Welcome down the Youtube rabbit hole that is balcony gardens
For years, I dreamed about having a garden. There were just two problems.
- I was renting so I thought that I didn’t have enough space.
- The one time my mom brought over lettuce in containers for me to grow, I proceeded to not water them until they died.
During this time, I still thought that I would have a garden one day. My Pinterest boards feature highly ambitious outdoor spaces that include structures like chicken coops and greenhouses.
Last year, we bought our first house. In a city. While we are not living in an apartment, our neighbors are close…
How the book (not the movie) soothed my pandemic anxieties
In 2011, I added Under The Tuscan Sun to my want-to-read list on Goodreads.
I no longer remember exactly what drew me to the title. I was studying abroad in France at the time, so maybe I wanted to read it to get a sense of someone else’s experience at the time. Or maybe a friend raved to me about the movie, so despite not having seen the movie, I added the book to my list.
Whatever the reason, I didn’t even pick up the book until 7 years later in 2018. Reading through the first half of the book…
For when you want to be the kind of person who reads more
Clearly, if you’re reading this then you’re not entirely opposed to reading. So let’s assume that even though your idea of a perfect night isn’t sitting down with a book for hours, you still want to be the kind of person who reads more.
I am an avid reader. As I am writing this, I have a stack of 17 books on my desk that my heart is convinced I will be able to read this month (my head is less certain but not willing to tell my heart no).
So imagine my surprise, when I somehow married a person…
Does Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library live up to the hype?
In the library between life and death, Nora gets a chance to try out lives where she changes choices that she regrets making.
You may think that the plot would be predictable, especially if you’ve seen It’s a Wonderful Life (and you probably have), but somehow Matt Haig has created a story that leads you down routes that you didn’t expect.
A large part of the book’s resonance is the way that it causes you to reflect on your own life. Not to be hyperbolic and suggest that The…
Dive into the world of Boy Meets World, The Babysitters Club, and Beanie Babies
The days of opening a Capri Sun and diving into The New Adventures of Mary Kate and Ashley may be behind you, but there are plenty of books to help you dive into that 90s nostalgia for a while again.
These are not the books that you actually read during the 90s. Instead, they feature the cultural phenomenons that you remember from those days (and plenty of things that you might have forgotten about, too).
Normally, This Would Be Cause for Concern, by Danielle Fishel
It would be impossible not to jump at the chance to get to know more about the actress best known for her role as Topanga…
Why do we expect ourselves to bloom in the middle of winter?
Excluding evergreens and a few hardy plants that can withstand the cold, we don’t expect to see much green in nature during winter. There may be a few straggly patches of grass trying to hold on, but that’s about it.
We aren’t worried about the fact that almost nothing is blooming during the cold winter months. We expect for there to be a period of the year when trees lose their leaves and plants die back. We don’t begin to worry that there is something wrong each year as autumn comes and nature begins to lose some of its shine.
…
It’s time to move past your high school English class.
If the last time that you read a classic novel left you scarred from trying to pull symbolism from the pages of an almost unreadable book, then it’s understandable that you might think you don’t enjoy classics. A classic book isn’t necessarily just a novel that was written a long time ago or a novel that is impossible to comprehend. Instead, a classic is a book that readers continue to decide is worth reading throughout the years.
Yes, those books do tend to be older because there is no way…
You need this in both the literal and figurative sense.
“I like gardening — it’s a place where I find myself when I need to lose myself.” — Alice Sebold
In the spring of 2020, so many people began buying seeds that seed companies had a difficult time keeping up with demand. Many people started a garden for the first time for reasons ranging from worrying about food security to looking for a hobby to take up in their newly freed time.
I was one of those people. I thought that I was gardening for fun. I didn’t expect it to begin giving me life lessons.
In my case, my…
Plus, you could save a few dollars every month
Have you ever thought that you’d like to live a more sustainable lifestyle but it seems way too expensive? Maybe you’d love to buy all of your clothes from brands that source responsibly but there’s no way your entire closet can consist of clothes with $100+ price tags. Sometimes it seems like green living is only for those who can afford it. However, despite what you might think, there are some eco-friendly choices that are just as good for your wallet as they are for the world.
Buy second-hand items when possible.
High-quality sustainable goods can be expensive. The parts and labor that go into…
When I was a sophomore in college, I decided to enroll in a ballet class that my school offered. The class was made up of a mix of theater majors, students who wanted to audition for professional dance teams, and a few girls who were there just for fun. As a 19-year-old taking ballet for the first time, I fell into the latter category.
The theater majors and aspiring professional dancers seemed to immediately follow everything that the instructor demonstrated. The rest of us followed along as well as we could.
I enjoyed the class. It was a welcome change…
Elizabeth Demolat
Lover of books, adventures, friends, dancing, muffins, France, camp fires, and Ole Miss. And, I teach.
