Blogger Book Swap!

(First of all, I want to wish the happiest 50th birthday ever to my sweet little mama!  I wish I were in Georgia today celebrating 50 years with her!)

And now . . . exciting news:  The lovely Lindsay from Undomestic Chica emailed me with a great idea--a Blogger Book Swap!  We all have books lying around that we've read and don't need anymore, so what better way to spread the love than to swap books with another blogging bibliophile?  

If you are interested in participating, here's the rundown:

1. Email Claire (kieferclaire@gmail.com) or Lindsay (undomesticchica@gmail.com) with your name, address, blog url, and reading interests.  Email us by May 30th!

2. We will email you with your partner's info on May 31st.

3. Once you get your partner's info, send her a book or two that you have around your house that you think she might enjoy.  It could be something you've read and loved, or just something you've heard great things about.  All genres are welcome, just try not to send something suuuuper popular (so that you don't end up sending books your partner already has).  Mail your book(s) out by June 4th!

4.  A week or so after the books have been mailed, Lindsay and I will host a little link party and showcase the books people sent/received.  Fun, right?

Please spread the word and put our button on your blog!  We're so excited about this and can't wait to pair you up.  We hope you join us!!

A few things to know:

1. I'd been whining about my very amateur blog look for a while, and how I had no idea how to go about changing it, when suddenly . . .

ERIN ELDER TO THE RESCUE!

If you don't know Erin (and her adorable blog, dailee tidbits), you should!  She is an incredibly talented graphic designer/photographer/makeup artist, and damn does she know how to spice up a blog's image!  Seriously, it went down something like this:

Claire: Erin, I want three columns and a sea green glitter background, please.

Erin: I got you covered.

And she did the rest!  I'm amazed that she knows so much about layout, font, design, which-images-work-well-where, etc.  She made my blog look exactly as I'd envisioned and for that, I am forever grateful!  Thank you so much, sweet Erin!  I am pretty smitten with my blog now. :)

♥ ♥ ♥

2. I love my friend Jessie and I love Etsy and if you feel the same way, then you should sign up for her amazing swap!

You have until next Monday (March 7th, aka Micaela and Marianne's birthday!) to enter.  Jessie will pair you with a partner, and you'll exchange some info: what you're into, which Etsy shops are your favorite, etc . . . and then you'll surprise each other with a handmade gift from Etsy.  Sign up and maybe be my partner! :)  I can't wait to see what everyone picked out . . .

♥ ♥ ♥

3. You should really know about this giveaway because it's pretty spectacular.  Visit Sarah at sadie designs and enter for a chance to win this beauty:

Gorgeous, right?  If you win, I will be both happy for you and jealous of you, ha!

Hope you're all having a great Tuesday--I'm about to pour a cup of dark, strong coffee, and then mine will become exponentially better. :)

Ornament Swap!

Many of you also participated in Micaela's annual ornament swap.  I was lucky enough to have two partners!  My original partner was Lauren Nicole, but then Micaela asked if I would also pair up with her younger sister, Madeline . . . swap ornaments with another lovely Lechuga girl?  Of course I will!

I was psyched to hunt for just the right ornaments for these girls.  Micaela gave me a couple tips for Maddie--that she loves owls, and that she'd like a San Francisco ornament since she wants to visit here one day.

I scooped up this adorable owl from Etsy shop Beets and Bernice.  If you like it, I highly recommend buying from her--she's so sweet and ships quickly!  Plus, the ornament was even more adorable in person that it was in pictures:

I wasn't willing to venture into tourist-land for an SF ornament (I imagine I would've had to go to Fisherman's Wharf or some other tourist-laden 'hood), so I made one for Maddie:

amateur, but cute-ish, right?

and wrapped 'em up like this:

and sent 'em off to Texas!

Maddie had a similar idea about what to get me: one from her home state, and one ornament representing something I  looooove.

I love this!!  Makes me think of all my Lechuga girls.

love me, love my shoes

A pretty perfect exchange, right?  I wouldn't have expected anything less from a partnership with Micaela and Marianne's sister.  :)  Merry Christmas, Maddie, and thanks for the sweet ornaments!

My exchange with Lauren Nicole was just as great.  All I knew about her was that she has impeccable taste . . . so I ordered some vintage ornaments from my sister's etsy shop, Very Fine House:

(four) turtledoves, and a partridge in a pear tree

sweet vintage deer ornament, also from my sister's shop

Aren't they darling?  But I decided to attempt to make one for Lauren, also . . . so I tore up some Vogue magazines and broke out the holiday sparkly modge podge and ended up with this (it's spherical, so I couldn't get a good picture of it! but you'll get the idea):

Lauren sent me two exquisite beauties from Anthropologie.  They're pretty much exactly what I would have picked out for myself . . . how did she know? and I quickly placed them front & center on my tree!

This delicate little bird is so pretty, and her underbelly is grayish-silver glitter!

a colorful knit K for my last name

Thank you, Lauren!  I love both my ornaments so very much, and as you can see, they went right up on my tree!  I've already yammered on and on about how in love I am with my Christmas tree, and now it has four new, special ornaments that make it all the more lovely.  

Micaela, I'm already looking forward to next year's swap. ;)

Two things I want to tell you about.

1. It's November . . . which is right next to December on the calendar!  Do you love the holidays and/or celebrate Christmas and/or just like ornaments and holiday decorations in general?  Welllll . . . then you need to quit sleepin' and sign up for Micaela's Ornament Swap!  There are only four more days left to sign up, so hop to!  Micaela will assign you a partner, and you will send your partner a darling Christmas ornament . . . and then receive one in exchange in the mail!  Fun, right?

click here!

2. Last year, I did the Susan G. Komen 3 Day Breast Cancer Walk, and it was hands down one of the most incredible experiences of my life.  I would have done it (and probably several other walks/races) again this year, if it weren't for the daunting task of raising money to sign up.  I hate asking for money, even for a good cause.  So . . . I'm asking on behalf of my beautiful and courageous friend Summer, who has signed up for the Mardi Gras Half Marathon next February in New Orleans.  She will be running on behalf of the American Cancer Society to help find a cure for cancer, a disease which has plagued many of our loved ones, in honor of her sweet Daddy Butch.

Summer has been swimming in grief lately over the loss of her father, and I'm so proud of her for channeling her feelings into something positive that could help benefit so many.  

If you can donate at all--even just $5--it would mean so much to her.  She has to raise $1300 and is only 5% there so far.  You can click here to donate--it is very easy and takes two seconds, and any amount helps.  Thank you!!

Penpals & Swaps

Lately I'm loving snail mail more and more (so cathartic to create pretty cards and letters, and I love sending and receiving letters from friends), so I recently signed up for the Dear Darlings Penpal Project over at Oh, My Darling! This is how it works:

Melissa pairs you up with 3-4 other penpal-seekers, and sends an email to the group with everyone's addresses and blog links. From there, you send out intro letters to your group, and let the correspondence begin. Here's my first letter to one of my penpals:

I still have two more to write (my group has four girls, total), but the first one was really fun. :)

There's no deadline to sign up; it's a "rolling admissions" type of situation, so the sooner you sign up, the sooner you get your penpals. Try it if you love old school letters as much as I do!

I also signed up for Gracie's Just Because You're Lovely Swap, and you still have 8 more days to do the same! You send Gracie your mailing info, blog link, and a paragraph about yourself and your interests, and your partner will construct a package just for you. :) (and vice versa, of course!). I'm excited about this one, because I love creating packages for someone based on her specific interests and loves!

Thought you might want to know about these two happenings. Keep me posted if you've joined any other great swaps that I should know about!

(And wish me luck keeping up all this writing and mailing now that I have to be back at school tomorrow!).

Making me happy

I've been siiiiiiiiick these past few days--like "chicken" (fake chicken since I'm a vegetarian) noodle soup/ice cream/sudafed/cough drop/bubble bath sick--and a super long day at work today didn't make things any better. However, there are four things that are tickling my fancy right now and making everything much, much better! In no particular order:

My cds arrived from my lovely cd exchange partner, Char, today! She decorated this adorable package and mailed it all the way from the U.K., and what a delight to receive new music on an otherwise not-so-great (i.e. SICKLY) day. I listened to one of them on my drive home from work today, and so far I love it! Thanks, Char!

OMG! Thanks for this one belong to the AMAZING Erika of Cafe Fashionista and her generous giveaway that I won! I can't believe I now own such an incredibly high-class flat iron . . . I will try to remember to post a pic of my stick straight locks when I use it tomorrow. Thank you SO much, Erika!

My favorite girl on the cover of one of my favorite magazines. SO excited to fill up my bubble bath in a few minutes, settle in the warm water, and read about SJP. I'll even forgive her for wearing a boring dress on the cover. Have I mentioned that I have a life-sized poster of her in my hallway? Maybe I shouldn't have admitted that. I think it qualifies as idolatry. :)

The peppermint ice cream I'm allowing myself to indulge in since my throat is raspy and sore from coughing. Not only is it yummy, but isn't it pretty?

Funny student update:

For the past month or so, my students have been working on personal narratives about their experiences being arrested and incarcerated, and/or having incarcerated parents. All but one have written incredibly brave, compelling accounts, and have become sharp critics of prison and society. Some have written about witnessing their parent's arrest, some have written about visiting a parent in prison as a young child, and others have written about their own arrests and time spent in juvenile hall. I couldn't be prouder!

However . . . my most incorrigible student, ZT, has not exactly complied. He's been too busy chanting and ridiculing and cursing us out and getting kicked out of class to write his narrative. This past Friday, literally at least three weeks in, he decided to start working on his story. He did not, however, choose to do the assignment. Instead, he opted to write a one paragraph "report" on . . . Malcolm X. While this might be perfectly appropriate for a history class, it had absolutely nothing to do with my assignment. Here it is, for your entertainment:

The truth of a black man

Malcolm x death has been a tragedy to me because he was my hero in his younger days. he later changed his life around and sence he changed his life around I want to be just like he was when he was in the nation of islam. I want to be just like Malcolm because he reminds me when he was younger. i studied the hol quran every day. The best black muslim was the honerble Elijah muhhamad. He tought Malcom x every thang it is to be a muslim. Him going to jail for pimping a pandering has effect me because i wanted to be a pimp but now looking at it is not worth it going to jail for saling somebody body for cheap sex. That's why I chose Malcolm x as my hero. That's why I chose him. he is the best hero ever and he change his life around from being a pimp a burgerler and started studing the nation of islam. I would want to be a muslim one day. They believe that you cant go with white people or eat pork.

Ummmmm, awesome ZT. Not quite sure what to do with this one. Except to put it through grammar boot camp. Oh, and other relevant information: ZT typed this "paper" on a computer in the classroom on Friday. Today, another teacher informed me that mere minutes after ZT finished on the computer, there were suddenly various PORN POP UPS on the screen. Again . . . awesome.