don't you ever grow up {frocktober, day 21}

When I was a kid, my little brother and I had a solid block of years where we were quite literally inseparable. We were hip to hip at all times. I was always holding his hand or wrapping my arm around his neck. I had zero comprehension for those siblings that I knew who fought all the time, because Kevin and I never did. As it turns out, it's just because it's impossible to fight with him. My other siblings and I had a whole conversation about this - we don't know anyone who has ever fought with him. He's too thoughtful, quiet, understanding. He never acts against other people. You'd have to really try to fight with him and even then, I think he'd just stare at you, and you'd end up feeling like a horrible human for even bringing it up.

As kids we played together and laughed together, hosting marathons of Sega games like Battletoads while drinking juice boxes and listening to British Invasion CDs. My favorites of those CDs were definitely "the green one" and "the purple one" (volumes 1 and 3).

We had this giant, fantastic old CD player down in the basement that could fit like six CDs at once, so we inevitably had all six of those slots filled with these compilation CDs of great oldies music. One of them (volume 9) began with a song called "Fire" by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. We would always yelp out when it came on because, frankly, it's terrifying. And yet it never occurred to us to change out that CD. I think it was a secret kind of enjoyment, waiting for that song to come up. Every time an album would end we would tense up, waiting for that crazy screaming man, carefully setting our juice boxes aside to avoid grape showers of terror. Once the initial shock faded, we would collapse into hysterical laughter and do our best hip-swaying impression of the singer's pronunciation of "fie-yah".

Today is Kevin's 24th birthday and I'm just sitting here like wait what. 
My husband and I took him out to dinner last night to celebrate, and sometimes it just really hits me how wonderful it is to have siblings. I have loved him all my life, and he is one of the best men I have ever known. That kind of innocent best friendship that carried us through into adulthood carries with it some of my most cherished memories. We're both living our own lives now, and can no longer be attached at the hip, but we can at least remain attached at the heart.
My mother-in-law has told me that she used to tell my husband and his siblings when they were little to love and cherish each other, because God had hand-chosen them as friends for life. What a special connection that is.

Dress (remixed): Gifted, Button-up: Target

Taylor Swift has a song that always makes me tear up. It's just simple and sweet, but incredibly melancholy. It's about Peter Pan's worst fear: growing up. She wrote it for her little brother, and I can't help but relate to it. The words include phrases like, To you everything's funny, you got nothing to regret. I'd give all I have, honey, if you could stay like that. And take pictures in your mind of your childhood room, memorize what it sounded like when your dad gets home. All of those wonderful evenings spent together as kids, all the games and the reckless abandon, the many dreams for the future. It goes by very, very fast.
Happy birthday to my darling adventuring partner of my favorite days of yore.

Oh, darling, don't you ever grow up.

Don't you ever grow up, just stay this little.

Oh, darling, don't you ever grow up.

Don't you ever grow up, it could stay this simple. 

Won't let nobody hurt you,

Won't let no one break your heart.

And even though you want to, please try to never grow up. 

(all the) time to read

I love Monday holidays. 
I'm up in the mountains camping today, but thought I'd prepare a post for you all!

I recently attended my very first professional development seminar.
For two days me and a few other women from my office hopped in a company van and drove up to Phoenix for an Excel conference. I know, it sounds absolutely invigorating, and it was.
But what I really wanna talk about is the program I bought while I was there. More accurately my mother gifted it to me, because when I got home after that first day I talked so passionately about it that she was moved to buy it for me. It just came in the mail and I can't wait to get started.
It's a speed reading course developed by Evelyn Wood.

The average person reads about 300 words per minute. Evelyn Wood could read 6,000. 

I'm sorry but come again? Can you imagine? 6,000. That's like reading The Count of Monte Cristo on your dadgum lunch break. You could read Peter Pan on your bathroom break. 
36 books has been my goal for my entire year of reading. What if I could knock that out in a week?

In starting this course and thinking about all of the books I am going to be able to devour, I thought it appropriate to reflect on some of my all-time favorite reads. This is a fairly good representation of my favorites, in no particular order.
My dear friends, my dear readers (or should-be readers), if you haven't read any of these boons to mankind, take a gander and pick one at random. If I could, I would wish them to your doorstep with a  giant bow on top.

A Little Bit of Everything:

The Great Gatsby // I Capture the Castle // The Last Unicorn // The Remains of the Day
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? // Fault in Our Stars // Bread & Wine // Way of Kings
Fellowship of the Ring // Ocean at the End of the Lane // Book Thief // Devil in the White City
Daughter of Smoke and Bone // Pride & Prejudice // Emperor's Soul // The Great Divorce

I loved all of these books, all for different reasons. Some of them are classics that you'll recognize, others are more obscure. I have Brandon Sanderson on here twice, because he's my favorite author right now, and I couldn't resist. The Emperor's Soul is a novella, a really stunning story that will capture you immediately. Way of Kings is my favorite book. Although its sequel, Words of Radiance, may have displaced it. It's going to be a fantastic series. But I don't recommend it to everyone because it's hefty -- each book is somewhere around 1,000 pages, but if you're up for the challenge, do it! I will be your biggest cheerleader in that endeavor.

The Book Thief is one of the only books to ever make me truly cry. I finished it in bed, while my husband was asleep, and began sobbing so hard I had to retreat to the bathroom so I wouldn't wake him. He woke up anyway, and came knocking at the door, completely baffled and scared. I just yelled  a very garbled "GO AWAY!" until I could finally get out, "It's just my book, I'm fine, I'm not dying, go back to sleep". It's incredible, stunning, horrible, beautiful.

If you want to read a book that will leave you enchanted in a melancholy way, kind of like that wistful feeling when you look at a night sky full of stars, read The Last Unicorn, I Capture the Castle, Remains of the Day, and/or Ocean at the End of the Lane. All of them are really beautiful books. I mentioned The Last Unicorn before, because if I could be any book on a shelf, it would be that one. It made me laugh and cry, and filled my dreams for days. Somewhere deep inside I almost think that no one could quite appreciate it the way I do.

For Kids (and the Young at Heart):

Inkheart // Chronicles of Chrestomanci // Dealing with Dragons // The Book of Three
A Wrinkle in Time // Ella Enchanted // The Secret Garden // Prisoner of Azkaban
Peter Pan // Deltora Quest // Haroun and the Sea of Stories // Anne of Green Gables

Obviously the Harry Potter books start with The Sorcerer's Stone, but I decided to feature my favorite of the series, because I love Sirius Black and this book, to me, is the happiest and most exciting of them all. 

These books have all made an impact on me in some way. I remember first reading The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander quite vividly. He was my favorite author for a while, I read everything I could of his. This is probably one of the only series I've read through more than once. (It was written in the 60's, and is most popularly known by the second book in the series, The Black Cauldron). I was absolutely enamored with it. When I was young I was a very active reader -- the gasps, the squeals, the giggles. (My husband would say I haven't really changed at all.) But those books evoke really strong memories for me. 

The same goes for Dealing with Dragons and The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, which are both wonderfully innovative and charming book series. I would highly recommend them to kids and adults alike, if your imagination is alive and well and you love happy endings. I read all of the Chrestomanci books over Christmas break in high school, and my parents happened to also gift me some perfume that year. To this day, every time I smell it I'm carried back to those worlds. It's delightful. 

My brother and I (and in turn, every cousin and sibling we could convince to) gobbled up the Deltora Quest books, too. A long adventure series of small books with great characters and monsters. Great for little boys and tomboys like me. 

Stories are one of my all-time favorite things to share with people. I love talking about them, dissecting them, loving on them, and hearing other people's literary loves. What are your favorite books? What do you think of mine? Have you read any of these?

(Also, if you have a list of your own, answer the questions at the bottom of this old post!)

Have an amazing holiday!

There's no better way to rest than in a hammock with a book in hand. 

the vintage slip

Vintage has been a cherished theme and idea for pretty much my entire teenage years/adulthood.

Vintage weddings, parties, clothes, dishes, decor. Antiques. 

Perhaps it stems from that long-time love of all things Jane Austen, and the generation that fell in love with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy is finally growing up and getting married and decorating things. 

It could also just be the inevitable infatuation with nostalgia, which every generation seems to have in common. (I will always love you, 90's.)

Some bloggers out there are experts at thrifting and shopping vintage clothing and accessories.

I must confess that I have little to no experience in this area, mostly because I have trouble not knowing the history of an item -- in some cases it can be romantic, like a chipped china teacup or a bit of lace trim. 

But with clothes, I'm always nervous and my most germophobic self comes out in all its irrational glory. 

I have no idea where that item has been...I seem to recall some incident where I tried on an old hat once, and someone yelled at me that it could have lice in it, for all I knew. Maybe I was traumatized?

Whatever the cause for my aversion to vintage clothing, I finally had a must-have moment in an antique store. For a slip, of all things.

I've seen this trend, where a particularly fancy lace-trimmed slip is used to achieve a lengthened skirt, or to simply add some flair. Ruche has a nice collection of slips to choose from, and their winter lookbook Once Upon a Time even featured an outfit with one.

When I saw the vintage slip for a mere $9, I couldn't help myself. I had to get it!
It was something I had been wanting to try, but couldn't bring myself to spend a lot of money on.
I was surprised by how much I loved the way it turned out.
What do you think? Would you wear a vintage slip?