Family Photos

Chippy and Sweetie enjoy the color saturation feature in Picasa.

Tula in black and white - looking very puppy. She is asleep at my feet having a puppy bad dream :(

Beauty and the Beast

Beautiful: our newly painted guest room. Matt and Dad H. knocked this out in a few hours and put the room back together as well. We went with a medium gray shade that really warms up the room and compliments the drapes. It's very similar to the color we had before, just darker and richer.

Beastly: These dressers. I hate them so much I didn't even tidy up the mess before I took the picture. They are a total eyesore in this room and don't match at all. On the left hand side of the room (see above), we have a wall of white bookshelves with glass doors (ikea) and I would like some furniture that fits in with them. The dressers have got to go. So, I need suggestions. What color dresser should I buy? My first instincts are black or white, but I really haven't a clue. I need suggestions (ahem Alison), or if you would just like to find them for me (ahem Alison), I would be most appreciative. So please, send suggestions and pictures... I will not be completely satisfied until I get this figured out.

ps- Aubrey, this post is for you.

A Case of the Mondays

This is just terrible. Why go after a child? So wrong.

Packing My Cowboy Boots

Off to Nashville for the week.... kind of a working vacation... I could care less about the conference I'm attending; I'm planning to make the rounds at the resort's 3 pools.

Matt is staying home with the birds and Tula. I am making a list of things for him to remember while I'm gone, such as "feed birds." They are pretty much annoying us like mad right now so I could easily see him "forgetting" to feed the poor things!

See you on the flip side.

Book List January - June 2009

Time to recap what I've read in the past six months. I've linked up all my excellent selections because you all need to check 'em out, read 'em, and be happy.

Excellent
Manhattan, When I Was Young by Mary Lee Cantwell
*2nd Reading. This is a single edition of her three novels chronicling Cantwell's life. On the second pass through, I understand it so much better and really relate to the human struggles the author faces throughout her life.

The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
*Jackson is one of my all time favorite authors. Read We Have Always Lived in the Castle if you haven't yet. It's amazing.... perfectly spooky and haunting.

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
*A classic teen read that I've loved for years.

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
*Buying this book was kind of an inside joke between Matt and me. We've found that all the books we've purchased under the Harper Perennial Classics label are great and we both enjoy reading them. This includes Joy in the Morning by Betty Smith and Red Sky at Morning by Richard Bradford. I picked up Frank's book because of the Perennial Classics jacket and the author was looking all debonair smoking a pipe on the back cover. Turned out to be an incredible book all the way around.)

East Lynne by Ellen Wood
*Re-read from college Victorian lit days. This is a hefty one though. Over 500 pages.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel
*Magical story. I may have been one of the last people on earth to read it.

We the Living by Ayn Rand
*Second reading and my favorite of Rand's. A beautiful, sad, inspiring story.

The Wolf at the Table by Augusten Burroughs
*Wow.

A Map of Home by Randa Jararr
*Fascinating story of a family uprooted by war, American mores, and growing up.

Rabbit Angstrom: The Four Novels by John Updike
*Amazing, amazing, amazing. I don't care too much for Updike's other works, but these novels are the stuff. Updike makes me feel every emotion along with the characters, and I'm fascinated by his writing style. Read it!

Good

• Beast by Joyce Carol Oates
• Lucky in the Corner by Carol Anshaw
  
• Found in the Street by Patricia Highsmith
• The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
• The Mammoth Book of Modern Ghost Stories Ed. by Peter Maining
• Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
• Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
• The Grave Digger's Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates

Fair

• American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
• Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
• Daphne by Justine Picardie
  

Just Plain Awful / Didn't Finish

• The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red by "Joyce Reardon"
• The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
• Hairstyles of the Damned by Jason Meno

Stay Tuned...

The very nice Sharnee over at Yummy Lolly is helping me make some changes to the blog layout. She designs free blogger templates and is being so nice about my total lack of html knowledge.

Changes soon, hopefully!

Let's Go Shopping!

I'd like to call your attention to two excellent etsy sellers, who I happen to know in real life. While having a family get-together / high school reunion last weekend, it was very cool to be hanging out with two great people who make original, beautiful things.


First up is Keith from modology (click here for lots of pictures).

• I'm not just saying this because he's family - you can buy me everything he makes. He has an amazing eye and a truly innovative approach to mid-century modern design. Modology's etsy page features this credenza right now, and I'm told there will be more items posted very soon. Every time I see his work I am wowed. Pieces can be customized.
  

Next, meet Christa of the lovely SweetBees Studio.

• I just found out she's selling on etsy, which really shouldn't have surprised me at all because she's always been very talented. Right now I've got my eye on this makeup bag. Her fabrics are so colorful and cool. She also does custom orders, so check out her store! She was carrying a SweetBees Bag the other night and I wanted to steal it.
  

I am going to devise some kind of sidebar thing for permanent links to their sites and other finds I have for art, furniture, girly things, and whatnot. Stay tuned.

Field Trip

Enjoying the renovated Buckingham Fountain on a *lovely* day.

In the new Oceanarium at the Shedd Aquarium. The exhibits were so fun and interactive for kids. We also saw a lot of dolphins!

Hanging out at the downtown and at Shedd Aquarium today was really fun. If you sponsored a student for camp, all but 2 of them are in this photo. Thanks for your generosity, we are off to a wonderful summer! The kids are so excited for all our upcoming activities, and the parents are ready to hand them over to us :)