Lazy W Marie

Carpeing all the diems in semi-rural Oklahoma...xoxo

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first literary saturday post of 2016

Happy Literary Saturday, friends! On this first such installment of 2016 I have a brief book review to share as well as a small collection of internet offerings from this past week. Hopefully you groove some of it. As always please share in comments what treasures you have found to read lately.

Cold Fear by Rick Mofina: OH MY GOSH THIS WAS GOOD! 5/5 stars from me. Highly recommend. I gobbled up this little feast believing it to be fiction then discovered it’s actually a piece of true crime, perhaps interpreted a bit but still based on a true story. (I adore true crime and am not ashamed.) Cold Fear is a missing persons story set in the Rocky Mountains and deals with all kinds of intense family dynamics. So gripping. As for the writing, imagine a thick braid. But not just an ordinary braid or even an elegant French braid; imagine one of those intricate fishtail braids you see in little girls’ hair on Pinterest. Skinny, well woven, metallic strands pulled from opposing directions at just the right moment so that this incredible masterpiece if eventually finished, and every detail comes from somewhere. Nothing is wasted. Everything connects. I can’t say anything more!! Go read this book under a heavy blanket with a flashlight and call me when you’re done. You can borrow my dog if you’re scared.

cold fear book cover

Lora the Crazy Running Girl is quitting soda, and she offers some smart strategies in this article. Also, I am on a personal mission to convince her to come run the OKC Memorial Marathon “with” me in April, and by “with” of course I just mean “also,” haha, because she is quite swift. Add some positive peer pressure, okay?

12 Foods Happy People Eat. I am basically a very happy person, and I eat plenty. I approve of this list. Only the maca root is unfamiliar to me, though I have heard recently from a friend who swears by it.

Once again Sandy the Reluctant Entertainer shares in one post food for the body and food for the soul. I cannot WAIT to try this turkey lasagna soup, and her wisdom about hospitality in the midst of big changes is very well received. As Handsome and I squint our eyes and try to peer into the future through all this foggy turnpike business, it’s nice to remember that Love and friendship will follow us anywhere. We just have to keep opening our doors.

How about 31 of the most beautiful sentences in literature? I know. So good. I salivate over well crafted sentences. 

dandelion fluff

 

One of this world’s sweetest blogging couples is having their first baby!!! Sincerest congratulations to Ashley and Brent over at Domestic Fashionista. Since they are far away on the west coast, let’s figure out how to throw them an internet baby shower.

Refunk My Junk: I am a big fan of everything Alison does, and this newest coffee table project is no exception. So fresh and pretty! Check out her unorthodox methods and drool over all that springtime living room color. She has me fully cured of all things Christmas. If you are local, you may want to know that she is hosting a big junk sale next weekend. 

The next thing cracked open from my book shelf is My Life On the Run by Bart Yasso. I’ve read passages from it these past several months since meeting him at the race in Lawton, but it warrants a cover-to-cover examination as marathon training kicks off. I have already found myself laughing out loud. Really good read, even if running is not your thing. 

Klaus my most excellent reading buddy...xoxo
Klaus my most excellent reading buddy…xoxo

Okay. Now I am off to play in the fresh snow and get some exercise. We have dinner plans tonight with two of the funnest couples we know, then perhaps a Making of a Murderer binge watch. Have your tried it yet? No spoilers please!

Your turn! Tell me stuff. Tell me all the reading things. Thanks for stopping in, friends. Enjoy your Saturday!

“There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you….
In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other;
only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches
when you can savor belonging to yourself.
~Ruth Stout
XOXOXOXO

 

 

reading plan 2016

How many books could you read in a year, and still keep your life in balance? What alchemy of books would you choose, to both challenge and comfort your mind and nourish your spirit as well as season your own writing? These are good questions to ask at the end of December, knowing that several weeks of cold weather and indoor cuddling lie ahead.

The owner of local book store Full Circle Books is known to read at least four brand new titles each week, while still running a successful business. My friend Melissa holds down a full time job, takes care of her parents and dogs, stays active socially, and last year read 85 books. Wow! I don’t know what the average is, but that sounds high.

This coming year I will pull away from Dinner Club With a Reading Problem and instead spend time reading my own lists of titles at my pwn pace. I am looking again at my “Want to Read” shelf on Goodreads to see what has slipped my memory. Plenty, to answer that question in a word. 289 books teasing my imagination, and that list is nowhere near complete.

So how to strategize? Here is my plan for the New Year:

2016 book plan BLUE

Twelve months, 36 books. That should be totally achievable and leave space for spontaneous finds along the way.

Four Difficult Books:
I am thinking along the lines of Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. One of these every quarter is fair, right? Maybe Don Quixote will happen after all. Not that the material of either of these is difficult; but the reading is awfully tedious. Also in the “difficult” category, though, would be The Shack by William Young. I read about 80% of it several years ago and stopped because of what was happening in my life at that time. Maybe now I can read it with wiser eyes, a stronger heart.

One Fiction Per Month: Easy-peasy. Talented authors abound. Fiction is what I want to write myself soon, so overdosing on a variety of styles is good. Plus so much fun.

One Non-Fiction Per Month: Lots of great choices out there. I love my friend Jennifer’s idea of going on a memoir safari and might diverge a bit on this theme. There are also, of course, so many great books out there on the creative process, lots of history, inspirational stuff, and on and on. Twelve non-fiction pieces should be almost automatic.

Something Translated to English: I recently listened to a Ted talk by Ann Morgan, who decided to expand her literary repertoire by spending a full year reading books from all around the globe, nothing written by British or North American authors. Totally inspirational. Check out her related blog A Year of Reading the World. With the exception of the first part of Don Quixote and a smattering of Greek mythology, I am pretty sure I have only read English literature, always. This shows great room for improvement.

Best Seller: I just want to hip and stylish, is that so wrong?

Rare Bird Lit: This is the publishing house in California where my friend Julia works. She has generously sent me a stack of books by several of her authors, and I have enjoyed every single one I have read so far, some more than others. This year I will dig into that stack again. 

New to Me Classic: It’s embarrassing how many widely accepted classics are foreign to me. Need to fix this.

Classic Re-Read: I can’t stop thinking of Nathaniel Hawthorne for some reason. Maybe because our perspective changes so much over time, and my tenth grade prejudices while reading The Scarlet Letter must surely have evolved by now. Gotta find out. No promises, though; another classic encore may suddenly seem way more important.

Summertime Guilty Pleasures: Three months of deck living calls for at least three guilty pleasure reads. Not sad about this plan.

f5f books lace

Okay, this is where my literary appetite is as of late December. I love the look and feel of a fresh, clean calendar, and knowing I have a year to explore this many different kinds of books is very exciting. What are your literary goals for 2016? Are you on Goodreads? I’d love to stalk you there.

“A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.”
~Chinese proverb
XOXOXOXO

infinite jest and all the rest (literary saturday)

Happy Saturday! Whew, what a week! Handsome and I have recovered nicely from a non-stop month that was filled to bursting with really good, happy, special occasions. He has been back at the Commish after a long holiday weekend, more than making up for lost time in the stress department, and I am caught up at the farm, except for the ironing.

And except for my running. But that’s a story for another day.

The thing is, I cannot find my earbuds, so…

What are you reading these days? What’s on your table, your device, your mind?

Klaus is an excellent reading companion. Because he is basically perfect...xoxo
Klaus is an excellent reading companion. Basically because he is perfect…xoxo

I have been nibbling at Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. And when I say nibbling I mean… I have only been reading it in the middle of the night when insomnia strikes, and the book is so wordy, so meandering and heavily laden with footnotes (!) that at 2 a.m. with raw nerves and heavy eyes might be the worst possible time to tackle this beast. It’s magnetic in a bizarre way, and its modern classic status makes me want to give it better energy. Plus the cinematic version is due soon and I need to be ready to pick it apart, right? haha ; )

Besides that, I have just cracked open our current book club selection, The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. Dinner Club With a Reading Problem meets next Friday night to discuss it, so you can look for my review soon. Have you read this yet? Or perhaps Tuesdays With Morrie? I am so curious and also very much in need of something refreshing and spiritually nourishing.

Okay, fancy some internet links? I’ve been stumbling on great stuff lately.

MyDomaine offered this write-up called Daily Habits of 8 Insanely Successful Creatives. Yes, please. I am interested.

Lora is the Crazy Running Girl, and I hope I have nudged you to read her blog already. This post Your Own Worst Critic was super helpful to me. I am smack dab in the middle of decidedly NOT meeting some fitness goals, goals that should have been easy for me. I have spent way too much time and energy being mad about it, which has led to a little downward spiral in my attitude. She kinda helped me halt that thinking and see some good qualities of myself again. For example, I have been sacrificing workouts and stringent eating in favor of spending time with people I love and partaking of really great celebrations. This is okay! It’s life balance. Thanks Lora! xo

If you are an Okie like me, you have probably heard of and are hopefully following along the adventures of Red Dirt Kelly and her team at Every Point on the Map. The project is slated to take all of ten years. As the project name hints, they are visiting every city, town, county, or other dot on the map of our beautiful state, then conducting spontaneous interviews with one person from there. How cool, right? This recent post titled When Doubt Hits, Hit the Gas is a heart breaker and a heart mender too. Excellent place to jump right in if you are new to this series. By the way, Kelly and her team are soon throwing a big party in midtown OKC to celebrate having achieved ten percent of their goal. Yay!! Congrats, you guys!! I am so looking forward to seeing the gorgeous portraits of each of your interview subjects and also hugging your sweet, smart necks.

Are you in love with Khalil Gibran poetry? I am. I have been since I was a teenager, particularly The Prophet. Salma Hayeck recently appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s show to talk about her work on an upcoming animated feature, a musical that is all based on Gibran’s work. It looks just gorgeous. Well, check out this article on Edutopia. It’s a little nudge to middle school teachers to use Gibran in their curriculum. I am no teacher, but I know plenty and love this approach. Also? The passage highlighted happens to be one of my favorites. I have reflected on it a lot over the years, and it has really graced my motherhood.

orange gibran quote children

How about 23 Things Only People Raised by Really Strict Parents Will Understand? You had me at “people raised by really strict parents.” In this equation I am both mother and daughter, just as Handsome is both father and son. Fun read!

Since it is Literary Saturday after all, how about this list of Ten Science Fiction Books You Pretend to Have Read and Why You Should Actually Read Them? I have truly read one (1984) and am currently reading another (Infinite Jest). I have no reason to pretend with you guys.

Okay, that’s all I have for now. I hope you took a glance at my garden tour sneak peek and are watching for eight expansive and illustrated posts, one for each of the gorgeous places we visited. I am almost done with the first one. So much to say!

Wishing you a very happy weekend, friends. Keep facing the light.

“If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time
(or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
~Stephen King
XOXOXO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

inspired saturday reading links

What a great month of reading it has been, friends. My ribs and belly and arms and legs are filled from the bone to the skin with really nourishing articles, books, and blog posts by some of my favorite writers. I am so grateful for the people who are disciplined enough to act on their inspiration. This weekend in particular I cannot put down The Girl on the Train, our current book club assignment, and am flirting with Unmasked, the memoir of Kane Hodder, who you may know as the horror actor and stunt man from Friday the Thirteenth and much more. Great combination, eh? You gotta shake things up.

But all of that is for discussing later. Today, it’s just an easy breezy Saturday, and I have collected for you some online stuff. It’s all totally worth installing in your already flourishing and sexy brain.

But first, a photo of our middle yard, between the bonfire pit and the veggie garden, as you look downhill toward the pond. See how wet and glossy everything is? I just love it. I love it so much, especially in the bright, slanting, early evening sun. Dazzling. Oklahoma is on the brink of a hot, rainless week, and we are trembling with happiness! Bring on the basil.

glossy grass hill to pond

Inspired Saturday Reading Links

This is Why You’re Here: The Psychology That Makes Very Big Things Possible Friends, I stumbled on this site by complete accident, a really happy accident as it turns out. Please give it some of your browse time soon. The global adventure these folks have sparked is amazing. This entry in particular should set your soul on fire. In a good way.

10 Ways Marathon Training Humbles Me  Women’s Running has tons of great articles every week, and several regular contributors are also bloggers I have been loving for a while. This particular segment is just great. I love it! The author expresses the running-life connection so well. Nails it. YES marathon training is deeply humbling. I mean humiliating. I mean humbling. Is that the same?

Advice From a Divorced Man After 16 Years of Marriage  Chances are you have already seen this article in circulation through your social media feeds. I’m sharing it again because I finally read it all and feel like every married person should heed this advice, not just the husbands. Ladies: You are equally culpable for the health of your marital union. Young girls: Romance and bliss are not the burden of only the boys.

20 Things Only Highly Creative People Would Understand My friend Meredith shared this, and I grooved it so hard! Check out #5. Remember how we’ve been talking so much about lunar cycles? Told you! So true.

Small Cool Spaces The Apartment Therapy website has been hosting a great series on smaller spaces made super cool, and I just cannot get enough. Click on the site, do the search, and enjoy. So inspiring! Even as much as I love wild abandon and decadence in my home, I also appreciate the discipline and restraint needed to make small spaces work really well.

21 Books From the Last 5 Years That Every Woman Should Read You know about our famous little Oklahoma book club, right? Pretty much the coolest baker’s dozen of literary ladies in all the land. We read so many wonderful books together, including one from this list! Many of us have independently read more of these. I humbly submit this entire list of interesting titles.

How to Calm Down, Naturally Do you ever browse Darling Magazine? It’s pretty scrumptious. Their tagline is “The Art of Being a Woman,” and the stuff they proffer is so elegant and smart, calming, feminine and strong and just… refreshing in a world of brashness and male-female competitiveness. (We should be complementing each other, not competing…xoxo) This article makes several suggestions for wellness and stress reduction, including yoga which is maybe my newest obsession. I know. I am about a decade behind the curve here.

the Darling mission statement...xoxo
the Darling mission statement…xoxo

Okay ladies and gentlemen, what are you reading this week? What is on your heart? What keeps you going day after day? I really love it when you tell me everything. Wishing you a fantastic weekend!!

“To live is the rarest thing
in the world.
Most people just exist.”
~Oscar Wilde
XOXOXOXO

rainy saturday reading links

Happy Saturday! If you are anywhere close to our neck of the woods, then you are probably spending a lot of today indoors. Again. Oklahoma is hunkered down beneath one deluge after another, and we’re not mad. We’re soggy, but we’re not mad. The years-long drought is becoming a distant memory, so it’s okay. In case you’re sitting around open to errant reading material, here is a Literary Saturday offering by yours truly. I hope you enjoy.

full rainbow

I’m not the only woman dealing with body comparison fatigue, and apparently it happens a lot after a tough race. Gina (The Fitnessista) wrote about it here and really has some smart insight. I like how she zeroes in on the negative affects of comparison but also the benefits. Give it a whirl. Monica also touched on the topic here, and if you must know, her feelings are so close to mine about being a runner but not feeling like you look like one. Finally, Lora just ran a really successful Boston Marathon and is glowing! Boston, you guys! And her time was amazing. But still she is struggling with body image/weight loss issues within her own heart, and she shares a lot of that right here. My heart absolutely goes out to this young woman. I tell ya, it all messes with my head, so I’m so grateful for these beautiful ladies exposing their feelings so I feel less alone and maybe reconsider my approach/attitude.

This statue in New Orleans never changes, of course. Every year I look different next to him. LOL Suck it in lady!! haha
This statue in New Orleans never changes, of course. Every year I look different next to him. LOL Suck it in lady!! haha

Along a sunnier vein, here is a sweet, simple article by the Huffington Post about the Keys to Happiness. I also watched a not too long Ted talk this week that was very thought provoking. It asked whether life events can really affect our happiness past about six months. The speaker asserted that the seemingly huge life events we experience, whether we perceive them as amazing or disastrous, only affect our current happiness level for a few months. After that, our happiness is a matter of our own perception or determination of life. Really interesting! What do you think?

It’s Mother’s Day weekend, and Ann Voskamp is doing anything but making it easy for us. Her words are the gritty, nourishing antidote to all the flowers, pedicures, and desserts about to happen. I was shamed to read How to be a Revolutionary Mother, but also deeply inspired. We have seen so many miracles in our family, and I have this feeling that we are about to see more. My faith in God’s goodness and power is really strong, but as a mother I also have my part to play. I’m ready.

Bon Appetit is courting me hard with this article about pesto. This same magazine first suggested the idea a few years ago, that pesto doesn’t have to be just basil and pine nuts; they seduced me with ideas involving carrot tops. Now they are really branching out, and I groove it. I groove it so hard. I even spent $10 on a jar of tahini with big plans to make all the things.

Sandy, The Reluctant (and wonderful!) Entertainer writes something lovely almost every day. But in this particular post, well, she just gets me. “What you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you create.” YES! This is scary true. And I often get lost just drooling over her party photos and recipes, so be warned. The RE website is brimming with goodness.

Positive-Quotes

This story just popped up on my news feed today, and it’s so refreshing! Read it and see if this young woman, an art director, doesn’t remind you a little of Albert Einstein. I think her message is brilliant. For the record, my daily uniform around the farm is: Skinny jeans with either a tank top or a 3/4 length sleeve top. Messy bun. Bare feet or flip flops. Two necklaces at least.

Okay, now I am signing off to do some book reading and maybe cuddle up with Handsome for movies. There’s only so much time we can spend fawning over the new baby chicks, after all. Wishing you and yours a dry enough and very happy weekend!

XOXOXOXO