re looking for more info on Air New Zealand’s super fun The Hobbit marketing tie-ins, you gotta check out their cheeky inflight safety video below. It’s hilarious! They don’t call themselves “The official airline of Middle Earth” for nothing!

Oh, and finally, do yourselves a favor this weekend and check out The Hobbit on the big screen. I watched it in 2D and 3D and though I am usually not a huge fan of 3D movies, the 3D in this film is so insanely well done and so totally immersive that both Tevana and I were swatting at the air in front of us throughout the movie. I told Mrs. Yeti that I watched a mere movie with her on Monday, but actually journeyed to Middle Earth with our friend on Friday. I know it sounds nerdy, but, it’s true. So, if you get a chance to see it twice, try it both ways and see which you like best.

And if you get to Denny’s make sure and ask for a pack of The Hobbit trading cards with your Hobbit-themed entree. I’m looking for a Galadriel or a Gollum to complete my collection!