Pumpkin on a stick!

I went to the store with my mom tonight to help her pick out seeds for her garden, and my eyes went immediately to the packages of seeds for pumpkins, gourds, and fall grasses. (Fall is my favorite season. I'm already getting excited for September.) When I saw a package of something called Pumpkin-on-a-stick, I made a noise that was something between a giggle and a gasp.



They're so cute, and odd, and--before this evening--I had no idea they existed. Take a look at the cuteness:



Image from Garden Life

The seeds suggested putting them in a high traffic area so one could be entertained by visitors' comments about the plant. I can imagine the questions:

"Is this thing real?"

"Why did you glue plastic pumpkins to your bush?"

"Are you planning on carving tiny jack o' lanterns?"



Yes, yes I am. (Image from Listsoplenty.)



They're just so odd and adorable. I want to plant some and stick them all over the apartment-ette (I call it that because it is very, very small and I'm wondering whether or not the university originally built them for two people) I will be sharing with three other girls across town next school year.

Not exactly pumpkins-on-a-stick, but still pretty cute. (Image from GoodHousekeeping.)

I waved the package excitedly at my mom, who she said we could buy them if I would take are of them. They would need to be staked, and I've never done much gardening. (I might manage to kill the cute little things.) But I may go back to the store and pick some up . . .

Book Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Release Date: April 5, 2011
Publisher: Dutton
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 208

Source: My local library.

Summary:

It’s been three years since the devastating accident … three years since Mia walked out of Adam’s life forever.

Now living on opposite coasts, Mia is Julliard’s rising star and Adam is LA tabloid fodder, thanks to his new rock star status and celebrity girlfriend. When Adam gets stuck in New York by himself, chance brings the couple together again, for one last night. As they explore the city that has become Mia’s home, Adam and Mia revisit the past and open their hearts to the future—and each other.

Told from Adam’s point of view in the spare, lyrical prose that defined If I Stay, Where She Went explores the devastation of grief, the promise of new hope, and the flame of rekindled romance. (From gayleforman.com)

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I made time for Where She Went back in the craziness of April when school was still in session, and I've been waiting to pull out my notes and rave about it ever since.* Whenever I opened it, I always read for longer than I meant to. That said, there seemed to be many natural stopping points. I rotated between being glued to the pages and wanting to put the book down for awhile, but Gayle Forman's characters and the delightful atmosphere of Where She Went were always on my mind.

The same economical, beautiful prose in If I Stay is present in Where She Went, only Adam plays the narrator, instead of Mia.

*Spoiler alert: People who haven't read If I Stay may want to quit reading now, although the biggest spoiler--the fact that Mia stays--is already evident from the existence of Where She Went. This warning is only a little unnecessary. . .*

I have much respect for Forman's unconventional handling of Mia's and Adam's romance. Where She Went is a funny (at times bitterly so), ultimately feel-good novel populated with realistic, imperfect people who don't always deal with each other and their situations in the best possible ways. Adam's voice comes across as realistically upset and depressed as he makes sense of the downside of rock 'n roll fame and Mia's inexplicable rejection of him. (Translation: He swears. A lot. But never for no reason.)

Where She Went is intense, yet cozy. Even when it's strained, Mia's and Adam's relationship feels like a well-worn pair of shoes. I imagine the coziness is amplified for readers who are already acquainted with these characters, but enough background information is provided for readers to read the two books out of order.

Where She Went is a graceful novel that explores changes and ups and downs in relationships while allowing the reader to vicariously experience the exciting lives of two remarkably successful twenty-one-year-olds: a rockstar and a classical cellist. Forman highlights beautiful details, like how the sounds of the crowds at concerts for Adam's band changed as the band grew in popularity. I recommend Where She Went to readers who like contemporary fiction with a dash of inspiration, as well as readers interested in romance and family dramas. Where She Went is a book that affirms that people can get back together and grow and change. And the writing is GORGEOUS.
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*Any book I made time for in that whirlwind of a month had to be very, very good, and Where She Went was evidently good enough to come between me and my textbooks.

Previously by Gayle Forman: If I Stay

Oh, the Irony: On Procrastination

I watched this video last week when I was procrastinating studying for my Art History final.



I find this video entertaining and brilliant, and I plan on inflicting it on the freshmen in my academic mentoring discussion group in the fall. (Insert evil laugh here?) Officially, I'm supposed to discourage procrastination. (And this video has some great tips for reducing it.) But in real life, I think procrastination can be useful. Taking a break can lead to more creative thinking. I get some of my best ideas for my assignments when I'm avoiding them. (Which I sometimes do by doing research for other assignments. . .)

For me, the trick was acknowledging my procrastination habits and figuring out how to work with them. (In other words, I actually make time to chase rabbits and get off task.) I also know that, when I plan to cut assignments close, I'm playing with fire. A bazillion things could go wrong that I don't have time to fix: the printer might malfunction, I might misplace all my pencils, etc. But, because I work best by taking up all the time I have to work on something instead of finishing it super early, I regularly accept these risks.

How do you feel about procrastination? Is it worthless or potentially useful?

Musical Monday (72): "How Dare You" by Thao & Mirah

Better late in the day than never, right?

I first heard of Thao and Mirah on NPR.org's First Listen, where I listened to their collaborative album that was released this spring. (You can't listen to it there anymore, though . . .) I recognized Thao from her song "Violet," which was stuck in my head for about a month after I featured it on a Musical Monday. (This song also inspired part of a workshop on incorporating text in artwork in my drawing class. I may turn parts of the workshop into a painting.)

A workshop in charcoal and white acrylic paint on a large piece of crappy paper. The bits of text are from Thao's "Violet" and the poem, "Winter: My Secret" by Christina Rossetti.

Anyway. "How Dare You" is on Thao and Mirah's self-titled album, which I have enjoyed listening to both in the studio and at my laptop.

Thao & Mirah "How Dare You" from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

Last but not least, I am officially done with my junior year of college! Which means more posts here :)

Wishing you a Marvelous Monday,

"Interjections!"

I will probably be asked some questions about them at the final for my Communication, Language, and Grammar class.



I am so ready to be done with this semester.

"It seems kind of gangster cute."

I just had to surface from end-of-semester-craziness to share this:



You can read the story instead of listening to it here. And you can see outakes and visuals below:


Crochet On A Bear Statue from Jennifer Sharpe on Vimeo.

Doing artsy things outside and being mystified by the lack of response from joggers, etc? I know nothing about it.