Saturday, January 26, 2013

A Walk Downtown


  Hello everyone!

  Today Kyra and I decided to go into town and get out of the house, and, it being a whole 50 degrees out (that is actually very nice out at this time of year, I'm not being sarcastic), we went for a walk downtown.

 Downtown Bozeman is absolutely lovely, and super adorable, but we've been down Main Street so many times that it can get a bit boring (it's not a very long street). So we parked the car and went down some side streets in a very large loop, all the while chatting and hopping over ridiculously large puddles.


As we didn't really expect to be walking through giant puddles, Kyra and I both wore rather inadequate shoes, which made for quite the adventure. I, for one, don't really care what happens to my shoes as long as they aren't completely ruined, so they got a bit wet. 



   Wet feet! Mine are the ones in the Toms.... 50 degrees in Montana, we break out the summer clothes. I wouldn't necessarily suggest canvas or leather shoes for puddle jumping, however.






 I took an absurdly amazing picture of a tree stump for everyone. Prepare to be amazed...... not really.



Pretty neat tree stump, though, huh?

                                                                                                   
Cute curtains, no?

It was a very fun walk, and I truly love being able to go into town with just my sister (thank you, Kyra, for being able to drive.)

Hope everyone has a happy day!

Maddy


P.S. Here is Kyra's blog post about today... with better picture quality and a few more details. It's a pretty superb post.




Tuesday, January 22, 2013

“A good library will never be too neat, or too dusty, because somebody will always be in it, taking books off the shelves and staying up late reading them.”

Hello my friends!

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.” ― Charles William Eliot

 I have recently had the great pleasure of introducing someone to a book series, one of my very favorite ones. This is, of course, Harry Potter. There is something so magical about sharing a fictional world with someone else ( hehe, magical.... you know.... because Harry Potter is a wizard..... well,  thought it was funny). It's almost as though we have a mutual friend after I find out someone reads the same books or watches the same shows as me.

 I myself have two (real) friends. And I've found that I don't need more than that for two reasons; 1- the two friends I have are wonderful human beings, fun and kind, silly and nerdy, and 2- I have a gazillion friends in my books. I know it sounds strange, but it's the most comforting thing to know that if you need a friend you can always find one in the form of a book.



 I realize this makes me sound like kind of a weird person who is probably antisocial and only sits in her room reading, but this isn't true (well... I do read a lot in my room). I think that this quote kind of sums it up:


“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.”
 -George R. R. Martin


 Really, if you've read any of my other posts you should have seen this coming. A post all about books and how they are one of God's greatest creations. Because they really are. I can say that probably more than half of what goes on in my head are adventures in far off lands, conversations with fictional characters, and running all around the universe, saving worlds and people, making even more fictional friends. In books, in stories, there are absolutely no limits.

“Isn't it odd how much fatter a book gets when you've read it several times?" Mo had said..."As if something were left between the pages every time you read it. Feelings, thoughts, sounds, smells...and then, when you look at the book again many years later, you find yourself there, too, a slightly younger self, slightly different, as if the book had preserved you like a pressed flower...both strange and familiar.” ― Cornelia Funke





“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” ― Groucho Marx

“If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.”-Oscar Wilde

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”-C.S. Lewis

“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! -- When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.”-Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice

I wish you all happy reading (or should I say, happy adventures? Ah, well. They are both the same, really)

Maddy

Friday, January 11, 2013

Adventures in Dressmaking

Hello Everyone :)

 I really love to sew. It's very fun and there are so many possibilities as to the things you can create, buuuuuut I'm not very good at following sewing patterns. I usually just make things up as I go along, so most of my projects usually don't turn out (although really that happens most of the time when I try to improvise a craft, such as knitting or crocheting). So I sort of surprised myself by buying dress patterns. Well, I didn't reaaaally surprise myself- I really love vintage-y dresses. I had to make a promise to myself that I was actually going to sew  these dresses, not just leave the pattern in a bin in the garage.

 And guess what? I made one! I sewed a dress! I, the queen of starting projects and not finishing them, have actually made a whole dress.  And it fits. And it has a zipper. And it has a wonderfully full skirt. And I gathered!!!! And it all worked out. Huh, who knew that when you actually follow a pattern, it turns out how you want it to. :)

 The pattern is a dream, I actually showed a picture of it in another post, it's Retro Butterick B5708, a remake of a dress pattern from 1953 (the 50's- one of my faaaavorite time periods for clothing). I made the smallest size and just hoped that it would fit (I'm not exactly to the level where I feel I can grade the pattern to my size), and it does. :) Beautifully, in fact. What luck!

 So I guess I should stop droning on about this dress and actually show you some pictures!





 There it is! It fits like a dream, almost exactly my size. And, as you can clearly see, the skirt is wonderful for twirling, which makes it the best kind of skirt. :) I plan on making a few different sashes to go with it, too, so that I can mix and match for whatever event I may be going to, whether it be a wedding or a quick trip into town.

 I am so happy with how it turned out that I am already to plan on making another dress soon, filled as I am with confidence about this success. I don't know what pattern, but I'm sure it will be quite an adventure as well. :)

 Happy sewing!

A very happy Maddy

p.s Thanks to Kyra for taking pictures for her photography inept sister!

Monday, January 7, 2013

“Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music.”

 Hello everyone!

 I hope everyone had a brilliant holiday, I know I did. :)

 I got a new iPod for Christmas (thanks mom and dad!), so I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite songs that are now on it.

 1. I go to the barn because I like the -Band of Horses

2. Demons -Imagine Dragons

3.Home -Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes

4. Sigh no More -Mumford and Sons (Really any of their songs are good)

5.Little Talks -Of Monsters and Men (Okay, the music video is veeeeeeeeeeeeery weird. But I like the song.)

6. A Place Only You Can Go - Needtobreathe

 So there you are! That's not even sort of near all the music I like, but it's some of it :) I apologize that there aren't links to the actual songs, but I'm not really sure how to do that (technology.... not really my thing), and I assume everyone has Youtube*. This is a pretty quick post, I'll be sure to do a longer one next time. :) Until then....

Happy 2013!

Maddy

p.s. The title is a quote by George Carlin

 *My wonderful friend posted the links to the songs in the comments :) Thanks Kenz!