story sounds

fall reading list

2010-10-17T11:25:00.004-04:00

My grandmother grew up with Flannery O'Connor and gave me a signed 1st edition of Wise Blood last Spring. Flannery has always been one of my literary heros and her short stories are a constant source of inspiration. I am dying to read her famous novel this fall.

I've heard wonderful things about this collection of stories and Mueenuddin's elegant prose. Definitely at the top of my list.

This book about Hepburn's iconic character, Holly Golightly, has been #1 on my Amazon wishlist since early in the summer and I think it's about time to pull the trigger. Breakfast at Tiffany's is one of my all-time favorite movies (not surprisingly...) and the concept of this book sounds totally fascinating.

Professors and classmates have often compared my stories to Cheever's and my inner-WASP can totally relate to his chain-smoking, gin-and-tonic-drinking characters. I adore his short stories so I assume his classic novels, The Wapshot Chronicle, Falconer, and Bullet Park are equally brilliant.

I read Don't Get Too Comfortable a month or two ago and have been anxious to get my hands on more of David Rakoff's hilariously witty essays ever since. Half Empty, Rakoff's newest collection of humor essays, got a great review in the NY Times Book Review so now I'm even more antsy to pick up a copy.

We praised the first line of this novel--"Her name was India. She could never get used to it"--in my Honors Fiction class last year. I've been searching for an affordable 1st edition in used bookstores and on eBay but to no avail. I love, love, love the jacket design.

I've been eagerly anticipating the release of Rosecrans Baldwin's debut novel since meeting him last Spring. I expect the book has a lot clever, funny moments and the story sounds amazing. Plus, gotta support fellow Chapel Hill writers!

I'm kind of behind the curve on this one but it's next on my list after I finish The Handmaid's Tale. I've heard great things about it (obviously confirmed by the National Book Award win) and I'm super excited to get started.

Atwood's classic feminist allegory is my current read. I'm down to the last few chapters and it has been a consistently eye-opening and enthralling novel. It shares a lot of themes with Orwell's 1984, so if you like the whole apocalyptic, big-brother-is-watching-you type feel (I do), Ms. Atwood is the queen of crafting haunting futuristic dystopias.

fall must-have: we are owls

2010-10-17T11:09:00.003-04:00

aren't these scarves from we are owls amazing? the designs are so cool and i love how they are abstracted into beautiful swirls of color when wrapped around your neck. all of the patterns are super chic but i think the leopard print with pops of neon may be my favorite.

find them at shopbop and henri bendel.

back in business

2010-09-28T13:04:00.020-04:00

so after a little 9 month break, story sounds is going to be updated a whole lot more regularly. to kick off the fall season, here are some of my favorite looks for autumn. some are purely lust-worthy but maybe a few pieces will find their way to my closet this fall:

[j.crew--denim shirt and brocade skirt are up there on the wish list]

[feel the piece]

[jil sander]

[citizens of humanity]

[j.crew--first exciting fall purchase (!!!)]

[oscar de la renta]

[kate spade]

[tom binns]

[kate spade]

[milly for hue]

[lanvin]

[j.crew]

all images from jcrew, net-a-porter, kate spade, piperlime, and shopbop

THE ROW fashion week dinner

2010-02-17T17:16:00.006-05:00

this sounds AMAZING/why was i not invited? I bet there was room for me at the table, probably in the seat next to Spike Jonze...

click the image to read about the details of the event, hosted by Vogue editors Lisa Love and Lawren Howell.

via Olsens Anonymous

making it

2010-02-17T16:32:00.009-05:00

Since the first season of Jonathan Ames's seies Bored to Death ended, there haven't really been any shows airing on HBO that I've been interested in. But after the premiere episode on Valentine's Day, How to Make it in America is my new Sunday night obsession. Kid Cudi, Bryan Armstrong, Victor Rasuk (another Lords of Dogtown alum) play friends navigating their way through the bullshit-laden East Villiage hipster art scene while hustling to make ends meet while they devise a plan to make it big and discover their moment of greatness.

Episode 2 comes on Sunday at 10pm on HBO--watch it!

has anyone else made this connection??

2010-02-17T16:23:00.003-05:00

TOP: emile hirsch as jay boy adams in Lords of Dogtown (one of my favorite movies of all time)

BOTTOM: dash snow on the cover of VICE magazine's "Moments Like These Never Last" issue

...weird, huh?

blog braggin'

2010-02-10T00:54:00.003-05:00

What was that? Did you say you're jealous because Christian Lander, creator of Stuff White People Like, just wrote "Sweet glasses and you will not get a job" in my copy of the book (and obviously signed the inside cover of my hip moleskine notebook with "this will one day be a great novel"). English majors unite!

**note: the image above is pretty much the whitest photo I have saved on my computer.

this kind of makes me sick...

2010-02-08T11:20:00.001-05:00

go ahead. wear amazing leopard coats and perfect boots and carry pretty bags and work for vogue nippon. see if i care.

things i love: juergen teller

2010-02-06T12:18:00.009-05:00

i'm not always bowled over by fashion photography, but i've always found juergen teller's images so unique and fascinating. from his use of saturated color and bright whites to his ability to capture his subjects in a way that communicates the vulnerability, awkwardness, uncertainty, and instability of mankind, teller's work is always provocative and revealing while remaining beautifully candid.

here are a few of my favorite images of his:

[sofia coppola]

[dree hemingway]

[elton john]

[david hockney]

[margherita missoni]

[bjork and son]

[stephanie seymour]

[winona ryder]

[sofia coppola for marc jacobs parfum]

[tilda swinton]

[victoria beckham]

snow!

2010-01-31T12:51:00.000-05:00

now all i need is that amazing leopard coat and i'll be set!

polaroid withdrawal

2010-01-25T12:02:00.006-05:00

So i've been hearing a lot of rumors about the progress of the Impossible Project, but it seems that there is very little definite information concerning the return of polaroid. Supposedly polaroid has agreed to team up with the Impossible Project to facilitate a rerelease of one-600 film but some are saying the film will be in stores at the end of the month (isn't it the end of the month now?) while others say mid-2010... Also unsure what Lady GaGa has to do with all of this but apparently she's involved? Could someone kindly tell me what's going on?!

In the meantime, here are a few polaroids that I took this summer at pawleys island that I just got around to scanning:

things i love...

2010-01-22T11:45:00.005-05:00

so i realized i don't have the best track record with these weekly post ideas but i thought it would be fun to try to post every friday about one thing that makes me happy. this week, it's kate spade's whimsical ads. not only are they pretty and cheerful, they also capture a certain wit and charm that makes me smile.

2010-01-21T11:20:00.000-05:00

i heard that.

creative spaces

2010-01-19T23:28:00.011-05:00

i've been working on new stories and have been trying to stay creative by reading, writing, drawing, and photographing. here are some images that capture that creative spirit (and look pretty, too!):
(margot tenenbaum could teach me a thing or two about multitasking)

(kate spade and i share a love of vintage books)

(a cheery and colorful artist's studio)

(rita konig's cozy bedroom in her ny apartment)

(girl-crush charlotte gainsbourg in the studio)

and also...

2010-01-15T11:16:00.003-05:00

...i really want this bike: the gary fisher simple city bicycle. isn't it just perfect?! too bad it's approaching $1000--a little out of my price range.

animal farm

2010-01-15T11:01:00.005-05:00

so happy i came across Sharon Montrose's shamelessly adorable photos of baby animals. these might just be the cure for a bad day or crabby mood. check out her etsy shop for more tiny creatures!

brain drain

2010-01-13T23:23:00.003-05:00

while on the whole I have high hopes, exciting goals, and positive thoughts about 2010, the past few days have made me want to throw in the towel (temporarily). how about you straighten out my life and figure out where I should go and what I should do while I curl up here and read Franny and Zooey. Oui ou non?

pretty things

2009-12-18T22:21:00.008-05:00

(snow, snow, snow!!!)

(not very wintry but couldn't resist a depp family photo)

(obviously very chic)

(i want a super inspiring studio like this one)

fallish things

2009-11-24T00:22:00.009-05:00

(this kind of reminds me of the home of a family in a j.d. salinger story)

happy thanksgiving. here's hoping for a relaxing yet productive break...!

not to sound lame but....

2009-11-22T17:26:00.001-05:00

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES, YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! january 12, 2010, I can't wait for you to get here.

sofia coppola for louis vuitton

2009-10-09T18:15:00.005-04:00

I saw these photos posted on the English Muse blog and thought I would repost them here--the bags are beautiful but I think the photos are even more lovely.

featured artiste-- sarah eleanor fitzsimmons smith

2009-09-16T11:50:00.008-04:00

today for your viewing pleasure, I give you five lovely polaroids taken by my friend sarah smith. these pretty little things are sure to put you in a happy mood but may also make you wish you were sitting on the beach instead of at your desk, or wherever you may be.

all taken in debordieu, south carolina.

summer, don't go.

these exist...

2009-09-15T16:08:00.001-04:00

baby dunks, hallelujah.

terry richardson

2009-09-14T20:52:00.011-04:00

recent inspiration--photographs by terry richardson. does making hollywood look real make you a genius or a magician?

(leonardo di caprio)

(pamela anderson)

(michael douglas)

(courtney love)

(james franco)

(johnny knoxville)

(pharrell)

(mary kate olsen)

(lindsay lohan)

(justin timberlake)

amen to that

2009-08-15T17:58:00.004-04:00

I'm aware that this isn't a legit post, more to come shortly. (but it's pretty awesome, right?)

still alive

2009-07-30T01:18:00.003-04:00

i'm not giving up on this, i've just fallen into a pattern of summertime laziness or flat-out exhaustion from hours of playing princesses and eating go-gurt. as usual, my ambitions and projects for what i anticipated to be weeks and weeks of free days to be creative, productive, relaxed, and peaceful fell by the wayside as my calendar filled up with babysitting jobs and my addiction to reality television deepend (embarrassing but true). so here it is, almost august and this blog has been stagnant for 2 months. plus all of the photos i wanted to take/print, stories i wanted to write, books i wanted to read, and new things i wanted to try remain incomplete and undone. with one month left of summer, i'm resolving to get back on track. i'll try to do better, really.

new inspiration (i hope) from jjjjound, of course

vegetable garden

2009-06-04T17:51:00.004-04:00

Catherine and I had talked about planting a little vegetable garden in the yard behind our house and it seems that our project may finally be getting underway. I don't really know anything about gardening but I've done a little online research and today bought some gardening tools and tomato, carrot, cucumber and watermelon seeds. I think we may also plant a few other vegetables like peppers, squash, and eggplant plus some herbs. I'll post updates of our progress but in the meatime, these photos serve as inspiration to test out my green thumb. yum!

new project

2009-06-01T12:05:00.003-04:00

While browsing Design*Sponge, I found these beautiful painted cardboard horses by Ann Wood.

Wood has made available 3 horse patterns that can be downloaded from the d*s site and a set of instructions so that you can make your own unique cardboard horses... I really want to get some paints and old buttons and make some of my own, although I don't think they would come out nearly as pretty as these.

current inspiration

2009-05-26T23:25:00.018-04:00

shut up

2009-05-26T23:10:00.001-04:00

someone tell me how and where I can get this exact basket put on the front of my bike. not fair, mary kate olsen. not fair.

new camera! new camera!

2009-05-26T22:38:00.002-04:00

I just ordered this:

can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!!!

summer style: jean shorts

2009-05-24T17:52:00.006-04:00

The heat of summer is setting in and I have been feeling the need to update my summer wardrobe with some new pieces. I've been loving the super tiny cut-off jean shorts that Nicole Richie has been wearing recently but after searching thrift stores only to find ill-fitting vintage denim, trying urban outfitters pre-made cut offs, and even considering a pair of $160 shorts from Citizens of Humanity, I finally found a perfect (and cheap!) solution. I bought a pair of distressed jeans that were a few sizes too big and cut them off little by little until they were just short enough. they still need to be worn in to get the fraying perfect but I am quite pleased with my creation nonetheless!

Introductions

2009-05-19T12:15:00.005-04:00

Sarah Peck: Winnetka, Illinois

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness? Endless amounts of pizza sent to my door on a daily basis.

2. What is your greatest fear? Dying

3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Sensitivity

4. What is the trait you most deplore in others? Cruelty

5. Which living person do you most admire? Staunton Peck (brother)
6. What is your greatest extravagance? Clothing

7. What is your current state of mind? Content
8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Moderation. I drink tea excessively, and it does nothing but good.

9. On what occasion do you lie? I exaggerate. A lot

10. What do you most dislike about your appearance? My uneven eyes

11. Which living person do you most despise? Sheryl Crow
12. What is the quality you most like in a man? Confidence
14. Which words or phrases do you most overuse? Abbreviations

15. What or who is the greatest love of your life? I love a lot of people.

16. When and where are you happiest? With people that I love when I have nothing to worry about

17. Which talent would you most like to have? I wish I was bilingual

18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I wish I didn’t get flustered easily
19. What do you consider your greatest achievement? Getting into UNC
20. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? A whale
21. Where would you most like to live? India
22. What is your most treasured possession? Pokey

23. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Loneliness
24. What is your favorite occupation? Actress

25. What is your most marked characteristic?

26. What do you most value in your friends? Kindness

27. Who are your favorite writers? Emily Dickinson and my mom
28. Who is your hero of fiction? Dumbledore

29. Which historical figure do you most identify with? Queen Charlotte (George III wife)
30. Who are your heroes in real life? My friends
31. What are your favorite names? Kyle and Lily
32. What is it that you most dislike? Fake people
33. What is your greatest regret? I try not to
34. How would you like to die? When I am ready to

35. What is your motto? Put it in perspective, and deal.

charleston

2009-05-18T11:59:00.006-04:00

went to charleston this weekend to see alex and celebrate sarah gerson's b-day. we enjoyed the beautiful weather and had so, so, so much fun. take me baaaaack!

land camera

2009-05-14T00:07:00.003-04:00

Some shots from a little excursion today... if anyone knows what could be causing the dark shadow at the top, let me know. I can't figure it out.

portraits and proust

2009-05-11T11:54:00.003-04:00

So after a brief sabbatical, I present you with the first of a new post series I am beginning called "Introductions." Each Monday, I will post a portrait of one of my friends along with their responses to the Proust Questionnaire--a survey intended to reveal elemental aspects of an individual's personality. Here it goes!

Allow me to introduce myself...

Sally Symons: Winston-Salem, NC

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness? Living in a place that I love, surrounded by friends and family, doing the work that I love and allows me to be creative every day

2. What is your greatest fear? Living through the deaths of people I love

3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Selfishness

4. What is the trait you most deplore in others? Obsession with status, people who are starved for attention and not genuine

5. Which living person do you most admire? My little sister, Anne

6. What is your greatest extravagance? Polaroid film, good wine, books, clothes... my entire life is my greatest extravagance

7. What is your current state of mind? Ambitious, ready for whatever’s next

8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Chastity?

9. On what occasion do you lie? In a bar, preferably one in a foreign country, when someone is trying to start conversation with me, the lies just tend to come rolling out. And sometimes in French.

10. What do you most dislike about your appearance? Bad skin

11. Which living person do you most despise? Hatred is a waste of time

12. What is the quality you most like in a man? Honesty, sense of humor, kindness

13. What is the quality you most like in a woman? Intelligence, wit

14. Which words or phrases do you most overuse? “Get a grip on your life, woman.”

15. What or who is the greatest love of your life? Language, books... those are the whats

16. When and where are you happiest? Sitting outside drinking wine or coffee with friends and laughing until my stomach hurts

17. Which talent would you most like to have? The ability to play an instrument

18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? My impatience

19. What do you consider your greatest achievement? Academic success, working my way through the creative writing program

20. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? A cute fluffy dog

21. Where would you most like to live? Paris, in a great old, beautifully decorated house

22. What is your most treasured possession? My dog, my blankie, the ring my grandmother gave me for high school graduation

23. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Living in regret

24. What is your favorite occupation? creative maniac

25. What is your most marked characteristic? Delighting in organization

26. What do you most value in your friends? Humor, kindness

27. Who are your favorite writers? Jack Kerouac, William Faulkner, JD Salinger, Joyce Carol Oates, Ernest Hemingway, David Sedaris, etc.

28. Who is your hero of fiction? Caddy Compson, Sal Paradise

29. Which historical figure do you most identify with? Sylvia Plath, maybe not the suicide part, though

30. Who are your heroes in real life? My grandmother and grandfather

31. What are your favorite names? Unique ones, just as long as they aren’t double names or family names that should never be used as first names… i.e. I will never have a daughter named ‘Winbourne’

32. What is it that you most dislike? Bad manners

33. What is your greatest regret? Having wasted time worrying or wishing for things

34. How would you like to die? Content

35. What is your motto? Check the facts but trust your instincts

catching up

2009-04-29T21:35:00.004-04:00

I have been negligent recently, I know this. I have had more 10+ page papers than a person should be able to handle (including one due at 3pm tomorrow). When I haven't been reading, writing, or studying, I've either been asleep or in bed doing absolutely nothing. Or sneezing, rubbing my eyes, and blowing my nose--allergy season has got me bad this year. Every tree in the Chapel Hill area seems to have dumped its pollen just in time for it to catch on the breeze and float on over to my house. Everything I touch makes my skin/clothes turn yellow. yeesh.

In other news, I went home on Saturday and finally got my polaroid Land Camera working, although I definitely need some practice. I had one successful photo and the rest were either out of focus or blurry messes because I didn't have the bellows extended all the way for a couple shots, oops. I can't wait for my replacement battery to arrive so I can begin honing my skills.

Also, I'm planning on getting back in the darkroom this summer. I'm so excited to start shooting film and printing again and I want to order some big, big paper on b&h soon. I just hope that I'll have time/ will be able to make time to being creatively productive. I know I will! I'm excited just thinking about it...can't wait!

I'm thinking about beginning a little weekly or whenever I feel like it post series in which I post a polaroid that captures how i've spent my day, how i've been feeling, what i've been occupied or preoccupied with... Maybe called "story of my day" or something?

hope you like the polaroid dyptich above! I took both photos a couple of days ago and thought the blues and greens were so pretty, plus the subjects complement one another. bring it on summer, I'm ready for ya.

DC and photos

2009-04-21T21:39:00.005-04:00

recovering from the post-weekend blues and getting back into the mindset of work work work after three days of wandering dc, eating good food, drinking good wine, exploring the museums, and enjoying the beautiful weather. plus, we finished off the weekend by seeing the flaming lips perform on the national lawn for earth day, followed by a delicious dinner at oyamel--a mexican tapas place with great food and a really cool atmosphere.

some more photos from the weekend:

chandelier in the entrance to the hirshorn museum

japanese maple

sparkley lights at the hotel

2009-04-16T00:23:00.004-04:00

just now getting around to reading those articles for my 10 page research paper on hip-hop culture and its role in the construction of racial identity that is due oh, tomorrow. i'm giving a big "n'thankyou" to the end-of-the-semester crunch that will undoubtebly send me into at least one panic attack within the next couple of weeks. no wonder I keep looking at my calendar, counting the number of days, and assignments, I am away from summer. this photo my sister took of me last summer at pawley's island isn't helping my desire to drop everything and run towards warmer weather and less responsibility:

what I wouldn't give to be standing on rocks by the ocean right now. in the meantime, if you are curious about the Chicana/o influence in the creationg of West Coast hip-hop culture, let me know.

two more

2009-04-13T23:33:00.004-04:00

bleached-out cherry blossoms, looks like polaroid couldn't handle that much sun

my growing collection of matchbooks

...too much to do and too great a desire to procrastinate. no more school, pleaseeeee?

photographer's frustration

2009-04-13T16:07:00.005-04:00

i've been having land camera nightmare after nightmare and they just won't stop. first, my land camera 100 arrives and my excitement is promptly crushed when after loading my film (the directions included with fujifilm instant film are highly oversimplified, if only i had watched the youtube tutorial before this experience) i go to snap my first shot, let it develop, pull the print apart and... my image is completely black. i did this three more times before throwing in the towel and deciding the camera was broken. luckily, i thought, it's only 10 bucks down the drain.

so I order a new camera, this time the 230 model, that says on eBay has been film tested and is in working condition. a few days later, I realize that maybe the problem with my first land cam is that the battery it came with is dead...! of course! so, now with two models of the polaroid and about $100 invested in the project, i think that maybe I now have two working land cameras that are only in need of new batteries. I ordered a 4.5 volt battery from eBay and in the meantime, i took my 100 home to test out with my sister's battery from her land camera. unfortunately, the picture is still black. maybe I somehow managed to expose the film but I sort of doubt it. so, as of now, the 100 model (along with an entire pack of film that I loaded in it) is out of commission. I guess I'm chocking that one up to experience.

so then, I receive my 4.5 v battery in the mail this morning and eager to pop it in and give my 230 a whirl, I break open the package and one side of the battery (the prongs that stick out of the - end) just snaps off. i was fuming! I tried to rig it up with tape so that it would still make enough connection to power the shutter but when I tried to snap a picture, black again. I am hoping that the seller will send a replacement battery VERY soon or else I will have some unkind words for them. what a fiasco this has become.

all I want is to take pretty pictures, is that too much to ask?!!!

while I wait and wait and wait for my land camera issues to finally be resolved, here are a few photos i've recently taken with my trusty polaroid one camera. whoever had the idea to just build the damn battery into the film pack was brilliant, now if only the price of 600 film would come down about 10 bucks or so...

meet anne

2009-04-12T20:53:00.004-04:00

hi, again. the girl in this photo is my cool little sister, anne. she has a blog called morning mouth that'll give ya a taste of her coolness and make you wish you were her sister like me.

on another note, i hate batteries and stomach aches. both have been getting me down over the past couple of days. yuck.

i've seen enough of my friends in the depths of the godsick blues

2009-04-12T20:24:00.004-04:00

jenny lewis is coming to cats cradle on june 12th! lucy, sarah, and I screamed/sang along to her album acid tongue on the car ride up to and home from west virginia this weekend. thanks for providing the soundtrack to our road trip and get your sweet-soundin' pipes to chapel hill ASAP, woman!

YES, PLEASE.

2009-04-12T19:40:00.003-04:00

oh god oh god oh god, i cannot WAIT for this! my favorite childhood book brought to life by spike jonze. how many days until the magic begins??

lux stories

2009-04-11T14:52:00.006-04:00

this is such an adorable, happy photo with a genuinely carefree nature that I feel is somewhat rare in art photography

I love this Martin Rusch photo and imagining all the possible stories behind it

a young, and very handsome, Paul Newman

I found these photos on JJJJound (a major source of inspiration as I've previously mentioned). While they depict lives of luxury and excess, I feel like the story behind each of these photos reveal a certain sense of complexity and depth that lies beneath the surface.

having a relaxing saturday on the lake in ghent, west virginia. more to come later...

march madness continues

2009-04-05T18:54:00.004-04:00

We all had so much fun cheering on the heels and celebrating their final four victory last night! Fingers crossed for the championship game tomorrow!!

camelias

2009-04-03T11:05:00.004-04:00

The pink camelia bush in front of joseph's house has been blooming for weeks but for some reason, it was the flowers that have fallen to the ground (some of which have turned brown and rotten) that I found the most enticing. They were so beautiful I had to take a picture.

12 things that make me happy

2009-04-01T22:48:00.018-04:00

perrier sparkling water

steak frites from milltown...yum
this michael kors gold watch

o.p.i. nailpolish in bubble bath

maira kalman's beautifully illustrated book The Principles of Uncertainty

hermes scarves

polaroid cameras

pretty pajamas from pine cone hill lovely, sweet-smelling tocca candles

vintage gucci bags

beautiful peonies

these georges braque prints

land cam

2009-04-01T21:54:00.004-04:00

I haven't been feeling particularly inspired over the past few days, but the arrival of my polaroid land camera and five packs of film should hopefully fix that. I am so excited to get out and take some photos! More to come soon.

sun!!

2009-03-29T08:43:00.002-04:00

after four days of rain, I woke up at 7am to see the sun peeking up from behind the trees. I think I had forgotten what it looked like. I took a picture of the blue sky, just in case this never happens again.

reading

2009-03-28T20:47:00.000-04:00

I have always loved reading but I don't get to read for pleasure as much as I would like--either school work or laziness seem to get in the way. Still, I have a pretty ambitious reading list that seems to only get longer and longer. Books are my absolute favorite thing to collect. When I was 13, my grandmother gave me her antique copy of The Princess and the Goblin, her favorite book as a child. It is torn and tattered, literally falling apart, but it is one of my favorites in my collection. Since then, I have collected books both old and new, hardcover and paperback, and I have had some of my most peaceful moments drinking coffee and browsing the shelves of bookstores. Not surprisingly, the number of books I own yet remain unread is probably approaching 100. Here are some books that are at the top of my miles and miles long reading list:

I started A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius this summer, and I loved it. But I still had 100 pages left when I returned to school and have yet to finish it. Dave Eggers is so hilarious and this book is both funny and beautifully meaningful, not an easy combination.

I received this set of Olive Edition Contemporary Classics for Christmas. Not only are they aesthetically appealing, they are each highly-regarded works of new American fiction that are destined to become classics. I'm half-way through The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which is a really lovely and thought-provoking book, and I hope to finish it and move onto the others in the near future. In the meantime, they look quite pretty sitting on the bookshelf.

I love William Faulkner's short stories and novels but I haven't read Absalom! Absalom! which some believe to be his masterpiece. I already know I'm going to love it and I feel that Faulkner's work is so importantly, especially as a Southerner.

I can't wait to Disquiet, Please! a book of humor writings from The New Yorker. I read a few short pieces and stories in Borders one day and was laughing out loud. With contributers like Woody Allen, David Sedaris, Dave Eggers, etc. it is guarateed to be completely hysterical AND have literary merit (not that it always matters).

Reading On the Road in the 10th grade definitely played a major role in sparking my love for literature and appreciation of American writers. Since then, my love for Jack Kerouac has only grown and I would love to add this beautiful, 50th Anniversary edition to my collection.

...it has been raining here since Wednesday and is currently pouring outside. Maybe I should curl up in bed and begin to tackle this list?

i want that.

2009-03-26T11:42:00.000-04:00

as a compulsive list-maker, I pretty much always have a running tab of things I want/need in my life. some are more realistic and some may need to be reserved for another lifetime. here are several items from my current "stuff i want" list:

how perfect and adorable are these american bull dog puppies? they are purposely at the top of my list despite the not-so-practical idea of raising a puppy in a house with 8 girls and barely any yard to speak of. i've been trying to convince joseph to get a dog, promising that i will do my part to take care of it (i have done all the waking up at 2am to take the puppy out housetraining with milly) but i'm not sure that's going to happen any time soon. i'll give it a year or two, i guess, but then i am bringing one of these babies home.

this "for like ever" poster from vllg.com. it has been featured on the cover of domino (r.i.p.) and countless design blogs but i still find it so charming and hopeful. i need it in my life.

a big, pretty tote from goyard with my initials in the lovely painted mongrams they do.

a first edition copy of J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. i almost always have one on my ebay watch list but they're a little out of my price range... one day, though.

lomography's reproduction of the diana, a plastic toy camera that's cheap construction (sorry, but true) causes light leaks that create the most beautiful, dreamlike photos. i love this model called the dreamer. the color of the camera body is so pretty, almost as pretty as the ghostly, photo vignettes it produces. like this (found through google search at zinkwazi.com):

ladythings

2009-03-26T10:50:00.000-04:00

gwenyth paltrow as margot in the royal tenenbaums = intense girl crush

love the warmth of these photos

i want this hair. terribly sexy.

penelope cruz being too pretty and makin' me jealous

angelina jolie eating a sandwich

While browsing the brilliant, beautiful, infinitely inspiring blog JJJJound, I realized how many lovely photos of breathtaking women were featured on the blog. Women are such beautiful creatures--how could anyone not appreciate that?!

bonsoir

2009-03-26T01:47:00.000-04:00

is the first post on a new blog just inherently awkward?

I wanted to start story sounds as I way to create something pretty full of things I love and things that make me happy. the list is long already and continues to grow every day so be it books, songs, people, art, ideas, places or things, glorious things! I will post it here along with other surprises that will jump out and make you glad you're alive to see. or, that's the plan!

kicking off the list, here's a photo of a room in amanda peet's home that I think looks so cute and cozy. the spread of her house in Domino was kind of swoon-inducing. very cute and eclectic, basically my dream home:

i want this lovely hallway set-up in my house, like immediately:

okay that's it for the time being. more later?