Someday...

 

Someday, I will live somewhere where I can have THIS wallpaper.  And the light brown & tan accents to go with it.  Maybe it will be a reading room, full of comfy couches, chairs, and pillows alongside bookcases filled with books, new & old, and plenty of lovely photographs.  Or maybe it will be a craft room.  A place where I can yarn to my heart's desire on the comfiest, softest, plushest rug in town.  A girl can dream.  I stumbled across this photo here.  

Walls

Found Here.

Holy Yarn Colors, Batman!

This afghan is amazing.  They made all 55 of these different colored blocks using 10 different colors & double stranding them.  WHOA.  This is for real awesome. 

I found this here.  But I believe it originated here. 

A Little Tidbit That has Always Freaked Me Out...

The word Parole.  Because it's spelled just like my name, except with a P instead of a C.  But it doesn't rhyme.  But you'd think that it would.  Or that my name would rhyme with the P version.  I know, it's weird.  But every time I see this word written or typed somewhere (usually on my twitter feed), I read it as if it rhymed with the C version.  So there.  More evidence that I'm crazy. 


In other news, a picture of me at Magic Kingdom. 

FO: My First Amigurumi, a Koala!

I'm SO excited about this!  Yesterday, while taking a break from the Granny Square Wedding Blanket, I crocheted a Koala Amigurumi for B for either Valentine's Day or his birthday (which are 5 days apart).  I don't have much money, so while trying to think of something I could make for B using yarn from my stash, I came up with this!  I first decided to make a bear, but then I relearned that his favorite bear is a Koala (yes, we both know it's a marsupial, not a bear).  Conveniently, I had grey yarn in my stash!  This was definitely the hardest & most challenging thing I've made to date, but in a good way.  So, without further ado, I introduce to you K the Koala.  Appropriately named because in real life I call B B :).  I couldn't sleep last night, so I decided to have a photo shoot with the little guy.  Pattern can be found here. 

hello!

K has healthy teeth!

K watches Bones too!

K wants some wine.

Hangin out on our coat rack.

Can I go too?

Swimming in candy canes.

No, I will not share the chocolate!

Can't pick a book.

Still can't pick.

K made a friend!

K finally found a book.

Story time.

And bed time.

Someday...

I will have this...

Found here.

Granny Blanket Progress!!!

I spent a lot of time Saturday night working on the granny square blanket.  I plan on it being 11x15 squares.  As of now, it's 6x5.  Stitching those suckers together is tedious work, yo!  But it looks so pretty! 

And, in true stage manager form, I'm using office supplies, binder clips specifically, to keep my work together.  All of the dangling yarn used to stitch them together are being neatly bound together with these awesome supplies :).  

In which I've finished the best...

Recently, I came across a movie on my Instant Netflix and was completely overwhelmed with its awesomeness.  84 Charing Cross Road.  It turned out to be based off of a "book".  I use quotes, because the book consists of letters written back and forth between a New York TV screen writer bibliophile (middle aged woman) and a used bookseller in London.  The letters start in 1949 and span 20 years.  The movie was scripted and made using the letters, and I'd say that at least 80% of the narration and spoken words are straight from the letters.  That's less than 20% added filler.  It was just brilliant. 

So for any book lover, movie lover, script lover, letter lover, word lover, or lover, this is the movie & book combo for you. 

The book itself was, hands down, the single most charming and enchanting published piece of literature I've ever read.  I came home from rehearsal today with a terrible migraine and extremely frustrated, and over the course of an hour, I was cheered exponentially.  And I finished it.  So.  Go check this stuff out. 

PS-The movie, made in 1985, stars Anne Bancroft and a very young looking Anthony Hopkins.  Both are wonderful. 

Ice Skating and Granny Squares

Not at the same time, obviously.

Last night, B took me on the best date I've ever been on.  For reals.  We'd been talking about ice skating because he loves it and hasn't gone in a while.  So before I left for Florida, we said we'd go when I got back.  Long story short, I picked him up late afternoon yesterday (he doesn't have a car, and he lives like 8 blocks from me, and it was too cold to take the train, so this was the obvious choice), and we ended up at Waveland & Clark in Wrigleyville to skate!  The rink is in the corner lot in that intersection, and is a stone's throw from the stadium.

After paying for me to skate and for my skate rental, he helped me lace up my skates (quite well, too!), and we hit the rink.  It was amazing.  SO much fun.  For the first 10 or 15 minutes we were the only ones there, and then two small families, a couple, and a loner dude with headphones joined us.  It was never crowded, and while the rink wasn't the best quality of smoothed ice, B is quite the skater.  For reals.  ETA (Edited to Add):  when he got in the car, he had two hand warmers for me, prepped and ready to be put in my mittens. 

B taught me to skate backwards, worked with me to be able to put one foot over the other when turning, and spun me in circles.  We took a break for hot chocolate & popcorn (free!!!) and skated some more.

To warm up afterward, we hit up a bar in Lakeview (at Sheffield & Roscoe, can't remember what it was called), where he bought me dinner (buffalo chicken sliders (on special for 4 for $3!) & waffle fries!) and Diet Coke.  Then we headed to my apartment so I could kick his butt in 3 rounds of Wii Jeopardy!

Basically the best date ever.

In other news, I've been granny squaring like crazy.  Working on Ann's wedding afghan.  I'd like to have it finished by the end of the month...we'll see about that!

2011 Books

I've created my list website for the books I read in 2011.  Here it is.  I've also added the link over to the left. 

It's a measly list so far, but never fear!  Goal of 40 book sin 2011, hear I come!

picture found here

"Your life is a book; Don't jump to the end to see if it's worth it. Just enjoy life and fill those pages with beautiful memories" - Scott Greenberg

Awesome:

I need these...

2011 Books: 1

The House on Tradd Street by Karen White

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


not the highest quality of literature, but what a wonderful story!!!



View all my reviews

vacation, woo!

We're headed to Orlando in the morning!  Wooooo!!!!  And we're going to throw in some Disney World too!  Epcot & Magic Kingdom!

Anyways, I have family in Florida, and I texted cousin Katie to see if she had any recommendations at Disney.

Here is her response:

"Awesome!  Not recs really.  Only remember that everyone is a kid at Disney, so its ok to shove 7 year olds out of your way and cut them in line.  You're a kid too, so the behavior is acceptable."

Best. Advice. Ever.  EVER.

33 Books in 2010.

For the last 2 years, I've kept a website with a list of the books I read each year.  This year, I read 33.  Not nearly as much as I would have liked, but my knitting/crocheting obsession takes up a lot of time around November/December.

Here is my list from 2010.
And my list from 2009. 

Good news is I read more in 2010 than in 2009. 

My goal for 2011?  Even more!  Let's see...30 in 2009, 33 in 2010.  How about 40 in 2011?  Done!

One of the things I learned this year, is to stop reading books that I'm not enjoying.  I used to feel obliged to finish a book once I'd started.  But I've realized that I read for pleasure, for escape, for fun, for thrill, for learning.  What's the point in reading something that I'm not having fun reading?  No point.  So, in 2010, I think there were probably 5 or so books that I started, didn't finish, and therefore did not put on the list.  And I feel a lot less guilty about not finishing a book now that I frequent the Uptown Branch of the Chicago Public Library!

And my favorites of 2010?  There's a few (in the order in which I read them):
2.  The Shadow of the Wind -- by Carlos Ruiz Zafron
3.  The Forgotten Garden -- by Kate Morton
5.  The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society -- by Ann Shaffer & Annie Borrows
16, 17, 18.  The Millennium Trilogy -- by Stieg Larsson
28.  Juliet -- Anne Fortier
30, 31, 32.  three novels by Sarah Addison Allen
33.  The Distant Hours -- by Kate Morton

One of my other reading plans for 2011?  Try to read other books by authors that I already love!

What did you read and love in 2010?