Socks and Sandals

Source: stylishthought.com via Fajr on Pinterest

I have a problem.

September is almost over and fall is really coming.  I love fall--it's really my favorite season, with hot chocolate or tea every night, fresh pears from the tree at my parents' house, picking pumpkins from the selection at a local farm, and the gorgeous colors.  I'm really excited about fall, except for one thing, a silly thing that's entirely my own fault, which leaves me in a bit of a fashion bind.

Do I let my toes freeze as the temperatures drop, or do I wear socks and sandals?  The last toe on my right foot doesn't hurt much when I walk, but it won't tolerate anything with a closed toe (not even my slippers!).

All I'm saying is that the sofa totally jumped out at my poor little toe.

According to my Pinterest search, the only fashionable way to wear socks with sandals is to wear a sandal with a multi-inch heel.  This is also not an option, as it hurts my toe and I am very clumsy, as you may have guessed. Oh, and this made me laugh.

Three Things

If you read Design*Sponge, then you probably saw these already.  If so, bear with me.  I'm a little bit in love, as always happens when I see good lit and good design come together.

I have a hard time explaining how I feel about the Romantics and the Transcendentalists.  I refer to them for inspiration.  I really like their style and the emotion and the energy in Keats and Wordsworth and Shelley...

...but at the same time, I realize that their emotional zeal and feeling-based approach to both poetry and life can be overdone to some destructive ends (emotions are good, but not if they control us).  I love their passion but think it should be taken with a dose of practicality.

Still, my mixed feelings aside, I really, really, really, love these new editions set to come out from Faber & Faber.  I want them all, but these are my top three.  D*S is also hosting a giveaway that ends tomorrow night at ten eastern time.

Source: faber.co.uk via Katie on Pinterest

Source: faber.co.uk via Katie on Pinterest

Source: faber.co.uk via Katie on Pinterest

Writerly Travels: The Mount

I first got the idea to write these little posts about writers' homes from a pair of posts I saw on Houzz.  Edith Wharton co-wrote design and garden books in addition to her engaging novels (like The Age of Innocence, which I wrote about here) and put many of her design sensibilities into play in the home she had built in 1902.  It was also the site of the composition of a number of her novels.  The interior of the home is incredible and worth taking a look, but I would love to spend a few hours traipsing about the grounds outside and exploring the sunken secret garden...

Source: houzz.com via Katie on Pinterest

Source: houzz.com via Katie on Pinterest

Source: houzz.com via Katie on Pinterest

Images link to their pins, where I've collected a few more and linked back to the original source.

Smarty Pants

Source: etsy.com via Katie on Pinterest

I'm pretty sure I've posted this card before, but I have a reason to share it again.  Cory's got a beard and glasses.  He also happens to be quite clever: not only did he pass the first two sections of his CPA exam, he did so with some incredibly high scores.  I'm pretty proud of him.

I gave Cory this card for our anniversary in May, but I think I'll rephrase it now: behind every clever girl is an exceptionally clever guy with a beard and glasses.

I think we're going to have a great weekend.

Enjoy yours!

Two Lives

Source: None via Kelsey on Pinterest

I used to always be the person to cry, "The book was better!" after watching any film adaption of a story I enjoyed.  But over time, I came to a different approach.  I feel lik the film should be judged as a film of a story.  Sometimes that story is different from the one written.  They are separate entities, related but definitely different.

Source: bookcoverarchive.com via claire on Pinterest

But at the same time, I feel like a film (or play) adaptation is most wonderful and serves best when it keeps the spirit of the story on which it is based.  When this happens, it gives it a second life.  I'm a lover of books, yes, but even more than that, I'm a lover of stories.  When a story I've fallen for has two lives, then, I'm happy.

That said, I sometimes come across--or, in the case of Breakfast at Tiffany's, recall--film and written versions that differ in spirit, tone, and events, and hugely so.  Each one is great in its own way and each works in its own way.  They only share a few names and a few plot points.  Some authorial outcry often accompanies the adaptations, but ultimately, we end up with two great works.

So I'm curious: how do you feel about book-to-movie adaptations?  Do you evaluate one by the other, or do you enjoy them separately and for their own merit?

Imagination

If anyone knows where this originally came from, I'd love to know.

Source: imgfave.com via Sarah on Pinterest

I would love to create this myself and place it in my little corner workspace.  Even regular work can become creative, and a little imagination and inspiration can improve the quality of any work, not just creative.  Wouldn't a sign pointing the way to the best imaginary places encourage an imaginative approach to daily life?

A Bit of Luck and Blessing

Sometimes, when I say I'm lucky, I mean that I'm feeling blessed.  I tend to use luck/lucky for something possessed and blessing/blessed for something felt.  So sometimes I'll use the two words together in a sentence.  A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to win a giveaway from Rouge and Whimsy on So About What I Said... and I feel blessed that it happened on a day that I was in need of cheering up.

I also bought this pretty headband from her shop.  

{photos by Erika because mine aren't as pretty}

Isn't it pretty?  I picked up the package from my parents' house yesterday and it's just as pretty in person.  Thanks, Erika!  I love it!  And thanks, Melissa, for hosting the giveaway.  Now you should sneak over to her shop and take a look for yourself.  You're bound to find something sweet and girly that makes you feel pretty.  

Oops

I have ideas for posts sometimes.

Source: identityview.net via Kelli on Pinterest

But then I'm not near a computer, or I have a million pages to read, or I'm translating Old English, which I've never done before and is very tedious at first (but really fun when you think about how you're reading this thing that was written a thousand years ago...or maybe that's just me).  Or I'm hobbling to class as quickly as possible for someone with an almost-broken toe can (the sofa jumped out at me, I swear!) because I'm late.  Or I'm stuck in traffic during my commute and wishing that my air conditioning actually worked well because it's hitting ninety degrees again this week.

In short, I'm kind of busy.  I'm also crap at time management, which means a little bit of busy can get way out of hand.  I'm trying to improve this.  When I do, I'll probably post regularly.  For now, it's going to be sporadic, but you can expect two or three posts a week...maybe.  I am not an organized person and trying to find some mode of becoming a bit more organized that works for me and doesn't rely on my husband noticing that it's noon and I have to leave for class in ten minutes, at most.

This blog might be adjusting again soon.  It's my space for what's interesting me at present--big or little things, just the stuff of life--and the things that interest me right now are changing, or rather focusing, though not narrowing.  The things I write might follow that, or perhaps they'll just be a part of figuring out that focus as I go along.  I write to an audience, technically, but I ultimately write for myself and I don't know what shape that's going to take in the future.  But then, do any of us know?

The Lighter Side

The sun is out today.  It was supposed to hit eighty-five today, but it's stayed comfortably closer to the seventies.

Source: emersonmade.com via Kristin on Pinterest

I'm posting between classes right now.  I think I should find a tree outside on the quad and read until my next class, since after that I'll be in class or meetings until nine.

It's all about the little things.

Interruptions :: Mixed Feelings

Source: the-athenaeum.org via Katie on Pinterest

On my birthday, I must always strike a balance.

I always try to remember and savor my happiness with my family over a shared meal and an off-key happy birthday tune and my never-successful attempts at blowing out all the candles in one breath.

I remember and savor my happiness without forgetting the unhappiness of so many others on the day that was always fun and celebratory for me (and my cousin, too).

It feels silly to even talk about it, really, as if I'm calling for attention or asking for sympathy.  But I know there are a lot of people whose anniversaries of some sort of happiness fall on the same day as a memory of sadness for others.  I know I'm not the only one who struggles to understand my own happiness when I know others who are struggling with sadness and sorrow.  If you have this struggle, too, I get it, and I'm telling myself this as much as I'm telling you: try to enjoy your happiness.  Life isn't always full of happiness, so enjoy it when it comes and it'll give you the strength for the less happy parts of life.

A Chill in the Air

Source: girliedesire.tumblr.com via Tati on Pinterest

The weather is unseasonably chilly and I'm happy that I can spend most of my time indoors.  If the sun was out, I'd love this weather, but it's gloomy and cloudy right now.  In a way, though, I like it.  It's ideal weather for a cup of hot chocolate and a book.  If I could be reading anything right now, I'd probably be paging through The History of Love again, or perhaps refreshing my memory of Sense and Sensibility, which I'm going to see at our local (incredible) theater this weekend.  Still, the book I have to read for class is actually quite interesting, so as long as I have my coffee in hand and a blanket over my lap, it'll be a good day...as long as it's not pouring rain when I have to walk across campus.

Source: crushculdesac.tumblr.com via A on Pinterest

Perfect.

Three Things

The chilly weather is continuing.  It's only sixty-one degrees outside!  This is an early cold spell, especially for Louisville, and it happened overnight this weekend.  You'd think I would be used to the frequent and rapid changes to weather in this state by now, but if I haven't gotten used to it after twelve years, I'll probably never adjust.  We've had a good bit of rain, too, and I realized that I neglected to waterproof the backpack I made this summer.  So the theme of my three things today pulls from the surprisingly swift changes in Kentucky weather and my need to adapt better: an umbrella, a waterproof backpack, and a cute and warm coat.

Source: shopruche.com via Katie on Pinterest

Source: modcloth.com via Katie on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Katie on Pinterest

Why I Love September

September is one of my favorite times of year.  It's full of things I like.

Source: flickr.com via Maddalena on Pinterest

School begins to get interesting but is fresh enough to not be annoying yet.
I celebrate my birthday (this Sunday).
And a few chillier days temper our hot, humid, sticky summers a bit and hint at what's to come.

Source: coverbrowser.com via Mizz on Pinterest

I can't forget the sad things about September, but I must take an approach that I can manage: I remember, but I don't dwell.  

Writing, Briefly

I used to fancy myself a writer--a clever, brilliant, witty writer of incredibly moving stories.  At that time, I was in middle school.  A few weeks ago, I came across my old writing journals and my stories made me laugh out loud.  They were one part fantasy (in the style of Redwall), one part sci-fi (à la Star Wars), and many, many parts adorably bad.  Perhaps they were fairly good for a sixth-grader, but I now find it a bit amazing that I repeatedly earned honorable mentions in my school's annual short story competition.

Source: labohemeblog.com via Jenelle on Pinterest

Sometimes I imagine that I'd start to enjoy creative writing again and imagine just the sort of place where I'd turn out novels that would end up dog-eared on a million nightstands, read over and over again until the pages fell out, and be loved as thoroughly as you can love a book.  I imagine that if I had a perfect place in which to write, the stories and poems would create themselves.  This is a rather Romantic notion of the writing process that I don't fully buy as well as something I've never been good at practicing, but it's the notion of creative writing that best suits the imagination.

Source: etsy.com via Katie on Pinterest

Wouldn't you feel creative in either of these spaces?  It has always been my dream to have the perfect little nook for writing; my own cabin would be absolutely perfect.  Virginia Woolf had something quite write when she wrote that a person (generally) needs a room of one's own in order to write.  Having a pleasing physical space can help create the mental space in which to write.  I'm always attempting to create that physical space for myself, but I haven't gotten it quite right yet.

Images link to the pins that contain their original sources.