Well, amigos...I'mma taking a break. I've been feeling kinda "blah" about blogging lately...
So yeah. I'll be back. Eventually.
I may still hop on and read some of your blogs here and there though :)
(And of course, my lack of inspiration comes right during Jocee's blog party. *sigh*)
Update/rant (from like, an hour later): I remember now why I never post anything on Facebook anymore. Because people leave irritating comments. And then I end up deleting the entire status anyway, because I'd just rather not deal with it, and because I'm all agitated. Gah. I'm just gonna quit Facebook, besides for communication purposes. I'm back to being status-quiet! I quit! It is now merely a site for me to contact people when need be. Because I said so. Yep, I'm officially starting my break now. Ay ay ay!
So, obviously I'm joining in on the lovely Jocee's blog party! Jocee's this awesome girl who's got a blog called "The Cupcake Dictionary", where she never fails to brighten my day with her peppy posts, neverending pictures of cupcakes, and lotsa fangirling over Peter Pevensie; all of which are very enjoyable! So if you haven't already, go on over and check her blog out! You shan't regret it ;) Oh, and join in on the party while you're over there :D
What would your dream summer vacation be? Ireland! Because it's beautiful and magical and I really really want to go there. I'd vacation there during any season, not just summer ;)
After a rainstorm, what you think of when you see the sun peeking out from the clouds? "Ah, at last"
If you were stranded on a desert island with the sun streaming down on you and had ONE palm tree for shade, you can only have three things with you; what would they be? Hmmm. Well, my Bible for one. I feel like I'd be getting lots of reading time in. I wouldn't mind taking my iPod...but I suppose it'd die at some point. Oh well, I'd take it. And...a journal (with a pen magically attached to it, so that it doesn't count as a separate item)!
Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry or neopolitan? Ooooh neopolitan! Because with neopolitan, you can have whatever you want :)
If you saw your celebrity crush walking down the beach with a surfboard, what would you do? Probably just stand there, all awe struck. But in my mind, I'd totally go through all of these clever things to say: if it were Leo DiCaprio, "Jack!! You're alive!!!" *snicker*. If it were Johnny Depp, "Jack!! You're alive!!!" *snicker snicker!!* okay, except that I don't know if Jack Sparrow ever seemingly dies...it's been a while since I've seen any of the movies.
If you went back in time for a day, what era would you go back to, and why? Whatever era Anne of Green Gables is set in! Oh, how wonderful!
What's your favorite thing about waking up on a summer morning? The birds singing outside my window :D
Your soundtrack or theme song(s) for the summer: "Grenade", by Bruno Mars! Cause baby, I would catch a grenade for youuu!! No, no, jk, jk. Definitely "Hakuna Matata". ;)
Say you went to California to visit family. What's the first thing you would buy? Something uniquely Californian! :D
Manicure, pedicure, or facial? Manicure, please.
What's your favorite color combination? Pink and orange! The colors of my room :D
If you were at the beach and you wanted to write a message in the sand, what would you write? "Meow meow meow" with a smiley faced kitty next to it :)
You're stuck in Paris with $10,000. What do you do? I totally find some sort of show to go to. Window shop; except that I can totally buy the stuff I see in the windows ;) Buy a Parisian puppy. Go see the Eiffel Tower!
What's your most favorite type of summer weather? When it's warm, but breezy, with only a few clouds here and there :D
Blowing bubbles while taking a bubble bath? Oh, of course!
Cupcakes or dictionaries? Cupcakes, for sure!! Yummm :D :D :D
I'm so excited to see what other things Jocee will be having for her blog party! Ooooh how fun :D
~I officially, desperately want to go see Spiderman on Broadway. Oooh my gosh.
And it's only a couple hours away! And only a couple hundred dollars!! :| I'll just ignore the fact that there's absolutely no one I know who would go with me...grrrowl.
By the way, is that guy not soo much more, uh, how to phrase this...okay: I'd rather see him in the movies than Tobey Maguire. I mean, Tobey Maguire's totally geeky, so it's awesome to see him be all like, "yeahhh I'm Spiderman!!", but this guy's like, super tiny. And he has geeky potential. So it's even cooler for HIM to be all macho, and like "yeahhh I'm Spiderman!"
Nooo, I do not just want to go see the show because this guy is in it...*cough*
Thank you, American Idol.
~Oh, speaking of American Idol!! So they're supposedly auditioning like, an hour away from here for the next season. I've heard it costs nothing to try out. So it's like, this moment of "To do or not to do?" Wouldn't it be so fun to just try out? Meet Ryan Seacrest?? Okay, that'd be cool. We'll see.
But I had this total moment last night during the American Idol finale, where this 16 year old guy (who won!) was singing with Tim McGraw, and I just thought "Wow! He was just living life, going to high school, yadda yadda a year ago, and now, he's singing with Tim McGraw! Whoa." Oh yeah, and now, he's the new American Idol! Whoa, jump back!
By the way, Casey should've won. For sure.
~So I bought these pretty little Yankee Candle air fresheners called "Midsummer's Night". But it turns out they smell like guys cologne. So then, my car smelled like there'd been like, 4 over-cologned guys in it all at once. Ickyyy. The best part of it all though was the comments: from my aunt, "Does it at least smell like a good-looking guy??"; the lady at the store, "Young girls LOVE this scent! They say it smells like a cute boy!"
Well, that's all fine and good, but I don't want my car to smell like that. Blech.
So I went back and got "Coconut Bay", instead :D
~I suddenly feel as if I've betrayed Tobey Maguire...my childhood Spidey...Great. Now I feel bad. But then...I listen to Reeve Carney (that's the other guy's name) sing...and I feel better.
Aww dagnabbit. I had go find a picture of Tobey Maguire and now I feel this odd sense of guilt again. It's like when you say something mean to somebody who wasn't expecting it...and then you feel all nauseous cause you know you were such a jerk.
It's times like these where I wish I was one of those girls with like, 3,000 friends. Because then, when she's ridiculously bored (like I am right now), she can be all like, "Hey, friend #1! Let's do something!! Oh, you can't? Okay, okay." ... "Hey, friend #2! Let's do something!! Oh you can't? Okay, okay." ..."Hey, friend #3!..."
You get it.
I'm so bored. And now I've officially got the driving itch. I just want to go drive around! But alas, I was already in town today. I went to Walmart. I went to the Christian bookstore. Ha, I even went to Dairy Queen (I officially do NOT like there strawberry lemonades. Sorry, amigo!). I also went to the mall. Sooo there's officially like, nowhere else to go. Dagnabbit. Plus, I don't want to waste too much gas going back and forth from town...Gah.
BUT my brother was supposed to bring me the first 3 Pirates of the Caribbean movies so that I could watch them, and therefore watch the 4th one...and he didn't. So I could always go to the video store. But that's another trip to town...
Okay, so now I'm being antisocial, as my family sits outside. I guess I should go join them...Yeah, that'd be nice.
Or I could go read. I'm currently reading "Where the Heart is". It's so cute! And Novalee is such a snazzy name...
Too bad I don't play video games.
Or ever go to bed early. Wait a second...it's only 6 o'clock! No no no. That's not even a viable option.
If I had printed out pictures, I'd totally scrapbook...but I don't.
Maybe I'll go across the street and see the kittens at my Nana's house!! Ahh! I may have to do that.
~So it's storming here. And the wind is really loud. And as I sit here, downstairs, by my lonesome, all I can think about is the Wizard of Oz...how much I hate the Wizard of Oz...how much I would NOT want to be carried away into a land of munchkins and evil witches! *shudder*
~Over this past week, there have been several instances where I've just been so touched, to the point of tearing up, the most recent being that tonight when I came out of work, there were my grandparents sitting there in their car: they were worried about me driving home when it was storming, so they came over to follow me home! :') Is that not the sweetest thing ever?
I also found out tonight that I got an anonymous donation in my Dominican Republic account...so encouraging! Speaking of youth group and such, I was so blessed by the little messages written on my poster that was made for me at youth group (all the seniors got one), and also so wonderfully blessed by a message our small group leader taped for us before she went on vacation! I had to hold back some serious tears for that one...I need to "count my blessings, not my worries" more often ;)
~On the other hand, I'm suddenly feeling a little bit nervy and antsy about life. I mean, I'm a senior. And I think that it's just now really hitting me. I feel nauseous.
~Only 25 days until I leave for my trip! I'm so excited...but it's going to be difficult. We had our first actual meeting with the Meeting God in Missions guy yesterday, and he was telling us about the trip and such, and he said "The last day will be the hardest, because all of those kids are going to want to come home with you. They'll break your heart". I haven't even gone yet...and I already want to go back.
~I found a kindred spirit today :) She's this new girl at work, and she's just great...plus she loves Anne and Gilbert! I mean, it's just such a magical moment when you find someone else that loves Anne! It makes me think of the CS Lewis quote, "Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one!". Now, of course, I'm not the only one who loves Anne, but I've found it rare to find others who even know who she is :(
~So we found this picture of a cat dressed like Frodo Baggins in a silly cat book tonight. It was SO awesome.
~Have I ever told you guys that I wish that I could have a cat? Yes? Oooh I see. Well, either way. I still want one. ;)
~Having Katy Perry's "Firework" song pop up over on the side of the Youtube video I was watching has inspired me to share this lovely quote with you from Mark Hall, the lead singer of Casting Crowns:
"Contrary to popular music, you are more than a "firework". A firework pops once then disappears. You are a city on a hill. Keep shining!"
~I'm really liking this song. A lot. And hey, anybody that says that guy doesn't sound like Nick Jonas is ridiculous. He totally does.
Yeahhh something just flew past my head. I'm going up to my room now. Bye ya'll! :D
So Jamie, over at Through Two Blue Eyes actually made me an award!! Nobody's ever made me an award before! I feel beyond honored! Thanks, Jamie!! :D
So this beautiful award comes with a tag, and I'm allowed to pass it on to others! (Yay!)
Which would you prefer; carousel or Ferris wheel?
Carousel for sure! Heights freak me out :o
A ten dollar bill or two fives?
A ten dollar bill! It's just so much...snazzier.
What is one of your favorite pastimes? Why is it? Do you benefit from it?
Well, I like to watch Gilmore Girls...and I mean, a lot. As in, I watch it a ton. Every day. It just makes me happy! And I mean, I learn life lessons, kindof haha. What not to do...what to do...words like "shnicklefritz". Soo beneficial.
Coffee mug, thermostat or a tall glass?
Huh. Ummm tall glass!
Stain glass windows or windows with lace?
Oooh that's a good question. Well, I like windows with lace in a home. But stained glass windows anywhere else are pretty wicked sweet.
Cubed ice or crushed ice?
Crushed, for sure!
A shopping trip downtown or a picnic in the country?
A picnic in the country. Prettier, AND less expensive. Win.
Would you rather sleep in a single bed or at the top of a bunkbed?
Okay, here's the deal: I have a queen bed. It's pretty big. I don't think I could share it with anyone else. I'm like, all over the place. Soo I'd probably end up falling off of either of the two options up there! Haha :)
When you marry, will your bed be super soft and large or will it have a canopy over it?
Option numero uno!
What is the song you sing more frequently than others?
Actually, the song "Lighthouse" by Nickel Creek. It's just so lovely!
These gals all have awesome posts, that I superbly enjoy reading. (Jocee does too, of course, I can't leave her out, but she already got her own pre-made award!! Hehehee sorry Jocee ;)
has ridiculous hair that's neither straight nor curly, but frustratingly in between (and no, that's not me, hahaha).
can't wait to have a library in her house someday.
can't stand watching suspenseful movies, even if Johnny Depp is in it, and well...he's Johnny Depp ;)
wishes she could dance, but hasn't a bit of rhythm.
refuses to dye her hair.
loves sad songs (and sad movies) (and sad books!).
very much enjoys orange tic tacs...thus has a whole lot of appreciation for when Juno fills Paulie Bleeker's mailbox with orange tic tacs. Sooo awesome.
sometimes feels like she has no personality...but then other times feels like she has too much of a personality. Hmm...
thinks Bambi is an outrageously intense movie!! Egads.
wouldn't mind some M&M's right now...Mini M&M's, to be specific.
loves having blue eyes, but is more attracted to brown (curious, eh?).
thinks Julia Roberts is positively beautiful...
knows what it's like to be a silly teenage girl (even for just a little bit) ;)
is going to go curl up in her cozy warm bed, and maybe turn on the Great Mouse Detective for a bit, and feel all warm and fuzzy inside because of it. Ah, I love that movie.
~I got my first Hawk Nelson CD today! At Salvo!! For two bucks!!! Yay!
~There are 8 June bugs (or rather, Japanese beetles) outside of our door right now. Boo. (and
ick!)
~Oh yeah! Blogger is working again!! I'm so happy. I felt so sad last night, with nothing to read...yay!
~We don't have any brown sugar. If we did, I'd totally make chocolate chip cookies. Yum! But alas, boo.
~1. I got my car back from the garage today (where an in-total 900 dollar job was done), and it worked!!! It actually happily sped up, and all was good, and I couldn't stop saying "It's so cool to have a car that works!!" Yay!
~2. About ten minutes after the last "This is so cool!", steam parts pouring out from under the hood, mom freaks out, thinking it's going to explode (*rolls eyes*), and so we pull over, and the car is officially broken down. Thus, it had to be towed. And Berlioz is now back at the garage. *sigh*. Boo.
~This song is currently FREE on iTunes!! I definitely downloaded it. Yay!
~I had to get a shot yesterday for my trip to the Dominican this summer, and everyone's been making fun of my pain. Because it hurt. But they're all making fun of me for saying that it hurt. But it did! And it still does! It feels like I got punched six times in a row on my arm! Everyone's just mean to me. Boo. *sniffle*
~Ummm yeah, I get to leave for the Dominican Republic in a little over a month for a missions trip! Ahh yay!
~I wish I had a pet raccoon. Or a cat. But I can't have either. Booo.
~*whispers* a ton of people on Amazon share my views of Mockingjay. yay ;)
~I'm running out of things to say "boo" about...boo? Nah, not really :D
Okay. My mind is shot. I'm out of things to share. I had a whole list of ideas in my head earlier, but now they're all gone! You'll have to forgive my scatter-brained-ness. ;)
All right, so listen. I just want to make myself clear. "Mockingjay" did not bother me so much because it scared me, or because it saddened me...it was the overwhelming amount of violence found in its pages. If this book were transferred exactly as it is to a movie, it would be rated R; in other words, not for the teens or children who are reading it!
Maybe it just bothers me so much because I'm a visual reader; when I read, it's like there's a movie playing in my head. I actually get used to the faces, the voices of the characters, and that's why I get so involved in the books that I do read. But the downfall with that is that anything that's super-awesome, or super-horrible will stick in my mind for a very long time afterwards. Thus, it took me nearly an hour to fall asleep last night because I could not get the faces of all the people I'd just seen killed out of my mind (I know that sounds silly since it's a book, but like I said, I'm visual). I did, in fact, have haunted dreams throughout the night, and when I woke up, I was still bombarded with the images I'd seen.
I know I'll probably annoy some of you with this post (since I just posted on it), but I just have this overwhelming urge to stop people from reading this book!! Not because the story was bad, or because Suzanne Collins is a bad author, but because I just can't bear the thought of other people having these images stuck in their minds; one of those images being the graphically detailed murder of a large group of children. Yes, children. And for those of you who've read the first or second book, I'm not talking about the tributes.
All I know is that I want to shield whoever I possibly can from those pictures I'm sure will not be wanting to leave my head any time soon. It makes me sick now every time I think about all of the people, including little girls, asking for this book at our book store.
I'm glad we don't sell it.
This will be my last rant about the book. But please, please take what I've said into consideration. Adieu, friends.
So it's actually only been a few hours since I posted that last post where I was all too excited about finishing the book "Mockingjay" (the third Hunger Games book), and expressed my love for the series, and yadda yadda.
Well, I'm not feeling so good about that now. In fact, my opinion has been completely turned around with finishing the third book. Without giving away any specific spoilers, I don't think I've ever read anything so disturbing in all my life; yes, the other two books in the series aren't the brightest books I've ever read either: but the final installment just reaches a new level that was just a bit too much for me to handle. I don't know that a book has ever impacted me so negatively before; so much so that I had to bring it downstairs after I was finished, because I don't even want it in my room.
The author makes these books so real, as she writes it from Katniss' point of view, in the present tense. I actually don't know if that's what you'd call it...but it's written in the style of "I'm doing this, I'm feeling this, I'm seeing this", so that it's as if the reader is Katniss, if that makes sense. So as you get attached to characters around her, and then they're mercilessy killed, it has an impact on you. And if you're me, the kind of person who gets way too into the books she's reading, it's just...not a good experience. At all. Enough so, that I actually get upset when I think of certain characters. (I know, I know, "it's just a book". Well, I don't care).
I loved the first book. It caught my interest, drew me in like no other book has ever done before. Katniss may just be the best book character I've ever "encountered", and I almost can't help but think that turning her into a movie character is something she, as a character, would be disgusted at ;)
But nonetheless, if I'm being honest, I truly cannot recommend these books to anyone. Near the end, I was hardly able to finish it...but of course, I just had to know what happened. And I did, in fact, mostly like the very final ending of the book. But at the same time, I didn't. I would've liked more explanation. But alas, my journey through the Hunger Games series is over, and I'm pretty positive it's going to stay over.
I'm also pretty positive I'll be having some frightening dreams tonight.
(I'm even debating on just staying up a while longer, simply because I know for a fact I'm going to have messed up dreams. Blahhh)
Soo it's been a while blogger pals. So I'm sure you're just dying to know my latest thoughts and happenings, eh? ;)
1. Okay, so our youth group went to this thing called Global Impact this past weekend, where we went to this ginormous church, had a morning service, went and did a service project, then had an evening service. It was a pretty awesome experience, and there was this amazing band leading worship, called "Red Letter Hymnal". I'm highly doubting that any of ya'll have heard of them, because I'd never even heard of them, and they're from Pittsburgh (like, 45 minutes away)! But they're great. You should listen to this song. I'm obsessing over it.
On a side note, I just don't think it's good to have attractive boy bands at youth events. I'm not even one of those boy-crazy girls, and I was distracted.
Awkward.
I'm just being honest though!!
2. I've been told twice now that it's "not good" for me to wear my diamond ring on my ring finger, because 1. it will make guys think that I'm already married, engaged, whatever, and 2. because I need to have a specific reason for wearing it on that finger. Well, guess what! Tooo bad! I'm wearing it there, because it's the finger it fit best, and now I'm too used to it to move it, AND if it keeps creepers away because they think I'm married, boo-yah! I'm thinking that wearing a ring won't stop me from meeting/interacting with the guy God has for me. Because I mean, if it's the guy God has for me, it's gonna happen. Ya know what I'm saying? See, my guy will be like Noah Calhoun: persistent. And he'll just find out on his own, by asking *cough* what my ring means. So there!
Okay, rant is over.
3. Okay, so I read the Hunger Games pretty much right after it came out, and fell in love with it. But alas, about a year and a half ago, I lent it out to a girl I worked with, and then we stopped working together, and so we never saw each other, and have only seen each other once in the last year. So I haven't quite gotten my book back, and of course, during all this time, the third book has come out!! And I've been unable to read it, because I needed to reread the first two first. So I finally gave in, and just rebought the first one and reread it, and fell in love all over again. And goodness my gracious. I. love. these. books. SO MUCH. I don't know that I've ever loved a book so much, no joke.
On a (somewhat) side note, the past couple of days, everytime I've seen a guy with long, dark hair, I can't help but think of Gale, and swoon a little bit.
Gosh, I'm such a book nerd.
(Also, I had to cover my eyes as I was browsing weheartit for that picture, because I absolutely REFUSE to look at the cast for the movie until I'm done with the third book. I don't even know if I'll watch the movie yet. If it ruined the book, I seriously think that a piece of me would just die.)
4. I've got a story to tell you, to brighten your day. So a while ago, Lisa Terkeurst, a Christian author, came and spoke at our church, and she told us this adorable story! See, she has two adopted sons, both whom are African, while she and her biological children are quite white, haha. So once, she and all of her children are in Wal-Mart and this lady comes up to her and says, "Ooh, different dads?" and while Lisa was shocked, speechless even, her little daughter steps up, puts her hands on her hips, and says, "Well, let me 'splain it to ya. When my mommy was pregnant with my brudders, she drank lotsa chocolate milk." Hahahhaha!!! SO cute
5. My Christian sisters (and brothers), I'm in desperate need of new music. Now, I'm pretty caught up on the more popular stuff, but can any of you give me some other suggestions?? I need new stuff! I can't take it anymore!
(ps: that skirt is way too short. Egads.)
6. My dress for my cousin's wedding came in, and so we have to go pick it up in the next two weeks. I have this horrible fear that it's not going to fit me. *shudder*
(and that is the dress, but our shade of blue is a bit darker :D )
7. OH so I kinda sorta got a car! But I mean, at the moment, it's very literally "kinda sorta". Like, it works, but it doesn't work. It needs a new transmission, so it doesn't much wanna speed up *cough*. Which is a little bit scary when I'm driving home from work, and it just falls down to 5 mph because I'm going up a hill :o. But uh, it's getting fixed! I've already got it all spiffied up, and I've named it Berlioz; Yes, after the black kitty in the Aristocats. Though it's actually white...but it totally gives off that "I'm a boy" vibe, so I couldn't exactly name it Marie. I could name it Mario though....whoa!!! Snazzy! I have to think about this.
(and that picture is it!! Well, for the most part. I mean, that's the exact car, but not. You know what I'm saying? Yes. You do.) ;)
8. So I feel like I've been crazy busy. I've not been reading blogs. My room is a mess. I haven't helped clean the house in forever. Gah.
9. It's really awesome when you get a peace about something. Especially when you can just tell that it's a God-given peace. It's so nice to not stress over something that doesn't even need to be stressed over. And then you're just happy to stick with the thought that God'll take care of it all.
Okay, I'mma go dive back into Mockingjay until I pass out. G'night all! :D
