Vintage book finds

On Thursday I took a little bus ride to the kitty cat bookshop, and I'm sure I talk about it enough on tumblr..but it's one of my most favorite places ever! They have so many books (used, vintage, antique, and collectible), and most of them are fairly priced! 

So this is my little collection of books since I've been visiting Timothy: Spreading Fires, by John Knowles (1974), an Oxford Russian Reader of Lev Tolstoy Selections (1959), 1984, by George Orwell (1961), Resurrection, by Lev Tolstoy (1961), and The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak (I didn't purchase this at the bookshop, I just brought it along with me during my visit; but this one I saved before my sister thought of throwing it away --which is a cardinal sin in my book).

But can we just look at the covers? Aren't they just beautiful? I love them. x

And this is my Russian reader, and I believe it is the most wonderful book purchase I've ever made (maybe even more wonderful than my 1945 illustrated copy of Crime and Punishment). But I'm so excited for this little book! On the bus ride home I opened it up, and found the scene where Anna Karenina steps off the train to see her husband, and mentally comments on his big ears. Oh I'm so happy! Even though there's still so much I can't understand.. it's at least a start!

And this one I bought for Timothy; he's been taking very good care of me, so I thought I'd buy him some books...but One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and A Clockwork Orange were way too expensive for used books, so I came home with only this one (he loved it anyway); but I felt guilty..I went to the bookshop to buy him some gifts, and I came home with more books for myself..I need to find another treat for him asap!

And now for my own personal shopping list for next time:

1. Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie
2. Phineas, by John Knowles
3. To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf
4. Oxford Book of Russian Verse
5. A book of poetry by e. e. cummings

I wish, I wish, I wish, throw a penny to the fish

Oh goodness gracious, I swear, it is impossible to save up money for my Russia trip when there are so many beautiful things I'd like to have, and there are so many gifts I need to get for my lubs.

I discovered romwe today, and I thought this dress and these tights would look perfect together, I love this color combination oh so very much --I do this with another cream-colored lace dress I own). But the dress is simply darling, sigh.

Another dress from romwe that looks absolutely adorable! (But sadly, it's too short for my personal tastes, it would make me feel paranoid and uncomfortable all day). But I love striped dresses in darker shades of blue and white or cream --they remind me of a sailor-esque dress, and I've been dying for a nautical outfit for months.

 

But this skirt. I really want this skirt, oh so much. It's the perfect delicious mulberry color (I really can't help myself when it comes to pieces in this color); it doesn't have a zipper (so it won't be broken like my last UO purchase --a very similar skirt in a similar color); and it's a comfortable length! Oh, but the price, I really don't want to spend over $40 dollars on a skirt...especially with Russia coming around the corner...

(and I thought these heartbreaker glasses were super, but I don't think I'll be buying them. But imagine them with the  mulberry skirt, or the nautical dress! On the shore, with the seagulls, maybe some red lips. Oh my..).

So, I've decided to get a second job once school starts! If financial aid lets me keep my work-study job in the office, and I manage to snag a job at the student stores, oh then I could buy at least the skirt and still have some money for birthday & Christmas gifts and all those sorts of things, while still saving up for Russia!

(The sad thing is, these are only the clothes on my wishlist --we aren't including pretty antiques or vintage novels or gorgeous glassware. Oh well! I can wait til after Russia for pretty things like that). 

Priorities, Lizzie, priorities. xx

My brother is sleeping; super moon

I meant to tell you a story the last time I made a post, but it completely slipped my mind (and I feel kind of sad about that). But, since Vinnie is sleeping in my bed and I can't do much without waking him, I'll just tell you about my super moon experience.

I spent quite a few days visiting Timothy, and during my visit the super moon came around. We missed the first night (I had completely forgotten about it, as I am wont to do lately), and so on the second night we went out looking after Tim came home from work. From his porch, we couldn't see the moon (or what would have been the moon); all we could see were trees and the hill and all the trees on the hill. So we walked up towards the high school, to the roundabout street where there's an open space of sky square blankly ahead, and did some cloud and stargazing (I feel like it would have been much more romantic and intimate if Tim's brothers weren't there with us, but it was nice nonetheless).

The moon was a spotlight. It was sitting behind one of those cirrus clouds (only this one was much thicker, so I'm not quite sure if he counts as a thin and wispy cirrus), but anywho, the cloud kept stretching out in front of the spotlight, and suddenly someone, or something creeped across the curtain! I was so excited, I jumped to my tippy-toes and asked Tim to look, if he saw it, and he said yes, but said it was only a cloud (and his older brother agreed). But I don't believe it was --no, no, no. Clouds do not walk like humans, they don't creep and skulk like thieves or rogues who are caught redhanded in a place they should not be seen. Nor are they as dark as a human.

That man either lived in the clouds, or perhaps stood on a hill top, angling his own light at the moon (maybe he is the one amplifying the moon, creating something super) --and he just wanted us to know it was all a hoax by crossing in front of his light.

It was something grand, and exciting, and it felt like something you would only find in a child's picture book. But 'twas quite real (Well, my imagination may have gotten the best of me, but I am sure it was a shadow of some sort, and not a mysterious cloud).

Oh, ohh.

I haven't made a post in ages, but oh well. 

About two weeks ago, my nana, my two uncles, and my one aunt came down for a visit from Pennsylvania. It was really nice; I learned a little trick in quilting called tufting!

And we went to the aquarium (where I touched a shark and two species of starfish and a sea anemone who tried to eat the top of my finger, it was the most precious little thing). 

Then we went downtown where I found these colorful popcorn flowers (or else they are a strange species of rose, I'm not quite sure) and browsed through some antique stores. And I purchased a little oil lamp that looks like it should contain a flower genie! It's simply adorable, it's just missing the bulb piece for now..

And then they left! (but I had more appreciation for an uncle I'd been slightly afraid of all my life and my nana looks cute now with short gray hair --but I'll always know her as the one with the long, fire-red).

(Here is my little genie oil lamp in the bottom right, above it is a sugar bowl to the dish set my nana gave me. Apparently they were my father's when he first had his apartment, and now they are mine! It came with a coffeepot which I'll be using for lemonade, since I'm not big on coffee or tea. It's all too beautiful, really).

Oh, and for those looking for a book recommendation, I highly suggest A Separate Peace, by John Knowles. It's quite wonderful, and is one of my new favorites (I'm so very happy that I decided to pick it up this June).

In other news, I got contacts the other week, and now you can finally see my eyes! If you can get through the jungle of hair around my face.