Who says nothing on the internet is true?

Nice to know teh Interwebz feels my pain.

~Heather

bella penguino!

I am so in love with the look of the new Penguin classics! The covers of these gorgeous hardcover editions (designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith) are just perfect- timeless, yet visually interesting. They would look great next to any book on any bookshelf, but I especially love how they look in a grouping. Also, they feel great. The covers are that great, old-fashioned linen thread-y material, and the pages are a satisfying weight. So far, the following titles are available for sale (I've seen them at Borders and Davis Kidd, as well as online):

Favorite New Website

MyLifeIsAverage.com

This site manages to be both amusing and strangely comforting, all at once. Completely addictive!

~Heather

Letters to Our Daughters Project quote

I found this today catching up on the posts of one of my favorite bloggers, Isis the Scientist. She writes a divine blog about being a woman/wife/mother while also being an amazing scientist and a bit of a shoe diva. She has recently begun a series of posts composed of letters of advice written for young female scientists, which broadly apply to young women in general. The quote is from a senior woman scientist's letter, written for her "daughters in science"- the women scientists who are coming up behind her. She writes:

GoodReads update

Number of books on my "already read" shelf: 213
(I had to remove a bunch of embarassing ones because my coworkers would tease me!)

Number of books on my "to-read" shelf: 127

Optimistic, much??

~Heather

I heart reading

When I was growing up, almost nothing made me happier than reading. My sister and I wore out the childhood books we had at our disposal (most notably the Little House series, whose paperback covers were in tatters by the time we hit our teens). We went to the library religiously, and devoured every piece of literature, great or not, that we could get our hands on. Later during our teenage years, we would each frequently stay up all night reading (or re-reading) a good book. (Our mom discovered this eventually, and began to start policing "lights out" a little more firmly than before.) Even sleep, which is arguably my favorite pastime, is no match for a good book!

bloggin' it up

Well, I've finally done and gotten myself a blog. I've been seriously considering it for at least a year now, if you can believe it. Indecisive, much? :) I'm still not sure what the scope or focus of this blog will be, but I decided it was time to go-be-do, so here we are!

Right now I'm hoping this blog will serve as a chronicle of my thoughts and activities, both heavy and light, on this stage in my life's journey. I've named it driving barefoot because of the peculiar joy this activity gives me. There is nothing in the world that feels better than a day in the sun (preferably on/in the water), and then afterwards driving home barefoot, with the breeze in my hair. I get such a feeling of peace and contentment in those sunset minutes of the day, heading home with a happy heart, thankful to the core for the life I've been given. Today was one of those delicious days, and it just felt like the right time to dive in to this experience and start driving barefoot. Bear with me as I get the hang of this!

~Heather