2010 Reading List

Here is a running list of the books I am currently reading or have read this year.

I am always up for suggestions for new reading material.

Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane
The Apothecary's Daughter - Julie Klassen
The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin
Velveteen Rabbit - Margery Williams
College Girl - Patricia Weitz
Velva Jean Learns to Drive - Jennifer Niven
A Reliable Wife - Robert Goolrick
The Little Giant of Aberdeen - Tiffany Baker
What the Dog Saw - Malcolm Gladwell
Twilight - Stephanie Meyer
New Moon - Stephanie Meyer
Eclipse - Stephanie Meyer
Breaking Dawn - Stephanie Meyer
Midnight Sun (unpublished saga of Twilight series) - Stephanie Meyer
Nanny Returns: A Novel - Emma McLaughlin

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Project 365 Blog of the Week

I am going to highlight a project 365 blog each week that I love and whose shots has captured my attention.

This week its A Pile of Pics.

I think she has a wonderful eye for capturing the everyday in a beautiful interesting way and she is just starting to master her camera. I can't wait to see what she does as the year progresses.

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Project 52 - Week 1

Roosevelt and I attended a wedding last Saturday at the historic Hotel Bethlehem. I had respect for wedding photographers before this past Saturday, but after trying to take photos with my Nikon D3000 during the ceremony and reception I have the utmost respect for those that do event photography for a living. Throughout the evening I was struggling to change my settings in enough time to capture the moments I wanted and I got a lot of bad shots. It is so much harder to shot when people are moving! But I am determined to keep at and I think I got some nice pictures despite my limited abilities. While up there I was also able to get some interesting shots outside though the cold kept me from being out there longer. Of course I was able to capture some of my favorite model - Roosevelt. (And yes he has a Nikon D3000 also - we are turning into such  camera geeks).

Outside of the wedding I was limited to capturing shots around the house since I was stuck in corporate hell and I was also nursing a cold. But I did get an opportunity to make some homemade sauce which we enjoyed with my favorite quick and easy penne pasta. (I will post a recipe later)

Let me know what you think of my shots. I am open to criticism, praise, anything that will help me get better. This week I also started shooting in RAW and I definitely see a difference between that and JPEG.

Outside in the freezing cold taking pictures. Were we crazy? I nearly froze!

I love photos of architectural details.

I wish she had been looking towards me. She was the cutest little flower girl. She was a whirl wind on the dance floor and danced the whole night.

Slightly blurry - I told you I was struggling with capturing moving subjects.

The Happy Couple

My favorite model.

Roe had his first photography class this week. Here he is playing with his camera. I have been trying out different editing effects.

Making sauce. Its one of my staple recipes in our house. So easy!

My diet consisted of this for two days this week while I nursed my cold.

Trying to plan out what new items I want for the change of seasons.

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Save to Splurge

I am participating in my friend Bola's Save to Splurge Challenge over on Onada's Lookbook to get this puppy.

The Brother CS6000I 60-Stitch Computerized Free-Arm Sewing Machine with Multiple Stitch Functions

I was inspired by Jen of Anything Pretty after reading her post on quilting. I used to sew many moons ago and it was such a relaxing and satisfying hobby. My goal is to do some easy projects for the home, crank out a quilt or two, and maybe make me some cute summer shifts.

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Project 52! Want to join in?

I stumble across a lot of new wonderful blogs each day. This week I found out that there is a whole genre of blogs dedicated to Project 365. As a part of Project 365 you commit to taking a picture a day. While I try to take my camera out each day, some days it just doesn't happen. That is why I am doing my own take on Project 365 and calling it Project 52!

As a part of Project 52 I will post each Friday/Saturday a series of photos from the week. Also I will highlight one of the Project 365 blogs that I am smitten with that week.

I think this is an awesome way to develop my photography skills and to document my life for 2010.

If you would like to participate and commit to Project 52, simply leave a link to your weekly photos in the comment sections each week.

Hope you join in.

Check back Friday night for Week 1!

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The Horror that lived under the stairs

I have organized my books in the basement by color, which was much harder than I expected and I am still not completely satisfied with the results. I think I may need to accessorize the shelves better which means a trip to Marshall's or Home Goods (the problem is finding the time to do it). And there is an orphan shelf on the bottom right for those books I couldn't fit in anywhere. What to do????

But this post is not about our bookcase but the horror that lurks behind this door. The door to the storage closet under our basement stairs.

What I am about to show you is shameful and horrifying. I wish I could say that its only been in this stage for a short but that would be a bold face lie. Its been this bad for a loooooong time and we have only added to the pile over the past year till it was as out of control as you see here.

This is what bodly greeted you upon opening the door. Hey look at me I'm the Peterson's debris from home projects and somewhere is this heap are our home, gardening, and paint tools as well as seasonal decorations.

And it didn't get any better the further you went in the closet.

At first I played with the idea of putting in some type of closet organization system but when I really thought about it I came to the conclusion that the closet was too narrow for us to get large bulk items on and off shelves and what we really needed was just a good old fashion purge.

The closet below the stairs had become our dumping ground for anything we didn't want to go through and divide into keep or toss, so by default we just kept everything. It was also where we threw any of our tools or left overs from home projects without any thought to organizing them.

A couple of weeks ago I rolled up my sleeves and just decided to jump in and tackle it. It's not the sexiest or most glamorous before and after but it sure as heck a 100% improvement.

Now when I open the door I am greeted by nicely stacked bins that hold all our tools and seasonal decor. What a couple of Ikea bins can do to cutting out the dread of going into the closet. I just need to add labels now to each of the bins.

And now I can actually walk all the way to back of the closet and everything is neatly stacked and clear and out in the open. No more searching through bins and basket. No more reject furniture. No more junk!

No More Horror Beneath the Stairs!

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Picking out a coffee table

So as I mentioned in my previous post it is out with the old and in with the new in our basement. We don't need a new coffee table, however, I want a new coffee table. I am tired of the Ikea table we have now and has taken quite a beating. Plus I want something just a little different in terms of look and feel.

Here is our sofa (which I really want to recover with a slipcover from Bemz - I have ordered fabric samples and have a couple in mind its just a matter of doing it).

Here are the candidates I am considering.

Tanner Coffee Table from Pottery Barn (Which is very similiar to our living room coffee table from West Elm)

Hunter Trunk  from Crate and Barrel - which I could use my registry discount on since it is still good

Durham Cocktail table from Ballard Designs

I am leaning heavily towards number 2 but I am open to other suggestions.

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