right now i'm...
reading-
Spiritual Midwifery- i consider this book a, "life changing book" for me. i first read it when i was pregnant with shane and preparing for our home birth. i have never read anything that got me so excited to give birth naturally and filled me with such a sense of empowerment. i literally wanted to jump through the pages and travel back to the 70's so i could go live on the farm and have Ina May deliver my baby! i am now rereading it to prepare for this next birth. if you lean toward the hippie side and want to read an excellent book about birthing, then this one is for you!
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare- i picked up this 2 volume set at the goodwill last week. i'm starting off with A Midsummer Night's Dream, which i've been thoroughly enjoying so far. i can't wait to slowly make my way through both volumes.
The Power of Positive Thinking- i have read about this book for a couple of years. after talking about it with my uncle at Christmas and seeing what an impact it had made on him, i decided to keep my eye out for it while thrifting. a couple weeks later while going through the book section at a thrift store, i happily came upon a vintage copy of the book. it has been really good so far and is quite motivational, practical and overall filled with useful tips for changing your outlook on life.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare- i picked up this 2 volume set at the goodwill last week. i'm starting off with A Midsummer Night's Dream, which i've been thoroughly enjoying so far. i can't wait to slowly make my way through both volumes.
The Power of Positive Thinking- i have read about this book for a couple of years. after talking about it with my uncle at Christmas and seeing what an impact it had made on him, i decided to keep my eye out for it while thrifting. a couple weeks later while going through the book section at a thrift store, i happily came upon a vintage copy of the book. it has been really good so far and is quite motivational, practical and overall filled with useful tips for changing your outlook on life.
listening to...
buying cute baby girl clothes...
watching documentaries...
Gram Parsons Fallen Angel- i loved this one! if you don't know who Gram Parsons is, i encourage you to watch this film. his voice is unlike any other and his story is a tragic one. like so many other talented musicians, he was gone too soon.
No Direction Home- we actually own this one. Part 1 was on PBS the other night, so i watched it yet again. it's a great, great documentary! so many cool interviews and tons of live footage. a must watch for every Dylan fan! speaking of Bob Dylan, he's going to be at the OC Fair this summer, i think i need to go. we saw him about 5 years ago...i have to admit, it was a bit of a let down. but i think i'm ready to give him another try. don't get me wrong folks, he is one of my all time faves. it's just you could not distinguish one song from another.
there you have it! what have you been reading, watching and listening to???
♥ anne
spiritual midwifery is a dearly beloved book here. there is a big community of kids here in humboldt who were from the Farm. one of my best friends dated a kid from there for years and she would go with him every summer to visit there. i love Ina May, and if you haven't read her Guide to Childbirth, you should. it's really great. my only complaint with her is that she supports the Brewer's Diet as a way to combat pre-eclampsia (which i had with my first pregnancy). i'm troubled by the idea of using a study that was done in such a small control group and was not very successful to tell women they will be just fine and don't need to be tested for pre-E so long as they eat following the Brewer Diet.
ReplyDeletebut other than that, she's golden!
and i LOOOOVE bob dylan!
i'm reading a book called The Hypocrisy of Disco, it's a memoir of a kid who was raised, as i was, by a pack of wild hippies, and how much it sucked. lol. because it did totally suck.
how close are you to your estimated due date?
spiritual midwifery is one of my ALLTIME FAVORITES. for a while i thought for sure i wanted to be a midwife, but i think doula would be more like it...i don't have ina may's perfectly calm rational control and presence! but i felt exactly like you the first time i read it, like i knew these people and wanted to be there with them on the farm. my friends and i still dream of living collectively like that to some extent, buying a huge piece of property and growing food together. do you have ina may's newer one about childbirth? i love it too, but it definitely caters to a more "modern" crowd. anyway some of the stories from the original are absolutely mindblowingly memorable and beautiful. i love all the photos too, they speak to my heart and spirit bigtime. i always lend out copies of that book when a friend gets pregnant and they disappear, and recently Claire from claire de la lux, sent me another one! i love how important things come and go in life perfectly. by the way my friend ruebi's husband was born on the farm!
ReplyDeleteyour records look a lot like what i've been listening to lately! i bought that kristofferson album for my brother recently since we already have it, and i found joni mitchell's Blue for emily. those are two that are heavily in rotation around here.
good luck lady! getting close...those little vintage clothes you've found are heart wrenchingly adorable!!!
That spiritual midwifery book sounds awesome! I wish I would have read something like that along my journey with Olivia. I was 2 cm away from having natural childbirth and think I could have done it easily (with pain of course). I probably wasn't in that same spot with Elsa, but who knows. I read lots of breastfeeding books with Elsa and knew I would accept nothing less if we were able to do so! Love the record collection. I've been skipping around with music a lot lately- She and Him is on right now- M. Ward melts my heart a little!!! :D I've got some clothes that I JUST can't put in my shop since I know your sweet lil' one is on the way! CAN'T wait to dress her up :D Happy Saturday- what are you guys doing???
ReplyDeleteSpiritual Midwifery is one of my very favorite books :) All of Ina May's stuff is so brilliant. Her "Guide to childbirth" is a more or less new version of spiritual midwifery with a lot of the hippie stuff taken out to make it more palatable to the masses (who need it, so I totally understand) but there's lots of new birth stories!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're listening/reading/watching some great stuff :)
those books just look beautiful on their own! and such adorable baby clothing. geez
ReplyDeleteI've been wanting to read The Power of Positive Thinking for awhile now too! Maybe I can borrow it after you're through, if you recommend it. As for the albums, I enjoy them all. And the baby clothes are obviously too sweet. Especially the white blouse with the bows - My absolute favorite! Can't wait to see baby in that one. She is going to be a living doll in these little digs.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Dylan at the fair: if you do go, you'd better invest in LOTS of beer. It is the only way you're going to enjoy him at this point. And that's coming from a life-long fan. I've given up after 6 concerts. One of which was, uh, adequate? Sad fact of too many drugs and a frail man with a super human mind.
A Midsummer Night's Dream is one of my favorites, as is Much Ado About Nothing. What a great find!
ReplyDeleteI love all the little girl clothes you have picked up. So cute :D
I was just listening to Van Morrison the other day. Must be the season.
gram parsons. i love him.
ReplyDeletei just brought one of our old record players to the shop. it was so fun seeing people's reactions to vinyl being played in a non-music store setting.
Seeing your Complete Works of Shakespeare made me think of the book A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and how every night before bed the kids had to read a page from the Bible and a page from Shakespeare.
ReplyDeleteThen I started thinking about how the act of reading affects us and how it might effect a developing child while you're pregnant. Anyway, this seems like a powerful trio of books to be reading together and I would think that while you're growing another human, it would be an especially perfect time to put into practice the principals of the Power of Positive Thinking :) Wow, that turned into something of a tongue-twister ;)
Oh wow, I felt so alone back when I first discovered (and fell madly in love with) Spiritual Midwifery, it is doing wonders for my heart to see all of these ladies know and love it! When I feel that someone would be turned off by the serious hippie-ness of that book, I recommend Ina May's latesy book "Ina May's Guide to Childbirth". It had fantastic suggestions for birth (in any setting) and many wonderful stories. It's the perfect introduction to natural birth.
ReplyDeleteLovely post, beautiful images, and some stellar recommendations. Thanks Anne!
I'm so excited about The Power of Positive Thinking. I was at Mimi and Baba's house yesterday helping them clean which meant dusting their shelves full of treasures. I started browsing their book collection and came across this book from 1956. Her mother gave it to her and she LOVES the book... so much that she's letting me borrow it but wants it back :D
ReplyDeleteThere are lines in the book that are underlined such as "Feelings of confidence depend upon the type of thoughts that habitually occupy your mind. Think defeat and you are bound to feel defeated." Also (one of my FAVORITE Bible verses, "I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4:13).
It's so rad to see my grandmother's own writing in the book! She has really taken these concepts and lived them out!!! Can't wait to start it :D I'd love to hear how your uncle benefitted from the same read!
xo
When you're strange, Spiritual Midwifery, and little girl clothes ;), I could get into those. This is the gift of blog for sure. Thank you for all your beautiful recommendations.
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