In honor of mother’s day, here’s a list of some of things my Mom knew were awesome before I did. Fortunately (though she never forced them on me), through her example I got around to loving them all too. Thank you Mom – you are an incredible Mom and friend.

10 things my Mom knew were awesome before I did:

1. Irish music
2. Embroidery
3. Flea Markets/Antique Stores
4. James Taylor
5. Harry Potter
6. The novels of Charles Dickens
7. Dipping fries in mayo
8. The northern lights
9. Speaking conversational French
10. Jeeves and Wooster

What things did your mom know were awesome before you did?

To celebrate National Poetry Month, I’d like to share the best poet that I have discovered in the past year – Taylor Mali. He is well know for his poem “What Learning Leaves” – an excellent poem about the importance of teachers.

I love both of his collections, What Learning Leaves and The Last Time as We Are. You can read a handful of his poems online here.

My favorite poem is “The Missing Shepherd of Your Dreams” from The Last Time as We Are, but I think you should read his collections and discover your own favorite.

This month I’m reading Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich and Good Poems: American Places edited by Garrison Keillor.

Do you make a conscious effort to read more poetry during National Poetry Month? What poems are you reading?

Here’s a small sample of my 26th year, exclusively from iPhone photos.

Hover over the photo or click through to Flickr to see the very short or unhelpful titles they might have.

Hello there. I blinked my eyes and suddenly it’s July. Suddenly it’s the middle of summer. Suddenly it’s been months since I’ve last posted here. Suddenly!

(The word “suddenly” reminds me of one of my favorite poems “Tension” by Billy Collins. You can read it online here.)

My life has changed quite a bit this year, and with it many of my habits changed too. For example: I now make my bed. Every morning. I never used to be a bed maker, except when I had to put on clean sheets. Now I’m a bed maker, and I can’t really explain why. That’s one example of the hundreds of little things that have changed, and those things accumulated into quite a lot of change in my daily routines.

My goal is to find a way to make this blog fit with my life a bit better – I don’t want to feel stressed because I am behind on reviews or posts. That means I need to change the way I write posts and use this blog. I’m not sure if it will be a good change or not, but I’ll figure that out later.

I’ve still been reading a lot, and buying towers of books. I’ll find a way to continue to post about those activities, but in a new way. Right now, I’m a little more than halfway through Vaclav and Lena by Haley Tanner.

Last thought for this post and the most important, how excited are we all for this?:

In the beginning of March, I moved myself, my books, and my life from Hoboken to Brooklyn. If you noticed that I haven’t posted in over a month, this is why. :) It turns out that it takes a great deal of time and effort to prepare for a move, move, and settle in after a move.

I had lived in my old apartment for 5 years, so it was quite a task to go through all the stuff and figure out which stuff to donate, which stuff to throw away, and which stuff to keep and pack up. Especially when there’s well over 1000 books to factor in.

I edited my book collection quite a bit before the move. I donated a lot of books that I’m less interested in now, or don’t think I’ll ever read. I didn’t count, but I’d guess that I gave away about 200 to 300 books. Most of them went to Symposia Books in Hoboken, a non-profit, community used bookstore. The others went to the book exchange at my work.

I now live in an adorable 1 bedroom apartment in Brookyn. I’m still getting settled, but I’m loving it so far. I have two new Billy bookcases from IKEA in my bedroom, and my living room has built in bookcases along one wall. I now have more than enough room for all my books! Yesterday I unpacked all my books, and before I put each book on a shelf, I scanned it with with Delicious Library so that I have a completely accurate catalog of all my books. This makes the librarian in my soul incredibly giddy.

Here’s a photo of some of the books in my Billy bookcases:

Once I’m more settled I’ll take photos of the entire apartment and post them here. I’m finally buying grown up furniture (as opposed to the cheapest available stuff at IKEA, which is how I had to furnish my first apartment out of college), and I’m really excited about how it’s coming together. My new Crate & Barrel couch arrived yesterday, and it is also a queen size pull out bed – so visitors are welcome! My brass bed arrives on Wednesday, and I’m super excited because it reminds me of Samantha’s bed from the American Girl doll books. :)

Additionally – I’ll be catching up on all book related posts soon too – so keep an eye out for Polysyllabic Spree posts. I need to decide where in my new apartment my stacks of books bought and read each month will be photographed!

My 2010 Books and Reading Recap post covers all my book related stats and highlights from 2010, so this post is for everything else. I had a great 2010, and the highlights were: going to Ireland with my best friend, getting promoted to Director at work, hosting Thanksgiving for my family, and learning to like eggs.

So here is my year, minus any of the boring stuff. :)

Broadway Shows:
1. Wishful Drinking
2. Mr. and Mrs. Fitch
3. Next to Normal
4. Promises, Promises
5. La Cage Aux Folles
6. Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
7. A Little Night Music
8. The Merchant of Venice

Favorites: La Cage Aux Folles, The Merchant of Venice, Promises, Promises, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

Traveling:
1. Philly
2. Atlantic City
3. Michigan
4. DC
5. Connecticut
6. Boston
7. Ireland (Dublin, Cashel, Cahir, Dingle, Galway, Spiddle, Sligo, Dublin)
8. Philly
9. Orlando
10. Michigan

Movies in the Theater:
1. Up in the Air
2. A Single Man
3. The Young Victoria
4. Crazy Heart
5. Alice in Wonderland
6. Hot Tub Time Machine
7. Alice in Wonderland
8. Kick-Ass
9. Toy Story 3
10. Despicable Me
11. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
12. Morning Glory
13. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1)
14. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1)

Favorites: The Young Victoria, Despicable Me, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1)

Concerts:
1. The Swell Season – Radio City Music Hall 1.19.10
2. John Mayer – Madison Square Garden 2.25.10
3. John Mayer – Madison Square Garden 2.26.10
4. James Taylor & Carol King – TD Bank Garden, Boston, MA – 6.19.10
5. John Mayer & Train – Jones Beach 7.21.10
6. The Swell Season – Prospect Park, Brooklyn 7.30.10
7. Amos Lee – Hiro Ballroom 9.28.10

Misc Events:
1. Conan – Radio City Music Hall
2. Mets Game
3. Mets Game
4. Phillies Game
5. Prairie Home Companion – Town Hall, NYC

Museums:
1. Morgan Library – NYC (Jane Austen exhibit)
2. The Met – NYC (The Art of the Victorian Collage exhibit)
3. Museum of Natural History – NYC
4. National Air & Space Museum – DC
5. National Museum of Natural History – DC
6. National Museum of American History – DC
7. National Gallery of Art – DC
8. Guggenheim – NYC
9. Morgan Library – NYC (Mark Twain exhibit)
10. Grand Rapids Art Museum – Grand Rapids, MI (Princess Diana exhibit)

Other Stats:
15 Netflix DVDs watched
34 Movies/DVDs watched (not Netflix)
20 New Recipes tried
6 Parties hosted
1 Thanksgiving hosted for family
1 Amazing Race at work
1 Kickball Game at work
7 Flights
11 MSU Football Wins watched

My little brother Benny (AKA Ding Dong) turns 10 today. Happy Birthday to the best and goofiest little brother in the world!