Updated: 2009 Reading

I love books. I love reading. Here’s what I’m reading this year:

Currently Reading

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard

The Completed Books of 2009 (in chronological order)

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell

Take the Cannoli by Sarah Vowell (reread)

The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell (reread)

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell (reread)

The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick

Angels & Demons by Dan Brown

The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels

Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (reread)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (reread)

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson

Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott

Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

The American Plague by Molly Caldwell Crosby

We Call It Poetry

“It is occasionally possible, just for brief moments, to find the words that will unlock the doors of all those many mansions inside the head and express something — perhaps not much, just something — of the crush of information that presses in on us from the way a crow flies over and the way a man walks and the look of a street and from what we did one day a dozen years ago. Words that will express something of the deep complexity that makes us precisely the way we are, from the momentary effect of the barometer to the force that created men distinct from trees… and in that same moment, make out of it all the vital signature of a human being — not of an atom, or of a geometrical diagram, or of a heap of lenses — but a human being, we call it poetry.”

~ Ted Hughes

{ via The Writer’s Almanac }

Poem for the Day

Perhaps it is the recently revived magnetic poetry now covering one of the support beams in our loft, but I am enjoying these ‘Newspaper Poems’ from Austin Kleon:

{via Double Takes}

Cardigan Empire

I wish…

I wish…

I wish…

…that I was wearing this outfit right now.

Isn’t it delicious?

For more great looks (including the above) and spot-on style, you simply must check out Cardigan Empire, the fresh fashion blog by stylist Reachel Bagley.

She is one of my new favorite style mavens!

Fabric I Heart

I’m loving these fabrics from Daisy Janie. What a beautiful collection!

Maybe this one for my new headboard? What do you think?

{via Fine Things & Big Dreams}

Saving the Earth

“Myth: we have to save the earth. Frankly, the earth doesn’t need to be saved. Nature doesn’t give a hoot if human beings are here or not. The planet has survived cataclysmic and catastrophic changes for millions upon millions of years. Over that time, it is widely believed, 99 percent of all species have come and gone while the planet has remained. Saving the environment is really about saving our environment – making it safe for ourselves, our children, and the world as we know it. If more people saw the issue as one of saving themselves, we would probably see increased motivation and commitment to actually do so.“

~ Robert M. Lilienfeld and William L. Rathje

{ via A.Word.A.Day }

29 Things to Do Before I Turn 30

Inspired by Andrea at hulaseventy, I am jumping on the bandwagon and drafting my own list of 29 Things to Do Before I Turn 30. I’m a little late in posting this, but nevermind that. These are some of the lovely little things I’d love to do this year, before the big 3-0 rolls around in February.

1. Learn to play a song on the guitar
2. Become proficient at making homemade bread
3. Buy, bring home, and decorate my first REAL Christmas tree (Well, first of my adult life…there are a couple real trees scattered throughout my early childhood Christmas memories, but past the age of 10, all my Christmas trees have been artificial. Not this year.)
4. Set up my very own Etsy shop (Jumping on bandwagons, what?)
5. Learn to knit
6. Get the piano tuned so I can host a sing-along party without embarrassment
7. Catch up on some of those classics that I should have read by now
8. Go somewhere with Mr. Riker to celebrate our first wedding anniversary
9. Put together our wedding album
10. Make an upholstered headboard
11. Join or start a book club
12. Take a weekend trip to Chicago or Minneapolis
13. See Wicked for the first time
14. Get tickets for a big-name concert
15. Buy my first sewing machine
16. Set up a crafting space and/or better home office
17. Find a new church home
18. Go ice skating at Brenton Plaza
19. Eat something on a stick at the Iowa State Fair
20. Take public transportation to the grocery store
21. Live tweet an event with Mr. Riker
22. Plant an herb garden
23. Paint at least one of our 14-foot walls (Yikes!)
24. Start having “Monday Morning Makeout Breakfasts” with Mr. Riker (or some other version of this non-date night tradition)
25. Eat sushi in my pajamas
26. Audition for a local play or musical
27. Send someone a handmade card
28. Wear a silly costume for something other than Halloween
29. Write a short story

How to Be Happy

“There are two ways of being happy: We may either diminish our wants or augment our means – either will do – the result in the same; and it is for each man to decide for himself, and do that which happens to be the easiest. If you are idle or sick or poor, however hard it may be to diminish your wants, it will be harder to augment your means. If you are active and prosperous or young and in good health, it may be easier for you to augment your means than to diminish your wants. But if you are wise, you will do both at the same time, young or old, rich or poor, sick or well; and if you are very wise you will do both in such a way as to augment the general happiness of society.”

~ Benjamin Franklin

{ via A.Word.A.Day }

I Spy with My Little Eye, Vol. 2

A round-up of art, design, and other lovely things that have caught my eye recently:

ART

Crayon Series by Christian Faur

Christian Faur’s beautiful photo-real images are created by hundreds of differently colored crayons arranged by toneal value. Amazing!

See more pieces from this series featured on the Faur’s site. Also on exhibit at the Sherrie Gallerie (Columbus, OH) through February 28th.

{ via COLOURlovers }

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ART

Dreaming of Warmer Weather by Charm School Dropout

A marriage of two of my favorites: vintage photographs and text.  I love The Charm School Dropout’s style! Check out the full selection of prints and collage pieces at her Etsy store here.

{ via Poppytalk Handmade’s Affordable Art Show }

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HANDMADE

Clutch by Felix and Jane

Etsy seller Felix & Jane gives a unique twist to accessories. I’m especially fond of her textile work like this ‘Priscilla the Bird in a Tree’ clutch and the selection of whimsical headbands. Check out the Felix & Jane blog for great behind-the-scenes peeks at the designer’s workspace and pieces in progress.

* * *

HOUSEWARES

Orla Kiely for Target

At last! The Orla Kiely collection for Target has arrived, and I love love love these pear canisters. Available in three sizes.

{ photo: pinklovesbrown on Flickr }

* * *

MUSIC VIDEO

Her Morning Elegance by Oren Lavie

This is some seriously impressive stop-motion photography. Directed by Oren Lavie, Yuval & Merav Nathan / Photography: Eyal Landesman

{ via Design*Sponge }

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MUSIC VIDEO

Furr by Blitzen Trapper

More creative artistic direction! I’d not heard of Blitzen Trapper before, but this video got me listening. Directed by Jade Harris

{ via Black*Eiffel }

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Poem for the Day

The Trouble with Poetry / by Billy Collins

The trouble with poetry, I realized
as I walked along a beach one night–
cold Florida sand under my bare feet,
a show of stars in the sky–

the trouble with poetry is
that it encourages the writing of more poetry,
more guppies crowding the fish tank,
more baby rabbits
hopping out of the mothers into the dewy grass.

And how will it ever end?
unless the day finally arrives
when we have compared everything in the world
to everything else in the world,

and there is nothing left to do
but quietly close our notebooks
and sit with our hands folded on our desks.

Poetry fills me with joy
and I rise like a feather in the wind.
Poetry fills me with sorrow
and I sink like a chain flung from a bridge.

But mostly poetry fills me
with the urge to write poetry,
to sit in the dark and wait for a little flame
to appear at the tip of my pencil.

And along with that, the longing to steal,
to break into the poems of others
with a flashlight and a ski mask.

And what an unmerry band of theives we are,
cut-purses, common shoplifters,
I thought to myself
as a cold wave swirled around my feet
and the lighthouse moved its megaphone over the sea,
which is an image I stole directly
from Lawrence Frelinghetti–
to be perfectly honest for a moment–

the bicycling poet of San Francisco
whose little amusement park of a book
I carried in a side pocket of my uniform
up and down the treacherous halls of high school.

from The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems (2005)