Random Thoughts

- I have been reading like crazy this summer. A little while ago I discovered an amazing app on my ipod touch called iBooks and then I discovered an even better website where I've downloaded all my favorite books. So now wherever I go, my ipod goes, and I find myself reading everywhere. It's pretty much the best. I have 70 books on there and they only take up 0.1 GB, so it's awesome! Whenever I finish a book, there is another right there waiting for me. Maybe one of these days I'll write a book post to share what I've been reading. Also, it's time for me to start reading Harry Potter again...round number 12... ha ;)

- I saw this on pinterest and now I really want to do it. This is an amazingly cute idea to used Christmas lights year-round!


- Lately, I've been missing ballet. Like, a ton. I've been dancing around the house more than usual (my uncle laughs because every once in a while I'll just be standing there talking and then do a grand battement--basically a kick--out of nowhere. It's just so natural to me!) and I've been watching tv shows about dance, namely Dance Academy (netflix) and Bunheads (new show on ABC Family). So I decided I'm going to take a ballet class in the fall! I haven't taken one for about two years, but I'm totally ready and excited for this. It's only 3 days a week which is good, I did a class that was every day freshman year and it was too much. I'm not an amazing dancer by any means, but I'm ready to jump back into it. I'm only at school for another year, so might as well take advantage of the classes offered.

- Only two more weeks in Boston. I'm not really sure how I'm reacting to this yet. It's sad, but I am excited to see my family and friends again. I literally cannot believe how fast the summer flew by. But it's been a good summer, so far. I've really been cherishing it and having a blast here. I love the east coast.

I guess that's all for now. Nothing else is popping into my head and I better get some sleep so I can wake up for church in the morning. That's another thing, I've been sleeping in SO much! Guess I still haven't fixed my habits of reading late into the night...haha oh well, gotta go!

She Only Looks at Books

I've given myself a goal to blog every day on both of my blogs. Since I don't have school this summer, it should be possible. I really just love to write and I need a way to get out all of my thoughts, as I have many.

I'm currently re-falling in love with one of my hobbies....reading. It never ever gets old. I'm about to start reading the Harry Potter series for the 11th time before the last movie comes out (sob! it will all be over in july!). I read a book in a day yesterday--I love doing that! It feels like forever since I've done that, just because I haven't had time. It's called Dreamland, by Sarah Dessen, a young adult book about a girl who gets in an abusive relationship. Sarah Dessen is one of my favorite authors and I'd highly recommend it. :) My next book to read is To Kill a Mockingbird, one of my all time favorite books! I actually haven't read it since sophomore year of high school so I need to read it again to refresh my memory and to give my mind something happy (not that my life isn't happy right now and not that To Kill a Mockingbird is necessarily a happy book).

I think summertime is one of my favorite times of the year partially because it gives me an opportunity to read again. I hardly ever read what I want during the school year because I don't have time, and it kills me. Last summer I had a goal to read 100 books, but I only read 60 (still a lot, I guess) and it was magical. There's something about books that just get to me and pull me in. I love reading about other fake people's lives--lives that I feel like I'm living and that feel real and are about real people with real struggles. It's amazing. One of my goals in life is to write a book. Even if it's not published, I want to write a book someday. Also, reading is one of those things that has been with me the longest. I think the earlier you start something in life, the closer it is to your heart. I danced for 15 years and so even though I'm not dancing anymore, I will always be attached to it and it will always be close to me. Same with piano. And I think this is the same way with friends. It's so cool and nice to have friends that you've known since you were 3 years old--friends that know everything about you and have grown up with you, and even if you aren't as close now, there is something about being close in childhood that can't make you ever completely separate. I have best friends now, but there is a difference between them and my childhood friends. And I love fashion and sewing and stuff, but I've had reading, dance, and piano since I was little.

Anyways, back from that long tangent, I learned how to read at the young age of 4 and picked it up pretty quick after that. While the other kids in kindergarten were learning letters and how to sound them out, I was going to the first grade reading group. Reading was probably the reason I skipped first grade, because it put me way ahead all the other kids. I was always in the highest reading group in school and at home I was always reading a book. I'd go to the library and come home with a stack of 20 books and have them all read in about a week or two. My mom would punish me by taking away my books so that I'd have to do my chores. I'd stay up late in the night so that I could finish a book because I just couldn't put it down. We'd go out and go to restaurants and I'd always have a book in hand and always be reading. By 7th grade I was reading at a college level. Haha I was kind of a nerd...even had the glasses to prove it. ;)

Me at around age 10, with my sisters Sidney and Carina (l to r)

I think my love and history with reading is why I first started as an English major. It seemed like it was just for me. And maybe in a way it was, but being an English major forced me to read and I didn't read for fun anymore which destroyed the whole purpose. All we seemed to do was analyze literature and poetry (gah, I do not understand many poems and they make my mind turn to mush) and I didn't like it. I wanted to be an editor, and honestly, I still do. But I don't think I'm supposed to be an editor. I also don't think I'm supposed to do something in fashion. I'm in the Family Studies major and a lot of people ask me what I'm going to do with it, and I joke and I say I'm going to be a mom. And while that's true, I really don't know what I'm going to do with my major. All I know is that I want to help people and I want to make a difference in the world. My patriarchal blessing talks a lot about me helping others and I just feel like that's right. I think if I keep moving forward in life, other things will fall into place.

But anyways, now that I'm done being an English major, I'm back to reading for fun, and it's great. I can read what I want and in whatever amount of time I want (usually in a day or two). I have a lot of favorite books and a lot of them are young adult books, because let's face it, I'm only 19 and still a young adult. I am beginning to try to read more of the adult fiction but I find the young adult stuff more interesting still, because even if I'm not in high school, I'm still dealing with all the hard stuff that teenagers face. I'm not married and I don't really want to read about marriage and divorce and that stuff. It seems to old for me right now ha. But here are some of my favorite books that I could read over and over again (the two books mentioned earlier would also be on this list):

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Enders Game, by Orson Scott Card

Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling

My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Piccoult

The Secret Journal of Brett Colton, by Kay Lynn Mangum

Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson

The Last Song, by Nicholas Sparks

Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli

The DaVinci Code, by Dan Brown

The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas

A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Good Enough, by Paula Yoo

My Mother the Cheerleader, by Robert Sharenow

In high school, Harperteen used to have this program where you could sign up to get advanced readers copies of a lot of their books. It was great! They'd send me free books and then I'd just write a short review of it online. It was a great way to read a lot of the new literature coming out and a lot of those books were really good and are now some of my favorites. They stopped doing the program though, which totally stinks. :( I need to find another program like that again so I can get more books and read more!

Something fun I bought is a reading journal, filled with pages of me to write down the books I've read and notes about them. The best part though, are all the lists of all the Pulitzer books, Newberry award winners, etc. There's tons of lists and a little box for you to check off when you've read it. My goal in life is to read every single one of those books in that journal. I'm totally gonna do it! I'm excited because it will give me ideas of what to read if I don't know.

What are your favorite books?

What's something that you have loved ever since you were a child?

I'm such a Fashionista ;)

So I started another blog (don't worry, I'll still be updating this one regularly)! One of my goals for this school year is to wear a different outfit every school day and make sure it's super cute ha. So I made a blog to record my progress! I would love for you to check it out because I'll be posting every day. Click this link to go to it:

An Outfit a Day Keeps the Fashion Police Away

In other news..school started today! This semester I'm taking 12.5 credits..but don't let the numbers fool you--I'm gonna be reading and writing SO much! Weirdly enough, I'm already a Senior (18 years old and a Senior in college, probably the youngest Senior at BYU haha) so I'm really getting into my major classes. I'm taking 4 english classes (2 of which are 300-level!) for my major and one jazz dance class for fun, because dance is such a huge love in my life. :) Today I had Modern American Usage, Later British Authors-with a focus on Jane Austen and Henry James, and Early British Literary History.

Haha, yep I'm an English nerd, because I'm super excited for all of these classes! They will be a lot of work, especially with reading and writing. I wasn't too excited for Early Brit Lit at first because it's not literature I'm interested in and it's just a required class, but I really like the teacher because she said a lot of people don't want to take that class so she tries to make it fun by giving us a lot of options for writing assignments, letting us work in groups, and doing fun stuff (like coloring in class and possibly going on a fieldtrip to see a Shakespeare play!). It will be a hands on class so now I'm super excited! Tomorrow I have Creative Writing and Jazz Dance. I'm even more excited for those classes! Tuesdays and Thursdays will for sure be my fun days. So wish me luck for the rest of the semester. I hope I do well!! :)

Dreams

To graduate from BYU with my Bachelors in English

To do some good in the world--like join the Americorps or go on a mission or even join the National Guard

To get my Masters Degree in who knows what, but I know it'll be something I love

To get married in the temple to the most amazing guy in the world

To meet Carrie Underwood

To be a mom and have kids that I will love SO much and will hopefully be ok to them

To write a book worth reading

To overcome my trials in life with faith and perseverance

To be a great family member, a wonderful friend, and an amazing person to whoever I meet in life. I want to make people happy.

To travel the world (or at least Europe)

To read lots of books, sing lots of songs, and dance lots of dances

To die knowing that I led the happiest and most wonderful life I could have led.

:)

WANTED

-A 30-40 hr. week job that would last for just the summer and would start soon so that I can stop applying for jobs!

-A hammock (for me to read books outside)--haha but if you seriously have one you don't want, let me know

-Good weather!

-2 backstage passes to Carrie Underwood at Stadium of Fire ;)

-Something that would take away the sore feeling in my back that I got at aerobics

-Something to do (if you need someone to hang out with, just call me!)

Umm..yep, I think that's all. Let me know if you have any of those things and are willing to give them away. ;) Have a great day!

Home Sweet Home :)

Yep, I'm HOME! It feels so great to be back in a place that's familiar to me and is full of all the people I love. Being home has already made me as busy as possible...and I have done so much already, like:

-Watched my little sister and my other sibs so my parents could celebrate their 20th anniversary on a cruise!

-Applied for about 10 jobs :P

-Watched the movie "Valentines Day" with my sisters. It was such a cute movie! (I would definitely recommend it)
-Worked about 17 hours in 3 days at the bookstore, which kind of drained me..

-Going to an aerobics class in my ward

-Singles ward...hahaha

-Working out and weight lifting with Brooke

-Scanning lots and lots of old pictures (see facebook)

-Read about 5 or more books

-Did NOT clean my messy messy room ;)

Soooo there is much that has been done, as well as much to be done! I already know it's going to be a super busy summer, which is great because busyness is what keeps me going round! :D

18th Birthday Wish List

Ha ha, I'm so pathetic for putting this on here, but I thought it would be cute, because ten years from now, I can look at this and see all the silly things I asked for my birthday (except they are definitely not silly right now!!!!). And since there are only 27 until my birthday, my mom needs this list! And the pictures don't actually signify the exact item I want. Just an idea. So here it is...(in no particular order):

Purple Digital Camera (I want this one the MOST!!!)

Books:
The Secret Journal of Brett Colton (found at Deseret Book)
My Sister's Keeper

Clothes!
a Plaid or Black pea coat (just not white, cuz I already have one of those)
Dress (I like the ones with sleeves)Colored blue skinny jeans (to wear to the BYU games)


Jon Schmidt Piano Book (one that has "Pachelbel Meets U2," "All of Me," or "Waterfall")

High School Musical 3 barbies

Taylor Swift barbie (just so you know, I'm now collecting barbies, because I love them!)

College Stuff

Saved by the Bell COLLEGE YEARS! (you know, because I'm in college...)


iTunes Gift Card

A mannequin (NO JOKE!)

New phone (but only a good one)

And...I think that's all! Keep checking the list, because I might update it when I think of something new. Have fun reading it and shopping for me (ha ha, just kidding...)

Oh, and I almost forgot...my birthday cake request! Since I already know, I'll just say that I want a High School Musical birthday cake (with chocolate cake and white frosting). Here are some ideas...

This one is probably my favorite. I like it cuz it's way exciting and two layers!


The only reason I put this one on here is because it has a barbie on the cake *hint, hint*...but the rest of it isn't really that exciting. But I like the two layer part of it. I love layered cakes! :D

Other June Activities

Just some other random things I did in June:

My friend Josh Timothy had his farewell! I've known him for such a long time, so it was sad to see him go (he's in Lima, Peru by the way), but he'll be an awesome missionary!

The arts festival. I went with Courtney and Laura. All the artwork and stuff was way cool. But of course the highlight of the night was not the festival... The last thing we did at the festival was go see the films, which was like at 10:00 at night. By 11:00, we were still in the theater and there were like three films to go. We had come on the frontrunner so we kind of lost track of time. We needed to get back on the trax but got on going the wrong way. So then, we went back and waited for like 45 minutes for the right trax to come and it never did. So we just started walking towards the frontrunner. Along the way, we came across some Asians with ramen noodles, a guy who worked at the arts festival, a druggie named Trevor, and some college aged kids trying to break in some old building. It was quite the eventful night. When we decided we had probably missed the frontrunner, Courtney called her parents so her dad would come pick us up. In the end, we got home at about 1 in the morning. It was great! :D And this was the only picture we took the whole day.

Reading books. My goal was to read 80 books by the end of the summer. No such luck, because I think it will end up being about 45-50. I'm a failure (to me anyways).

Disney did this cool Christmas Carol tour thing where they're going to all the states to advertise their new Christmas Carol movie. We stood in line for a loooong time because there were a billion people there, of course. It was lots of fun though!

Father's Day. Me and my sisters playing a musical number (O My Father) that we played in church the next week. I played piano, Carina did the violin, and Sidney did the flute. It was pretty much amazing! ;)