Book Lover

I borrowed today's post from Ashley at Uniqueness of Being. I love books and I could go on and on about a book if anyone cared to listen to me, which is why today's post was a must! 

What are you reading right now?
1984 by George Orwell for the teen book club I run. I'm also in the middle of a few excerpts of The Canterbury Tales for my lit class. 

Do you have any idea what you’ll read when you’re done with that?
My entire bookcase that I have been neglecting since I started back to school. More specifically  The Labyrinth of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers and Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore

What 5 books have you always wanted to read but haven’t got round to? 
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Running with the Demon by Terry Brook (side story to this one. I think I'm fated to NEVER finish this book. I've started reading it about 8 times and then stop and pick it up a few years later and have to start over because it's been so long since I last read it and then the cycle begins all over again!)
The Stand by Stephen King...the size of this book terrifies me just about as much as anything Mr. King writes
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

What magazines do you have in your bathroom/lounge right now?
Glamour, Reader's Digest, The Handyman (for Dave)

What’s the worst book you’ve ever read?
The easy answer could be Twilight series...but I'll take the higher road here. The only book I could never finish in my life because I hated it so much was Helen of Troy by Margaret George. I know it's not supposed to follow the original myth to a "T" but this author took so many liberties with the story I almost threw the book across the room in a rage. I don't think it helps that I'm such a Greek myth fanatic.

What book seems really popular but you actually hated? 
I never read it but I did read a few pages...the Fifty Shades of Grey series. I'm sorry, and if that got you to pick up a book, that's great, but for me personally the few pages I read felt like a third grader with vast sexual knowledge and an incredibly dirty mind wrote the book. 

What’s the one book you always recommend to just about everyone? 
The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Blue Bear by Walter Moers. I loved this book so much I bought all of his other books and fell in love with them too. Go read it!

What are your 3 favorite poems? 
 "i carry your heart with me" by e.e. cummings
"Stop all the Clocks, cut off the Telephone" by W.H. Auden
"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost

Here's "Stop all the Clocks..." from Four Weddings and a Funeral:

I love "He was my North, my South, my East, my West. My working week, my Sunday rest." If that doesn't describe someone who means something to you, I don't know what does.

Where do you usually get your books?
Book sales and then stores that sell books a bit cheaper like Target, Walmart and BJ's. Book sales make me feel like a little kid at Christmastime.

Where do you usually read your books?
Everywhere, but I would say more often than not in my car on my lunch break. 

When you were little, did you have any particular reading habits? 
Yes, I shut my door and spent my entire summer reading books in my room. My mom used to yell at me to go outside and play or come out in the living room and spend time with the family. No thanks, I'll just read. I've always been an early riser so I would just grab my book and read for a few hours in the morning waiting for everyone else to wake up. I still do that now, just with my phone instead of my books, I need to get back into the habit of grabbing a book instead of my phone.

What’s the last thing you stayed up half the night reading because it was so good you couldn’t put it down?
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.  I know I said it before here, but my fingers literally itched to pick the book back up when I was done I enjoyed it so much.

Have you ever “faked” reading a book? 
Most of the stuff I have to read in my Lit class. Beowulf? Sorry I wikipedia'd that.

Have you ever bought a book just because you liked the cover?
Not necessarily. I've picked up books because the cover intrigued me, but I always read the synopsis first before I buy and if it's one of those books that doesn't have it (like the back cover is all praise for the book and none of what it's about) I probably won't buy it unless I know in advance that I want it.

What was your favourite book when you were a child?
I had a few...
The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales
The Paperbag Princess
The Secret of NIMH
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

What book changed your life? 
I can't think of a book that comes to mind that has changed my life, per se. A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore did pull me out of a reading slump I was in for a few years.

What is your favorite passage from a book?

"I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else." 
— Neil Gaiman (The Ocean at the End of the Lane)

"Nobody's perfect. Well, there was this one guy, but we killed him...." 
— Christopher Moore (Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal)

"Where shadows dim with shadows mate,
in caverns deep and dark.
Where old books dream of bygone days,
when they were wood and bark..." 
— Walter Moers (The City of Dreaming Books (Zamonia, #4))

Who are your top five favorite authors? 
Walter Moers, Christopher Moore, J.K. Rowling, Jen Lancaster, Rick Riordan

That's what I got for this list! I would love to hear your responses to these questions!

End of the Week Roundup

Hello! Another end of the week is upon us....if you are a return guest, have you noticed my new page design? Be kind, I have no graphic design experience whatsoever and I did it all by myself! Haha!

Here is this week's roundup:

1. Beware parents and future parents...someday I will be teaching your children....

To be fair, I was working upside down, and I caught it immediately. But still...

2. Sunday night our neighbors invited Dave and I out to dinner at our local Hibachi. I'm pretty sure that's a chain restaurant, but if you've never been it's really neat. They cook the food in front of you and put on a little show with the food they're cooking with. It was fun and I really enjoyed spending time with my neighbors. 

3. Sometimes I completely forget that I have a really great view outside my house. I took this picture out my guest bedroom window Sunday morning and it really made me appreciate my house a little more. 

4. My one professor cancelled my Wednesday morning class so I took the opportunity to go to my favorite place--Panera Bread--and catch up on studying and research for papers I need to write. One of my absolute favorite past times is catching breakfast at Panera by myself with something good to read. This particular outing was made better by an adorable baby boy who spent his entire time there trying to get my attention and then giving me a big wide smile every time I looked up. I forgot to get a picture before I scarfed everything down because bagels and cream cheese make me happy. Enjoy my empty cup picture:

5. Since it's gotten colder in my area, I have an extra blanket on my bed. It's soft and heavy, which keeps me really warm. It's also the boy's favorite spot to sleep. I washed the comforter Sunday and Squishee made it apparent that he loved the just washed feeling. I don't think Squish could have shoved his face any further into the blanket. It was just too cute!

That's it for this week's roundup, how was your week?

Linking up with Lauren, Lauren, and Lindsey!

                                      

Keep Moving Forward

So Monday the haters struck again. These are people I have to deal with on a regular basis. I'm going to be honest, I really let it get to me. I was so upset I gave myself the worst stomachache and I thought I was going to throw up. 

I felt myself spiraling down and I knew I needed to get it under control before the tears sprang, so I took a deep breath and all of a sudden a little voice in my head said Keep Moving Forward. 

Source

For those of you that don't know, Meet the Robinsons is my favorite Disney movie, with Up being a close second. I love the Robinsons, I hope someday Dave and I have a family like that. I want my kids to be like those kids. 

But I digress...the movie has so many positive messages, its such a great film. If you haven't seen it, you should make it a point to. It's uplifting. The movie stresses living life with a purpose, being okay with failures, and that sometimes failures are more important than succeeding. And then obviously, keep moving forward. Life is tough, and for everyone it's tough in different ways, but regardless you have to keep moving forward.

I guess I should thank the people who spent most of their day trying to hurt me. Today you may be the reason I had a bad day, the reason why I was anxious and my stomach was in knots. But tomorrow? You are the reason why I'll be a little bit stronger. Because you have reminded me that regardless of what you say or do, I will continue to keep moving forward.

A Few of My Favorite Things

The makeup items listed below are some of my daily favorites. I love them so much I figured I would share them with you!

So before I begin, I just want to point out...I know that half the products on here are Tarte. I just started getting into them, and yes they are on the pricey side but everything I have tried out and purchased from them has been high quality and worth the price. 

1. Tarte Lip Surgence in Enchanted- I was trying to find a darker lip color that wasn't too dark for the fall. I'm not normally a lip color kind of girl. In fact my favorite lip product used to be Strawberry Chapstick. I went to Ulta and asked one of the girls to find me a lip color that would give me a pop of color but not too over the top. The girl marked this color on her hand and it came out a very light pink, I told her that I wanted something with a little more color and she told me to just try it out. The end result was a very pretty rose color that was just the pop of darker color I was looking for. It has a nice peppermint-y feel on the lips that is refreshing and it keeps my lips moisturized for hours, something even chap stick couldn't do for me. 

2. Tarte Airbuki Bamboo Powder Brush- When I was trying to figure out all the products that should go on here, Dave pointed out I didn't have any brushes. He then surprised me by saying "You can have the best makeup in the world but it won't make any difference if you don't have a good brush....just like painting a room." I was so proud of my meat and potatoes husband. Anyway, this brush is awesome and it goes perfectly with number 6 on this list. Prior to getting the brush I wasn't sure about the foundation because it just wasn't going on properly, but then after I got this brush it was like the clouds parted and heaven shined upon me with a chorus of angels singing sweet melodies. It is pricey, sorry for that, but it is worth it if you can splurge!

3. L'Oreal Magi Lumi Highlighter in Fair- I love this highlighter. It gives me just the right amount of glow to my face without making me look washed out or pale. Just a few clicks and I run a few lines under my eyes and up my nose and then blend in. 

4. Aveda Petal Essence Face Accents in Plum Touch- I hate that they call this a "face accent". I know it's fitting and all, but why can't you just call it blush? Either way, I swear by this blush. I have tried many others and I always come back to Plum Touch. It's such a flattering color for fair skin and it always gives my face a nice pop of color without being ridiculously clownish. 

5. Ulta Gel Eyeliner Pencil in Black Out- I got this eyeliner for free with my Ulta rewards. I was kind of hesitant because the words "Gel Eyeliner" make me run for the hills. However this isn't your typical gel eyeliner. It works like a pencil liner, which I prefer, but glides on like gel. It's long lasting (even on the lower waterline) and great, strong color. I have to say, I'm completely converted to this eyeliner. I've tried every brand imaginable, cheap and expensive, and this one definitely is my favorite.

6. Tarte Amazonian Clay Airbrush Foundation in Fair-Light Neutral- I hate liquid foundations, but I hated that mineral foundations don't provide full coverage like liquid foundations do. I also don't like that they do not last as long as liquid foundations. Enter in this stuff....wow. Buildable coverage, to provide me with the full coverage I need on problem spots and long lasting. I can't express how much I love this foundation. However, like I mentioned in number 2, it doesn't work very well without the kubuki brush, although I didn't search too hard to find a cheaper replacement for the brush, so you may be able to find a cheaper brush that works just as well but in my opinion, these two need to go together. 

That's just a few of my favorite things, there are a bunch more products that I use regularly that I haven't mentioned here, but these guys are my front runners.

What products do you love to use?

End of the Week Roundup

I'm not going to sugar coat it guys, this week was bad. Like so bad I almost said "There is nothing that could make this week worse" until I realized that there were plenty of things that could have made this week worse and I just needed to suck it up and put my big girl panties on. 

So enough about bad stuff, here's the good things that helped me through this week:

1. Lola invited me out to a local Halloween party Saturday night. It was nice hanging out with a bunch of friends just dancing and enjoying ourselves.

2. This song got me through the really bad days. Music is so therapeutic. Is there ever a time in our lives where music doesn't play an important part? 

3. I was super bored in my Wednesday politics class so I decided to watch a stinkbug walk for the hour and a half...have you ever watched a stinkbug walk? Probably not....it was kind of neat, when they moved their legs reminded me of fingers playing on a piano. I could almost imagine this little bug playing out a concerto for us to enjoy. If you don't wish to watch one in real life you can always check out this YouTube video. On a side note, am I the only person who thinks it's hilarious that people recorded this? 

Never mind....says the person who just spent the last paragraph describing how a stinkbug walks.

4. This week I was reminded how lucky I am to have a great group of friends and an awesome husband. Their love and support and encouragement really got me through this week. I couldn't have survived this week without them. 

5. Sorry for the incredibly blurry picture, however kisses from my Squish always make a bad day good:

That's it for this week's roundup....here's to hoping next week is better!

Linking up with Lauren & Lauren!