Friday Fashion

Friday Fashion comes from Asos today. I stumbled across the site and fell in love with its quirky jewelry. Do enjoy, friends.

Gold bunny ears ring, $8.

Wildfox stag earrings, $25.

Moustache pendant necklace, from $6.00.

Orelia chunky shaped ring, $10.50.

Black and gold bow necklace, $49.

A belated Valentine's Day haiku*

This man that I love

Is the only one for me.

He is my everything.

*Haiku may not be very good, but the sentiment is genuine. Promises.

Daily Eye Candy: Sweet and Cheap

I'm loving these cute offerings from Ideology.

Brass camera earrings, $8.

Filigree leaf necklace, $18.

Red coral necklace, $20.

Daily Ear Candy

"Ear candy" actually sounds really disgusting. Let's just agree to pretend I never said that.

Thanks to a link share from Husband, I've become addicted to "Gunslinging Rambler" by Gangstagrass. This music is a combination of hip-hop and bluegrass, and they have the most interesting sound that I've heard in a good long while. Groups like this make me think that our world may actually be able to survive singers like Ke$ha (or, as Principal Figgins would say, "key-dollar sign-ha").

Daily Eye Candy

For my birthday, my in-laws gave me an awesome, steam-punk-y clock, which we finally hung this weekend (by "we," I of course mean everyone in my family except for me). I've been looking for something perfect to fill up this space ever since we moved in, and now I am that much closer to dying happily. Gorgeous!

If you love it as much as I do, you can have one for yourself from Overstock.com!

Daily Eye Candy

Open your eyes, because today's Candy is fabulous!

A very dear, lovely friend made Husband and me a gorgeous wreath, which I hung next to our front door. She made this because I demanded it of her, since I lack the talent to create such a wonderful piece! And I was going to pay her! I really wanted to! But she refused to take anything for it, and it made me love her even more, for her kindness and her talent.

I think that she should sell these, and all of you should buy them. If she decides to do so, I will let you know where you can purchase one from her! She's amazing!

This is my Favorite. New. Thing!

A confession

Hello. My name is KittyMarie, and I am an editor who doesn't read.

Perhaps I should clarify.

I edit academic books and journals for a living. If I'm not being paid to read it, I don't. While I was growing up, I was a voracious reader (young adult fiction was my weakness, and here's another confession: it still is). I would go to the library and bring home a bag full of books, which I would devour. I was never unhappy to receive a good book as a gift.

Then I began my current job, and all I did all day long was read, so I stopped reading for fun. I haven't read an "extracurricular" book for years.

Don't get me wrong, I reclaimed my love for reading feature stories (these are articles that are typically much longer than regular news articles but shorter than books), and longform.org remains my go-to site for discovering wonderful, enticing feature stories.

But I didn't pick up a book, even on vacation. Especially on vacation.

On some level, I think I missed the recreational fiction and nonfiction, but I felt that, after reading all day, I didn't want to continue that at night. If I wasn't working on freelance graphic design projects during my free time, then I was camped out with Netflix, as mindless as possible.

Then Husband bought a Kindle, and he started reading much more than I ever remember him doing. And then, in January 2012, without making a formal resolution, we both changed our habits. I had received Tina Fey's Bossypants for Christmas (hardcover, highly recommend), and I found myself reading in bed. Soon, Husband and I began turning off the television at 9:30 or even 9:00, completing our evening ablutions, and then settling beneath the covers to read, him on his Kindle, and me the old-fashioned way, until we turned the lights out for the night.

And I love it. After Bossypants, I picked up an old friend, Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude, which is one of my favorite books of all time. Next, I'm finally going to tackle Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera, which I bought years ago and have started countless times but never made it past the first chapter.

The quiet reading time before bed allows us to wind down into sleep much more easily than the bright lights and harsh sounds of the television. We are sleeping better, and I look forward to our evenings even more now. What's more, while I once believed that recreational reading would further burn me out on reading in general, I have found that I am actually tackling my editing projects at work with more fervor. Perhaps that is because I have had some interesting projects lately, but just maybe our new routine has something to do with rekindling my love of reading.

I think we will continue our new bedtime routine for the foreseeable future.

Do you have any good book recommendations?

Daily Eye Candy

When I was in the fifth grade, I had my first "boyfriend"...I'll call him "Jimmy." "Boyfriend" in quotation marks is absolutely applicable to our relationship -- when I heard from my tittering friends that he wanted to hold my hand in the darkness of our school's blow-up planetarium, I became concerned because I thought we were moving tooooo fast (aw, the innocent decade). When Valentine's Day rolled around, "Jimmy" was so proud of his gift -- he told me that his sister had helped him pick it out. It was a set of silver post earrings in a "love knot" formation. I still have them to this day. But, like most pre-junior high flings, "Jimmy" and my relationship burned bright and fast, and "we" were over before the next school year began. Ah, the fickleness of the young.

That engaging glimpse into my early love life brings me to today's Daily Eye Candy. The price is a departure from my "Sweet and Cheap" series, but it was too adorable not to share.

From Shabby Apple, I completely love this Love Knot Necklace, handcrafted in 14K gold, $87.50. Wouldn't this make a perfect Valentine's Day gift? Too bad Husband and I don't celebrate that holiday...if only "Jimmy" were still around...

Friday Fashion: Feelin' Fruity

For today's Friday Fashion, I bring you bright, delicious-looking coin purses from Lisa Perry. Each one is $25, and they look good enough to eat! So cute! I think the pear might be my favorite...what about you?