Life in Denim and Flip Flops

If you haven't heard the news, John Green announced the title of his new book: The Fault in Our Stars. It's slated for release sometime late next spring. Being John, he's decided to sign every pre-ordered copy. Basically he'll be signing the whole first printing of the book. Since he made the announcement, it's been the #1 seller on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. About a week ago he told us on tumblr that he wanted mocked up covers when he released the title. I couldn't help myself and this is my first attempt. The second one I got mostly done, but needed some help figuring out where to place John's name and with some background coloring from Kevin. I did the title (font, color, and placement) and the background image. Kevin did the rest. PS--If you really want to follow my tumblr, you can find it here . I don't post much original stuff. I mostly reblog stuff about my fave BBC shows. :)

I wasn't going to write today. I'd been putting off my posts all week. When I got up this morning I knew I had 3 posts to write today to keep up my resolution to write 3 times a week. It's a cop out to do them all in one day. And an hour ago I told myself I wasn't going to do it. That I didn't care. No one was going to keep me to it, or think less of me for it. But that's a lie. I will and I would. So here I am, last minuting it again. But this time with a vow. I'm going to make a concerted effort to actually write posts with some substance in July (and this last week of June). Blogging for blogging sake isn't going to cut it anymore.

I've been neglecting my writing. Tomorrow I'm going to rectify that. I'm going to take my notebook, my coffee, and maybe a picnic out to my favorite park and write. Not sure what. But something.

I bought this table last weekend at a cute little salvage shop in a neighboring town when I was visiting Manda last weekend. I knew I'd repaint it and use it as a night stand in my guest bedroom. The previous stand night was much too tall and had very little surface space. I'm quite proud of how it turned out. The images aren't great quality. I took some pics on my camera, but when I went to upload them onto my computer I realized the battery was dead. So you'll have to survive with pics from my phone. I repainted it a warmer yellow and stenciled some flowers on it. It's my first experience with stencils. Not bad for a first attempt, right?

I didn't forget you blog. Well, ok...I almost forgot you, but here I am at 11:20 typing out a blog. Manda and I just got home from Madison where her friend Michael was throwing a party. We had fun hanging out there. I tried not to think about the fact that I was at least 6 years older than most of the people there. :) And that some of them were younger than the students I see in my classes. I know that I shouldn't be weirded about age gaps like that, but sometimes I am. I'm too observant not to notice them, but I'm getting a lot better about not being concerned about it. Anyway, we had fun. Fantastic food and punch (though being driver I was good and did not partake of the latter.) Dinner at Dotty's and rocking out to Charlie McDonnell's album on the way home were classic Manda/Becky moments. Now we're off to play Super Mario on the Wii and eat sherbet, because clearly that is what you do with your sister on a Saturday night!

Tonight I drove an hour to Mount Vernon to see Sarah. And then we got in a car and drove another half hour to Cedar Rapids to see Company in the theatres. We were both a little surprised to see an $18 ticket price, but for the chance to see the filmed version with those names (Neil Patrick Harris, Patti Lupone, Christina Hendricks, Stephen Colbert, etc.) we ponied up the dough. And boy was it ever worth it. Beautifully acted. Well staged and filmed for the big screen. And the singing was beyond amazing. Twice I had to remind myself to breathe when NPH was singing. I went in thinking it would be great, but it blew away even those expectations. And as always great theatre-loving company...for Company. I have the best friends ever. Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9

I'm a pretty observant person. I also love to find patterns. This kept me entertained when I worked as a cashier. I would concoct stories about people based on what they bought. I'm always a little paranoid people are doing the same to me now. Sometimes I even concoct stories about myself using the items I buy or borrow. My public library record is usually pretty good fodder for that. Because I work in an academic library, I tend to use the public library in a very particular way. Usually for audio books and graphic novels, something my library doesn't have much of. This usually leads me to feeling like people must think I'm illiterate! Today was a little different. A good mix of stuff: Anything Goes soundtrack Merlin--BBC show Season 1 Disc 1 Arrested Development--Season 1 Disc 1 Audiobook of Memoirs of A Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin Audiobook of Across the Universe by Beth Revis Back When You Were Easier to Love by Emily Wing Smith Dark Summit by Iris Jo...

Today I drove back to Wisconsin to go to my godsister's high school graduation party. Yep, that's what I said. Godsister. Janet and David are old family friends. In fact, my parents set them up. David was my dad's roommate when they first started at the hospital, and Janet was my mom's friend from nursing school. They're my sister's godparents, and my parents are their daughter Brenda's. And that's how I ended up with a godsister. Brenda's an only child, so we sort of acted as older sisters when we were younger. Looking through the scrapbooks I was reminded of a lot of great memories. It also made me feel a bit old. A girl I remember being born just graduated from high school. Wow!

I had a wonderful afternoon with my parents today. We did lunch at Crust and dinner at Star Restaurant, with a bit of shopping, river walk, and word games in between. I left them after dinner. They were headed to a concert; I was headed home. I'd initally planned to do laundry tonight, but decided I wanted to just watch a little television, blog and maybe read a bit of my book before bed. Sadly nothing worth watching was on, so I decided to pour a glass of wine, grab a scone, and put in Sherlock, the BBC series from last fall thinking I'd multitask and blog while I watched. It being a Steven Moffatt production I should have known better. I'm just 24 minutes into the first mystery, and I'm already in love. So much so that I've paused it just to blog this. Too much going on for me to tear my attention away from the show. Sometimes I think I might have been born in the wrong country; while the rest of the time I just know it. Tonight is one of those nights. Thank goo...

It is currently 90 degrees at 8pm. That is a bit ridiculous. But no fear, I'm here with some warm weather coping tips. Now you may be asking what makes me qualified to be dispensing such advice. You are right to question. My main qualifications come from living in a second floor apartment without central air in Iowa for the last 3 summers. I have a window air conditioner located in the kitchen, however, due to the layout of the apartment, that's not super conducive for cooling anything but the kitchen (and the the living room if I set up the fans right). Now that I've convinced you I'm qualified, here are my coping tips. Eat lots of popsicles. They keep you hydrated and cool you down. I'm a fan of the sugar free ones. Don't cook unless you have to. Today I had an apple and cheese, cherry tomatoes, and a bowl of cereal for dinner. Decently well-balanced and no turning on the oven! Drink lots of water. Hydration is key. Close the curtains and don't turn on...

I get so lazy when it comes to food in the summer. I rarely want to cook when I get home. Plus when it's 90 degrees outside that means it's like 90 degrees in my apartment. This is why I sometimes feel like I subsist on popsicles and guacamole in the summer. And fruit and yogurt. Tonight, after a full day in Madison, it was kettle corn and popsicles. I'm feeling bad about that now. Maybe I'll go find some cheese and crackers. I promise tomorrow I will eat real food. :)

So excited. Cara and I are driving up to Madison to meet Rachel there. I miss Madison. I haven't been there in a while. (Watching Manda graduate doesn't count since that was a day dedicated to her.) Rachel has never been to Madison, so I'm still planning in my head what to cover. Three librarians hitting the town. Look out Madison. Being the quasi-host of this shindig I figure I should probably have some food ideas up my sleeves. Cara's gluten-free so I was racking my brain to figure out what's a good place to go. And then I thought to just Google it. And that's when I found the Madison Area Gluten Intolerance Chapter's website with gluten-free menus and helpful restaurants. So excited. This totally helps. I hate when I take someone some place to eat only for them to have like 2 choices of what to eat. I'm glad to see the Gritty, Great Dane, and Bluephies on the list. I'm really thinking Bluephies will be it. It is my go-to in Madison. Farmer...

I am a consumer at heart. A cheap consumer, but a consumer none the less. I love buying books and shoes and bags. Clothes go in waves, usually the summer months are big because I'm a huge fan of garage sales. This has been the case for many years. Don't believe me? Ask my mom about my childhood bookshelf or obsession with my red patent leather shoes. One thing I've never been a huge buyer of is music. Now I'm not talking stealing music instead. I was more interested in listening to the radio than really owning a lot. And what I did own I listened to rabidly for months at a time, as I've discussed before . That's still true to an extent. I still pop in an album and listen on repeat. In fact that's exactly what I'm in the middle of doing this week. It's a new music week for me at Casa de Becky. For not being a huge music buyer in the past, I'm finding myself doing a lot of music purchasing in the last few months, this last week especially. I boug...