Hello!  So, many have asked about the move... and I'm happy to say that overall it went really well!  It was way less stressful than expected.  Thanks to my dad and our little cross-over suv, all of my stuff was in our place by 10:30 and once my mom got off work, she had things mostly put away by 2:00.  Our great room / living area is quite functional and looks even better than I had expected.

I thought I'd share a few of my favorite details:

1 / We have a working record player.  It was Bek's grandmother's and it came with quite the collection, plus, for some odd reason, we each had a record or two.  We've been there less than 48 hours and have used it at least 5 times [pictured here with the My Fair Lady album].  I'm hoping to get some great use out of that and can't wait to scour thriftshops and record stores to add to our collection.  (I'm really hoping to score a copy of "Buffalo Gal" ;)
2 / Goodbye double-stacked!  I brought - no joke - a dozen boxes of books over to my new place.  Some were small (like amazon package size), but that was only so I could actually lift them.  I'm going to have 2 small bookshelves in my room also - pending this weekend's IKEA trip - but decided to utilize the living room shelves for my "literary" books - classic novels, poetry, and plays.  They're currently sorted by date and author, with special groupings by publisher.  While unloading, I confirmed that I had three copies of The Merchant of Venice - not including the Complete Works.  I know: nerdometer readings high.  But I can explain: I bought a cute paperback in high school, a Norton for school (which I used for 2 different classes), and then in England, I couldn't help picking up a copy published in 1899.  Ok... I'm going on far too long about the bookshelves.
3 / My china finally has a cupboard!  So, a few years back, my [paternal] grandmother gave me her china.  It is gorgeous!  Very classic design with silver rims.  Honestly, if I had my choice of any china set, this would probably be it.  Unfortunately, it's been stowed away in our garage, used only for 2 or 3 special occasions.  But finally, the china has been emancipated.  My mother was gracious enough to give me this buffet (which was originally was her mother's).  I love both how it looks and it's generational importance.  [So come over and let's have dinner on the china!]
4 / Might be hard to tell, but I got new sheets and duvet cover.  I've wanted a white duvet cover for quite a while and finally was able to make it happen.  While at it, I decided to get patterned sheets to off-set the white.  They're grey with little white chevrons.
5 / Another dream of mine,  I've wanted to incorporate one of my favorite color combos (grey, white, and yellow) and with my own bathroom (also a first), I can finally make that happen.  Looking forward to expanding that theme, but towels from Target will do for now.

One final shot: one of my favorite corners of our place.  Seriously, come over.  We'll set the china, throw on a record, and have a grand time!

Finally!!



[via]



sweater weather :)

[Via Megs]

I had read the story before, but this was a beautiful way of sharing the narrative.

Oh, and Barter Books - must visit!

My 100th Post!!!

So I've been planning my 100th post for a good long while. Then, after a friend did something fun, I decided to compile a list. Here are 100 pieces of literature that have inspired and enthralled me, in no particular order. I hope you enjoy :)

1. The Bible - Papa
2. The Curate’s Awakening and
3. At the Back of the North Wind – George MacDonald
4. Northanger Abbey and
5. Pride and Prejudice and
6. Sense and Sensibility and
7. Persuasion and
8. Mansfield Park and
9. Emma by Jane Austen
10. Bright Star and
11. La Belle dan sans Merci and
12. Ode to a Nightingale and John Keats
13. The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
14. A Voice in the Wind and
15. An Echo in the Darkness by Francine Rivers
16. A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
17. Hard Times – Charles Dickens
18. Les Miserables (abridged) and
19. The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo
20. The Scarlet Pimpernel – Baroness Emmuska Orczy
21. Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22. Silas Marner – George Eliot
23. Merchant of Venice and
24. Much Ado About Nothing and
25. Hamlet and
26. Taming of the Shrew and
27. Macbeth and
28. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
29. Pygmalion – George Bernard Shaw
30. A Wrinkle in Time – Madeline L’Engle
31. The Hobbit and
32. The Fellowship of the Ring and
33. The Two Towers and
34. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkein
35. Blessed Child and
36. Blessed Man and
37. Blink and
38. Black and
39. Red and
40. White by Ted Dekker
41. Screwtape Letters and
42. Till We Have Faces and
43. The Magician’s Nephew and
44. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and
45. The Horse and the Boy and
46. Prince Caspian and
47. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and
48. The Silver Chair and
49. The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis
50. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
51. Going Rogue by Sarah Palin
52. The Shack – William Young
53. Scottish Chiefs – Jane Porter
54. When Character was King – Peggy Noonan
55. The Princess Bride – William Goldman
56. A Psalm of Life – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
57. Strange Fits of Passion – William Wordsworth
58. The Princess and the Kiss – Jennie Bishop
59. The Iliad – Homer
60. The Odyssey - Homer
61. Phaedra – Seneca
62. Oedipus Rex – Sophocles
63. Hippolytus – Euripides
64. Prometheus Bound and
65. Agamemnon and
66. The Libation Bearers and
67. The Eumenides by Aeschylus
68. Aenied – Virgil
69. The Histories – Livy
70. Veritas Conflict – Shaunti Feldhahn
71. The Door in the Dragon’s Throat and
72. The Tombs of Anak and
73. This Present Darkness and
74. Piercing the Darkness by Frank Peretti
75. The Bridge – Jeri Massi
76. You are Special – Max Lucado
77. Beowulf
78. Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
79. Where the Red Fern Grows – Wilson Rawls
80. The Hiding Place – Corrie Ten Boom
81. Carry On – R. W. Service
82. Little House in the Big Woods and
83. These Happy Golden Years – Laura Ingles Wilder
84. A Cricket in Times Square – George Selden
85. Johnny Tremain – Esther Forbes
86. Our Town – Oscar Wilde
87. Diary of Anne Frank – Anne Frank
88. Old Man and the Sea – Earnest Hemingway
89. Animal Farm – George Orwell
90. Fairie Queene – Edmond Spencer
91. The Knight’s Tale – Geoffrey Chaucer
92. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Road Dahl
93. The Spectre Bridegroom and
94. Rip Van Winkle by Geoffrey Crayon
95. The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
96. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
97. Last of the Mohicans – James Fennimore Cooper
98. Peter Rabbit – Beatrix Potter
99. Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
100. The Ugly Duckling – Hans Christian Anderson