lake time thoughts.

     as of late i haven't been sure i enjoy blogging as much as i once did.  this morning jeb and i head to new hampshire for ten days of rest and relaxation and i think it will give me some time to wrap my head around where i might want to head with this blog.  i know that i love writing about the books i read, and sometimes think that might be the route i want to take.  i've met a lot of great people and made some terrific friends through blogging, but i think the downsides have felt stronger in the past couple of months.  i hope you'll all bear with me as i figure out my next steps.

i'm signing off until i return to the city.

until then, i hope you all have a wonderful weekend/week and enjoy this gorgeous summer.

p.s. buy this awesome sign here.

date a girl who reads.

Date a Girl Who Reads 

by Rosemarie Urquico 

Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas, and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by God, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.

i found this and fell in love.

i hope it brings you the same warm heart and happy tears as it did me.

found here.

image found here. 

short story.

wiley wears:

tee: michael stars

shorts: gap

sandals: madewell

necklace: gift

     today jeb and i headed out to his hometown for brunch with his nana and then ran a bunch of sunday errands.  i got an amazing deal on these shorts on friday night and thought today would be a perfect test run.  i am very much in love.  i have already changed and thrown them into my suitcase for our vacation next week.  i think they will be perfect for sitting on the dock with a great book and a delicious drink.

     four days of work and friday we head to the white mountains for a few days before spending a blissful week on the lake.  the end of this week cannot come soon enough!

heat wave.

wiley wears:

dress: j.crew

belt: uo

necklace: on loan from caroline

sandals: madewell

    a boston heat wave and i'm  back to the basics.  this navy shift dress has gotten me through many summer days and it was perfect for my retreat at work today.  i wanted a pop of color and am always drawn to the combination of this necklace with navy.

i have the day off tomorrow and plan to stay inside in the a/c and watch some movies with ernst.  the perfect personal day.

stay cool!

wily wiley reads: non-fiction addition.

mountains beyond mountains: the quest of dr. paul farmer, a man who would cure the world by tracy kidder :::  living in boston, i think it's nearly impossible that one hasn't heard of the work of dr. paul farmer and partners in health.  this book, which gives a biographical take on dr. farmer, immerses you in his day-to-day life and takes you from haiti, to russia, to peru, and back again.  the humanitarian work which kidder describes from it's very roots, is incredible.  i believe there is a wealth of knowledge for any individual to gain from this book.  kidder explains the role of poverty in the fight to cure infectious disease and the role that dr. farmer is playing in a mission to cure diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS.  a really fabulous and thought-provoking read.

my lobotomy by howard dully and charles fleming ::: i love finding i book on a topic that i have absolutely no knowledge, opinion or ideas about.  jill leant this book to me a few weeks ago and i could not put it down.  howard dully's memoir is a cathartic exploration of his past.  when dully was twelve he was given a lobotomy and his life changed forever.  in his fifties, dully decides to go back and answer the question he struggled with his entire life: why was this horrific procedure performed on him?  the book does a wonderful job of giving the history of the lobotomy, the doctor who started it all in the united states, and the ways in which this procedure changed the lives of many.  i cannot recommend this book enough.  a short read, my lobotomy is a truly heart wrenching memoir.

the gardner heist: the true story of the world's largest unsolved art heist by ulrich boser ::: another incredible non-fiction find.  this is another that jill leant to me and it made my month of non-fiction one to be rivaled.  if you live in boston than you've heard of this art heist time and time again, but ulrich boser gives you the inside track on the event which changed the art world forever.  with great attention to the history of the museum, biographical information on isabella stewart gardner, and a play by play of the events that unfolded on march 18th, 1990, this book is a total page turner.  i especially loved the rundown of the boston crime world, which of course features the one and only, whitey bulger.  boser tells of interesting pieces of evidence, theories and the cast of characters that surround one of art's greatest mysteries.  a great mash-up of art history and crime drama.

in the sanctuary of outcasts by neil white ::: neil white's memoir starts as he heads to prison for an eighteen month sentence after being found guilty of fraud.  as white arrives at the prison in louisiana he quickly finds himself out of his comfort zone.  housed on the same grounds as the prison is the united state's last mainland leper colony.  while i'm typically not very interested in reading prison stories, learning more about the history of leperosy and meeting a wonderful cast of patients, nuns and prisoners made this a worthwhile read.  white can be egocentric and unsympathetic at times, but the heart of the memoir has a lot of soul.  i read most of the book on our trip back to boston from pennsylvania and put up with a pounding headache because i just could not put this book down.

after a month of non-fiction reading, i quickly grabbed the first piece of fiction i saw.  while i love non-fiction, my heart belongs to the novel.  i am now back to my fiction, non-fiction, fiction, non-fiction pattern of reading, but am glad i took the time to learn a great deal these last few weeks.

as always, i would love to hear your thoughts and recommendations on what you've read recently and what i need to add to my ever-growing reading pile.

stay cool.

wiley wears:

dress: calvin klein

belt: f21

t-straps: uo

     just a few silly pictures jeb and i took on the way home from work.  i cannot say enough how difficult it has become to dress for the office when it is so hot and humid.  i thought this red calvin klein dress would be perfect for hot weather, but it turns out we can't all be right all the time.  the double lining in the dress ended up making for a very hot commute and i think i will be saving this dress for the early fall.  i'm already brainstorming ways to keep cool at the end of the week as boston will near triple digit temperatures.

the rules of summer.

wiley wears:

top: target

bandeau: f21

shorts: miss me (borrowed from jill)

sandals: jeffrey campbell

panama hat: uo

      i've been a terrible blogger of late and promise to try my best to be better this coming week.  i have a great 'wily wiley reads' coming up with all non-fiction reads and a few outfit posts scheduled throughout the week.  as the summer keeps quickly rolling by, i've been finding myself more focused on running off for the weekends and spending the weeks playing catch-up, than i have been at documenting each day.  i hope you'll all forgive me.

     it was 95 today in new hampshire so i went for cool and comfortable.  these silk shorts, from jill, may catch in the breeze, but they are perfect for a sticky day.  as for my beatles tank, i found this at target a few weeks ago and thought it would be great for days exactly like today.  comfort is key in the heat and i can't pretend that i adhere to any strict fashion codes as the tempertaure nears 100 degrees.

    

gone fishing.

wiley wears:

top: modcloth

shorts: f21

sunnies: rayban

     look at me!  i'm fishing!  not really, more like jeb baits the hook, casts the line and lets me hold it.  i might think i have a fish every time the weight drags across the ocean floor.  so pretty much i'm an amazing fisherwoman.  i also make sure to look cute and feminine and won't go in past the hem of my jean shorts.  beyond that, i won't touch the bait or fish and i definitely won't cook said fish up for dinner.  so again, pretty much an amazing fisherwoman.  i do love new hampshire though, and my boyfriend because he loves me so much that he lets me interupt mantime and fish for him for a few minutes.

jumpin' around.

     these are a few snapshots into my amazing weekend in new hampshire. i have more posts coming up, but thought this montage of our trampoline fun would be great to hold you all over.  if you're interested i'm wearing an old navy maxi dress, l.a. made tank and necklace from nomad.  let me tell you, jumping on a trampoline for about seven hours is the best workout ever!  i am sore in places i never knew existed.

warm tones.

wiley wears:

 

skirt: gap

top/sandals: borrowed from jill

     i love lacey things, but have never had the guts to commit and buy a lace top.  jill has had this top for a bit now and i've been envious from the very beginning.  before i headed back to pa jill let me take a little shop in her closet and this was one of the first pieces i grabbed.  i wanted to keep the outfit feminine, but i thought the dark olive color of the skirt would tone down the overall girly factor of the ensemble.  i really like how they paired together and the silhouette is always my very favorite.

real deal.

wiley wears:

tee: f21

tank: l.a. made

shorts: f21

sandals: madewell

     this is a more honest portrayal of the type of outfit i wore while i was home.  it was hot hot hot down in pennsylvania and the humidity was about 100%.  i wore this outfit for a day of good old pa fun: chik-fil-a, vintage shopping and hanging out with my family.  three of my most favorite things.  

     these high-waisted jean shorts are perfect for running around and my cropped aerosmith tee is incredibly lightweight and airy.  i wore my brand new sandals from madewell that i have an intense obsession with.  pretty sure i need these in every color of the rainbow!

home sweet home.

wiley wears:

dress: f21

panama hat: uo

belt: uo

sandals: jeffrey campbell

     i don't have a whole lot to say tonight because i'm fighting some serious homesickness.  we had such a wonderful weekend with my family and it was really hard to come back today.  our weekend consisted of partaking in lots of my favorite local foods, barbecues and quality time with my mom and sisters.  i miss them so much when we're apart.  most of the weekend was spent in airy sundresses and jean shorts because it was just so darn hot. 

i hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend!

happy fourth.

happy fourth of july, my friends!

jeb and i are heading to pennsylvania to celebrate the holiday weekend with my family and childhood best friends.  i cannot wait to give my mom a gigantic bear hug!

what are your plans?

{image via here.  beth hoeckel is amazing!}