Moral Courage

Unless you have been living under a rock, you have probably heard about Malala Yousafzai, the 14-year-old Pakistani girl shot by Taliban gunman because she championed the rights of girls to receive an education.

I saw the illustration below on the Upworthy Facebook page here. It really makes you stop and think, at least it did me. This girl, she is an amazingly brave little girl... I don't even know what to say. She's still a baby. She was only born in 1998. I get emotional every time I hear or read her story. She is so brave. So intelligent. Simply extraordinary. I am in awe of her and her convictions.

As a mother, I cannot stop thinking about her parents.

How do you raise your daughter to stand up for what she believes in like this?

What the Taliban has done is beyond disgusting, but what she has potentially done for girls in her country- I am optimistic. 

Her story is one of the very few reasons I can appreciate the media. Her story is out. She has already made a difference in this world. I hope, with everything I have in me, that she is able to recover from her attempted assassination.

STAND UP FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN - Courage is a quality in men and women. Courage allows them to face up to challenges and dangers. A courageous person is not afraid to face any challenges or danger. There are two kinds of courage - ordinary courage and moral courage.

I Am Malala

--- EDIT --- UPDATE ---

Oh man, you guys scared me. I haven't found anything stating that she has passed. If it was anyone else, they wouldn't have survived. I say it again, this girl is truly amazing. She is at a specialty hospital in Britain being treated. The UAE and covering the bill. I can't tell you how much I am drawn to this story.

the huffington post article

Whew, what a week...

bits & pieces of the past 2 weeks.

1. The Human Highlighter
2. Pink and Glitter and Girly Stuff - heart cakes of Loooove
3. Sleeping off her sleepover hangover
4. No, you may not call your brother an ass, even if it is a donkey
5. Getting so excited for The Great Gatsby to come out
6. Mushy lovey dovey junk - with coordinating tattoos
7. I burnt dinner and my hand 
8. Monster Monday - bfc style
9. ah, our weekend. Beer + guys deploying soon + CNN = LOTS of Heated Debates
10. annnnnd.... Drunk Face Says Hiiiiii

other random thoughts:

1. Why are there so many creepers on Craigslist?
2. Am I really almost THIRTY-ONE?! wtf
3. After these past few months hanging with pretty much only my hubs and his friends, I really miss girls. 
4.  We have a maybe deployment date. No orders yet, so things can, and experience shows that it probably will, change twenty more times before the Day.
5. It is impossible to keep a house clean where there are three men, two children, and one dog in it. IMPOSSIBLE! again... Jessica, where are you? I miss hanging out with girls.
6. "Your mom goes to college" - Oh, this makes me laugh way to hard.
7. This. I can't wait.
8. Das B-Log needs a Make-Over! . . . .  Oh, what shall we do. . . .
9. So many wedding DIY ideas for my little sis, just wish I was back home to help her.
10. Damn, I'm getting old.

Do you eRead?

eReaders vs. The Printed Word

DUN-DUN-DUUUUN!!!

Over the past few years, especially this last year, my little library has grown greatly. I have some amazing beauties in there thanks to this little store. 

As I have mentioned before, we are a military family. 

(Insert lame Hooah here) So let me break that down for you: We move. Sometimes we have movers; sometimes we do not. Books are heavy. I’m a wimp. Are you trackin' where this is going?  eReaders are a good alternative to the excessive weight of a growing hardcover library. 

 

My current summer read is The Perks of Being a Wallflower via the eReader.  Love.  

{So. Much. Love.} 

I will be buying the printed version as well. Do you know how many marvelous quotes are in this book? No? Well pick up or download a copy today! Today! Before you see the movie! 

linking with SGT & Linnys Vault

the.book.chat Favorite Quotes

*** Magical Thinking

“I like flaws and feel more comfortable around people who have them. I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions.” 

“I hate news and information and anything that threatens to puncture the bubble of oblivion in which I live.”  

*** Possible Side Effects

“Although my parents never attended church or mentioned Jesus except when they screamed at each other—and then they used his full name, 'Jesus Fucking Christ” 

“and she's a nurse. do you know how hard nursing school is? it's like medical school. so she's obviously smart.”  

*** I'm Sorry You Feel That Way: The Astonishing but True Story of a Daughter, Sister, Slut, Wife, Mother, andFriend to Man and Dog 

“No one would ever know it to look at me that as soon as I'm alone I am busy busy busy in the head.”  

 

*** When You Are Engulfed in Flames

“Sometimes the sins you haven't committed are all you have left to hold onto.” 

“It's safe to assume that by 2085 guns will be sold in vending machines but you won't be able to smoke anywhere in America.”  

-Bookshelves of Wonder-

Ah, childhood memories, 

prompted by The.Book.Chat at Sweet Green Tangerine.

This week she asked for our favorite books from childhood and adolescence. Hmm, time to divulge a little insight to my life. I wasn’t much of a reader as a child. Blame it on what you will- The fact is, I cannot recall a single time my mother ever just sitting and reading to me as a child. Surely she did. She had to? I do, however, remember my dad reading me some of J.R.R Tolkien's The Hobbit. Once. It was thrilling. As for myself, though, I didn’t care much for sitting still and exploring the life inside books. If a teacher did not require it, I did not read it. This went on throughout High School. 

Hindsight, this makes me sad. Very sad. As a result, I read to my kids often. I want them to have a passion that I never had as a child. I want them to get lost in the magical words of wonder.    

As always, I want to give them the world. So this post is not about my favorite childhood book, instead it is about the things that I hope my kids remember when they are grown. 

The daughter and I went in search of a thrifty bookstore I had heard about. We found it. It was amazing!

Coincidentally, without even looking to see what Jessica’s chat topic was for this week, I picked up a few classics & they seem to fit in perfectly. Two of which I am particularly excited to add to her bookshelf and start reading to her. 

They are all four vintage and beautiful; smelling like an old library. *Heaven* 

o   Heidi, Johanna Spyri

o   Little Women, Louisa May Alcott

o   Bedknob and Broomstick, Mary Norton

How gorgeous are these?!

 

So Random, but old Abe's face kind freaks me out a bit. 

I keep imagining flowers & paisleys on it like a sugar skull... 

Humor Me- the.book.chat

Dear Authors, 

Humor me. Don’t just make me laugh, but make me snort and shoot Dr. Pepper out my nose simultaneously. - This is my court and you are my jester. Entertain me. Show me that you did not merely score high in your creative writing course, but you also have a personality.  I implore you, PLEASE make me laugh!

Full disclosure, I do not read near as much as I should or as much as I would like. My personal library is shabby in comparison to most mildly avid readers. 

The book:

I recently read Magical Thinking by Augusten Borroughs. Perhaps it is because its so fresh in my mind that I am picking it as my Funny book/memoir.

Augusten is a hilarious, self-loathing, gay man whom I now adore and would love to spend an entire day people watching & making snide comments with. Magical Thinking is not a fiction book, rather a memoir of his life. He takes a ton of essays and crams them into a book and somehow, it works. The way his mind works, the way he will share thoughts that some readers (not myself) might find off-putting, only makes me want to read more from him. He appeals to my dark side and makes me laugh out loud. He is my kind of author. Magical Thinking is worth reading just for the story of Debby the dwarfish house cleaner and the 'roid rage chapters alone.  See, you find this intriguing now, don’t you. My job here is done :)

"I myself am made entirely of flaws 

stitched together with good intentions." 

Surely you've seen this quote on Pinterest.
Now read the book and see why he says it.

 

 

I hear he is compares to David Sedaris a lot. So, 

I managed to get my hands on a copy of When You Are Engulfed In Flames & plan on starting it tonight. I'm pretty excited!

I’ll let ya know how it goes. 

Linking up with  -

Sweet Green Tangerine

the book chat

After being asked, last week, what literary character I thought I was most like, I had to do much soul searching. I finally figured it out. I think I'm most like Juliet from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I think I am a hopeless romantic, but not afraid to stand up for what I want & what is right. I believe in happily ever after yet I'm no lame damsel in distress. Yep, Juliet it is. . . .err, minus the whole willingness to kill myself part. 

[via] pinterest [via] Krista Huot, Juliet

Linking to The Book Chat at Sweet Green Tangerine

the.book.chat. :::Favorite Fictional Couple:::

Joining the fun at The Book Chat hosted by Sweet Green Tangerine, I have to pick out my favorite fictional couple. This is not an easy thing to do when you are as indecisive as I am. 

Man, did I really have think on this one. Do I pick some grand love story that makes your heart sing at how sickening in love they are on every page in every chapter of the book or do I do with a more modern rugged real people kinda love?  


I picked 'real' fiction love. A couple in their 30's who married, and had kids, and life was grand, and they had a routine, and toddler messes, and they were happy- until the day they weren't. This is a couple I enjoyed reading about. They didn't sugar coat anything. Marriage is hard at times & love can get jacked up, especially when your husband cheats on you. So what do you do then? You leave town with the kids to clear your head, of course! Maybe you go stupid for a few weeks while you process that everything you knew is no more. Maybe you contact an old flame and make some mistakes of your own; maybe you don't. At the end of the day, Nathan & Sarah loved each other. Truly loved each other and their family. They put on their grownup pants and figured things out. 


Sarah & Nathan Price from Husband and Wife a novel by Leah Stewart. 

Write It Out

“Write drunk; edit sober.”

― Ernest Hemingway

Indeed, sir.

The mister and I have been working on a project for the past few years. Its been a slow and maddening progress, but we have been making progress nonetheless.  
Taking Mr. Hemingway's advice helps with the creativity :)

via

For fun.

BOOK CLUB

I did it, I finally joined a book club. It's online, but what isn't these days?

Drum roll please....

A landslide victory goes to The Book Thief by Markus Zusakus.
Tonight I am brushing the dust off my copy and will force myself to actually read it in its entirety this month. I've tried several times before, but there is just something that kept stopping me from completing it. I know it is a great book, every review I have read confirms this.

So here we go. Tonight I am cuddling up to a thief in my bed.

 source: myself

Random Thoughts Of The Day

1.       Harry Potter marathon on abc family + cat naps + ice cream = one of the most relaxing and enjoyable Sundays I have had in a long time.

2.       Cannot spend two Sundays in a row on my bum. Next week, we are going for another hike.

3.       Glasses: I need them, I own them, I hate to wear them.

4.       Pinterest, if you give me any more damn 404 errors when trying to edit all my many boards and pins, I am likely to cancel my account or scream at my computer. Who am I kidding, it would be the latter.

5.       Socialization, I miss it. In Savannah, I would often run into people I knew near every time I left the house. I miss that...

6.       Turns out I’m a bit on the competitive side. Who knew?  I had never thought of myself as competitive before, but I entered a Valspar contest and I am in 3^rd place and it is driving me insane not being 1^st! It goes by votes only. You can vote once an hour until 30 November. It’s not like it is a talent competition or anything but it's bugging the shit out of me still the same. Shameless plug  -----> http://bit.ly/tUIfrS

7.       Time to think about Christmas trees. Should we go real or fake? Personally, I’m down with a tacky white tree or even pink, but my hubs a much more boring uninteresting traditional style.

8.       Dyslexia. It has been determined that Redd has dyslexia. Can you believe that the public library did not have a single book on this? Off to Barns and Noble tomorrow to find The Gift of Dyslexia Why Some of the Smartest People Can't Read and How They Can Learn.By Ronald D. Davis with Eldon M.Braun.

9.       When filling out your Christmas cards this year take ONE CARD and SEND it to this address: A Recovering American Soldier, c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20307-5001.

10.   The trouble with spending so much time alone is that my mind tends to run wild and over think so many things.'Nuff said.

11.   I would give anything for someone to wash all the sand and dust off my car. I was not meant to be a southwestern kinda girl.

12.   Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair ☮ (<---♪ ♫ ♬ )

⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘
Ooo and one more thing before I go:

I like change. I get bored easily. Blame my ADD.

BG will have a new look complete with awesome new buttons coming soon!

☼ ☼ ☼

This weekend I am going to try to:

๏ Finish reading Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

๏ Search for fabric for my kitchen. 

I need curtains in a bad way and not just anything will do.

If I could thrift something like the ones shown 
below, I'd be a happy girl.

Odds are that I will have to order. I hate buying new. Don't you? 

Thrift stores have spoiled me & my budget :)

How do you like these colors?

♡Color My World♡

 (btw: my husband totally hates these, lol he prefers the 

stagnate 'grandma' approach to decorating) 

๏ I suppose we will also hit the dog park or take the gang for a hike. 

I would much rather hiking.

There is something about a dog park that 
I dislike...a lot. 

Whats on your agenda for this weekend?

Scavenger Hunt #3

This has been one of the most collectively eventful weekends we have had since moving here. Kinda glad its over! :)

First off, I must give credit where credit is due. Congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals, my hometown team, for taking their ELEVENTH World Series Title. Job well done, boys!

Now onto the scavenger hunt… 

I am so glad that I started participating in this weekly photography challenge hosted by Ashley Sisk. As it has done just that; challenge me week after week. I had went from having my camera permanently secured in my hand, to just picking it up here and there. The scavenger hunts have goaded me to finding enjoyable, exciting, odd, and meaningful shots yet again. 

macro:

it was a little budding rose...

found texture:

this is my absolute favorite bag to carry. 

you can keep your coach bags, as for me, i carry Lucky.

home:

slowly, but surely we are turning this house into a home.

this is my sad eat-in kitchen.

we have no idea what color to paint it & have yet to decide on curtains.

cover:

book cover

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door-
Only this, and nothing more."

tree:

i miss climbing trees

Next week is Food, Purple, In Disguise, Shapes, and Photographer’s Choice. Care to join? Click below

link to:

macro monday

Up To ~ Tuesday

Miss Sweet Green Tangerine has started this awesome little tidbit for Tuesdays that I am joining this week. Learn more about her "Up To" here, its good stuff :)

Today I am Up To:

Listening To:

Now, I know this isn't a new soundtrack and I have listened to it a bazillion times before. We go through phases around here & when my little doll face daughter requests THE BEATLES
'Dear Prudence'  

(covered by Dana Fuchs, Joe Anderson, Jim Sturgess, Evan Rachel Wood)

how can I deny her?

♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫

 

Reading:

I'm kinda embarrassed that I am not finished with this book yet.The World Series is on! Life gets in the way sometimes. ah, Shame on me. I'll finish it today!

Mrs. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

 Working On:

Well, I was working on using some old coffee cans as Halloween decorations,

but its not going to well. 

(thank you Pinterest)

This is what the end result should look like:

Loving:

(thank you Pinterest)

Designs on the ceiling! 

Now I just have to work on getting rid of all that pesky popcorn ceiling crap.
Who the heck thought that gross stuff was a grand idea to begin with? I want to slap him-hard.

Wanting:

This living room. Love everything about it and we seriously need new furniture.