P&PS

One of the goals I picked for my 101 in 1,001 challenge was to document a day in my life every month. I love being able to look back at my monthly snapshot posts and see how things have changed, but I wanted something that reflected the little details of my life, since those are the things that fade from memory the fastest. While I originally toyed around with the idea of doing some sort of video or photo collage, I eventually decided to fall back into an old favorite, 12 on 12. This project wasn't my idea; it's something I picked up years ago from a friend on livejournal. I remember seeing her post for the first time and loving how simple, yet brilliant the idea was, take 12 (or pick 12) photos to represent a particular day, in her case the twelfth of each month. In my case, I need a bit more flexibility, so I've opted to go with the weekend closest to the twelfth unless I have a trip of some sort planned for the month in which case I might cheat a bit and use that day/s i...

  I know I could cheat a bit and make a list of my favorite childhood books, but since the focus is supposed to be on revisiting old favorites, I'm not including any books I've reread in the last couple of years. All the books on this list are included because, as with any reread, I would love to see how my opinion of the text has changed, and how this shifts my relationship with the text and my view of the world. Both, The Coffin Quilt (1999) and In My Father's House (1993) by Ann Rinaldi While Time Enough for Drums will always be my favorite Ann Rinaldi book, quite a few of her novels have had a big impact on my life and on my reading habits. While I've always loved historical fiction, it wasn't until I started reading Rinaldi's books that I realized just how much I loved them. Her books shaped everything from my understanding of period dress, to family dynamics, and the politics of the American South. For me, books like Cold Mountain and the more mod...

You can consider this part two in a series of crazy knitting jags or you can think of it, like I do, as a redo, ultimately a more successful version of the project I started last year. Apart from picking out a bunch of patterns, I've also purchased the yarn for all of them and started my first sweater. Pattern : Boxy is a repeat from last year and most definitely at the top of my list, both because I need a light grey sweater for my capsule wardrobe and because I'm still totally in love. Inspiration : Wile I would absolutely love to get my hands on the original inspiration behind this particular undertaking, the Forever21 sweater featured here , I've come to appreciate Boxy more in its original form . Yarn : I picked Knit Pick's Stroll Tonal in pearlescent for this project. While it's a cheaper alternative, I'm not sure how I feel about the cream undertone in the yarn. Pattern: Beeline although I've altered it enough (taking out the purl stitch...

Current Obsessions (On Repeat) Yoga Working overtime Travel planning Oregano oil Favorites Book(s): Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson and The Circle (Englesfors #1) by Sara Bergmark and Mats Strandberg) Recipe(s): Pumpkin gummies, Shepherds pie with pumpkin/squash topping   Social Media: Pinterest for inspiration Game/Software/Tech Thing: Edx (Berkeley Bookclub) Item of Clothing: Wool socks, cable knit burgundy jacket   Wellness Related Thing: Yoga videos (specifically this ) On Going Project(s): Yoga, summer travel plans, summer wardrobe/travel sewing and knitting Thing(s) to Learn About: essential oils, project 333, diy makeup, sewing underthings Memories: Making my duvet cover with mom, online travel shopping   101 in 1,001 Update In August of 2013 I made a list of 101 things I wanted to do in the next 1,001 days. This month I completed the following: Sew a duvet/quilt cover Stats for this Month: Visual media: 0 epis...

Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen Rating: 5 out of 5 stars “The rebels are firing all around us, yet for a moment it's so quiet you can hear your own breathing." Not a person but me in the world could deconstruct that sentence. If Meghan could hear her own breathing, it meant she was breathing fast. And since Meghan had a resting heart rate somewhere between coma and sleep because of all that swimming, if she was breathing fast, it meant she was afraid, which meant there was truly something to fear. This is one of those books that has an overwhelming number of mixed reviews on GoodReads. A fair number of the reviews focus on comparing Rise and Shine to some of Quindlen’s other books. While I would love to comment on that, this is my first Quidlen book, so instead I’m going to focus on what I loved about this book. A lot of people cite characterization as their main complaint, and I can understand that. The characters are flawed, even stubbornly so, and they’re no...