I'm copying Dawn

Thanks to Mint Juleps and Sassafras Tea I am participating in this particular meme. I think it all fits together rather nicely.

1. Take five books off your bookshelf (Get off your ass and do it. You know you're aching to).
2. Book #1 -- first sentence
3. Book #2 -- last sentence on page fifty
4. Book #3 -- second sentence on page one hundred
5. Book #4 -- next to the last sentence on page one hundred fifty
6. Book #5 -- final sentence of the book
7. Make the five sentences into a paragraph.
And here it is:

It started with the pink dress. She had some spinning with her, but she felt too dull to do it, so she sat looking at her things until Gorlois, looking weary, came in. "Say no more, for here I have none other than Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island, a tale of high adventure and great educational content, because of all the science." I bet he'll call me like this every day when I get home from school, Leo thought. I think I'm getting the hang of the scientific method.

In case your interested, I used the following books:
1. The Pink Dress by Anne Alexander (As I was searching online for a picture of the cover of this book, I discovered that this book is rather valuable. I purchased this at a library book sale when I was a kid living in Knoxville. I had absolutely no idea it's worth and if it ever comes down to me selling my soul to Satan or selling this book for money.....it's going to be a tough decision) ;)
2. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley
3. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos ruiz Zafon
4. Funny Stories chosen by Michael Rosen
5. The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love by Carol Conner Browne

*Now, if you're a regular reader of blogs, you'll know what I mean when I say I'm going to "tag" you with the above meme. You must copy and paste the directions into your blog, whether it's one like this or a MySpace blog, once you've been tagged. After you do it, tag some other people with it. I tag Kristine, Angi, and Tristan. (This will show if you actually read my blog or not) ;)

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On another note, I'm close to finishing Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I won't give my opinion yet because I have already started writing my speculations in a draft for this blog. I will post the draft once it gets closer to the Long Distance Book Club meeting time so you can read and enjoy. Maybe you'll even bring up some of my thoughts at the gathering so I can feel as if I was a part of it.

Reading this book, however, got me to thinking about when it will be my turn to choose a book for us to read and discuss. Not that I'm complaining or anything, but I don't get to choose until January 2008. WOW! So, that leaves me with ample time to choose a book and ring in the new year with an awesome (and hopefully controversial) read. Plus, I am a bit of a procrastinator so it's probably best that I don't get to choose a book for my birthday month. I will be reading and researching books online and at my local library (not as good as CML I must concede) to come up with a great read. I might re-checkout BookLust from the library for some ideas and question my local librarians (How do you like that Ms. Adventurous Archivist?). Let me tell you that libraries and their accompanying websites have amazing resources for book clubs and just general book suggestions. The whole reason I read Ghost by Katherine Ramsland is because the Patrick Beaver Memorial Library in good 'ol Hickory, NC had fabulous displays of books in their main entrance. Also, I might pump information out of these Mainers and see what they think is fabulous.

Happy Reading!

How do I love thee?

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.......I feel like I should express myself a bit here. I'm by myself this weekend and I shouldn't be, so I'm going to let you in on my loves up to this point in my life. I feel passionately about many things and these are just some of them.

-My family (That includes people who aren't actually related to me)
-Friends (These are the people who aren't actually related to me)
-Maven and Abby (four-legged friends)
-Autumn trees
-Reading
-Writing (obviously)
If you ever feel the need to read a story, let me know and I'll post it. BUT that's only if I have more than one request.
-Eating! (I'm a Zeta. What else can I say?)
-Learning new things
-Walking on warmish sunny days
-Living a "green" life
-Photography
-KNITTING
-Crocheting (yeah, I do both, so back off)
-Sewing
-Okay, I like many crafty things so don't try to give me a new obsession.
-Cutting out pictures of house-type stuff
-Learning about the environemnt
-Cleaning. (Nobody shoot me for saying that. It's very satisfying because the results are immediate and obvious. For someone who is impatient, this is the best instant gratification)
-Organizing
-Baking
-Looking through cookbooks
-Lotion
-Trying different shampoos
-Soy candles
-Movies (Time to watch some new ones)
-Listening to my iPod (Currently Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around Comes Around"
-Period romances (Man saves woman who despises him but they fall in love anyway. She's also wearing great clothes with empire waistlines and she's beautiful)
-Listening and watching the rain
-Waking up to see everying covered in snow
-Bookshelves
-Yarn
-Vacuuming
-Squishy face
-Bacon
-New sneakers
-Donating "stuff" to charity
-Fixing things myself
-Talking
-Surfing the internet
-Harry Potter
-Energy efficient lighting
-Small, shiny, colorful objects (I love sparklies)
-Laughing uncontrollably
-Laughing in general
-Becoming friends with strangers through knitting
-Making up my own sewing patterns
-My blanket
-Fourth of July in Auburn, NY
-Camping in Vermont
-Taking on new responsibilities
-Exercising
-Making lists and then not following them
-Reading food packaging labels
-Seeing dogs dream
-Playing board games with my family
-Hiccuping
-Smell of campfire smoke
-Sneezing
-Letting my hair dry in the sun
-Finding money in a winter coat pocket
-Creating more space
-Building living room forts
-Wearing sexy clothes every now and again
-Pride and Prejudice
-Making people laugh (I love to make them laugh)
-Planning a party
-Studying knitting books
-Fenced in yards
-Climbing trees
-Bouldering
-Laughing at my brother's laugh

Most importantly, I love life. I try each day to learn something about myself that can improve my quality of life. Whether people notice it or not, doesn't matter so much as the fact that I know I'm trying. I try to practice forgiveness, and self-control. I try to let go and move on. I urge myself to be accurate and move quicker. Reptition is the key to success and being successful is being happy with what I do. I try to remember that receiving isn't half as fun as giving. Being a friend to even one person makes life full and being a friend to many makes life worth living. I try to remain loyal to people who deserve my loyalty. I love with as much passion as I can muster. I try to have no regrets, but I'm still working on that one. I just want people to know me and love me. I want to be smarter each day than I was the day before. I want to share my knowledge, my skills and my heart to enrich the lives of others. This is my "Love List" and I hope you've fallen into some portion of it because if you're reading this, then you've made me smile. Thanks!

"Your mother was a snow blower!"

These photos don't do justice to the kind of weather we experienced yesterday. In fact, it all looks rather tame if you don't consider the snow drifts that plowmen left behind last night and ignore the completely clear streets. It took about 45 minutes for Jake and I to get the truck out of the driveway and that was after him trying to unbury the tires each time I was able to inch backwards.





Yesterday, I remember looking outside the front doors at work and seeing this gust of white particles. It was sleeting, snowing and "winding" all at once. I was able to see just beyond the front doors, I had a moment where I imagined Pooh and the Blustery Day. You know, where Piglet just kind of flies by and Pooh is dumbfounded by this? I mean, the more I learned about this storm the more I realized we didn't get the brunt of it. I also realized that this was the result of a tornado in the south forming a catalyst for the entire storm, in a sense. Basically, the eastern United States got hit with a blizzard type hurricane. Freaky, huh? Well, maybe I'll have a chance to take some more snow pictures in the future. Stupid Punxutawney Phil.

Nor'easter......nor'leavin' here tomorrow.

Punxutawney Phil told a big lie on February 2nd this year. I'm not saying that he's a saint or anything, but he did mention that we were going to have an earlyspringand I'm pretty sure that the foot of snow I can see in my back yard is not the result of Mother Nature gracing New England with April showers so we can have May flowers. Jake and I were going to be flying to Colorado Springs tomorrow, but this Nor'easter has delayed all flights out of Portland. By delayed I mean cancelled. By cancelled I mean that the airport is shut down. The weather was bad enough that that place I work for (insert name here) closed 3 hours early! In fact, when I was trying to leave I followed a snow plow home and then attempted to get in my driveway. Let me tell you that rocking the truck back and forth really doesn't do any good when snow and a solid sheet or three of ice is beneath some tires. But, seeing that we're not getting anywhere I figured I'd be able to post something pretty fun.
A couple of you have commented on how you like my videos and I think I might continue to do them for you. In fact, I'll do some crappy ones and then work on improving them for you. By crappy, I don't mean what I'm taping, I just mean my quality of shooting. So here's another one for you, enjoy.

That's right, I have cool friends.

While I fall asleep to the sounds of snow plows and people trying to shovel their cars out of the snow, I'll try and sleep off some of this storm in the hopes that there will be sunshine tomorrow.

Central Park.....damn cardigan

This scarf is made with Khroma worsted by The Fibre Company in Blood Orange. 50% Alpaca and 50% Merino. This stuff was a dream to work with and it's made here in Maine. I recommend that you go totheir website to check out their fabulous yarns and colors. FABULOUS!

I will get this cardigan done. I am determined to finish it. Now, I'm not sure I can even wear it at work because we might only be able to wear button-up shirts because of the new boss man. If we can I'm going to be stylin'. This is made from Karabella Aurora 8. This yarn is so wonderful to knit with and it's really soft. I am obsessed with oranges and fall colors for some reason, so pretty much everything I'm knitting is either brown or orangish. Love it!

In other news, I'm flying to Colorado next week to see my sister-in-law get married. While I am dreading the plane flight more than anything, I'm excited to have a few days off from work. Please think of me while I grip the armrests for dear life. Besides, I've got a killer dress that I get to wear with really tall heels. It's not a killer dress so much as a how it looks on me. I'm only admitting this because it's a rare instance. Have a great weekend people!