Book of the Week: 23-29 August

Amy the Dancing Bear

by Carly Simon

illustrated by Margot Datz

Though it's written by Carly Simon -- yes, THAT Carly Simon (the famous singer-songwriter) -- don't read Amy the Dancing Bear for the prose, which can seem at times like she's trying too hard to sound quaint and charming. What I love about it are the soft illustrations and the blossoming page borders, which are perfect for an end-of-August evening. The words work in concert with the drawings to evoke a lovely, fragrant summer night, and it's impossible not to feel relaxed and comforted once you reach the end of the sweet little story about an impetuous young dancing bear whose mother just wants her to go to sleep. In essence, it's sort of the literary equivalent of an Enya song -- relaxing and beautiful, but not too substantive. It's not going to win any literary awards, and it's certainly not going to make you contemplate the deep philosophical questions of the universe, but I love it for the mood it creates and its pitch-perfect recreation of a perfect summer night.

Save Water America

Source

 
Have you used water today? Taken a shower? Washed your hands? Taken a drink? Brushed your teeth?

Because the vast majority of us have indoor plumbing, it's easy to take water for granted. But with simple adjustments to our behavior, we can help conserve this essential resource.

At SaveWaterAmerica, you can take a three-question quiz to see how much money you can conserve by switching to a more efficient toilet. Though the website (and quiz) are basically just a commercial for Kohler's products, once you take the quiz they will donate $1 to Habitat for Humanity to help fund water-saving projects.

Over at Water: Use it Wisely they have a list of 100 Ways to Conserve Water. Some of them are pretty obvious (like #5: Run your clothes washer and dishwasher only when they are full. Or #29: When running a bath, plug the tub before turning the water on, then adjust the temperature as the tub fills up.), but others are helpful and easy to implement (like #17: Collect the water you use for rinsing fruits and vegetables, then reuse it to water houseplants. And #83: Washing dark clothes in cold water saves both on water and energy while it helps your clothes to keep their colors.).

I know I'm guilty of taking showers that are WAY too long. By limiting the length of my showers by being more aware of the time I'm taking, I know I'll be conserving water and saving on the water bill. 

What are some ways that YOU limit your water consumption?

Influences and Inspirations

I wasn't able to get very good pictures of this outfit, which is unfortunate because I was very excited about it. Its creation was the result of a confluence of many influences, from this fabulous DIY skirt tutorial from What Would a Nerd Wear, these clever little faux-suspenders from Barefoot and Vintage, and all of the wonderful color mixing tips from the girls over at Academichic.

Shirt: Target

Skirt: self-made

Scarf: J. Crew

Belt: Target

Shoes: Nine West

Being silly in front of an incredible car

I also got bangs yesterday (after these pictures were taken), which I'm pretty sure I haven't had since about 1997. It's both terrifying and exhilarating.

Super

I'm a sucker for anything retro or geeky, and these incredible posters by artist RoganJosh (or "modHero") are both! Some of them are even too geeky for me (I must admit I've never heard of Havok and Polaris), but they are all gorgeous and witty. See the whole collection here.

Never Worn Challenge

I know I can't be alone in this: you buy something, whether by necessity or by choice, and it languishes unworn in your closet because you're afraid of it. You're unsure how to style it, or you're afraid it's just "not you," or you secretly worry that it's actually super heinous.

Well, I've challenged myself to actually wear the things I've never worn, to confront my fears, to wear boldly what I've never worn before!

First up for this challenge are my graduation shoes. We were required to find white shoes with ridiculous specifications (I don't even remember all of them, but it had to have at least a one-inch or more, all-white heel, which is kind of like trying to find a unicorn). In the end, after many hours of searching, this is what I finally found:

They're a sort of 60's-mod-meets-The-Jetsons T-strap. I didn't feel like they really fit into my personal style, and wouldn't have known how to wear them anyway.

This summer, I knew the time had come. I mustered up the courage, dragged them out of my closet, brushed off the dust and cobwebs (just kidding...kind of), and paired them with fresh, bright pieces:

Shirt: JC Penny's

Shorts: DIY cutoffs (more on these to come)

Shoes: Nine West

Scarf: J. Crew

Necklace: Self-made

The magical thing is, now that I've worn them once, the fear is gone! Not only did I get multiple compliments on them, I now know that they can work with what I've got in my wardrobe.

From Russia, With Life

When would you guess this photograph was taken?

What about this one?

Or this one?

To my eye, the vivid colors and sharp focus suggest that it could have been yesterday, perhaps taken with a high-end Digital SLR.

If you're anything like me, then, you'd be shocked to discover that they were each taken a century ago, the first one in 1911 and the other two in 1910. These, and many more (found here), were taken by Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (say that five times fast. Or like, once, accurately.) who used a "specialized camera to capture three black and white images in fairly quick succession, using red, green and blue filters, allowing them to later be recombined and projected with filtered lanterns to show near true color images" 

For me, looking at these pictures is nothing short of mind-blowing. Logically, I can read that the pictures were taken between 1909 and 1912. I can see the outmoded clothing styles and the antiquated architecture. But when I force myself to truly believe that these were taken one hundred years ago, I can barely comprehend the thought. For years when I was much younger I think I believed, to a certain extent, that the world existed entirely in soft-edged black and white sometime before 1950. Because I had never seen it, I genuinely could not conceive of the people I saw in movies of that era -- Abbot and Costello, The Marx Brothers, even Katherine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart or Cary Grant -- as existing in a color-filled world. I had never seen it, therefore I could not believe it. 

As I grew older, it dawned on me that people of every era, be they flappers from the 1920's or shepherds in Ancient Greece, saw themselves and each other as vividly as I saw myself and my contemporaries. Again, I knew this intellectually, but had a difficult time actually visualizing it. Until now. These pictures, with their crisp colors and details, let me see the Russia of one hundred years ago as its inhabitants would have experienced it. 


My physics professor last year told us of a study that was conducted some years ago. Aristotle, arguably the most famous (and most boldly incorrect) scientist to come out of Ancient Greece, believed that the speed of an object's fall is proportional to its weight. That is to say, if a bowling ball and a pebble were dropped from a great height at exactly the same time, the bowling ball would hit the ground much sooner than the pebble. This seems logical enough, and most people without any scientific training probably believe this to be true. However, Aristotle had never actually performed the experiment, and it wasn't until the late sixteenth century that Galileo disproved this faulty hypothesis. Those with a background in science are taught that Aristotle was wrong and that the objects would fall at essentially the same rate. Researchers at...Some College in Some City Somewhere showed two groups of students two different movie clips. In one clip, two objects of different weights are falling with equal speed. In the other, the heavier of the two is falling faster, thus defying physics. One experimental group was made up of science majors who would almost certainly know which video showed the "correct" physics. The other was made up of those without a background in science (English majors, anyone?). The researchers then monitored their brain activity and discovered something interesting: in the brains of the science majors, when they saw the physics-defying video, a certain chemical was released into the part of the brain that detects non-sequitors and things that don't or shouldn't make sense. In the brains of the other students, the same chemical was released into that same part of the brain, except this time it happened when they saw the one with the correct physics that only seemed incorrect. 


Whew! Okay, everyone can wake up now. What I meant by that long-winded and seemingly unrelated anecdote is that I feel exactly like those English majors in the study when I look at these photographs. My brain is calling shenanigans on these pictures, telling me they can't possibly be showing me images from so long ago with such clarity and realism, even though my brain is wrong -- they are images from a century ago, and this was what things would have looked like to observers at the time. 


All of this reminds me of a segment on page 34 of the novel Atonement. Briony, a precocious thirteen-year-old, is having some philosophical thoughts, pondering existence and perception. She wonders:

Was everyone else really as alive as she was? For example, did her sister really matter to herself, was she just as valuable to herself as Briony was?Was being Cecilia just as vivid an affair as being Briony? Did her sister also have a real self concealed behind a breaking wave, and did she spend time thinking about it...? Did everybody, including her father, Betty, Hardman? If the answer was yes, then the world, the social world, was unbearably complicated, with two billion voices, and everyone's thoughts striving in equal importance and everyone's claim on life as intense, and everyone thinking they were unique, when no one was. One could drown in irrelevance. But if the answer was no, then Briony was surrounded by machines, intelligent and pleasant enough on the outside, but lacking the bright and private inside feeling she had. This was sinister and lonely, as well as unlikely. For, though it offended her sense of order, she knew it was overwhelmingly probable that everyone else had thoughts like hers. She knew this, but only in a rather arid way; she didn't really feel it.

I'm sure most of us have felt this way in the past, marveled at the miracle of consciousness and the fact that everyone around us is equally as real and as alive as we are. But I think it's easy to forget that this was the case for all those who came before us, not to mention all those who will come after. And these pictures have thrown this truth into sharp focus for me -- in more ways than one.

ca. 1910

ca. 1909

ca. 1910

ca. 1910

Book of the Week: 16-22 August

Atonement

by Ian McEwan

Have you ever waited for something with incredible excitement and anticipation, building up a near-impossible, idealized image of what it will be like? And have you ever had the real thing exceed that expectation? 

That's essentially what happened for me with Ian McEwan's novel, Atonement. I saw the film adaptation starring Kiera Knightly and James MacAvoy in 2008 and immediately wanted to read the book. I was curious how the stunning visuals and cinematography would translate to the page. On a whim, I read one of McEwan's short stories before I was able to get my hands on Atonement and was struck by his ability to fearlessly confront the darkness of the human spirit without veering into the melodramatic. This particular short story, entitled "Solid Geometry," was macabre and, ultimately, deeply disturbing, but was executed with such precision and beauty that I was left pleasantly stunned and wonderfully uncomfortable.

I finally found a copy of Atonement at my local library (three cheers for the public library system!) and could not have been more pleased with it. I'm fairly sure McEwan could describe, in intimate detail, the subtle grace and beauty of a piece of belly button lint, and I would eagerly devour every word. The landscapes he paints are as vivid as technicolor and are pulsing with life, but he also appeals to the other senses by showing you exactly how a hot summer day in the English countryside smells and feels and sounds.

In addition to the immersive scenes he creates, which I was almost expecting after the gorgeous and dreamlike visuals of the film, each of his characters is thoroughly human in ways sometimes shocking and unexpected and in other ways perfectly mundane. This blend of total familiarity and absolute strangeness is what makes his work so chilling and compelling. To see characters thinking something you yourself have thought, who then suddenly do something you would never dream of, is quite startling; it makes you wonder if you truly are above such actions, as you fervently hope to be.

I can't sing the praises of Atonement enough -- you really much must read it yourself. McEwan's writing style and intricately woven plot propel the reader forward and make for an engrossingly rapid read. And when you've finished, reward yourself by watching the film -- even if you didn't like the story, the beautiful cast, costumes, scenes, and cinematography will keep you enthralled.

Photos here, here, here, and here

Even Sith Like to Play Dress Up

via 24 Free Dinners

Zucchini Bread

Source

 
Summer
A time for sun, water, refreshing beverages, and...vegetables.

I know what you're thinking: "But, whatever shall I do with my surplus of delicious, fresh summer greens?"
Well, I'm glad you asked. If you've got some spare zucchini laying around, you may want to try out this lovely recipe for some delicious Zucchini Bread! It's simple, quick, and mighty tasty.


What You Will need:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Awareness

Photo: Nick Waplington

This is a photograph of Cornell University's cafeteria. One question you might ask yourself when looking at it is "Exactly how uncomfortable are those benches?" But I bet you didn't wonder "Was this the birthplace of the concept of quantum electrodynamics?" 

Author, artist, drummer, shameless flirt, and -- oh yeah -- Nobel Prize winning physicist Richard Feynman was in this dining hall in 1946 when the idea came to him:

"I was in the cafeteria and some guy, fooling around, throws a plate in the air. As the plate went up in the air I saw it wobble, and I noticed the red medallion of Cornell on the plate going around. I went to work out equations of wobbles... Then I thought about how electron orbits start to move in relativity. Then there's the Dirac Equation in electrodynamics. And then quantum electrodynamics. It was effortless ... It was like uncorking a bottle: Everything flowed out effortlessly. I almost tried to resist it! There was no importance to what I was doing, but ultimately there was. The diagrams and the whole business that I got the Nobel Prize for came from that piddling around with the wobbling plate."(Excerpted from "Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman!")

Don't worry -- I'm not going to delve into the subject of quantum electrodynamics (you can go here if you want to learn more). That's not the point I want to emphasize, nor is it the point Feynman wishes to make with this anecdote. But what I find interesting about his story is not merely that he was able to discover an essential and universal truth about the world around us just because someone was goofing off at lunchtime; it's the fact that he noticed the plate at all.

How often do you find yourself mindlessly going about your day, living your life focused solely on the task at hand, or filled with worry about any number of future tasks or potential stresses?

Now, what would happen if you became an active participant in your day? If you became fully cognizant of everything from the feeling of exquisite shock when moving from an unbearably sticky summer day into a deliciously air-conditioned building, to the metallic symphony of a city, to the small acts of genuine kindness that people commit daily but that usually go unnoticed and unappreciated.

It doesn't always have to be something profound:

I discovered this eggplant, which is basically the size of my head, at my local Trader Joe's. I was amazed and delighted by this massive veggie, which I might not have noticed if I were too intent on my mission to hunt and gather some milk from the refrigerated section (like they did in olden times).

And I can't tell you how many times I've been to this particular Trader Joe's without noticing the gorgeous and vibrant flower display they have right at the entrance:

I challenge everyone reading this to be more mindful as you go about the rest of your week. Granted, you may not discover the key to time travel or develop a new branch of mathematics or even find an unusually large piece of produce. But I can promise that, as you focus on the present and the incredible things surrounding you at all times, you will find creativity and inspiration around every corner.

Two in One

Red Vines are probably my favorite unnaturally red food product

Maxi Dress: Lucky Brand

Tank: American Eagle

Bracelets: Cost Plus World Market

Sandals: Clarks 

As you can probably tell from the rest of this blog, I am obviously a hippy at heart. 

Yeah, just kidding. But this weekend I went to my grandma's annual birthday celebration, which is always outside (and which is, incidentally, always annual since, unless you were born on February 29th, birthdays are pretty much always a yearly occurrence). I knew it was going to be "a scorcher" as, er, no one says, so I thought I'd become a flower child for the afternoon. Not only was I kept remarkably cool, this dress also instantly helped me gain a greater appreciation for tie-dye and tapestries.

Hat: ?

But wait!

Yet another birthday party (this time a surprise party for a friend's mom) was in the cards that evening. Ever glamorous, I made I quick costume change at a sketchy park rest area. Unfortunately, I was having far too much fun at the actual party and forgot to document Outfit 2.0 until I arrived back home, weary and worn after a day of intense socializing. I assure you, most of this enthusiasm is faked:

Shirt (that's actually a shirt dress): Target

Skirt: Forever 21

Belt: Target

Necklace: vintage

Shoes: Clarks

I hope you enjoy your Monday, but if you have to fake a little enthusiasm too, I won't blame you. Unless you are Ron Livingston and happen to work with this lady: 

"Sounds like somebody's got a case of the Mondays!" (Source)

Book of the Week: 9-15 August

The Beekeeper's Apprentice

by Laurie R. King

Set primarily between the wars, The Beekeeper's Apprentice could have gone horribly wrong. The heroine is a brilliant and deeply unfeminine orphan who just wants to read while wandering the grassy hills of rural England. Yikes. She then quite literally stumbles upon an aging Sherlock Holmes (who also has business on the grassy hills of rural England, believe it or not), and the two develop an unlikely partnership, teaming up to solve crimes with the considerable power of their combined intellects.

Put like that, it all sounds terribly cliché. And, well, it sort of is. But the heroine miraculously avoids the traps of either becoming overly saccharine ("My parents died, but I can still overcome any misfortune that comes my way!" The heroine then bursts into a stirring rendition of "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow.") or maddeningly pedantic ("Clearly I am better than you, dear reader, because, as anyone with half a brain knows, when calculating the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow..." The reader then falls asleep.). And somehow the author manages to stay true to the character of Holmes while still making him her own. 

Granted, I am not the biggest Sherlock Holmes fan, and I'm sure there are some die-hard Holmesians out there who would consider this blasphemy. But it's fast-paced, clever, well-written, and even a little surprising. If you're looking for a nice end-of-the-summer read with a strong female lead and some neat detective work, The Beekeeper's Apprentice may be just the thing. 

Red, White, & Blue (& Black)

 Shirt: Old Navy

Skirt: Express

Belt: Target

Shoes: Target

How almost-patriotic of me today! I could pretend it's subtle social commentary, a way for me to stick it to The Man and Big Oil and the Wall Street "Fat Cats," etc, etc by not quite wearing my country's national colors. Or I could be honest and say it was completely unintentional. How about we make it like one of those Choose Your Own Adventure books?

 "You're walking down the hallway of a dark dungeon and you discover...A BLOGGER! She tells you that she is implementing social change by her subtly subversive style. You: a) Choose to believe her -- what reason would she have to lie to you? (turn to page 24) b) Call her bluff -- no one can even see her in this dungeon, so what's the point? (turn to page 316) c) Ignore her entirely and attempt to find the treasure chest that's probably somewhere around here since there's always a treasure chest or something in these books. (turn to page 71)"

 (Oh, and I hate to ruin it for you, but no matter what you choose, you end up being eaten by a grue.)

I've always liked Thursdays, and I hope yours is treating you swimmingly. Cheers!

P.S. Follow my blog with bloglovin if you so desire!

Stressed? Me Too!

I have a confession to make:

 I'm a nerd.

Source

Like, a huge nerd. Like, it's difficult to explain just exactly how nerdy I am. Once you think you've discovered the extent of my nerdiness, I'll make an obscure Battlestar Galactica reference or a pun off the name of a famous classical composer or an analogy based on the molecular structure of an atom.

So it should come as a surprise to exactly no one that I'm obsessed with the magazine Wired. Some girls model their lives after Cosmo, some girls obsess over Vogue, but this girl religiously reads a magazine devoted to science and technology.

The most fascinating article (in my opinion) in the August issue was written by Jonah Lehrer and was entitled "Under Pressure: The Search for a Stress Vaccine."
 

Photo: Elinor Carucci

Who among us doesn't get stressed at some point in their daily lives? Robert Sapolsky, a researcher at Stanford University, hopes to one day develop an injectable cure for chronic stress, and has already seen promising results in preliminary tests with laboratory rats. I urge everyone to follow the link and read Lehrer's entire article, but if you're short on time, I've added Wired's suggestions on how to proactively reduce stress in your own life (after the jump).

Old Man Pants

Let me say right off the bat that I love this outfit:

  Top: Target
Shorts: vintage*

Belt: Target

Shoes: Nine West

It is not only perfectly summery, but it tackles not one but two things I am scared of, sartorially. Namely: 

1. Pattern mixing (you can't tell very well from these pictures, but the shorts have a super thin blue and white pinstripe) and

2. Looking like I'm next in line at the shuffleboard court and should be adjusting my dentures while contemplating either prune juice or a nap.

And I suppose the two are related: the attempt to avoid looking geriatric can be foiled when one mixes two patterns. The trick, or so I am told, is to nominate one "supporting pattern" and one "leading pattern." Then, you get two attractive yet bland actors to banter awkwardly for a moment before presenting them to you -- wait, I think I'm getting confused. Basically, I picked a stronger pattern for my shirt and a subtle pattern for my shorts, broke up the two patterns with a contrasting color in the belt and -- voila! -- I have (hopefully) successfully avoided looking as though my name should be Ethel. (Not that there's anything wrong with that name, per se. And, since everything old is new again, I expect we should be seeing celebrities naming their children things like Floyd and Gertrude any day now.)

However, there is still the matter of these shorts. I, for one, think they are Grandma-fabulous and love the fact that the zipper may actually be six miles long. Unfortunately, once, when I was wearing them at my fancypants East Coast liberal arts college, my friend asked me why I was "wearing the pants of a grandpa." Touché, friend. Touché. 

So tell me: do you agree that they are Active Seniors Community Chic? Or are you with my friend in thinking that I should try for a senior discount at the movies when wearing them?

Still trying to perfect taking my own pictures

* Okay, technically they are hand-me-downs from my Mom, and I'm sure she would strongly object to me deeming them "vintage." But I would totally lose my hipster cred if I admitted that, right? So: sorry, Mom! At least I didn't call them "antique."

A Story and an Introduction

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It's a classic tale: prince meets princess; prince is captured by a vicious dragon who burns down princess's castle and all of her belongings, forcing her to don a paper bag; princess rushes off to find prince, outwits the dragon, and saves her beloved; prince is barely grateful for his heroic rescue, and is no longer interested in princess because of her now-plain appearance (most notably said paper bag); princess frolics off into the sunset sans prince, knowing she's better off without that superficial jerk anyway.

Okay, maybe it's not so classic. But that's what I love about it, and that's why the Paper Bag Princess is a hero of mine. Not only is she fearless in the face of danger (I'm pretty sure most princesses would not be willing to go up against a giant, deadly, fire-breathing foe), she uses her considerable intelligence to outwit  the dragon (dragons being, of course, the second cleverest mythical creature after Robert Downey Jr.), and she knows that all of these traits are far more important than physical appearance, as evidenced by her unceremoniously dumping her shallow prince boyfriend. Any time a heroine puts brains and courage over looks and outer beauty, I can't help but love her.

I offer this tale as an inspiration (for you) and an explanation (and, incidentally, an explanation of an inspiration). I've named this little corner of the blogosphere "The Paper Blog Princess" in the hopes that I can exhibit the traits of The Paper Bag Princess in my life and in my blog. (Plus, I thought it was rather catchy.) The reasons I finally decided to cave in and start this blog are myriad and manifold, divergent and diverse, varied and – you get the picture. There are a lot of reasons. Here are a few of them, listed in no particular order:

1. I have a hard time doing things consistently for any long period of time. All of my childhood diaries have about three entries, spaced out over a six month period. Remembering to brush my teeth is a daily battle. And, though I’ve been playing the violin for 14 years, I don’t think I’ve ever gone a week where I practiced every single day (don’t tell my teacher. Though I’m sure he can tell by my guilty-looking eyes and sloppy 16th note runs.). Basically, it is my hope that if I have legions of adoring fans (okay, let’s be real here – dozens. Okay, let’s be even more real – a dozen) waiting for me to do something on a regular basis, I will actually do that something. And that something, if you hadn’t deduced from logic or the title of this list, is blogging.

2. I love to write. Even though I go to a writing-intensive college, I rarely get to write for pleasure any more. Ergo: blog.

3. I hope that this endeavor will force me to be more creative, from the clothes that I wear to the things that I make to the tales that I weave. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut with your wardrobe, to put off projects that you’ve been meaning to tackle, and to not…write things. See? I’m clearly rusty at the whole “writing creatively” thing and need this blog so I can stop ending sentences like that.

4. All of the blogs that I read on a regular basis are written by beautiful, hilarious, intelligent women who inspire me every day. My hope is that I can perhaps inspire others to be creative, silly, funny, and accepting of their own beauty and intelligence. Or maybe just make people laugh or think or procrastinate their work on a semi-regular basis.

5. I’ve always wanted to. Surprising reason, I know. But ever since I first stumbled across my first blog ‘round about January of 2007, I knew this was something I wanted to do.

So here’s to you, fearless blog readers! Let’s hope we outwit our dragons and believe in ourselves above all else. And let's hope it's a wild ride.