Bookgirl's Nightstand | When I'm not reading books, I'm making them.

Plants & Poetry

iliana Nightstand April 12, 2015

I took a three day weekend to catch up on some home stuff but we also made the most of it and went to the Wildflower Center’s annual plant sale. Love the Wildflower center and love the plant sale.

Our backyard is pretty shaded so we had to look for shade plants but we also want native plants, low water plants and plants that are heat tolerant. Kind of need that in Texas! We left the plant sale with a bunch of new plants for the backyard and we even added two more to our succulent garden. A Nolina Texana (which you can’t really see here) and a Cane Cactus.

My husband spent most of the weekend planting in the garden and we just have a couple of more to go. I can’t wait to see our plants growing and thriving.

The other exciting thing we did over the weekend was attend the Austin Poetry Slam finals. Ten poets were competing to get on the team which is going to represent Austin in the national competition later this year. They really had some great talent. I’m always so impressed by people putting themselves out there. I can’t believe I haven’t gone to a slam in such a long time.

So how about you, what were you up to this weekend?

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The Last Policeman

iliana Book Reviews, Nightstand April 8, 2015

“Iâ€™m staring at the insurance man and heâ€™s staring at me, two cold gray eyes behind old-fashioned tortoiseshell frames, and Iâ€™m having this awful and inspiring feeling, like holy moly this is real, and I donâ€™t know if Iâ€™m ready, I really donâ€™t.”

The Last Policeman
By Ben H. Winters

Detective Hank Palace is on the scene at a McDonaldâ€™s after the body of Peter Zell, an insurance adjuster, Â was found in the restroom. The initial investigation suggests suicide but Detective Palace thinks there is more to it. Except how does he conduct an investigation when most people are concerned about the big event happening in six months.

You see, Asteroid 2011GV1 is headed towards earth and no one cares about solving murders anymore. Everyone is either out to fulfill their own personal bucket-list or is too stunned to care. Society is slowly spiraling out of control with shortages of fuel and government services. Some people have turned to religions others to drug or many are simply not waiting for the asteroid and commit suicide instead.

Detective Palace simply wonâ€™t let this “suicide” go because he is sure there is more to it. His investigation puts him and those around him in danger and on top of this he is also trying to help his sister find her husband. It is almost too much but Detective Palace is a good person, an honorable person and he owes it to those he loves and his profession to find justice.

This was such a unique premise and I can understand why this book was the winner of the 2013 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original. The world is coming to an end and what do you do? Do you care about doing whatâ€™s right? Do you want to just live in the moment? I’m very much looking forward to the next book in this trilogy.

Source: Library copy

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Inspiration

iliana Nightstand April 7, 2015

Trish hosted the first edition Inspiration On Monday this week and yes, I’m a bit late. Anyway, Inspiration on Monday is a forum to share things that weâ€™ve created and things that we are doing to help inspire others. Posts about projects in progress, finished projects, tutorials, and how-tos are all welcome. Feel free to share recipes, crafts, lifestyle, organizing, andÂ DIY tips, andÂ any other idea that can spark inspiration.

I can’t pass this up, right? So for a while now I’ve been meaning to share some art journaling pictures and I just haven’t gotten around to it so this was perfect time for some show and tell.

I worked on this journal spread in December. I do use some of my own journals that I make for my journaling but this journal happens to be a moleskine. It’s a very simple spread. I used some old book text and white washed it with gesso and off-white paint. I used washi tape and then just made some circles in bright colors.

When I art journal I like to use quotes and poems or just one word. My art journals are more about images rather than putting thoughts on paper. I use my other journals for that. Which reminds me that one of these days I should give you a tour of my journals in progress. I also look to my art journals to try new supplies and techniques.

Here is a look at some of the supplies I used. Not a lot really and I was quite happy with the result. If I remember correctly I ended up not liking the white wash I did with the paint and tried to rub some of it off with baby wipes. This washi tape tends to pull up off the edges but I like that in this case as it makes it look more grungy so I didn’t use any glue or gel medium to make it stick.

Oh and not pictured is my Faber-Castell Pitt Brush pen. I really enjoy using the Faber-Castell pens but this was the first time using a brush pen and I will have to continue working with it.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this crafty post. I hope you’ll also participate in Inspiration on Monday!

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