Book Club List Update

Obviously my book club is still going strong because it is full of awesome ladies, so I wanted to update our book list to include some of our recent picks.

April 2012 (Karly): A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

May 2012 (Amanda): The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club: True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life by Laurie Notaro

June 2012 (Kim): The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

July 2012 (Jenna): The Mirror by Marlys Millhiser

August 2012 (Kristin): Where We Belong by Emily Giffin
September 2012 (Kelli): Getting Rid of Matthew by Jane Fallon
October 2012 (Tara): The Quickie by James Patterson
November 2012 (Jamie): The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

******This is an addition to the original list, reposted here: 

April 2010 (Jenna): Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
June 2010 (Kristin): Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella
July 2010 (Tara): Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
August 2010 (Heather): Grave of God's Daughter by Brett Ellen Block
October 2010 (Amanda): Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster
November 2010 (Jenna): Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
January 2011 (Lauren): The Carrie Diaries by Candance Bushnell
February 2011 (Karly): The Help by Kathryn Stockett
March 2011 (Kristin): Breakfast at Tiffany's  by Truman Capote
April 2011 (Kelli): The Secret Life of Cee Cee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain
May 2011 (Kim): The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
June 2011 (Tara): The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
July 2011 (Jenna): Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
August 2011 (Amanda): Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
September 2011(Karly): Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea. by Chelsea Handler (dinner and went to see The Help)
October 2011 (Kim): Room by Emma Donoghue
November 2011 (Kristin): Elegance by Kathleen Tessaro
January 2012 (Kelli): Summer's Child by Diane Chamberlain
February 2012 (Tara): One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
March 2012 (Jamie): The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

Raven Wreath Tutorial

In the inspiration of Halloween, I got crafty and made an Edgar Allan Poe "The Raven" inspired wreath to help set off my book-themed office. So, I took to Pinterest for some inspiration and came up with this:

What you will need to make the wreath:

-12"  wreath 

-book you can tear up

-spanish moss

-raven

-glue gun

For the base layer of the wreath you simply roll the pages very loosely and hot glue the ends to the wreath. 

You'll want to flip the wreath and create another layer on the back doing the same technique. This will make the wreath look much thicker.

Then, you take the book pages and roll them tightly together. I used mod podge to glue to edge down. Once you have a lot of these little rolls, you can group them together. Use the glue gun to keep them together (I found 3-4 worked best for the bundles) and then tie a longer strand of the spanish moss around each bundle. Glue these to the wreath's top layer. 

Next, I put my raven into the wreath. Mine came with wire in his feet, so I wrapped the wire into the grapevine wreath. After that, I cut a piece of a blank book page and wrote "Nevermore" with marker. I glued one end to the book pages already on the wreath. Lastly, I took chunks of spanish moss and randomly inserted them into the nooks and crannies of the book pages. 

That's it! I originally made it for a Halloween decoration, but I love it so much that I'm keeping it up all year long. Poe is always in style. 

Dont' want to make it yourself? You're now in luck! I've opened an Etsy Shop Be The Binding Boutique where you can purchase you own Raven Book Wreath or one with a different theme. 

Sex and the City Bachelorette Party

Long overdue post....but in July I threw my wonderful friend's bachelorette party. Tara is a girly girl who loves Sex and the City, pink, and high heels. We've been on the Sex and the City tour in NYC together, followed by Sex and the City 2 (the movie). So, I knew she would love a Sex and the City themed night. I scoured the internet for ideas on Sex and the City parties, but all of them were based on home parties. So, I pulled some inspiration and figured out how to make a night out on the town have a fun theme.

As with any good party, the theme starts with the invitations. Luckily, my husband is a great graphic designer. I made a horrific looking word document with a pixelated skyline, off-center print, and directions to "make this look good!".

Invitations

Then came the challenge of how to mix the theme into dinner out. Luckily, Level Dining Lounge looks like something from Sex and the City; white leather chairs, low lighting, hot waiters...did I mention it's a gay restaurant/bar? I, of course, had lots of penis paraphernalia  for the bachelorette. So, when we got to the restaurant I quickly put up a penis centerpiece, put favors on each girl's plate, and put Sex and the City trivia cards scattered in the center of the two tables we had. I found the Sex and the City Trivia game at my local thrift store for $1.99! The cards from the game are really cute and added a lot of decoration to the table, plus the questions were fun to ask each other as we were mingling and waiting for our food orders to arrive.

Trivia Cards

For the favors, I got each girl a colorful penis straw, because what bachelorette party is complete without those? However, I wanted to once again incorporate the theme. So, I made penis-shaped sugar cookies with pink icing. I attached a tag to each one with one of four quotes from the show, one from Carrie, one from Charlotte, one from Samantha, and one from Miranda. 

Favors

Favor Tags

The last way I incorporated the theme into the night was with our scavenger hunt. I didn't want to have a bunch of trashy games for Tara to do, but I wanted there to be a fun way to make the night a little more interesting than an average night bar hopping. So, I came up with a scavenger hunt with tasks to complete. The group was divided into four teams...you guessed it: Team Carrie, Team Miranda, Team Charlotte, and Team Samantha. Each team had a list of items to complete. It was a lot of fun! 

Scavenger Hunt Lists

The night was a blast and everyone enjoyed themselves! Tara loved the Sex and the City themed "Sexy in the City" bachelorette party and I had an amazing time planning everything for my best friend :)

Ink Tales: Number Eight

Just three months later, I got my latest tattoo. It was one I'd wanted to get for awhile too (and actually had two appointments for it scheduled, but because of scheduling I never got it done). I really wanted an owl tattoo. First of all, I just like owls because they are adorable animals (as long as I'm not actually near one...deathly afraid of all bird's talons). Second, owls symbolize wisdom and are often associated with school and books. I have tons of owl items (a welcome statue, a cuckoo whistle, wall decals, jewelry, wallet, camera case, contact case, wine stoppers, etc.), but one that stood out was a statue on my dresser of a great horned owl sitting on top of a stack of books. After much consideration (did I want a colorful, cute owl? a colorful realistic owl? a wise owl? a rustic owl?) I decided to go with a classic great horned owl outlined and shaded in blue sitting on books. I gave Jimmy the basic concept and waited to see what he came up with.

He drew a very classic owl on books and added ink and a quill in his feet. I loved that touch, since I love writing and hope to write a book! Once again, Jimmy incorporated more of me than even I had thought to do. I wanted to put it with my Boldman on my shoulder, to make it a bigger piece. It really looks like one, cohesive piece. All of my past tattoos have been very small and not had very much line work (which is the most painful part). I don't understand how people sit for multiple hours getting intense line work done. I actually had tears streaming down my face the last ten minutes of the tattoo and felt queasy for almost the whole thing. I have been on a tattoo kick in the last few years, and I told Jimmy this one had done me in for awhile. If only I would stop coming up with new ideas....

Ink Tales: Number Seven

A year later, in May of 2012, Toby and I made yet another tattoo trip to Athens with our best friends. We all four got tattooed by Jimmy that afternoon. I had been wanting a wrist tattoo for several years, but had been hesitant about getting one because of being a teacher. I knew I didn't want to have to wear a thick watch or bracelet every day to cover it up. Then, I realized that my foot tattoo shows every day (I don't wear socks with dress pants unless it's below 0 degrees) and that there was really no difference. I knew I wanted to get text on my wrist, but then the struggle came of what quote to get. There are a million song lyrics or book quotes I love...how to choose? I love the quote from "Come In Please" by my favorite (current) band, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, "Let it sunshine on my mind." (Ah yes, that is where the blog name comes from). I felt like I had settled on that quote, as it would be a physical reminder to think positively and be happy. Then, Edward Sharpe released a single "That's What's Up" if you pre-ordered their new album on iTunes, which we obviously had done. The first time Toby played me the song, I wasn't too sure about it. Then, he played it for me in the car and I really liked it. As it was playing I heard the lyrics "You be the book, I'll be the binding." and I immediately hit rewind to make sure I hadn't imagined such amazing lyrics.

I went back and forth with the two quotes for a week before deciding that, of course, I had to have "You be the book, I'll be the binding." It was perfect. Not only was it by my favorite band, and was about books (my favorite thing), and would be appropriate to have as a teacher (come on, books...English teacher), but it also had a meaning that fit Toby and I's relationship all too well. Those that know me know I can be a little difficult and selfish. I try hard to think of other's feelings and be nice...but I often think of these things too late when it comes to Toby. I felt like this was the perfect placement for such a strong reminder. I would look at it a gazillion times a day, hopefully reminding myself to be the binding of our relationship. Not that we are coming unglued, just that I should always consider him and generally be a nicer person.

Then came the all important font decision. I wanted it to be a classic book font, so I went to my bookshelf. I chose Garamond (which happens to be used in the Harry Potter books!) after seeing it. This tattoo hurt A LOT; I think more than my foot, but that was eight years ago so my memory could have dulled the pain. Anyway, I love the finished product and so did my boss (whew!).

Ink Tales: Number Six

In the spring of 2011, Toby and I once again traveled to Athens to visit our favorite tattoo artist. Communicating via email, I had sent Jimmy some long-winded and probably confusing emails about this tattoo. I wanted a tattoo of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" by none other than The Beatles. It is my favorite Beatles song, but I didn't want it to be too literal. I had seen several Lucy tattoos of girls surrounded by diamonds in a cloud-filled sky. I wanted to focus on the line "the girl with kaleidoscope eyes." After making several adjustments when I arrived, Jimmy came up with the perfect drawing. I wanted the girl to kind of look like me, but child-like, as we both wanted to capture the innocence of the concept. I put her in a turquoise dress because it's my favorite color and I wanted a splash of colors to be coming out of her kaleidoscope.

I love that this tattoo is a Beatles tattoo without being too literal or conventional. I always get a lot of compliments on it and I like that it has a psychedelic feel to it without being crazy. I had a completely different idea in my head when I was explaining what I wanted to Jimmy and yet, he made the tattoo feel so much more like me. This is why we keep going back to Athens for all of our tattoos and have my whole family and now friends going to him too!

"Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds"

Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes

Cellophane flowers of yellow and green
Towering over your head
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes
And she's gone

Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds, ah

Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers
That grow so incredibly high

Newspaper taxies appear on the shore
Waiting to take you away
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds
And you're gone

Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds, ah

Picture yourself in a train in a station
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile
The girl with kaleidoscope eyes

Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds, ah

Ink Tales: Number Five

I wasted no time getting tattooing number five. It was also one I had wanted to get since the wedding, but hadn't done yet. Since I gave up my last name to take Toby's when we got married, I wanted to keep it in another way. I LOVED my maiden name, Boldman, and felt bad that my dad only had two girls; no one to carry on the last name. I had told my parents and sister of the plan, and they all loved the idea and wanted to get Boldman tattoos of their own. We all loved the idea of having a family tattoo, since we all have ink. The summer of 2010, my mom came for a week visit. We went down to Decorative Injections together and got ours done at the same time. Mom got hers on her forearm with two eagle feathers. I got mine done of the outer part of my shoulder; I wanted it to stick out of tank tops as much as possible. I did a loose interpretation of a turkey feather hanging off of mine because my dad is a huge turkey hunter. Later that year, my dad and sister went down together and got theirs. My sister incorporated hers into a rose piece on her back, and my dad got his with a turkey fan on his shoulder blade. This is a really meaningful tattoo for me because our family is so close; I'm glad I got to represent our last name in some way.

Ink Tales: Number Four

So my third tattoo, but fourth time (these add-ons make for confusing numbering) didn't happen for a long time. My boyfriend, Toby, had gotten his first tattoo from Jimmy at Decorative Injections and another in WAshington, D.C., making us realize how awesome Jimmy was. The butterfly revamp was in 2004, and in 2009 Toby and I got married. We had talked about getting marriage tattoos, but hadn't committed to placements. We knew we wanted to get Bobcat paw prints, as it was the mascot of Ohio University (where we had met). Finally in the spring of 2010, we took a trip down to Athens to get our tattoos. We had decided on our paw print plus a song lyric from "In My Life" by The Beatles, which is what I walked down the aisle to. Toby designed the tattoos, his used the cursive font from our wedding invitations and says "In my life I love you more." I used our other wedding font and my favorite quote, "No one compares with you."I got this one on my hip, but low enough it should be okay after a pregnancy. I have it pictured with the ribbon from my wedding bouquet. I love these tattoos because they have so much meaning behind them; I think they are a unique way to represent our love and commitment to each other without being too cheesy. Plus, hello...it's The Beatles :)

Ink Tales: Number Two (and Three-ish)

My second tattoo happened a year and a half after my first one. I was home on summer vacation between my freshman and sophomore years at Ohio University. I had two awesome best friends and had really come out of my shy, high school shell. I had discovered alcohol too, so that helped the shell disintegrate pretty fast.... I was thinking about possibly changing my major from Retail Merchandising to English (although I hadn't vocalized this yet) and I was truly happy. I have always loved butterflies, I even caught a caterpillar once and raised it until he hatched into a butterfly. I loved how they started out as such an ugly, insignificant thing, and then became something majestic and beautiful. I felt like that was what was happening to me...finally, and I wanted to represent that. So I drew a butterfly and took it to the tattoo parlor to have them perfect it (since I'm a horrendous artist). I wanted a sunrise in the wings, to represent new life. The tattoo turned out fine, the colors weren't really what I wanted and after a few months I felt like it was lacking something, but I liked it nevertheless.

That Spring, I had a new boyfriend and I'd been talking about getting another tattoo. I wanted lilacs really bad and was going to get them done when I went home. He asked why not get them done in Athens, as there were several tattoo parlors there. I decided sure, since I didn't really like the one at home anyway. We went into one (the other one had been unrecommended by his sister). I talked to Jimmy at Decorative Injections about getting lilacs on my hip. He warned me that as high as I wanted it, there was a good chance it would stretch when/if I was to get pregnant and could come back together really weird since it would be so small. I was a little disappointed, but glad he had saved me from a potentially bad tattoo since I do want kids. My boyfriend, Toby, suggested I get it added to my butterfly since I was sort of unsatisfied with it. Jimmy said that would be awesome and he could definitely add around it. When I went back to get it done, I explained the color scheme I had originally wanted. He just drew the lilacs on my foot (no stencil) and fixed the butterfly coloring. I almost passed out from the pain...why the foot twice?! However, I was so happy with the outcome and still love it today. It represents the college-Jenna quite well :) It's not as easy to see when I'm super tan...and I just returned from the beach. 

Ink Tales: Number One

I love tattoos. I hate getting tattoos, as I'm one of the biggest wimps I know. However, I love when they are done on me and I love looking at other people's tattoos (you know, if they are nice and not in unsightly places). I've let enough time past since my latest one (5 weeks?) to be able to talk about the topic again, as this one was the most painful one yet. I thought I'd share each one of my tattoos and the story behind it, along with a tattoo photo session!

The first tattoo I got was a Christmas present from my parents when I was 17. I had begged for months to get one before I turned 18 because my sister had gotten hers for her 18th birthday, which was in February. Thus, she got to have her tattoo while in high school. I, on the other hand, would not turn 18 until after graduation...which was obviously not fair. So after months of presenting my argument (complete with charts and graphs), on Christmas morning I opened up a small package. Inside was one of my documents I had created with a big, red "Santa Approved" written across the top. A few weeks later, I was sitting in a tattoo parlor...about to feel the most intense pain I'd ever had. So...I got a tramp stamp of shooting stars and the word "Dream". I would like to make a disclaimer that the lower back tattoo had not reached it's height of popularity and nobody had heard the word "tramp stamp" back then. I drew the design myself (I know it's not a spectacular achievement, given the simplicity) and I wanted to remind myself as I started off on a new chapter of my life after high school to follow my dreams. At this time, those dreams included going to Bowling Green State University to study Fashion Merchandising (hence the fabrics in the picture)...although both of those things ended up changing, I still felt like it was important to do what I wanted to do and not be afraid of changing.

Although now this is my least favorite tattoo, I still love it because it represents the high school Jenna, not only in aesthetics (I used to be obsessed with stars), but also in concept. I used to daydream constantly about what my life would be like after high school...I wanted to be a cool college girl who had lots of friends and parties to go to, then grow up and be a successful career woman in NYC, get married to an architect at 28, and have two kids when I was 30 and 32. Although not all of these things went according to 17-year-old-Jenna's plans, I like to have something to remind me of that girl!

Dream

More Book Decor

I finally got to work on the rest of my office redecorating this week. I tweaked my fish tank by adding shredded book pages to hide the bottom. I also decoupaged the shelf of the fish tank with book pages.


I then went to work on the wall behind the fish tank. I made some frames to combine with blue and black I purchased/had lying around. I painstakingly picked out several of my favorite book quotes. That was definitely the most difficult part! However, I chose eight quotes from Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris, Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster, The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Night by Elie Wiesel, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. I wanted them to look mismatched and fun, so I used varied fonts, images, and frames. Here are a couple:

 


There were a couple of other details I started working on, using the shredded book pages and weathered books (I actually stripped the binding off a book; I felt like a criminal!).

The finished product (well of one wall...)

A Brief Tale from NYC

Over my spring break, my friend Kelli and I visited my college friend, Kelly Jo, in New York. I usually visit Kelly Jo with my husband, so I was excited to have a girl’s weekend in the Big Apple! We got there safely (a big concern with our horrendous directional skills and driving until 3 a.m.) and had a wonderful weekend. The best part of the whole trip? Big, cotton briefs.

Friday night while we were getting ready to hit up the bars, Kelli tried on this adorable yellow dress. Kelly Jo and I started dying of laughter when she turned around and you could see the colorful stripes of her underwear. She (kind of) fixed the situation by turning them inside out. As the wardrobe changes ensued, she ended up wearing a different outfit and decided she would look for a jacket to wear with the dress the next day. Fast forward to Saturday evening after we’ve grabbed a quick dinner and are walking to the subway. Kelli realizes that although she has purchased a badass leather coat to complete her look for the night, she still doesn’t have underwear to wear. Kelly Jo says, “Just wear those ones you had on with it last night; you could barely tell and it will be dark in the club…no worries.”

“Um…I wore those last night,” Kelli replies.

“Ugh. Why did you do that? Well what other colors do you have? Are they that bad?” I ask.

“Yes, like red-striped bad.”

So we look around us. In New York, everything seems sort of grouped together. Like where we had been (ALL DAY) was full of stores, stores, and more stores (you know, where you could easily purchase underwear). No restaurants or grocery stores in sight. But now, as we had eaten…we were surrounded by 50 restaurants and banks—not a clothing store for blocks. We had shopped ‘til we dropped and were heading back to get ready pretty late, so we didn’t want to catch the subway somewhere else. Kelly Jo and I both spotted the Duane Reade and suggest that they might have some nude underwear.

As we approach the hosiery section of the drug store, we see a rack of Hanes Her Ways. Okay, so probably not the first choice in the cute underwear department, but when in a bind they should be fine, right? Kelly Jo is flicking through the packs and spots a nude pair, “Here you go, Kelli!”

We look and see that, in fact, the only nude or white pair of underwear in all the multi-packs are a pair briefs. We’re not talking about cute hipsters or boy briefs; these were full-fledged 80-year-old-grandma briefs. I doubled over with laughter in the middle of the aisle and tears started streaming from my eyes. I couldn’t stop imagining Kelli in these huge things that would stop under her boobs.

Suddenly, second-day underwear didn’t seem so bad. 

LOL Cats Ripoff.

LOL Cats is either taking too long to approve this or has somehow denying my hilarious and stunning Bella....so I thought I'd share on here for a little humor in your day :)

Fish Tank Decor

We have a large fish tank that my husband refuses to get rid of (it was his father's) because one day he insists we will have fish in it. It is in our office at the moment because we don't really have anywhere to store the large piece of furniture. I've recently decided to start redoing our office in cute book decor (from a more Hollywood theme) and I had an idea to redo the fish tank decor.

I bought cardboard letters from Hobby Lobby and covered the front with scrapbook paper. I also bought some hardback books from the thrift store and covered those with scrapbook paper, as well. Then, I cut cardboard to fit in the back of the tank. I took pages from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and scrunched the pages, just as you would with tissue paper in a gift bag. Then, I stuck a pin through the bottom part of the scrunched page and attached it to the cardboard.

Of course, my little helper is always nearby when I'm working!

It was quite a simple project and all the materials cost less than $10! The finished project:

The Hunger Games

I completely fell in love with The Hunger Games last August after my best friend convinced me to read the first book. I've been anxiously awaiting the movie release for months, along with the rest of America. For the first time ever, I fought opening Friday night crowds with a group of 13 people. Yikes! I don't think I will ever do it again...but it was an experience! I had reread the first book this week, so all the details were fresh in my mind.

Last night I was pleased with the movie, but left with a lot of disappointment.

Then, this morning, I realized that I always judge movies based on books too harshly. The movies have to streamline for the people who just want to see the movie (yuck), but for those of us who matter it is a way to see some of the book brought to life. We already know stuff, so why do I want them to tell me everything I already know? I'm always explaining all the left out information to my husband (who never reads the book!) and I feel mad at the movie for not instilling in him the love I feel for the book. But how could it? As a full fledged bookworm, I know that my love for fictional characters is a little nutty and that others (like my husband) will never share this with me. I've officially renounced trying to make movie-goers the same as book lovers. We are not the same breed.

So, with my fresh perspective from my already-knowledgeable mind: I loved it! I was already pleased with the casting just from the look of all the actors, but they all portrayed the characters to perfection (with one exception: Haymitch, although I think that was more of a writing/editing problem, not Woody Harrelson's fault). They stuck with the storyline very well and they set up the second book amazingly. Many of the scenes we got to see (District 11, the viewers, the gamemakers, President Snow) we learn about in Catching Fire; I think this will make the second movie better. Jennifer Lawrence was amazing as Katniss, she captured the struggling emotions well that we know Katniss is dealing with throughout the book.

Even with my new outlook, I was still very disappointed with three things. First, where was Haymitch falling off the stage during the Reaping? I feel like that being the first thing we see Haymitch doing really sets up his character; plus, it's so damn funny! Second, was the muttations didn't have the tribute's eyes (or at least I certainly didn't see it and they didn't mention it like they do in the book). That was the most disturbing part of the games for me, so I had been excited to see it (which maybe they can't...but with all the CGI crazy effects they do these days, I'd think they could have). Third, I wanted to see Katniss flailing herself against the glass in the hovercraft when they get picked up from the arena. I don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't seen it, so I'll say I kind of get why they couldn't have this scene, but again that is probably the part of the book where I cried the hardest and was so emotionally wrecked by that I was super let down when it wasn't there.

But, I want to end on a positive note! I LOVED how they made all the Capitol people look (totally copying some of their crazy ass eyeshadow). And, let's all just appreciate Peeta for a minute!

Lego Words

I'm going to try not to put too many teacher-related posts on this blog. However, as teaching takes up the bulk of my life sometimes I just have to share things that I do! This quarter for graduate school, I am taking a class where I tutor in the university's learning center. I have two students that I tutor, one gives me no trouble and I actually enjoy working with her. The other, a second grade boy, is making my life very difficult! I don't do so well with young children and he has decided he hates me and will not work for me. He literally throws temper tantrums in the middle of the tutoring center, which is very embarrassing! All the little boy wants to do is draw or talk about legos. So, I started looking on the internet for ideas with Legos. I tweaked an idea I found online and tried it out for the first time on Tuesday. It worked! Okay, I suppose I can't say that yet, because I don't have long-term evidence that it actually will help him with spelling/reading...but for me, it worked.

I got a Lego set and labeled each lego with a letter. I used short legos for the "short letters" (a, c, e...) and taller legos for the "tall letters" (b, d, f...). I used masking tape and a sharpie to do this (I figured the sharpie would smear on the plastic Lego). Armed with my bag of Lego bags (but struggling with a nasty case of Laryngitis), I was cautiously optimistic when I went in for our tutoring. I had told him about the idea the previous week (when I was searching for some sort of bribe!), so he was expecting the Legos.

We did his other homework first, and then I placed the Legos in alphabetical order. He had 9 spelling words for the week. I showed him how to pick out the letters and snap them together to build a word. This activity helped him by having him practice identifying letters (he really struggles with naming isolated letters, so searching for the correct letter was a task in its own) and of course practicing the words. He would build a word (with the list in front of him), saying the letters aloud a few times, and then he would add the new word onto his creation. When he had built all nine words, I had him take apart the mass creation he built. This reinforced the words again, because he had to think about which "chunks" were his words. I had him really look at the shape of the legos (for instance, blue has two tall letters and then two short letters). We took apart all of the legos and then I had him do four words without the list. Guess what? He got all four words right!

He really enjoyed this activity and was very into the idea of "building words," just like he would build a robot or a house. I am definitely going to use this idea with my children as a tool to get them engaged in making words before they enter into school. I highly recommend this activity!

Book Club List

At my last book club, we were discussing how in April it will be our two year anniversary! When I first decided to try to put my life-long dream of belonging to a book club in action, I didn't have very many girlfriends in Columbus. I asked one of my best friends, Tara; my sister, Amanda; my husband's best friend's wife, Kristin; and a few other not-so-close friends. These three, along with two people Kristin brought, came to my house for the first meeting. Now there are seven of us and almost all of them are my best friends. I look forward to our monthly meetings so much, not just to discuss the great book choices, but also to catch up. We all see each other outside of book club, as well; however, book club nights are always some of the best!



As we reflected a little on how book club has changed and grown, we realized we should have a "master list" of all the books we've read. So, that is what I'm listing below.

April 2010 (Jenna): Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
June 2010 (Kristin): Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella
July 2010 (Tara): Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
August 2010 (Heather): Grave of God's Daughter by Brett Ellen Block
October 2010 (Amanda): Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster
November 2010 (Jenna): Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
January 2011 (Lauren): The Carrie Diaries by Candance Bushnell
February 2011 (Karly): The Help by Kathryn Stockett
March 2011 (Kristin): Breakfast at Tiffany's  by Truman Capote
April 2011 (Kelli): The Secret Life of Cee Cee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain
May 2011 (Kim): The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
June 2011 (Tara): The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
July 2011 (Jenna): Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
August 2011 (Amanda): Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
September 2011(Karly): Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea. by Chelsea Handler (dinner and went to see The Help)
October 2011 (Kim): Room by Emma Donoghue
November 2011 (Kristin): Elegance by Kathleen Tessaro
January 2012 (Kelli): Summer's Child by Diane Chamberlain
February 2012 (Tara): One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
March 2012 (Jamie): The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

Harry Potter Festivities

As I am newly obsessed with Harry Potter, along with many of my friends, I have been watching all of the movies (although so far from being as good the books, still entertaining). So, for the last two movies, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2, I decided to have a few friends over for some Harry-themed food and drinks. We all had a blast pretending to be at a ten-year-old's themed birthday party!

What did I serve?
Ollivander's Magical Wands (pretzel rods with ranch and bacon dip)
Bat Wings (chicken wings)
Polyjuice Potion (white chicken chili)
Burrow Cornbread (cornbread muffins with Harry Potter picks)
Chocolate Frogs (chocolate frogs, melted green chocolate in a frog mold with candy eyeballs)

Bernie Bott's Every Flavor Bean (jelly belly jelly beans)
Butterbeer

(Adult) Butterbeer Recipe*
1- 2 liter of Cream Soda
1 1/2 cups of butterscotch snapps
Mix this together in a pitcher. Pour out into glass and add
1 tsp of melted butter
top with crushed butterscotch discs

*This was really delicious, but very sweet. I think next time, I would like to substitute the cream soda for root beer.

Pinterest Addiction

Yes, I've become addicted to Pinterest. The cons? Somehow I find loads of time to waste scrolling through millions of pins, creating boards, and am so engrossed I even have a board entitled "Waaaaaay future baby things." No plans in the next few years for a baby, but I can't pass up certain pins! The pros? I've already made several new recipes that were inspired by ones found on the site (I usually try to simplify recipes I find online. If it isn't found on my spice rack, I'm not buying it.) The best are buffalo turkey meatballs, dipped in ranch dressing; I think these are my new staple to bring to parties. (You make regular meatballs, using ground turkey, egg, breadcrumbs, and crumbled crackers. Then, simply add buffalo sauce and I also use a little strawberry hot sauce.) I also made some super cute photo frames using scrapbook paper and mod podge. I have a lot of other craft ideas from the site, which can sometimes not be so great for me. I always have a great idea in my head, but it often comes out looking like a 5 year-old's art project. However, I started off successful with the photo frames, so I'm hopeful!