Tag: reviews

I collect links the way some people collect magazine clippings for an inspiration board, and Google Reader allows me to star and share interesting tidbits I find as I’m reading. Here are some of my recent favorites:

• How to make ice lanterns, at Design Sponge – A glittery consolation prize for living in a place where you can’t feel your fingers six months out of twelve.
• Dash and Albert rugs, featured at Maine Maven – Kristen always knows where to go for yummy Maine finds. Ever since we redid our downstairs in hardwood, I’m on the lookout for inexpensive coverings, and these colorful throw rugs will do the trick.
• Little Leg Warmers feature at S. Jane Craft – I’m not usually an impulsive shopper, but I loved LLW’s work the moment I saw it, and knew I had to have this quilt and pillow set for Ellie’s room. Brooke’s designs bring a fresh, modern twist to the traditional quilt.
• Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische, featured at Poppytalk – A new day, a new drop cap–and an excellent way to spruce up your blog. I may need to design and employ some fancy drop caps for my own sites, come to think of it.
• Michael Cogliatry Photography at The Shiny Squirrel – A nice mix of the everyday with a touch of weird–just to my liking. Visit his professional Web site to see more.

Find these and more at my shared favorites on Google Reader!

My husband is such a bookworm… he’ll read basically anything. Me? I tend to pick one or two authors and stick with them… I’m always a little hesitant to stray from my tried-and-true favorites. But I suppose there are benefits to living with the book-obsessed, because I was quite pleased when Tim introduced me to swaptree.com.

What is Swaptree? It’s a Web site designed to turn your old, unwanted media into new stuff. Say you have a book you’re no longer into… put it on Swaptree and you can trade with someone else for a book that you are interested in. All you pay is the cost of shipping, which is usually under $3–you can’t even buy a used book for that price these days. You can also trade video games, CDs and DVDs. For people like me, it’s a good way to try out new authors you’re not sure you’ll like at relatively little expense.  And if you decide you don’t like a book or movie you’ve traded for, you can always put it back on Swaptree to trade it for something else.

The cool part is, once you set up your wish list and your for-trade list, the Swaptree system finds potential trades for you automatically; even if you can’t get something you want right away, the system will continue looking for matches as new members join with new items to trade. When an unexpected trade happens, it’s kinda like Christmas. I just recently received a copy of The Little Giant of Aberdeen in the mail after having it on my wish list for months, so that was a pleasant surprise. As a fun Easter egg, Swaptree also tracks the amount of money you’ve saved and how much you’ve reduced your carbon footprint by trading instead of buying outright… to date, I’ve saved $118 and reduced my carbon footprint by 162 pounds.

The only drawback to Swaptree is I don’t have nearly enough time to read all the books I’ve traded for over the last few months. Too many books… it’s not a terrible predicament to be in.  Just ask my husband.

I saw the new X-Files movie twice over the weekend. Yes, I liked it that much. I didn’t expect to like it… I went into the theater with very low expectations, but came away feeling surprisingly satisfied. The plot was weak, the pace was a bit slow, and it was decidedly lacking in supernatural creepiness, but I found that the Mulder/Scully character development made up for these shortcomings. Since the series ended, I’ve often wondered what my two favorite characters were up to, and it was nice to find out. In fact, the movie inspired me to dig my geeky* high school obsession out of the closet and dust it off. I’m going to spend the next few months re-watching the series from the beginning.

In other news, it should come as no surprise to those who know me well that I’m quite ready for fall. Summer and I have a tenuous relationship. I’m always happy to see it at first–after six months of cold winter hell, who isn’t? For a few weeks I revel in the warmth of a beautiful June day, basking in the sun. I might even forgive the humidity, because it’s so damn wonderful to walk out of the house without a jacket.

But after about a month, I’m quite ready to see summer go. Summer is like the house guest that overstays its welcome by six weeks. Summer is the clingy, not-quite-ex-boyfriend you just can’t seem to shake off, whose once warm and enveloping hug becomes a sticky, sweaty and entirely unwelcome grope.

Bring on the wool sweaters and apple cider, please.

And for a final random thought, you know you’ve reached full pain-in-the-ass status when your IT guy sees your name on his caller ID and answers the phone with, “Uh oh, what now?” Congratulate me!

* Not to say I’m any less of a geek now than when I was in high school… to the contrary, I think I may be more geeky. But at least now I have the confidence to geek with pride.