AW: My "new" bookshelf, loaded, and GW scores!

After David came home last night, he was so kind as to drag out my three huge boxes of books, so I could put them on the "new" bookshelf.  It took a little finagling to get it organized the way I wanted it, but here is the final product!

Top Shelf: Fiction, historical fiction, and memoirs
Second Shelf: Non-fiction histories (including my Alison Weirs -- all nine of them and counting!), and in the corner, Dan Brown illustrated editions beneath my pile of theology books.
Bottom Shelf: Writing manuals (mainly from college), Harry Potter, and my knitting books.

Survey says?  I need another bookshelf if I'm going to keep buying books.  On the top left-hand corner of the bookshelf, you can see my Kindle, wrapped in its little blue quilted travel case that my mother made me a few weeks ago.  David says I can just buy books for my Kindle, instead of paperbacks, which is true, but most of the paperbacks I buy are on ridiculous sale!  I don't want to give them up.

Speaking of which, I ventured out to GW again and scored some good ones yesterday.

Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden.  I bought this one for a two-fold purpose -- I loved it and I haven't been able to find my copy in about two years, and I want to use it for the Spring Book Challenge (SBC).  I figure it can count towards "read a book you loved as a child or teen", since I became obsessed with this book back in 2000 when my friend Kim loaned it to me.  The "true" story about little Chiyo, the child who was sold by her family to an okiya (geisha house) in Gion, Japan, and the path her life takes as she trains to become a geisha herself, is a really beautiful piece, although it garnered some negative criticism after Mineko Iwasaki, the geisha whom Golden interviewed and whose life he based Memoirs off of, claimed that he embellished her stories.  Still, it is one of my favorites.

Me: Stories of My Life by Katharine Hepburn.  Most of us are familiar with  actress Katharine Hepburn, who was really the grande dame  of Old Hollywood and one of the most famous actresses of all time.  She starred in such hits as The Philadelphia Story, The African Queen, The Lion in Winter, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?, and On Golden Pond.  She is the only woman in history to have won not one, but four Best Actress Oscars, and she lived only twenty minutes away from me in Connecticut.  She passed away a legend in 2003 at the age of 96.  Famously mum about her life, Hepburn published Me, her memoirs, in 1991, when she was 84 years old.  I have always wanted to read this book, and now I have a copy of my own.  Still not sure where I'm going to fit it in on the SBC, but I'll figure something out.

The Romance of Tristan and Iseult, as retold by Joseph Bedier.  This was $.50 at GW, and I'm a sucker for a good historical romance, so I nabbed it.  The movie Tristan and Isolde came out in 2006, based on the legend of the knight Tristan and the beautiful love of his life, Iseult (I don't know why they changed the spelling of her name for the film, but there you go).  That was the first time I heard of it, and I've wanted to see the film and read the book ever since.  I saw it and snatched it up.  It's a short piece (only 224 pages, paperback), so I think this "original Romeo and Juliet" tale will probably be a quick, light read over this Easter weekend.

How was your weekend?  Did you get any reading done or pick up any new books?

The Bookshelf

Unfortunately, I'm home today again.  Since this upcoming week is a busy one for me (being Holy Week), I skipped out on going to NY with my sister and friends today because calling in sick to work tomorrow is NOT an option, and I'd rather be fit for work (or somewhat fit) than be in agony on the busiest week of the year.  I do have a story for you today, and it involves a rather ugly secondhand bookshelf.

I acquired this Rather Ugly Secondhand Bookshelf back in 2008, after my sister moved out of our apartment and took my piece-of-crap plywood bookshelf, leaving me with the RUSB.  It was, as she told me rather proudly, something she found for free, and it was a sturdy, good bookshelf, other than being supremely hideous.  This bookshelf was yellow, or had been once, and sponged over with a pinkish-gray sponge paint, and then covered with those trashy metallic stickers that you find in coin machines outside the grocery store or pizza places (KWIM?).  Since 2008, I've been dragging it from pillar to post, always saying that "someday" I'd get to work on it.  

Fast forward to last week, Move-In Day.  My friend Lyndsey, crafter, seamstress, and all-around Master of DIY, saw the bookcase and decided to make it her project.  She came over yesterday, realizing that I was in pain with sore ribs and severe roadburn, and assured me that she would have fun with it.

The original plan was to use a handheld sander to sand the wood down to its original grain, but after five minutes of sanding, we realized that the ugly yellow paint was layer upon layer of acrylic paint, and since we were on a tight schedule, it wasn't going to work.  SO.  Plan B.

Lyndsey sanded the wood down to give it a flat surface.

Then we went to Home Depot and picked up some flat Rustoleum black spray paint and some polyurethane.  Came home, and Lyndsey spray-painted the bookshelf.

Goodbye, ugly yellow paint!

After it dried, we took it into the house and into the spare room (which is kind of a junk room for now) and painted a thick layer of polyurethane over it, which gave it a really nice glossy look.  And just like that, I had a whole "new" bookshelf.  

Unfortunately, I don't have a "final" picture for you yet, because although it's in my bedroom I can't lift the boxes of books out of the closet to fill the bookshelf, so that has to wait until David comes home from work later.  So for now, I'm just chilling, taking my Vicodin and ibuprofen and hoping to feel better by tomorrow.

I'm thinking of buying this Kylie bag from Etsy.  My old purse is getting a trifle beat-up, and I'm in the market for a new one that's pretty, functional, and not too expensive.  This fits the bill (except for the international shipping, ugh).  I think I like the gray, but I'm going to sit on it a day or two more to think.  The shipping is what's killing me.  Shipping should never be so expensive, dammit.  But it's pretty much exactly what I want -- large, roomy, with a shoulder strap (easier for biking) and tons of pockets.  I think this will probably happen in the next couple of days.  I really like most of the colors it comes in, but I'm drawn to the gray.  Figure if I really want to, I can clip pins or something to it to gussy it up.  I like the teal and the rose red colors as well...but I want something practical that's going to go with almost everything I wear, so I think this is really a better plan.

I hope everyone has a relaxing and happy Sunday!