Unattended Children

When I was little, my parents taught me to be politely quiet in public places. This simple concept was called the “restaurant voice” and was an easy code word to let me know when and where to simmer down. No yelling, no running around, no bothering patrons at the next table, etc. I knew better than to make a scene. And except for one legendary unfortunate incident involving a pyramid of cans at the grocery store (yes, one of those BIG end-of-the-aisle displays), I could have been the poster child for good behavior in public.

Sadly, this is not a universal concept. Perhaps because I myself was so “well-trained” as a child, I have little patience for rowdy children of clueless and distracted parents.

Which is why I’m loving this sign that was spotted in an Ohio coffee shop:

{via Cathi Stegall}

The Beauty of Effort

“Throughout history, humans have been programmed to take the easy way out, as a means of conserving energy and lowering risks. Take the short-cut to the fishing hole. Sow the plants that need less care. Set a trap rather than track an animal. Our ability to plan ahead and use technology allows us to survive, with less physical effort. But this instinct does us a disservice in a digital, cognitive age. Television, fast food, quick transport and even instant social connectivity give us a world built on the quick and the instant. The pendulum begins to swing too far in the direction of ease and passivity. The result is all too often anxiety, depression, poor health. The trick is not to forget our physicality, our limitations and the beauty of effort, both in the biological and cognitive realms. A life too easy or escapable quickly becomes meaningless.”

~ Maggie Jackson, author of Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age

{via The Happiness Project}

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

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}

Newspaper + Marker = Poetry

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…

…that I was wearing this outfit right now.

Isn’t it delicious?

For more great looks (including the above) and spot-on style, 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}