late night rambles

super into all of the new accessories at work (ae) right now

lately, i've spent a lot of time thinking about the kind of person that i am or that i want to be, and what parts of my life i want to put emphasis on. i am finally back working in the one retail job i've felt at home in, and now i want the rest of my life to make sense for me, too. in a lot of ways, i think i've really been coming into my own in the last few years, but i never want to stop pushing myself to be better, happier, and more comfortable in my own skin. this may be coming about solely because of the change in seasons, but i think i can feel a big change in my whole life. cheesy!

so, although these days i'm happy with the majority of my life, i've really, really felt like i've been failing in a couple of ways: in my friendships, and in my reading (i know).

i've been trying to fix my lack of communication with my friends, whether it be a 30 minute skype before work with becca, a sweet little craft date with amanda, and hopefully soon plans with kayla, i'm really trying! i want to spend more time with friends, and less of my free time watching tv (which is really hard with EVERY SINGLE SHOW I WATCH coming back on! ah!) or doing the dishes (sometimes i feel like all i do while i'm at home is wash dishes? although austin would disagree, haha). i just really miss my girls, y'all. so i'm hoping i'm on the right path to remedying the damage i accidentally did while transitioning jobs and being lazy bones!

would you believe that i'm STILL reading "geek love" ????? remember this post? i was (and still am) SO excited about those books. i just.. stopped reading. for no reason. i'm hoping to change that tonight, right after i finish this post. i'm not going to pressure myself into finishing in a certain time frame or whatever, but geez. i can't believe i let myself slip so much. it's annoying and embarrassing and i miss reading so much!

i can't wait to make more time for these two things (because they're two of my faaaavorite things). does the fall ever have you thinking about changes you want to make? <3

reading is really cool!

a bookstore in west va
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i got my college degree in english. i think i originally chose the major because english classes in high school were always my favorites, and they came so easily to me. however, i really, really fell in love with literature during my four years at roanoke college. especially in my senior year, when i was able to really focus on everything i was reading.

one fallback to majoring in english in college was that i had very little free time to read anything of my own choosing. this meant that once i graduated, i was beyond overwhelmed by all of the choices in books that i had. it was like this ridiculous floodgate opened and i had no idea where to start. obviously i want to read everything ever written, so i needed to find a way to do it. ;)

thus began self-induced reading lists. this way, i give myself about ten books at a time to work through, and while i'm reading those, i can mark down anything else that catches my eye during that time, and that'll go on my next list.. and so on and so forth. i'm about to finish up my last book in my most recent list, and i thought i'd post my next one here. they are usually full of things that don't make sense together at all, since there's no rhyme or reason to them.

currently, i'm reading "geek love" by katherine dunn. it's kind of creepy, and not something that i'd normally read.. at all, but amazon kept suggesting it so i finally gave in. sometimes i think amazon knows me better than i know myself. i love carnival themes, and so far this book is beautifully written (and nothing that i expected it to be). so, when i finish "geek love," i'll start something from my new list! besides getting them only from my list, i don't read them in any particular order, i just go with whatever sounds good when i finish a book. this is why i ended up reading "the year of the flood," which is the second book in the maddaddam trilogy, then "the great house" which is kind of like a book of short stories, and THEN "oryx and crake," which is the first book in the maddaddam trilogy. totally weird and out of order, but it worked for me.

here's my new list:

"just kids" by patti smith

i have heard nothing but good things about this book, from all kinds of people. i love biographies and patti smith, but honestly, i just really love reading about friendships. i'm really excited.

"the borrower" by rebecca makkai

this book is on my list solely because at some point, some review compared her to both nabokov ("lolita") AND helen fielding (the bridget jones' diaries series) and that's awesome and weird and i want to see if it's even possible.

"how to be alone: essays" by jonathan franzen

a lot of people really don't like franzen, but i'm not clear on the reasons why, so i'm interested to see how i feel about him once i read something of his. i like essays (i read a couple by joan didion this month and now i'm a little obsessed), so this'll be a nice break from all of the novels.

"the fault in our stars" by john green

this sounds a little bit like a soap opera (or at least just a little bit dramatic), and sometimes i just want to read a soap opera, ok!?

"so big" by edna ferber

honestly, i've been wanting to read this book for so long that i can't even remember my original reasons. and i haven't picked it up yet, because it isn't available on kindle (i KNOW, but it's so so so easy to just rent an ebook from my bed).. i'd really like to get out to the library anyway, to look for more books to add to lists later. amazon tells me that this book remains current, because it deals with issues like poverty, sexism, and the want for success in a way that resonates with modern readers. sounds good.

"the stranger" by albert camus

mostly i'm just angry that i never came across this book in my 17 years of schooling. it's about time i read it.

"a confederacy of dunces" by john kennedy toole

see above. ugh.

"an american tragedy" by theodore dreiser

when i was way too young, probably middle school sometime, i attempted to read this book and gave up due to the fact that it was literally one thousand pages long (not literally). i saw it on one of the rory gilmore reading lists, and my interest was renewed. plus, kindles don't tell you page numbers - they give you a percentage of the book read, which makes it way harder to be discouraged. :)

"the devil in the white city: murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed america" by erik larson

really, the title says it all. ;) austin just finished this book about a month ago, and was super into it. i'm not usually interested in historical literature, but apparently this story is DRAMATIC, so i'm probably going to love it, haha.

there are a few reeeaally long ones in this list, so i'm curious as to how long finishing them is going to take me! we'll see.

what are you reading right now (i really want to know!!) ?! <3

ps, i found this a long time ago and i come back to it quite often when i can't figure out where to even start to find a book to read. start with a general mindset, choose an author, and go from there. it works! :)

pps, i REALLY want this book to be made, because i really want to own it and use it. i began the long trek into margaret atwood's work totally unaided a couple of years ago, and i know something like this would've helped. i'm going to donate when i get paid on friday, would you consider a donation, as well?

ppps, i spent about 2 hours tonight putting the finishing touches on my "everyone must read these before they die" list, and blogger ate it. no drafts, no nothing saved. needless to say, i'm a little bitter and that list probably isn't coming for a long, long time. just know that i have a list! i just have to retype all of my reasons and babbles. i could talk about books for a lifetime.

whoa whoa whoa.. hold the phones

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i think i just lost all semblance of cool. while catching up on blogs, i clicked on a link from making it lovely only because it mentioned gilmore girls (bekuh and i were just talking about gilmore girls at the button factory meeting!). it ended up being this list of books that rory reads throughout the show.

i wasn't super convinced by that list, so i kept searching, and found a couple more.

apparently the wb used to have a section of their website dedicated to rory's reading, and this is a reproduction of that list. these are mostly classics, but there are some i've heard of and never read, and some that i've never heard of, so i'm excited about making my own list from this one!

my favorite list was this one, which lists every book mentioned in every episode (whoa). looooots to go through here!

i have no idea why i'd never thought of something like this before, but i'm so glad other people have! ;) all of the reading lists i've made previously have officially been pushed to the side, because honestly, i just want to be as cool as rory gilmore. <3

currently

wearing: you know those phases you go through where you hate your closet and everything in it? that's me, right now. it's probably partially the weather, partially starting a new job & feeling like a new style should come with it, but mostly just being a fickle girl and reading too many style blogs. today, i went back to my basics.. a loud and comfy thrifted dress (i think it had to have belonged to a 3rd grader in 1993.. so probably me) and a favorite necklace. sometimes i actually refer to it as my lucky necklace and i have no idea why. i just love it.. i got it at a deadhorse show here in roanoke. the girl in the band sells jewelry on the road. she has an online store, too!

reading: i'm still working through "oryx and crake" right now. i'm not as into it as i was "the year of the flood," unfortunately. it's kind of a bummer when you don't like the narrator of a book, haha. luckily, my list of books i want to read is continuing to grow in a serious way, and austin and i are starting to want to read similar things, so i'm pretty excited about the reading coming my way. :)

kinda giddy about: my mama picked out a wedding dress tonight! i couldn't be there, because she's notorious for making plans way too late and i had to work, but she and i kendall came to visit afterwards and i'm just so excited for her.

watching: austin and i have gotten back into weird documentaries. this is probably the best and the worst thing because i tend to get really obsessed with things, and documentaries are basically other people obsessing over things. unnecessarily, usually. in the last few nights, we've watched one about monopoly (pretty cute.. i ended up crying happy tears) and one about a man on death row (pretty horrifying.. i ended up disgusting crying).

prematurely excited about: target's news! i can't get enough of these collaborations, but this one seems like the most perfect one so far: alice + olivia, band of outsiders, marc jacobs, rag & bone, rodarte.. ?! SO EXCITING.

avoiding: the fridge. i need to go grocery shopping and i really think all we have anymore are ice cream sandwiches, which are at a maximum of 1/day in my life. but YUM. eep. grocery shopping asap.

have a good weekend! <3

radio silence

source (the first page of huckleberry finn)

this week seemed endless, and even after we got power back, i just didn't have time for the internet!

things i've been up to lately:

i finally saw moonrise kingdom! it was incredible and everything everyone says it is and so of course i immediately started coveting a poster! but, since i probably won't get my hands on one.. this seems like a good substitution. :) also, i favorited like a million of her other posters. i'm always trying to find a classy alternative to austin's movie poster collection, haha.
related: a cup of jo posted this list of wes anderson's best tv commercials this week. i had fun watching them this morning. :)

bekuh made a huge button factory announcement last week! we're SO excited about these necklaces. i have one, and i covet the 7-feathered one. <3

i've been REALLY wanting some more tattoos lately. i'm trying to plan out the rest of mine pretty specifically so i can end up with gorgeous pieces working together, like both of these girls. i sorta want the second girl's finger tattoo right now! so cute. :)

my new job rules. it's a lot harder, a lot more fun, and just an overall better situation than my last. i get two days off like a normal person! everything's just awesome.

austin and i have been talking more and more about a puppy coming into our lives once we move. i'm allergic to kitties, or else we'd have one of those lil guys by now. my dream is really to own a couple of bunnies and a pup, but austin hates bunnies. :( but! a puppy! in our lives! in october! this is big.

i finished a book, the great house, and started another margaret atwood book, oryx and crake. this one is set in the same world as the year of the flood, which i finished a few weeks ago, so i'm excited to be immersed in it again.

i'm excited to catch up on all the blogs i've missed this last week, now that things are calming down. see you guys soon <3

little girl bookworm

last night, austin and i tried to watch a weird movie version of a wrinkle in time, and although we didn't even make it like 45 minutes into the thing, i couldn't help but start reminiscing on all of my favorite books from elementary and middle school. i'm thinking about maybe rereading some of them, and wanted to make a little list here. i'm starting with the earliest books that i remember absolutely loving and going in chronological order (as best as i can), ending with a series of young adult novels that i actually finished in the last year or so. ;)

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i was obsessed with this book. i read the four sequels, even though i remember not quite grasping some of the concepts (i read this in 3rd or 4th grade.. i think). i remember thinking meg was so cool, because i've always loved girl heroes in literature. and since i didn't read much science fiction, every aspect of this book seemed so weird and different. although the movie kinda blew (since we were watching it via netflix, i didn't actually know that it was made for tv until like 30 minutes in?), it only made me want to reread the book (maybe all five of them?!) even more.

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i read holes around the same time that i read a wrinkle in time. it takes itself a lot less seriously, so it's a more fun read, even though i remember being super on edge the entire time (haha, a worrywart from the beginning!). it's a really cute story, with a sweet ending. a funny movie was made of it.. i still remember all of the lyrics from the theme song? ohh geez.

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this book is insane, and i actually reread it all of the time. my copy was given to me in a book trade with some childhood friends, and it doesn't even have a cover anymore. it's about a wizard who holds a competition to find the most evil witch to become his wife. i don't even know, i'm obsessed with this book. no one ever knows what i'm talking about when i bring it up, haha.

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my sister and i LOVED this book. i think i even reread it a bunch of times when i couldn't sleep while i was in high school. it's really sweet, kind of a retelling of a classic fairy tale (cinderella, probably?). it's such a quick and fun read, i might just pick it up tonight. oh, and this one was also made into a movie, but kendall and i both agreed that it wasn't great.. it was nothing like the book.

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i think i loved this book for the same reason that i loved a wrinkle in time.. kit was such a strong female character. it starts out as she's orphaned, and then ends after many accusations and hardships towards her. i cried myself to sleep the night that i finished this one.. for good reasons! actually, i'd probably cry if i read it tonight. it's a classic for a reason. and, as far as i know, there has not been a movie made of this one.

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i probably read this when i was too young?, but i'm glad that i did. it's intense, but so is middle school, right? i probably cried through every single page of this book, and i think that was probably its point. melinda just starts out so pitiful, and the book is almost excruciating. i remember forcing kendall to read it (and catcher in the rye) when i was old enough to feel like i could make her read things. ;)

oh also it was made into a lifetime movie. that's actually pretty good and heart wrenching. and stars kristen stewart.

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sarah dessen was actually one of my favorite authors in middle school, but i remember this book the most. i think it was because it's about a girl who's soooooo against love, and i totally thought i was above all of that. kendall and my copy of this book was torn to shreds by the time we moved out of our house, i think we may have actually just thrown it away. i may have to restart a little sarah dessen collection. :) oh, and no movies have been made from this book, but two sarah dessen books were combined to make the mandy moore movie, "how to deal."

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and this is my favorite young adult fiction novel of all time, in conjunction with the four other books of the jessica darling series - the last of which i found in a goodwill last summer (i hadn't known that it existed!) and devoured in like 2 hours. i feel like i literally read these five books over the course of ten years.. it was like jessica and i were growing up together. the books start when she's around 16 i think? and end when she's about to get married. ughhhhh i just love them and could talk about how much i love (and hate) jessica darling and marcus flutie for like ten hours. AND I HEARD THAT THEY'RE MAKING A MOVIE OF SLOPPY FIRSTS. omg.

this is really long and kind of embarrassing because i promise i was (and am!) reading really intense literature that you don't find in the young adult (or even children's chapter books, in this list) section of barnes and noble. i will forever have a soft spot for all of these books, though.. and they'll probably never leave my bookshelves. one day i'll start doing lists of my favorite fiction novels, but these are worth some reminiscing over! :)

have i missed any that you loved? i think this may have started a weird craze in me, add some to my list! <3

ps, in case you noticed this glaring absence: i purposely left off one of my all-time favorite authors, even though she writes young adult fiction, because i'm planning on rereading all of her books and hopefully being re-inspired by her all over again, so i want to give her blog posts all to herself. francesca lia block, anyone? xoxo

pretty things around the internet

hi guys! i hope everyone is having a good week. i've been running myself ragged - i had to set aside my day off for errands (minus a sweet lunch with old coworkers.. i miss them all of the time), and i haven't been able to sleep in any day this week.. i know, poor me. but these late retail nights really take a toll on a girl.

this week, i finished "the particular sadness of lemon cake" and started margaret atwood's "the year of the flood." i'm really excited for this one - margaret atwood is one of my favorite authors, and i've tried to space out reading all of her books, instead of reading them all at once.. so that they last longer, obviously. that's normal, right? ;)
even though finishing books is actually one of my favorite things in the world, i was kind of sad to finish "the particular sadness of lemon cake." although it was absolutely not what i was expecting (at all..), the  storytelling really pulled me in. i found myself understanding rose and even anticipating her actions. a couple of the book's subjects hit kind of close to home, too, and the way she handled them was the exact opposite of the way that i did.. something i really like finding in books. i recommend it. :)

here are some things i've been saving to share all week:

bekuh wrote a post about a date night austin and i shared with she and ryan. her photography is so incredible, i love seeing even my life through her eyes!

a cup of jo is one of my favorite blogs. she is always introducing the coolest things, like this. her blog was also the first place that i saw the trailer for mindy kaling's new show (SO excited).

i've had wedding fever lately (for literally no reason), and james of bleubird just posted her enchanting wedding video.. i can't get enough of her pretty life. :)

i have this ugly baby blue dresser (you may have seen it in the background of a post or two) since before i can remember, and i could never decide what color to repaint it. now i'm thinking yellow.

<3

currently

hi! today has been a ridiculous mayday. i don't even want to get into it, eep.

i decided it'd be fun to start doing currently posts, inspired by danielle of sometimes sweet.

reading: "super sad true love story" by gary shteyngart. i've had this book on my kindle for a few months now, and i had even attempted beginning to read it several times, but never fully committed to it. well, apparently saturday was it's day, because i started it again, and i haven't stopped! it's dystopic literature, set in a futureish america (something i can't get enough of lately..). it is also scaring the crap out of me, but things like this do things like that to my overly sensitive sensibilities. :) i'm about 30% of the way through it, and so far, pretty awesome.

watching: lately, austin and i have been switching between "psych" and "louie." in case it isn't clear, "psych" is usually my first choice, and austin always goes to turn on "louie." i can't help but have a bit of a crush on shawn and gus, and austin thinks louis c.k. is hiiiiilarious (i spend half of the show laughing out loud and the other half being overly offended).

thinking about: my job, my business, my future.. sometimes i think i'm having a pretty serious quarter-life crisis, but i think these thoughts are things every deals with, pretty much as soon as they get their first "real" job. i know exactly what it is that i want to be doing, it's the process of getting there that i'm stuck on. i just keep wondering when that one moment that makes my current job not worth it anymore is going to happen.

loving: it's really silly to say this, but lately i've been super loving austin. like more than normal? i don't know about that, but my love is deepening for him all of the time. it's ridiculous. i spent a couple of hours the other day being really nostalgic about how i'll never have another first date or first kiss or any silly things like that, but then i realized that i'm totally cool with that, because for the rest of my life, i get to have firsts with him. because i figure those are never going to go away? there are always going to be things we haven't done together, and i want to spend the rest of our lives doing them.

anticipating: my day off! ;) i have a couple of plans, but mostly on my days off i get the most excited to see my sister and niece. and we're going to do a photoshoot for the store, since we'll have another update in a couple of weeks!

listening to: i've been switching back and forth between ben kweller's new album, go fly a kite, and (obviously) jack white's new album, blunderbuss.

i've been listening to ben kweller since i can remember (literally, elementary school with his 90s band radish), and i have a serious soft spot for everything that he creates. this release reminds me SO much of his early solo stuff, and even though i really did love his foray into country music, i missed his indie pop side even more.

after searching for this song to post, i got sucked into this youtube rabbit hole of ben kweller live videos. i just think he's so cute, and i'd love to see him again sometime soon.

eating: grilled cheese has become my current go-to meal while i'm at home. i've been trying to cut down on the mall food, because it's disgusting, but grilled cheese isn't that much better. ;)

feeling thankful for: my grandma, for her kindness, her understanding, her help, and just for always being there and believing in me.

hope you're having a good week so far! <3