Project Life

I'm doing Becky Higgins' Project Life this year.  I bought last year's binder package when it went on sale on Amazon for, if I remember correctly, $30 or $40.  I've bought some different divided page protectors so that I could include multiple sizes, additional photos, etc.

Here are some photos, from Week 1 on...  I'm not including spreads for each week, and some might be more overview and others might be close up...

A list of scrapping classes I'm taking in 2011

When I have to go back and fill something in, I just insert a Post-It with a scribbled note.  If I don't go back and finish the page, the memories are still there, sparked by that little note...



I took a photo of my favorite soda while food shopping in Shop Rite.



Mom came home from AZ so I took some photos in the train station while I was waiting for her.



I bought myself a necklace from Lisa Leonard.  It included my 2011 word:  FOCUS.



Aunt Fanny died.  Nothing more to say.  RIP, Aunt Fanny!  We miss you!



Kat brought us all a candy snack from Japan so I saved the label!



Love you and miss you, Kazia!



Paying bills - I could post a picture like this twice a month, but I won't...  That would be cheating...  and really boring!



I'll post a few more photos another time - My friend E is coming up on Saturday to do some scrapping.  I've almost got her converted, to a small degree.  She joined me at the Rockaway crop earlier in June and made herself a mini-book.  And LOVED it!  She loved the process, the end result!  Everything!  Yay!  Someone else to scrap with!  (Yea, I know, don't end a sentence with a preposition...)

Libraries and Bookstores, Oh, My!!!

From My Shelf, Shelf Awareness for Readers, Volume 1, Issue 4, June 24, 2011


On Browsing

I hope no one will mind if I give a shout out to my very local indie bookstore, One More Page Books in Arlington, Va. I say "very local" because Eileen McGervey's new (launched in 2011) shop is less than a mile from my front door--I can even walk there via the W&OD Trail bike path.

But I'm not talking up One More Page to get you to shop there (although you would be very happy if you did). I want to talk about a quote I read recently in the delightful Pushcast Press compendium of quotations Book Love: A Celebration of Writers, Readers, and The Printed Bound Book, edited by James Charlton and Bill Henderson (who also wrote the introduction). Helene Hanff's quote is "I don't browse in bookshops. I browse in libraries, where you can take a book home and read it, and if you like it you go to a bookstore and buy it." It stopped me right in my tracks with its elegant logic.

I find Hanff's reasoning sound, but for me, browsing in a library is wholly different than browsing in a bookstore. In the library, things are catalogued and cross-referenced. Anyone who has ever worked on a research paper will know the feeling of sliding down an archival rabbit hole while digging out library material that leads you in all different directions, but are, happily, somehow connected.

In a bookstore, you may wind up running in different directions, but it won't always be because things are connected. Perhaps you spend an hour looking at the latest mysteries--then remember that you need to find a great book on wine for a Father's Day gift. Oh, and your book club chose that bestselling novel... hmmm, what's this? A new literary magazine?

Libraries and bookstores are both wonderful places to browse, and I prefer not to go without either one.--Bethanne Patrick

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I'm bemused by this article.  I don't keep every book I read; I do keep a large number of them.  But I read so much that I'd run out of space quickly.  I couldn't possibly fit every book I read on a shelf in my house.  I am one of those B&N customers they love to hate:  I buy every week, usually more than one book at a time, but I also read others while I'm there, books I have no intention of buying or owning.  I would LOVE to support my local library more, but due to the usual constraints of budget and time, I can rarely get over there and they rarely have the books I want to read. 
 
I read all the time.  Most of what I read now is current and new.  At the library those books are already on reserve for other members.  I'm out of the publishing loop; I don't see as much as far in advance as I used to, so I'm into the immediate gratification of reading what I see when I want to read it and if that means I have to read it in the store, over a caramel macchiato, so be it.  It might also mean I pick up one or two or three books for the next few days, those that are by authors I LOVE, or stories I've been waiting to read...
 
For those of you who have been following my "I don't want an e-reader 'cause I love books" rants, hold onto your hats.
 
I'm going to have to cave and buy one, no idea which one, but I'll have to do so by October.  Harry Potter e-books will be available only from http://www.pottermore.com/ and all digital rights belong to JK Rowling.  Smart woman, that JK.  Bloomsbury and Scholastic will get proceeds from the sales, but her initial contract for HP1 didn't include digital rights for the publisher and subsequent contracts were identical.  Smart businesswoman or lucky duck?  Either way, she will be the primary beneficiary of all those e-book sales and yes, I will be buying each and every one for whichever reader is the best at the time they're released.
 
iPad?  Kindle?  Nook?  Not keen on the Kindle 'cause that means I can ONLY buy from Amazon.  Nook?  Not all that enthused about contributing to that whole monopoly thing (and I love indy bookstores!).  iPad?  Oh, I'm geeky enough to want one, but apparently there are a few more tablets coming out that I'll have to look into before I commit...  Will be discussing with my IT-savvy pals as October draws nearer...
 
I'll have to own whatever I need for the HP books but that's all I'll admit to right now!

I know I'm not David Letterman...

...but I just found a news headline I love in today's edition of Shelf Awareness, June 20, 2011, Volume 2, Issue 1489:

Favorite headline of the day: "Go the F**k to Your Local Bookstore," from the Colorado Springs Independent.

Ouch, that HAD to hurt!!!

If you don't want to read about tattoos and/or piercings, please don't click on the following link.  But if you want to read a short funny blog post about the newest piercing fad to hit the NY beaches, please visit Laid Off Dad at http://laidoffdad.typepad.com/lod/2011/06/beyonce.html.  I "found" Doug years ago (I don't even remember how - perhaps through Dooce?) and I've been a fan ever since.

Libraries

Forty-Year-Old Wisdom About Libraries


"[A library] isn't just a library. It is a space ship that will take you to the farthest reaches of the Universe, a time machine that will take you to the far past and the far future, a teacher that knows more than any human being, a friend that will amuse you and console you--and most of all, a gateway, to a better and happier and more useful life."

--Isaac Asimov in a March 16, 1971, letter to children at the newly opened Troy, Mich., public library, as posted on lettersofnote.com.

From Shelf Awareness, June 10, 2011, Volume 2, Issue 1482

Miscellaneous "Stuff"

I've run across a few things lately that strike a chord with me...  I think I'll just post them out here for $%&#$@ and giggles...

I'm on Weight Watchers.  I'm not grossly overweight but I can sure stand to lose a few more pounds.  A few years ago I lost 25 lbs and was well on my way to getting to my goal weight.  Then I fell into the trap that so many newbie WWs fall into:  I can do this on my own.  Well, I can't.  I need WW.  And I still trip and stumble and justify two cotton candy treats by saying, "But they're fat-free!"  Yea, they are, but they're not sugar-free!!!   And sugar + metabolism = carbs = weight.  Anyway, gained about 15-20 of those same lbs back, but have recently climbed back into the WW wagon and I'm down 17.3# from my highest.  So I have a bit more to go to reach the 25 lbs lost, but I'm shooting for a grand total of 30-35 lbs lost.  I'm doing it slowly and hoping the summer fruits and vegetables really give it a kick-start!  In the meantime, I ran across this image and thought, "This is one of those ah-ha moments Oprah was talking about!"  (Yea, not an Oprah fan but I read a lot!)

We've been talking about gay marriage lately, probably because locally they're running quite a few television ads in support of it in my neck of the woods.  I just don't get the objection, I really don't.  I'm happy, so happy, in my marriage.  Why wouldn't I wish that for each and every human on the planet?  And if it happens to be another guy or girl, depending on the person we're referring to, who cares?  I'm Roman Catholic.  My faith is very important to me.  I practice.  I get so much support and strength from my relationship with God.  I have a hard time believing that He would be against it, that he would punish those that find love and affection and support in someone of the same sex, rather than the opposite sex.    I'm NOT posting this to generate comments.  I'm just saying...

I ran across this photo on the Pinterest site; I think it originated on Martha Stewart's website.  I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to put this on the left wall as you walk into the lake house.  I'd LOVE to remove the broom closet and the pantry and just push these shelves back into that space.  I'd even push the drawers back flush with the back of the locker space so they're not sticking out and tripping our guests, but I.DON'T.HAVE.A.COAT.CLOSET.IN.THE.LAKE.HOUSE.  Well actually I do; Jack just built one in the basement so we'd have somewhere to hang at least our seasonal jackets and coats when we're living there full time in a few years...

Freshman Class

Here are a couple of photos from my high school years.

First, a b/w photo of the front of the school, a shot that was used as the liner pages in our yearbook...

And now a picture of my homeroom class from my freshman year.  10 points to the reader who finds me...  And since a few of you only know my by my married name and my maiden name is cut off in the photo, I'm in the first photo, seated in the front row, second from the right, in a stylin' shag and coke-bottle glasses!  Like a fine wine, I feel that I've improved with age...