Blog Hopping

I'm still so new to blogging so I get excited when I find interesting blogs. I recently discovered Never Growing Old (http://nevergrowingold.blogspot.com/) and am intrigued by Blog Hopping. From what I understand, someone posts on their blog, you copy it (questions, fill-ins) and link back to it. So now I know how Fill-in-the-Blank Fridays started at The Little Things We Do (http://thelittlethingswedo.blogspot.com/). I hope I can remember to join in on Meet Me on Mondays and a few others.

Today, it's about books. I love books. I am a little obsessed with books, I think. A friend told me about Goodreads.com about a year ago and I think it's such a great tool for keeping track of everything I read and plan to read. If you haven't been to Goodreads.com yet, and you love to read, I highly recommend you check it out. If you join, let me know and we can friend up. It's sort of like Facebook for the avid reader!

So, like I said, today's blog hop (courtesy of http://shouldbereading.wordpress.com/) is about books. Here goes:

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading? I'm about 100 pages away from finishing "This Must Be the Place" by Kate Racculia. I like it, but I don't love it. There are several main characters: Amy and Arthur and Mona and Oneida. Amy and Arthur are married, but Amy dies in the first few pages of the book. Arthur finds a shoebox of memorabilia in Amy's closet after she dies and realizes he really doesn't know anything about her past. Amy and Mona were best friends in high school. Oneida is Mona's teenage daughter. Arthur travels from LA to NY to meet Mona to find out about Amy and to find out WHY he doesn't know about her past. I guess what I don't love about the book is actually Amy and Arthur. I'm not fond of them. I'm interested enough to finish it and find out the whole story though.

What did you recently finish reading? About a week ago, I finished "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" by Alan Bradley. Cute story. A little too over-descriptive at times. Found myself skimming those paragraphs that just seemed to over-do the flourish about a location. If it's not necessary to the plot, I skim!

What do you think you'll read next? I have SO many books piled up beside my bed, I'm not really sure where to start. Maybe "The First Day of the Rest of My Life" by Cathy Lamb. Her books are always fun. I also have several Douglas Kennedy books in the pile. No shortage of books in this house!

Happy reading!

More Like the Grinch than Frosty

While I love the sweet sentiments of Curly Girl products, I've gotta say, most days I'm in an Erin Smith Art mood. Today for example, this was my Facebook status:

I mentioned this one in an earlier post, but feel the need to repeat it:

God, I love this stuff. One more for the road:

Thank you, Erin Smith for being so entertaining. And spot on. You can view all of Erin's work here at:     http://www.erinsmithart.com

At Your Service

Leigh and the staff at Curly Girl Design (www.curlygirldesign.com/blog) are embarking on a "Send Love" project in an effort to send love to women currently on active duty in the military. Here's an excerpt from the Curly Girl blog about the project:

If I know a woman in on active duty in the military who would love Curly Girl Cards, then I'll bet you guys do!! Let's send them some love and color shall we?? Here's the deal:

Send us the full military address for the woman or women you know, currently serving active-duty (we will certainly send to active-duty men too, if you think they would love to get a Curly Girl Card....pink envelopes are equal-opportunity day-brighteners!) along with an email love-note to them. We will print out your email and enclose it in a Curly Girl Card and send it off to them for you! On us!

Send emails to: info@curlygirldesign.com (mark the subject line: SEND LOVE) by Monday December 5th 10am EST

When I first read this I thought about my niece-in-law who is a nurse in the U.S. Air Force, serving in Germany. I admit that initially I thought that I wouldn't submit her name because she isn't literally on the front lines, living on a base and facing enemy fire every day. But then I realized that she is away from her family (thankfully, my nephew - her husband - was just transferred to Germany -- she was there for a year without him) and she is on active duty and she IS serving her country. Here's the email I wrote to Curly Girl in order to send love to her:

Dear Leigh & Curly Girl staff,

When I first read on your blog that you were sending cards to women in active duty, I did think of my niece-in-law, but thought that the cards should really go to those serving on the front lines, seeing war every day. Then it hit me, she is too. She is a nurse in the U.S. Air Force, stationed in Germany. When she and my nephew married three years ago, she was working in South Carolina. Since she was not administering to many wounded soldiers, she opted for a transfer to Germany to work out of the base in Rammstein. I realized today, that while she may not be physically fighting a war, she is still fighting. She is fighting for the lives of every soldier that is injured and is lucky enough to be in her care. I'm very proud of her and very proud that she is part of my family. 

Here's a copy of what she posted on Facebook today -- so you can see how wonderful she is:

"So I was woken up out of a dead sleep to fly downrange. Instead of being grumpy I realize what an honor it is to be able to rescue a hero and provide quality care to them while transporting them somewhere safe. God bless our troops in harms way and continue to remind those stateside of the sacrifices that the military makes for them EVERYDAY!!!!"

It feels good to Send Love. She deserves it.

Orange you glad . . .

I remember a knock-knock joke from when I was a kid that goes like:

Knock-knock. Who's there?
Orange. Orange who?
Knock-knock. Who's there?
Orange. Orange who?
Knock-knock. Who's there?
Banana. Orange you glad I didn't say orange again?

Totally inane. But, I love orange - the color, not the fruit - so I guess that's why it has stuck with me. As much as I love the color, I do think I'm rather subtle about my use, for a lack of a better word, of it. I have a few things in the house that have orange accents, like a small painting of a pumpkin and a framed photograph of the poppies posted above (proud to say I took that picture myself). I also have a really cool long, rectangular, block candle on my kitchen island that is orange (darned if I could find a picture of it on Google Images - I thought everything was on the internet?!) that nicely accents the black and green marble countertops. Anyway, after Pinning (have you checked out Pinterest.com yet? Be warned, it's a time killer!) a couple of orange eye-catchers, I decided to add them here. They make me happy. Here's a few orange bits of joy:

I just bought these for myself and already have received compliments on them at the gym. They are more vibrant in person. I think they sorta glow!

I got these in the Spring from Kate Spade. I didn't wear them nearly enough (the orange ones, obviously!).

I found this ring on the Sundance Catalog site. I so wanted to add it to my Christmas list because it is on sale, but sadly, they don't have my size. Still makes me happy to look at though.



And, I found this fun purse on Etsy.com. The seller is Teddy out of Thailand, if you are interested (gotta give Teddy credit, right?!).



I think these Tory Burch flats are pretty cool. Might have to save my pennies for a Spring purchase  . . . .

And, my dream purse is anything by Hermes in their signature orange. I mean, even their packaging is a gorgeous shade of orange!

Clearly, I'm a fan of orange. I know I posted about it in October in regards to Halloween decorating. Guess I must be missing it a little now that the house is decked out for Christmas in reds and greens! I might just make this a regular feature - maybe a little monthly pick-me-up. Glad that just a bit of color really does brighten up my day.