Sunday, August 1, 2010

Miss Me?

Hello All,

Sadly, it has been WAY too long since I have updated my blog.  My excuses for not writing in awhile are this: First, I was in Mexico for a week and a half.  Second, my computer died and I am still without one.  Third, even if I borrowed Heath's computer, I have no internet at my place (yet).  BUT, right now I am at Heath's parent's house, using his computer and I have some free time to write a little bit!

Mexico was great, Heath and his parents, and me and my parents all went to the Cancun area for a week and a half right after school got out.  Oh and did I mention I graduated? Yeah, don't feel like it yet, but I'm sure I will come September when Heath goes back to school and I don't!!  Anywho...Mexico was great, the weather was great right up until the day we left! 

Got back and started my new job!!  I am now an Assistant Project Manager at Translations.com!  My dear friend Amy Dill works in the Sales department and suggested I apply for the position.  I found out right before we left for Mexico that they were considering me for the position and two days later they called and offered me the job!  So we got back from Mexico on a Saturday and I started my new job that Monday! I've been there now for a little over a month and I love it!  It is long hours because we're a little understaffed but they are working on hiring more people.  I love what I do and I feel like I'm utilizing skills that I have that I actually enjoy using.  So I'm hoping I can stay working here as long as Heath and I are in Corvallis!

Heath and I are getting closer to the wedding! 34 days! I'm pretty sure we have most of the big details worked out and all our vendors picked and set up, now we just need to finalize numbers and little details.  I can't wait - if I think about it too much I start getting a little nervous!

Also, I moved into the apartment which Heath and I will be living in once we get married!  It's two story, one bed, one bath, and really cute.  Heath and I have been slowly setting it up and unpacking boxes in our spare time (what's that?!) and I can't wait to finally share that place with the love of my life. 

That's all for now and I probably won't be able to update again until I get a computer or internet, which probably won't be until after Heath and I get back from our honeymoon.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Graduated!!!

I graduated! College life is done!!  It is weird looking back on the 4 years I spent at Oregon State University.  The activities I was involved in like ballroom dancing, Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship, Calvary Chapel, etc.  The people I've met and stayed friends with and those that were friends during specific times in my life; I just can't believe how much I have gone through.  College brought me tears and heartache as well as love and happiness.  It was a journey I'm glad to say I survived and managed to enjoy for the most part!  There will be many things I will miss, including: ranting about crazy English teachers with Kalin, getting chai tea and bagels from Java, having a building I can call my own (Moreland), finding exciting new authors and books because of a class I took, and many more. However, there will also be many things I will not miss anymore, such as: having classes with crazy, mean English teachers, having to run across campus to print papers off last minute and get to a hot and sweaty classroom in Moreland, not being able to find a computer at the library, and walking a half hour in the rain when I straightened my hair that day, etc.  I'm sure I will be walking into a slew of new ups and downs with the next part of my life which will hopefully included a job with salary and benefits.  Special thanks to everyone who helped me to celebrate my graduation on Sunday!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Favorite Products

I really enjoy reading beauty blogs so I decided to make a post of my own reviewing a few of my favorite products!  It's always easier for me to buy someone's product when I can see someone's personal review of whether or not it was worth the money.  So here are a few of my favorite products!

Aveeno's Ultra-Calming daily moisturizer is my life saver!  I use it everyday and it has visibly reduced the redness on my face and given me softer skin.  It's perfect for my sensitive skin.  The one downside is it costs about $16 at a drugstore; but I pay it because I know it works.  I've been using it for 3-4 years and I wouldn't change it for any other brand.  It does last a long time, I can usually get mine to last around a year since I don't need much to moisturize my face. 

As silly as the bottle looks, the smell is quite good.  I would have never picked it out on my own but I got it as a gift from Heath's mom and I wear it all the time now!  I have never been one to have a favorite smell and I always get a new perfume each time I'm out because I like to try new ones, but currently, out of the 3 different brands I use, this one is my favorite.

This product is great for catching fly-aways.  I will put it in damp hair if I am going to blow-dry my hair to help protect it from the heat and when it is dry but a little frizzy I will put a little dab in to tame it down.  Be careful of over-use or too much at once or it can make your hair a little greasy. 

That's all for now, when I get new products (happens rarely as I have no money) I will try to review them on here!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Wedding Quilt

Saturday I began the quilting process! My sister-in-law Elisha took me Joann Fabrics and we picked out some fun colors to use!  She showed me how to cut everything to correct dimensions.  Who knew there was so much math in quilting?!  Time for me to brush up on my addition of fractions skills.  I decided to make a wedding themed quilt for Heath and I.  I'm attempting to make it a queen size, though it may end up being smaller as my sewing machine skills are very low and I end up loosing a lot of fabric with I'm sewing two pieces together.
Elisha's mom let me borrow her sewing machine until I decided whether or not I wanted to buy my own (or get it as a gift, etc).  Here are 4 of the 5 fabrics we chose (I couldn't find a picture of the last one online).

The first fabric (with the wording) is the base fabric I picked out  -- notice the wedding themed wording--and as our bedroom is going to be somewhat brown themed, I thought brown and blue would look nice!



We cut all the fabric into strips of varying sizes and I began sewing them together in rows.  Once I get all the blocks done I will sow the blocks together with it switching between horizontal and vertical direction of the strips.  I'll be sure to post pictures as it is coming together!  Need to get all the blocks done then figure out the next step.  Haven't begun to learn about the backing and a border, etc.

Also, Heath says I need to blog about more exciting things...I just have no idea what is more exciting than quilting!

Friday, June 4, 2010

Fill In The Blank Friday

FILL IN THE BLANK FRIDAY:  Taken from this blog here!

MY DREAM VACATION WOULD BE: Well vacation for me is relaxing, so my dream vacation (not traveling) would be some remote island with not many people and beautiful beaches and warm water and my man (once he's my husband - 3 months!).  My dream traveling vacation would be Israel and all around there.


THE BEST TRIP I'VE EVER TAKEN: was all around Europe.  Went to France, Switzerland, and Italy all in a month.  It was a blast, saw so many things and was blown away by everything.  Wish I could do it again!


THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO TAKE ON A ROAD TRIP: Dramamine!! I get super car sick so road trips are no fun without it.  And snacks and good music you can sing along with.

THE NEXT TRIP I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO IS: my honeymoon to Cabo San Lucas in September. =]

IF I HAD TO PICK ONE CD TO LISTEN TO ON A LONG ROAD TRIP, IT WOULD BE: probably a CD with showtunes/Glee mixes.  Depending on who was riding with me.  Anything I could sing along with at the top of my lungs!

THE BIGGEST DISASTER I'VE ENCOUNTERED WHILE TRAVELING WAS: Probably my trip in southern Spain with Shannon, we missed every bus we tried to catch and our hostel wasn't actually located where they said it was so we almost had to sleep on a bench for a night but then found a hostel with one twin bed we could share.  Disaster, but at the same time extremely fun and an awesome memory.

MY FAVORITE TRAVEL MEMORY: I absolutely loved seeing Monte St. Michael in France.  It was beautiful and fun to hike around the town with my parents and my friend Shannon, then finding our hotel (not easy) and getting there and playing cards all night.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

The End is Just The Beginning

As it gets within the single digit number of days until my college graduation, I can't help but feel a little scared.  Our whole lives are school, all preparing us for reaching "the real world."  Do I feel prepared? No.  Do I feel ready? No.  Am I glad to be done with school? YES.  But now what?  The age old question that you are asked from your Junior year in High School until a little after you graduate from College is: What do you want to do with you life?  My honest answer?  I have no clue. None.  The one that sounds the most appealing? Being a stay-at-home mom.  Is this practical and possible?  Not yet; especially since I don't have any kids and Heath has more schooling before he can be the bread-winner.  So my next best options?  Trying to find a job I don't hate.  I can get along in any job, deal with any type of boss, but I would prefer to have a job I actually enjoy. 
I've come to realize that I really enjoy working with people, but that people also wear me out if I get overly involved, so jobs in social service might be too much.  So what's the next best thing?  Receptionist/Secretarial type work.  It's the perfect balance of customer interaction while still having office work to keep you busy.  I'm really detail oriented and I love being organized.  Most people would criticize someone for aspiring to be a secretary, it's not a career goal most people fantasize about; but I think I would be really good at it and might just enjoy it!  I'm not cut out for the competitive business world, I don't care about reaching the top and climbing some ladder, I just want a job I don't hate.  So here I go, off into the real world to find my calling (as they say), except I've already found my calling, my calling is to serve the Lord, and I realize I can do that anywhere.  So all I ask is for prayer that I will be placed in a job where God can use me.  And if you know of any good job opportunities I suppose passing those along wouldn't hurt either ;-)

Monday, May 31, 2010

Adventure for a New Hobby

I've decided I need a new hobby.  And as I am getting married soon I wanted to choose something that I would be able to do in my spare time at home.  As I look towards marriage and being a wife there are certain traditions I don't want to die off as my generation becomes more and more technologically advanced, more about instant gratification, and less about doing things yourself.  So here are a few things I am going to learn how to do, hopefully before I become a wife (so I have until September!).  Or at least within the first year or so.

1. Learn how to can fruit, make applesauce, etc
2. Learn how to make homemade bread
3. Learn how to quilt
4. Learn how to make my own pie crust and pie filling (the filling I suppose goes under the canning category)
5. This will probably come with quilting but I want to learn how to sow minor things like tears in pants or buttons that have fallen off, etc.

I think 5 is enough for now, though I am sure there will be more things I can think of later on.

So to start off my adventure I am spending next Saturday afternoon/evening with my lovely sister-in-law who quilts and she is going to help get me started!  I'll post about it later.  My current challenge is trying to find an idea for a quilt to make.  I think our future bedroom colors are going to be brown tones, so maybe something for that room.  Or maybe just start with something fun.  Maybe a wedding quilt since our colors are purple and gold (though gold might be hard, maybe make it yellow for the quilt).  Thoughts?

Sunday, May 23, 2010

25 Random Things About Me

1. I love to be organized
2. When my room is slightly messy I feel extremely disorganized in every aspect of my life
3. If I had a cubicle desk job, my desk would be immaculate
4. I don't have a favorite color
5. If you ask me what my favorite color is, I will tell you whatever color I like at the time
6. The color I like at the time usually reflects whichever color I am wearing the most or think looks best on me at said point in time
7. I could live on bread
8. And cheese
9. And water, my favorite drink is a perfectly cold, no ice, glass of water
10. I do like ice in my water when in Europe...why do they like warm water? I do not know
11. I love to travel
12. I am a sucker for new clothes
13. I am a new found believer in paying more money to get a great hair cut by a professional, instead of going to a Great Clips, Perfect Look, etc.
14. I am trying to grow my hair out, wish there was a faster way than just waiting
15. I chew my finger nails when I'm bored
16. I try to paint my finger nails in hopes that this will stop me from biting them (it only delays me by forcing me to chip the color off first)
17. I have weird long toes
18. I wish I could own more shoes
19. I love wearing heels, except that they make me as tall as Heath
20. I'm thankful I'm marrying someone taller than me
21. I want to be an old-fashioned housewife
22.  I want to learn how to quilt, sow, stitch, knit, etc.
23. When I have a place of my own I hope to be very creative in decorating
24.  I attempt to blog to be more creative in my writing
25. Comments fuel my blogging and I try to comment on other people's blogs because I know everyone secretly (if not openly) loves getting comments.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Shedding the Extra Layering

This summer I am going to Mexico with Heath, his parents and my parents.  But over the last few months I have managed to gain some extra weight from eating unhealthily.  So after Christmas  break Heath and I decided to buy a treadmill.  Well the treadmill somehow got lost in transit and for about a month I was calling UPS Freight over and over to see if it had showed up.  Eventually I called Costco (who we had ordered it through) and they said they would ship a new one.  While the order was processing, however, Heath and I noticed that there is a Anytime Fitness (gym) really close to my house.  We canceled the order, got a refund and got a membership to the gym.  So for a couple weeks now we have been working out regularly and it makes me feel really healthy.  Sadly, I have yet to feel like I've been loosing any weight.  I'm sure this isn't true, but it's so hard not to see immediate results, especially in our culture of instant gratification.
I realized that along with working out I really should be working on watching what I consume.  I have gotten in such a bad habit of eating junk food and eating out all the time.  With a busy schedule and working all the time it is really easy to eat what is convenient.  But what is convenient is generally unhealthy.  Also, with being short on money I don't buy as many groceries which means I don't have as many healthy options even when I'm home.  Therefore my new goal is to try and eat healthier.  I was tempted to say no to sugar all together, but I didn't want to be so severe.  Instead, I am  attempting to just eat less sugar.  Like maybe only one item with sugar a day (if any at all).  That way I am not depriving myself of anything somewhat sweet, but instead limiting my intake.  Also when I eat out I will be trying to eat healthier foods.  Heath and I have been on a Subway kick and it is so nice that you can get a foot long sandwich for only 5 dollars. 
This will all start tomorrow, as today I am pretty sure I didn't follow my rules since I had a piece of chocolate and a yummy Jamba Juice (thanks Heath!) and a Slim-fast this morning.  So maybe I will randomly update on here what I've been eating, maybe it will help keep me accountable =]
So hopefully by Mexico I will have a body that I am comfortable enough in that I won't worry about being in a currently dreaded swimsuit!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

What a Keeper!!

Valentine's Day.  A day where those in relationships either do something special in attempt to show their love for the other person or choose to claim it is a "dumb" holiday.  A day where single people either ignore it or claim to hate the holiday with a passion because they are jealous that they cannot fully participate.  While I have always claimed to not care (in a relationship or not), there has always been a secret desire to be swept off my feet romantically (a feeling I think most women have).  Well this year Heath truly went above and beyond!! 
Having heard him boast over his ability to be really romantic when he wanted to, I was curious if I would receive some of this romance or not.  In the days leading up to February 14th I realized I had not heard Heath mention anything.  So I casually reminded him that Sunday was in fact this coveted day of love.  To which he, in surprise, answered that he thought it was next week or something.  This led me to believe that he had forgotten and only had about 2-3 days to do anything.  I began preparing myself for nothing.  Valentine's day would just be another day in the year with nothing special about it at all.  I needed to work on not expecting anything, because expectations are where problems can arise.  I was trying to decide whether or not to do something for him or if that would just make him upset at not doing anything.  I had to work from 4-9 and since Heath had not asked me to get it off I just figured that I would be working with nothing out of the ordinary...
It all started on Saturday night =]  I got off work at 10 and was tired from a surprisingly busy day at the Motel 6 and knowing that I wouldn't get to see Heath until later the next day I was a little saddened.  I walked upstairs to my room and my door was slightly closed, knowing I had left it open I was a little confused.  I opened the door, turned on my light and almost burst into tears of joy! There was my room exactly how I had left it except all the clutter was gone, all the boxes of stuff we were trying to sell was gone, my floor space was cleared and vacuumed and my bed was made.  And to top it all off, sitting on my bed was a heart shaped box of chocolates with a heart balloon attached AND there was a beautiful single red rose in a pretty vase sitting on my nicely cleaned bedside table!!  I was stunned!  I had been complaining for awhile that my room was really messy but I simply didn't have any place to put all the junk.  And now it is all gone!  I just kept walking around my room looking at all the clean surfaces in awe.  I called Heath up to thank him and tell him just how special I felt when he said that that wasn't all!  That there was more to  come tomorrow.  Not knowing what he meant I put it away in my mind, trying to still not have any expectations for what else could be coming.  Let me tell you, I slept like a little kid on Christmas eve.  It took me forever to fall asleep because I was hyped up on surprise. 
Sunday (today), started off slow, went to church which was good and spent the day making Heath a homemade card and some homemade truffles.  Not knowing when exactly I would see Heath, just assuming he would come to work at some point, I tried again, to not have any expectations.  Around 6 Heath showed up with food in hand.  I figured he would just buy food to go and bring it in, but not Heath.  He went above and beyond and made scrumptious coconut shrimp and bacon-wrapped scallops with a side raspberry vinaigrette salad.  It was delicious!!  Again, I thought this was it!  I brought out my truffles and he tried one of each flavor (peppermint, coconut and plain chocolate) saying each one was good.  As I was preparing to settle in to the rest of the evening of work he asked me to close my eyes.  I immediately got really nervous and excited at not know what was next.  When I was allowed to open them there was a beautiful necklace laying  in front of me.    Pictured below =]








All  I  can say is that every other woman should be jealous of the fabulous boyfriend I have! Haha, kidding.
My advice about Valentine's Day is to have no expectations what so ever because then you will be blown away by anything he may or may not do.  If Heath had done nothing it wouldn't have changed my opinion of him or made me feel less loved.  But because he did do something I felt exceptionally special and cared about.  I love Heath and I look forward to each day that I get to tell him that.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Lemon Meringue Tart

I finally cooked something else out of my cookbook!  However, I'm not sure it turned out right.  Heath was craving something lemony, so while he was at work I thought I would try and whip something up.  It was a  lot harder than I thought.  I didn't want to make a pie crust so I bought some premade dough that you just unroll onto your pie or tart dish.  Seems easy right?  Well, it was...until I burn the crust.  You precook it for 9-12 minutes, so at 9 minutes I looked at it and thought it could use just a minute more.  Big mistake.  I got busy juicing lemons and 3-5 minutes later I smelled smoke.  Sure enough, the pie crust was black.  Thankfully the package came with 2 crusts so I quickly cooled the tart pan and rerolled the dough out.  But having sat in the freezer for a few minutes it didn't form to the pan as well and actually cracked in the bottom.  I tried to smooth it all out and patch up the holes, but when I pulled it out of the oven after 9 minutes exactly, the cracks had reappeared.  At least it was nice and golden brown!
Knowing that I would have to whip everything together quickly with the custard and meringue parts I got all my ingredients out ahead of time and even measured them into individual little dishes that my mom got me for Christmas. The recipe calls for 4 eggs, separated, so I tried my luck at moving the yoke back and forth between the two halves of the shells to separate them (since I didn't have an egg separator).  And it worked!  I didn't break any of the yokes or get little shell pieces in them or anything.  I felt very proud of myself.  I made the lemon custard and I believe I was able to cook it correctly.  Though when the directions said simmer until thick I wasn't sure just how thick it needed to be, but I definitely got it thicker than it was when I put it in the pan to simmer.  Then I put it in the cooked pie crust and went to make the meringue.
Now comes the hard part.  I have heard in the past that making a meringue topping is difficult...and now I believe it.  The instructions simply stated to whip the eggs until foamy, whip in the cream of tarter until it forms soft peaks and slowly add in the sugar. So on my first attempt (yes, there were two) I beat the eggs until they looked foamy to me, and then added in the cream of tarter and beat....and beat...and beat...and it wasn't getting firm, so I added the sugar and continued to beat.  It was getting nowhere.  I set it aside and started over.  Separated egg whites, measured out the ingredients, etc.  This time the eggs quickly got "foamy" and I added the cream of tarter and it got much thicker.  Thinking I was along the right path I checked to see if there were "soft peaks" and to the best of my knowledge there were.  So I slowly added the sugar.  But as I was adding the sugar it seemed to be loosing its firmness.  I didn't have enough eggs to start again so I called it good and put it on top of the custard filling.  Next was to put it in the oven for around 12 minutes or until meringue was lightly browned.  Well after about 6 minutes or so it was light brown and I didn't want it to burn like the crust had, so I took it out.
Since it needed to cool completely I set it on a wire rack and went upstairs.  When I came back down the meringue had separated from the edge, even though I had made sure it touched the edges.  There was clear liquid in the areas where the meringue had separated. I had to go to work so I just put it in the fridge.  I hope that it at least tastes good since it now looks kind of funny.
Not sure I will attempt a meringue pie again for awhile.  Two plus hours of work and the result was not very appealing.  I'm just hoping the taste makes up for the look. 


This is what I WISH it looked like:
If anyone else has made a lemon meringue pie I would love some tips!  I assume I still didn't beat the meringue long enough, I just didn't want to over do it.  I'll be sure to post how it turned out and maybe some pictures of the funny looking result. =]

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Answer to Prayer

God is so good!  I just wanted to write down in words how God has been answering my prayers lately.  Calvary Chapel (the church I call home) has recently decided to try something new called "house churches."  This doesn't mean that the normal Sunday service is gone, but it is something on top of that.  House churches are a way for the body to fellowship together and get involved.  There are about 20 different house churches as of now that each meet a different night.  Our pastor challenged us to pick a night and a house church and attend for an 8 week commitment.  Heath and I saw this as a perfect opportunity to meet new people and get more involved at Calvary.  Let me just tell you, it has been such a blessing and an answer to prayer!  Already we have met some wonderful people at our house church.  We come together (ours has about 41 people) and meet to pray, talk about the Sunday message and fellowship together.  Having felt the need to have deeper christian relationships with those who would be able to help mentor us we have been working on getting together outside of the house church with some people.  I know God is going to use these House Churches in ways I can't even fathom for anyone who attends.  Already it has been so great for Heath and I.  One specific example that stands out to me happened last week. 
We broke into smaller groups of about 10-15 for prayer time and Heath and I decided to go into separate groups.  In my group the prayer requests were very touching, parents calling out for their spouses, sons and/or daughters to be saved or helped in some way or another.  I sat there in silence as I realized how deeply they were all burning for their loved one's hearts to follow Christ, something I won't fully know about until I'm older with kids of my own.  But as I sat there, praying for them I was trying to come up with my own prayer requests.  All I could think of seemed minuscule in comparison to some of their hurts, the most I could come up with was help in paying off my debt.  More specifically, help in trusting God that I will be able to pay off my debt fast.  Feeling like it would seem trivial to share, I decided that I wouldn't and instead just prayed in my head about it during periods of silence.  But I still seemed to feel doubtful that God would be able to provide the money to pay it off.  My goal is to pay it off in a year and with the current income that I have I didn't know how I would be able to.  Logistically it just didn't seem possible.  I sat there in my doubts when one of the gentlemen in the group said something that really moved me.  Something I've heard before, but is always good to hear again.  He spoke about how we need to come to God in prayer with a spirit of forcefulness, a spirit of knowing God can and will answer our prayers.  Something I wasn't seemingly able to do.  I just didn't know how God could make it happen.  But after these words of coming to God in this way, I started adjusting the tone of my prayers in my head.  Instead of prayers full of doubt they turned to prayers full of conviction and asking, knowing God would answer them in the way He felt best.
So I left feeling a little better, but still not knowing how God would choose to answer this prayer.  Then I got to work on Friday.  Come to find out Heather (the other girl who works there) is finally quitting! She was supposed to quit in September but she didn't and she was taking hours that I was supposed to be working.  I asked my boss again and again when her last day was and I believe it is this Thursday, which means next week I can start working at least 2 more days, if not 3.  This is such and blessing and an answer to prayer.  I hadn't asked that God would make her quit, I had simply asked that he would provide other ways of earning money and sure enough, He did.  What an awesome God we have. One step closer to paying off that debt of mine!

Here is a link to a song that Heath showed me that we have really enjoyed listening to.  It is called "How Many Kings" by Downhere.  Click here to listen to it!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Debt-Be-Gone!

As I get closer to finishing college forever I realize there are things I must face about "the real world" that I have ignored until now.  As Heath and I discussed our future together we came to realize that I have more debt than I realized.  I had to take out a loan to pay for college and now that I am close to being done I realize that I have to pay it off.  A loan is not free money, instead it will come back to bite you in the butt later on.  Sadly, in my naivety I didn't save a penny during college.  Not until Heath came along that is.  Now, my debt may seem small in comparison to those who had to take out loans for a private school, but the ways they affect me are still great.  Heath and I know that when we get married we will have bills to pay, bills that up until then our parents have graciously paid for.  So our goal is to pay off my debt before we get married.  As severe as that seemed to me at first, I now know the benefit of it.  With faith in God I have no doubt that we will be able to fully pay off my debt as fast as possible.  Already we have lowered it faster than I thought we would.  Heath has been so loving and kind in accepting my debt as his own and working with me to pay it off.  God has truly blessed me with someone who sees the value in not having outstanding debts and to be wise about the ways you spend your money.  These are all things that I just never gave much thought to. 
So far Heath and I have been utilizing craigslist.com to sell instruments, electronics and whatever else we can manage to find.  We have also been using half.com to sell old books, CD's, and DVD's to get a little profit that adds up quickly.  So my question for you is, do you have any special methods for making money quickly?  If so, I would love to hear some recommendations as I am constantly trying to save and make money where I can.  Both Heath and I work and every penny that isn't going towards expenses is going straight to my debt.  I am so blessed by Heath and it hurts my heart to know I am the one who is bringing the burden of debt into this relationship.  But the lessons I am learning and the knowledge I am gaining about Heath is something I am glad to learn now instead of later in life.  By dealing with these issues now we save ourselves the potential of pain and frustration in our future.  =]

Sunday, January 17, 2010

BOOKS!

You may be wondering what I have been up to lately that has made me neglect updating my blog. If you think school, then you are mostly wrong. Yes, school does take up time but recently I have been spending way too much time reading books for fun. Eventually school will become so hectic that I will no longer have the time to read for pleasure. But while I can I have become a reading machine! I have been utilizing the fabulous resource called a Library and have been reading tons of books for free! Sadly, I cannot keep these books to build my own library. My own library will have to wait until I have oodles of money, no debt and a perfect space to house my lovely books.
Taking some hints from my beautiful sister-in-law, who has her own reading blog which you can read here, I have decided to let the world wide web know what I have been reading. If instead of reading this blog you would like a snapshot glance at what I have been reading, go to this fabulous online bookshelf site here! On this site, called shelfari.com, I add the books I have read, am reading, and will read and give mini reviews to most of the books I have finished. If you read as much as I do you should definitely get one. I find it is a perfect way to keep track of what books I have read.

Below is a guide to "my" rating system which I will use for each book. (Taken from Elisha's reading blog :] )

0- Burn it. It will be a way better use of your time than reading it!
1- Terrible. Just plain terrible.
2- Don't bother opening it; the cover is the best part.
3- Bleh. I wouldn't bother, but maybe you have more patience.
4- Could be good with a little work.
5- Pretty good, for the most part.
6- Good. Solidly good.
7- Great. This book is worth reading AND recommending.
8- Holy Cow! This book rocks my socks off, but isn't the best book I've ever read.
9- Top 20 - this books tops the charts of my favorite books!
10- THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST STINKIN' BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ!!!!!!


Since I have recently read multiple books I won't create a separate blog for each one, instead just list a few here with the rating. If you have read or do read any of these books, let me know what you think!!


First book: "How Not to be Popular" by Jennifer Ziegler































This book is really cute. It is about a high school girl who moves around a bunch. She decides at the next school that to avoid getting attached and then having heartache when she is

forced to move again, she will be unpopular. The writing is witty and fun to read. I would probably recommend it more for girls as it is from her perspective. Not that some guys wouldn't enjoy it, but overall it was quite the girly book. I would give it between a 6- Good. Solidly good. and a 7- Great. This book is worth reading AND recommending.
It isn't the most original book and the plot is pretty predictable, hence the lower score. But still recommending it.

Next:

"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
























This was a really engaging read. I definitely recommend it. The story is from three different women's point-of-view and the writing style is brilliant. It takes place in Mississippi in the 1960's and deals with issues of black women maids. Two of the women are maids, one a quite devote woman and the other a fiery woman who has a bad habit of speaking her mind. The other woman is a white college graduate who decides to write down the stories of multiple maids in a book. Their journey of writing this book and working for certain people is both moving and adventurous. I would give it an 8- Holy Cow! This book rocks my socks off, but isn't the best book I've ever read.


OK, so I have read a multitude of books that I obviously haven't posted here, but I'm running short on time. I will continue posting the books I have read/am reading so keep checking back if you're interested!