penn

Engaged!

Matt and I are engaged! I've been remiss in my sharing duties, as we've been engaged for quite awhile now. Heck, we've had the photos for quite awhile. We had our photos done in July by the eminently talented Kelly of K&K graphics (she's a good friend too!). We enjoyed walking around Portland and spending some quality time together.

Our wedding will be in December. We're hoping for snow a few days ahead of time so folks can still travel and everything will be pretty. We have all the big details set except for the photographer; that's the most nerve-wracking part for me as I love good photography!

Above all, looking at these photos again reminds me how excited I am to spend even more time with Matt in the many years to come.

Last Letter from your Lover

full disclosure: I did win a copy of this book from Penguin books. And, boy, am I glad.

I just finished The Last Letter from your Lover, by Jojo Moyes. All week, I have been picking away at this book bit by bit. Now that I've hit the weekend, I literally devoured the last third of the book.

This novel is set in the 1960s, and the premise is that a woman, Jennifer, wakes up from a bad car accident with little memory and significant discomfort in her life. Nothing seems to fit correctly, and everyone around her seems a little strange. In short order, both the reader and Jennifer realize that life feels strange because Jennifer got in the car accident while leaving her husband to go to her lover for good. Post-accident, she has been returned to the life she was desperately trying to leave.

For the first two thirds of the book, Jennifer is untangling threads of an unremembered affair through hidden letters. In the last third, we move to the present day as a journalist also tries to untangle the threads of letters she has found in the archives of the newspaper where she works.

To truly do the book justice, I feel I would have to reveal too much of the plot. But it is really an enjoyable book, and it moved along just fast enough to always leave me wanting more when I put it down each night. In my mind, that's a successful read.

Friday fun reading

Here's a really neat article on order and organization. It's mostly just pictures. Worth a read.

In other news, we're headed up to Fargo for the weekend for a wedding. School is keeping me crazy busy. I am enjoying the crisp fall weather. I've got so many bits of news to share, both big and small, but not enough time to write it all down. One of these days, my patient readers, one of these days.

Stolen from Facebook

"It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly." ~Bertrand Russell

Spending Out

Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project champions the concept of "spending out." In a nutshell, Rubin asserts that sometimes it is important to spend more to get a good benefit, even if the spending seems frivolous. In this term at school, every day, I am appreciating my instance of spending out.

At my school, there are several parking lots. The lot that is furthest away is a free parking lot. Last year, on the rare day when I drove to school, I used the free lot. This year, I am commuting. To use the free lot, you need to arrive at school by 9 am or drive around hoping for a spot. Rather than stress about finding a spot, I chose to spend $50 on a semester long parking pass. My lot is only 50 years or so closer, but the ease of parking makes it completely worthwhile. Thus far, I have been able to score a parking spot immediately upon pulling into the lot.

Where are places you spend out? Have you ever regretted spending out, or do you find it is usually worthwhile?