Amy C. Shaw

Bookish Wedding Inspiration: Magnolia

March 26, 2015 • 11 Comments

I thought it might be fun to try creating themed wedding ideas based off of books, and how the main character’s wedding might look with our modern sensibilities, and thus, Bookish Wedding Inspiration was born! This is my first time to do a bookish wedding post for a contemporary, which was kind of nice for once because I didn’t have to worry about time period, just personalities and setting!

Bride and Groom Look

The Tux and Dress

Dress Source

I spent a lot of time narrowing down a lot of beautiful dresses, trying to find something that was classic, elegant, and had a touch of vintage. Ultimately, I felt this picture was really just the whole package for Jemma and Ryder. I think it definitely evokes the feeling of a classic Southern wedding.

Bridal Veil

I feel that Jemma would refashion a vintage veil, and perhaps end up with something like this Juliet cap style veil.

The Bouquet

Source

I thought it would be fitting for Jemma to carry a magnolia bouquet, and I found this one simple magnolia that I felt would be perfection for her.

The Boutonierre

Source

And of course, Ryder needs a magnolia too.

The Bridesmaids

Dresses

Source

I felt that with Jemma’s taste for retro styles, these Alfred Sung dresses from Nordstrom would be a good fit. I figured with five bridesmaids, they could each have a different style, like above, but all in the same champagne color. (Yes, they’re all supposed to be the same color, but we all know after that blue/black/gold/white dress incident that the appearance of colors can be deceiving.) Anyhow, I love how these dresses have a classic look with just a dash of an early 60’s feel to them. Plus they look like they would be great for wearing at a Southern spring or summer wedding!

Bouquets

And to go with their champagne dresses, I envision the bridesmaids carrying bouquets of champagne hydrangeas.

The Portraits

Source for bridal and wedding party portraits

The Venue

Source

For whatever reason, I picture the ceremony at Jemma and Ryder’s home church, and the reception outside, probably at one of their family’s houses. These pictures really evoked Southern charm for me, I mean, check out those stained-glass windows, that willow, and those magnolia leaves on the table!

Reception Details

Lighting

I love quaint lighting, and I thought this magnolia chandelier and these mason jar lights would both set the mood nicely for Jemma and Ryder’s wedding reception.

Place Setting

Source

The Cakes

Magnolia wedding cake/Groom’s cake

I loved how this cake had the same simplicity of the magnolia bouquet I chose for Jemma, and then how perfect is this cake for Ryder and his love of astronomy? Except the flavor would be caramel cake, his favorite.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of bookish wedding inspiration! What would you expect at Jemma and Ryder’s wedding?

Discussion: Books from Childhood/Teen Years

March 24, 2015 • 10 Comments

Two things prompted this for me. The second was this week’s Top 10 Tuesday topic that I honestly feel too lazy to try to work out, which is Top 10 Books From My Childhood (Or teen years) That I Would Love To Revisit. The first was an interaction I had on Sunday morning. My mom works in the library at our church, and I always go in there to chat with her after service.

So this Sunday, there was a family who came in and one of the girls in this family came straight up to the counter and asked my mom if she had any recommendations. My mom wasn’t really sure, and then deflects the question to me. This girl was obviously young, and I was thinking geeze thanks, Mom, I have no idea. I asked the girl how old she was and she said 11. That didn’t really help me at all except now I know what an 11 year old looks like (there’s a blur between about 6 and 12 where all kids look the same to me). She ended up walking away with nothing, and I spent some time after that looking at the middle grade/YA section we have there, if you can call it that. I mean, the selection was fairly decent considering I don’t see much more (maybe even less sometimes) in this age category at a Christian bookstore. Obviously, there is a better selection at like a Barnes and Noble when you’re going beyond just Christian reads, understandably, but it really got me to thinking.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this girl goes through a similar experience than I did. When I was a kid, I was reading things like American Girl, Babysitter’s Club, Boxcar Children, and I also read some Christian books aimed for younger audiences, and thanks to looking at the shelves at the church library I remember some of those books: The Incredible Worlds of Wally McDoogle by Bill Myers, Dixie Morris Animal Adventures by Gilbert Morris, and others I don’t remember the names of. But at some point, probably close to 11, is when I came across an awkward stage of life in my reading where I discovered:

– The books for younger kids weren’t cutting it for me anymore.

– The books for teens were annoying because they were all dating and drama.

– While I had the reading ability for many adult books, most of them dealt with adult problems.

I couldn’t help but wonder if this is where this 11 year old girl is at.

It does seem that there is a decent selection of middle grade/younger YA books out there now, that maybe there is a good selection that is appropriate for an 11 year old, but I feel I know I certainly missed that boat. I spent years struggling not knowing which books were worth picking up. And I know this isn’t a genre that most of my readers read, but I feel that there is definitely a black hole in the middle grade/YA market in Christian fiction. There really needs to be more options.

But then again, maybe there are plenty, I honestly don’t really know since I’m not seeking those books out. Maybe instead the problem is that all these books are just titles on a shelf. This 11 year old girl just wanted to know what we liked. What had been tested and approved by someone else? How do you get this sort of feedback when you’re 11, from someone other than friends? 11 year olds aren’t reading blogs or on Goodreads. I think the best option they have is book fairs, and even that only helps so much.

I think it’s easy for people to overlook this age group. I remember some of books from my younger childhood years, and I remember some of the books from my teen years, but there is a bit of a void in the middle. I guess what I want to know is: do you remember what books you read when you were in that preteen/tween age? Do you remember feeling an awkward stage between kids’ books and teen books?

Star Trek TNG Season 3: My Top 5 Fave Episodes

March 20, 2015 • 16 Comments

As my husband and I are going through our second full watch of Star Trek as a couple, I thought it would be fun to report on the highlights along the way. So I decided to copy the same format as Charlene at Bookish Whimsy, who is going through her first-ever run of Star Trek and sharing her favorite episodes for each season. To compare, see her top 5 favorite episodes of season two of The Next Generation.

Season three is definitely when TNG picks up, and I had a harder time narrowing my selection because of good options this time! I also wanted to be sure to mention an honorable mention, The Ensigns of Command, since I did have a hard time choosing it or my #5 choice.

5. The Defector

This was one of those episodes that left me feeling kind of depressed in the end, but it was pretty poignant. It reminds me a bit of the DS9 episode “Duet.” I really don’t want to say too much to spoil the episode for those who have not seen it, but there are some interesting twists in it.

4. Sins of the Father

I’m not a big fan of Klingon episodes, so I was surprised how much I liked this one. I have a feeling I got much more out of it this time around than I probably did the first time, simply because now I’m familiar with Worf’s journey, and his family is a big part of that journey (and I don’t just mean blood family). I also love what Picard does for Worf in this episode.

3. The Hunted

I have a definite love for the psychological episodes of Star Trek, and this one explores the fascinating psychological idea of engineering a group of people a certain way, in this case, to be soldiers.

2. Yesterday’s Enterprise

First off, from a purely productional standpoint, I love the dark lighting of the other timeline’s Enterprise. Second, we see another version of Tasha who is just so much more awesome for some reason. And third, there’s just something about this story, that I can’t really explain, that is just plain great. It’s a fan favorite so clearly I’m not alone.

1. The Best of Both Worlds

Just as a note, this is a wicked cliffhanger two-parter that comprises the season three finale and the first episode of season four. For the sake of simplicity, I am including both parts in my season three recap (though Charlene waited until season 4). I mean, I don’t know what to say about this episode other than the first time I watched it I was just FLOORED. It was the first really huge risk I feel they took in Star Trek and it worked really well. This time around, instead of watching parts one and two in the same fashion they were originally aired, we watched the enhanced Blu-Ray that edits the episodes together as one seamless film. Even when you know the outcome, you still feel the tension in these episodes. It’s one of the best stories of The Next Generation, period.

What are your favorite episodes of The Next Generation, season 3?

The Top Ten Books On My Spring TBR List

March 17, 2015 • 18 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Today’s topic is Top Ten Books on My Spring TBR List. I was lousy at following these lists first, but after a while started doing better. I read about half of my winter list, so not too bad. Only time will tell how I’ll do this time around, especially with long books on my list…

1. Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman

This was on my winter TBR, but I knew that was unrealistic anyhow. I will definitely read it soon though… probably next, in fact! I just got my copy and it’s so pretty!

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Guys, I’m almost done with Harry Potter! I won’t know what to do once I finish! Oh wait, yes I will… read all these other awesome books on my list… though I will also be a little sad it’s over.

3. Save the Cat by Blake Snyder

This is a writing book that I have heard is helpful with plot. This could come in handy during Camp NaNoWriMo.

4. Do Over by Jon Acuff

I have loved all of Jon Acuff’s books so far and look forward to reading his new book, coming out in April! (P.S. If you pre-order, you get a free copy of the e-book that disappears on release day.)

5. The Well of Ascension & 6. The Hero of Ages, both by Brandon Sanderson

This spring I will finally follow-up on Mistborn! Nikki said I’ve got to read these back-to-back, so I’m planning to do just that.

7. The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand

I’m nervous about this one, because I don’t do these intense contemporaries, BUT I think it might be helpful for me as I work on my WIP, and I can get it from the library. At least I’ve heard good things… if you call crushing people’s souls a good thing…

8. All Fall Down by Ally Carter

I have this one on hold at the library, so hopefully it’ll become available at a time I can read it. I haven’t read any Ally Carter yet but have been wanting to.

9. Firefight by Brandon Sanderson

I’ve got this one on hold too. I already had to drop it once and put myself back on the waiting list again. One day I will get to it…

10. The Body Electric by Beth Revis

I bought this one recently and it sounds interesting, so I really would like to check it out sometime in the next few months!

What’s on your spring TBR?

Agent Carter, Inhumans, & I Have No Idea What’s Happening in the Marvelverse Now

March 9, 2015 • 8 Comments

*Warning, if you’re not caught up on Agent Carter or Agent of SHIELD, there are spoilers below!

I watched the first half of this season of Agents of SHIELD excited every single week. The show was finally just consistently good. Then the mid-season finale hit and… I don’t know… I felt like my tires got deflated. It was really hyped up by Marvel, and in some ways it was good, but I felt sort of like I got punched in the stomach and then the offender just ran off. I wrote a long blog post about it that I never published on the blog, because after I wrote it I thought maybe I just needed to get my feelings out and I was actually fine now that the words had been written.

Thankfully, Agent Carter was there to divert my thoughts for a while. If you know me, you know I’m a Peggy Carter fangirl, and I was super stoked about the show. When it started I was… confused… about the direction it was going in and the plot. I thought it was sort of going to pick off where the Agent Carter one shot left off, but it actually feels more like it never happened. I thought Peggy was supposed to be in charge of the beginning of the SSR, I mean, this had been alluded to in the one shot, in Captain America The Winter Soldier, and in Agents of SHIELD. Instead, she’s just the glorified secretary to the boys. But after a few episodes, I decided to enjoy it for what it was. I still loved Peggy, as well as many of the new secondary characters, such as Jarvis, Angie, and Sousa.

I ultimately enjoyed the season. I still never completely understood what the plot of it had to do with the Marvel universe at large, but I hoped for a second season to help sort it out some more. And I still want that.

Then Agents of SHIELD returned, and we’re one episode in and while it was a fine episode, I’m still feeling uncertain about what’s happening. Fitz finds out what’s happening to Skye but he’s going to keep it a secret. Raina’s essentially a demented porcupine. Bobbi and Mack are up to something, but what? Are Fitz and Simmons ever going to talk again? OK, I know they won’t let that drop, but I want it now, dang it. I have a hard time caring about the Inhumans storyline at the present because I’m still very worried about the humans on the show. I am completely not over Trip’s death (that was what my unpublished ranting blog post was about, essentially), I worry about Fitz-Simmons, I worry about all of them.

Except Ward. He wasn’t in this last episode and I did not care or miss him for two seconds. They made me hate him that much. (Or maybe that indifferent to him.) I just don’t like feeling this way. I guess I’m not supposed to like feeling this way. No one said this was a Hallmark movie. But just the thought of him popping up again just makes me feel… ugh. I just don’t care about him. I want him to leave. I want Trip back (not matter how impossible). I want to smoosh Fitz and Simmons’ faces together, and then we can carry on with Hydra and Inhumans and whatnot.

I’m happy that this next episode features Lady Sif, because I love me some Sif (not quite as much as Peggy, but still a lot). I just hope things will make sense soon. When the season ends, I want it to feel like the story is heading in the right direction. The season one finale left us hanging, but it was good and left me wanting more in the right ways. I know there’s some time and I shouldn’t worry, I suppose I just hoped that after such a long hiatus I would get something I was hoping to see, instead of basically nothing at all that I cared about (other than Coulson yelling and bringing down some Hydra folks, because that was good stuff).

Also, how is this going to tie into Avengers 2? What the heck is that movie about anyway? That first trailer really gave me chills in the best way, and this newest one is just not nearly as interesting to me. I’m sure it will all work out, but I’m just curious about what direction the Marvel universe is actually going if there’s supposed to be Civil War and so much other crap going on. I’m sure someone with comic book cred could help me out.

What are your thoughts on Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter, and the various Marvel storylines?

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