Life in Denim and Flip Flops

I'm going to try something a little different here. Let me first say this blog isn't going to turn into a book review blog. I am not nearly a fast enough (or dedicated enough) reader for that. And we all know you don't want to read my thoughts about every book I read. (Because if you did, you'd ask me for that. Right?) But there are a few things I've read recently that I just need to talk about. And it won't surprise anyone who knows me to find out that one of those things is Morgan Matson's latest Second Chance Summer. So let the review commence!! Second Chance Summer-- by Morgan Matson This book is everything Amy & Roger was not. While Amy & Roger (A&R) physically traverse the country, Second Chance Summer (SCS) spends 97% of its time at a summer lake house in Pennsylvania. In A&R, family members couldn't be further apart physically or mentally. SCS looks at grief when the family members are all in the same house, literally una...

Today marked the opening of our inaugural summer reading program at my library. We're calling it the YA Reading Round Robin. Last year some of the YA Book Club members wanted to meet over the summer, but logistically that was going to be a nightmare. So we just went on break over the summer and picked it up in the fall. This year, Diana and I decided to be ambitious. We wanted to run a program that people around campus for the summer could participate in that required very little day-to-day work on our part. Also, we were aiming for something that would be flexible around everyone's schedules. This fall/winter I was a part of a long-distance book club. We modeled our program after that experience. In that group, each of 5 women picked a book and annotated, doodled, commented, and responded to what they were reading along the way. Then they mailed that book to the next person. That person would do the same, replying to the first person's comments and makin...

Last week was the first week that I failed to watch a "new to me" movie this year. It was one of my resolutions this year. And I think it was the last one I broke. Mid-April's not too bad. But I promise to make up for it this week. You know why? This week is the inaugural Julien Dubuque International Film Festival. After Kyle got held up by family obligations (totally forgiven because I adore his grandmother), Gretchen came to the rescue to be my house guest and film date for the weekend. We bought the 10-pass pack (we'll split it for 5 films a piece). We went to town today tearing apart the schedule to figure out what films we wanted to see, and then if we could find a way to do that without double booking ourselves. We ended up with: Searching for Sonny Route 66: Ten Years Later The Forest Prince and the Pigman: Hitchhiking in America Thespians And a collection of shorts that includes Cab 57 The shorts we'll see Friday night when Gretchen gets here a...

I'm blogging from my phone tonight because I can. For those of you who have had to deal with me during this craziness, thank you. I really should have tried to fix it sooner but you know how I am. Plus I figured I was due for an upgrade soon. And I was the day after I get back from my conference. Thankfully the guy at the verizon store talked me into a new battery instead. So far it looks like it solves the problem. Doesn't mean I won't upgrade to an iphone in May. Just means I won't cost me 700 dollars to do it. I'm looking forward to having a phone that will talk with my computer. And I'm secretly hoping it will make me want an ipad less. But I'm not holding my breath on that one. Either way I got great service and advice at the Verizon store. I've never been less than happy with them....when I finally suck it up and show up to fix things or make them happen. Back to your regularly scheduled computer-based blogging tomorrow.

...I got a call from the director of the University of Dubuque library telling me she wanted to schedule a phone interview for their Reference and Instruction Librarian position. That moment sent my life down a path that for not one day since then have I ever questioned that this is where I was supposed to end up. I am grateful every day for that phone call. Every. Single. Day.

I couldn't possibly blog about anything other than weather tonight. It's weird to open your local news website to see the phrase "life-threatening" in the weather forecast. Not really what I was hoping for. High winds, hail, possible tornadoes. I was trying to figure out a plan for the night since I have a second floor apartment with large northwest facing windows. Normally I'd hike it over to my great aunt and uncle's across town and crash in their basement. Just as I was contemplating calling them, my mom calls. She's asking for weather updates and whether or not the guys have time to get a round of golf in before it hits. They're just getting back from a vacation with my aunt and uncle. I tell them what it looks like and ask if I can just crash with them. So that's how I ended up a 20 minute drive south of my place where my car is in the machine shed safe from any hail. I've been keeping my eye on the radar all night. So far it's all...

How much do you love Pride and Prejudice? Have you seen every tv and movie adaptation ever made? How about ever YouTube adaptation? YouTube adaptation? Yes, I said YouTube adaptation. Hank Green of the Vlogbrothers is bringing a vlog style adaptation of everyone's favorite Jane Austen novel to the interwebs. How has no one thought of this sooner? Enter The Lizzie Bennet Diaries . It's funny. It's smart. Lizzie Bennet is an Austen heroine for the 21st century. The production quality, acting, and writing is tv-level. New episodes debut every Monday and Thursday. Get in before you're behind the curve! You can catch the first 2 episodes below. Spread the word!! This show needs viewers, and pronto!!!

It's time for TILT again. baking--I'm making Orange-Glazed Poppy Seed mini muffins and Spinach and Feta mini muffins for break tomorrow. I'm excited to try out these new recipes. :) (And yes, they're both pinterest recipes.) Holly Black's The Curse Workers trilogy--I listen to the first book White Cat as I fall asleep every night. I just finished rereading Red Glove, and I'm over a third of the way through Black Heart. And I love them. A contemporary urban fantasy with a decently simple backstory. Not that I don't love complex and intricate worlds, but the simplicity of the world allows Holly Black to weave an intriguing and complicated mystery into each book. Plus her characters are just damn compelling. Crash Course: World History --a video series where John Green teaches me world history. Does it get better? Nope. It really doesn't. seeing my family Easter weekend--Seeing my parents and Manda are always a good time, add in extended family and t...

Manda was nice enough to do another henna tattoo for me. So far the tattoos she has done for me have been quotes. This one is no different. It's one of my favorite John Green quotes, snaking up my arm. I had a few people ask what it said today. I'd yank up my sleeve and recite the quote: "My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations." It's from his latest book The Fault in Our Stars . Thinking about that quote made me want to compile a list of some of my favorite quotes of his. Most are from his books, a few from his YouTube channel. Here they are in no particular order. "My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations."* "Hashbrowns mean nothing without you."**** " 'J'aime les baguettes .' ' You aime lots of stupid crap.'"*** "I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, then all at once."* “What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person.”** ...

I loved this prompt when Manda suggested it. I have four charity(ish) organizations I give to regularly. It's time to pimp them here. Mocha Club --I have Dave Barnes (by way of Amy) to thank for this one. At one of his live concerts we went to, he talked about his work in Africa. And what he saw and how he felt about it all. And most importantly, how we could help. I can't do justice to the story he told. So go check out the updated version here . For just $7 a month, the price of 2 fancy coffee drinks, you can help bring a well to a village, shelter and an education for vulnerable children, or counselling for women at risk. I really like their message "I Need Africa More Than Africa Needs Me." So much of what the media tells us about Africa is this idea of a place without hope, desperate for help. But a Mocha Club member who traveled there talks how Africa " has taught me that possessions in my hands will never be as valuable as peace in my heart. I've le...

This was sparked by a humorous post I read about the types of people using Pinterest. It highlighted the people who don't pin anything, the ones who pin everything, the people who spend all their time pinning projects instead of doing projects, and the food pinners. Truthfully, I probably fall into the last category. But unlike the humorous post, I actually make the recipes I pin. Well, some of them. I've been doing a lot of cooking this year. Because of this I need more recipes than I have before to keep me from getting bored. In the past I've used Food Network recipes after watching a chef make it. I haven't had much time to do that recently. So I've been on the lookout for simple recipes I can make at home without fancy equipment or complicated techniques. Enter Pinterest. If you haven't used Pinterest before, it's just a social media site where you can pin images. But it's not just images. It's pinning an image that links back to the websit...

Thanks to a series of absences planned and unplanned, somehow my library staff finds ourselves at half capacity tomorrow. Just 5 of 10 staff members will be there. I don't expect it to be terribly busy, so it shouldn't be a problem. However I've spent the last week going to bed late, and staying up late to read. I slept for an hour this evening to nap, and even now at 8:30ish I'm ready to go back to bed. So I think that's what I'm about to do. Because I think we all know that sleepiness and impatience are bad traits to have on a day when you're already only at half-staff. So good night. Sweet dreams.

Up until about 20 minutes ago I had no idea what I was going to blog about today. In fact about an hour ago I said I probably blog tonight. I'm tired and worn out, and would be blogging for blogging-sake which is not the intended goal. And then 20 minutes ago, my sister asked me to tuck her in and read her the first chapter of her book. So I curled up on the foot of my guest bed and read her the first chapter of Dash and Lily's Book of Dares. It was fun. It's been so long since I've read anything aloud like that. Reading to kids while they're squirming on your lap is different. Those books are written to be read aloud. As I stumbled through Dash's chapter, I realized how much of his language, and timing, and cadence were not meant to be spoken. And boy did I stumble over some of those large words. You know the ones you know what they mean because you've seen them in context so many times, but damned if you've ever used them in real life? Yeah, this fi...

Manda is here for Easter. We're watching Friends and making sweet potato hummus for tomorrow's family dinner. I promise I'll write more tomorrow. :)

It's time to resurrect Things I Love Thursday, a blog post in which I tell you the things I love this week. Autumn--for sending me a DFTBA necklace exactly when I needed it. And for writing a note that said: from strangers to BEDA buddies to friends. Exactly what I needed to see. discussing books with students--whether it be The Hunger Games which is sweeping the nation and campus, or a book I've suggested or lent them, there is nothing cooler than listening to a student gush about reading. sweet potato hummus --it was super simple and absolutely delicious Hugo--I can't decide if I like the book or movie better. And that's saying something. Battleground --this Hulu original show follows a fictional Senate campaign in Madison. And it features Madison. And every time I watch it I miss Madison, but it makes me feel at home. I'm crazy. I know. But still. Check it out. Here's a clip:

As some of you may know, I've been working on a short story/short fiction piece on and off for a while now. I'm not doing anything serious with it. It's just something to do, a story I want to tell, but nothing I'm compelling to pour a lot of concerted effort into. Not yet, anyway. However, I have found a writing buddy on campus. Granted we spend more time chatting than writing during our sessions, but having the story present in the front of my mind has been helpful in me mentally developing it. Anyway, so I've been working on that, but not sharing it. This writing buddy of mine sent out an all call request for submissions for the local writer's guild anthology. For the first time, I'm seriously contemplating submitting pieces. Ironically, all of the pieces I'm looking at are poems, not short fiction. I've posted all of them on this blog at some point or another before. But I'm still a little nervous about submitting them. Publishing them he...

Last summer during our strategic planning meetings, I decided I wanted to take charge of putting up book displays on the first floor of the library. I'm pretty sure when I said I was going to do it, some of my coworkers thought I was crazy. It is a time commitment to put something up every month (or twice a month depending on how ambitious I am). Most of the displays have been pretty traditional. Graphic novels, YA books for Adults, March Madness (and other sports for the non-basketball fans). But the second display I did was homecoming. I ended up pulling books that had blue and white covers. A fantastic visual, but a bit of a challenge to pull for sure. (In case you're wondering, YA lit, sports books, aviation and gender studies have some great blue and white covers.) This month, we stepped it up. For National Library Week, we decided to do a 'mystery' book display. I had seen the blog post from Maplewood Library . I LOVED the idea and knew I had to do it here. ...

I am pretty sure I witnessed a time loop today. I was at the reference desk this morning when I noticed a kid I'd just had in class last week walking past the library. For those of you who have never seen the library, one whole side of building is basically windows, that you have the perfect view of from the reference desk. So back to the kid. He walks past the library, toward the door. I never see him walk in, but I don't think much of it because the front door is actually to my back. I go back to my reference desk-ing. A few minutes later I notice him walking past again. I think...hmm. Maybe he forgot something? Again. I don't see him walk in the library. I answer some questions, fix a computer, and come back to the desk. And then I see him again. And now I decide to start paying attention. And I start counting. I saw this kid 8 times in approximately 45 minutes. Always walking from the same direction, always alone, always walking towards the front door. Always lookin...

a woman. a sister. a daughter. a friend. a librarian. a teacher. a researcher. a cheerleader. an advisor. a reader. a writer. a poet. a baker. a cook. a photographer. an Anglophile. a Badger. a Wisconsinite. a Dubuquer. a Nerdfighter. a tech geek. a consumer. a singer. a blogger. I am me.

It's almost that time again! BEDA (Blog Every Day in April) is just around the corner. A few of us from last year's group are back and ready to roll for BEDA 4.0 Or in l33t speak BED4. Are you?? Manda is. And so is my friend Cara. Don't know what   BEDA   is? It's a little thing lauded   YA author   (and   TIME magazine twitter of note )   Maureen Johnson   started 3 years ago on a whim. And by whim, I mean...she made a comment on Twitter and someone said "hey me too!" and the next thing you know there are 400 of us crazies following her lead and blogging every day for an entire month.Half way through the month she offered to pair us up with other people for motivation. And that's where the original foursome came from. We were chosen by Maureen. She did a pretty good job pairing us up, and we've become friends and stayed in contact ever since. Now we know it's a commitment, but it's fun! We won't hold you to anything, but if you want s...

One of the reasons I decided to watch more movies this year was because there were so many that I hadn't seen. Or in the case this week, ones I had abandoned the first time. I'll be honest. I have a bit of a weird taste in movies. My viewing list for the year so far is probably already evidence enough for some of you. These past 2 weeks I've indulged in my quirky movie love watching Wild Target and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. First Wild Target comes with an admission. I found this film at my library after searching our catalog for Martin Freeman. I'm more than a little in love with the BBC's modern version of Sherlock .  When I saw who else was in it, I just had to watch it. It was funny and odd, and so very British. Each on their own the actors are fun; together, they are a hoot. Not my favorite movie of all time, but I was glad I watched. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was one of those movies I was convinced I would love when it ca...

I truly didn't mean to go this long without blogging. I've started writing 2 different posts only to abandon them without publishing. I guess it's sort of illustrative of my mood lately. This past week has been tough. I've felt overwhelmed and busy. Not one thing, just a mess of a lot of things. Most things I didn't really have control over, or those little things you just cannot pinpoint or identify. Close to tears at least once, I realized I hadn't been this bad in a long time. Somehow I got a few things done and lowered my standards on a few things so I could check them off the list. And it was like the fog clearing a little. I'm still not quite 100% Becky yet, but I'm getting way closer than the ghost that I've been this week. I've got a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks and months. I've got 2 conference presentations to knock out. New instruction, a long weekend and Dave Barnes concert with Amy, book club and writing parti...

I know I promised this post about The Art of Getting By before the end of the week. I kept meaning to write it, but then as I went to sit down and type it, I realized I'm still not entirely sure what I thought of the movie. Overall I liked it, but I think that the movie never really capitalized on its promise. It's a predictable "coming-of-age, boy meets girl, both are charmingly quirky with family issues" story starring Emma Roberts and Freddie Highmore . I'll be honest, part of the original appeal of this film was seeing just how well little Freddie grew up. I don't tend to adore child actors a whole lot, but there's something about this kid that I love. He's the boy in Finding Neverland , Charlie and Chocolate Factory , and August Rush among others. In those films, he held his own against some rather impressive actors. And after The Art of Getting By, I'm looking forward to seeing what else he'll do in the future as he certainly did...

hustle and bustle returning students bring life feels like home again

fleece sheets' cozy warmth an enveloping cocoon damn you, alarm clock!

Time for a new set of resolutions. Writing: Instead of setting a blogging goal this year I'm going to do something a little different. I want to write a haiku a day for the year. I wrote my first of the year at 12:45 this morning. I probably won't post them all here. But I may post some. Watching: I realize I've really been slacking off in my movie watching. Last year I set a reading goal of 60 books. I missed it by just 10 titles, but this year I want to set a movie goal. I want to watch one new movie a week (as defined by Sunday-Saturday). Those I'll post. I want to write about those. Look for one on "The Art of Getting By" sometime this week. Eating: No fast food. No frozen meals. No eating out unless I've got guests. It all seems drastic, but I need to get back to good food. I love cooking and I just need to put the effort in. And set aside time to actually do it. That's the bottom line. Being: This one isn't so new. I've been w...