“I didn’t want to be a slave to cattle,” he said. “I’m a slave to books instead.”

At the Borders closing sale this weekend, I picked up a copy of Lonesome Dove, and marveled at the huge book that could be mine for only $7.20.

My friend had the good sense to kindly point out, "But are you really going to read Lonesome Dove?"

Good point... it'll just sit on my shelf, and I'll tell people that I keep meaning to read it but never have the time. But this article on The Book Bench blog reminded me that I DO love Larry McMurtry. Horseman, Pass By and the resulting movie Hud (with a super dreamy Paul Newman) in particular.

He owns a fairly large and famous used book store in Texas, and of course has a big love for books (and I mean "books" in the holy sense of the word. The literal object that sits on your bookshelf, with a cracked spine, turned down pages, that tells snoopers "I've read this and LOVE it").


“It’s tragic,” he said. “It’s just clear that bookselling as it’s been basically since Gutenberg—a form of dispensing culture, if you will—is clearly passing away. I don’t think we have a reading culture anymore. Five years ago, I would have thought I was leaving my son and my grandson a great asset, and now I’m not sure I am.”

Read more here

Doesn't he look like a fun guy?

Day 2: What I Wore and Day 4: Favorite Color

I know I'm a little behind on this photo challenge... and it completely defeats the purpose of a daily photo challenge pick and choose the assignments.... but I don't think my two readers will mind (Hi Mom!).

Day 2: What I Wore...
Jewelmint Calypso necklace, of course
Snazzy new glasses
Black and blue boho type top (only $12.99)

Day 4: Favorite Color...

I wouldn't say blue is my favorite color, but I'm obsessed with these jasper beads I found. I took this photo without a filter because I wanted to show off the green highlights in the beads. I imagine dinosaur eggs look like this... only bigger.

Day 1: Photo Challenge

I love the photo challenge over here on Oh So Lovely.

Day One: Self Portrait - also a good excuse to show off the necklace I just assembled (I hesitate to say 'made' since I didn't manufacture anything...)

If we've chatted for any length of time, you'll quickly learn about my love of big earrings... and fear of Barbra Walters' earlobes.

While time may have been kind to Barbara Walters in some ways, it's been absolute murder on her ears. Check out the photographic evidence: they're practically sitting on her shoulders.

So in an effort to preserve my dainty and youthful earlobes, I've begun to shun heavy earrings, but I couldn't help but order these wonderful earrings. Of course they were way too heavy to wear and I couldn't bear to return them. So I found a vintage-y looking silver chain on etsy, and made them into a necklace.

Etsy find: Oink Oink

How cute is this etsy print? I'm suddenly thinking our kitchen could use more red accents...

Currently sold out on etsy, but here's hoping the seller adds more items soon.

August Stitch-Along

Here we go, blog attempt #45 - this time I'm going to try and chronicle my crafty projects. I'll also be throwing up some posts of things I like and find squee-worthy. Unsure about the name at the moment, I'm thinking 'Crab Apples' or 'Sweet Tea', or some other such thing I like...

Now that we're somewhat introduced, currently I'm working on a project for the Feeling Stitchy: August Stitch-Along. This month the challenge was to find a patterned fabric and embellish!

Seems like most pattern fabrics are floral (and boring!), so it took me until mid-August to locate a sort of cute bird pattern fat quarter at Wal-Mart. Not bad for $1.25 if you ask me. But to be honest, I'm not in love with these birds. Since I haven't bonded with this fabric, I chose colors I wanted to get rid of and didn't want to save for other projects.



I'm beginning to regret this, as it's hard for me to stay motivated. I've made very little progress, but do you see that yellow bird's eye? Do you know what this is? SUCCESS. I've absolutely never ever been able to create and keep a french knot, but that beauty only took me three tries to get right. Baby steps folks, I feel like true embroidery mastery will be mine!