Category: brilliantly creative

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January 18th, 2010

Required Reading: 28 Books in 2010

I love reading, right? You’d think for all the books I have scattered about my house. And I do love reading, but there are far too many books on my shelves that I have not read. Or that I’ve started and haven’t finished. Taking my cue from Linden, here’s my list of books to read this year:

  1. What Difference Do It Make? by Ron Hall, Denver Moore, and Lynn Vincent
  2. Secrets: Transforming Your Life and Marriage by Kerry Clarensau (started but haven’t finished)
  3. The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
  4. Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson (started but haven’t finished)
  5. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
  6. Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears (started but haven’t finished)
  7. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
  8. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (started but haven’t finished)
  9. Persuasion by Jane Austen
  10. Lady Susan by Jane Austen
  11. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
  12. Story Collections by Oscar Wilde
  13. Plays by Oscar Wilde
  14. Poems by Oscar Wilde
  15. Poems in Prose by Oscar Wilde
  16. Essays by Oscar Wilde
  17. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
  18. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
  19. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
  20. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
  21. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  22. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
  23. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
  24. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
  25. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
  26. The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells
  27. The Food of the Gods by H.G. Wells
  28. In the Days of the Comet by H.G. Wells

Two themes present themselves in this list:

  1. I start a lot of books but don’t finish them. Not sure why. Maybe they’re not interesting enough to finish. Maybe I just got busy. Regardless, I’ve got to get them off my to-read list.
  2. I have a lot of books by the same authors. Chris bought me several “Library of Essential Writers” collections for Christmas a few years ago, and I’ve hardly touched them. Authors include Mark Twain (read it), Ernest Hemingway (read it), Jane Austen (reading), Charles Dickens (struggling through Oliver Twist), Oscar Wilde, and H.G. Wells. Reading a collection of books by one author is actually my preferred method of reading books one after the other. I think I inherited this from my Toni Morrison/William Faulkner and Edith Wharton literature classes in college.

Twenty-eight books in 365 days? I think I can do it. That’s just over two books a month, and some of those I’m already in the middle of. I just have to be careful and not let my stack of unread magazines pile up around me, too!

Thoughts? Am I brilliantly creative or a gigantic idiot for tackling all these books this year?

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January 13th, 2010

Quilted Eye Candy for Your Enjoyment

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Well, dang it, I had these great pics on the blog, and then I read the site’s copyright notice. So I’m linking to the quilts now, instead of including the pics. Sorry ’bout that.

Sew, :) I got a new sewing machine for Christmas. My first! Hubby did well! But I haven’t started any projects yet. Sewing projects require a bit more planning than my crochet projects, and I haven’t started anything yet.

I’ve been inspired to make some patchwork-ish curtains for my patio doors in the kitchen/dining room since last fall, and yesterday I started looking for fabrics and patterns. I’m so overwhelmed. There are hundreds of beautiful fabrics that would look fabulous against the Bordeaux red on my walls.

In my research, I found Oh, Frannson!, a fantastic quilting blog that has the most beautifully colored quilts. Seriously, it looks like Pantone created them. Check out these favorites:

Anyway, I just wanted to share these beautiful things with you today. I hope you enjoy them!

P.S. No need to vote today. These quilts are brilliantly creative, no contest. :)

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January 4th, 2010

Happy Birthday, Chris!!

A shout-out to my awesome hubby on his 29th birthday today! Love you, baby!

And kudos to our photographer Jen Rodick!

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December 20th, 2009

Lost: Voice.

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December 15th, 2009

Heaven in a Tin!

My mother-in-law Martha gets brilliantly creative points for the package she left at my house today. That’s right: a tin of caramel and cheddar popcorn from Ozark Mountain Popcorn! Yum-O!!

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December 7th, 2009

Meet Hashiru: My Newest Crobot

Check out my latest amigurumi creation! She’s a geisha crobot, and I made her for Other Sarah. Since Other Sarah is an avid runner, this geisha is named Hashiru, which is Japanese for ‘run.’

In related craftiness news, I’m working to make many of my gifts this Christmas. Handmade goodness is especially fun/necessary in this economy! Plus, I’m working my way through my yarn stash. I’m up to my eyeballs in yarn, but that’s what winter is for: cozying up with a project, a movie, and (in my house) a cat/project inspector.

Hope you like Hashiru! If you’d like your own crobot, creepy cute creature or animal, I custom make them for $10-20 each (depending on size).

Time to vote. Brilliantly creative or gigantic idiot?
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December 1st, 2009

Big Big News! I Mean, Monumental!

It’s official! I will be teaching English 101 (Composition I) at Ozarks Technical Community College in the spring! I will be teaching two online 16-week classes starting in January and then adding two more online 8-week block classes in March (providing that they meet enrollment requirements, of course).

In related news, I’ve given notice at LifePoint. I’ll be seeing us through our move to our new facility in January/February and training a replacement(s), but my last day will be March 1. I know, it’s a lot of notice to give, but I want the leadership at LPC to have plenty of time to transition to the new facility and have time to find a new office gal (or guy).

So that’s my big news! (I bet some of you thought I was going to announce I was pregnant. On a side note, I think it would be really awesome to be early in a pregnancy around an April 1, so I could announce that I’m pregnant on April Fool’s Day, and everyone would think that I’m joking. THAT would be hilarious. Regardless, there is no baby news. Period.)

OK. Votey vote. Brilliantly creative? Gigantic idiot? Choice is yours:

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November 18th, 2009

4 Ways to Identify Stale Web Copy

Today I’m taking notes from this article from Freelance Review about writing great web content, specifically that when you launch a new site or redesign an old one, you shouldn’t recycle content from a brochure or old site. Instead, you should take the opportunity to write something fresh and original.

First, amen and amen! Copy goes stale over time. Contact info changes. People change. Products change. What was brilliant or pithy or fantastic then is cliche’, annoying, and tacky now. A writer’s work is never done, just abandoned, right?

Second, oh crap. I am guilty of recycling copy. You know why? Because it’s easy. Because I worked so hard to write the first round of copy and can’t I just use it in one more place? Dang it.

How to Tell If Your Copy’s Gone Stale

Read the copy in question. Then ask yourself these questions:

  1. Am I awake? Did the copy put me to sleep?
  2. Am I crying? Did the copy bore me to tears?
  3. Am I feeling nostalgic? Did the copy reference parachute pants?
  4. Am I working for this company? Did the copy use names/products/events that you don’t know?

When you’ve convinced yourself that you’re ready to rewrite your copy, answer these questions:

  • What’s changed?
  • What’s new?
  • Can this be said differently?
  • Can this be said in fewer words?
  • Can this be better organized?

These questions should get your started thinking about your copy. As for me, I am tucking this tidbit of advice in my back pocket and am off to rewrite my about page. It needs some serious attention!

Time to vote, Votey McVotersons. Brilliantly creative? Or gigantic idiot?

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October 8th, 2009

Race Day & Weekend Prep

For those of you who haven’t checked my calendar this week (and why would you), Saturday is the much-anticipated Sunshine Run 10K! I’ve completed my training, missing only two workouts of my eight-week training, and now I’m resting and not eating anything stupid between now and Saturday morning. If you’re not a runner, you may not be aware that no matter our academic and professional training, we all turn into Rain Man when races come around. Not only can we do some pretty difficult math in our heads, but we become very very very particular about our schedules, food, and gear. And yes, I have morphed into crazy OCD runner this week.

Add travel plans to the post-race party, and I’m out of control. As soon as the race is over, Chris and I are driving to Liberty to watch my cousin Drew play in William Jewell’s homecoming football game. It’s his senior year, and he’s team captain, and his mom, dad, and brother will be in from North Carolina to see him. So not only do I have to plan for race morning, I have to plan for an additional weekend of clothes and a morning of post-race food. I haven’t begun to figure out how I’m going to properly cool down and stretch out before we squish into the Civic.

With such a logistical challenge on my plate, what did I do? That’s right, I made a list:

And even though it’s Thursday night, I have laid out all my race day gear. All that’s missing is my bib number and timing chip:

And I started packing my food for Saturday in my brand new cooler:

(Not shown: pictures of my clothes and toiletries for the non-running portion of my weekend laid out on my bed. Because they’re already packed and I forgot to take a picture.)

Why am I doing this 36 hours before the race? Easy, I’m not going to be home most of the day tomorrow. Chris is out of town until late tomorrow night. And I don’t like to wait until the last minute.

Why do you think I’m doing this? Is it because I’m brilliantly creative or a gigantic idiot? (Check out the new rating system below to cast your vote.)

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October 7th, 2009

Toothpaste-Tube-Roll-Keeper

Check it. I found a new use for my always trusty, handy-dandy binder clips. Because I am a neat, squeeze from the bottom girl, and Chris is a squeeze from the middle guy. Now Chris can squeeze from the middle, and I can keep on rollin’. That’s right, it a toothpaste-tube-roll-keeper. OK. So I need to work on the name, but take a look:

Time to vote: brilliantly creative or gigantic idiot?

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