Read: Summer Reading Program

An Elegant Woman Reading Under a Tree by Karl Raupp

When I was younger I loved taking part in our local library's summer reading program. I loved spending time   among the shelves of books, breathing in that glorious old book smell and plotting the books I would read to fill in the lines of my reading chart. I was a real pro and always finished my goal well before it was time to return to school reading. I loved being able to pick all my own books to read without my mom or someone else telling me what I should be reading. So with all that in mind I have decided to embark on a summer reading program all my own this year. I have chosen 12 books to challenge myself with. Some I have wanted to read for a while, some are new and some are from authors I have already fell in love with and am working my way through all their works. 

• The Poisonwood Bible is one of those books that I have been interested in for a long time, but never really did any thing about reading it, until I found a copy at the thrift store for 40 cents, I'll stick it on my bedside table and be through it quickly I'm sure.
• I have listened to three Lisa See books on CD in the last two months, but my library is out so I've moved onto the books in print. Peony in Love is next on my list.
• Under the Tuscan Sun is my "must watch when it is on TV" movies, I have seen at least a dozen times (though the first time I saw the moving was on a flight coming home form Italy) and love that part of the world so much, I'm not sure how I have gone so long without reading it.
• My cousin Elisha recommended The 19th Wife to me on Easter 2011, I just haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

     

• How could I pass up a book called: The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance?
• A Kate Morton book was on my 2011 reading list and I enjoyed it so much that I picked up another for my summer reading.
• Honestly I don't remember why I wanted to read the book Juliet, but when I went to start adding books to my summer reading list this book was already on my list, so it is to be read.
• Talking to Girls About Duran Duran, I love Rob Sheffield, love him, that's it love him!

• Divergent; dystopian YA lit-sign me up!
• I've been meaning to read Erin Morgenstiern's The Night Circus for a while now, I guess I just needed to get it down on a paper (screen) to get to it.
• MWF seeking BFF a full quarter of my books are what I would call "light" non-fiction, that type of book is one of my favorites, I'm really looking forward to reading all of them.
• Arcadia is my number one can't wait to read it book on this list. It sounds so interesting.

I used Goodreads to organize my list, I find the site to be a great way to plot future readings. Are you taking on any summer reading goals? Did you love the summer reading programs when you were a kid? What books would you suggest I or anyone else read this summer?

Make: Painted Bobby Pins

Okay lets get real here. I wear my hair pulled back like this (sorry about weird pictures of me, it is like way harder to take a picture of the top of your own head than I would have ever guessed!) with two bobby pins every single day. Because I do the same thing day in and day out I do like to mix up the look of the bobby pins a little bit. I have some great metallics as well as a few fancy ones with faux pearls and rhinestones, but today we are going to work on a really quick and easy way to add a little pizzazz to you mane with things you already have a round the house.

Namely: Nail Polish, Bobby Pins and a little piece of Cardboard. I'm sure you have all of that hanging around your place. Right?

This project is so easy, it seemed silly to call it a project at all, but here goes. There are two steps.
1. Slip Bobby Pins onto Cardboard
2. Paint top of Pins with Nail Polish, if you want to try the "advanced placement" nail polish bobby pin painting method you will paint three colors on for that color blocked effect. (I wish you could hear the way I am saying this in my please don't take me to seriously voice - okay read the instructions again with that in mind!)

Once the polish has dried you can stack them all up and take a million pictures trying to get one that looks half way good.

Or you can just slip them in your hair. That might be a better plan, but whatever floats your boat!

Watch Out For My Roots or Happy Birthday Kelsey!

Today we are going to get a little personal, we are going to talk about one of my favorite people in all the world. Her name is Kelsey. I think we first met in 2007, though it might have been 2008 - that isn't really the point of this story so we aren't going to worry about it. The story I want to tell you begins in March of 2008, I think it was a Tuesday (I think that, because, if memory serves, at that time Tuesdays were cheap days at our local movie theater), but I could be wrong, what I do know is that is was soggy and dark (am I the only one that has a strong memory of weather around events, I think I can tell you what the weather was like on any given day far better than I could tell you what someone was wearing or what we talked about?). This March night Phoebe and I had plans to see a movie we had been waiting for a long time to see. We were really excited to see the film Penelope and when our brothers girlfriend, in town with him on spring break, said she'd like to come we were happy to have the company. I'll have to ask Phoeb about it, but I think that night we both knew. We knew like you know about a song that you will one day love the first time you hear it on the radio, we knew that we loved Kelsey. I think even then as we drove home talking about Penelope's great clothes and the sweet message of like yourself the way you are, we knew that Kelsey was going to be an important person, the kind of person that even when you don't see them for years they will pop into your mind from time to time, the kind that when you get the chance to spend time together the hours can just slip away because you are having such a wonderful time - we knew Kelsey felt a lot like a sister.

Sometime not that long after that visit Sam and Kelsey broke up and we (my sister and I) didn't see her again for a very long time. But you know sometimes those things have a way of working themselves out. About a year later one of our other brothers, Andrew married a great gal (we LOVE Lauren!!!) and the sister side of our family grew. For a girl that never wanted sisters I had been really blessed with one actually factual sister that was, as we like to say in our family: "Just I need" and the perfect sister in-law to counter act a lifetime of brothers. But I'll say this, some of us (me and Phoebs and maybe that brother) never completely got over Kelsey. I'm not sure you will understand this unless you have brothers of marrying age, but there is this odd thing about sisters in-law, for most of us girls we are closer to our sisters than we are to just about any other persons on earth and in a perfect world your sister in-law can feel just as close as a sister that is your flesh and blood.

So when that day came almost three years later when after a reunion Sam asked Kelsey to marry him. There were at least two people who were secretly saying "I knew it!". They were married last September and now Kelsey really is our sister. She is an amazing woman and her love is one of the best things that has ever happened to our brother. Today is her birthday so it seems right and proper to give her her dues.

Happy Birthday Kelsey - I always knew we were meant to be sisters!

P.S. The post title is a little joke for Kelsey, a line from our favorite commercial that come on a lot while we were watching out favorite show (The Voice!).

So So So So So Cute!

I saw so many cute things today. So I thought I'd hop on for a Saturday afternoon post to share my top three.

1. Just after the sun rose this morning, I was making my usual early Saturday morning drive out to my weekly 7 a.m. meeting, when I drove past a field that has newly become the home of a herd of very beautiful cows, I saw all the sweet little babies nursing. It was so so so so so cute! No really I would have pulled over and taken a picture if I had the time. 
2. This afternoon I found the cutest tiny little hot pink cactus at the store, but I'll share more on that later!
3. On my drive home from the store I saw this super cute older couple riding together on their mower. That would so be my mom and dad, if they didn't live downtown. 

That picture of my brother's dog Amelia has nothing to do with this post. Only she is pretty cute!