In the Storm

What I've been reading | May 2021

Today I am sharing what I have been reading in May.

It was a pretty good reading month with a few 'stalls', in the middle and at the end. However, I read a few really fantastic books. My favorite book this month, easily, was Amor Towles' Rules of Civility; so much so that it may be in the running for favorite book of the year. Not in the least like his renowned, A Gentleman in Moscow, which was my favorite Book Club read of 2020, Rules of Civility stands solidly, brilliantly, on its own merits. Towles writes - drawing you in to the story, the setting, the characters. I was there. Civility is in the running for best book of the year, because I have, already, read some amazing books this year. This month, I also loved Charles Martin's The Mountain Between Us. 

I read one non-fiction book. When once I read more non-fiction than fiction, it is now rare that I make the time. The Lazy Genius Way, a 'self-help' book was actually a breath of fresh air in the realm of self-help genre. Engaging and practical, the book was well-laid out, easy to follow and definitely a - help!

I also started 3 books this month that I did not finish...and I cannot for the life of me remember the books.

And, of course, I am documenting what I read in a 4 x 8 Life Crafted album by Citrus Twist. The fold-out is above, at the top, and here are the additional pages to this months reading:

I created a transparency as the cover for this month's fold-out. I particularly like the look of a transparency with what is behind peeking through.

What's behind the transparency is the front page of the fold out. This is a monthly inclusion into what I've been reading.

I created bookshelves full of books and as I read a book I add color to the shelf along with the name of the book. I think I have more than 100 books on the shelves, but read 100 books is my goal for the year, so, by the end of the year, I should pretty much fill the shelf full of books that I've read.

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Hello Story 3.

I finished out the Hello Story 3 class by Ali Edwards with Lesson #3 - Repetition. Telling a story using the design theme, repetition. For this first page I was heavily inspired by a page Ali had created for the Story kit WATCH, in which she used repetition. I used a mix of Ali Edwards and Humble & Create digital elements to help tell my story.

On the left side page I used multiple repetitive design elements: I repeated the WATCHING prompt on each photo; the 3 x 4 grid photos are repeated; the half circles plus stitching are repeated; and the B&W plus one color is a negative use of repetition, as well.

On the right side page I repeated the half circle repetition with the I WATCH prompt, as well as the stitching, to tie the two pages together.

This was a fairly quick page with multiple repetitive pieces: The vertical stripes on the left side as well as the sun embellishments. On the right side I repeated the 'painted' journaling spots plus the LOVING journaling prompt.

This week's lesson completes the class for another winning class by Ali Edwards. You just cannot go wrong with her classes. I have in mind to go back through both Hello Story and Hello Story 2 classes and create more pages for each of the lessons in those classes as well, as my starting off point for stories.

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Cooking through the Magnolia Table | Apple Cider Salad

We made a couple of minor changes to this Apple Cider Salad with an Apple Cider Vinaigrette that we tried one evening as a side dish to another Magnolia Table main dish that we feasted. As the men in my family can take - or leave - a side salad I wanted to keep this as simple as possible without making too many changes that would negate it being a recipe we were trying to replicate. Simply, we changed up the lettuce, preferring instead to use the crispness and tastiness of good 'ole Iceberg, and leaving out Radicchio I replaced it with radishes, bringing to the salad a ton of peppery flavor.

Short on time we almost left out the buttery walnuts but opted to make them anyways and, man, that was a good decision to leave them in. They added such a sweet nutty flavor that compliments the tang of the dressing very well. 

While I am certain I want to re-create this recipe again, I am also aware that my family just doesn't eat salad often. It, the recipe, is still going into our family recipe book because if I want a simple, yet tasty salad, with a bit more flare than teared lettuce and tomatoes, I will jump on this recipe, again.

Hello Story 3.

Such a fun exercise! I was inspired - everywhere. For this first page (of 4 pages!!!) I scraplifted a page Ali Edwards made quite a few years ago which she used as an example to this week's Hello Story 3 story structure / theme: Tell your story with NO PHOTOS. I have created this same page before in Spring of 2020 when we first got hit with COVID-19 and it was so interesting to look back on what was going on AROUND HERE, then, and look and now.

This is another scraplift, only I dug into my saved pages from various sources and found this NO PHOTO page from a December Daily album page of all places where someone documented 5 gratitudes on Day 5. I translated it digitally, of course, because that's how I roll these days.

For this NO PHOTO page I am telling the story via a 'list' as well - because lists are my jam, too! This is a list of habits in my life that are making me happy, and / or, new habits that I've started that are good for me. I was inspired by a Cheri on Instagram @15minutescrapper.

I remember last May, amidst everything COVID-19, needing some semblance of normalcy, I created a Summer Manifesto for me and my family and I loved that even in the middle of COVID and lockdowns and social distancing and things closed, we were able to scratch things off my summer bucklist, anyways. I knew I wanted to create another Summer Manifest for 2021 when life has been returning to normal and more things are open and the opportunities are out there. 

This was a great way to document Summer Manifesto - NO PHOTOS required. I used a GRID pattern and filled each square with an Icon and a bucket list item. Definitely, a favorite page!