November! and a little update...

Oh wow, for the first time since creating this blog space in March 2006, I missed an entire month of posting to this blog. I don't know where October went!

Lu and I had funky Halloween paper lanterns and giant spiders to hang on our porch, but we got distracted by everything else and never hung them on the porch. Next year...

My days are mostly filled with work and my 2 grad classes. I'm about 80% sure I'm not going to be taking any classes in the spring. I'm exhausted and I'm not enjoying it the way I thought I would; I'm also not sure this program is preparing me for this field in any tangible way (so why waste the time and expense just for a piece of paper?) I have 5 years to complete it, so a semester break is allowed while I gather my thinky thoughts on it.

Last month (Eep! October!) I went to Boston for 5 days with Random Acts. I didn't get to explore the city very much, but I'll do a post of some pretty scenery in a few days! I have some "selfies" from my various treks around the city (and the farm we stayed at) so I could keep my kiddos updated on my whereabouts. And so they didn't forget my face.

Here's one, in case you have forgotten my face:

Meeting everyone that I work with at Random Acts in person was fun, but there were definitely hiccups. Maybe I'll tell you a story later.

Meanwhile, for you sewing aficionados...I haven't touched my machine in months. That's part of the NEW new life plan for Christmas break and moving into 2014. DO MORE THINGS I LOVE. I haven't even had time to open my Burda for November! Was it good? Ugh. I will do that tonight!

Ahh...let's see. Knee is still utter crap. But I can walk up and down a few stairs now, and handle a couple of inclines on my hilly hiking/walking.

Sidenote: Can you believe Christmas is upon us?? My mind is blown.

Lastly, as today is November 1, I'll go ahead and announce it's NaNoWriMo time! National Novel Writing Month for you newbies. 30 days, 50K words. I will be cheating again and working on a story already in progress (but only 3 chapters in). Yay! I'm excited!

Hope you're all doing well and I promise not to let another month go by without some kind of contact! Happy Friday!!

bon vivant

I'm pretty sure luggage shouldn't make me cry and want to have its babies.

olily luggage at anthropologie

And then there's this fiasco:

jocelyn dress

And this:

merida pencil skirt

And these:

lace melange top

honore buttondown

roselle pullover

beaded pointelle cardigan

I mean really, anthropologie. What gives you the right?

Nope.

This commercial totally didn't shatter my feels into a thousand glittering pieces and then stomp them into the ground and leave me crying in the dirt.

Not at all.

20 Years Ago Tonight...

I was settling down to watch the premiere of a brand new show:

The X-Files 

Pilot 1x01

I don't think I could begin to quantify the hours of enjoyment and escape these two have given me over the past two decades.

Thanks, Mulder and Scully. 

I still want to believe. 

Vintage art: Super crafty book design

Hands down the coolest story I've seen on the internet in a long while: secret fore-edge book paintings revealed at the University of Iowa.

all images copyright Special Collections and University Archives at the University of Iowastory by Collosal

Now I want to go to the flea market and play art detective.