The Pictures

The Romance Novels

There's a tall shelf in my living room for the taller books. But this is relatively reasonable, right? Not such a big deal. Since you can't see titles, I can't be overly embarrassed. But in the interest of some disclosure, I'll link to some of my personal favorites.

I read The Real Deal on my trip to England. Loved the trip, love the book.

OK, this is hard. Some of them are, um, a little explicit. Not hardcore necessarily, but near the erotic end of the spectrum. People always make fun of me for my "sex books" but then I loan them out and everyone wants to read more. So don't judge me. Much.

Oh! Bet Me is more subtle and is the cutest story ever! He asks her out on a bet and she is sort of mean to him and the dialogue is quirky and funny, and there's this whole part on how she doesn't believe he could love her. And she has these great shoes! And Krispy Kremes! I sigh happily over this one - I'll likely read it when I'm done writing this.

What? Those? They're some of the books I keep in my bedroom. Note the stacks behind the row in the front of the cubes. Moving on...

I will read anything Susan Donovan writes because of this book. It's one of those "kind of blushing when reading certain sections" novels, but it's adorable. She's a soccer coach and teacher turned homemaker columnist and he's a cop investigating her stalker.

I like Erin McCarthy in general, but I loved
Mouth to Mouth. She's deaf and he's a cop. Oh, she has a stalker too. Hmmm... In my defense, many romance novels are strong women who happen to be in distressing situations.

How do I know? Well, those are 3 bins that I keep under the bed in my guest room. There are 3 more in my office. And another 2 in the master bedroom. It's a good thing I have so many books I like to fill all this space next to pictures.

I do not enjoy Linda Howard's recent work. It made me cry. But her early stuff is great. Dream Man is in the bins, but it's a bit scary (for me - my tolerance is quite low).

I also adore Lori Foster, but tend to like her best in the little 3 stories in one books.

Flowers

To finish Ceresina's request, I took my camera with me on a walk a couple days ago. And forgot to take pictures. So I'll try to remember tomorrow, but in the meantime, there's this.

I haven't planted anything in my flower beds - I just wait to see what comes up. So I was thrilled when these little guys appeared. In appreciation for their cheery beauty, I spent 90 minutes this morning pulling weeds so they had enough room to grow and bloom.

It was quite hot.

And my fingers hurt badly.

And I got bugs on my hands.

But look how pretty the flowers are!

Katie's Closet

The blue shirt held up this post already, but I like JustMe too much to deny a request. The shirt was dirty so I washed it, but then I left in the dryer too long (I forgot it was in that load and needed to be hung to dry!) and it wrinkled. So please know that it's a lovely shirt and helps me give decent talks. It's not at its best, but I love it.

I also like that pink striped one in the background (behind the blue shirt - with the white and pale pink stripes. Though I do like the black stripey one too.)

To be fair, blue shirt has been to Canada, Japan and England so it's rather used to being wrinkled. It irons out like a champ, and it is a cute little shirt. I put it back with its friends (the other clothes) after the photo, but I'll iron it tomorrow.


To make up for the wrinkles, I'm offering some of my shoes. This is only some, though we can pretend it's all of them if that works better for you. Back row: L-R. The sedate pumps are friends (taupe and black), then there are the little ones with the strap. They taper into this tiny little heel - such cute shoes. Then the navy ones with the bow are flirting with you - probably the sexiest shoes I own.

My favorite strappy shoes are the black pair in the front row. So comfortable and easy to walk in! Then there are the ones with the sparkly butterfly and the white leather flower! And all the ones behind them...

Where I sleep

This is my bedroom. Chienne looks irritated (but pretty!) because she was trying to play with a squeaky toy and I was trying to take a picture.

Notable in this one? I do sleep with that many pillows - there are 5 plus a body pillow (plus those 2 throw pillows). It's a king size bed though - there's room for all of them.

The sheets are blue - you can see the pillow peeking out in the corner at the head of the bed. The comforter is gold but has these nifty little patterns embroidered on it. Not something I'm typically drawn to, but I like it. It's silk underneath, which is lovely. I put my blanket on the pillows so you could see it. There are clocks on either side of the bed - I'm quite near sighted and like to know what time it is. And I love older posters like that one - there are 2 more in the bedroom and another in my dining room.

I love the loveseat!

So, Diss Daisy, when I first came to my southern city, I couldn't close on my house for another week. But I had to start work to close on the house, so I lived with my cousin. I fell deeply in love with their old basement furniture. I think some people leave the cushions along the back, but I put them on the sides and nestle deeply into the furniture. You can see where the cushions are both smooshed in the middle where I prop my arm on them.

I usually sit by the table (with my water, Chandler the iPod (aren't his speakers lovely?), a drink and my lipgloss) and prop Nick (who wanted to say hello too!) on that pillow on my legs as they're tucked in front of me.

That flash you see in the TV is from my camera as I'm perched on the loveseat. So I can see - in the foreground - my ottoman with some work on it. That's my front door on the left, then some postcards I like (I have a mild obsession with postcards, actually). Then there are pretties on those shelves (Oh! My little baskets from Dresden - second shelf from the top! They have tiny kitchen utensils in them!). Then there's the television, VCR, DVD player, Sex and the City DVDs, Friends, Felicity, then some random VHS movies I haven't watched in years.


Roof, Repaired

Dad said the shingles he replaced were slightly different colors than the original ones. I certainly can't tell where they are though. I do know they are toward the front of the garage - so if you're looking, try the left side of the photo.

This one is likely more meaningful if you're remembering the Torn Shingles post. I can see out my pretty blinds to the front of the garage here. The part that bugged me most was the shingle hung in the gutter about 3 feet from the corner.

It bothered me a lot. Even more after I wrote that post and it represented my blatant lack of progress in many areas.

When I started grad school, I had an awful view. Was stuck in the corner of a U-shaped building and could basically see a gray brick wall. So after moving into a different apartment, I adored sitting my living room and looking at the trees outside. Getting sun for my plants.

I love the view from my living room too. While I had to get close to the window to compensate for lighting, I see something similar from my loveseat.

The Pretty Puppy

Chienne showed up before, but I'll give ScienceWoman a couple more. The dog hates being hot as much as I do - she used to be great about it, but I must have trained her to be weak and whine. We're returning from a walk and I realized I'd forgotten to take flower pictures, so I got this one of my girl waiting for me to open the door already.

She cried at the door today when I was weeding. I took her out with me, then let her in, then brought her out again when she cried from the living room. I think I was supposed to come in with her, but she was miserable in the humidity. Silly dog.

She has very short hair, so she's always slept covered up. Since she's selfish, she also rests on top of the blanket and wants it wrapped around her so nobody can take it away. She's probably as tired as all of you after making it this far, but no worries. I'll let you stop reading soon.

And I did cover her back up after I took this picture. It's probably a year old, so she's long since forgiven me for disturbing her.

And the smile

That would be my smile. From a photo I ruthlessly cropped that was taken several years ago - near the beginning of grad school, I think. This is good though since I was told in junior high that I squint when I smile and needed to stop that. So you're spared the squinty eyes, though I think it's rather endearing. That woman obviously had poor taste. Right?