A new regular blog feature debuts on Friday. It’s bookish, illuminating, interactive and addictive. I’m excited to share it with you. Are you in, dear readers? Come back tomorrow, and we’ll get the (nerdy reading) party started.
Casino de Paris by Louis Gaudin, 1931.
Once Upon a Time, little girls were told they needed fairy tales. The goal was to hear the words, “And they lived happily ever after. The End.” It’s a scary idea. It says so right there: the end. A closed book. Happiness trapped under glass like a dead fly. The problem is that, when you are working toward an official Happily Ever After, you miss the nuances of the journey through the Big Bad Forest, the meat and mead of life: laughter, tears, growth, absurdity, knowledge, companionship, heartbreak, fulfillment, frustration, accomplishment. Life is messy, irreverent. It brooks no happily ever after. Why should it? Life is its own complicated reward.
Write your own story, but write it honestly. Live your own life, without succumbing to complacent platitudes. Embrace your own beautifully cracked version of success and happiness. Mine calls for writing words the best way I can, in reading more than is healthy, in loving a complex, brilliant, imperfect man. It allows for dust in the corners of my house and budding laugh lines around my eyes. I love every second of this broken bliss. It’s a thousand times better than any sterile Happily Ever After.
This is in response to the Daily Prompt: Happily Ever After. “And they lived happily ever after.” Think about this line for a few minutes. Are you living happily ever after? If not, what will it take for you to get there?
The Lone She Wolf nominated us for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award, which looks like this:
Very Inspiring Blogger Award
The rules of the award are the same as the last time we were nominated. If you’ve forgotten, they are as follows:
Dear readers, I am seriously running out of things to tell you. I’d like to think I have a fun and interesting life, but it is not that amazing. Here are 7 things I don’t think I’ve told you before.
I nominate the following bloggers, because they are straight-up awesome.
Starting tomorrow, it is going to be raining Project 366 reviews!
Like this, only with books:
Rain by Hans Baluschek, 1917
It’s no secret that I love notebooks. They are tools of my trade, a bit old-fashioned, perhaps, but useful, evocative of an earlier time, and beautiful. I usually walk around with tiny Moleskines hidden in my purse and crumpled scraps stuffed perilously in coat or skirt pockets. Spirals of cheap school paper are stacked in the studio and by my bed. Since quantity counts, I cannot afford to be too discerning. I run through paper at an appalling pace (no need to worry, darlings, I recycle), and play a continuous game of hide and seek with the surviving notebooks. Fortunately, I came into a spot of luck back in January by winning this sexy guy:
Everyday I Love You Notebook from Smythson
Isn’t he divine? He originated in London and was sent to me via Austria, from the fabulously chic Nadine of The Flamboyante. The stars surely aligned when I won her December Smythson Notebook Giveaway. This match is meant to be: he’s already an important part of my creative process and is an inspiration in his own right. An unexpected bonus? I feel a lot more elegant dashing off notes on the fly. Maybe Nadine sprinkled magic dust on the notebook before mailing it off. I’ll never know.
I’m Facebook friends with a garden gnome. His name is Robert. He plays Jazz guitar. True story.
Men on a roof. Bending, crouching, arms open to the sky. Hammering, drilling, sawing. Moving silhouettes on a cityscape set. Dress extras bringing atmosphere. Skyscraper backdrop with painted clouds. The foreman stands, his back to the audience. Directing the action. Immobile. Neon-vested. Empty hands in warm pockets. The workers’ raucous laughter slides through the whirring whinge of their tools. Perfectly timed. They’ve given this performance before.
Men at Work
My response to the Daily Prompt.
A couple of weeks ago, Kelly Ann (aka NYMUSE88) of What’s Your Story? nominated me for the Blog of the Year Award 2012. I was too sick to accept it immediately, but I am still extremely grateful for the nod! It was my fourth star, which is exactly four more than I expected to receive. Since it is nearly February 2013, I’ve decided to abstain from nominating any more blogs for the award. I’ll settle for yelling my thanks and appreciation across the gaping chasm known as the Internet. I love all of the blogs I follow, comment on, and like. You all deserve hearty congratulations for being so awesome. Happy 2013!
Don’t forget to check out What’s Your Story?.
When I opened my inbox the other day, this lovely award was sitting there. Just waiting to be opened. Ourmulticolouredlife nominated me for the Super Sweet Blogging Award. I’ve never heard of this one, so it is extra special! I also get to answer questions about sweets, which doubles the fun.
Here’s Where I Spell Out The Rules:
The 5 Questions:
Nominee:
The Flamboyante, because she has the sweetest blog I’ve seen.
I took these photographs from inside my husband’s Saab while he was washing the car last night. The sun was setting, and the glow from taillights and street lamps illuminated the parking lot. The effect was softened through the filter of a soap-drenched window. They remind me of Impressionist paintings.
“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.”-Camille Pissarro
A Small Press Life: Books. Art. Writing. Life. Tea. 