The Book Thief

Have you read The Book Thief yet?

I recently enjoyed reading this novel by Markus Zusak, and although I found it to be more entertaining than enlightening, there was still a lot of material to dig through:

• The power of words, words as the catalyst for change (this reminded me of a Nazi propaganda exhibit I saw at a Holocaust museum)
• Being able to categorize a life by the books that were significant during certain stages
• The makings of a family and the love that cements a family together
• The interesting point of view gave a fresh breath to a common story and theme, even though it was at times predictable and gimmicky

I love young adolescent literature, and this is the kind of book I hope my kids can learn to love. What did you think of the book?

Ice Sculpting

We took a trip to the arctic north to visit my sister and her family for the annual ice sculpting contest their little town holds. Sculptors from all over the United States participate, and we got to see them in action:

We enjoyed wandering around the art, warming up by the fire pits, and cheering my sister on in an impromptu 5k, which she rocked.

It was fascinating to see how the artists piece together their work. Instead of using a huge ice block, they use several smaller blocks and build them together before carving them into the final pieces. (We gasped when we saw an artist accidentally knock off the tail of his fish he was carving, but it didn't even phase him! He simply grabbed some ice dust and packed it on the wound. Then he heated it and glued the tail on the melted spot, just like that!) Also, it's intriguing to me, as an artist, to use a medium that by nature doesn't last. Most artists spend their entire lives creating a piece that will stand throughout the ages. A sculpture crumbled as I was standing in front of it, which was slightly jarring but surprisingly refreshing. Have you ever seen ice sculpting before? If so, what did you think about it?

Frozen Pond

Winter is full of wonders and delights, like lovely lacy snowflakes and cozy dark nights. Being the first person to leave tracks through fresh powder is pure magic, but I finally got the chance to play on a frozen pond with some of my favorite peeps:

What magical things have you been up to this winter?

Sharing a Little Love

We organized a valentine's exchange with the familia and had a grand old time making ridiculous and beautiful boxes and valentines for one another. Behold our boxes:

And these are the one-of-a-kind love notes the wee one and I spent vast amounts of time on:

We totally loved handing out our valentines to people and stuffing them in boxes (and even balloon-attacking people we love who we didn't get to see on V-Day...you know who you are :) with your crazy work hours).

This was a lighthearted and effective way to show our families how much we care about them. My favorite was the valentine I received from my 2-year-old nephew, who calls me "Walla." His mom wrote down what he was saying while he was making a valentine for each person. The dialog during my valentine creation was:

To Walla. Pepper. Pepper. Pepper. Pepper. Be nice and share to Walla. Kirk. Kirk. Kirk. Kirk. This is a boat.

I sincerely want to do this every year, especially with kids around now. So, to celebrate the day of love, we consumed too much fructose, exchanged love notes, appreciated one another's creativity and efforts, and had a feast in honor of all things romantic. It was such a good day.

How did you celebrate?

Hitting the Bottles Again

I recently acquired a couple new glass bottles, and gave them the same treatment as these:

The little red one is for the baby's room. Heaven knows she needs as much fresh air in there as she can get what with her highly fibrous diet. The green one matches the one I gave my sis for Christmas, and the temptation to give her a matching pair was too great to withstand.

So. There you have it.

Have you done anything with glitter lately?