Hoot, Hoot

I won a free subscription to House Beautiful, and recently got my first issue.  As I was looking through, they had this fabulous, whimsical print of a cute owl.  I loved it.  So I tracked down where to find it and - lo and behold! - it came from Anthropologie!!!  Imagine that.  Behold it here.  I think I'd have Britney Spears shave off my hair for it.  (The bird print is pretty darn cute, too.)  I know owls are actually quite trendy right now, but I've always loved them.  I've always loved anything woodsy, birdie, fairy, toadstool, whimsical, etc.  Hence the blog header Missy made for me.  I think it comes from a childhood of devouring all of Lucy Maud Montgomery's books.  I used to sit in my classes in high school and doodle mushrooms all over everything.  I think people thought I was a big of a druggy. And speaking of mushrooms, I'll be posting a picture of another cute find a little later.

For Jane Austen-ites...

...in case you didn't know, starting on January 13, PBS will be devoting three months of Sunday evenings to some Austen classics as well as new adaptations. I don't know about you, but with this writer's strike mucking everything up, I am totally excited.

Living Biblicially

You HAVE to read this book, The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. I could barely put it down. This man, a writer in New York City, spent one year of his life obeying every single commandment, rule and mere suggestion in the Bible. It was fascinating, inspiring, and I learned so much about the Bible, stuff I'm ashamed to say I didn't know. (Shame on me for sleeping in seminary!) I highly recommend it. He's a good writer, without trying to sound smarter than everyone, and he is just so easy to relate to, especially when he talks about his family. I loved this book so much, I am going to check out his other one, The Know-It-All, about when he read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica.

Bits of Beautifully Woven Words

The last time I posted something like this was back in May. I'll just occasionally come across a phrase or sentence in a book that I find particularly beautiful and well-written. This time it comes from Finn by John Clinch:

"...and the snowflakes turn to spiders lowering themselves on threads of moonlight and he sleeps."

At My Beck and Call

The Flawless Skin of Ugly People by Doug Crandell, the book I wrote about a few days ago, is now in my possession. I had requested it from my library, and they said they didn't have it, and couldn't promise it. I put a request for it anyway, and I got a call today saying they have it. I went to pick it up immediately. YAY! I just wanted to tell everyone because I know you all ran right out to acquire a copy for me the second you heard I wanted it.

Library Aficionados?

Don't ask me why, because the description leaves something to be desired, but I simply must read this book. My local library does not have it, and has no inclinations to acquire it and I also am not in a position to be buying books right now. So if any of you frequent your library (besides those who reside in my same city, that resource is tapped out), next time you go or are on the website, please check to see if they have it. If they do, please check it out for me!!! I will love you forever and I will return it on time, I swear.

And I just simply must apologize for not having anything interesting to say the last few days. I've wracked my brain for blog fodder to no avail. But that's really O.K., I find my inspiration serves me better not when I've banged it over the head, drugged and beaten into submission in the trunk of my car, but when it quietly comes of its own accord in little moments and daily foibles.

Ugh and Something Really Friggin' Cool, featuring lots of italics

I just haven't been "bloggy" since I deleted everything. I know I was able to get it back (Thanks again, Shannon), but it just hasn't felt the same. I was seriously upset when it happened. Bryce said when I first called to tell him about it, by my tone he thought something had happened to one of the boys. Seriously, and this isn't even me being melodramatic (as I am wont), but it was traumatic for me. (I mean, look at me, I'm only writing about it, and I've used italics two times. And now three times. Four. I think you get the picture, and I could go on forever, so I'll stop now. But not the italics. I need them when this subject comes up.) Nothing has felt this bad for me since last fall when I was six months pregnant and some lousy bastard stole my purse from my car at the park while I was less than fifty feet away, and I watched the whole thing, and my sonogram pictures of Fynn were in that purse, the ones that showed his perfect facial features and you could tell he looked like Ewan, and I mean, I never leave my purse in my car, EVER. I only did because I was less than fifty feet away. And I'm sorry I used that word, but what other words besides a**hole aptly describes a man who would steal a purse from an obviously pregnant woman while she pushed her two year old son on the swing? At ten in the morning? I rest my case, so forgive the word.

So anyway, I'm sorry if it's been kinda boring lately. It doesn't feel complete, like something is missing, even though my reposted stuff is only a link away. Hopefully I'll get back into the groove very soon, and feel happier about my little blog that could.

But there is something really cool that happened. A couple of months ago, I read a book and kind of reviewed it on here. You can read that review by clicking here. So a couple of days ago, I got an e-mail that I had a new comment. It was from someone named Kate, and you can actually read it if you go under comments on my "Some Confusion" post, just from a few days ago. And this comment, the one that caused me to furrow my brow, and wonder, "Who the hell is Kate?" Yeah, that one..., and read this slowly, it was from the author of that book. I am not even kidding. She lives in England, the book takes place in England, and when I looked at my sitemeter (tracks visitors) a visitor from England visited at the very time the comments were left. I mean, WOW. I know it's not like she found my site because I'm so fabulous, she just googled her book or something and found it, but OH MY GOSH. Who ever thinks something like that is going to happen? It just made my whole day. And that is a total understatement. There are no words for what it did to me. This is totally lame, but it was just really friggin' cool.

Fairy-ish

Anyone who knows me well knows that I was a fairy in a former life and long to be one again. This has manifested itself in my favorite books and poetry, and I used to write lots of very imaginative stories. In fact, that was one of the reasons I started to blog, to get back in touch with my writing self. Shannon led me to a website, Inside a Black Apple, that has really inspired me. While I am not even on the same planet with this girl in terms of creativity, fashion sense or sheer adorableness, I identify with her taste, and love everything on her two blogs. It made me want to incorporate a little bit more of myself into my blog, mixed in with Ewanisms and Fynn's milestones and the crazy news stories I love to read. With that in mind, I wanted to show you this:
I bought her when we went to the fair a few weeks ago. She's wearing green and black argyle socks, for Pete's sake. I've collected fairies for as long as I can remember, literally. It started when I read Pat of Silver Bush by L.M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables fame.) But I don't like the ugly dollar-store knockoff fairies, or cheesy angel/cherub looking ones. And I'm not into evil fairies at all. (Although one fairy legend has it that they are the spirits cast out of heaven.) I like mine to look like you could stick them on a tree limb or under a mushroom and it would come to life. While these aren't exactly that, they were so cute. The one below is the one I really wanted, by the same artist.

I mean, how cute is she, with her striped stockings and bat-like wings? But she cost a little more, and I was feeling guilty, and since green is my favorite color and because I think she is what I look like in an alternate fairy universe, I chose the argyle-sock clad fairy. After I got home, I noticed she was wielding what looked like a bloody knife. Hmmm.... So I looked it up, thinking there would be another explanation. But, no, after looking at the painting she is modeled after, it does indeed look like a bloody knife. So...I'm just going to pretend the knife is bloody because she's an overly dramatic teenager who has just enticed her friends into a "blood sisters for life" vow. Better? Yes, I think so.

Regardless, I really like this. (Click)

*Note* My new template's links don't look any different from the other text until you roll your mouse over them. So if I write about something that seems like it should be linked, run your mouse over it and click, like the above mentioned painting, and where I wrote "this" in that last sentence. (That means you, Mom.)

*Note 2* And in case anyone is wondering, I know I wasn't really a fairy in a former life. Just a lawyer for one.