Phew!  I kind of feel like I’m catching up, but I still have a long way to go this weekend.  Until I’m finished training, expect things to be a little inconsistent around here.  Once I’m finished training I’ll be working 3 full days a week and will have 2 days off to work on the blog (and maybe do some crafting).

The house hunt is officially back and Jared and I are looking at a new place this weekend.  I will hopefully take some time to clean up the apartment as well and make a good dinner or two.

And of course, your weekend links…

• Check out Wonder Trading‘s adorable collection of stuffed fawns.  I think they would be a lovely shower gift.
• I’m in love with this tutorial for a handmade chenille quilt from Aesthetic Nest.  And check out Abby (of Two Little Dicky Birds) version here.  I have a couple of yards of decor weight fabric lying around and I think this would be the perfect little project.
• Beautiful DIY/Ikea hack reclaimed wood desk.
• A collection of beautiful stairways on Calico and Co.

Remember the first time you read Little Women or Sense & Sensibility?  Remember the feeling it gave you?  For me finishing these books for the first time was always bittersweet.  Of course I got the warm-and-fuzzies because I knew I had a new favorite, but I also knew it would never again be like that first read-through again.  I would never have the feeling of wondering what would happen next, or would never meet these characters for the first time again.

Instead, I have found ways to make my old favorites feel fresh again.  While you can never get back that first read, you can discover new things about it and fall in love with it all over again.

• Get a new edition.
  As you can see I have a growing collection of copies of Pride & Prejudice (I also have collections of Jane Eyre, Alice in Wonderland and others). It’s one of my passions.  There is something about reading an old story from a new book that makes it feel fresh again to me.  Did you read Emma from a cheap paperback the first time?  Get a beautiful hardbound edition like this one and read it again!  Or next time you’re at a garage sale and you see a beat up copy of Wuthering Heights in a box for a dime, pick if up and spend an afternoon in a hole-in-the-wall coffee shop reading it over a cup of tea.
• Read it with someone.
  Start a book club!  Maybe it’s just you and your mom, or maybe you get a group together.  But read it one section at a time and discuss it!  Maybe someone else will notice something you missed, or maybe someone interpreted something totally different from you.
• Force yourself to slow down.
  Don’t rush through the story!  This is great if you don’t have other people to read with.  Limit yourself to one chapter a day.  Read slowly, make notes to yourself in the margin and take time to reflect after each chapter.  Do some research on the author, the time the lived in, what they were going through when they wrote this story, etc.
• Read a re-imagining or sequel.
  Some purists may disagree with me on this one, but a girl needs her guilty pleasures.  Many classics have inspired todays authors to write re-imginings or in some cases an imagined sequel.  This is especially true in the case of Pride & Prejudice and other Jane Austen classes.  When you finished Pride & Prejudice, weren’t you just dying to see Darcy and Elizabeth’s “happily ever after”?  I know I was!  Of course you can dream up the rest of the story for yourself, but check out all these authors who have published their version of the continued story.  I have a read a few including Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife and while it is not for children (if you get my drift) it was so fun to get lost in.
• Read it to someone.
  This is similar to reading it “with” someone but in this one, instead of analyzing it together, read it to someone who has never read it before.  Your daughter or son, a niece or nephew, etc.  Tell them what you love about it, invite them to ask questions and explain tough words.  Introduce them to a classic and create a memory for them.  The first time I read Alice in Wonderland, was with my Grandma.  We took turns reading each chapter out loud with a pot of tea, and not only did I fall in love with the story, but it is one of my most cherished memories with my grandmother.

What is your favorite classic?  Have you ever re-read it?  What do you do to make it new again?