summer reading

Summer reading has begun and I am so excited I decided to share my list with y'all.  If you have any recommendations for me to add to the list, do let me know!  I will have lots of down time to read this summer (I'm smiling really big right now :)  What's on your summer reading list?

I started this summer with Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Love in the Time of Cholera.  I have been wanting to read this one for a while.  I'm about half-way through and am LOVING it.  This is one of those books where after every single sentence I have to stop and reflect on the beauty of that sentence.  I read One Hundred Years of Solitude a few years ago, and in high school I translated several of Marquez's short stories from Spanish to English.  I think it's safe to say he is one of my favorite authors.  Ever.

Next on my list to read is my signed edition of Yann Martel's newest, Beatrice and Virgil.  I really enjoyed Life of Pi, so I am looking forward to this one.

 Who doesn't like Fitzgerald, seriously?  Last summer I read This Side of Paradise and I liked it so much more than I thought I would.  And of course, there is The Great Gatsby...I still haven't talked to a single person who didn't like that one.  So, this summer I will read The Beautiful and the Damned.  I doubt I will be disappointed.

 C. S. Lewis. Is. My. Favorite.  I don't want to take up a ton of space listing everything of his that I have read, but let's just say that I've read a lot.  Can't wait to read The Great Divorce.  It has been on my list for a while.  Aslan is on the move.  I get chills everytime I think of that line (please tell me other Narnians are reading this??)

 I don't think I would have picked this book had I not heard amazing things about it for years.  Kite Runner, please don't let me down.  You have a reputation to maintain.

 Real Food by Nina Planck isn't fiction.  In fact, it's very real.  Now that I am not a college student and have more time to cook meals, I am looking forward to reinvigorating my diet.  Although I already eat pretty healthily, I am looking forward to committing myself completely to non-processed foods.  So, this book is going to help get me started.

 Lastly, I am from Oxford, Ms.  I have grown up playing at William Faulkner's home, Rowan Oak.  Yet, I have only read a single novel of his (As I Lay Dying...which is incredible.  My mother is a fish.)  I am ashamed that I haven't read more, especially considering how much I loved reading As I Lay Dying.

best of cannes 2011

When it comes to fashion, Angelina Jolie can do no wrong.  Here she is in Salvatore Ferragamo.

Anja Rubik: stunning and mysterious.

Astrid Berges-Frisbey looking like a modern porcelain doll.  I love this look.

Here she is again...she really wears off-whites well.

Bianca Balti:

Bianca Balti again.  Not only do I love this dress, I LOVE the green necklace she is wearing.

Karolina Kurkova: 

Uma Thurman.  Black Lace.  'Nuff said.

Diane Kruger in Calvin Klein:

All photos from Harper's BAZAAR

Did any of you keep up with the fashion at this year's Cannes Festival?

GT

my.whole.body.hurts.from.dancing.so.hard.

Last night Girl Talk (my favorite) came to the Lyric and everybody danced his or her heart out!  This was my second time to see him AND, I'm proud to say, the second time I danced on stage with him.

Photos courtesy of Girl Talk

keira knightley

Keira Knightley is stunning with this hairstyle.  This is definitely a look that was taking hold when I lived in Angers two years ago (see here)...finally made its way to the states!  A good thing, because I really like it, even if I'll never be brave enough to pull it off myself :)

What is this style called anyway?  A relaxed bob?

Photos from the Vogue Diaries

paris totes

Okay, maybe I'm obsessing way too much, but I absolutely cannot wait to be in Paris!  Found these cute totes at Kasiadietz and had to share!  I especially love the rive droite et gauche totes.  They should make a 75116 postal code tote for when I arrive.  Elite.

midnight in paris

I can't wait to see new Woody Allen movie!  If it's anything like Vicky Cristina Barcelona, I will love it.  The preview alone makes me impatient to be in Paris!

nicky

Nicky Hilton gets classier the older she gets.  I want this outfit.

Photo via the Vogue Diaries


On a similar note in Milan, via the Sartorialist:

get found.

Pretty obsessed with this lately.  Check out the Bass Drum of Death myspace for more music.  People like them are building the Oxford Music Scene.

mullet.

Spotted: Mississippi's finest

Double Decker Arts and Music Festival 2011, Oxford, Ms

mothers day

Isn't she lovely?  This is my mom in her twenties...absolute beauty.

sister love

it's official: paris, here i come!

Knock, knock...hey readers, are you still there?  I haven't written in ages; many reasons why, and so much has happened since my last post.  For starters, I bought a one-way ticket to Paris.  (!!!!).  I am leaving August 29, and that day can't come soon enough!  

I have been interviewing with a French family living in the 16th arrondissement.  I will find out later this week if I will be living with them as an au pair!  Whether or not they pick me, it's looking more and more like I will be spending at least the next year in Paris :)

As far as why I haven't written in so long...well...we all know I've had my thesis, which I have been working on very hard for the past year.  Last Monday I submitted the final draft and Friday I defended it in front of my readers, Croft faculty, and my dad and friends.  It couldn't have gone better.  And, words can't even express how relieved I am that this whole process is finished.  It was an invaluable learning experience, but I am so glad I am graduating in two weeks.  Thesising really burned me out for now.

In the midst of all this writing and defending my thesis, the thing that you think will never happen to you happened to me.  During the crazy storms of the past few weeks that have been ravaging the south, my parents' home was struck by a tree that was uprooted by a tornado on Wednesday morning around 2:30 a.m. (and, not to mention the three lovely oaks in our backyard that were completely uprooted...thinking about the force that must have ripped those up sends shivers down my spine).  The sirens weren't sounding, so the whole family was in bed asleep when the tree fell on the house.  I am so thankful that they are all okay.  

The damage from the tree wasn't too bad...it just caved in the roof of our back porch and cracked the entire roof.  The real damage came from the fact that there was a torrential downpour from the time the tornado hit until about twelve hours later.  About half of my parents' house is going to have to be renovated due to water damage.  I went home on Wednesday to help clean up, and I spent the entire day emptying buckets of water and then placing them back under parts of the ceiling in various rooms where water was coming in.  Clumps of ceiling were literally falling to the floor left and right.  It was a very strange feeling seeing your house coming apart.  But thank god my family and pets and friends are okay.  My heart goes out to those who completely lost their homes and loved ones, as in Tuscaloosa.

Here are some pictures of my parents' house: