Amanda Rose Zampelli | the blog

on reading for pleasure

Reading for pleasure is a new concept for me.  I blame this on 25 years of school. 25 years of someone else telling me "READ THIS & WRITE A PAPER". I get that that's how school works - and probably should work from Kindergarten until 12th grade, but college? Ugh! 

Don't get me started on the thriving business of "higher education". From 2002 to 2013, I was told to buy overly-expensive textbooks that were boring or confusing or told me things I already knew. Plus, when you go college AND have a job AND have to read these textbooks AND complete pointless homework assignments on them, you don't have time to read what you want. I don't care what kind of anti-social bookworm you claim to be, you just don't have time.

Fast forward to now. Now I actively walk to my neighborhood's public library and spend a happily dedicated amount of time in my favorite sections. Now Barnes&Noble makes for as good a day trip as The Museum of Natural History in my eyes. Nowadays, I love hearing what other women I admire are reading, and scanning reviews to see if I think I'll like it myself.  Nowadays, I love the idea of crawling into bed with a book I'm halfway into and enjoying; I love the idea of stumbling across a paragraph or page that sings to me, and getting to share it with someone I love.

All this - reading for pleasure - is such a strange new sensation. It feels like a little miracle, and now I 'get' how Matilda felt on her way to BOOKS. I've uncovered that nonfiction is my jam. I couldn't get past the first page of 50 Shades. I prefer motivational books. The new trend of 'Funny Lady memoirs' has me hooked. eat, pray, love has always been a favorite, and probably my most reread book. Books on design. Books on cats. Home Decor books. I've been reading two books on meditation and combatting anxiety, depression, and obsessive thoughts. 

So yeah. Reading. It's fun. Who knew?!

Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon

I recently joined an online group called Daring Creative Workshop run by Kyla Roma, and every  month there is a book to read that focuses on building your brand and/or blog and/or business. Today I wanted to review the book that was selected for February: Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon. 

My first reaction when picking the book up at my local library was surprise at how tiny it was. Once I got into it and realized Kleon dispenses the information in the book in short, tiny spurts of text and handwritten phrases and drawings, I got the big picture. I thoroughly enjoyed that the book read like tidbits, instead of long, lecturing texts, and reading it was kind of like eating tapas.

My favorite part of the book was the section on stock and flow. I recently talked a bit about Kleon's concept of stock and flow (without knowing until I read the book that this is what I was talking about) in my post about my new website.  In that post I wrote about the problem bloggers like myself are starting to face: that when we first started blogging, we just wrote and posted a steady stream of thoughts and projects, but now, years later, if any of that writing and posting was any good, it's lost in the internet abyss. All that flow needs to be turned into stock - references that are exposed and available for the clicking.

The book, overall was a quick, fun, informative read and I recommend it to anyone who does work that they want people to recognize them for. 

I found the following video talk Kleon gave at Confab that further explains many of the concepts from Show Your Work! It's worth the watch to put a face and sound to the man behind the book.

To buy a copy of Show Your Work! click HERE.
To find out more about Austin Kleon, click HERE for his website.
To find out more about Daring Creative Workshop, click HERE for Kyla Roma's website.

Love, Lashes, and Lipstick

Tellllllllllll me I read Mally Roncal's new book Love, Lashes, and Lipstick in one day! Yep, I did.

I bought the book Wednesday night on a trip to Barnes&Noble, and later that night while Tomas watched a movie, I sat on the other side of the couch with my book and read and read and read...and laughed, and tried not to cry. Finished it yesterday evening in, like, a half hour.

For those of you who don't know, Mally Roncal is a make-up artist.  She has made-up the faces of Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez, and Beyonce to name a few. She has her own makeup line called Mally Beauty, and makes regular appearances on QVC and Rachel Ray to sell her product and share her beauty-genius with the world.  But more than those things, she's such an inspirational personality, with an amazingly motivational story of success.

Mally has been an inspiration to me since 2009 when I used to watch her hilarious YouTube videos about her BubbaKeg, 'mom sweaters', and smelly Filipino food. I even got to meet her in person at Henry Bendel's in NYC a few years ago. Her make-up IS my face, and my sister and I often have conversations about 'MY' MallyBeauty.

While reading, I identified on many levels. Namely, I feel a lot about the scrapbooking industry as she does about the make-up industry. I loved how she tried many things and thought she'd be many things before landing in the career that she was meant to revolutionize. (reminded me of my wild and crazy 'changing careers' story) ... the whole experience reading this book was awesome and lovely and fun. It came at a great time when I needed to hear a lot of the heart Mally put out in this book.

In short: loved it, loved it, and highly reccommend it. ♥

Below is a short little video trailer to get a feel for the book and the sparkly personality that Mally is.

Have a happy weekend!

summer reading // Don't Worry, It Gets Worse by Alida Nugent

Yesterday and today I am coming to you with probably two of the longest, most overdue book reports of ever since I read both of the books I'm suggesting as good summer reads about 365 days ago. :)

The second book I read last summer was Don't Worry, It Gets Worse by Alida Nugent. It was a book I found at the end of summer -- on Labor Day actually -- while waiting for my sister to emerge from a dressing room in Urban Outfitters. The first few pages tugged on my just-resigned-from-my-job-as-a-teacher-about-to-go-back-to-school-for-graphic-design 20-something self spinning in a world of expectation and confusion (not to mention a crappy economy). Alida writes:

“A few years ago, I graduated college, diploma in one hand, margarita in the other, completely oblivious to the shit storm that was coming my way. Here’s a preview: becoming a living, breathing, job-having, bill-paying, responsible adult? Really fucking difficult.”

....COMPLETELY OBVLIVIOUS TO THE SHIT STORM THAT WAS COMING MY WAY.

That is the tagline of my 20s.

Here is some more great writing from the book. Here is Alida's blog. ♥ Have a good one!

summer reading // Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert

Today and tomorrow I am coming to you with probably the longest, most overdue book report of ever since I read both of the books I'm suggesting as good summer reads about 365 days ago. :)

The first book I read last summer was Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert (yes, the same author of Eat Pray Love). Much like my recent movie night with 112 Weddings, I have a yearning to understand how someone finally decides on who gets to be "the one" they want to marry, and even if they feel they've found "the one"...why they need to marry, and how can the marriage succeed. If you have the same yearning, or have been wondering the same bunch of things, this book will be a good read for you.

It's chock full of great writing, and fabulous introspection (some of which can be found here), but I never felt like it came to a conclusion.  I don't know that it needed to, but it would have been nice for it to have wrapped up all that introspection in some way or another. I guess Gilbert's way to wrap it up was to say she married Felipe, and it feels right. Good for her. ...but what about the rest of us that have yet to find a Felipe and still don't know what we feel about marriage? I guess read the next book.

My favorite part of the book was when Gilbert sites from a book that sites from philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer about the essential dilemma of modern human intimacy. She writes in her book:

"Schopenhauer believed that humans, in their love relationships, were like porcupines out on a cold winter night. In order to keep from freezing, the animals huddle close together.  But as soon as they are near enough to provide critical warmth, they get poked by each other's quills.  Reflexively, to stop the pain and irritation of too much closeness, the porcupines separate.  But once they separate, they become cold again. the chill sends them back toward each other once more, only to be impaled all over again by each other's quills.  So they retreat again. And then approach again. Endlessly."

What a true dilemma! ...and I am ever in search of how to deal. ♥ Good read. Happy Tuesday!