Costume Blog

In case you didn't see, I started a new costume blog here on blogger.  I like the layout better than LiveJournal so this is where most of my updates will be!  I will probably make my posts on LJ friends only, so start following me here if you're not on LJ or add me as a friend! :)

Check me out!

Oh, and I will try to be better about updating this blog as well.  I have been woefully remiss.  So why not start now!

Tomorrow I am going to my first meeting of my new book club.  We read "Peace Like a River" and if you haven't read it, you should.  I loved it!  I didn't think I would, but I'm glad to be wrong.  I also quite enjoyed the "western-y" bits, which is one reason I thought I wouldn't like it.  Anyway, should be a good discussion tomorrow, I will have to share if it's interesting.

Other books I've read lately that I love: "Ender's Game"!!  Why had I not read this before?  Oh man, I got totally sucked in.  I think I finished it in about 4 days, which for me is fast, especially as these were weekdays.  I really should start one of the sequels or something, but I'm worried they won't be as good.  If you've read any of them, which should I do?  Are they worth it?

And since I seem to be on a roll, I also read "Matched", which I also really liked.  If you liked "Hunger Games" you might find this kind of similar.  I thought it was a clever idea and it's going to be a series, so more to come!  Always a good thing. :)

Oh yeah, I saw the new Jane Eyre movie.  I'll have to give you my thoughts on that soon...

Meeting Shannon Hale

She was hilarious.
She signed my books, even the dust jacket
{although she seemed a little confused, "You really want me to sign right across the front here?"}
She petted our heads.

Here's proof:
That's why Karen and I are cracking up.

I don't know how it's possible but I think I like her even more now!
{Oh, and that's my Sgt. Pepper jacket there... you can't see it but it's pretty cute}

A Trip to Austenland!

Well not really... I wish!

But it's almost as good
because I get to go see, hear and meet
the author of some of my favorite books!

Shannon Hale is doing a book tour to promote
Forrest Born
her newest book in the Bayern series.
{this is number 4 and should be just a beautiful as the first 3}


I hear she's a fabulous speaker
and if her blog is any indication she's super nice as well!

My favorite book of hers is Austenland
{can you guess why?}
but my copy of the book is in Utah with my sil,
so I'm going to take the dust jacket for her to sign instead!

I hope she gets a kick out of it...

If you live in Boston and want to go, check out the details here!

Sad Day

Just before the roof above the chapel collapsed.

Yesterday while attending Stake Conference at our building, the fire alarm went off, just half an hour into the two hour broadcast meeting. I had smelled a little smoke before it went off, but didn't think much of it. As I was exiting the building I started to worry a bit. When we got out to the park in front of the church my fears were confirmed. There was smoke coming from under the eaves of the roof above the chapel and the spire. I quickly moved my car as it was parked right next to the church and fire trucks were obviously on their way.

In just a matter of one short hour the entire chapel was engulfed in flames and most of the building was starting to burn as well. Despite the 8 ladder teams (8 huge fire trucks!) and over 12 response trucks that came to the scene (in total about 70 - 80 firefighters), our beautiful historic church was only a charred shell after several hours of fighting it with hoses inside and out. The building is one of the first that was built in the New England region and has seen many generations of the church, including some of our general authorities. I've attended it for just 3 short years but thought of so many memories as I watched it burning. Our chapels really are our second homes, especially out here as young single adults. It was a very sad experience.

At this point the chapel had completely burned and they were working on keeping the other side from burning.

Someone took this picture of me watching while holding William, one of the kids I used to teach in primary.

It was stunning to watch it from start to finish, but there were a few small miracles that happened despite the overall tragedy. Luckily no one was hurt or injured (although 4 firemen suffered minor injuries), we were all able to exit safely and in addition, miracle of miracles the entire Institute Library was rescued practically unscathed! We set up a "book brigade" across the park into the basement of the Quaker church across the park. It was so amazing!

Many of my friends helping out in the book brigade across the park to the Quaker Church.

The building was still on fire when the firefighters started pulling books and bookcases out of the library on the first floor. They also rescued most of the art work as well, a huge picture of Christ that sat on the wall just outside the chapel was completely untouched by either fire or water!


In addition to these miracles, some important documents and blue prints to the building were recovered after the blaze was extinguished from the completely destroyed library. They had been in a cupboard that only one person knew about. A firefighter went in later (the room was very unstable as it sustained the most fire and water damage since it was right under the steeple) and found them. They weren't even wet!

We were so touched by the community's outpouring of hospitality during the whole ordeal. The Community of Friends, Quaker's as their more commonly known, whose church is directly across from ours, opened their facilities to use, passed out water and juice to everyone watching and then helped us in the endeavor to rescue our books!

Katie Smith and myself oversaw the response and triage to the damaged books. About 200 were wet, so we had many people helping to interleave them with paper towels and setting them out to dry. But still, there were so many more dry than I expected! I was also able to bring some of the more soaked ones that were more important to save to the book freezer at my work, which was also a great help as it buys us some time to fully recover them.

In the basement assessing the damage.

It was a crazy day and I'm still totally exhausted but I'm so glad I was able to be there to help. The way everyone banded together throughout the day to get things done was just amazing. We still have a lot of work to do, and unfortunately our building will not be usable for likely more than a year, but I'm just so glad for the blessings that have come already from the experience.

You can find the photos I've used as well as more here and here (arial views of the damage). Read more and watch video here.

*All photos by Luke Hutchison.

Sounds good to me

One of the great things about my job is that since a lot of the time I'm just working on little paper repairs that are pretty mindless, I can listen to books on my iPod.  Multitasking is a great thing.

Well, in my attempt to find free audio books to listen to, a couple years ago I came across Librivox.  It's a great site and every single one of their audio books are free!  They are all books that are in the public domain (published before 1926) and are read by volunteers.  This of course means that not all of the recordings are the most professional sounding, but for the most part, they are excellent.  I've "read" so many books this way over the last couple years.  Here's just a few:  The Count of Monte Cristo, Daniel Deronda, Emma, The House of Mirth, Little Men, Mansfield Park, North and South, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, Room With a View, The Scarlet Pimpernel (currently listening), Sense and Sensibility, and Vanity Fair.  

And another fantastic feature of the site is that you can "subscribe" to a book as a podcast and you can download it automatically in iTunes, so it's ready to put onto your iPod!  You can even try searching for a book in iTunes as well.

And if you find you love the site as much as me, they are always looking for volunteers to help read books!  I've been wanting to volunteer for a while, but didn't have a microphone, but now, thanks to my new MacBook, I can actually help out!

{ Happy Listening! }

Long Overdue

Hi everybody! Sorry I've been so bad about keeping this up. What can I say, somethings never change...

Anyway, I thought I'd do a little bit of an update and try to get pictures up another time when I get my camera battery back from a friend.

Wow, a lot has happened in the last couple months! First some really good news, I got accepted to Grad School at West Dean for next year!! I am so excited to know for sure that it's going to happen! It's going to be an amazing year (I mean, just look at the pictures below), but I'm also glad that I have a year to prepare. I'm loving my job and not quite ready to leave just yet. The one thing I'm not quite looking forward to is taking a Chemistry class this year in prep. I'm a little nervous, but I think it will be ok.

More awesome news, my sister had her second child just a few short weeks ago! Grayden is so cute and I'm so excited to be an aunt again. I can't wait until I get to hold him!

And luckily I won't have to wait long! I'm really excited because I'm going to Utah next week because my little brother Mikie is getting off his mission this Friday! I will get to see my entire family and I can't even wait! I've actually been super homesick in the last couple months and was bummed that I'd have to wait until Christmas to see everyone in my family again. As much as I love Boston it's just too far away sometimes. But thank goodness for sale tickets! I got the sweetest deal ever and am going to have so much fun, I just wish I could stay longer!

Anyway, that's the big stuff that's been going on. Other fun stuff that I've been up to includes:

• reading Breaking Dawn (and winning the costume contest at the midnight release party... I'll have to post pictures) in one weekend and continuing to talk about it almost nonstop since, plus getting other people reading the series
• trivia night every Monday at the Sunset Cantina with groups big and small - last night we finally won!
• taking a workshop at North Bennett Street School - 18th Century French Leather Bindings that was really fun (except for the days that I got sick, lame)
• seeing lots of movies including American Teen (highly recommended), Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 (ditto), Mamma Mia, Batman: the Dark Knight, and gearing up for the Twilight movie!! (btw, if you didn't know, since Harry Potter moved back to 2009 - boo- Twilight is now coming out Nov 12th! Yay!)
• Watching tons of Olympics and cheering on my secret boyfriend, Michael Phelps (guess it's not so much of a secret anymore...)
• Spending a Saturday soaking up the sun at Walden Pond
• Getting caught in a major thunderstorm while giving a tour of the Freedom Trail downtown
• Watching free Shakespeare on the Boston Commons ("As You Like It" - pretty good, but still can't compare to my first year here)
• Seeing a great little production of "The Importance of Being Earnest" (one of my favorite plays)
• Probably a lot of other stuff that I can't remember right now
• Talking with my niece, Kirsten, on the phone, who's just 15 months old. She somehow is able to randomly call me and proceeds to talk my ear off, it's the cutest thing ever!

Anyway, I guess that's what you get when I forget to update for so long! Sorry again! I'll definitely try to post some pics this week, and for sure will have lots to report on when I get back from Utah! I can't wait for the cuteness of all the babies I'll get to hold! My head just might explode from all the family fun!

Beating the Heat

So, it's finally cooled down here in Boston a bit, but the last week and half has been so hot! It got up to 99 two weekends ago! And with the humidity it was pretty miserable. So what better way to beat the heat than to go to the beach? The breeze off the water was nice (if a little smelly) and we had fun soaking up some rays and playing in the sand. Check out the awesome sand turtle Bryce, Ben, Nicole and Abby made! People kept stopping to look at it, it was very impressive!

It's Myrtle the Turtle!

Nicole, Bryce, Ben and Abby

Also, I haven't reported on J.K. Rowling's Commencement Speech, which of course was amazing! You HAVE to go read it, or better yet watch it, here! I was almost in tears at one point during the speech. Our seats weren't too bad either, we could see the stage, but were a little far away for pictures, but we planted ourselves right behind the big screen so I got some good pics of her on that. Anyway, she is one of my heroes and it was so great to hear her speak live.

This weekend was a little cooler, like I said, so I didn't do too much outside other than walking to the Library with my roommate. I was able to go see Prince Caspian finally and loved it! Seriously, go see it! And if you haven't read the books you have to! They are some of my favorite stories and I think Prince Caspian is one of the best.

Plus, so exciting, but I got to see a trailer for Twilight before the movie!! Oh my gosh, I was freaking out! There are some things that turn me into a total "tween" and Twilight is one of them. So in honor of my excitement I thought I'd share the trailer with you too! Enjoy!

A rare sight

Sunshine in Boston! I almost can't believe it. Today was a gorgeous day, it actually got up to 71 degrees! Of course it was windy, so it didn't feel quite that warm, but I'm not complaining! I'll take what I can get!

I sat outside in Harvard Yard to eat my lunch which was an awesome salad from B*Good. Spinach, sesame chicken, carrots, edamame, jicama, and sesame sticks with an orange soy dressing. Total bliss.

This is where I ate my lunch.

This is my yummy salad, half way in...

Then tonight was the opening of the North Bennet Street School student exhibit, which was held down on Newbury St. On such a gorgeous day the place was full of people.

Newbury St.

I love Boston in the Spring!

Birthday's are the best...

And so are families! I came home today to a birthday package from my sister. Check out how cute!


What a great idea! It's a cupcake in a jar! My sister is a mini-Martha. She even designed and printed the labels - so amazing! I really have the best family.

By the way, the name I've chosen for my new BF is Edwin. Edwin Apple. Isn't that a great name? I thought so. It was between that or Eliott, which is a name I've always loved, but Edwin won out in the end, since I think there's not much chance of someone thinking I'm talking about a real person when I refer to Edwin. And why did I choose a boy name for my iPhone? Well, firstly I think it was instinctive, but also because he's super high-tech and I think the color black is more frequently associated with boys than girls. Don't get me wrong, I love the color of Edwin, but most of the Mac gear I like is white... just saying. So, if in the future I refer to Edwin, you'll now know who I mean.

Also, here's a look at what I was up to this last weekend for President's Day! We went and visited our friend Gina in the Cape again, but this time we got to see a little more. We went to Provincetown and had fun checking out a dead tourist town. It was freezing cold, as you'll see from the pics, but we saw the beach, had some yummy fish sandwiches for lunch and then headed to a really great candy store on our way home!! Just my kind of day. Well, except for the cold.

Brittney, Gina and me

My tasty lunch

These boys are funny... Ben & Bryce showing off their "assets" in front of the Lobster Trap Tree

Then they wanted one of the girls

Last night was the second meeting of BOB, the book club created with my co-workers. BOB stand for Books On Books Book Club. We only read books about books or involving books in some way, and since we all work at a Library it's pretty perfect. Last month we read "The Book Theif" and then last night's meeting was about "Inkheart" which is a series about a bookbinder (appropriate, right?) and his daughter, and their adventures when characters get "read" to life out of books. Coming up we're reading "The Historian" and then "The Eyre Affair" which I'm really excited about. Our only rules are that 1. the books have to be fiction, 2. they have to be available in paperback and 3. they have to be about books in some way! It's a really fun idea and I'm getting introduced to a lot of new books. We meet at a restaurant in Harvard Square and just have a grand time. Anyway, I'm going to be setting up a blog for the group, with swag, so you'll be able to see what we're doing, check it out: www.booksonbooks.blogspot.com

And so tomorrow I'm getting a group together for a Birthday dinner at my favorite restaurant, Chili's and then we're going to go bowling! I know it sounds weird to say Chili's is my favorite place to eat, but since moving to Boston I've really only gotten to go about once or twice a year, so it's become a treat. My favorite thing there is their Chicken Enchilada Soup and last year they didn't have it, so I'm hoping that doesn't happen this year. My other favorite, which I totally plan on having is their Molten Chocolate Cake.... mmmmm... so delicious! Should be fun and I'll post pics for sure.

It was a "Super Tuesday"

So we had a "Super Tuesday" party last night, which was a lot of fun, but before I get into that, I thought I would fill you in on what I was up to in January. Can you believe it's February already?! I can't believe it's already time to turn another year older!

So, first up, before I went home for Christmas I finished books for a couple people and I wanted to share how they turned out. The first is a journal with a map theme. The front covers are a map of the Paris Metro and each section of lined pages is wrapped with another map, so the spine of the book is a lot more colorful than most of the coptic bindings I do. I was really happy with how it turned out!

Next is a set of scriptures (I actually finished two, but they look exactly the same since I used the same leather) that I rebound in beautiful green leather. These took some wrestling to get the spine back to straight, but they eventually submitted to my will. I've decided for now though, that I'm not going to do any more projects from home for people. It's just too much time and I feel guilty when I have things for so long. I have one more to do before I'm done for good, but I'm excited for this one, since it's a box for a really cool old book from 1750, bound in vellum.

When I got back from vacation, I took a short weekend trip to the Cape with my friends Ben & Bryce to visit Gina. So much fun! We had a blast eating pizza, playing "Life" and talking half the night, then on Sat. we drove to the beach and had breakfast at a really great little "greasy spoon" restaurant. Delicious!
Bryce enjoying his breakfast!

Gina & Ben

Then a couple weeks ago I went with a new crafting friend to NYC for a "Crafting Extravaganza Trip"! It was really a blast to finally get to all the stores I've always wanted to visit. We took the Chinatown bus, the Fung-Wah, which wasn't as bad as I expected, and got there about noon. The it was time to shop! We went to Pearl Art supply, Kate's Paperie (kinda like Paper Source), Purl Soho (a great knitting store), Purl Patchwork (which they just opened), had lunch at a place called "Once Upon a Tart", then hit The Strand Bookstore, and Talas, the bookbinding store. Whew! It was a lot of walking and a long day.

I used to think I could never live in NYC, but I think that's because I'd only seen the really touristy spots, but this trip kinda changed my mind. I think I could live there if I HAD to. I think that's saying a lot.

Anyway, check out the loot I got!
Red Faux-Lizzard paper from KP, 3 kinds of yarn from Purl, and I already made the purple into a neckwarmer, will have to post photo soon. A new tote from the Strand (yellow and purple, I couldn't resist), lots of fabric from Purl Patchwork, all Amy Butler of course, plus a great book called, "The ABC's of Leather Bookbinding" which I've been wanting to get into more. And the blue thing is a new scalpel handle.

It was a great success! Now I'm just trying to figure out what exactly I'm going to do with the fabric. The blue & green is for an apron for my roommate. The others I just couldn't resist. I also have plans for the pink yarn and want to use the blue for a hat, but need a good pattern.

Well, now it's on to last night! Unfortunately, because I'm not yet registered in MA, I didn't vote yesterday, luckily my candidate won without my help, and luckily I was able to still feel patriotic by attending Mitt Romney's Super Tuesday Party where he made his speech! It was great to attend an event like this in person. I'm really glad I went, even though it made us two hours late to our own party.
The stage with people waiting for Mitt.

Lisa, Abby, Blair, me and Matt, squeezed into the room for a couple hours, watching the TV's and waiting to hear from Mitt.

This was behind us. It was a fairly small room, but there were lots of cameras and lights. Plus I kept thinking this guy was Mitt, I think he kinda looks like him.

We were going to leave because it was so late before he came to speak, but we rushed back when we heard cheering in time to see Mitt come out. The crowd was going wild!

Here he is addressing us. It was a really great speech and I hope they broadcast most of it. The end was the best!

So we got home to continue the party. Which went a little past midnight. I'm tired today, but it was pretty worth it. I think right now is the most I've ever known about politics, thanks in part to my roommates. It's been fun keeping track of the candidates and the polls.

Anyway, it was also a "super Tuesday" because at work we had a "King Cake" in honor of Mardi Gras and guess what, I got the baby! So good luck for me, I guess, this year or so I'm told!

Things I'm looking forward to this month:
"Pride & Prejudice" on Masterpiece (any excuse really)
Valentine's for the excuse to eat too much chocolate (too bad there's no See's here)
Going to see "Romeo & Juliet" the Ballet for my birthday with my roomies
Turning 28 on the 24th!

More Christmas Miracles!

**Photo: Paul Warchol**

Great news! I found out last week that I got a job at the Special Collections Lab at Harvard! I'm going to start working at the Weissman Preservation Center in January and I can't wait. This is going to be an amazing learning experience because I'll be working with rare books, and learning more advanced conservation techniques. The WPC is housed in a brand new building with an amazing state-of-the-art lab. I'm moving out of the dungeon of Widener and into the light! The lab is on the fourth floor of this building, and even has skylights that move during the day to follow the sun. Pretty high-tech! I just had to share the good news. It's really made my MONTH!

I hope everyone else is having a great Christmas Season! I'll hopefully be posting again before I go home for Christmas, but you can bet there will be some cute baby pictures on here soon!! Until then, Happy Holidays!

Summer Update!

I've decided to stop apologizing for the lack of posts. I feel guilty, but obviously not even those feelings of guilt have changed the amount I actually get on here. I'm pretty sure you're sick of hearing me say I'm going to try to be better and then not. So I've decided I'll blog when I can or when I feel like it and that will be that! Sorry to disappoint, but aren't blogs about the blogger anyway? I'll just tell myself it means I'm not very self centered (yeah right). Anyway, if you are still curious about what I've been up to this summer, here's a glimpse!

A couple weekends ago I went with a big group of friends to Palmyra New York for the Hill Cummorah Pageant! It was a long and tiring trip but very much worth it. Other than Sharon VT last Sept. it was my first visit to a church history site! My favorite part was the Sacred Grove, even though I got really sick afterward from lack of sleep and food. It was beautiful and peaceful and I can't believe it's still there! The Pageant was also really great. Not at all what I was expecting, it had more dancing and less dialogue, but I really enjoyed it. Even despite being rained on while enjoying it.

Our camping group:Erica, Cameron, John, Laura, Kylee, Lora, me, Ben and Jared!!

This is from the Smith Family Log Cabin. In this room is where the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith during the night. It was great to visit all these sacred sites.

This is the fireplace in the Smith Frame House where the gold plates were hidden for a time from a mob. Later they kept them in the box on the dresser in the room below.


The Sacred Grove was such a peaceful, beautiful place.


The weekend after that was Harry Potter craziness!! I can't believe that book 7 is finally here! I got a huge group of friends together for the book release party that they had in Harvard Sq. There were so many people it was crazy! I finally dressed up, and I wasn't the only one. In fact, every person in our group dressed up! I made Gryffindor Quidditch Team T-Shirts for people the night before and they turned out great. Check 'em out! We ate good food, listened to some interesting "Wizard Rock" and then got in line for the release. Natalie, Mike and I waited for an hour outside the store, then stormed the doors with the rest of the crowd and managed to make it in around 37th into the store, where we waited another hour and half until they started selling the book at midnight! By 12:04 I had two copies in hand (one for a friend who couldn't wait in line... I'm nice like that) and we were greeted by a huge crowed outside the store taking our pictures and cheering! It was amazing. I read until 4 in the morning then got up on Sat. and read all day and finished Sunday night at 7! I can't believe it's all over. Overall I enjoyed the book. I was disappointed by the Epilogue, I wanted more info, but Jo's been pretty good about answering questions now that everything is over. I'm thinking about planning a "Support Potter Party" in honor of the end, just as a last hurrah and for people to come talk about the final book, I'll be sure to keep people informed if it happens!


At dinner with Ben, Nicole, Lora, Jared, Angela, Anna, Riva, Cameron, Natalie and Mike!

Hey look! It's Luna and Ginny! Well, almost. Natalie poses with me as I try my best "Looney" Lovegood look.

Trisha dressed as Professor Sprout (she's a Hufflepuff), her cousin was Ginny and Anglea was Cho Chang! The concert was going on behind us, tons of fun!

And here we have the members of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team: Harry, I mean, Mike, Adam, Cameron, Jared, Ben with Natalie and Lora! Everybody loved the shirts.

On to other fun adventures this summer! This last week was great. On Tuesday I attended "Shakespeare on the Common" the free play they do every year on Boston Common. This year was my favorite, "A Mid Summer Night's Dream". The performance was pretty good overall. Not as good as last year though. Apparently they lost of a lot of funding, so they only did a week and it was a much simpler stage and costuming. The fairy scenes were very... interesting. They danced and sang to techno music and wore really crazy neon spandex feathery costumes. Yeah, interesting. The play within the play at the end was my favorite part, and not just cause that was my part in H.S., it was really clever what they did with it. It had me laughing so hard I couldn't breath!

Here are those psychedelic fairies!

I also saw two movies last week, but I think I'll save it for a movie review post! Ya'll come back soon, ya hear!?

I Blame Jane.

Ok, so lately I've become a little obsessed with Jane Austen. How you might ask, can *I* get any more obsessed with Jane Austen? Well, I think it might have something to do with the new rash of movies coming out about her (check out "Becoming Jane") and her works (see the 3 new movies in "The Jane Austen Season"). I seriously can't wait to see "Becoming Jane". I've heard it's soooo good. But even though it's out in the UK, it's not opening here until August! Can you believe it?! I will know the fate of Harry Potter by that time!! Ah, sometimes I think I might die from the anticipation this summer is going to bring. The end of Harry Potter (double whammy of movie and BOOK 7!), "Becoming Jane" (did I mentioned she's played by Anne Hathaway?), oh and of course how could I forget a new niece and nephew! :) Well, it will be exciting no doubt. So to curb my appetite for now, I've been binging on videos on YouTube. Who knew there were people more obsessed than me with Jane Austen? So obsessed they will make music videos with clips from movie adaptations. All I have to say is I'm very lucky there are people like that out there. So if you'll excuse me, I have some "Northanger Abbey" to go watch! Enjoy! Oh, and if you get hooked on these as well, the only person to blame is Jane!



Here's another worthy video which you might want to watch after checking out the new "Northanger Abbey".