Weekend Update

Highlights from this weekend…

1.  I finished a book!  Reading one, that is, not writing.  And almost 300 pages of it was read this weekend!  My review for Maureen Johnson’s The Name of the Star is coming on Wednesday for the Book Review Club

2.  I made another round of gluten-free doughnuts in my mini doughnut maker.  Pumpkin doughnuts with maple glaze.  These were soooo much better than the first round apple cider doughnuts.

3.  We took my mother-in-law out for lunch and to the zoo for her birthday.  And it was Zoo Boo, so besides the animals, we got to see lots of costumed kids.  There was a tiny baby dressed in a cow costume, with its mother holding a little galvanized milk bucket.  So cute.

I’m including a few favorite shots, including a giraffe catfish (love him!), a picture of me posing by a giant candy corn (I should have pretended to be gnawing on it), a rather grim-looking extinct animal graveyard photo, and a sorta symmetrical photo of the giraffes.

Posted in life on 10/30/2011 11:59 pm | 5 Comments

Little Miss Austen

It’s very wintery here today.  The temp dropped thirty degrees since yesterday, the mosquitos have skedaddled, and the sky has that ombre shading that warns of bad weather to come.  I got the kids off to school, walked the dog, and then came home to sit in the lovely quiet with my Ikea cinnamon roll (a splurge from yesterday), my cup of hot chocolate, and The Name of the Star, a YA by Maureen Johnson about a Louisiana girl in a London prep school, while a Jack the Ripper copycat killer is on the loose in London.

When the hot chocolate disappeared, I was forced to concede that I should probably get some actual work done.  So here I am, blogging. 🙂

Today I’m here to tell you about some adorable board books.  Not my usual fare, I know, but these are just too cute not to mention.  The one that caught my eye, first on the blog of Laurel Ann Nattress, editor of the recently released Jane Austen Made Me Do It, isPride and Prejudice: A BabyLit Board Book by Jennifer Adams.  You may be thinking that Pride and Prejudice is a little too advanced for the board book set, but it is so cleverly written, that you really do get a sense of the main themes of the classic.  Plus, it’s just downright adorable.

From Publisher’s Weekly (I’m including this so you can get a feel for the storyline): 

“Launching the BabyLit series, this counting book delivers a (very) simplified version of Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Adams opens with “1 english village” and “2 rich gentlemen,” the pale, dapperly dressed Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy. Later follows “4 marriage proposals” and “5 sisters,” and the book closes with 10, as in “10,000 pounds a year.” While many entries feel like filler (“6 horses, 7 soldiers in uniform”), Oliver’s Edward Gorey–meets–Etsy sensibility should make this a hit with English lit students. Available simultaneously: Romeo & Juliet. Up to age 3. (Aug.)”

Just look at that representation of Longbourn, Netherfield, and Pemberley!

Charmed? I give you some other BabyLit choices… 

(R&J is out now, the others are coming…)  I’m overwhelmed at the cuteness!

Images via here and here.

Posted in books on 10/28/2011 02:43 pm | 4 Comments

Austentatious All Around

I’m not ashamed to tell you that I Google myself.  Not everyday, just every now and then, to make sure I’m not missing something going on in my own life.  Well, before AUSTENTATIOUS, I didn’t have any trouble.  I’d Google “UNLADYLIKE PURSUITS” or simply “alyssa goodnight,” but now that AUSTENTATIOUS is in the mix, because who knows…maybe someone, somewhere is saying something about it–or me–Googling is a little harder. 

Because, apparently, LOTS of things are Austentatious!  Let’s see, there’s the new crochet book that came out this year: Austentatious Crochet: 36 Contemporary Designs from the World of Jane Austen, filled with really lovely Jane Austen-inspired crochet patterns.  Then there’s the up-and-coming Jane Austen inspired musical, Austentatious that’s been billed as witty, unique and utterly hilarious.  It’s the story of a community theater group’s attempt to stage a new adaptation of Pride & Prejudice (I’d love to get my hands on that Soundtrack…) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then there’s the Urban Dictionary’s definition of ‘Austentatious’:

Austentatious:  A play on the word ‘ostentatious’, used to describe the works of author Jane Austen.

and various other things.  I don’t even show up until page 2!  That said, I’m happy to be in such delightful company!

The crochet pattern is Lizzy’s Lace Mantelet, via.

Posted in austentatious on 10/26/2011 03:40 am | 5 Comments
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