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...