Julia's Bookbag

Cool Stuff I Like

2013-05-24T02:00:00.000-07:00

Hello friendsies. Are you well this Friday? I surely hope so. Are you loving the textile explosion that my kiddo was sporting the other day? Is this fantastic or is this fantastic? I've never in my life worn anything so fantastic, and that makes me a little sad. COOL STUFF to delight and amaze you! Or to keep boredom away for 2 minutes. Whatevs. How to Entertain Your Children For Hours. (

Pot-San's Tabletop Tales

2013-05-23T02:00:00.000-07:00

Some days are just good days. Like coming home to find a package just sitting on the doorstep. And I'm racking my brain, because I can tell that there's a book inside the envelope, but for the life of me, I can't recall ordering any new books! (this week) Turns out my pals at Independent Publishers Group had sent me a copy of 'Pot-San's Tabletop Tales' to review. They were the kind folks

Let's Discuss Benedict Cumberbatch.

2013-05-21T23:00:00.000-07:00

Hello my friends. This is supposedly to be primarily a children's book blog. But if I only discussed books all day long, I would go insane, and I'd pull you all down with me. As entertaining as it would be for me to chronicle my descent into madness here (and it would be entertaining), I'd rather just talk about my various media culture obsessions from time to time. Or all the time. But for that,

Paul Bunyan Swings His Axe

2013-05-21T02:00:00.000-07:00

Not until 11pm last night did I fully grasp what had happened with the tornadoes in Oklahoma. I don't have cable and I don't follow the news very much, because...I just don't anymore. When something awful happens to children, I can barely process it. I'm so sorry for those who lost their lives and their homes and who must have been so terrified. I don't know what to say. But I'd like to

Homelife

2013-05-20T02:00:00.000-07:00

Pie is pretty, don't you think? So is cake. Dessert is SO PRETTY. Can I tell you something? Looking at pictures of my life on the blog is way more awesome than looking at it in real life. Real life has been filled with some blah lately. Aging parents. Hard. Aging body parts. Bleh, you can have it. But there's always pie. Which Andrew's mother made for us...TWICE. Hurray! I made

Cool Stuff I Like

2013-05-17T02:00:00.000-07:00

It's Happy Friday time! Or something along those lines. I hope you've enjoyed pretend camping with me this week. I now feel inspired to do some living room camping. I like that kind! There's a potty nearby! And easily accessible snacks! And a TV! Remind me again why camping outside is a good thing......??? It seemed like the overwhelming concensus from my Sunset Magazine

The Julia's Bookbag BIG BIG Guide to Camp Books!

2013-05-16T02:00:00.000-07:00

You ready friends? Ready to go camping with your kidlets? IN MAY? Yeah? I don't know what I'm thinking either. I've just been having this wave of nostalgia for camping, despite the fact that I have only camped maybe twice in my life. Basically all I know of camping is the cabin and tent scenes in the original Disney film, 'The Parent Trap', with Hayley Mills. But that hasn't stopped me from

Fireside Stories

2013-05-15T02:00:00.000-07:00

I don't know where this sudden camping obsession has come from, but I've learned that when these gusts of inspiration hit, it's best to just roll with it. Somewhere online I came across 'Fireside Stories' by Veronica S. Hutchinson and illustrated by the Great and Epically wonderful Lois Lenski, and guess who had a copy it. YES IT WAS MY FRIEND THE LIBRARY. (the library is your friend too.

Camping and Caravans. OH YEAH.

2013-05-14T02:00:00.000-07:00

OH FRIENDS. I have a new obsession. Well, not so new really, but I'm super into the idea of...camping. Not just regular camping, because that sounds dusty and buggy and it scares me. Too much nature scares me. I'm not a big believer in roughing it. I like the idea of GLAMPING, which my husband thinks is the most hideous and/or ridiculous word ever. I think glamping basically means, camping done

A Happy Mother's Day

2013-05-13T02:00:00.001-07:00

So friends, I wasn't planning on doing any sort of a Mother's Day post this year. I didn't have my act together, (I rarely do) and I didn't do a book post about it last week, and I just wasn't planning on covering this holiday at all. But then I got this gorgeous card in the mail from my sis in law, and I just loved it so much. She's so great about sending the coolest cards. Remember this one?

Cool Stuff I Like

2013-05-10T02:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday my lovelies! Well, we've had a great few days of pleasant weather lately and my husband announced that he has had a lovely summer, and now he's looking forward to fall. I told him to HUSH HIS MOUTH. Then we sat around with some family and discussed what exactly makes for perfect temps. There were some votes for 73 degrees. I voted for a teensy bit higher ~ 75. But beyond...that's

Spring Green

2013-05-09T02:00:00.000-07:00

There's a green that shows up in springtime that you never see at any other time. A bright, pale-ish, fluorescent green that exists before the darker green of summer takes over. Every year it blows us away. That's all I got today, peeps. A whole lotta green.

Spring Story

2013-05-08T02:00:00.001-07:00

Hello friends! Feeling more springy now that we're in the month of May? I like May. So much more than April. I've already gone on record saying that I think springtime in April can be a vicious angry little shrew of a season. We often get better weather in March than we do in April! I spend a lot of time analyzing the weather, have you noticed? And I believe I've already stated that I tend to

Homelife

2013-05-07T02:00:00.001-07:00

Spring is pretty. But spring can also a capricious, willful little sprite. Or a troll? Two weeks ago, it would be sunny one minute and then two minutes would pass and a hailstorm would descend. One day it was 71 degrees, and four days later it was 54. Then another few days pass by, and it's downright summery. I had been trying,

George's Marvelous Medicine

2013-05-06T02:00:00.001-07:00

So friends, I mentioned 'George's Marvelous Medicine' by Roald Dahl last year, just in passing in a post where I was mentioning some books I had picked up at a used book shop. I realized, now that we've read this book three times, that I had to focus further attention on it. BECAUSE IT'S THE FUNNIEST BOOK EVER. Do you have a sweet, kind grandma? A loving grandma? Hopefully you do, or

Cool Stuff I Like

2013-05-03T02:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday to all! Have any of you ever had chrysanthemum tea or chrysanthemum soda? It's super delicious! Very light tasting, with just a hint of floral. Supposedly, chrysanthemum tea is very beneficial for your eyes. ?? Oh. Just thought of something. I'd love to do a tea poll. Because I like to know about tea. If you feel like sharing in the comments, let me know what type of tea you're

Sweet Paul Kids 2013 Issue

2013-05-02T02:00:00.001-07:00

Sweet Paul is one of my very favorite online magazines. (it's free!) It's FANTASTIC. Food, crafts, fun ideas...I've raved about the publication before. This is the first issue for kids that I've seen! Was there a kids issue last year that I missed? Not sure, but you have to check this one out, I was flipped out by basically everything. So many of the food recipes and treats that I want to try

Fun Mail

2013-04-30T02:00:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in this post over on Pink Sparkle Fun, making fun, zippy, pizazzy, real-letters-that-go-in-the-mailbox is our new resolution around here. Fun mail is fun to make and fun for your friends! My kiddo's at the age where she wants to write notes to her friends all the time. Last weekend, she wrote a thank you note to her neighbor friend who had a sleepover with us (hilarious! she

A Spine Poem

2013-04-29T02:00:00.000-07:00

What's a spine poem? I had no idea until just a few days ago. My friend Helen, from the glorious site Curly Birds, shared her creation and invited others to participate. Basically spine poetry is where you stack up random books and then read the spine titles, creating a poem! Here's mine: Toad cottages & shooting stars. I'll be you and you be me, around the year, once upon a time

Cool Stuff I Like

2013-04-26T02:00:00.000-07:00

Hello my friends! You know how I love my tea mugs, right? How do you like this business? This cup lives in my girlfriend's home, the one we recently visited during my kiddo's spring break. I love it! I love cups. Two of my small teacups just broke and I was secretly happy, because now there's some prime real estate action that just opened up inside my cupboard. I really like this set from Cost

The Golden Book of Fairy Tales

2013-04-25T02:00:00.000-07:00

Is this beauty or what? Funny thing about 'The Golden Book of Fairy Tales'. I had come across it online years ago, when my kiddo was a baby, and I thought 'someday, my sweet, you will be mine'. For some reason I didn't immediately go ahead and buy it, which is strange, since I collect fairy tale books. I was much more focused on trying to get my baby to sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time,

A Classic Lit Baby Shower

2013-04-23T08:35:00.004-07:00

I am so excited to show you all this AMAZING party! My husband has this cousin, I've mentioned her many times here on the blog. She's just incredible. She cooks fabulous food, she grows gorgeous things in her garden, she throws beautiful parties, she sews and knits the most incredible creations....I don't think there's anything this lady can't do. PLUS, she's beautiful, kind and loving. And has

Bookshelf Tour!

2013-04-22T02:00:00.000-07:00

Hey this is a small miracle! I actually am delivering on a promise I made last week, in our vacation post ~ I promised to show the books that live in my friend's daughter's room. Usually when I make vague promises to show something on the blog, I'm relying on your hopefully poor memory, because I usually flake out on such promises or get around to it half a year later.... Anyhoo, (it's a real

Cool Stuff I Like

2013-04-19T02:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday, friends. I hope you are well. Remember the love-hate relationship I have with my lanterns? I like them today, because I feel like they're a good reminder of the lights in the darkness that we saw this week with the Boston events. Many friends posted this piece by Patton Oswalt, which I thought was great. My friends who were there are home safely. I can't wait to see them and give

We Went Somewhere!

2013-04-18T02:00:00.000-07:00

We went to California! For spring break. Going places is a big excitement. Until I realize I have to pack for a small child and I have to make sure that I've got just the right stuffed animals packed. Then my excitement level diminishes somewhat. Every trip I go on, Andrew has to remind me, "You know, I'm pretty sure there will be STORES where you're going." We stayed in the flower-filled home