Here's my take on prim and proper Victorian-ish wear, but with major edge. I love the soft flowy material of the shirt paired the heavy twead of the skirt. Plus, check out that fun zipper detail! The accessories all scream rock n roll to me. Especially love the bag!
Alexander McQueen peplum shirt
marissacollections.com
$32 - hm.com
Charlotte Russe fishnet pantyhose
charlotterusse.com
6pm.com
amazon.com
aldoshoes.com
$19 - oasis-stores.com
I might just have to see this...
Awesome viral marketing campaign... Love Veristasium and The Hunger Games!
Love these lists by John Green!
A new Mental Floss list series. He's no John Green, but still very entertaining. Especially love the comment about the snarky colonial critic!
Another interesting Misconceptions video.
I love this game way too much!
The book and true story was amazing. Can't wait to see the movie version.
I adore Ze Frank's True Facts series. This week we learn about marsupials!
Title: Authority (Southern Reach #2)
Author: Jeff Vandermeer
Publisher: FSG 2014
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 340
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Fall Reading Challenge; 52 Books - W45; Read Your Freebies; Seriously Series
After thirty years, the only human engagement with Area X—a seemingly malevolent landscape surrounded by an invisible border and mysteriously wiped clean of all signs of civilization—has been a series of expeditions overseen by a government agency so secret it has almost been forgotten: the Southern Reach. Following the tumultuous twelfth expedition chronicled in Annihilation, the agency is in complete disarray.
John Rodrigues (aka "Control") is the Southern Reach's newly appointed head. Working with a distrustful but desperate team, a series of frustrating interrogations, a cache of hidden notes, and hours of profoundly troubling video footage, Control begins to penetrate the secrets of Area X. But with each discovery he must confront disturbing truths about himself and the agency he's pledged to serve.
I felt like this volume started off slow. Maybe it's the curse of second books in trilogies. but it took me awhile to really get into this book. I did not like Control and was left with a confusing sense of why. That is until little tidbits about Area X started revealing themselves. Then, I dove into the book and didn't come back up until I was done. The twists and turns in this one are even more sinister than the first book. You think that everyone is okay because you're not in Area X. Wrong! Nothing is safe, even on this side of the border. I was thankful for some answered questions, but those answers were very disturbing. I'm interested to see how Vandermeer ends this trilogy.
Southern Reach:
Title: Annihilation (Southern Reach #1)
Author: Jeff Vandermeer
Publisher: FSG 2014
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 209
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reading Challenges: Fall Reading Challenge; New Author; Read Your Freebies; Seriously Series
Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide, the third expedition in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition. The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one anotioner, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself. They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding—but it’s the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.
This one was downright scary! And I have to say that it takes a lot to unnerve me while reading a book. This one did it. The summary sounded liked a fun little science fiction book to help pull me out of the reading slump. In reality, I got an intense psychological thriller and loved every page of it. The narrator is deliciously unreliable. I kept changing my mind about her: good intentions? manipulative? making it all up? I loved the first person narrative as a structure. We get to see the events through the biologist's eyes for better or worse. While the whole book was very scary and suspenseful, I almost had to put it down during the biologist's final descent into the tower. Holy crap that was scary! But also amazingly good! I ended up knocking off a star because I was left with more questions than answers by the end. I will be reading the rest of the series, but felt like we could have had a bit more reveals in the first book.
Southern Reach:
A painting is never finished -- it simply stops in interesting places. -- Paul Gardner
Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. If you can’t come up with ten, don’t worry about it—post as many as you can!
As the years have progressed, I have realized that i reread books less and less. There are just too many news ones on my TBR lists to stick with the old. But there are a few that I do want to reread relatively soon.
Oh... this one is really good. I can't wait to get the new soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Mockinjay Park 1.
It's been a few weeks since I've done one of these weekly wrap-up posts. Thought I would try again before the crazy of Thankgiving and Christmas.
Listening To: you + me and Andrew McMahon. I actually bought two new albums a few weeks ago and they've been on heavy rotation in my iTunes. Especially loving the you + me album.
Book finished: Shadowdance; Expecting Adam; I am Malala; The Awakening; Annihilation
Reading: Authority by Jeff Vandermeer
On the Nightstand: Acceptance by Jeff Vandermeer; Evernight by Kristen Callihan
Making Lists: November craft projects; November Pinterest projects; November meal plan; Christmas gifts; travel packing; 2015 TBR pile; moving needs
Around the house: This place is a disaster zone. We are moving in three weeks, and we've already got boxes everywhere. Our big order of boxes doesn't arrive until Tuesday, but we've already started packing. J keeps all the electronics boxes so they are mostly packed. I had a ton of Amazon and SU boxes laying around for temprorary storage. Those are being packed with craft and office supplies. Once the boxes arrive, I'm packing the boys' room and the books next. Eventually everything will come together, but man I hate moving! Hoping we stay at our new place for a few years.
From the kitchen: Nothing too exciting. Mostly I am trying to make a meal plan from the random ingredients in the cupboards and the freezer. The next few weeks will be a hodge-podge menu with mostly tried and true favorites. Hoping to not have to move or throw away too much food.
Crafting: I finished my 30 days of cards for October and started on my 30 days of gratitude for November. I also need to put together my December Daily album and homemade calendars before leaving for Indiana. Check out the craft blog to see all the pretties.
Watching: All our currently airing shows: Agents of Shield, Sleepy Hollow, The League, Reign, Revenge, The 100. We finally gave up on Modern Family and I gave up on The Vampire Diaries. I'm still watching Once Upon a Time, but it may be next to go. Just getting so bored by the storyline and Emma. On the movie front, J and I are watching the Scifi Channel's Dune mini series. We watched the Lynch version a few weeks back and we wanted to compare. Two of three nights watched and I must say that I'm really enjoying it.
Wondering: Where to store the packed boxes so as not to endanger the baby or have them be in our way? Packing with a one year old is no fun. It took me almost an hour to pack on box because he kept needing something or trying to take things out the boxes. Now we have random packed boxes everywhere. We need to figure out the best place to store them until the move. Maybe the boys' hallway into their bathroom. No one is using the bath right now. Unfortunately I can't move anything there until I pack those closets. Frustrations!
From Nature: Cooler temps have made it feel a lot like fall around here. Halloween was rainy (defiantly need it!), but that was okay. Our only activity was a costume party and trick or treating indoors at the Children's Museum. We were nice and dry. Looks like we will be back to high 70s by the middle of next week. So long fall, it was nice meeting you again.
Project: I have an entire list, but the biggest one is MOVING! So much to do before we physically move. I am determined to declutter a bit and organize a lot before rooms get packed into boxes. Doing a decent job so far, but really need those boxes to move to the next steps.
Picture: Too adorable! At the Children's Museum on Halloween.
Happy 1st of November from Halloween's littlest astronaut!
Before I get to this month’s goals, let’s check in on October’s goals and my progress.
This month's challenges (lots of repeats from leftover October goals):