Related to the last post

The British Museum Reading Room:


My absolute favorite place in the ENTIRE world!

I just found the website thefancy.com

And I found this beauty:


via fancyDrew)
I want to go to there.

Summer is here!

It's been awhile since I posted. I've been keeping myself busy with many things: reading, movies, Joe, visiting home and friends, running/working out, and Town & Gown.

...what's Town & Gown you ask? It is a non-profit chamber music association in Ames that puts on five chamber music concerts a year, does community outreach events, and hosts an annual Musicale, a gala fundraising event featuring esteemed local musicians. I just joined their board of directors as the new secretary, and I couldn't be more excited. We had out first meeting last Thursday and I already feel at home.

I also just read a pair of REALLY excellent books by Chris Cleave: Little Bee and Incendiary. I would highly suggest you pick them up. If you don't believe me, here is a passage I thought was particularly striking from Indendiary:

"Before you bombed my boy Osama I always thought an explosion was such a quick thing but now I know better. The flash is over very fast but the fire catches hold inside you and the noise never stops. You can press your hands on your ears but you can never block it out. The fire keeps on roaring with incredible noise and fury. And the strangest thing is people can be sitting right next to you on the Central Line and not hear a sound. I live in an inferno where you could shiver with cold Osama. This life is a deafening roar but listen. You could hear a pin drop."

Cleave's writing style is very different in each novel, but has a beauty to it that makes them hard to put down.

The weather is really beautiful today, which means it is hot in my apartment. I have my fans going, though, because I refuse to put on the a/c just yet. It's not quite that hot.

I am looking forward to seeing Brooke next weekend for my birthday! I know I just saw her last weekend for her graduation party, but I always love having visitors in Ames. It makes things more exciting. AND I am excited for her to finally meet Joe. :)

I guess that's all for now - oh! I've recently been playing my violin with a little regularity! Huge shock, I know! It's been years and I was really rusty when I first picked it up, but it's amazing how quickly things come back. I'm really enjoying it!

Okay, that's really all. Besitos!

The last year in books.

I wanted to see how many books I could read in the year following graduation, which was also filled with job applications, working at Target, moving to Ames, and starting a new job/life away from home. Here's my list! I'm going to start another list and see how many/what I read from May 24, 2011-May 24, 2012. :)

Without further ado, the list:
-Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling*
-Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling*
-Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling*
-Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling*
-Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling*
-Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling*
-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling*
-Just Listen by Sarah Dessen*
-The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver*
-Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult*
-The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein*
-The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkein*
-The Two Towers by J.R.R.Tolkein*
-The Return on the King by J.R.R. Tolkein*
-The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson*
-Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert*
-He's Just Not That Into You by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo
-Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan*
-The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larson*
-Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan*
-Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan's Curse*
-The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
-The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larson*
-Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann*
-Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry
-Messenger by Lois Lowry
-Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult*
-Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez*
-Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides*
-Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
-The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie
-The Help by Kathryn Stockett*
-In the Woods by Tana French*

(Books with a * are the books I'd recommend you pick up if you get the chance.)

This is the most amazing

bookmark I've ever laid my eyes on. I TOTALLY want one! :)

(via The Daily What)

What did I do today you ask?

I took my car in for a check up and spent 3 hours bumming around at Panera in the process (my car is ok, no worries!). Then, I went to Salvation Army and got a wicked ottoman for $5 (it was half off!). THEN I went to Target and a garage sale and got two cutesy chairs and a wrought iron table for my porch (please see: future posts about enjoying meals/reading outside). Next came a visit to the Ames Public Library. I went crazy and got two books, a movie, and the 2nd season of Six Feet Under.

Then I came home for awhile. And I left again. Where to? Joann Fabrics, of course!

There are got 3 and a half yards of black anti-pill fleece and hoo-boy did I go crazy and cover the freecycle chair I got on Tuesday. Yes I did! Now the chair is covered and I still have to do the ottoman, but I am fresh out of energy and desire to cover it! Plus my knees are magnificently rug burned.

I also spent some time feeling miserable and hungry, which I've sort of taken care of but now that the chair is covered I am really going to ponder what to eat (talk about eating dinner later than normal!).

Breath. This is what happens when I am left to my own devices for 2 week. Thanks, Joe! :)

"And by the time I was wishing I'd washed my hair

this morning instead of just bathed and was practically doubled over with gratefulness that I'd at least brushed my teeth, out of the blue, he kissed me. Right in the middle of the Robert E. Lee Hotel Restaurant, he kissed me so slowly with an open mouth and every single thing in my body--my skin, my collarbone, the hollow backs of my knees, everything inside of me filled up with light."
-The Help by Kathryn Stockett

"Adrian, imagine everyday is Independence Day

and save us from traveling the river changed; save us from hitchhiking the long road home. Imagine an escape. Imagine that your own shadow on the wall is the perfect door. Imagine a song stronger than penicillin. Imagine a spring with water that mends broken bones. Imagine a drum which wraps itself around your heart. Imagine a story that puts wood in the fireplace."
-The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Sherman Alexie

"'Well I woke up this morning

and diagnosed a very early case of happiness.

'Never heard of it,' he says.

'It's a rare disease. I caught it just before the neighbors woke.'

'Is it contagious?'

'Don't you have it yet?'

...I told him that I loved him and that I'd always love him and I felt like a child who throws a centavo into a fountain and then she has to tell someone her most extraordinary wish even though she knows that the wish should be kept secret and that, in telling it, she is quite possibly losing it. He replied that I was not to worry, that the penny could come out of the fountain again and again and again."
-Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann

"Outside, there were two tickets

in the window of the Pontiac - a parking fine, and one for a smashed headlight. It was enough to almost knock me sideways. Before I drove home to the cabin, I went back to the window of the bar and shaded my eyes against the glass, looked in. Ciaran was at the counter, his arms folded and his chin on his wrist, talking to the bartender. He glanced up in my direction and I froze. Quickly I turned away. There are rocks deep enough in this earth that no matter what the rupture, they will never see the surface.

There is, I think, a fear of love.

There is a fear of love."
-Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann

Oops.

I've read only 40% of the books I own, which is 329 books, unless there are others floating around that people have borrowed and haven't returned.

COUGHRYANCOUGH!!!

I think that's okay though, since I've still read 132 of the books I own (again, not including those that are floating in space with those I've lent to).

It's a good thing I have a lot of free time now so I can read the other 197 of them. :)

"But I really loved him."

"Big deal. So you fell in love with someone. Don't you see what happened? This guy touched a place in your heart deeper than you thought you were capable of reaching. I mean you got zapped, kiddo. But that love you felt, that's just the beginning. You just got a taste of love. That's just limited little rinky-dink mortal love. Wait till you see how much more deeply you can love than that. Heck, Groceries--you have the capacity to someday love the whole world. It's your destiny. Don't laugh."

"I'm not laughing." I was actually crying. "And please don't laugh at me now, but I think the reason it's so hard for me to get over this guy is because I seriously believed David was my soul mate."

"He probably was. Your problem is you don't understand what that word means. People think a soul mate is your perfect fit, and that's what everyone wants. But a true soul mate is a mirror, the person who shows you everything that's holding you back, the person who brings you to your own attention so you can change your life. A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then they leave. It's over, Groceries. David's purpose was to shake you up, drive you out of that marriage that you needed to leave, tear apart your ego a little bit, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light could get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you had to transform your life...That was his job, and he did great, now it's over. You're like a dog at the dump, baby--you're just lickin' at an empty tin can, trying to get some more nutrition out of it. And if you're not careful, that can's gonna get stuck on your snout forever and make your life miserable. So drop it."

"But I love him."

"So love him."

"But I miss him."

"So miss him. Send him some love and light every time you think about him, then drop it. You're just afraid to let go of the last bits of David because then you'll really be alone, and Liz Gilbert is scared to death of what will happen if she's really alone. But here's what you gotta understand, Groceries. If you clear out all that space in your mind that you're using right now to obsess about this guy, you'll have a vacuum there, an open spot--a doorway. And guess what the universe will do with that doorway? It will rush in--God will rush in--and fill you with more love than you ever dreamed. So stop using David to block that door. Let it go."

--Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Read it. Love it.

I was enthralled by this novel almost from the moment I picked it up. I am such a sucker for mystery novels though - it's probably because I love hearing gossip (though not necessarily passing it around), reading tabloids, etc. purely for the knowledge of whatever the information may be. It could pertain to something that I don't have a care in the world for (please see: anything to do with celebrities) but I just want to know, otherwise just knowing there's something within my grasp to know would drive me crazy.

I digress. (That all makes me sound like a crazy person.)

Although the book is a translation from Swedish (which can sometimes be hit or miss), I could barely tell the difference. That's what good editorial work should get as a result!! Ahem. I got so engrossed trying to figure out the mystery that I was scribbling notes on scrap paper and cross referencing different things mentioned earlier in the novel. I think I've lost more sleep over this book than any other I've read for a long time. I couldn't put it down last night so I resolved to get only 4 and a half hours of sleep before putting in a full work day. AND THEN I am up til 1am again to finish it! Without a doubt I am sleeping in tomorrow.

In short, it's great. I would very much recommend it be added to your list of things to read.

Up next? The Girl Who Played with Fire, of course!

It's too late now

but I kind of wish I had written a short review or something of all of the AFI movie's I've watched. Maybe I can go back and do this retroactively in my spare time?

Things to consider, things to consider.

Also: I am losing sleep over The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. It's just so good!!

"In Congo...

a slashed jungle quickly becomes a field of flowers, and scars become the ornaments of a particular face. Call it opression, complicity, stupefaction, call it what you like, it doesn't matter. Africa swallowed the conqueror's music and sang a new song of her own....I can hardly think where to cast my stones, so I just go on keening for my own losses, trying to wear the marks of the boot on my back as gracefully as the Congo wears hers...To live is to be marked. To live is to change, to acquire the words of a story, and that is the only celebration we mortals really know. In perfect stillness, frankly, I've only found sorrow."
--The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver

Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.

RIP J.D. Salinger, you crazy, crazy man.

I did it!

I applied for my DREAM JOB with Simon and Schuster. It's an Editorial Assistant job in their Children's Division. Now I am superly nervous/excited!

Happy Birthday F. Scott Fitzgerald!

I am such a little worker bee

I am totally on the Bradley Website. Check it out.

:)

Lite-Brite...FULLBRIGHT!

I just looked it up and found out that 74 people applied for the same Fulbright program in New Zealand that I am going to apply for. 10 grants will be awarded for next cycle (which sounds soANTM).

A little less than 14% of the applicants to the New Zealand program get grants.

Super.

Why? Because I believe life is for the living. I believe in taking risks and biting off more than you can chew. [Kenneth on 30 Rock]