be AUDacious

Monday mish-mash

Oh, it's one of those Mondays where I'm not ready to head back to work because the number of things on my to-do list just seems overwhelming and I'm functioning on too little sleep. Why is it that I never get all the things I plan to accomplish completed over breaks like the 5-day weekend I just had? (I know why -- I'm not nearly as productive as I'd like to think I am, and I always overschedule -- LOL!) Anyway, in light of the hectic day ahead of me, here's a quick bulleted list from me in lieu of a "real" post today...

• My lovely friend Liz is guest blogging over at Ella Publishing today. The post isn't up yet, but make sure you stop in and check it out before the day is done -- she's got a beautiful project available that you won't want to miss! She also has a great giveaway going on over at her own blog, too!
  
• "Capture the Season" is off to a great start. Jenn's post yesterday is full of some great links that you won't want to miss! Coming up today is a post on photography, and tomorrow's post is about list-making and journaling.
  
• Speaking of list-making and journaling, I'm toying with the idea of offering some journaling classes here on the blog. Would you be interested? If so, what topics would you like to see most?

• Cass will be marching in the Christmas parade on Saturday, while Cami will be riding the Girl Scouts float. They are both really excited to be participating, and when they are finished, we are heading to Nashville to see the lights at the Opryland Hotel.

• I'm really excited about this news -- I've known Leora for several years now, and I was thrilled to be included in this group.
  
• We're supposed to get snow tomorrow. Of course, I'll be on my way back from a 2-day staff meeting in Louisville (of course) so I'm a bit nervous about the drive now. We'll just see what happens.
  
• Today is the last day to pick up the November kit from Songbird Avenue -- and just wait until you see what's in store for December. It's gorgeous, truly.
  
• One of my favorite authors has a new short story collection coming out, and I'm so excited about it. The first books of his that I ever read were some of his Newford stories, so it feels like a homecoming of sorts. It's definitely another thing to add to my Christmas/birthday wish list.

my birthday / Christmas wish list

I'm one of those lucky (???) people whose birthday falls very close to Christmas; so is my husband. Mine is the 23rd, and his is the 26th. For years, we've dealt with the "combined present" syndrome; luckily, though, we never do that to each other, since we've put up with it individually for so many years.

In the spirit of helping out family members who may (or may not) be searching for gift ideas for me, I've created my own wish list; besides, I know you all like to look at pretty things. :)

this book about Louisa May Alcott -- she's become one of my favorite writers to read about

these lovely Lotus stud earrings from Etsy.com

 

the Janice Mixed-Media Tote from Delia*s

this leather cuff from Lisa Leonard Designs, with the phrase "be here now" stamped on it

this sweater from Gap, in exactly this color

the movie soundtrack for Where the Wild Things Are (and I wouldn't mind the book about the making of the movie either)

the Oddfellow's Postcard collection from Inside a Black Apple

book review: Darkwood

taken from Goodreads:

 

"A shining debut novel set in a land of haunting darkness

Darkness falls so quickly in Howland that the people there have no word for evening. One minute the sky is light; the next minute it is black. But darkness comes in other forms, too, and for Annie, the misery she endures in her uncle's household makes the black of night seem almost soothing. When Annie escapes, her route takes her first to a dangerous mine, and later to the king's own halls, where a figure from Annie's past makes a startling appearance. All the while, reported sightings of kinderstalk-mysterious creatures that prowl Howland's dark forests-grow more frequent."

This YA novel held a lot of promise, but I felt the author never really delivered on it. The initial concept was fantastic, if a bit dark and quite depressing. The protagonist, Annie, was really compelling though, and her two cats become secondary characters that perked me right up every time they appeared. At some point, maybe a third to half-way through the novel, the feeling of the whole book seems to change. A number of new plot developments are introduced, and what started off as a quirky dark fantasy seems to become more predictable and less likeable. At this point, the problem becomes one of execution, as Breen seems less capable of adeptly working all of these different elements together into a cohesive whole. This is one YA series where I'm not sure I'll be picking up the sequel, for the simple fact that the story I started reading is not the same story I finished reading.

book review: Acceptance

taken from Goodreads:

 

"A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist spends a year with a legendary high school guidance counselor who gets kids into the right colleges by focusing on self-discovery rather than test scores, grades, and the other traditional tools of the trade

Gwyeth Smith, known as Smitty, has made a national reputation by flouting the conventions of the college application ritual. He often steers kids from the SAT to the ACT, which he considers a more straightforward test that produces higher scores. He urges parents to home in on hidden bargains, scour the country for scholarships, and challenge financial aid offices rather than take out large loans. He will sometimes talk a seeming shoo-in candidate out of setting her sights on the prestigious Ivy League while goading another long-shot student into aiming for that same Ivy League school. His unorthodox approach is grounded on the principle that getting into college shouldn't just be about getting in; it should be a kid's first great moment of self-discovery.

David L. Marcus, a Pulitzer Prize-winning former education writer for U.S. News & World Report, follows Smitty and "his" kids around Oyster Bay High, a diverse public school in Long Island, New York, as he works his unique magic on their applications and their lives. Smitty's kids run the gamut from the sweet but pathologically disorganized boy next door to the valedictorian who applies to twenty-eight schools. As the year unfolds, Smitty deals in his own ingenious way with almost every complication that can bedevil the applications process. What about the kid who doesn't test well? The kid who plunges into depression after being rejected by Columbia? The overachieving Korean American boy worried about reverse discrimination? Smitty has answers for all of them.

While Smitty excels at easing the pressure of the college hunt, his success comes from imposing a different-and deeper-challenge. He makes kids articulate (orally and in writing) their profoundest fears, their drawbacks, their secret hopes. In short, he makes them figure out who they are. Along the way, he uses his savant's knowledge of America's thirty-six hundred colleges and universities to pair each student with the right one. He sidesteps the applications industrial complex, with its slick Web sites, private essay coaches, and obsessive focus on metrics. He brings to the college search counterintuitive insight and even wisdom-attributes that thousands of students and their parents, frustrated with the excesses of the process, will find useful and inspiring."

Much of the work that I do focuses on preparing students for the college admissions process; the difference is that my students are low-income and (often) lower-performing than the students in this book. There's no Ivy League school on the radar for any of my students, so that aspect of this book wasn't my key focus. Still, the author shares a number of practical strategies and advice for the admissions game. Just be prepared for some poor writing and editing in places -- still, the students profiled are engaging and you'll want to keep reading to find out what happens to them.

book review: Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone

taken from Goodreads:

 

"You would think Petronella’s sixteenth birthday would be cause for celebration. After all, fashionable friends are arriving at her country estate near London, teas are being served, and her coming out party promises to be a resplendent affair. Everything is falling nicely into place, until, suddenly—it isn’t. For Petronella discovers that her guardian, Uncle Augustus T. Percival, has developed a most unVictorian compulsion: He must eat bugs. Worse still, because he is her guardian, Uncle Augustus is to attend her soiree and his current state will most definitely be an embarrassment.

During the festivities, when Petronella would much rather be sharing pleasantries with handsome Lord James Sinclair (swoon), important guests are disappearing, kidnapping notes are appearing, many of the clues are insects, and Uncle Augustus is surreptitiously devouring evidence. It’s more than one sixteen-year-old girl should have to deal with. But, truth be told, there is far more yet to come . . ."

Lowe creates a charming and fun romp through Victorian London with its fair share of feisty heroines, bug-eating uncles, handsome friends, and dastardly villians. I'm a fan of light-hearted novels like this one, where the intelligent and courageous protagonists work against society's pre-determined roles for them to help out family and friends -- and possibly save Britian as well. This reminded me quite often of the Cecelia and Kate novels but without the magic. Some readers have criticized the book for depictions of classism and imperalism, but for middle school girls, this will just be a fun read.

book review: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

taken from Goodreads:

 

"From the bestselling author of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle comes an intimate look at writing, running, and the incredible way they intersect.

Equal parts travelogue and literary reminiscence, this revealing memoir covers Haruki Murakami’s intertwined obsession with running and writing and his preparation for the 2005 New York City Marathon. From Tokyo’s Jingu Gaien gardens, where he once shared the course with an Olympian, to the Charles River in Boston among young women who outpace him, Murakami creates a vivid tapestry of memories and insights, including the eureka moment when he decided to become a writer. By turns funny and sobering, playful and philosophical, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is rich and revelatory"

Murakami is an author that I'm just becoming familiar with; I've read two of his novels and have a couple more in my to-read stack. While I'm not a runner myself (ha!), my sister and my oldest daughter are, and this glimpse into what it means to be a runner (at least, according to Murakami) provides an interesting spin on the typical memoir genre. This slim volume is marked by Murakami's clean prose and conversational tone; these connected essays build into an examination of the reasons why he runs and the reasons why he writes -- reasons that bisect in interesting ways. My only complaint is that some of the chronological organization in these mini-essays seems off, so that I was confused a time or two about when certain things happened. Other than that, this is a quick read and an interesting look at one author and these two solitary activities.

book review: Her Fearful Symmetry

taken from Goodreads:

 

"When Elspeth Noblin dies of cancer, she leaves her London apartment to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina. These two American girls never met their English aunt; they only knew that their mother, too, was a twin, and Elspeth her sister. Julia and Valentina are semi-normal American teenagers -- with seemingly little interest in college, finding jobs, or anything outside their cozy home in the suburbs of Chicago, and with an abnormally intense attachment to one another.

The girls move to Elspeth's flat, which borders Highgate Cemetery. They come to know the building's other residents. There is Martin, a brilliant and charming crossword puzzle setter suffering from crippling obsessive-compulsive disorder; Marjike, Martin's devoted but trapped wife; and Robert, Elspeth's elusive former lover, a scholar of the cemetery. As the girls become embroiled in the fraying lives of their aunt's neighbors, they also discover that much is still alive in Highgate, including -- perhaps -- their aunt, who can't seem to leave her old apartment and life behind.

Niffenegger weaves a captivating story in Her Fearful Symmetry: about love and identity, about secrets and sisterhood, and about the tenacity of life -- even after death."

I wasn't sure what to expect from Niffenegger's newest novel; I was a bit apprehensive about reading it because The Time-Traveler's Wife probably tops the list of my most favorite novels ever. Other than the love story (or stories) central to this novel, there's not much similarity between the two. Niffenegger's character development is top-notch here; each character is brought to life and contains enough interesting and odd behaviors to keep your attention. In fact, Niffenegger does such a great job of slowly building character that it takes you a while, as a reader, to realize that perhaps the characters you liked so much at the beginning aren't really worth liking at all.

It's that sense of creeping unease, of something's-not-quite-right-here, that Niffenegger creates most skillfully in this story. Things are just off, in a number of relationships, which is the primary focus of this disturbing novel. While I didn't love this as much as TTW, it was an enjoyable read, and Niffenegger's writing makes it time well spent.

Birds of a Feather

Just a note: I've teamed up with Jenn of Simple Scrapper to bring you a holiday workbook called Capture the Season, aimed at helping you record your holiday memories in a simple stress-free format. Our daily posts started yesterday, so make sure to visit each day to see what great information Jenn and I have to share with you.

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Kate Teague's new kit, Birds of a Feather, is now available in the Two Peas digital store. This was my first time working with any of Kate's products, and I really enjoyed how fun and versatile this kit was.

For this layout, the shape of the word art gave me the idea to repeat that shape, covered in patterned papers, to create a strip above and below my photo. A strip of skinny journaling completes the look. I love how the blues of the papers look against the gray background -- definitely my favorite color combination from this kit.

Any time I open a kit, I look to see how many ways the papers and elements can be used. Kat's new kit is perfect for both boy and girl layouts, with a number of pink and blue papers and elements. On this layout, some quick erasing inside the hand-drawn border gave me the look of another layer of pink paper, on top of the polka-dotted paper. The bird's little speech bubble provides a fun title -- this would be a great kit for a daily album or other project along those lines.

*** A quick note: I am truly enjoying the challenge that comes along with completing my assignments for the Two Peas digital creative team. With the other CTs to which I belong, I am only asked to use items if I want to use them. I have the flexibility of creating when I feel like creating, which means that the layouts I create are layouts that I would be creating for my albums anyway. With my Two Peas work, I'm required to complete a certain number of layouts each month, although I do get to choose which kits I work with. While it would be really simple to just create a "filler" layout that shows off the product, I'm working hard to make sure that the layouts I create are authentic and meaningful, and will stand the test of time in my albums. I've been doing a lot of thinking about these things, especially as I've been spending more time in the galleries. There's definitely another post about this coming; I'm just not sure when I'll get to it. I'd love to hear any comments you have about the topic, though.

family photo sessions

I was super busy at the end of October with a number of family photo shoots. I'm so lucky that so many people have seen my work and asked me to capture images of their families -- it's something I truly LOVE doing. Here's a glimpse of the three families I worked with. I have one more shoot for tomorrow afternoon, and then I'm finished until spring rolls around.

Joe, Denise, Derek, and Jared
 

 

 

Justin, Lacey and Ty
 

 

 

Seth, April, Abbi, and Dylan
 

 

what I'm thankful for

...so many things: a wonderful husband who makes me laugh on a daily basis and supports all my ideas, two beautiful girls who are growing into such interesting people, a house that is cozy and comfortable and full of things that we love, and jobs that are near which we love and which keep us growing intellectually. We have health and faith and love and laughter and contentment and dreams. We have obstacles that keep us moving forward and teach us to value all that we have.

 

credits: Paislee Press Designs: In Good Company collab with Leora Sanford, Chasing the Sun, Presslines No. 17 - Thankful For, Presslines No. 16 Love + Notes, Date Me No. 3

Whether you are celebrating Thanksgiving or not, I hope that today is a wonderful day for you, full of blessings and that you are able to look at your life with gratitude and a thankful heart.