Audiobooks, Copyedits, and the Cutest Hippo EVER!

1. I've been listening to audiobooks lately. I'm currently listening to The Giver by Lois Lowry read by Ron Rifkin (from Alias!). It's taken some work to train myself to pay attention because I'm more of a visual, but if the narrator is good, they really bring a story to life. I find myself enjoying stories I may not have taken the time to read, and if I listen while on a walk, sometimes it makes me want to walk farther!

2. Copyediting is DONE! What a weird feeling to see your book marked up in such a critical way. Missed punctuation, alternate spellings, words missing entirely. It was quite the experience, but I'm glad the book is once again out of my hands!

3. My WIP is now over 69,000 words! I'm so at that point where things need to be wrapped up and I'm increasingly intimidated by everything left to do. *collapses*

4. The Civil Wars has a new album coming out soon (which I've already pre-ordered) and it saddens me that I'll probably never get the chance to see them perform live as they are currently not on speaking terms. But man can they make some amazing music in the midst of all the not getting along.

5. A year or so ago, Catherine introduced me to artist Cori Dantini's work, and I've been obsessed ever since. I mean, LOOK HOW CUTE!

A lot of her pieces include birds, which I have a hard time resisting! I've purchased two prints so far, and I've marked so many more as favorites. So. Hard. To. Pick. Check out her Etsy store HERE.

Those Who Can't Do... Try Anyway

As some of you know from one of last week's posts, I've been on a decorating kick.  And since I'm not one for spending money, I've been trying to use what I have already collected/already just have laying around.  Long before I went to Italy to take my own pictures, I googled some Tuscan scenes to paint on this really really huge canvas someone had given me.  I started it, got frustrated, and there it sat. Until yesterday!

The background hills were already done, so I did the green hill, the house, and the trees yesterday. I think I'm happy enough with it to hang it above the piano--the wall is an olive green color, so it should work nicely.  I bought another canvas the same size this weekend (hello sale!) which I plan to paint something a little more abstract on for that space above the entertainment center I showed y'all.  Thanks for the inspiration! :) 

Here's an idea for you artsy/artsy curious types.  Got scrapbooking paper?? Make paper art!  When I went to Alaska, we found this really cute shop with framed paper art hanging everywhere and my mother in law kept saying, YOU COULD TOTALLY DO THIS!  I took lots of mental snapshots and created a piece of my own.  Not sure where to hang it yet...

There are some friends of mine who get a little testy that I have so many things I do.  But you know what I say to them?  If you're interested in something, TRY IT.  I'm not a master at anything I do, but I do it because I like it (jack of all trades, master of none--sounds about right).  

You never know if you can do something until you try. :)