SparklyLife

veronicalovesarchie: anzac day treat #grrr

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 23:52:13 -0700

veronicalovesarchie:

anzac day treat #grrr

sequinsandsideeye: lyn-not-line:gymandmotivation: much needed...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 23:49:06 -0700

sequinsandsideeye:

lyn-not-line:gymandmotivation:

much needed motivation

"This means that life is essentially a solo trip. You’ll have this endless parade of visitors,..."

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 22:00:15 -0700

“This means that life is essentially a solo trip. You’ll have this endless parade of visitors, though, which is nice. Characters you couldn’t have imagined will appear, stay for a minute or maybe a few months or maybe many years, and then leave you to your trip…But you’re still there, and you’re better than you were.”

- What others leave for you to keep (via tetatet)

tarvertalkshere: marielikestodraw: our-flag-was-still-there: W...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 17:16:08 -0700

tarvertalkshere:

marielikestodraw:

our-flag-was-still-there:

Why history is important to me, summed up in four images.
I love this “Know Where You Stand” deal.

wow…

I’ve been to half of these places, absolutely crazy to think about. This is why I teach history.

Photo

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 05:44:26 -0700

That's What She Said.: It's not her fault, it wasn't my fault, it's not our fault.

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 10:21:05 -0700

That's What She Said.: It's not her fault, it wasn't my fault, it's not our fault. :

annetdonahue:

I rarely ever write this personally. But okay.

When I was four, a kid in my neighbourhood took me into his room and pulled down my pants (twice) when I went over to play. I went home, told my mom, and she walked right over to that neighbour’s house, where she and that kid’s mom raised all kinds…

Photo

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 08:53:02 -0700

Photo

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 04:21:07 -0700

emphasisadded: For my Husband...

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:09:45 -0700

emphasisadded:

For my Husband [via: thekimenator: thedailycourtney]

in which I tell you a deep, dark secret

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 16:08:58 -0800

teethbracelet:

My name is Jamie, and I have an online shopping ~~addiction~~ hobby.

it’s exacerbated by wine (duh) and lonely sunday afternoons.

SEND HELP

emilyinternet: Sonder n. the realization that each random...

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 22:08:12 -0800

emilyinternet:

Sonder

n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.

oh, i love this. (new york is a particularly good city for this.)

one of my favorite things to do when people watching is to picture couples at their weddings. i imagine what they looked like, how they glowed watching each each other take their vows, the smiles plastered to their faces all day. perhaps this is a very specific kind of sonder.

fullcredit: emphasisadded: BAM. [via: noraleah] PRAISE

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 23:12:09 -0800

fullcredit:

emphasisadded:

BAM. [via: noraleah]

PRAISE

Fireball shots… Usually never a good idea to make that phrase plural.

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 02:28:48 -0800

Fireball shots… Usually never a good idea to make that phrase plural.

Giving the stank eye because she’s my dog-ter and...

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:17:27 -0800

Giving the stank eye because she’s my dog-ter and obviously got my sass.

Sitting on campus with a hot coffee waiting for my next class. Extra shot of espresso in my mocha...

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:09:36 -0800

Sitting on campus with a hot coffee waiting for my next class. Extra shot of espresso in my mocha because its gonna be a long one. Close my eyes and listen to the construction happening on Storm Hall and feel the cool breeze on my face. How is this January? This coffee better kick in soon, natural disasters class is no joke.

georgiegirlnyc: Somehow this post got stuck in my drafts. I am...

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 18:33:54 -0800

georgiegirlnyc:

Somehow this post got stuck in my drafts. I am reblogging for all my book reading friends.

jaclynday:

Looking for a new book to add to read this year?

I sometimes get in a reading rut where I read the same types of books over and over and have to make a conscious effort to switch it up. (It helps that I try to alternate fiction and nonfiction.)

I created the 2013 Reading Challenge as an easy and fun way for me (and you) to fit more varied books in this year. A lot of people create goals of reading a certain number of books in a year, but I think that can be stressful or worse—you may end up racing through shorter, mediocre books in order to reach your quota for a given month. I used to try and race through books in order to tick them off a numbered list, but I’ve found that it’s more challenging and enjoyable to try and read books that are outside my comfort zone, or in a genre I’m not familiar with or that I haven’t read in years.

I created the below lists as a way to get started, but the books I’ve listed for each section are just my personal recommendations. The important thing is not to read any of them just because I’ve listed them here—you should only read them if they jump out at you as being interesting or worth your time.

Above all, reading should be fun. I used to feel like I had to finish every book I started no matter how much I hated it or how bored I got. I don’t do that anymore. If I’m not enjoying myself, I don’t finish the book. You know yourself better than anyone! Only choose what you know what will bring you genuine pleasure and enjoyment. (And won’t be a waste of your time!)

Have fun and let me know what books you pick in each category! I’ll keep you updated by posting reviews here when I’m finished.

Read a childhood favorite you haven’t picked up in years.

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Time Enough for Drums by Ann Rinaldi

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise McGraw

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg

Read a nonfiction book about religion or religious culture (or the lack thereof).

Rapture Ready! by Daniel Radosh

The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose

The Prophet’s Prey by Sam Brower

A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian D. McLaren

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

Who Speaks for Islam? by John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed

Read a classic you haven’t touched since high school English.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Read a popular historical fiction novel.

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Nefertiti by Michelle Moran

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

The Memoirs of Cleopatra by Margaret George

Read a nonfiction book or memoir about an illness or disease.

Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi

The Journal of Best Practices by David Finch

Ninety Days: A Memoir of Recovery by Bill Clegg

The Mercy Papers by Robin Romm

An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison

Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety by Daniel Smith

Read an entire popular YA book series.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling

Divergent series by Veronica Roth

The Ender Saga by Orson Scott Card

Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

The Time Quintet by Madeleine L’Engle

Redwall by Brian Jacques

Read a book that was made into a movie or television show released within the past year.

A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin (Game of Thrones)

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill (The Woman in Black)

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter)

Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Life of Pi)

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (Les Miserables)

John Carter on Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (John Carter)

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (The Hobbit)

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (Anna Karenina)

Read one of the books on New York Times reviewer Michiko Katutani’s Meanest Reviews list and decide for yourself whether the meanness was warranted.

“The Original of Laura” by Vladimir Nabokov

“Chronic City” by Jonathan Lethem

“The Discomfort Zone” by Jonathan Franzen

“A Long Way Down” by Nick Hornby

“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer

“Until I Find You” by John Irving

“The Dying Animal” by Philip Roth

“Point Omega” by Don DeLillo

“Nocturnes ” by Kazuo Ishiguro

“The Witches of Eastwick” by John Updike

“NW” by Zadie Smith

Read one of Amazon’s Editors’ Picks for January 2013.

Me Before You: A Novel by Jojo Moyes

Ship It Holla Ballas! by Jonathan Grotenstein, Storms Reback

Hikikomori and the Rental Sister by Jeff Backhaus

Tenth of December: Stories by George Saunders

Rage Is Back: A Novel by Adam Mansbach

Little Wolves by Thomas James Maltman

Snow White Must Die by Nele Neuhaus

Jujitsu Rabbi and the Godless Blonde by Rebecca Dana

My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

The Fifth Assassin by Brad Meltzer

Read a nonfiction true crime book.

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

My Life among the Serial Killers: Inside the Minds of the World’s Most Notorious Murderers by Helen Morrison and Harold Goldberg

The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer

Devil in the White City by Jonathan Larson

Manhunt by James L. Swanson

Columbine by Dave Cullen

Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry

The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston

Mind Hunter by John Douglas

Read a book about a sport that usually doesn’t interest you in the slightest.

Moneyball by Michael Lewis

Secretariat by William Nack

The Secret Race by Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

The Boys of Summer by Roger Kahn

The Game They Played by Stanley Cohen

Paper Lion by George Plimpton

Friday Night Lights by H. G. Bissinger

Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne Cox

Read a collection of short stories.

Blasphemy by Sherman Alexie

Dear Life by Alice Munro

Night Shift by Stephen King

The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway by Ernest Hemingway

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

Nine Stories by J. D. Salinger

Naked by David Sedaris

Eleven Kinds of Loneliness by Richard Yates

The Best American Short Stories 2012 by Tom Perrotta and Heidi Pitlor

Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls by Alissa Nutting

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Do you have any books to add to these lists? What will you read in one of the categories?

"What they don’t understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you’re eleven,..."

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 17:43:04 -0700

“What they don’t understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you’re eleven, you’re also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one. And when you wake up on your eleventh birthday you expect to feel eleven, but you don’t. You open your eyes and everything’s just like yesterday, only it’s today. And you don’t feel eleven at all. You feel like you’re still ten. And you are — underneath the year that makes you eleven.

Like some days you might say something stupid, and that’s the part of you that’s still ten. Or maybe some days you might need to sit on your mama’s lap because you’re scared, and that’s the part of you that’s five. And maybe one day when you’re all grown up maybe you will need to cry like if you’re three, and that’s okay. That’s what I tell Mama when she’s sad and needs to cry. Maybe she’s feeling three.

Because the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk or like my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next one. That’s how being eleven years old is.”

- Eleven by Sandra Cisneros (via thekimenator)

emphasisadded: a totally darling LND (little nude dress). $44....

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 21:43:38 -0700

emphasisadded:

a totally darling LND (little nude dress). $44. Seriously.

[via: one of my very favorites, thecooknook]

Photo

Tue, 01 May 2012 02:06:21 -0700

20 things life is too short to tolerate

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:57:22 -0700

20 things life is too short to tolerate:

sequinsandsideeye:

People who bring you down.

A work environment or career field you hate.

Your own negativity.

Unnecessary miscommunication.

A disorganized living and working space.

Your own tardiness.

Pressure to fit in with the crowd.

An unhealthy body.

Fear of change.

All work and no play.

People or beauty ads that make you feel inadequate.

Not getting enough sleep.

Doing the same exact thing over and over again.

Personal greed.

A mounting pile of debt.

Dishonesty.

Infidelity.

An unsafe home.

Being unprepared.

Inaction.

indiedreams:littlelaur