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Children’s Books to Read at a Wedding

Wedding vows are pretty important. Vows are intended to be public declarations of love and promise to one person. Vows are meant to be kept FOREVER. Vows are a pretty big deal. And lately I’ve been thinking about how best to do them.

I might be able to say the standard “’til death do us part” vows in front of my immediate family, but I don’t want to say our “real” vows in front of anyone else. It feels too private to me.

George and I are going to say our “real” vows before we do the legal ones. And before I put on makeup because I’m a huge sap and I’ll probably cry my eyeballs out. But that’s ok.

Since I’m a librarian and a great lover of books, I’ve been looking for a passage or a book that best expresses my feelings. This NYPL post from Kristy Raffensberger, a children’s librarian, has some great suggestions.

But in some ways I want to find my own. It’s the thrill of the hunt.

Here’s the few books I’ve found so far…

No-Matter-WhatNo Matter What
Debi Gliori

This book was obviously intended for the love between a parent and a child, but I think it describes romantic love, as well.

Small, a little fox, questions Large, a big fox, if he would love her (or if she would love him– it’s quite androgynous) in increasingly silly scenarios.

“If I were a grumpy grizzly bear, would you still love me? Would you still care?” “I’d always love you, no matter what,” responds Large.

I can definitely be a grumpy grizzly sometimes and I’m sure George could relate to this one.

Guess How Much I Love You
Sam McBratney (Author), Anita Jeram (Illustrator)

Again, probably meant for parental love, but relevant regardless.

This lovely bedtime tale follows Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare through a series of charming declarations.

It begins with “I love you as high as I can hop!” said Little Nutbrown. And ends with Big Nutbrown’s declaration “I love you right up to the moon.”

A Lovely Love Storylovely love story
Edward Monkton

I cried at work reading this one. So embarrassing.

Such a cute premise. Two dinosaurs meet and fall in love. One is an emotionally distant dino and the other dino has a penchant for shopping. Regardless of flaws, they learn to accept one another as they are.

“Together they stand on the hill, telling each other stories and feeling the warmth of the sun on their backs. And that, my friends, is how it is with love.”

Have you stumbled across any good wedding readings? I’d love to hear them in the comments!

love,
melanie

 

 

Death Comes to Pemberley

Sometimes I think I’m the only book-lover in the world who has luke-warm feelings towards Pride and Prejudice. I know, I know, it’s a sin. Don’t shoot me, but I’ve always thought Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy were snotty, boring and terribly pretentious. I need a heroine with… excuse my expression… balls! I’d take Hester Prynne over Elizabeth Bennet any day.

I always feel guilty about my dislike of Pride and Prejudice, and I guilt myself into reading mash-up P and P novels in the hopes that Elizabeth will grow on me. She never does. My taste is appalling. I know.

When we got the audiobook of Death Comes to Pemberley at the library, I felt obliged to pop it into my car stereo. Alas, if I didn’t listen to this book in audio format, I don’t think I would have finished it. The best part for me about the experience was listening to the glorious accent of the narrator, Rosalyn Landor.

Ms. Landor had a fabulously matriarchal British accent. She might just be the real-life Mary Poppins. AND she had different voices for each one of the characters!

Unfortunately, Ms. Landor was the best part of the novel. The characters I found dull, and the plot, although it involved a murder, had me dozing off at the wheel.

Although this book was a total flop for me, I’ll definitely be on the lookout for audio books narrated by Rosalyn Landor in the future.

Did you read Death Comes to Pemberley? What did you think?

love,
melanie

Love Adventure

Last weekend, George and I went on a motorcycle ride to the Great Dismal Swamp. Although the swamp isn’t far from our house, it was quite the adventure. Prior to the trip, I had only rode on George’s bike at about 45 mph. I’m not afraid to admit that at 70 mph, I was holding on for dear life. George is terribly ticklish and he said I had to stop holding him in a death grip because he might die from laughter. I managed to get a few snapshots on the bike after I got my courage up.

The swamp has a man-made canal! Next time, I want to take my canoe down the canal.

We had a picnic and watched boats sail down the canal.

We made jokes about this guy’s “dingy” hanging out.

And on the way back home, I got up my nerve enough to take a couple of pictures from the bike.

What kind of adventures do you have planned this weekend?

love,
melanie

Love Books: Please Ignore Vera Dietz

I’m on a Young Adult literature kick right now. I guess I’m making up for reading almost no YA lit. as a “young adult.” (I still consider myself young adult, although I’m technically out of the bracket.)

I have to admit, I picked Please Ignore Vera Dietz because of the cover art. I’m terrible about judging books by the cover, but I can’t think of one instance where a book I love has a crappy cover. This book was no different. Great cover, great story.

Vera, a high-school senior, is haunted by her dead-ex-best-friend, Charlie. Charlie wants Vera to tell the truth surrounding the circumstances of his death. But Vera is conflicted. She loved Charlie and she hated Charlie. She loved him because he was charming, dangerous and her childhood best friend. And she hated him because he spread her ugly family secret around their high school.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz is an easy, but edgy read. The book has a storyline that jumps through time and through characters to keep it interesting.  I’d recommend this book to any and all wallflowers with a free afternoon.

Has anyone else read this book? What did you think about it?

love,
melanie

Love Love: Wedding Planning

Drinking cheap champagne and wedding planning from our tub.

I don’t want to jinx it, but I think I may be getting a little bit excited about our wedding. The outcome of Amendment One was a total downer, but I don’t think it should stop us from our plans. And I’m still hopeful that one day everyone will have equal marriage rights in our country.

George and I have been talking about our wedding and Googling almost nightly from our office/bathtub. Yup, we sit in the bathtub, drink and hang out for about an hour every night. It’s one of my favorite things to do.

We even chatted on the phone with an amazing photographer last night. He is almost unbelievably amazing. I don’t even want to share his name yet. He is that good. George and our possible photog hit it off too. They both like motorcycles and fried chicken livers, weird combo, right?

I think that letting go of what was expected of us (i.e. inviting the whole family, having a summer wedding, decorations galore, wedding blogging constantly) has been a huge relief. I might even share a few details of the planning process with you all, if it is not too stressful, of course.

Did you “let go” of expectations for your wedding? I want to hear from you!

love,
melanie

Love Books: Bossypants by Tina Fey

I hate that I kept comparing this book to Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? And Other Concerns. But I couldn’t help it. Mindy even mentions in her book that the comparison is obvious and Bossypants is better. But I actually felt like I could relate much more to Mindy. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? was so relatable, we’re now on a first-name basis.

Bossypants may be relatable for moms living in NYC, but I’m a 20-something that has lived in LA. I was an overweight child who has been on “hobby-diets” my whole life, dated too many “boys” and I online shop more than is healthy– so does Mindy.

The relatablity of a memoir often determines how much I will enjoy it. I just didn’t enjoy Bossypants as much as I thought I would. Sometimes I can’t be unbiased with book reviews.

If you are going to read Bossypants, I would highly recommend the audio book. I enjoyed hearing the book read by Ms. Fey (we’re not on a first-name basis) because she does a few voice impressions and she has a strong, clear, sometimes theatrical voice.

Did anyone else read Bossypants? Did you have lukewarm feelings about it, too? It seems that I’m the only one that didn’t adore it. Maybe my expectations were too high?

oh well,
love,
melanie

My Love/Hate Relationship with Productivity Tools

One of my goals for this next year of my life is to take Sundays completely off. So that means no computers, no cooking, no cleaning– just relaxing. But I’ll be the first to admit, it is going to be hard. We modern ladies are busy, right?!

And as a modern, busy lady, I am always on the lookout for new ways to help me to get things done. In March, I tried The Seinfeld Method aka Don’t Break the Chain. This tool has you making calendars for each of your tasks. Then, you have to do a task from each calendar each day in order to “not break the chain.” But understandably, I was exhausted from this method.

I had a blogging calendar taped to my fridge too, but I quickly saw doing something blogging related everyday was just too much for me.

This  month I’m trying something new. I’ve read that it helps some people to schedule all their time, so I’m trying that this month. I really don’t want to schedule my Saturday too.  But I might start if it looks like I’m not doing chores, like going grocery shopping, which I usually do on Sunday.

Here’s a glimpse at the schedule I made via Google Docs:

Now, this may look crazy to some of you. Hell, it looks a little crazy to me. But I’m already seeing cracks where I’m probably taking a bit to long at one task. And I really want a full day to lay around, hang out with George and relax.

Have you all ever gone to extreme measures to protect your free time? Do you use productivity tools? Which tools have worked for you and which didn’t work?! Let me know in the comments.

love,
melanie

A Great and Terrible Beauty, Book Review

I’m making pleasure reading a priority this summer– no matter what. And I am ready, ready, ready for summer.

So, I’m starting my summer reading off early with The Gemma Doyle Trilogy. I read A Great and Terrible Beauty over the weekend and I’m hooked. I’m checking out the second in the series, Rebel Angels today.

I have to admit, I am a total wimp. In kindergarten, we watched the Disney adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and I’ve never been the same.  If I had known how haunting this book is, I probably would not have picked it up. But I am so glad I did.

A Great and Terrible Beauty is one part, Gossip Girl, one part Edgar Allan Poe. The book is told from the point-of-view of Gemma, a sixteen year old girl, who when the book opens is living in Victorian-age India. Soon after a mysterious tragedy, she is sent to a strict boarding school in England where she creates frenemy relationships and experiences dark visions.

A Great and Terrible Beauty had me reading (with all the lights on!) into the wee hours of the morning.

What are you currently reading? Follow me on Goodreads to see more!

love,
melanie

 

 

Thank you, thank you!

I can’t believe I made it to Freshly Pressed– the front page of WordPress. MY FACE is on the front page! I’m just starting to find my voice and I get this amazing opportunity. I am so, so thankful to all of you all who saw my little ‘ol blog, commented, and/or started following me. I’ve read each and every one of your comments. And I appreciate anyone who even just took a few seconds to check out it out.

So, how did I do it? I have no idea. I think my photography helped. My fiancée, George, took the pictures and as an artist, he has a good eye for composition. But rather than that, I’m chocking it up to pure luck. WordPress has tips here if you want to strategize. Good things have definitely been coming my way lately. Thanks universe, thanks WordPress, thanks ya’ll.

love,
melanie

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Love Stripes

I’m constantly trying to improve and grow. This year, I’m trying to make a conscious effort to improve my self-confidence in all aspects of my life. In the past six months or so, I’ve improved my culinary skills and I’m currently working on trying to improve my style. I love fashion, but I often feel that because I’m short in height and short on cash, I can’t wear cute clothes. But I’m out to prove myself wrong. I also want to prove that librarians can and do have good style.

I wore this outfit to brunch in Asheville. I love Asheville so much. You could literally wear a paper bag and no one would judge you.

Pants: Vintage Pendleton 
Sweater: Can’t remember! eep! Edit: I remembered! United Colors of Benetton.
Shoes: Target
Bag: Gift from my sister

How do you improve your self-confidence?

love,
melanie