You might be addicted to books if...

thanks picaresque. i like that her url means pen name. :)

1. You buy your purses based on how many books you can fit inside. {Yes, yes, yes! Although, now that I have a Kindle, I don't need a big bag...}
2. The Fed Ex and UPS carriers, know you by name. [Well...not because of books. Usually because of the strange things I buy off of Etsy. But, that's a different post.]
3. Your family refuses to buy you books because they don't want to support your habit. [My family is full of enablers.]
4. You own multiple versions of the same book. [I do. But, usually because I lose them. Then find them. Then lose them again. Or ruin them with bathtub water or sand.]
5. You dream about books. (Getting them... meeting the authors that write them.) [Not sure about this one.]
6. You always have at least one book on you at all times. Even if it's just a quick trip to the dollar store. [Kindlegarten is with me at all times. Everywhere I go. Work, mall, car wash...]
7. You usually help shoppers at the bookstore, because you are more knowledgeable than the staff. [Noo...I did that once a Sephora though and I thought the girl working there might stab me with a makeup brush. Go Makeup Forever!]
8. You've been known to skip family functions or outings with friends because you can't stop reading. [Yes. I like books more than you.]
9. There are books in every room of your house. [Everywhere.]
10. If you are within five miles of a bookstore, you find yourself drawn to it like a homing device from the mothership. [I work by Barnes and Noble. I have to tell myself to look away.]

Old and Young

Apparently, I am really sixty years old. My varied interests include eating at diners, reading anything and everything (especially on my kindle), cooking, museums, long cardigans, travel, NPR, jazz music and waiting to retire.

My mom calls me "boring."

As in, "Why did you put my Pandora on all this Old People Music. I listen to Top 40."

I call it "classy."

What else is classy? A mix of old and young? Fancy and a little bit rock and roll?

The Section Quartet and The Vitamin String Quartet.

Both groups specialize in turning popular rock songs into all string versions of fantastic-ness. They've covered The Postal Service, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Oasis, to name a few. If I was hip enough to know how to embed a movie, I would do it. I want the soundtrack of my life to be Black Hole Sun as played by Section Quartet. It sounds dramatic and awesome. Like the soundtrack to a dark, Gothic novel. I think I just ceased to be cool with that reference. Sorry Mom. Guess I'm not cool enough quite yet.


Section Quartet Plays The Postal Service

Section Quartet Plays Black Hole Sun

String Quartet Plays Wonderwall!

String Quartet Plays Smells Like Teen Spirit!!

Don't like Mondays, but I do like this:

But. I do like this stuff:

Keep Calm Gallery

Maker of the above image. And many, many, many more awesome prints including of course ones like these:

The Happiness Project

I think I've written about this before. Gretchen Wilson is pretty neat!


Shoo Jimmy Choo

I like the idea of this. However, I don't know how to feel about the fact that the website includes the words "vaca" (as in VACA! Let's all go! Roadtrip! AHH!) and the fact that it contains multiple references to SATC.
But, let's face it. I'm a sucker for shoes and pink. This book has both and I'm tempted to at least download a sample to Kindlegarten and find out what this is all about. It has five stars on Google Ratings and the Google Gods have never let me down. The website has a whole bunch of good links as well. JoHanna showed me Mint.com which has a whole bunch of really good tools for budgeting and expense tracking. Check out a sample here.

Last, but not least, I do like Sarah Wilson. Especially when she gives me reasons to like Mondays.

Things I LOOOOOOVE

weheartit.com

♥ well i like this picture for starters. Isn't she so pretty? Plus, she's also a great singer, she's the other half of She and Him

♥ Rogue Theory I just bought one of their Tech-ee sleeves for Kindlegarten. It's adorable. Sooo many cute fabrics to choose from. Always use protection my friends.

♥ Striped shirts

♥ Gourmandise. Each Saturday afternoon, I make it a point to try somewhere new and fantastic to eat. Usually My New Best Friend Yelp helps me accomplish this. Yelp told me to try Gourmandise. I did. And I am in love. With their grilled cheese on the yummiest cibatta I have ever had. With the yummiest mixture of cheese ever. Plus, a delicious brownie. Go! Go! Go! Next place to try: Carluccis.

♥ Real Simple magazine

♥ Italian sodas

IT IS ALMOST THE WEEKEND!

Kindlegarten: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

In which I believe my mind has been...poisoned?

Those of you who know me...and maybe even those of you who don't...know that I am not by any means prudish. Some might even say I am a little more prone to Humor of the Male Variety. My sophomore year of college I was Queen of That's What She Said jokes. HOWEVER, I do have a heart. And my heart doesn't enjoy reading about certain subjects. Might I explain:

I am obsessed with Kindlegarten. I spend more time with My New Boyfriend than anyone else. I love that I can read basically any book in the world. After hearing all the hoopla surrounding The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, I finally downloaded a sample. I approached it half-heatedly. I didn't really want to like it. I read the sample though. I was hooked. I really enjoyed the book. I was absorbed by the pure strangeness of the whole situation. Mikael Blomkvist is a financial journalist turned murder detective when his journalism career turns south. Lisbeth Salander is an outcast computer hacker with a strange past. How would the two of them become intertwined in the plot? Who really was behind the murder? Would Blomkvist get his revenge? And why does everyone in Sweden have a last name that starts with a B?!!?

I read pretty much every second I got. Until last night. I couldn't sleep. I powered up my Kindle (yeah, I sleep with it). Big mistake.

SPOILER ALERT:

3 AM is not the best time to read about some perverts awful sexual assault on a girl. Especially in such detail. I can handle a little bit of grisly detail a la The Kite Runner. But, this book (originally titled more appropriately in Swedish Men Who Hate Women) is rife with gruesome sexual assaults and murders. The disgusting thing is, these accounts of assault were presented in such a way that it felt like the female characters were so hardened by their circumstances it didn't really affect them. And the author? I think it takes a sick mind to write in such a detached way about so many horrible events. The dialogue was creepy and twisted. Although Salandar is a fiercely independent woman, the way her Advokat speaks to her is like he is a pedophile addressing a small child. Although she tries to act, she is only acted upon. Disgusting. Men Who Hate Women really is a more appropriate title for this book. Not one male character is this entire book has one redeeming quality.


I really wanted to enjoy this book. I was thoroughly disappointed with the content and graphic nature. Too many women (and men and children for that matter) are abused each day for me to even remotely enjoy reading a fictional account of such events.


No thanks. I'll pass. Deleted from Kindlegarten.

Late Things I Love

Gaaah I had a whole slewwww of things I've loved these past two weeks.  In no particular order:

♥ the grand opening of Sephora in UT
♥ spending a (#*$)#(*)$ ton of money at Sephora and getting a lovely bag that I put reading materials in
♥ NARS anything.  Seriously, I know everyone says how awesome it is.  But The Multiple has changed my life and my little sister loves the foundation.
♥ nail polish.  especially sea green and ballet slipper pink
♥ wedges much like these that are six inches and I can barely walk in them
♥ Cafe Rio <3333333 as always
♥ g-chat ;)
♥ Keva with my little sister
♥ Soap and Glory ANYTHING.  This brand is awesome.  Everything smells AMAZING. The body wash smells just like my new favorite...♥ Dior perfume (curse you Sephora) In my head, I smell like a European woman. Although, when I lived in Europe, I smelled like Chanel...and diesel fumes.  Which is also very European as well.
♥ the still. crappy. weather. (NOT)
♥ The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  I have to give my weekly shout out to my boyfriend Kindlegarten. Has anyone read this?  I'm not that far in, but so far, I've really enjoyed it.  I talked with my neighbor about it and he said it got technical and kind of dragged.  We are almost at the same part and I didn't notice this at all!  Perhaps because I used to be a Journalism major?  So far I'm really liking it and I didn't think I would. 
♥ The Venus Embrace playlist on pandora
and finally....Sleepyhead by the Passion Pit.  

Improving

haha! I took another practice section of the GRE...my verbal score has gone up 10 points.  I've been taking the time to actually look up the words in books that I'm not quite sure of the meaning.  Yes, I read books with the dictionary next to me, but jokes on you because I'm so cool such an old, retired woman wannabe that my dictionary is actually on my Kindle.  The great thing about the Kindle is that it HAS A DICTIONARY built in.  Oh, dissemble.  You can't fool me.  Kindlegarten (yeah I named it) taught me what the word meant.  So what that I already forgot what it means.  Disguise or conceal.  That's right.  The fact that I have a Kindle does not dissemble my wish to be an old person who never has to work again. 

good luck dr. b

today b is leaving to go to med. school. good luck dr. b. today is the day i figure out what i'm going to do while b. is away.

♥ searching for an internship
♥ taking that GRE class i signed up for gulp
♥ hanging out with my. new. boyfriend.
♥ learning french in my spare time so i can attempt to be smart in grad. school. thanks for nothing Pepperdine language requirement. does anyone want to tutor me?!?!?!? for freee or an awesome dinner?
♥ generally moping about
♥ g-chatting b
♥ synching b's and my calendars on google


let's just say....i need to find a lot of things to occupy my time.

Things I ♥ ♥

♥ google docs
♥ grace for the moment
♥ dresses
♥ flip-flops
♥ Napoleon Perdis primer
♥ blogstalking
♥ yoga
♥ Real Simple magazine
♥ feeling loved
♥ getting ice cream with my dad
♥ MY KINDLE
♥ cooking classes
♥ CHEESE
♥ pine nuts
♥ {pasta}

and how much are y'all loving the SNOW? STILL.