It's been a while since I've written. I mean, really written. I've posted pictures, mused on memes and otherwise tossed a post off here or there, but I've had lack of inspiration to get deep and dirty on the writing. Maybe it was because I was feeling intimidated by the blogs I read that have such great posts that make me think and all that was on my mind was the mundane everyday. Maybe. Or maybe in some ways, I was hitting a writing bug monthly with the fabu Deb and writing babes that I didn't need this anymore. Maybe.
But today, amidst the drumming of the rain, something started to burrow through my brain. An urge to write. And to not care about if it was mundane. I needed to have my fingers fly over keys and alliteration to flow from fingers.
So I thought back to a piece I had written a while ago with the writing babes. It was something that I kept meaning to go back to and tweak a little, but never felt the motivation. But today I did. And today I'm going to share - not caring about the feedback or thoughts but just feeling like a writer again.
-----------------------------------------------------------
LOVE AS AN EXTREME SPORT
He stands across the room. Debonair, there is a toffee curl brushing his lashes. One hand rests gingerly on the rail; the other slinks into his pocket. A sparkle jumps as with a click he flips open his timepiece. Girls, powdered and glossed, cast subtle glances his way with eyelashes fluttering and cheeks flushing. I look. He looks. Our eyes meet, the music swells. In an instant he moves across the floor, whisper soft as he wraps his arm around my waist and strokes my cheek. A moment of bliss.
When you are nine, this is your definition of love. Swells of music, meaningful glances, silken gowns, top hats. The kiss. The sunset. The happy ever after. So you wait for it, you search for it, you fight against it, you embrace it, and you even experience some of it. But soon you wonder, is that all love is.
Hopeless romantics and greeting card writers would say it’s more. Love becomes bigger and deeper. An emotion that overtakes every sense and feeling leaving you powerless in it’s thrall. Love is a very splendored thing. Love conquers all. All you need is love. Yes, that’s true.
Broken hearted cynics and teenage songwriters will say is fades. It gets lost, becoming a memory that teases your mind, like an imprint in the sand. Only fools fall in love. Love will break your heart. Love stinks. Yes, that’s true.
See, for me it’s complex. It’s commitment and passion and laughter and pain. It’s daily decisions and overwhelming emotions. It’s not a moment, but a lifetime. Even under the best of circumstances it tears you up, spits you out and breaks your heart over and over. In big “I never want to see you again” ways and small “ you didn’t do the dishes again” ways. It never stops. It never stops taking you on a ride up, down and sideways.
If you listen to the writers and musicians and poets you can believe that once love is found everything else will be easy. But there’s no happy ending, because there is no ending. It keeps moving, love keeps moving. It runs, it crawls, it pulls you and pushes you.
But that’s what so wonderful. It’s not predictable, or easy. And while on some days it’s all that helps you stand on your two feet, you know, even when it’s here to stay, it can still kick your ass.
My thoughts on whatever passes through my line of sight.
4/20/2009
3/30/2009
Photo Friday: Extreme Close Up
This week's photo friday inspired me to break out my christmas present from my mom. A set of macro filters. About a hundred photographs later, I found some that I liked.
The flowers J bought me for absolutely no reason. Some yellow carnations, aren't they special?
Then I thought I'd take some new photos of my lovely ring that J gave me. Of course, seeing it this close up, I realized it needs a major cleaning, but on the carnation you cant see how scratched and dirty it is.
Which led me to thinking other jewelery of mine would make some pretty pictures. This bracelet I almost never wear, but it was my grandma's and I think it's just beautiful, in that 1920's flash kinda way
.
And last but not least, I decided to play around with my class ring, since that hasn't been out of my jewelry box for about 15 years.
The flowers J bought me for absolutely no reason. Some yellow carnations, aren't they special?
Then I thought I'd take some new photos of my lovely ring that J gave me. Of course, seeing it this close up, I realized it needs a major cleaning, but on the carnation you cant see how scratched and dirty it is.
Which led me to thinking other jewelery of mine would make some pretty pictures. This bracelet I almost never wear, but it was my grandma's and I think it's just beautiful, in that 1920's flash kinda way
.
And last but not least, I decided to play around with my class ring, since that hasn't been out of my jewelry box for about 15 years.
2/27/2009
Ten on Tuesday: 10 Favorite Ethnic Foods
For me, defining ethnic gets a little hairy, cause really, food traditions have become so blurred. But lets just say that although many of these have blended with a more "American" preparation, they are some of my favorites.
And they are in no particular order, cause you know me and my "favorite" rants.
1. Pasta Bolognese
2. Cavatelli & Broccoli
3. Chicken Tikka Masala
4. Mesir Wat
5. Shiro Wat
6. Basil Chicken
7. Lamb Gyros
8. Pignoli Cookies
9. Guinness Beef & Tater Stew
10. New England Clam Chowder
And they are in no particular order, cause you know me and my "favorite" rants.
1. Pasta Bolognese
2. Cavatelli & Broccoli
3. Chicken Tikka Masala
4. Mesir Wat
5. Shiro Wat
6. Basil Chicken
7. Lamb Gyros
8. Pignoli Cookies
9. Guinness Beef & Tater Stew
10. New England Clam Chowder
2/22/2009
Song Titles....
Still bored, I'm playing with another meme. Talk about a laaaaazy Sunday!
Using ONLY SONG TITLES from ONE Artist, cleverly answer these questions:
--I chose Eric Clapton (Really, this surprised you. You obviously don't know me)
1. Are you male or female: Modern Girl
2. Describe yourself: Running on Faith
3. How do you feel about yourself: I got a Rock & Roll Heart
4. Describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriend: Old Love
5. Describe your current boy/girl situation: Marry You
6. Describe your current location: Back Home
7. Descirbe where you want to be: Further on Up the Road
8. Your best friend is: Pretty Girl
9. Your favorite color is: Blue Eyes Blue
10. You know that: Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
11. What's the weather like: Black Summer Rain
12. If your life was a television show what would it be called: Got to Get Better in a Little While
13. What is life to you: Kind Hearted Woman Blues
14. What is the best advice you have to give: When You've Got A Good Friend
15. If you could change your name what would you change it to: Layla
Using ONLY SONG TITLES from ONE Artist, cleverly answer these questions:
--I chose Eric Clapton (Really, this surprised you. You obviously don't know me)
1. Are you male or female: Modern Girl
2. Describe yourself: Running on Faith
3. How do you feel about yourself: I got a Rock & Roll Heart
4. Describe your ex boyfriend/girlfriend: Old Love
5. Describe your current boy/girl situation: Marry You
6. Describe your current location: Back Home
7. Descirbe where you want to be: Further on Up the Road
8. Your best friend is: Pretty Girl
9. Your favorite color is: Blue Eyes Blue
10. You know that: Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
11. What's the weather like: Black Summer Rain
12. If your life was a television show what would it be called: Got to Get Better in a Little While
13. What is life to you: Kind Hearted Woman Blues
14. What is the best advice you have to give: When You've Got A Good Friend
15. If you could change your name what would you change it to: Layla
How Many Have YOU Read??? BBC Book Meme
BBC 100 book meme - or is it?
There is currently a book meme going on at facebook, which refers to a list of 100 books that BBC apparently have made, and which they recons that most people will only have read six books from. Me, being me, and still sleepy on a Sunday morning, I needed to find the truth in the claim. I first found the "Big Read" from the BBC but the list didn't match to the one in the meme. I then found this blog post from rabidpaladin which debunks the list as generated from the BBC and the quote.
But i'm still sleepy cause someone kept me out WAY past my bedtime and am avoiding doing dishes and cleaning the bathroom so I'm going to play. But I'm going to play with BOTH lists. (Really don't want to clean that bathroom).
You know how it works - x those you've read. I'm highlighting and using an *(for those reading in facebook), cause I'm cool like that.
Meme List that's floating around - I count 32.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien *
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling *
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee *
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman * Loved Them!
10 Great Epectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare *
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger *
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger*
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell*
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald *
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll *
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis *
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis *
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne *
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown *
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving *
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery* All 8 books of the series and the PBS special!
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood *
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding *
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel*
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon *
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Aleandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding*
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett*
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens *
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro *
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White*
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad *
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Eupery *
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams *
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Aleandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare *
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl*
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
The Actual 2003 "Big Read" List of 100 most popular books from the BBC - I've got 21.
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien *
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman *
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee *
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne *
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell x
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis *
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger *
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell*
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien*
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving *
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett *
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl*
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery* As above, all 8 books, over and over and over....
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams *
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald *
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett* Loved it, and the musical too!
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King *
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman * Well, reading now so not done.
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding *
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding*
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy*
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho*
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
There is currently a book meme going on at facebook, which refers to a list of 100 books that BBC apparently have made, and which they recons that most people will only have read six books from. Me, being me, and still sleepy on a Sunday morning, I needed to find the truth in the claim. I first found the "Big Read" from the BBC but the list didn't match to the one in the meme. I then found this blog post from rabidpaladin which debunks the list as generated from the BBC and the quote.
But i'm still sleepy cause someone kept me out WAY past my bedtime and am avoiding doing dishes and cleaning the bathroom so I'm going to play. But I'm going to play with BOTH lists. (Really don't want to clean that bathroom).
You know how it works - x those you've read. I'm highlighting and using an *(for those reading in facebook), cause I'm cool like that.
Meme List that's floating around - I count 32.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien *
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling *
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee *
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman * Loved Them!
10 Great Epectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare *
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger *
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger*
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell*
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald *
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll *
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis *
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis *
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne *
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown *
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving *
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery* All 8 books of the series and the PBS special!
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood *
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding *
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel*
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon *
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Aleandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding*
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett*
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens *
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro *
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White*
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad *
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Eupery *
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams *
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Aleandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare *
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl*
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
The Actual 2003 "Big Read" List of 100 most popular books from the BBC - I've got 21.
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien *
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman *
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee *
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne *
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell x
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis *
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger *
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell*
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien*
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving *
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett *
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl*
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery* As above, all 8 books, over and over and over....
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams *
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald *
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett* Loved it, and the musical too!
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King *
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman * Well, reading now so not done.
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding *
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding*
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy*
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho*
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
2/20/2009
Ten On Tuesday: 10 Songs That Describe You or Your Life
1. Gina - Blues Traveler
2. You're All I Need to Get By - Aretha Franklin
3. Running on Faith - Eric Clapton
4. Dumb Ol' Girl - Kathleen Wilhoite
5. Deborah Conway's Nightmare - Deborah Conway
6. Brown-Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
7. Daddy's Little Girl - Al Martino
8. Feelin' Alright - Joe Cocker
9. I'm Wrong About Everything - John Wesley Harding
10. New Jersey Women - Louisiana Red
2. You're All I Need to Get By - Aretha Franklin
3. Running on Faith - Eric Clapton
4. Dumb Ol' Girl - Kathleen Wilhoite
5. Deborah Conway's Nightmare - Deborah Conway
6. Brown-Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
7. Daddy's Little Girl - Al Martino
8. Feelin' Alright - Joe Cocker
9. I'm Wrong About Everything - John Wesley Harding
10. New Jersey Women - Louisiana Red
2/13/2009
Photo Friday: Pet
2/05/2009
Writing Group: Drawing Conclusions
Pencil to the paper. Stroke, line, smudge. Shapes taking form and while shadows and light fill in the void. Energy abounded as her hand clenched and relaxed, framed the curves, texture and form flowing from her mind. I watch her face as images form. There’s serenity, then frustration. Here eyes are bright and cheeks flushed, lips swollen as she bites down and furrows her brow. Flashes of joy, peace, passion and energy radiate.
There are hundreds of drawings around the room and as I flip through, each one takes me to another place in time. Young children playing on a day full of expectations and wonder. Serene landscapes of a barren winter. Russet and gold bouncing off a porcelin blue lake. All these drawings, capturing moments, glimpses, opportunities.
What will this next drawing show? What is it capturing? What is the image in her head. Is the moment in time meant to show what is, or what could be? Is it the start of a journey or the finale? Will it inspire action or reflection?
The pencil is moving slower now. Swooshes and jabs. Reflective. Concentrating. A final flick of the wrist and a floursh. She turns and smiles. A smile that is at once welcoming and exhaustive. Her flushed cheeks are slowly draining, her eyes reflecting a calm relief. For a moment she is still, then stands up, and lithely smoothes her hand through her hair, shakes her head and reaches for the table.
There are hundreds of drawings around the room and as I flip through, each one takes me to another place in time. Young children playing on a day full of expectations and wonder. Serene landscapes of a barren winter. Russet and gold bouncing off a porcelin blue lake. All these drawings, capturing moments, glimpses, opportunities.
What will this next drawing show? What is it capturing? What is the image in her head. Is the moment in time meant to show what is, or what could be? Is it the start of a journey or the finale? Will it inspire action or reflection?
The pencil is moving slower now. Swooshes and jabs. Reflective. Concentrating. A final flick of the wrist and a floursh. She turns and smiles. A smile that is at once welcoming and exhaustive. Her flushed cheeks are slowly draining, her eyes reflecting a calm relief. For a moment she is still, then stands up, and lithely smoothes her hand through her hair, shakes her head and reaches for the table.
1/27/2009
Ten on Tuesday: 10 Favorite Articles of Clothing That You Own.
Well, I've never been a fashionista, but I do have a few favorites.
My green notch neck sweater
My fluffy pink pj's
My hot pink blouse
My red wrap shirt
My burgundy cord jacket
My brown scarf
My green mary janes
My blue mary janes
My brown wool skirt
My cream wool sweater
My green notch neck sweater
My fluffy pink pj's
My hot pink blouse
My red wrap shirt
My burgundy cord jacket
My brown scarf
My green mary janes
My blue mary janes
My brown wool skirt
My cream wool sweater
1/24/2009
1/19/2009
When life is good...
You have a wonderful lunch and mall wander with good friends, you watch be-you-ti-ful snow fall lightly to the ground giving a blanket of fluffy white on branches and rooftops and then have a stranger lend you their pharmacy discount card so you can get a free eye shadow. What a great way to start the new chapter.
1/13/2009
Ten On Tuesday: 10 Things You're Really Good At
Loving my family
Nagging my husband
Making chocolate Guinness Cake
Making meatballs and gravy
Taking pictures of my niece
Taking pictures of lots of things
Editing those pictures
Procrastinating housecleaning
Tetris. And pretty much anything that has to do with spacial relations
Relating almost any situation to a quote from Joss Whedon
Nagging my husband
Making chocolate Guinness Cake
Making meatballs and gravy
Taking pictures of my niece
Taking pictures of lots of things
Editing those pictures
Procrastinating housecleaning
Tetris. And pretty much anything that has to do with spacial relations
Relating almost any situation to a quote from Joss Whedon
1/08/2009
Cool Auntie
The Fashionista turned five this week. And she's a full on five year old girl who loves dress up, talking, her dolls and unfortunately, Hannah Montana. So as I started last year, she gets a mix cd from me to introduce her to music other than sugar coated pop.
And yes, I will admidt that some sugar coated pop will make it onto the mixes occasionally, but so will some good stuff - I mean, how can you go wrong the the Beatles and BB King. Right?
And yes, I will admidt that some sugar coated pop will make it onto the mixes occasionally, but so will some good stuff - I mean, how can you go wrong the the Beatles and BB King. Right?
1/06/2009
Ten On Tuesday: 10 Things You Want to do in 2009
Well, some of these things are similar to my resolutions for the year, and some are things that won't be a stretch because I know I will do them, but they all are things I want to have happen in the next 51 weeks.
1. Make a timbalo from "The Big Night".
2. Move out of Staten Island.
3. Take a vacation that doesn't involve any family members - on either side.
4. Have a spa day with me and a girlfriend. (or two, or three)
5. Get a couples massage with my sweetie.
6. Spend at least 3 days in full photo shoot mode while I wander the (fill in the blank)
7. Host another CD exchange.
8. Go to Longwood Gardens
9. Go down the shore, spend the day on the beach and the night on the boardwalk and ride a roller coaster
10. Go camping along the Delaware river.
Now it's out there - so maybe it will happen!
1. Make a timbalo from "The Big Night".
2. Move out of Staten Island.
3. Take a vacation that doesn't involve any family members - on either side.
4. Have a spa day with me and a girlfriend. (or two, or three)
5. Get a couples massage with my sweetie.
6. Spend at least 3 days in full photo shoot mode while I wander the (fill in the blank)
7. Host another CD exchange.
8. Go to Longwood Gardens
9. Go down the shore, spend the day on the beach and the night on the boardwalk and ride a roller coaster
10. Go camping along the Delaware river.
Now it's out there - so maybe it will happen!
1/04/2009
Photo Friday: Disorder
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