Our House in the Middle of Our Street

photocredit I've been on a memoir kick, lately, it would appear. This book is the story behind one of the craziest Love articles ever to grace the New York Times newspaper, Those Aren't Fighting Words, Dear by Laura Munson . If you get bored reading this book review, and it doesn't sound like one you'd like, please Please PLEASE read the article. It's only two pages and it's one of the best pieces I've ever read on the topic of marital _____ (crap, arguments, stress, crisis, fill in the blank). After reading the article, I suggested my local library buy a couple copies, "and don't forget, put me at the top of the list!". Within a few weeks I had the book, within a few days I was done. Anyway. Back to the review. At just over 300 pages, Munson draws you in easily with her casual and funny conversation style writing, describing her background as it pertains to this small (and I'm sure, seemingly never-ending) 6 month chunk in her life. Sh...

Just last weekend, my friend E and I drove down to Kansas City, MO, for a little girl time. We left early Saturday morning, drove without any traffic, and arrived at the Plaza for some all-day shopping. Of course we went to my favorites, American Apparel , Anthropologie , and The North Face Store , and just about every other store in between. * After lunch at P.F. Chang's (it's so great to have a best friend who wants exactly the same food you do!) we checked into our hotel for some R & R on the pool deck, sitting amidst 20+ story sky-scrapers. It was pretty windy up there! After getting dressed up, we went down to the Power & Light district , a few blocks from our hotel, and checked out the new beer garden & free live concert that was going on after eating at an Irish Pub, Raglan Road (delicious, but expensive!). Something that stuck out to me were all the bridal parties hanging out, bride in either white (with pink bridesmaids) or red (with black bridesmaids...

Just thought I'd share a funny picture of Anikka, revelling in her new sunglasses. This lady totally cracks me up with her tongue sticking half way out her mouth when she's trying not to laugh. *** Stay tuned for a recap of my awesome weekend with my friend, E!

photocredit I want to preface this review with this statement: I know nothing about tennis, have never watched a match, and although have heard the name "Andre Agassi" thrown around before, knew nothing about him. This autobiography was fabulous. Even the "Acknowledgements" were good. Yeah, it's that good. This book is just shy of 400 pages, and is the story of the famous tennis player, Andre Agassi, from young childhood, hitting 1 million balls a year out of a contraption called The Dragon, through his rough years as an adolescent, a young adulthood with a millionaire paycheck, his brief marriage with actress Brook Shields, and most importantly, his friends and present wife, Stefanie Graff . His writing is very fast paced, because although there is a lot of tennis throughout the book, keeping you up to speed as well. Many tennis terms I didn't know I had to look up, but it also didn't matter that I know them. One could read it just fine because th...

We've had over a week of rain with sporadic sun. What happens when you have nothing but dreary, cloudy skies, and mud. You PLAY ! Some of us, ahem , prefer to be dry. Not this one.

I love celebrating birthdays . Any holiday, really. Especially when the person who gets the gift loves handmade. Then I'm really celebratory. It was one of my best friend's birthdays this past week, and I got together with her to enjoy the Farmer's Market , and gave her a ruffled tea towel and an oven mitt, loosely patterned from Rachel Denbow's instructions from my online art class. I also stenciled a pretty brown flower motif onto a lamp shade, and found a cute modern base to go with it. I am a big fan of the printer, Lotta Jansdotter , and this was partially an idea from my online class, partially her. The stencil came from her book, Lotta Prints . It's one book I constantly go back to for inspiration. I use Jaquard textile color from Artist & Craftsman Supply . Up next is my little Bug's 3rd birthday invites! We do very small get togethers for their birthdays. Last year, we didn't even do anything for either of them (2nd or Ani's first) beca...

photocredit I remember watching this trailer for the documentary, BABIES , almost a year ago, sharing it with Lukka (who was also fascinated) and on my facebook page. When I heard it was finally out and, actually in my town, if only for two weeks. I knew I had to invite not only my mom, but all the moms I share my life with regularly, as a lady's night out! Within a day we had the time scheduled and last night was a great turn-out. We were laughing throughout the entire movie at these babies' antics, cringing our germ-o-phobe American shoulders when two of the babies got themselves into predicaments with garbage, and barely made it out of the theatre without tearing up. photocredit This movie followed 4 children from birth to about 1 year old, each from a different corner of the globe. Namibia, Mongolia, Japan, and the USA were the chosen countries, and although parenting was quite different as far as approach & interaction were concerned, the movie truly depicted the un...

photocredit The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger was our last book club read for the 2009-2010 year. It was also the first book that I had procrastinated reading until the very last minute possible. Our book club meets tonight, and I just finished it this afternoon. All 536 pages! It wasn't that I didn't want to read it--I had bought a pristine copy at a garage sale a year ago because I had wanted to read it since I worked at Barnes & Noble ages ago--I just never got around to it. Our group added it to our list, and I was very excited to read it. I do judge books by their covers, and I really liked this one (I know, bad English major!). The reason I waited so long was simply because there were other books I was reading from Interlibrary Loan that have a much stricter time-line. This book is, although long, easy to read quickly since there is such depth of plot. I easily read about 75-100 pages a day without feeling like I was reading all the time, which is...

I'm not going to lie....I totally loved this movie. It had a rockin' soundtrack, and I loved the entire cast. And I'm a sucker for Drew Barrymore, who had a role, but also directed the movie. photocredit Ellen page, who you may remember from "Juno" fame, played the main character as high schooler who works at a lame BBQ diner afterschool, and needs something that she is good at. She sees some Roller Derby chicks skate into the local head shop to drop off their flyers (she's buying shoes:) and instantly is inspired. She goes to the tryouts, and renames herself Babe Ruthless and earns her team, The Hurl Scouts, a shot at the Championships. photocredit Check out this site to watch clips, the trailer, or listen to some of the music. Of course, a bit cheesy in places, but nonetheless, a fun little Friday night flick that will definitely make you want to want to get back into those skates. Don't lie. You know you still have them.

photocredit Hello! I used a Random Number Generator for the winner of the Summer Reading Package , and it was #9, Dan & amp.,Emily B . Does anyone know how they get the actual 'count out' of that to go on their site? I couldn't figure it out. You'll just have to trust me! AND Because I love y'all so much, I chose a second winner to receive a like-new edition of Atonement by Ian McEwan. That goes to #5, Oobbles ! Yay Winners! I will be in contact! Happy reading everyone!!

Remember when I said there would be more pictures this week? Yeah. You guessed it. I forgot my camera. Again. A few times. The times I didn't forget to bring it, I forgot to take it out of my purse. We've just been having too much fun. The one time I DID remember to take it out, I only got a few before my screen read "Battery Exhausted". Yeah, me too buddy. The top picture is Lukka and Stefan playing at Tree Adventure , where we went to celebrate Arbor Day (at the home of Arbor Day, in Nebraska City!) Only one more day to enter the Summer Reading Package giveaway ! Seriously, there's only 7 people signed up, your chances are really good!