Monday, September 26, 2011

Peaches....

I love, love, love summer. And yes, it is officially over, but there is one thing that I had to do before summer ended. Because, in my opinion, one criteria of summer is to bite into a juicy, fresh peach and have the juice run down your arm and drip off your elbow. Yup, it has to happen before the seasons can change. I finally got some fresh peaches at the Farmer's Market in front of the BYU football stadium. So this is a picture of me with peach juice dripping off my elbow. :) It was glorious! I went back the next week to get more peaches, and when I mentioned that I had bought them the week before and loved them, the guy threw in 2 extra peaches of a different variety and gave me half a nectarine to eat right then! It was soooo delicious! Ah! I love Farmer's Markets! So if you have never experienced the sticky, sweet goodness of peach juice dripping off your arm, run to the nearest market/store and buy some ASAP!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Book Review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows




I've been hearing about this book for a while now, but never had the chance to read it until my Aunt thrust it at me and said it was one of her current favorites. It was fantastic!
It is written in letter format, which bothers some people, but I love it. My biggest problem is keeping characters straight, but it wasn't bad at all in this novel. The writing style changed for each character's letters, which is proof of good writing in my opinion.
The story takes place right at the end of WW2. Juliet is looking for a new book idea, and as she becomes friends with the people of Guernsey, she realizes she might have a story there. Guernesy was occupied by the Germans during the war, so everyone on the island has a story to tell. There are stories of the children being sent away for their safety, stories of becoming friends with the German soldiers, and stories of finding ways to defy them. The characters are lovable and realistic. I highly, highly recommend this book!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Giant Pad of Possibilities!

I used to have a giant pad of blank paper. My grandparents gave it to me and I LOVED IT. If I was frustrated or upset, I'd go to my room, turn on country music, and draw on that pad of paper for hours. It totally calmed me down. I've greatly missed that pad of paper...

A few weeks ago, my old roommate came over to visit. When I opened the door, she held out a giant pad of lined paper. She said, "My apartment had this for a while, but now there's no room. I thought you'd like it." I was SO THRILLED. She honestly has no idea how excited I was. It's not quite the same as the blank paper, but my biggest hobby now is writing, so the lines are great. I am so excited to start writing out story ideas and random thoughts on this Giant Pad of Possibilities!


I hung it on my wall since it's so big. :)

Sunday, September 11, 2011

September, 11, 2001




On that day, I remember walking down the stairs to eat my typical cereal for breakfast before going to 5th grade. I walked into the family room and saw my dad starting at the TV. The TV was never on before school - it was a rule in our house. I started to ask my dad a question, I can't remember what it was, but it was probably something unimportant. He snapped at me, telling me to be quiet. My dad never snapped like that, and right then I knew something was wrong. I remember standing there in the family room, watching my parents stare at the TV, call relatives and receive calls. I went to school that day, but I remember the teachers being somber and the next day we all wore patriotic shirts.
Even though I don't remember much from that day, I do know that I will never forget what happened on September 11, 2001.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Will breaks my back


On the left is my American Literature textbook. On the right is my monster of a textbook for my Shakespeare class. I have officially named that huge book Will so I can say things like, "Will is so heavy!" and "I hate you, Will!" Ugh. I tried carrying him in my backpack, but my oh-so-wise sister said it'd be better to balance the weight and carry him in my arms. It did help by back, but it's still annoying.

I feel pretty cultured thanks to this Shakespeare class. I am slowly adding his works to my "Classics I Have Read" list. I have read Romeo and Juliet (freshman year of high school), Taming of the Shrew (sophomore year of HS), Macbeth (senior year of HS), Othello (freshman year at BYU), and now The Merchant of Venice. And a ton of Shakespeare's sonnets, which are actually pretty beautiful (but I will argue that they are redundant).

AND! I forgot that I had 3 acts of the Merchant of Venice to read over the weekend, so I ended up having to read them the morning of class (EEK!). BUT GUESS WHAT?! I read all 3 acts in an HOUR! Yay, me! Basically, I was crazy proud of that. I didn't just speed-read, I comprehended! That made me feel a lot less stressed about this class. :)

So, yup. Feel blessed that you don't have a book the size of the universe to carry around. And go read some Shakespeare! He's not as annoying as I thought...

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Jerusalem


My amazing and beautiful cousin Desiree is officially in Jerusalem for the semester! She is one of my very best friends and I am a bit bummed to not be joining her on this grand adventure. She started a blog and I thought ya'll might like to follow it. You can see it here.

This is a picture of us the night before she left - in her very Jerusalem-appropriate shirt! :)

When the BYU Jerusalem Center was built one of the "compromises" was that the students would not be allowed to proselytize. But then one of the Israelis asked the big question, "But what can we do about the light in the student's eyes?"
I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true and I also know that Christ lives and walked where Desiree now has the opportunity to walk. This is a fantastic experience she is having and I am looking forward to reading all about it!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Book Review: Matched by Ally Condie


So....this book was good. Similar to The Hunger Games (which I strongly disliked) in the way it takes place in the future and the government has all together too much control. But it focused more on the "drama," as my friend put it, instead of the fighting/rebelling. Cassia is the heroine and I liked her a lot. She is an easy-to-relate-to character. Thankfully, there will be sequels to Matched. I was concerned because the ending was kinda lame. The next one will come out in November. Ally Condie is a pretty good writer, and this is her first novel. She is another Mormon author to add to the constantly-growing Mormon Author List. :)
Sorry for the choppy and short review, school is keeping me busy. Happy Reading!