Whew! Summer is flying by!
I just did a blog redesign that I like despite the irritating Typepad limitations on blogs using templates. I really do not want to switch to advanced templates for my personal blog – it makes changes much more of a hassel so this will have to do unless Typepad decides to be awesome and make some needed changes like…oh I don't know…how about the ability to have a full width (outside of container) footer for example! Good grief Typepad!
OK so anyway I think I'll just do a recap of my life & things that caught my attn so far this summer. This is a long post so I'll split it into sections!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ baby <3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Baby Tristan is growing SO FAST! <SIGH> Here he is eating a quesadilla I made him for lunch. He loves cheese!
Tristan had a fun playdate with Will, Kate & Devin at Sacha's house. I filmed a bit so Sarah can see how much he loves this playhouse toy that matches his kitchen!
Thanks for having us over, Sacha! P.S. It's a bit shakey – I was on the couch and Will & Devin were sitting with me at various times LOL. It's quite difficult to be steady with a 1 year old & a 3 year old next to you!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ books ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have read several more fantastic books (all updated on my WeRead lists!) including Paper Towns, Looking for Alaska & An Abundance of Katherines by the brilliant John Green. Paper Towns is my fave of the three. John Green has a very truthful & thought provoking writing style and is quite insightful into the way people perceive each other vs. reality. I can honestly say I will read anything John Green writes – a new fave author!
I also read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins:
Fascinating story of a strong-willed girl thrown into a very disturbing
"game" requiring teenagers to kill each other or be killed. Interesting
commentary on doing what society and/or the government requires vs.
choosing what is morally right. I've always been drawn to these sorts
of books and I can't wait for book two!
If you like these types of stories as well I also recommend The Giver
by Lois Lowry and the classic series starting with A Wrinkle in Time by
Madeleine L'Engle.
I'm very much looking forward to the sequel coming this fall: Catching Fire. Yay!
Speaking of sequels, Maureen Johnson announced she is writing a sequel to 13 Little Blue Envelopes (which I wrote about in a previous post). And speaking of Maureen Johnson, read this absolutely hilarious play submitted by a fan to Maureen's Scarlett Fever contest: http://tinyurl.com/kl6ysm
I'm currently reading three more books when I get a few minutes: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd and The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama. More about those when I'm done!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ crafts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've been crafting up a storm over at TCC's Blog! I'll get some of the those projects posted here soon. Plus I have some other projects to post! Soon I promise!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ harry potter & things made of awesome ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It has been an amazing summer for Harry Potter goodness! I already posted about the complete AWESOMENESS that was the live show with Pottercast, The Remus Lupins, The Whomping Willows & The Mudbloods. Make sure to check them out if you haven't yet! AND I'm still SO HAPPY that Melissa signed my copy of Harry, A History!
I've also been getting more involved in fighting for awesomeness with the Nerdfighters, the Harry Potter Alliance & MyLeaky. You will not find fandoms anywhere more welcoming & invested in decreasing world suck, spreading the invaluable lessons Dumbledore taught us, and in general making a the world a more tolerant and better place.
And if all of that wasn't enough, I will be watching Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince at the theater IN 52 HOURS! WOOOOOOOOOOT! Kathy & I have our tickets and will be at the midnight showing Tuesday night. Can't wait!
I added a page to the blog called Obsessions (LOL! tab at the top right). Coming soon there will be fun things like Links & art including Harry Potter related stuff.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ random ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've discovered BlipFM (LOL) and love that I can tweet songs to all of you! You can find my BlipFM channel here and there is a link in the sidebar under Socialize.
And for some literal awesomeness watch this:
I just finished paper towns too… I am still kinda torn on how I feel about it though…
Hi Jamie,
You know…I kinda had to let the book sink in for a couple days LOL. While I was really into it while I read it, my reaction to it actually got stronger afterwards instead of waning a bit like it usually does. Something about Paper Towns just stuck with me…and I think a lot of it is Margo's character. She actually reminds me of someone I know (yes vague LOL) and I really like John's method of self discovery he writes into the characters. The most striking & insightful thing about the writing (to me) is how he demonstrates our perceptions of people compared to how they really are.
Feel free to leave your thoughts if you want! I'd be interested to discuss with you…I love how different people get different things from literature & art.
Cheers! 🙂
Angel