daily bliss: revised spaces

I have big plans for this summer. In the next three months I will (among other fun pursuits):

1. Learn French via Rosetta Stone (I was awarded a grant from my university to purchase the program) in order to converse with Parisians and convince students/participants I'm not an unqualified imposter when I co-teach a class on American Ex-pat Writers in Paris next May.

2. Read Vampire literature in preparation for my Women and Popular Culture class this fall.

3. Write an article on Jenny Crusie's use of food in her novels, to a) present at RWA in July and b) publish in a collection of essays on Crusie's work.

4. Work on book project I'm co-editing with S; the collection of essays will be about the evolution of the novel in the digital age (calling all twovelers and podcast novelers and cell-phone novelers to submit!)

5. Decide what kind of book I really want to write: academic, novel, writing/teaching advice.

6. Journal and blog nearly daily.

7. Write short, creative non-fiction pieces for local-ish/regional magazines.

Uh-oh. This looks impossible. And I'm sure it is way too ambitious, given my propensity for frolicing in the sun, sand, and surf when summer beckons.

But, to encourage me to stay indoors at least part of the day to work on said projects, I spent a good portion of this weekend revising my study/guest room. (and because Revisionista asked me to, and because I'm trying to convince her to come visit me, I'm posting all kinds of photos of my revised study/guest room:)




First, I painted the room Tutu, a pale pink from the Martha Stewart Collection at Lowe's, covering up the pre-existing two toned canary and celery (I should ask landlady/friend/downstairs neighbor B if that was some kind of tribute to the Pack...). Now, the room is a vision of sheer, utter PINK girliness. It's perfect for a study/guest room--it's rather too much for my own bedroom, but for this room, well, it's perfect.

Then, I swapped out the bed coverings to lighten the room.


I reorganized my book shelves.



Soon, I will organize the piles of folders and papers hiding in one side of my little closet/desk area.

(will not include photo of that area of shame:)

And, I hope to find a larger desk. I really want a vintage wicker desk, but I know that will be a) difficult to find and b) potentially expensive. In the meantime, I'd like to find a sturdy table I could paint a fun color and cover with decoupage or with nifty quotes.



Oh, and find more inspirational/thought provoking/humorous photos, quotes, and such to hang on my bulletin board above my desk.




For now, though, this space makes me happy, and I'm looking forward to spending my mornings studying le Francaise and writing, writing, writing.