Wishing everyone a lovely Valentine's Day ^____^
Friday, February 13, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
An exhausting weekend!!!
What did I get accomplished this weekend? Very little in 48 hours that’s for sure. I had the bright idea of going shopping at the mall on Saturday to look for some clothes for work. I’ve never had a job before where I had to dress up and look professional. Working both as an archaeologist and then a bookseller required jeans and a t-shirt, nothing fancy so I’m in a whole new realm of clothing options for my current job.
I spent a couple of hours going between the various shops in our mall looking at blouses, button down shirts, etc. with no luck at all either because the sizes were too small or the prices were too expensive for one item of clothing. I will never understand how the fashion industry ‘sizes’ their clothing; they must assume that every woman in America ranges between 0-6 because I couldn’t seem to find anything that would fit me. I’m plus-sized up top, but petite on the rest of my body so finding shirts that fit nicely is a hassle.
My sister had told me the day before that JCPenny’s was having a sale throughout the store and I lucked out on finding a cute top and several bead necklaces. Miraculously the blouse actually fit without making me look larger on top and was reasonably priced at $19.99 when it is normally $36.
When my sister got out of work, we went back to the mall to look for a nice Oxford shirt for her and couldn’t find anything out of the 20+ clothing stores in the mall. You would think that a white Oxford shirt would be a standard in every store, but apparently not. We did see some adorable cardigans at the Gap, but they were $40?!?!? All that for a brand name piece of clothing! Highway robbery!!
My sister has been reading John Adams after seeing the HBO miniseries of the same name. She and I both inherited our love of history from our mother so if we aren’t reading fiction novels we are reading something historical. She was reading Saturday night and suddenly stopped and interrupted my cross-stitching by saying, “Wouldn’t it be neat if the fashion industry went back to dresses from the colonial America period?” LOL Yes, it would, but talk about expensive clothing! (sigh) Well, the history/period drama geeks in the world can only dream ^____^
I spent a couple of hours going between the various shops in our mall looking at blouses, button down shirts, etc. with no luck at all either because the sizes were too small or the prices were too expensive for one item of clothing. I will never understand how the fashion industry ‘sizes’ their clothing; they must assume that every woman in America ranges between 0-6 because I couldn’t seem to find anything that would fit me. I’m plus-sized up top, but petite on the rest of my body so finding shirts that fit nicely is a hassle.
My sister had told me the day before that JCPenny’s was having a sale throughout the store and I lucked out on finding a cute top and several bead necklaces. Miraculously the blouse actually fit without making me look larger on top and was reasonably priced at $19.99 when it is normally $36.
When my sister got out of work, we went back to the mall to look for a nice Oxford shirt for her and couldn’t find anything out of the 20+ clothing stores in the mall. You would think that a white Oxford shirt would be a standard in every store, but apparently not. We did see some adorable cardigans at the Gap, but they were $40?!?!? All that for a brand name piece of clothing! Highway robbery!!
My sister has been reading John Adams after seeing the HBO miniseries of the same name. She and I both inherited our love of history from our mother so if we aren’t reading fiction novels we are reading something historical. She was reading Saturday night and suddenly stopped and interrupted my cross-stitching by saying, “Wouldn’t it be neat if the fashion industry went back to dresses from the colonial America period?” LOL Yes, it would, but talk about expensive clothing! (sigh) Well, the history/period drama geeks in the world can only dream ^____^
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Cut and a Kiss
Well, I finished reading Anthony Hope’s The Cut and a Kiss earlier this week. I quite enjoyed it. The premise of the novel is the sharing of various stories of mishaps in love, which are told by several gentlemen amongst themselves at a gentlemen’s club to pass the time. My favorite stories were A Stage on the Road and Love's Condundrum.
The first story concerns a young man’s struggle with his feelings for a woman who is slightly older than he is and is regrettably married. In the end, the lady flees with her family and husband to another city in England. Years later, she sees the same young man on a beach front, but he doesn’t realize his first love. The second story involves a philosopher who is more concerned with ‘proofing’ a colleague’s latest publication than a girl’s blotched attempt at proposing marriage in a roundabout way using ‘what if A’ and ‘what if B’ logic. The story had me laughing because the poor man was so intent on answering her question of logic on whether she would be more happy with A (average man) than B (a smart man aka the philosopher) that he didn’t realize that she was asking for ‘his hand’ in marriage. As my sister says you can have all the book smarts in the world, but you will still lack common sense. I can attest to that, sometimes I’m just plain silly about things.
As I was researching Anthony Hope and his various novels to see what else he had written, I noticed something quite interesting (at least to a book nerd like myself). Apparently, Hope’s The Prisoner of Zenda started a new type of literary genre called Ruritanian romance. The main character of Zenda, Rudolf Rassendyll, decides to seek adventure and heads off to the fictional kingdom of Ruritania. There he is mistaken for the king of Ruritania who has been kidnapped and held for ransom; the book continues through Rudolf’s journey of restoring the rightful king to the throne, which is complicated by the fact that he has fallen in love with the king’s betrothed Princess Flavia.
With all this in mind, literary titles that featured exotic locales in Europe or the Middle East and centered around adventure, romance, and the upper classes were termed Ruritanian romances. One book that I had started to read late last year was The Lost Prince by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
I am hoping to find more books by Anthony Hope in the future. It’s quite a shame that libraries only have his more popular book The Prisoner of Zenda and none of his other titles. If you have the luck to find a copy of Zenda, please check it out!! You won’t be disappointed!!
The first story concerns a young man’s struggle with his feelings for a woman who is slightly older than he is and is regrettably married. In the end, the lady flees with her family and husband to another city in England. Years later, she sees the same young man on a beach front, but he doesn’t realize his first love. The second story involves a philosopher who is more concerned with ‘proofing’ a colleague’s latest publication than a girl’s blotched attempt at proposing marriage in a roundabout way using ‘what if A’ and ‘what if B’ logic. The story had me laughing because the poor man was so intent on answering her question of logic on whether she would be more happy with A (average man) than B (a smart man aka the philosopher) that he didn’t realize that she was asking for ‘his hand’ in marriage. As my sister says you can have all the book smarts in the world, but you will still lack common sense. I can attest to that, sometimes I’m just plain silly about things.
As I was researching Anthony Hope and his various novels to see what else he had written, I noticed something quite interesting (at least to a book nerd like myself). Apparently, Hope’s The Prisoner of Zenda started a new type of literary genre called Ruritanian romance. The main character of Zenda, Rudolf Rassendyll, decides to seek adventure and heads off to the fictional kingdom of Ruritania. There he is mistaken for the king of Ruritania who has been kidnapped and held for ransom; the book continues through Rudolf’s journey of restoring the rightful king to the throne, which is complicated by the fact that he has fallen in love with the king’s betrothed Princess Flavia.
With all this in mind, literary titles that featured exotic locales in Europe or the Middle East and centered around adventure, romance, and the upper classes were termed Ruritanian romances. One book that I had started to read late last year was The Lost Prince by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
I am hoping to find more books by Anthony Hope in the future. It’s quite a shame that libraries only have his more popular book The Prisoner of Zenda and none of his other titles. If you have the luck to find a copy of Zenda, please check it out!! You won’t be disappointed!!
Monday, February 9, 2009
Plugging away
Well, I got some stitching done on Sunday night after doing some laundry and filing my taxes. I have to say that I like this block of the Elements sampler the best, I can’t exactly tell you why, but I do. Could be because it’s the last in the pattern or because my zodiac sign falls under the Air element ;)
Maybe I can have it finished before the end of the month. After I finish the Air block, I have to go back to my dragon in the Fire block and finish that motif up. I was working on that motif in November, but I kept getting head colds and I couldn’t see straight to even concentrate on the little red/white squares on my pattern sheet so I left the dragon for LHN’s Bookshelf design, which was a nice change from red and white thread all the time. LOL I don’t even want to think about stitching the border on this sampler…..it will definitely take a while O_o”
What will I start after this sampler is finished? Nothing as big any time soon, even though I have two more Anagram Diffusion samplers in my stash. I was looking through some charts that I had bought on clearance at Hobby Lobby in late 2007 when I was just learning how to cross-stitch. I liked the patterns and bought them with the hope of working on them eventually when I learned how to ‘count’ stitches on linen. I think I might attempt a pattern that has a variety of specialty stitches in it. One of my stitching resolutions this year was to work on a pattern that allowed me to learn some new stitches so I think it will be perfect along with the theme, which is autumn ;)
Happy stitching!
Maybe I can have it finished before the end of the month. After I finish the Air block, I have to go back to my dragon in the Fire block and finish that motif up. I was working on that motif in November, but I kept getting head colds and I couldn’t see straight to even concentrate on the little red/white squares on my pattern sheet so I left the dragon for LHN’s Bookshelf design, which was a nice change from red and white thread all the time. LOL I don’t even want to think about stitching the border on this sampler…..it will definitely take a while O_o”
What will I start after this sampler is finished? Nothing as big any time soon, even though I have two more Anagram Diffusion samplers in my stash. I was looking through some charts that I had bought on clearance at Hobby Lobby in late 2007 when I was just learning how to cross-stitch. I liked the patterns and bought them with the hope of working on them eventually when I learned how to ‘count’ stitches on linen. I think I might attempt a pattern that has a variety of specialty stitches in it. One of my stitching resolutions this year was to work on a pattern that allowed me to learn some new stitches so I think it will be perfect along with the theme, which is autumn ;)
Happy stitching!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Another stitching update!
Last night I got a bit more finished on the Air section of my Elements sampler. When I get home from work, I usually get something to eat and then I stitch for an hour or two while multitasking by watching tv. Last night my sister and I were watching American Idol ;)
I won't get a chance to stitch on it tonight....but at least I was able to catch Hollywood week on American Idol ^___^
Hope everyone is staying warm tonight on the Gulf Coast! We have brought Sam in the house, he is sleeping in the laundry room tonight since it is too cold outside in his doghouse! LOL We also have two cats inside too!! They belong to our neighbors, but no one cares for them so we brought them in for the night.
I won't get a chance to stitch on it tonight....but at least I was able to catch Hollywood week on American Idol ^___^
Hope everyone is staying warm tonight on the Gulf Coast! We have brought Sam in the house, he is sleeping in the laundry room tonight since it is too cold outside in his doghouse! LOL We also have two cats inside too!! They belong to our neighbors, but no one cares for them so we brought them in for the night.
Book geek!
I had purchased a book by Anthony Hope several weeks ago on eBay and it finally made its way to my mailbox today! U.S. Media mail is very slow!
A Cut and A Kiss by Anthony Hope. This edition is from 1899....can you believe I bought it for $7.50 on eBay?!?!
I can't wait to get started on this book, but I have to be good and finish what I am currently reading, Silas Marner by George Eliot. The book is quite good so far, but it can bog you down a bit in parts. When I first started reading it, strangely it reminded me of The Scarlet Letter in writing style. I looked up Nathaniel Hawthorne I realized that he and Eliot were roughly contemporaries so there's one reason for similarity in style!
If you haven't read Anthony Hope's Prisoner of Zenda, please head out to your local library or bookstore and pick it up. Luckily this book is still in print unlike some of his other works. A few of them can still be bought, but usually in hardcover for about $30 a book O_o" Anyone who loves sword fights, mistaken identities, and forbidden love will enjoy The Prisoner of Zenda ;)
A Cut and A Kiss by Anthony Hope. This edition is from 1899....can you believe I bought it for $7.50 on eBay?!?!
I can't wait to get started on this book, but I have to be good and finish what I am currently reading, Silas Marner by George Eliot. The book is quite good so far, but it can bog you down a bit in parts. When I first started reading it, strangely it reminded me of The Scarlet Letter in writing style. I looked up Nathaniel Hawthorne I realized that he and Eliot were roughly contemporaries so there's one reason for similarity in style!
If you haven't read Anthony Hope's Prisoner of Zenda, please head out to your local library or bookstore and pick it up. Luckily this book is still in print unlike some of his other works. A few of them can still be bought, but usually in hardcover for about $30 a book O_o" Anyone who loves sword fights, mistaken identities, and forbidden love will enjoy The Prisoner of Zenda ;)
Jane Austen goodness!!
Look what my sister found at Target!!
I had gotten the newest version for Christmas and had been wanting to get this one eventually and 'lo and behold, there it was at Target, which is surprising because usually they only have newer movies.
I can't wait to watch it, even though I've since it a couple of times already!
I had gotten the newest version for Christmas and had been wanting to get this one eventually and 'lo and behold, there it was at Target, which is surprising because usually they only have newer movies.
I can't wait to watch it, even though I've since it a couple of times already!
Monday, February 2, 2009
The world of fairy tales
I can't quite remember what blog I was reading late last week, but they posted about a children's illustrator named Kinuko Craft. When I browsed through the photos on that blog, I realized that I actually had some of the artist's illustrations on some fairy stationery that I had bought a few years ago.
With my mind on fairy tales, I had put some of her children's books on hold this morning at one of the libraries near my work. My aunt and I carpool to work so she was kind enough to indulge my book craziness by stopping by the library so I could pick up the books I had put on hold when she picked me up this evening.
While I was waiting to bid on some items on eBay, I read the three books I had checked out from the library. I love the illustrations, Ms. Craft is amazing. They have a few galleries on her website that sell her oil paintings!!! What I wouldn't give to have one, but they are quite expensive. Though I won't begrudge the price of them, they are exquisite. Just to see one in person would be enough for me.
Ms. Craft is definitely a Renaissance-woman in the modern world with her delicate details. Her depictions of fabrics remind me of Bronzino's portraits and many of the other master painters of Renaissance with the way they could capture the look of fabrics. I was always amazed at how life-like they looked, it definitely made you think you could reach out and touch them. .....LOL Sorry, geekiness..... ;)
(sigh) I can't wait to get the other books I had put on hold by Ms. Craft.
With my mind on fairy tales, I had put some of her children's books on hold this morning at one of the libraries near my work. My aunt and I carpool to work so she was kind enough to indulge my book craziness by stopping by the library so I could pick up the books I had put on hold when she picked me up this evening.
While I was waiting to bid on some items on eBay, I read the three books I had checked out from the library. I love the illustrations, Ms. Craft is amazing. They have a few galleries on her website that sell her oil paintings!!! What I wouldn't give to have one, but they are quite expensive. Though I won't begrudge the price of them, they are exquisite. Just to see one in person would be enough for me.
Ms. Craft is definitely a Renaissance-woman in the modern world with her delicate details. Her depictions of fabrics remind me of Bronzino's portraits and many of the other master painters of Renaissance with the way they could capture the look of fabrics. I was always amazed at how life-like they looked, it definitely made you think you could reach out and touch them. .....LOL Sorry, geekiness..... ;)
(sigh) I can't wait to get the other books I had put on hold by Ms. Craft.
No fair!
I'm so jealous! I got home from work today and happened to catch a bit of CNN. Apparently, London got 8 inches of snow today?!?! LOL Though when I thought about it, even if I was in England right now, I would be in Egham and wouldn't be able to get to London because of the trains possibly not running ;)
In honor of the occasion, I thought I'd post some pictures that I took while I was in Egham early in 2007 at Royal Holloway. I woke up one morning to students screaming outside my dormitory. I looked outside and the whole area was covered in snow. By the time I was outside, almost everyone was out and about enjoying the chance to have snowball fights or make snowmen.
This has to be one of my favorite pictures that I took that day. I don't know how I got such a lovely one of the snowfall while some of the undergrads were having a snowball fight :)
The clock at RHUL covered in snow!
Commemorative sculpture of Queen Victoria in one of the quads.
LOL Since it was Groundhog Day today I walked into work this morning and asked one of my coworkers about the groundhog's shadow. (sigh) Six more weeks of winter.
I hope everyone is bundled up tonight and enjoying some nice, hot chocolate!
In honor of the occasion, I thought I'd post some pictures that I took while I was in Egham early in 2007 at Royal Holloway. I woke up one morning to students screaming outside my dormitory. I looked outside and the whole area was covered in snow. By the time I was outside, almost everyone was out and about enjoying the chance to have snowball fights or make snowmen.
This has to be one of my favorite pictures that I took that day. I don't know how I got such a lovely one of the snowfall while some of the undergrads were having a snowball fight :)
The clock at RHUL covered in snow!
Commemorative sculpture of Queen Victoria in one of the quads.
LOL Since it was Groundhog Day today I walked into work this morning and asked one of my coworkers about the groundhog's shadow. (sigh) Six more weeks of winter.
I hope everyone is bundled up tonight and enjoying some nice, hot chocolate!
Air block :)
Just a quick post to show my progress on the Air block of my Elements sampler.
What do you think?
Hopefully, I can get more of the Air block done this week :)
Happy Stitching!
What do you think?
Hopefully, I can get more of the Air block done this week :)
Happy Stitching!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
