Friday Fancies: March 29

A bit short this week as I've been trying to catch up on blogging and working to (finally) check off some household projects plus writing and work. But it's an accurate picture of what I've been doing this week.

Browsing:
I loved Keds. And I love Kate Spade. Obviously this is a thing I really love. And the marketing of them is pretty great, too.

Another article on books about the wives of famous men (found via Twitter), this one particularly about Zelda Fitzgerald. I have Z requested at the library and can't wait for it and now I have a few other books to add to that list. There is also a brief mention of a book about the wife of Benedict Arnold, and I have to take the opportunity to recommend Finishing Becca by Ann Rinaldi, which is one of my favorite books, and it is also about Peggy Shippen Arnold. And on that note, read anything by Ann Rinaldi.

Watching:
Most of my time the past few weeks has been spent watching Netflix, because I've been trying to work through our instant queue as I work on other projects (to come in Apil!). Two birds, one stone, right? There have been some random movies that I've loved, including "Janie Jones" and "The Best & The Brightest" and some that I haven't really loved, like "Miss Nobody." And here I thought that I would love anything Leslie Bibb was in...

I've also started re-watching "Greek," which is one of my favorite shows of all times. While googling it, I found that they've added a two years later video to the Web site that shows everybody at Rusty's graduation. Check it out if you watched the show and loved it as much as I did.

Writing Update: March

I am very happy to announce that my book is now more than 30,000 words. It's not quite halfway, but moer than I've ever written for this book or any other book, which is very exciting.

I have to admit that I did think I would be further in word count after my initial momentum, but it definitely slowed down, which surprised me as I started incorporating some of what I had written back during NaNoWriMo in November.

I have learned that my story is still evolving, and the way I am writing it is evolving, too. Thanks to a suggestion from my friend Kaitlyn, I'm writing the two stories completely and then incorporating them together, which will then let me decide how to incorporate them better.

So, with about 50,000 words left to write by May 1, I will be participating in Camp NaNoWriMo again, hopefully more successfully than last year. The timing is much more ideal and with my goal to write that anyway, I feel like I'll be much more successful.

Book Review: The Aviator's Wife

I was at Barnes and Noble after Christmas and found The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin on the new releases table, and I couldn't resist buying it.

source

And I'm so glad I bought it, as it is one of the best books I've read in a long time. I read the book in record time because I couldn't put it down.

I didn't know very much about Anne Morrow Lindbergh before I started the book, but by the time I finished, I wanted to be best friends with her. The book told her story in a way that let us not only learn about her life but I also felt that Melanie Benjamin really let us get to know her imagining of Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

The Anne Morrow Lindbergh of this book was a strong woman, and we saw her overcome all of the obstacles that were thrown at her, including fame and all of the consequences that came with it, including the kidnapping of her child. We saw her through the eyes of the public, the eyes of her husband and children, and the eyes of who she thought herself to be.

So, I will say the the greatest strength of this book is the character development. The plot is interesting, as she led a very unique, interesting life, but more than that, it was the insight into Anne Morrow Lindbergh's character that really made the book a great read.

Think Spring!: Bulletin Board

Back in September, Nathan and I went to Nebraska City for Applejack, and one of our stops was a flea market where I picked up a frame that I planned to use for jewelry. Then I realized that I missed having something on my desk for photos, etc. so I decided to make it into a bulletin board for that.

As you can see, it needed a fresh coat of paint.

After the paint, which was silver, I cut the corkboard to fit inside the frame and hot glued it to the inside. It wasn't especially sturdy, so I then cut a piece of cardboard to fit and hot glued it to the back of the corkboard.

Here it is finished, though it still needs some momentos on it.

Think Spring!: Desk Storage

Now where were we? When we last left off in the story of the desk update, it had gotten a pretty new coat of stain. But there were some other updates that have been going on, including new fabric-covered boxes.

 

I am somewhat of a box hoarder, and with all of Nathan's Newegg shopping, we have a lot hanging around. I took three of them that were about the size I wanted and found some fabric to cover them with. A lot of the tutorials I found via Pinterest involved a sewing machine, and I was, well, kind of lazy. So instead I turned to my spray glue.

 

Here's Shelby checking out my materials, which include: two kind of fabric (I used a solid pink and a striped pink and green, and the amounts you will need will vary based on the size of your boxes. But you will need more of the one that you'll actually be covering the boxes with.), spray glue, ribbons, fleece, and scissors.

 

 

Step 1: Measure the box all the way around, then cut your fabric to fit.

 

Step 2: Spray the back of the box with the spray glue (probably outside) and then apply the fabric to the box. Continue until the entire box is covered. It doesn't have to look perfect.

Step 3: After I had finished, I realized that I wanted some fabric on the bottom so my desk wouldn't get scratched. So I got some white fleece and cut it to fit the bottom of the box and used the spray glue. As you can see, the white fleece wasn't cut perfectly, so I trimmed off the extra.

 

Step 4: I took the second fabric and cut it to fit the width of each individual side of the box and about half the height of the box. Then I used the spray glue to attach each panel over the top of the box so it was even on the outside with the other panels surrounding it.

 

Step 5: After everything was attached, I didn't love the way it looked when it was left unfinished, so I added a ribbon yesterday. I think it looks much more finished now.

 

 

There was another upgrade to the desk, and that is my jar of shards that I finally cleaned and put in a jar after almost a year. And, the bulletin board is also a new addition--check back tomorrow for a tutorial on that.

Friday Fancies: March 15

Browsing

No words necessary other than Veronica Mars Movie.

Pinning
Lots of garden things this week--as I've said before, spring is on my mind!

Plant Markers
Weed Spray
Landscaping

Oh, and how cool is this: An illustration of how Disney couples met.

Reading
Have been devouring Kristin Hannah books, thanks to my the two my friend Kaitlyn let me.

Listening
I think this is one of the coolest-written songs I've ever heard. I love the play on words

Watching
Season finales of "The Lying Game" and "Switched At Birth." Yes, still love anything ABC Family puts out there.  (Except "The Secret Life of an American Teenager.")

I'm still liking "Smash" even though I seem to be the only one really.

Omaha Is Not Our Home-aha...

...so going there in the middle of the week and sightseeing is kind of like we had a mini-vacation.

As I mentioned yesterday, Nathan took the day off on Tuesday and we went to Omaha for what I will call a day date. The first summer we were dating, he took me on an all-day date, which invovled the SAC museum and Mahoney Park in Ashland and then a small-town play. This was similar, though it wasn't all-day, but also not a half-day, so thus, the day date moniker.

We started at the Joslyn before heading down to the Old Market. It was a little cold for browsing but we wandered around the little shops anyway. There was hardly anyone out and about at 3 p.m. on a Tuesday (I know, why not?!), which made for nice shopping.

We really had some great sucess at the used book store. Nathan found three books he had been looking for for a while AND as fate would have it (because I truly think it was fate that brought me together with this book), he also found me the last Besty-Tacy Treasury I needed. I didn't even know this book existed, but I'm so excited because 1. I have the others and this completes my collection and 2. the forewords are by Judy Blume and Ann Martin. I think it was fate, because it was in the science fiction section incorrectly, just sitting there on top of the books, and what are the odds that someone looking in the science fiction section would have a wife who would buy that exact book because she's crazy about the series? Right? He said he almost didn't say anything because why wouldn't I have it? But I didn't!

After a very exciting book shopping experience, we went to Upstream for a drink. That was surprisingly busy for 4 p.m. actually. We planned out our Chicago trip, which took longer than it probably should. To do so, we wrote down all of the places we wanted to go and then looked on the iPhone maps what was near each other. It's pretty nerdy but totally us.

We had dinner and then went to see "The Lion King," which was the whole reason we went to Omaha on a random Tuesday anyway. I have never seen anything quite like it. I was prepared for the awesomeness of the costumes because I'd heard they were amazing but wow. It was incredible. The story was not as easy to pick up on as the movie, in my opinion, but it was really just fantastic. I've never heard a standing ovation so loud before. It was also fun to see so many kids there (though the ones around us were pretty well-behaved so maybe that helped) because it reminded me of when my mom took me to see my first play--"Annie"--and how magical I thought it was. I'm so glad that they all could have the same experience with a pretty cool play.

Book Review: Circle Dogs

Yesterday, Nathan took the day off and we had a middle of the week date to Omaha. (More on that tomorrow!) We started at the Joslyn Art Museum, which had an exhibit on illustrations by Dan Yaccarino. These were really neat and it was my favorite exhibit--thankfully the guide pointed it out or we would have missed it!

Of course, since the museum gift shop had some of the books for sale,  I had to get some because I love cool kids books. The first one we picked out to take home was Circle Dogs, by Kevin Henkes and illustrated by Dan Yaccarino. Shockingly, based not only on the title but also our obsession with Shelby, it's about two dogs.

image source

This is a great children's book because it's simple, it has lots of shapes in it, and it's hilarious. I personally love it because it basically describes Shelby's day, from waking up (stretching and good morning kisses) to her naps (with the twitching) to waking up (because of the mailman, which she did today) to eating and sleeping again.

The other book we got was Dan Yaccarino's Mother Goose, which is his interpretations of Mother Goose rhymes, and the illustrations are pretty great.

I also considered All The Way To America and Doug Unplugged, but those will have to wait for another trip, I suppose.

Check out all of his books here.

Think Spring!: My Desk Makeover

It was more than two years ago that Nathan and I (or just Nathan) took on my desk project. To refresh your memory, here it what it looked like when we finished.

 

 

And that above is what it has looked like for the past two years. (Except for the fact that I got some marker stain on it. And there's a ton of stuff in all of the shelves.) It wasn't that I didn't want to stain it, but more that I couldn't commit to what color exactly I wanted it.

 

But that decision was finally made (officially) back in September. Nathan got me a new chair as a surprise that matched the dark wood of these framed prints that I got for my birthday also a couple of years ago.

 

 

    

 

We had a very scientific way of finding stain. Because the frames matched the chair pretty well, we decided to take one off the wall and with us to the hardware store. We picked out stain and brought it home, but as I was applying it, it wasn't quite the color it needed to be. Luckily we still had some stain leftover from when I finished our Ikea nightstands. It ended up being the perfect match for the chair and the frames.

 

It seemed like it took forever for it to finally be finished and ready to put back inside. There were many coats of stain and poly. But it turned out just right and it looks much better than it did before. I'm really glad that we took the time to build something that works just right. Here's what it looks like today. Literally. I just took this picture.

 





Friday Fancies: March 8

Friday Fancies is a compilation of my past week + whatever else I might find interesting.

Browsing
Here's an interesting article on what the heck happened to "Up All Night" found via twitter. I actually kind of like the show within a show concept.

Beverly Cleary's childhood home is for sale. I'd totally move in. How cute is it?

Also found via twitter, I loved this article on ghost writing the Sweet Valley books. I remember when I found out that the Babysitters Club books were written by ghost writers and how upset I was, even though now I think it would be a pretty cool job.

Here's what happens when you combine two writers at a brunch (also known as a fancy word for breakfast and lunch combined) hyped up on caffiene. Laura was nice enough to have me as a guest on her monthly video digest. Tune in to see what we think of Galentine's Day, the Oscars, and Downton Abbey.

Pinning
This week's theme: paleo versions of foods I was once obsessed with:
Paleo Girl Scout cookies
Petite Vanilla Scones
Pigs in a Blanket

Now, who's going to come up with a recipe for Paleo Doritos?

Reading
Rules of Civility

Listening
I am kind of desperate to buy the "Nashville" soundtrack.

Watching
"Switched at Birth" had an all-ASL episode that was awesome.
"Body of Proof" gave me nightmares.
"Hart of Dixie" got "Run From Wade" stuck in my head for the rest of the week.

Checked Out

It's been a while since I've talked about the books I've read that maybe didn't get a book review. So, here's a look at what I've checked out from the library lately:

The dog who danced, Susan Wilson
Listening in, a John F. Kennedy biography
The best of me, Nicholas Sparks
Marilyn Monroe, Keith Badman
A little bit wicked, Kristin Chenoweth
Keepsake, Kristina Riggle
The good girls revolt, Lynn Povich
Domestic Affairs: A campaign novel, Bridget Siegel
Bridge of scarlet leaves, Kristina McMorris
My reality, Melissa Rycroft       

Think Spring!: A Guest Bathroom Update

It feels like a huge accomplishment that we finally painted the last room in the house that needed to be painted. Surprisingly, the last one was the one that I think I hated the most, but it was the last to go.

Our laundry room/bathroom is in the basement and has a tiny window that is covered up, so why in the world it was painted dark gray/brown, I will never know, other than obviously different tastes. On top of that, the space behind the washer and dryer was still a completely different color, so that bothered me pretty much every time I did laundry.

 

Here you can see the color on the walls and how dark it is even though we have all of the lights on. I always felt bad about sending our guests down to the dungeon...

 

Here is the inspiration for what I wanted to do with the laundry room. This laundry hamper came back with us on one of our trips from Colorado. I like having a hamper down in the laundry room for all of the household laundry, like dish rags and towels and such. Before it just sat on the washing machine.

 

Here's what it looks like now. We painted the walls yellow to kind of match the top of the hamper. Also, we have tons of yellow paint left from painting our bedroom.

 

 

All of the trim got painted white instead of gray and it makes everything seem a little happier now. We also replaced the dark black rugs and striped shower curtain with white, and that bird rug is kind of my favorite thing. It took many a trip to Target to find just the right one. I laugh every time I look at it though because I think, "Put a bird on it!" from Portlandia. But I did. I put a bird on the bathroom.

 

 

Now my cute vintage hamper looks less out of place than before. I also found a place to hang up most of my Christmas card photos. I got this frame as a graduation present, and it's pretty cool because you just take the top part of (it's magnetic), lay everything out, and then put the top back on. At least that's how it's supposed to happen. I held it up and all of the photos came flying out, so I had to tape everything down to keep it in place.

 

I'm not going to say that doing laundry is really fun now that the room is cute, but it does make it a little more enjoyable to be in a room that's a lot less gloomy.

Think Spring!

Nathan and I just watched "Funny Face" the other day, and randomly, "Think Pink!" pops into my head. (And if you know me, you know that it stays in my head for about five hours thanks to my awesome ability to get anything stuck in my head.) Maybe it's because of that song, or maybe just because all I can do is think about spring, but either way, it's the title of word fancies' theme this month. A monthly theme--very exciting.

But what is the "Think Spring!" theme all about? Well, I associate spring with fresh starts and finally being motivated to get some projects done. (I think it's the sunshine that motivates me.) So most of my posts will be about home happenings, whether it's sharing a room that got a fresh coat of paint (maybe in October and I just haven't put it up yet?), a project finally completed (most have to do with frames), or even just the list of spring cleaning tasks I hope to tackle before the month is over. Heck, even the blog might continue to get a makeover.

I am really excited about this monthly theme, for several reasons. One, it's a chance for me to share with you some projects I haven't yet. Two, it's a great kick in the butt to get some things done. And three, it leaves me some time to really focus my writing motivation on my book. (I hit 20,000 words yesterday, thanks to a seven-hour brunch at Panera yesterday! Quarter of the way to my goal--and my Kate Spade purse.)

So be sure to tune in tomorrow as we kickoff Think Spring! with a look at our recently updated (back in October) guest bathroom/laundry room. I kind of love it.

Friday Fancies: March 1

Thanks to Oscar Week last week, we didn't have Friday Fancies. So some of these are kind of old, but share-worthy all the same.

TVLine asked what shows its readers wanted remade or revived. Here's what they found. My vote's for "Veronica Mars."

This is an interesting article from USA Today found via Twitter that talks about the growing popularity of novels about the woment behind famous men. Some of them I have read and loved, like The Paris Wife, Loving Frank, and The Aviator's Wife. Defnitely some other books in here I'd love to check out.

I actually am not watching "The Bachelor" this season. I know, shocking. But I thought this article was interesting in terms of the psychology behind reality TV show relationships.

The Lincoln Journal Star had a column recently about a movie premiere in Lincoln for the novel based on Bess Streeter Aldrich, an Elmwood native.