whatcha readin'? {book 1::goal 24}

February 20, 2017 Arlene Giddings

the first book i read for 2017
was boys in the trees
by carly simon...
which is kind of weird for me
because i wouldn't consider myself
a carly simon fan...
not that i dislike her...
i just don't really know much about her.

i like the song "you're so vain".

that's about all i knew going into this.

i didn't even know she had been married to james taylor
(another person i know nothing about
and have never really listened to...)

and i definitely did not know that her father
was the simon in simon and schuster.

but i am a sucker for memoirs.
i always have been.
and this one did not disappoint.

her writing was both beautiful and sad...
i think the honesty was what broke my heart
when she wrote about her marriage.

in the end, i was happy that i chose this book to
start off my 2017 reading adventure....
:)

3.5 out of 5 ♥'s

NEXT UP: ANNE OF GREEN GABLES - LM MONTGOMERY (re-reading as part of my 50 before 50 list)

the worst thing about a great weekend

February 19, 2017 Arlene Giddings

is that you hate to see it come to an end.

yesterday i played around with
the watercolor paints a little bit more
and then we went to visit family and
i got to hold the sweetest teeniest tiniest baby!
i wish i had thought to take a photo
but i was just so absorbed in that sweet-brand-new-baby-smell...
:)

DISCLAIMER: i am certain that this was not my idea and feel like it was inspired by a photo i had seen on Pinterest, however, I couldn't find it. If i can find it, i will link to it here...

today has been all about sleeping in
and catching up on tutorials online,
a little of this, a little of that...
trying to make myself do laundry...
but damn it, i just don't wanna.

OH! and adding my new smurf members to the family!
a sweet friend showed up on the doorstep of the
big old orange house yesterday
with more smurfs...including a papa smurf that
I DID NOT HAVE!
and red from the fraggles...driving a radish, i think!
soooo excited!!!
thank you Elise!!!!

there are so many things i SHOULD have done today...

February 17, 2017 Arlene Giddings

i totally was going to
clean out the area
where we keep our recyclables
and
put away the mountains
of laundry
teetering on the edge
of mayhem
and mess...
i was going to do yoga
and get my 11000 steps in,
sweep
and pick up the vacuum
that i left in my brothers van
over 2 weeks ago
or more...

but instead
i got wrapped up in videos
on how to do html and css
(and can i just say
i got SO excited when
i made a webpage open
and ask "what is your name"
that i might have squealed
and taken a photo of it
and sent it to S)(i'm sure he was not
nearly as excited...heeheehee)

i broke out the watercolors
and ate a chicken nugget kids meal
just so i could get the
lego batman toy
drank copious amounts of diet coke
listened to the lumineers
and rose cousins
and stared out the window
at the snow
for long periods of time.

i stayed in my pajamas
and wore 2 different colored socks.
my hair is a nightmare
but i did moisturize.

i didn't make my bed though.

and that, in a nutshell, has been
friday...now it's chicken wings & nachos
with that guy i love best,
guitar playing (not me) and diet coke (me)...

a perfect start to the weekend.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

bullet journals and birthdays...oh my...

February 16, 2017 Arlene Giddings

march does not bring my birthday
but it does bring the birthday
of someone who has always been
very important to me...
DR SEUSS!

So with that in mind
aaaaand the help of the countless snowstorms
that have kept us trapped
in the warm cocoon of our houses this week,
i spent some time working
on my march bullet journal layouts...

i was pretty happy with how these have turned out!
i was going to go with all 4 leaf clovers and
shades of green for spring...but this
makes me just as happy.

now i just have to keep reminding myself
that we are already at the middle of february,
past the halfway point,
only 31 days, 6 hours and 8 minutes til spring.
just hold tight.
it's coming!

although i am not sure pugsley believes me... :)

happy big red heart day...(& a cautionary tale)

February 14, 2017 Arlene Giddings

if you make
chicken fricot
on a storm day
and then don't wait
for it to cool down
to an appropriate level
of heat
before consuming it
you will
burn your tongue....
and if you do
burn your tongue
on deliciously so-hot-but-you-couldn't-wait
chicken fricot
AVOID
CINNAMON HEARTS
AT ALL COSTS
even if it IS valentines day.

i think i have lost 3 layers of taste buds
between yesterday
and today.