iRead: a couple of things, actually!

After finishing the utterly fantastic Secret Life of Bees, I headed in a sillier direction. As usual, a few books caught my eye while shelving at work, and I set them aside to read. These books were:


Fun! By Avi!

They are both juvenile books - short, and rather silly. What made them endearing to me was the constant playing on words. If you know me at all, you're aware of my affinity for puns (bad ones will suffice...), so reading these two short books elicited a lot of giggles.




After reading these, I almost promptly picked up The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert. I'd been eying(sp?) the book at work for a few weeks, then my friend Lance lent it to me. The book is a biography of Eustace Conway, who lives self-sufficiently in the woods of Western NC. Gilbert examines his life, work, and philosophy from the stance of an observer-friend, and her writing is intriguing and funny. Overall, very thought-provoking.

At some point during the reading of Last American Man, another book jumped off the shelves at me. Or rather, perhaps, God drew my attention to it. Eat This Book by Eugene Peterson. After my post about Secret Life of Bees and how I read, I could not ignore this one. I'm in the middle of it right now, and will be for a while. This one, I shall thoroughly digest, I believe. And the Bible with it. More on this one as I work through it.

And lastly, I was given a book this weekend when a local author came to do a signing at work (The Open Book - Greenville, SC). I love to see what local authors are writing, so I've been giving this one a shot. I'm not much of a mystery/romance reader, but if this is your interest, then this would be a good book to add to your shelf. It's a quick read with an interesting (though thoroughly fantastical at parts) plotline.

The book is Refraction by Jan Dynes, who lives in Clemson now (after "crash-landing" on the SC coast.




As always, my list is growing faster than I can (or want) to read, so who knows what's next??

Happy reading, all!

Spiffy Bloggy Goodness!

My friend Michael is incredibly thoughtful! And skilled, in my opinion! He remembered that I expressed an interest in an actual banner for my blog a few months back, and sent me a really awesome one.

Who needs sleep??? I have Grace Incarnate, a fantastic husband, awesome friends, and a cool banner for my blog!


Well... I might be exaggerating. I need sleep anyway. So thats where I goes... right about... now.



Thank you, Michael!!!

Recreating

(Before I get started, Jeromie's home!!! I am so incredibly excited! :-D )

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Recreating, re-creating, creating. Either way, I've finally been doing a little bit of it lately. :-) I am a much happier creature when I can run, which means I've been a much happier creature lately. It's less than a month til the Cooper River Bridge Run, and I feel like I can maybe, just maybe, make it without getting injured. 'Tis a good thing.

Craftwise, I've not been knitting at all, but I have been cursing at making friends with my sewing machine. Okay... so I haven't been cursing at the sewing machine... if anything, I've cursed at myself & my extreme lack of skill in the sewing arena. Last night, I decided that the average 8 year old could probably sew better than me.



Jeromie: Wow, you must know some 8 year olds.

Me: Yeah, in my mind 8 year olds have some mad skillz...



So perhaps not. Maybe an 8 year old with the right training.

Anyway, these were my projects for this weekend:
(sorry... originally started the post last weekend, slacker me)


I found a cute teal skirt on a recent thrifting trip... but it was way too big for me (22/24w), so i...


...made it fit me! (and removed the beads... i might put some different ones on it... I haven't decided yet)


I painted on some shoes.


I made some fun slippers... our floors are COLD! And tweaked a curtain for the front door, too!


I ventured into the world of applique. Learned the ropes, and then...


... made a design of my own!
(it's my "signature" birdy!)



*sings* how much is that biiiiiiiirdy in the windoooooooow?


I've had a lot of fun just daydreaming & sketching & doing lately. I feel that being back *in* community (as opposed to skirting it...) has something to do with this. It makes me hungry. Hungry for God, hungry for real connection. It makes me want to "seize the day." More days than before, at least. I've definitely had days (and some this week) where I just wanted to withdraw, and I did, but there's a whole lot of pursuing going on around here. God never lets me stay that way. :-)






p.s. I didn't exactly get a good picture of the birdy. I used my favorite fabricky Christmas present for the body... it had a faint blue leafy/viney design on it. One of these days I might post a good picture of the bird itself. :-)

Life at the Bookedy...

Some days, I swear I want to bring home every book in the store. Today is one of them. But I'll restrain myself... and only bring home one. Maybe.

It helps that I've been steadily digesting a stream of good books lately... What is the What (Dave Eggers). The Once and Future King (TH White), The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (Carson McCullers), The Way of the Heart (Henri Nouwen), to name a few. Kind of like with running, the more I read the more that I want to! If I had more time, I'd ramble on about all of them. But I'll restrain myself... and only ramble about one. Maybe.

This morning, I finished The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. I'd originally checked it out from the library on CD for the trip down to Alabama this past weekend, but couldn't finish it in that format because one of the CDs was badly scratched. (Grrr... of course it stopped at a really crucial part.) Upon arriving home Tuesday night, I promptly borrowed the book from my good friend Juli and am now done. Oh, it was so good. Very well written. Very good story. I feel like I made a whole slew of new friends! Though our stories are in no way identical, I see parts of Lily's story in mine. The sheer telling of the story watered seeds of God's truth in me that the soil of my heart always seems to want to choke out. Looks like I've got some digging to do. :-)

I'm thankful that I'm not a particularly fast reader. Reading & writing are how I learn, so I tend to ruminate on the things I read. I take the words & story in and I feel like I literally digest them... I invite them to dwell in me and root around. Unless it's a textbook... that's a different story - you know, study mode. Unfortunately, this is the way I learned to take in Scripture too. Study mode. That's good in its time, I think, but Scripture is also story. God's story, and now my story too. I want to digest God's story the way I do with books. I want Him to dwell in me, to root around and find a home, to change me from the inside out. I know that He does dwell in me now in the person of Jesus (my Savior and Friend), but something's been missing. I think that perhaps it's been Jesus as the Word. I pray that that will change soon!

In the meantime, I will continue reading & digging & hoping & living.




"Really, it's good for all of us to hear it again. Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can't remember who we are or why we're here."

August Boatright from The Secret Life of Bees
by Sue Monk Kidd

Wardrobe Refashion

In the past year, I've become quite the blog fiend. There are a handful of blogs that I've subscribed to & read regularly, one of which being Wardrobe Refashion. Needless to say, I've been inspired. :-) I've already tried my hand at refashioning things a few times, so I decided to take the plunge during the last round of sign-ups.

The past month has been a little more eventful than usual (see Jeromie's post), but as things settle down, I intend to devote some of my time each week to refashioning & generally being creative... making a priority a priority again. :-) Here goes!!

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I pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months. I pledge that i shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoated, recylcled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftyness brings!

Signed: Lizzle