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January 2014 Wrap-up and Monthly TBR

Hop on over to Booksessed to participate.

January's TBR Pile Recap: Books Read and Reviewed (8/12 books)

  1. J's pick: High Fidelity by Nick Hornby √
  2. J's other pick: Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein
  3. Nonfiction: Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton
  4. Fluffy romance: Lessons in French by Laura Kinsale √
  5. Freebie: In the Company of Secrets by Judith Miller √
  6. Series pick: A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin
  7. Nonfiction: Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain √
  8. Book to movie: The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
  9. Classic: A Room with a View by E.M. Forster √
  10. Book club selection: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green √
  11. Added: Shambling with the Stars by Jesse Petersen √
  12. Added: The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama √

1,000,000 Page Goal

Monthly Total: 2422 pages
Pages Remaining: 832,911 pages

Current Read - Roaring Midnight by Colleen Gleason; The Nanny Diaries by Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin

Books Won (0)

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Challenges Completed  -- None yet

Comments - Not bad for January.  I knocked out a few books form my TBR piles and finished a few iPad reads.  I am again dedicating February to fantasy reads (except for The Nanny Diaries as I am trying to finish that from January).  Lots of great reads to look forward to.  My goal is to surpass my January pages.  Let's see if I can do it.

Fantasy February's TBR Pile:

  1. January In Progress: The Nanny Diaries by Nicola Kraus and Emma McLaughlin
  2. J's pick: Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein
  3. Freebie: Tithe by Holly Black
  4. Book to stage: Wicked by Gregory Maguire
  5. Classic: Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
  6. Book club selection: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
  7. Carry-over: A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin
  8. Monthly Motif: Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
  9. Fun and Funny: The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul by Terry Pratchett
  10. Series Pick: Roaring Midnight by Colleen Gleason
  11. Library Book: Iron Legends by Julie Kagawa
categories: Monthly Wrap-Up
Friday 01.31.14
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

FF #3: Need for Comfort

Need for Comfort

I love this comfy comfy look.  Everything about this screams comfort.  And I would wear every piece of this.  I think this would be perfect for running around with the baby.  I can't wait to get back to a comfortable size so I can wear some colored skinnies.

Brown cardigan

target.com

H M long sleeve shirt $41 - hm.com

Hush long length tank top

$37 - hush-uk.com

BA&SH skinny jeans

my-wardrobe.com

Frye boots

zappos.com

Backpacks bag

dsw.com

AllSaints hat

$62 - allsaints.com

categories: Fashion
Friday 01.31.14
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

A Winter's Respite Day #4

Pages Read Today: 40 (Lessons in French) and 69 (Roaring Midnight)

Pages Read Total: 554

Comments: Finished Lessons in French, started Roaring Midnight.  Very excited about both books.  And I'm even on target to finish my goals.

tags: Winter's Respite Readathon
categories: Readathon
Thursday 01.30.14
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

Tour of My Crafting Station

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Since coming back from Christmas break, I attempted to organize my crafting space.  A few weeks later and I'm ready to reveal my area.  My space is one half of our third bedroom.  The other half of the room is filled with J's modeling supplies and workspace.  The closet is full of bookcases.  So, that leaves the half by the door (minus the corner dedicated to the servers and various computer stuff) and a small space of the long table.  From the above picture, you can see my limited space.

Let's start with the area by the window:

On top of the white table I keep a variety of things.  I have my red bin (we'll look inside in a few minutes), finished cards (currently just stacked up), envelopes, and all my 8.5" x 11" paper.  I decided to buy some Ikea cheapy magazine holders to sort my paper by color.  The last holder on the left holds cut card bases and my Stampin' Up catalogs.  I plan on adding fun scrap paper to the magazine holders to liven them up a bit.

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Tucker under the white table is my beloved Ikea Alex drawer set.  I bought this piece right after we moved in almost two years ago and am still in love with it.  It has a total of six drawers.  The top three are shorter and the bottom three are longer height-wise.  All the drawers are extremely deep.  They hold 12" x 12" paper with room to spare.  We couldn't put the drawers under the table with the opening facing out because of a vent (you can see the corner in the pic).  Instead we slide it in sideways.  I can still open the drawers without moving this extremely heavy piece.  The extra room sticking out was the perfect size to hold my boxed Project Life kits.  Currently I have a pocket pages box, a Baby Neutral kit, a Sunshine kit, a Seafoam kit, a Holiday kit, and a Seasons kit residing there.  It makes it really easy to grab a kit to work with and frees up a ton of space on my table.

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Inside the Alex drawers, I have a ton of supplies.  The first two drawers hold a lot of various office supplies not worth looking at.  The third drawer (short drawer) holds my Christmas supplies.  I finally decided to sort out my Christmas only supplies from the rest.  Best decision I've made in a long time.

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The fourth drawer (first tall drawer) used to hold all my stickers for scrapbooking.  Since I am moving towards Project Life, I've slowly used my stickers and haven't bought much more.  Because of that, this drawer is slowly becoming a paper drawer.  One of next projects is to sort through my 12" x 12" paper and organize them by colors / patterns.

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The fifth drawer is a split drawer.  Half is full of more 12" x 12" paper.  Half is full of my paper punches.  Fairly soon I'm going to have to make more room for paper punches.  I'm thinking about moving the punches up to the sticker drawer as I use those.

The last drawer is another half and half drawer.  Half is paper, half is my heat embossing supplies and my scoring board.  Kind of random, but I don't use my heat embossing tools all the time.

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Finally on top of the window table I have one of my red bins.  This one is filled with all my Stampin' Up stamp cases, SU framelits, and SU embossing folders.  I would like to have my stamp cases in a more visual spot, but I need to think more about how I want to do that.

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Here's the view of my main work space.  I bought this very basic table from Amazon.  I love that I have a large area to work with and nothing for me to get tangled onto.

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The right side is a big hodgepodge of stuff.  The little shelving unit contains random notebooks, the twins' scrapbooks I'm currently working on, and my yearbooks.  The top of it has some random office supplies and coasters.  Under the desk, I have my two Project Life albums.  On top, I have my Project Life supply box, two Studio Calico PL supply boxes, and a few PL specific embellishment envelopes.

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The pink box contains Project Life specific supplies.  I have a few rotary stamps, some photopolymer stamps, a corner rounder, day stickers, and some random things.  I tried to make it easier on myself when I got to do my weekly spreads.  I didn't want to spend a lot of time searching through supplies.  Having a dedicated box cuts my time in half. Love it!

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On the left side of the table, I have a PL album (not usually there), a couple of paper stacks for notes, and four boxes of supplies.  The bottom box (darker blue) is pictures and ephemera for the twins' scrapbooks.  I haven't switched them over to PL (probably won't until I fill the current album).  I tend to scrap there pages once every few months.  So, I throw everything in this bin to keep for later.

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The turquoise box holds all my small embellishments. I have a ton of buttons, brads, flowers, jewels, and die cuts.

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The orange box holds paper scraps.

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The green box has all my ribbon and washi tape.  Given my current obsession with washi tape, I will probably have to rethink this box soon.

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Under the table holds the last of my supplies.  I have a few bins and my tool caddy.

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The red bin contains my Stampin' Up ink pads, my stamp scrubber, my snail refills, and a few random ribbon spools.  I usually keep my ink pads horizontally, but for the pictures I put them vertical to see the colors.  I don't want the ribbon in this bin, but I ran out of room in the ribbon box.

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The second scraps box.  I think I have a scraps problem.  I really need to do a scrap purge.

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This bin holds all my non-Stampin' Up stamps.  I think I need a better way of accessing my stamps.  I'll have to think about it.

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Lastly, I have my tool caddy.  I try to keep all my scissors, markers, and random tools in one easy access place.  Plus, this holder is mobile!

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Overall, I am satisfied with my crafting area.  However, there are a few things that I want to improve in the near future.  I've filled my Pinterest board with crafting room inspiration.  I see a trip to Ikea in my future!

categories: Crafting
Thursday 01.30.14
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

Lessons in French by Laura Kinsale

Title: Lessons in French

Author: Laura Kinsale

Publisher: Sourcebooks 2010

Genre: Historical romance

Pages: 446

Rating:  4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Well Rounded Reader -- Historical Romance; TBR Pile; Women Author; 52 Books -- W5; Lucky No. 14 -- Bargain All the Way

Trevelyan and Callie are childhood sweethearts with a taste for adventure, until the fateful day her father discovers them embracing in the carriage house and, in a furious frenzy, drives Trevelyan away in disgrace. Nine long, lonely years later, Trevelyan returns. Callie discovers that he can still make her blood race and fill her life with excitement, but he can't give her the one thing she wants more than anything—himself.

For Trevelyan, Callie is a spark of light in a world of darkness and deceit. Before he can bear to say his last goodbyes, he's determined to sweep her into one last, fateful adventure, just for the two of them.

Started out a bit slow for my tastes, but got really good towards the end.  This book is a nice mix between a fluffy romance, a mystery, and an adventure story.  We get a couple of twists and turns that threw me for a couple of pages.  They were interesting twists that added to the fun of the story.  The characters are good, although I wished to see a stronger female lead.  Callie was a bit to much of a wilting flower until the last 100 pages or so.  Trevelyan was the stereotypical rogue male lead, but I still really liked him.  One of the best characters was Trevelyan's mother the Duchess.  She was interesting and always knew more than she let on.  Overall, I really enjoyed reading Lessons in French.  I will have to add Kinsale to my authors to watch for at clearance sales list.

tags: 4 stars, 52 books in 52 weeks, Laura Kinsale, Lucky No- 14, romance, TBR Pile, Well Rounded Reader, women authors
categories: Book Reviews
Thursday 01.30.14
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

A Winter's Respite Day #3

Pages Read Today: 140 (Lessons in French) and 39 (Roaring Midnight)

Pages Read Total: 445

Comments: Almost done with Lessons in French (I should finish tomorrow) and started Roaring Midnight on the iPad.  So far, I'm really doing better than I thought.

tags: Winter's Respite Readathon
categories: Readathon
Thursday 01.30.14
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

Quote Wednesday -- Emerson

Character is higher than intellect. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I love people with character!

categories: Quote Wednesday
Wednesday 01.29.14
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

A Winter's Respite Day #2

Pages Read Today: 266 (Lessons in French)

Pages Read Total: 266

Comments: I completely forgot to update my progress last night.  So, I am updating today.  I've been reading Lessons in French the past few days.  Pretty good fluffy type of romance.  Hope to finish it by Friday.

tags: Winter's Respite Readathon
categories: Readathon
Wednesday 01.29.14
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

Arthur: 15 Weeks

We're back to our normal routine...  Oh wait!  No we're not!  We've joined three mom's groups and have an activity almost everyday.  So excited to socialize with other moms and babies.

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Likes: Checking out other babies (new favorite activity), the iPad (pretty pictures), going on walks

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Dislikes:Dirty diapers (renewed his hatred for soiled pants), playing by himself, not eating mom's food (yeah, he's already interested)

 

Sleeping:Sunday night he slept for eight hours straight!  Of course that was an aberration.  Usually he wakes up 3 times a night. Thankfully he's been sleeping until 7 or 8am.  I can do that time.

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Eating: I met a mom today who is using the baby led weaning method.  After picking her brain for awhile, I think we are going to definitely use this when Arthur turns 6 months.

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Playing: Chewing on Sophie constantly (see below).  Cuddling with monkey at night.  Drooling on the taggie monster blanket.  Grabbing the hanging toys.  Fascinated by the toys on the jumper.  Flings the links around.  I'd say he's loving playing with new toys.

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Medical Milestones: 

  • Rolling over -- Check!  He's got back to tummy down.  The other way not so much.
  • Reaching for and possibly grabbing a variety of toys -- He's dexterity is really improving.
  • Sucking on hands for comfort -- Always always always...
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Schedule: Depending on the day, nap times are pretty random still.  I can't wait until we have more set nap times.  Although it might impede on our activities.

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Out and About:

  • Walk at Shoreline -- We restarted our weekly walk with the mom's group. Walked 2.5 miles this week!  Hope to up it next week.
  • Target -- I had to return some pants.  Arthur was so good hanging out in the baby carrier.
  • Donut shop -- We popped over on Friday for yummy breakfast.  I needed the pick-me-up after a horrid sleep.
  • Brunch at Buck's -- We met some of J's co-workers for brunch.  Arthur loved watching everyone and everything at the restaurant.
  • Book club at Le Boulanger -- Hung out with Liese, Angi, and Pam.  Pam even held Arthur for the first time (he's less "floppy" now).  Plus, we walked there and back, so two more miles to my exercise tally.
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tags: Arthur, growth update
categories: Kids
Tuesday 01.28.14
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

Music Monday -- Avicii and Dan Tyminski "Hey Brother"

Such an odd mix of musical genres, but somehow it completely works! 

tags: Avicii, Dan Tyminski
categories: Music
Monday 01.27.14
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

Sunday Sunset #2

Book finished: High Fidelity; A Room with a View

Reading: Lessons in French by Laura Kinsale

On the Nightstand: Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton; Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein; A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin

Crafting: Wednesday was crop night.  Usually I get overwhlemed by my options and end up not getting much done.  I also always forget something.  This time I got smart at least on one point.  Instead of throwing a ton of supplies into a big bag, I made little card kits in quart size ziploc bags.  Everything I needed for a specific card except ink went into the bag.  As an added organizational tool, I found six different inspirations on Pinterest to use.  Unfortunately, I forgot my snail adhesive at home.  Thankfully Judy let me borrow hers.  Thanks friend!  I'd say even with my forgetfulness, the night was a huge success.  I made six cards using three of my designs.  Love them!

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Watching: This week we've been on a Workaholics marathon.  From the beginning, we've been watching the ridiculously funny episodes.  Love it!  There's way too many references that only the 25-35 crowd would get.

Shopping Scores: No shopping this week.  Shocker after the crazy holiday season.

Project: I ordered and starting using The Daily Page from Thyme is Honey.  I love how it keeps all my lists in one place.  I'm trying to get into the habit of filling out a page the night before.  I even created a cleaning schedule and a meal plan to help me fill it out.  Now to remember to keep up with it and carry it with me.

Picture: Arthur really loves his Sophie!

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categories: Weekly Wrap-up
Monday 01.27.14
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

A Winter's Respite Readathon -- Starting Line

After a not-so-great Bout of Books earlier in January, I realized that I need to re-evaluate my expectations when it comes to readathons.  Gone are the days of unlimited reading.  My 3-month-old demands too much of my time to be able to read 2000 pages in one week.  So, I am scaling back.  I still want to commit myself to read more than usual, but I'm going to keep the goals realistic.

Goals:

  • Read two books
  • Review all books read
  • Read each day

TBR Pile (my pile of choices, not mandatory reads):

  • Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton
  • Lessons in French by Laura Kinsale (in progress)
  • The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
  • Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein
  • Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
  • Iron Legends by Julie Kagawa
  • Bloodlines by Richelle Mead
tags: Winter's Respite Readathon
categories: Readathon
Sunday 01.26.14
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

New Year Video Round-up

I'm a little ashamed to say that I want to see this. 

Music video fun.  Really love the storyline in this one.

Looks very interesting... very Chronicle-like

Another movie trailer that piqued my interest

And I leave you this week with a beautiful video.  I can relate to so much of what Ze Frank says in here...

categories: Fun Videos
Saturday 01.25.14
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

Project Life 2014 - Weeks 1, 2, 3

I'm starting a new weekly feature highlighting my Project Life pages.  My goal is to stay on top of the weeks throughout 2014.  Making these posts a weekly feature should hold me accountable.  So here we go... Many project lifers create a new album for each year with a title page, etc.  I started PL in October with Arthur's birth, so mine is going to look a little different.  I am hoping to keep Oct. - Dec. 2013 and all of 2014 in one album.  We'll see how that goes.  I decided to start my 2014 weekly spreads with the week of Dec. 30 - Jan. 5.  Yes, I included Dec. 30th and 31st in Week 1's spread.  I think it will help me stay organized.

Week 1

Family Album: It's another case of the missing photographs.  Darn Walgreens!  I hope to get them printed sometime this week, so I can add them in.  For the left side, I went with a winter color scheme of gray, blue, and white.  We were still in Indiana and there was almost 2 feet of snow on the ground; the colors seemed appropriate.  I went back to the day by day journaling using the PL day stickers.  For the right side, I wanted to highlight the start of 2014.  I used three inserts from the Holiday mini kit and added some silver stars.  The number chipboard stickers were from a Studio Calico kit I bought on Black Friday.  I love their silhouettes.  The "Explore" insert was a Google image that I downloaded.  I chose "Explore" as my word for 2014, so I wanted to highlight it in this first week's spread.

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I added two different inserts in this week.  The first insert is my "State of the Blog" wrap up.  I added journaling cards from the PL Sunshine kit and a screenshot of the home page of my blog.  I love the bright colors and simplicity of the inserts.

 
 

The second insert highlights the rest of my Fat Mum Slim's Photo a Day December pictures.  This was the first time I tried one of these challenges.  I finished it, but learned a few lessons along the way.  I used two PL Seafoam inserts as a title page and a journaling card.  To designate each day's theme, I wrote on top of a washi tape swatch adhered to the photo.  They look much better in person.  Now I really need some more washi tape to use this technique more. (Side note: I'm missing the Dec. 31st picture.  I have to get that one printed and inserted.)

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Supplies:

  • PL Seafoam kit
  • PL Sunshine kit
  • PL Holiday mini kit
  • PL Day stickers
  • Random stickers from stash
  • Random paper from stash
  • Various washi tape

Arthur's Album

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Week 2

Family Album: Another week of photos speaking for themselves.  I wanted to get the rest of our vacation pictures into the album.  To highlight the crazy Midwest weather, I cropped a picture from The Weather Channel.

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Supplies:

  • PL Seafoam kit
  • PL Baby kit

Arthur's Album

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Week 3

Family Album: This week I tried to incorporate some insert cards other than the Sunshine and Seafoam kits.  I bought some random sets and partial sets online over the holidays.  I love the lighter blue and orange color combinations.  I also tried to play with pattern cards instead of using just simple designs.  Finally I decided to add "Week __" to the date cards.  (Note: I only did this for the family album.)

 
 

Supplies:

  • PL Seafoam kit
  • WRMK Tangerine kit
  • PL Day stickers

Arthur's Album: On the left side, I did a few journaling cards and a random insert all in yellow.  I love the clean look.  The right side is all about Arthur's 3 month pictures and inserts.  The photo heavy right side balances the cleaner left side.

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Supplies:

  • PL Baby kit
tags: Project Life
categories: Crafting
Saturday 01.25.14
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

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Title: High Fidelity

Author: Nick Hornby

Publisher: Riverhead Books 1995

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Pages: 323

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mount TBR; New Authors; Monthly Motif -- January Around the World; Book to Movie; Rory Gilmore Challenge

Rob is a pop music junkie who runs his own semi-failing record store. His girlfriend, Laura, has just left him for the guy upstairs, and Rob is both miserable and relieved. After all, could he have spent his life with someone who has a bad record collection? Rob seeks refuge in the company of the offbeat clerks at his store, who endlessly review their top five films (Reservoir Dogs...); top five Elvis Costello songs ("Alison"...); top five episodes of Cheers (the one where Woody sang his stupid song to Kelly...). Rob tries dating a singer whose rendition of "Baby, I Love Your Way" makes him cry. But maybe it's just that he's always wanted to sleep with someone who has a record contract. Then he sees Laura again. And Rob begins to think (awful as it sounds) that life as an episode of thirtysomething, with all the kids and marriages and barbecues and k.d. lang CD's that this implies, might not be so bad.

This is one of J's favorite books.  He's been bugging me to read this for years now.  I finally got around to it.  And I really did like the book.  My favorite aspect is the writing style.  Hornby writes as though Rob (the main character) is sitting across from you in some pub telling you his story. There's an easy-ness to the writing that I just loved.  As to the characters, Rob reminded me so much of J.  I can see why he really likes this book.  It's almost part of his life story.  Laura is a bit of a flat character, but that's okay.  The story isn't about the romance between Rob and Laura.  The story is about Rob's life now and his dreams and aspirations.  I really enjoyed getting to know Rob and his quirky sense of life.

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Movie:

The movie is one of the truest adaptations of a novel that I've ever seen.  I really really like this movie.  It retains the conversational style of the novel.  It retains the quirky characters -- great casting, especially Jack Black as Barry.  They make minor changes (like some of the bands mentioned).  They make one major change (London to Chicago).  But those changes don't bother me at all.  The changes don't make a negative impact on the story.  Great movie.  Great music.  Great characters.

tags: 4 stars, Books to Movies, Monthly Motif, mount tbr, New Author, Nick Hornby, Rory Gilmore Challenge
categories: Book Reviews
Friday 01.24.14
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

FF #2: Leopard Fun

Leopard Fun

I love the color combo of red and leopard print.  I probably would never have the confidence to wear this outfit in public, but I really love it!  All of the gold accents and accessories really make the outfit.

Boohoo red shirt

boohoo.com

Black blazer

bodycentral.com

Lipsy skirt

$65 - lipsy.co.uk

Peeptoe booties

bodycentral.com

A X Armani Exchange satchel handbag

armaniexchange.com

Yochi vintage jewelry

metroparkusa.com

categories: Fashion
Friday 01.24.14
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

A Room with a View by E.M. Forster

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Title: A Room with a View

Author: E.M. Forster

Genre: Classics

Pages: 204

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mount TBR; Book to Movie; Back to the Classics -- 20th Century Classic; 1001 Books; Rory Gilmore

British social comedy examines a young heroine's struggle against strait-laced Victorian attitudes as she rejects the man her family has encouraged her to marry and chooses, instead, a socially unsuitable fellow she met on holiday in Italy. Classic exploration of passion, human nature and social convention.

Overall, I was a bit disappointed in this novel.  I had heard that it was a great social commentary piece.  I had heard that it had great characters.  I guess I can see those things.  However, throughout most of the book I was just bored.  Guess it just wasn't my cup of tea.

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Movie:

Loved the actor choices for this novel. Loved the locations.  Thought it was a very good adaptation of the novel.  But, like the novel I was bored throughout most of the movie.  This will not be on my rewatch list.

tags: 1001 Books, 3 stars, Back to the Classics, Book to Movie, E-M- Forster, mount tbr, Rory Gilmore Challenge
categories: Book Reviews
Friday 01.24.14
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

Thanks for the New Year

I haven't done one of these post since a little after Arthur was born... Time to get back into the habit.

1. Indiana family and new family -- For a great Christmas break even with the snow and canceled flights  It was nice to see everyone and have everyone meet Arthur.  We had tons of fun.

2. A friend's successful surgery -- A friend who had surgery right as I left for Indiana is on the mend.  So thankful for her good recovery.

3. California weather -- As nice as it was to see family for Christmas, I did not miss the extreme cold temperatures.  I even caught a horrendous cold while there.  Thankful to be back to the lovely warm weather and sunshine.  I've been wearing sandals nonstop since getting back.

4. Monday mom's group meeting -- Every Monday we meet to walk at Shoreline, grab lunch, and generally catch up.  I probably wouldn't be walking this much (2-3 miles each time) if not for the chance to hang out with some pretty cool moms.

5. My own bed -- The bed in my mom's guest room is just so uncomfortable compared to my own.  As soon as I got back, I started sleeping better again.

tags: Thankful Thursday
categories: Life
Thursday 01.23.14
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

Quote Wednesday -- Patton

Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom. -- Gen. George Patton

Always need to remember this when I'm having a bad week...

categories: Quote Wednesday
Wednesday 01.22.14
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

Arthur: 14 Weeks

After our first full week back in California, we're getting back into the swing of our routine.  We've also restarted our weekly activities.

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Likes: Laughing at mom, lots of toys, his new jumper (sorta, we're still working on it)

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Dislikes: Middle of the night diaper changes (it's a necessity but he hates it), getting stuck on his tummy and not being able to roll to his back 

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Sleeping: It's been all over the place lately.  We had a couple of good nights with 5-6 hour stretches and then nothing.  Thankfully he's still a decent napper.

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Eating: He's pretty consistent with his eating right now.  I've been thinking about when and how to introduce real food to the baby.  Right now, I leaning towards baby led weaning.  But I guess it really depends on when Arthur gets fed up with just formula.

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Playing:He's still learning to love his jumper.  I turned him to a different side and he's really into the links and toys.  Plus he loves the music from his monkey bouncer.  He's been exploring more of his toys.  The wire ball and taggie monster blanket are his current favorites.

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Medical Milestones: 

  • Mouthing toys -- He's putting everything in his mouth now.  Definite check!
  • Pushing up with arms while on tummy -- He just started doing this in the past week.  He's also attempting to army crawl, but can't get those legs working.  So cute!
  • Making more sounds -- All kinds of sounds come out of his mouth.
  • Noticing when I leave and come back -- Yeppers...  I get a big smile every time I go in and get him from a nap.
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Schedule: I thought we were getting onto a decent schedule: sleeping for 1-2 hours stretches during day, playing/awake time for 2-3 hours, then napping again.  It was a fake out.

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Out and About: We mostly stayed around the house and hung out.  On Saturday we walked down to the Farmer's Market for lunch and popcorn.  The essentials of course!  And yesterday we restarted our weekly walk at Shoreline with the mom's club.  Over 3 miles walked next to the bay.  Can't wait until next Monday!

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tags: Arthur, growth update
categories: Kids
Tuesday 01.21.14
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 
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