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We have finished another month of the reading challenge. We are a quarter of the way through the year, and have read 22/104 books. That means we are 4 books behind where we should be. April may be our chance to catch up. Luke will be traveling for 3 weeks, meaning he will have a lot of plane and car time. I will be in India by myself (well me and the kids), meaning I will have a lot of alone time (when they go to bed) and no one to watch old episodes of Shark Tank with. Now, confession, most of my book choices were made this month simply because of what was available to me for free. But I wasn't disappointed. Here is our update!!  Julie
True Beauty by Carolyn Mahaney (book by a pastor's wife) - I liked the book and appreciated the fact that it was applicable to women at any stage of life. I reviewed it on my friend’s blog here. Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (Novel longer than 400 pages) - This was an engaging story, and honest confession, I couldn’t sleep one night because I kept thinking through the clues and wondering whodunnit. Although the answer wasn’t that surprising, because at some point or another I had suspected pretty much every body. Joni by Joni Eareckson Tada (A biography) - I assumed I knew Joni Earickson Tada’s story. I’ve heard snippets of it all my life. But I was really impacted by reading the book first hand. I devoured it in a couple of days. She was so honest about her suffering and her times of rebellion against God. It encouraged me as I think of my life, and the lives of my kids, that God really is powerful enough to sustain us through the darkest times of life. You Can't Make this Stuff Up: The Complete Guide to Writing Creative Non-fiction by Lee Gutkind (A Book about Writing) - Since starting this blog and enjoying the writing process quite a bit, I was excited to read a book about writing! Frankly, I picked this one because my friend had a copy and I didn't know what other book to choose. I loved it! I didn't complete any of the exercises he assigned, but maybe in the future I will. I mostly enjoyed learning about the genre through all of the cream-of-the-crop excerpts that he included in the book. And it gave me a host of good options for the "Memoirs" category of the reading challenge. Luke Hamlet by William Shakespeare (A play by Shakespeare) - I appreciated reading a play, which I am not accustomed to, because you have to really imagine the scenes. You only get the dialogues, not beautifully created scenes as in a novel. And it being a tragedy, it was good to consider Shakespeare's views on life and death, and therefore, my own. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickins (A book by or about Charles Dickins) - This is a classic story of redemption and sacrifice. I appreciated it as a historian, because it brings to light a lot from the French Revolution. Usually studying history, you get the big picture. But this brings you up close and personal with how it affected the common man.
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Today, millions of people will celebrate the Hindu festival Holi. In the West, we know this holiday as the festival of colors. We know it because of Hollywood scenes like the one from Outsourced, where the unsuspecting American gets doused with color on a stroll through the city. During our travels in India, we have often celebrated this color party with friends and neighbors, usually in the controlled environment of our parking garages and gardens. Of course, as with almost every facet of Hinduism, there is as much variety to the celebrations and traditions as there are people groups and languages in this diverse country. And unfortunately, the celebration you are able to witness below is pretty boring compared to the movies, or what you may find in more northern parts of the country. This year, I am watching the color throwing from my seventh floor apartment. From one balcony I can see the upper middle class children in my society, planning and strategizing their assaults on one another. From the other balcony, I see the less financially fortunate, but equally joyful adults and children chasing each other through the streets. I worry for the passerbys who might find themselves in the midst of the war! I can't help but wonder what it might be like if the meaning behind the festival, good conquering evil, could conquer both the visible and invisible walls between these two groups. We are not joining the festivities this year because our city is struggling from a huge water crisis. The color throwing uses not only color, but a lot of water. The water and color are mixed and shot from cheap water guns, sold only this time of year. And then there is the water it takes to clean everyone up. The knowledge of those suffering from lack of water presses our conscience and robs the celebration of its joy. It is inspiring to see some initiatives to celebrate without wasting so much water. For instance, one of our friends is hosting a 'paint the canvas' party. Additionally, the celebration of Holi is not just about the color party. In fact, the more I researched I discovered that it is not even the main part of the holiday. Although, it is likely the most enjoyable and the most financially profitable part of the holiday.
Surrounding the traditions of Holi are many different legends, and they all add small pieces to the Holi traditions, which again vary greatly in different regions of the country. The major legend is of the evil Hiranyakashyap who contrived an evil plot to kill his own son. The plan backfired and resulted in the death of his accomplis, Holika. A traditional Holi celebration commemorates this story with a bonfire, in which pictures of Holika are burned and where profanities are shouted against the hated woman.
The tradition of colors comes from a legend of Krishna, who was jealous of Radha because of her fair skin. Krishna's mother pacified him by telling him to go paint her any color he liked. The always mischievous Krishna did just that. Now the painting of one another has come to symbolize the love and affection between family and friends. In addition, Holi always occurs toward the end of winter and beginning of spring/summer, which also carries the significance of good triumphing over evil, as the light and beauty of spring triumphs over the cold and darkness of winter. You can check out more about the origins of Holi and the various celebrations taking place across India at www.holifestival.org. Libby’s first birthday is this weekend so I have party planning on my brain. This will be the 16th kid birthday party that I host, and we've got a whole lot more to go. The third birthday is really when the kids start understanding something about what is happening. They finally realize the cake, the presents, the people are all here for them. Once their brain puts this all together, they remember it - for the next 12 months. About once or twice a month I hear questions like “when is my birthday?” or “can I have ____ on my cake at my birthday?” Once they are able to choose, I let them choose whatever crazy thing they want for their cake. Sometimes it is easy, like butterflies. Other times, it is a little weird, like army men playing cricket with superman and batman. Seriously. That was my son’s sixth birthday cake. But when they are still too young to pick, I get to do the honors. And for the first birthday, I usually revolve it around a certain color scheme that can be incorporated into every aspect of the party. Now there are many ways to pick a color scheme. You could do a search for the top color schemes of the season, or just step into any department store to see what colors are trending in fashion. Hey, you could even get out your color wheel and pick the perfect Triad, Complementary or Monochromatic color scheme. However, let me present to you a bit more personal way to come up with a color palette that is both beautiful and meaningful. 1. The {very} Personal Palette - When Evelyn was a baby I was mesmerized by the palate of her own beautiful features. She had orangey hair, soft blue eyes, and rosy pink lips. So for her first birthday, I went all out with these three hues.  2. The Baby Fashion Palette - We all have that one favorite outfit that we cried over when the kid grew out of it. Why not capture the memories forever, by using it as the base of your party color scheme? That’s the way I went this year for Libby’s first.  3. Comfort Color Palette - Though your baby can’t pick the colors, this is probably how he or she would pick the colors if given the chance. Whatever your child’s drug of choice (blankie, lovie, paci, stuffed animal), show the respect it deserves for the countless hours of peace it gave you over the past year, by creating the color scheme in its honor.  Whatever color scheme you choose, I have quite a few invitations in my shop that are generic and can be customized to any color combination. If you send me a photo I can even match the colors directly. You won’t get that kind of personalization in a downloadable template!
As Luke and I are getting older, one thing is for sure. We are getting way more addicted to coffee. We come from the breed of parents who will easily finish a large pot in the morning and then make another. This means that on vacation, Starbucks has become a major line item in our budget. Even worse, with four kids it can be difficult to even get to the coffee shop until a couple of hours after everyone has woken up and gotten ready. That, my friends, is a bit too late for us these days. So on a recent trip to a tiny beach town in Goa, India, I thought I was prepared. I made sure to bring along my tiny, single-serve moka pot and fresh grounds since I knew there was a stove at the resort. However, when we arrived and I saw it was an induction stove, I knew immediately it wasn’t going to work. Gas is preferable, electric is manageable, but induction won’t work at all. The next morning, Luke and I woke up early before the kids, determined to get some quiet moments, enjoying the balcony view and each other before the craziness began. I scrounged through the small resort kitchenette to see if I could effectively make some coffee without a machine. Turns out, we enjoyed some delicious coffee that morning and all subsequent mornings. And it was really, really easy!  Here’s what you need to bring
> Fresh grounds (a thicker, espresso grind is better than a thin, powdery one) > A fine mesh tea strainer. Here’s what you’ll need to find onsite > Some way of acquiring almost boiling water. Any hotel accommodation should be able to provide you this. Our resort had an electric kettle, which made it super simple. Other options are zapping it in the microwave or checking with guest services, who may provide it to you for free. > Two cups Now here are the steps 1. Make sure the water is almost, but not quite boiling. You can bring it to a rolling boil, and then let it sit for a minute. 2. Add 1 tablespoon of coffee grounds per cup of water. 3. Cover the cup and let it brew for 2 minutes. 4. Use the fine mesh strainer to strain out the grounds. You can do this back and forth a couple of times, or line the strainer with a napkin to catch the really fine grounds. 5. Enjoy your coffee and get ready for a great day! For the past one year, my best selling wedding product has been my wedding mad libs set. Though there are a million listings on Etsy for mad libs, I think people like the variety of original stories that this set offers. It also comes with a key for the back, so that at the reception, guests can fill in the words without seeing the story. As we head into wedding season, I decided to give the listing a little makeover. Taking this year's wedding trends into consideration, I redesigned the set with custom headings for each story. If you are a bride-to-be, or if you know someone who is tying the knot, this might be the perfect addition to the big day! You can purchase the set here. I get questions now and then of whether I provide my mad libs as templates that can be downloaded and edited. The answer is no. You see, there is a lot of difference between "Liz and Tom" and "Jennifer and Jeremiah". This can mix up the layout of the stories quite a bit. I take great care with each set to make sure that the formatting is neat, clean and aligned well. You won't get that in a standardized template. So sit back and let me do the work for you! I can also customize it with any color combination, and deliver a beautiful print-ready file to your inbox within 24 hours of purchase.   For a quick recap, the Graphic Design 101 series is based on curriculum I have been teaching for Grades 4-8. You can see my previous posts here. This lesson is on Dominance and Hierarchy in Design. As I wrote 'How to Show Dominance' on the board in my classroom, I realized that statement could have a very negative connotation in other circumstances. But in design, dominance is a good thing! Something has to stand out to attract the viewers' attention, so that they will read the whole message. In a world with so much visual activity swirling around us, you don't want your design to be lost in an endless sea of information. I identified six basic ways to show dominance in a design. 1. Scale/Size > The biggest element in your design is often the first thing a viewer sees.  2. Value > A smaller item, that is darker than the rest of the design can also be a focal point.  3. Color > Any item that is in stark color contrast to the rest of the design will easily be the first thing to grab attention.  4. Style > Anything in the design that is a different style than the majority of the design, whether shape, texture, content (graphic vs. text), will pop out and create interest.  5. Proximity > Something set apart from the rest of the group, usually by white space, will appear to have more visual importance.  6. Density > Depending on the design, density can be tricky. Sometimes the eye will flock to the "heavier" content, because it is bolder, busier and louder. Other times the eye will first rest in the emptier, "lighter" content.  Next we talked briefly about hierarchy. The general rule is that there should be about three steps to hierarchy in your design. You can remember this by thinking of a book cover, in which Title, Subtitle, and Author usually decrease in size in that order. To finish off the lesson, I gave the students an activity to reinforce the concepts. First, they divided a sheet of paper into four equal parts. Using the phrase "My Name is ______", they were to practice at least four of the six ways of showing dominance, one in each box. The easiest ones for them to grasp were size, style and color. I had to encourage many of them to make the difference, or contrast, between the items more distinct, so that the dominant word really stood out. I made them do everything by hand since I haven't introduced the computer yet. But this would be a great introductory project for the computer or typography. Here's my own digital version. I tried really hard to keep it to only one contrasting element per graphic, but in a real project, you make the biggest impact when you combine several of the elements. For instance, a great heading might be large, a different color, a different style and set apart from the rest of the text!  Its a good thing we had an extra day in February this year, because I totally scrambled to finish up two lingering books yesterday. This month I was questioning myself if the reading challenge made me read too fast through books without thinking as much about the content. But I concluded if it were not for the challenge, they would linger on and on and I wouldn't actually finish them, which would be even less beneficial. So I press on. Here is our progress, folks!  Julie
The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs (Book by a Puritan) - Though only 140 pages, this one took me the whole month to conquer, not because I was thinking all that deeply but because it is the first Puritan book I've read from cover to cover and I had to reread paragraphs a lot! The book is jam-packed of sermon illustrations about every tiny inner layer of contentment. It is thorough and I needed that repetition on the beauty of contentment and wickedness of discontentment. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Pulitzer Prize Winner) - Set in World War II, it followed those dark times through the lives of a young orphan turned Nazi boy and a blind French girl. One quote is burned in my mind for its irony and beauty. When the boy sees the girl, who embodied all of the external weaknesses the Nazis hated, he says, "This is the purity they were talking about at Schulpforta." The Inscrutable Americans by Anurag Mathur (Author of Another Ethnicity) - This book is about a young Indian boy who comes to America for a year of higher studies. Warning : it is very crude! I probably wouldn't have finished it, but having spent the past three years as a foreigner in India, I found some parts interesting and meaningful. And I have no doubt that it is an accurate portrayal of the experience of thousands of Indians who come to America for education. Luke The ISIS Apocalypse : The history strategy and doomsday vision of the Islamic State by William McCants (Book about a Current Event) - Its a thorough history of how ISIS got to its current position, and what the underlying beliefs are for their actions. I acquired a greater understanding of the variety of Islamic beliefs. McCants presents the topic is an easy to read and unbiased perspective. The Shadow of the Galilean by Gerd Theissen (Theological Viewpoint I Disagree With) - This is a fictitious account of a common Jewish man during the time of Jesus, with the author's self-proclaimed agenda being to present Jesus from the perspective of the historical Jesus movement. I appreciated the fact that I could understand more of the movement without having to read long, scholarly books and articles. This was much more engaging. I came away more thankful for the gift of faith, through which we believe what the word calls foolish, and by which we are saved to the glory of God. |
JulieLuke and I are married and have four little munchkins that travel the world with us. I blog about living overseas, travel, kids, education and graphic design. Archives
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