May 25th, 2010
The word charming always reminds me of royalty. I can’t help but conjure up visions of grand ballrooms with huge staircases and beautifully inlaid floors. A prince in white with perfectly coiffed hair.
I blame Disney.
But that may change since I recently read a book by C.A. Belmond called A Rather Charming Invitation. It’s not about a prince. Or a grand ballroom.
It’s about an ancient stolen tapestry. And gambling. It’s the story of an adventurous duo named Penny and Jeremy. And maybe even a wedding if all these crazy capers would stop occurring.
After picking up the book I found out that it is the third in a series about this crazy couple. But by no means did I feel lost without having read the other two. The book—albeit kind of slow in the beginning—ended up being rather charming indeed. It was a fun story and oddly a feast for the senses. C.A. Belmond does an excellent job describing the landscapes, the interiors, and all these wonderful little details about various things. Quite a bit of traveling around Europe happens in the story and you can picture it all so well with every turn of the page. You almost feel like you are there.
It would be a great summer read when you’re hanging out in the backyard or by the pool instead of traveling around Europe.
Or even if you are traveling.
Whatever.
And guess what? You don’t even have to go to the library or the book store to pick up a copy because I’m GIVING ONE AWAY!
Yep, I was sent two copies of the book and one of you awesome folks are going to get a brand spanking new copy.
JUST LEAVE ME A COMMENT.
That’s it. Leave a comment with a valid email address so I can get in touch with you if you’re the winner. It can be about anything. Books. Summer plans. Your idea of Prince (or Princess) Charming. Whatever you want.
Easy enough right?
So go do it. Comments close Friday June 4th. Winner will be determined by random number generator.
Good Luck and Read On!
*Disclosure: I received two copies of this book from the publisher through the Business to Blogger program (Check them out they are pretty cool.) One copy to read and review and one to giveaway.
Update 6.5.10: Thanks to all that entered! The winner is:
Comment #11— Vegas Princess! Congratulations!
November 13th, 2009
Last month I read a book called The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It’s a pretty short paperback coming in at just under 200 pages with nice margins and ample thumbspace. Wow that sounded geeky. Anyway… A quick read for most, but what really surprised me was the impact the contents had on me. It was exactly the book I needed to read at that moment in my life. A simple, eye-opening story that leaves you wanting more for yourself. At least it did for me. It tells the story of a sheperd boy who is following his personal legend.
From Goodreads:
The Alchemist is the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found. From his home in Spain he journeys to the markets of Tangiers and across the Egyptian desert to a fateful encounter with the alchemist. The story of the treasures Santiago finds along the way teaches us, as only a few stories have done, about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the omens strewn along life’s path, and, above all, following our dreams.
Listening to our hearts. Paying attention to the omens. Following our dreams.
So right on. Sometimes so hard to do. Why? What is it going to take to motivate me enough to listen to my heart? To listen to my body. To be more than what I am at this moment. To be exactly what I want to be. To take that leap of faith and just do it.
I feel so close to it and yet…I’m just not there. Sometimes I feel like it is a money thing. Like, if I just had SOME, things would be easier. Or if I knew how to reach out, how to write for grants, how to find those interested in helping out. Sometimes I feel like it’s because of who I don’t know. Because of my ridiculous fear of introducing myself to strangers and making small talk. It’s bizarre. So much so that it almost kept me from attending a design-related function tonight. Which is ridiculous. But I’m trying to get over that and did indeed go to the event. Where of course I had a good time and met new people.
Most of all I feel like it is just me. It is me being lazy. It is me being responsible. It is me being afraid.
But I’m working on it.
November 10th, 2009
This morning I got to cross another item off of my 101 in 1001 list. This was one of those goals that couldn’t be done in an instant and actually took me 11 months to complete. It was also a goal that I couldn’t start until January of this year—read 15 books in 2009. Now, I always feel like I need a disclaimer after I tell somebody about that goal. One that specifically spells out the fact that I’m not a moron and I do read more than 15 books in a given year. I actually read quite a bit but it is usually academic books, books related to design theory and art, children’s books—tons of these, magazines, etc. I realized a couple of years ago that I wasn’t really reading anything just for pleasure. Well, maybe the kid’s books but that is a completely different. Nothing just for me. So I made it a goal when I wrote the list to read 10 books in 2008 and 15 books in 2009 just for pleasure. No ulterior motive than to just enjoy a book.
I hit the 2008 goal in August of last year and this morning I hit the 2009 goal. I’m considering exchanging an unfinished item on my list with a new goal—read 20 books in 2010. Either way, setting those two goals have me back on the path to enjoying all the great—and not so great—literature out there. Plus, there is just something special about reading an actual book. Not listening to one—which is also great—or reading one on an electronic device, but an actual book. The crisp pages, the black ink set in a specific font, the cover art, the smell of the pages that instantly declare whether the book is new or old. I love it.
So here is what I read this year to hit my goal. Some were better than others with #13 and #14 being the worst. In any other situation I would have given up on #14 but I got to a certain point and I was committed. I could not give up. But the payoff? Not worth it. Oh well. I do find it interesting that entirely by accident I started and ended with a books written by David Sedaris. I guess I like his writing, #15 was a quick 2 day read after two painstaking weeks of reading a poorly typeset 250+ page crap heap that might have been a good story had it been only 20 pages.
But anyway, the list.
- Me Talk Pretty One Day—David Sedaris, 1.09
- The Graveyard Book—Neil Gaiman, 2.09
- Watchmen—Moore/Gibbons, 2.09
- Tuesdays with Morrie—Mitch Albom, 3.09
- When You are Engulfed in Flames—David Sedaris, 5.09
- It Sucked and Then I Cried—Heather Armstrong, 6.09
- The Road—Cormac McCarthy, 6.09
- Ender’s Game—Orson Scott Card, 7.09
- World War Z—Max Brooks, 9.09
- I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone—Stephanie Kuehnart, 9.09
- Slaughterhouse Five—Kurt Vonnegut, 9.09
- The Alchemist—Paulo Coelho, 10.09
- The House on Mango Street—Sandra Cisneros, 10.09
- The Picture of Dorian Gray—Oscar Wilde, 10.09
- Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim—David Sedaris, 11.09
Next up is Mercury Falls written by fellow blogger Rob “Diesel” Kroese. I’ll let you know what I think.
February 19th, 2009
This morning was story time at the library for G-tot and I. We went through our weekly ritual of dropping of last week’s books in the return bin and then headed toward the back of the library to the children’s section. We barely made it twenty feet from the front desk when something caught my eye.
It was sitting on the bottom shelf of a movable cart that showcases new books. If I didn’t feel like such a turd I would have pulled out my phone and taken of a picture of it. That’s how excited I was. “G-tot, G-tot look!” I exclaimed. “This is the book that Mommy worked on! See! There’s Mommy right there!”
G-tot could have cared less but I was so geeked to see the book I worked on showcasing the visual history of the college where I work sitting on the shelf of the public library. The spreads I worked so hard on designing, my name (and several photographs of me & JQ—that somebody else put in) in print, PUBLISHED, and sitting on the ‘New Books’ shelf for the public to peruse.
It was a pretty exciting moment for me.
Of course, I already have a copy of my own so I took a few shots with iPhoto so you could see the book. And…a few months ago the book won a Crystal Award for “excellence in communications in NW Ohio and SE Michigan”. It’s nice to be a part of something award winning that actually has your name on it. So much of design requires the designer to be invisible.
 Ignore the scary looking woman in on the left and just look at the cover.
 A portion of one of my spreads.
 My name in print—the only woman that worked on the book
August 28th, 2008
A couple of weeks ago, Lindsay over at Rock and Roll Mama was giving away a copy of Stephanie Kuehnert’s I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone. Readers had to leave a comment on this post stating the name of your all time favorite band. On Friday, August 15th she would use the random number generator to pick a winner. That’s it. Easy-peasy. I left my comment—The Beatles (with Pink Floyd coming in a close second) and mentioned that I should win since the drawing would be held on my birthday.
Well, apparently the little gnomes that run the random number generator felt the same way because my number was picked! This morning when I checked the mail there was a package from the USPS leaning up against the house. My book had arrived!
As soon as I had the package in my hand I knew I had to blog about winning. And aren’t all posts better when accompanied by a photo? Why, yes they are, so here is a shot of G-tot, me, and my prize taken with Photo Booth moments after checking the mail. It may not be the most flattering shot of me but I don’t care. This is reality at its finest people.
I hadn’t showered yet, my hair is all funky, I’ve got a stupid look on my face, and I’m wearing the oldest shirt I own (that I still wear). It just happens to be the perfect shirt for this post.
It’s my Pink Floyd concert shirt from their 1994 tour. It’s full of tiny holes and is so ragged looking that I only wear it to bed—but it is one of the most comfortable shirts I own. Plus, it has sentimental value. Over the years I’ve owned dozens of shirts from concerts I’ve attended. And over the years those shirts have disappeared. Gone is my Motley Crue shirt from the Dr. Feelgood tour. Gone are my Anthrax shirt from the Headbanger’s Ball tour. Gone are the Bulletboys, Metallica, Poison, Skid Row, Pantera, Tesla, and Faster Pussycat t-shirts—along with so many others.
I have just three concert shirts left—a Ted Nugent shirt from my very first concert (I was just nine years old with my Dad at Cobo Hall in Detroit), a Tom Petty shirt from a concert JQ & I went to in 2002, and my beloved Pink Floyd shirt. Which I wear all the time. I fear the day when I pull it out of the dryer and it’s in shreds.
So, up there in that picture I’m wearing my Floyd shirt 14 years after I bought it. Oh…and I’m not wearing any pants.
I don’t hang on to the shirt merely because of it’s comfort factor. I hang on to it because of the memories entwined in its fibers. Memories that are full of music. Music has this amazing ability to touch our lives in so many ways. So many important moments in my life have a soundtrack connected to them. It sounds like that’s also true for Emily in I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone. According to Lindsay, “Stephanie Kuehnert delivers a raw, pitch perfect story of a daughter longing to connect to her mother through music.” I can’t wait to start reading. Thanks, Lindsay!
 Happy Birthday to me!
February 13th, 2008
I don’t drink glasses of milk very often, but when I do I always think to myself, “Man, this is so good. I need to drink this more.” That’s the same feeling I’ve had these last few weeks with regards to reading. I can’t get enough of it and I don’t know why I haven’t chosen to read more often this past year or so.
Over the past 14 days I read the last two books of the Harry Potter series. They were both re-reads for me but I couldn’t put them down. They are just that good. Yesterday I started George Orwell’s Animal Farm. It’s a minuscule book in stature compared to 1,411 pages I just finished about the boy wizard. The tattered copy I picked up at the library has a mere 139 pages—and the story doesn’t actually start until page 25. At the rate we’ve been devouring these books, I’ll have to go back to the library on Thursday if I want something to read this weekend.
January 6th, 2008
Remember the goals I set for 2008? Looks like my first read of the new year is going to be Aldous Huxley’s, A Brave New World.
Why this particular book?
It’s part of our personal library.
I’ve never read it.
JQ just read it last year and is looking forward to discussing it with me.
I dig the idea that the story is still relevant today.
If you’ve read it I’d love to hear what you thought of it. I haven’t started yet so, No Spoilers Please!
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