Library Love: I Want To Live In The South Books

I recently discovered a new favorite genre of books, and I call them, I want to live in the south books. They have several different things in common: female characters, family secrets, history, a southern setting, and occassionally a bit of magic or some ghosts. Also, they are generally by one of two authors: Karen White and Sarah Addison Allen.

Of the two Sarah Addison Allen books, I am most likely to reccomend The Peach Keeper, though I checked out another one by her today that sounds pretty good. And of the Karen Whites (some of which are not on here, I must add--the library must have not tracked them), my favorite was Falling Home, followed closely by The Lost Hours. Her "house" series is also good, which starts with The House On Tradd Street. Can you tell I'm a bit in love?

The peach keeper. Allen, Sarah Addison.
The beach trees. White, Karen. 
The girl who chased the moon. Allen, Sarah Addison. 
Learning to breathe. White, Karen. 
The memory of water. White, Karen. 
The lost hours. White, Karen.

Library Love: YA Books

A neglected blog during the week means Friday treats with extra posting! I still have several categories left in my I Love The Library week (as well as a book to pick up at the library!) so we'll get started bright and early this morning!

I still love to read Young Adult books, and I've found some good ones at the library recently, so I would recommend all of these titles.

Bumped. McCafferty, Megan. 
The summer I turned pretty. Han, Jenny. 
It's not summer without you Han, Jenny. 
Everything I needed to know about being a girl I learned from Judy Blume. O'Connell, Jennifer

Library Love: Chick Lit

There is something about summer that makes me want to read beach/pool reads, and so most of the books you see below have been checked out this summer. Some of them are more serious than others, while others look at the powerful career route that I'm not quite sure I would have ever survived had I head down that path. I would say the top pick for me is Kindred Spirits by Sarah Strohmeyer, but you all know my love for her books based on some other posts.

Kindred spirits. Strohmeyer, Sarah. 
Little pink slips. Koslow, Sally 
Last night at Chateau Marmont. Weisberger. Lauren
Immediate family. Goudge, Eileen. 
The divorce party. Dave, Laura. 
Wedding season. Fforde, Katie.  
Boy meets girl. Cabot, Meg.   
I think I love you. Pearson, Allison
Girls in trucks. Crouch, Katie. 
Men and dogs. Crouch, Katie.  
Love : a user's guide. Naylor, Clare
The second assistant : Naylor, Clare.
The first assistant : Naylor, Clare

Library Love: DVDs

It seems like it's been forever since I've talked about what I've read/done a book review. Recently, I discovered that the local library keeps a record of everything you've checked out, a reading history. Just another reason to love them! This week, I'll go over what I've "checked out" lately (I believe this is since March), broken out into different categories. Today's category is the DVDs I've gotten from the library, because I think it's awesome how big of a selection is available. Once netflix charges us more for DVDs, we'll start having a "queue" at the library instead, because those are free...

I'd also like to note that the only one I requested was Modern Family. Everything else was an impulse grab. I was really surprised I was able to find all of these without requesting them! And most of these are probably from this summer, rather than since March, so even more impressive.

Coco before Chanel. 
Everybody's fine. 
Fool's gold. 
Remember me.
Salt. 
Black swan. 
The lovely bones. 
The kids are all right. 
Modern family : Season 1.
Toy story. 

Our Wedding: The Book Theme

Even though I'm sure most of you have seen these details in person, I wanted to go over some of the book-like details we incorporated for our wedding. We actually had a lot of ideas we didn't use as to not go toooo book-y, but here's what we did.

For simple outdoor decorations, my mom made these paper-flower balls. We ordered the styrofoam balls of the internet, covered them in seam binding (off etsy) and then punched paper flowers and affixed them to the styrofoam balls with yellow-topped pins. We found the shepherd hooks on craigs list.

Our guest book was an old card catalog drawer, and we used the same punch as the flower balls to cut up more paper and affix the flowers to the corners of 4x4 pieces of cardstock. Guests each wrote a message on the cards.

Our programs were fans to help battle the Nebraska heat, even though it was actually a really nice day. They had a quote from Shakespeare on them.

Here is version one of our centerpieces. The books were borrowed from a friend and also purchased from a thrift store. We covered them in vintage wallpaper, bought off etsy, so we were able to bring in some color and also not have to worry about getting book titles that went with the wedding or looked pretty. The tables were assigned by letter--the frames are from Ikea and then the insides are just black cardstock cut to size with large cardstock letters, found on sale at Archivers, the best store ever. The little flowers also came from Archivers, not on sale.

The books sat on colored scrapbook paper. Our fabulous florist Melissa from Blooms and Bouquets came up with a wonderful concept for the other third of our centerpieces--she covered a vase in book pages (Alice In Wonderland from the Target dollar section) and filled them with carnations. We actually kept two because we loved them so much.

Not as much book-related, but I kind of loved our cake. Our cake topper (the smallest one) had the same quote from Shakespeare as the program on the back of the dress. The other two cake toppers are Nathan's parents and my parents, and we also included wedding photos of all of our grandparents and parents on the table.

Other book-related details were bookmarks as our favors, cut just from scrapbook paper, and then our save the date, which was inspired by a bookplate. A lot of people, including me, questioned the book-theme, but I thought it turned out even better than I imagined!

Our Wedding: Looking Back

Yesterday we talked about the beginning of the wedding, and today, we'll skip to the end. Check out my thoughts on wedding planning as a wedding graduate on A Practical Wedding here.

Tomorrow afternoon and the rest of this week, we'll talk about all the in between and the day itself.

Our Wedding: The Proposal

Last week, I found out that the post I wrote for one of my favorite blogs, A Practical Wedding, should run sometime this week! So, because I've always intended to write about our wedding on the blog, I'll take the opportunity this week to go all wedding on you.

To start out the week, let's go with the proposal. I wrote this for our wedding Web site back when it happened--almost two years ago now.

My sister Stephanie came to visit in March and told Nathan that my ideal proposal was on a beach at sunset, with dolphins in the background and antique champagne glasses that had been sanitized and champagne to celebrate. Nathan tried to recreate this with some Lincoln style. He proposed at sunset on 09-08-09 in front of a koi pond (that had a golden fish--much better than a dolphin, because we had looked for it on our first date). He had an iPod playing the first song we danced to playing and had an amazing speech prepared. As he went to bring out the picnic basket (strategically placed by Kaitlyn) before he got on one knee, we noticed that a small child named Elisha had been digging through it. The dad noticed, grabbed him, and made a quick exit. Nathan got down on one knee and asked me to marry him, and I said yes! We had antique champagne glasses (thoroughly washed) and Korbel champagne.

Kitchen Dreaming

I know, I'm a day late, but thanks for the comments on the kitchen! I'm glad people like the purple. I realized after I painted it that I thought it looked really good, but not everyone is crazy about purple like I am. But, it brings the living/dining room and the kitchen togehter, which I think is important since they occupy most of the first floor and it makes the purple in the living room more logical.

Currently, Nathan's dad is building us some cabinets, and here is my inspiration for the layout of our kitchen, found here via pinterest.

I pinned this photo right away because thats how much space we have to work with, essentially. Minus the corner/island part that's sticking out on the right side. So we'll be using essentially the same layout for the top cabinets as this photo, only the microwave will go over the stove so we can have one bigger cabinet rather than two smaller ones. And in our house, the stove and drawers are reversed.

We are unable to have a "u-shaped" kitchen because there is a small wall-thing that cuts into the kitchen that we can't take out. Also, there are windows on the wall, and rather than taking out the windows and drywalling, we're going to add a door. So currently, the fridge is blocking part of the window on that wall, but eventually it will work better. This is also where we'll add some counterspace. Because of the floor vent we can't build out too much on the floor, so instead we'll have a longer counter top with a large drawer. I thought I had pictures of this wall, but apparently not, so you will have to wait until it's updated.

After two days of having everything at least temporarily functioning, I'm loving it. I had forgotten how awesome it is to have a dishwasher next to the sink! We still have a while for temporary living--Jim isn't quite done with our cabinets yet, and we will have to take a couple of weeks to paint them once they are, but I'm looking forward to the mostly-finished project and I know it is worth the chaos!

Kitchen Nightmare

I have to start off with an apology to my fellow Lincoln residents: It is I who wanted crazy 100+ temperatures this weekend so our driveway (aka MUD PIT) could dry out and maybe we can get this driveway show on the road.

Crazy hot temperatures meant we couldn't do too many fun outside activities, so a lot of our weekend was spent working on the kitchen. However, we did make it out to Noodles Friday night with Shelby (so dog-friendly, they even gave her a big ol' bowl of water) and went out for drinks and to Barnes and Noble Saturay night. (That's how I can tell I married the right man. Also, pro of the nook eReader: I got to read a book for free for an hour, which is generally all I need to finish.) Even with the limitied "fun," it was so worth it to finally have a functioning kitchen and living room again. And in theory, an even more functioning one.

We are also appreciating the "do-it-together" aspect of this project, because there is a lot of pride and accomplishment that comes with demolition, painting, and installing ice makers. So, maybe we are having a little fun, too, especially when we add in the "Whitney Deliciousness," as we call it: Crystal Lite Fruit punch with vodka. Yum.

Here is a before shot of our kitchen. Because it's so small, it's hard to show the whole thing without a wide-angle lens, but this gives you a taste of the color and also explains why it took two+ coats of primer to cover up.

And here's a during shot of the angle I'm going to show the "after" shot from. You'll see the silver cabinets and the gray wall we were working with in the other parts of the room.

And here is the current after, after primer and paint on the walls and cabinet and the rearranging of our appliances.

Obviously there is still a lot of work to be done. Especially the sink full of dishes, yikes! You would think we actually cooked and ate during the week, but really, we went out way mor than we should have. And, oh ya, we need to install some cabinets. Maybe.

We had originally planned on just using our existing cabinets and painting them white, until Nathan's dad offered to build us new ones. So we decided to wait it out a little longer to get cabinets just as we want them. And I'll be back tomorrow to explain what our plans for the cabinets is

Book Review: With Friends Like These

Book Review Wednesday is back this week, and I'm going to try a different format. I have found that I have a hard time writing posts that really reflect my experience with the book, so I'm going to try something a little different. Let me know what you think!

The Book: With Friends Like These, Sally Koslow

Why I Checked It Out: I was at the library returning some books and stumbled across it because Sally Koslow also wrote a book I'd loved, The Late, Lamented Molly Marx. I also checked out Koslow's other book, Little Pink Slips.

The Plot: A look at the changing friendships between four women who lived together in their twenties and how careers, motherhood, and marriage effected the change.

Overall Impression: When I was reading the jacket copy for this book, I thought it seemed like a grown-up version of The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants series, and in a way, it was. The plot was much deeper, as the book is targetted to adults, but I think it's a real look at female friendships and how they can change as life changes, too.

What I Liked: I think Sally Koslow's characters are fantastic, and what's great about these characters in particular is that they are all flawed in some way, and we can not only see these flaws, but understand why they are part of each of them, and maybe even each of us. All four women seem very real, mostly because the book changes perspective with each chapter, letting each woman have her voice and letting us, readers, see both sides of the two main driving plot shakeups. And these women are not cookie-cutter perfect; they all make decisions or react in ways that I could relate to.

What I Didn't Like: I would have preferred a little more closure at the end, but I think it was appropriate with the way the story progressed.

Do I Recommend It? Yes. Don't give it the "chick lit" stigma though. Even though it's about female friendships, it's not quite as light and happy as it might appear, and it will leave you thinking about your friendships.

Related Reading:
The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants, Ann Brashares
The Wednesday Sisters, Meg Waite Clayton
Something Borrowed and Something Blue, Emily Giffin
Now & Then (OK, that's a movie. But still related.)

Thanks, HGTV

I am not a spontaneous person. I am also not handy with a drill. And I HATE getting dirty. Which is why it is a surprise that I decided to force Nathan into finally doing something about our kitchen.

Our house is a nice house, and works great for the two of us and Shelby. But I have hated the kitchen with a passion from probably day 1. There is practically no counterspace, I hate the portable dishwasher, and the colors, which might have been pretty with the other owner's stuff, are just awful: a bright tealish blue with dark gray on the walls, a metallic silver finish on the walls beneath the cabinets, a different color silver cabinet base, and dark-stained wood doors. It really got to the point that I hated being in there. So, my HGTV kick prompted me to decide that it would be totally easy to just start the project ourselves, paint the walls and the cabinets, and rearrange a little to have a better space arrangement.

As it turns out, it is not easy. We uncovered a huge, nasty hole when we took the now-not-working exhaust fan down, with cooking gunk from probably every other previous owner embedded inside. We moved a cabinet and discovered that the floor wasn't finished, and the baseboard didn't go to the end of the wall either. The plaster behind the cabinets is crumbling. And on and on.

We made some good progress, taking out two-thirds of the cabinets, filling in the hole in the wall, and getting a coat of paint on the cabinets and the wall. But we have a ton more to do, and as I kept admitting to Nathan, "this is going to take longer than I thought." But even though the house is truly a disaster and we have a half-functioning kitchen, I'm glad we started.

That was our Fourth of July weekend--how was yours?