Books, Books, Books, Gotta Love 'Em

I admit it. I am a huge book nerd. I love to devour a good book. In the little bit of time since 2010 started, I've read 6 books. I started book #7 about a week ago. Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.

Lucifer's Hammer was first published in 1977. Oh yeah, it's an old one. It's categorized under post-apocalyptic science fiction and got a nod for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1978.

A mix of an Earth devastating comet, Russian and American astronauts, and a battle for the future after the fall of civilization is what currently has me enthralled. The first few chapters were a little slow, but one I got through those it started turning into a whirlwind of events and exciting happenings.

This should be a good one, and I can't wait to get to the last page.

Have you read Lucifer's Hammer? What did you think of it? What are some of your post-apocalyptic or sci-fi novels? Leave a comment and let me know!

Follow the book cover to Amazon to check it out and get your own copy.

Since It Is Now February...

I'm going to do a Valentine's post. A post about why I hate Valentine's Day. It's not because I am a single gal. No, really I'm very happily engaged if you haven't noticed the wedding posts. It's not that I don't like flowers. You're talking to a Horticulture student here; I just so happen to adore flowers. And, don't get me wrong, I love me some chocolate. I just really hate Valentine's Day.

I get that it's supposed to be that one day that you are supposed to buy chocolates, and jewelry, and what-have-you for your significant other. Which really means the guy has to put on a show for his gal. What I don't get is why can't you do that any other day and have it mean much more than if you did it on this "Hallmark Holiday". Really, Valentine's Day is a made up holiday for the greeting card companies to make money by guilting you into spending loads of money on this one day or else you... *gasp* ...don't really care about your honey.

I say pish posh. I'd rather have flowers for no reason at all than flowers, candy, hideous stuffed teddy bears for a silly holiday that commands a performance. I'd rather give a gift out of love on any day than some silly notion that I need to spend tons of money on this one stupid day.

Screw you, Cupid!

I Need Some Help

I'd like to come up with a name for the weekly plant posts I've just decided to do. The first thing that comes to mind for me is Plant of the Week: [insert plant name]. How does that sound? If you don't like it, what's your suggestion?

Thanks and I'll quite being a post whore for the day.

I Get Super Exicted About Plants

I got my hands on a cutting of one that I didn't have before. It's common name around here is the purple passion plant, botanical name is Gynura aurantiaca. And, boy is it interesting. Here's a picture of what it looks like.

Awesome isn't it? In this area, it is a houseplant. It can't survive our winters outside. But, where I'm moving in about a year and a half, it's an outside plant. I.am.so.excited.

It's a vine in the Asteraceae family. The same family that asters, sunflowers, coneflowers, daisies, zinnias, and marigolds belong to. This plant will bloom late spring to early summer with orange blooms but they have a pretty rancid odor. To prevent this odor, just pull off the flower buds as you see them come up. It's not grown for its blooms anyhow. It's grown for the awesome purple fuzzy on the leaves and stems.

Propagation is super easy, too. Just nick a piece about 6" long and bury the stem lightly under potting soil with the leaves sticking out and voila! a new plant. It's not so hard to care for either. So, even those with a black thumb can keep one of these. It doesn't like to get dry, so just keep the soil moist. If you're in Zones 9-12 you can keep it outside in a part shade area. Inside it should go in a North facing window to get filtered sunlight. If this lovely plant is kept moist and in filtered light it will be very happy and grow and grow and grow. If the tendrils start getting too long for your liking, snap it off and make a new plant. You can always share the love of plants with someone else.

Other common names include: purple velvet plant, royal purple plant, velvet plant, purple passion vine, and purple nettle.

I think this will be the start of a weekly plant post. I am a Horticulture major and plants are something I love. So, I'll take my own advice and spread the love.

Next week: Plant Hardiness Zones

What Would You Do?

With a million dollars. On this million dollars, you have already paid all taxes and what's left is straight up one million dollars.

What I would do:
1) Pay off school loans.
2) Help my dear brother start up a landscaping business.
3) Give my mom some.
4) Completely pay for the wedding.
5) Put a hell of a lot of it in savings.
6) Take a nice long country-hopping trip after graduation and the wedding just to have some fun.
7) Donate to a charity... or five.

I mention nothing of buying a house because of the fact that I will be moving frequently enough that I won't be in the same place for more than a few years. House... maybe later. When it comes to cars, I rather like T's Mazda 6. So, really I'd take that and tell him to go car shopping for himself. If he got his dream car, that means I get to drive it, too. I would not quit working. I'm not the type of person that would be happy being a stay at home wife. Though, it would be nice to have the security that I could if I so chose.

So, what would YOU do with it?

I'm In The Market...

For a sewing machine. Nothing too fancy schmancy. Just something I can do wee projects on. I have quite a few things I want to make, from dresses to costumes, and hand-sewing everything gets to be a pain after a while. The two I have been looking at seem to fit the bill for me.

One is the Brother LX 3125. It has 35 stitch functions and is right at $60.

Number two is the Janome 11543. Boasting 43 stitch functions and a $60 pricetag.

I'm leaning towards the Brother brand. I know the brand and trust their machines.

I do have a third option. Steal my mother's machine. Haha.

Once I get a machine, posts of the projects I do will go up as I get them done.

Boredom, Vintage Shops, and Wedding Rings

I'm still around. Being bored out of my skull. Thankfully, I can go back to work tomorrow. I got a haircut the other day. It's bad. Really bad, but it'll grow. So, to make myself feel better about my bad haircut, I'm going to dye it. I haven't decided on a color yet, but am leaning towards red.

There's a vintage shop closing down and selling everything for $10 or less. I am a female and needless to say, I went shopping. I got a Tocca dress, an awesome frilly jacket, a cute summery skirt, and a pair of peacock feather earrings. I just need to go back and snatch the red sari they had, if it's still there. I hope it is.

Wedding planning is still progressing at a good rate for how far off we are from the big day. I have invitations, R.S.V.P. cards, and most of the directions sheet typed up. A dear friend, Ash over at The Thing About Daisies..., is sending me some paper samples so I can play with the colors more. The color scheme is currently based on peacock feathers. I sent a picture of the invitation mock-up to T and... he liked it. Finally, something he likes. Last night we did some pseuo-band shopping on Etsy. It was a lot of fun and we found some very nice rings. I'm partial to a titanium band with an inset pinstripe of silver from TitaniumKnights. I'd rather the silver stripe to be white gold to match my engagement ring. There are a couple of bands that T liked as well.

These pictures are taken from TitaniumKnights.

My pick for me.

Titanium 2mm Wide Silver Inlay
















Two options for T.




Titanium Ring with Two White Gold Inlays















Titanium Ring Bevel Cut 1mm offset Silver Inlay