Old Soul, Young Heart

Several times over the course of 2015, I've had a thought and it was this: It sure would be nice if I kept track of all the books I read . I'm curious about how many and what types of books I've read this year and I want to keep track of the ones I started but didn't finish. So a great new year's resolution is in the making! I'm going to write book reviews! It's a good way to track what I read and also give me a recap of what each book is about, since I oftentimes remember the title of a book, but can't remember its plot. This will also give me the opportunity to write because I miss writing. (I haven't blogged since June!) I'm reading a book right now called The Taming of the Queen by Philippa Gregory. She is one of my favorite authors of historical fiction. So my first book review will come soon because I have just a few days left of it! So stay tuned.

Motherless Daughters was pretty much all I had hoped it would be. There were several quotes in there that hit me in my gut, that made me feel as though I'm not alone in this life that has been forever changed because my mother died when I was 19. Sometimes I feel a little crazy because of it--like I'm reacting wrong or just plain overreacting--because I have no one in my life that truly understands what it's been like for me. (I'm not trying to be dramatic about this; it is just a fact of who I am. There is no other component of my person or my personality that is as pervasive to who I am as the fact that I am a motherless daughter. It enters into every part of my life, pretty much every day.) It's made me feel better about my experiences as a motherless daughter and about my future as one. I might have to buy this book and keep it with me throughout my life. I'm grateful that I ran across it when I did, since I'm having such a hard time right now without m...

I'm going to be totally candid. I'm in a weird spot right now in regards to all of this wedding planning. On the one hand, I don't want to think and talk about it all the time because who can even do that? I, of course, (sort of) have other things going on in my life... though not a lot right now. I could basically drive myself crazy thinking about it because there are so many options, things to consider, and websites to browse. I also don't want to be "that bride" who only has wedding on the brain at all times and all topics inevitably lead back to the wedding. (I'm not really sure if those types of brides exist, but I imagine they do and I don't want to be one of them.) On the other hand, though, I do want to think and talk about it all the time because it's an exciting, once-in-a-lifetime event. I both do and don't want to talk about it (bring it up or even discuss it at length when asked) because it's fun to talk about your plans, b...

I love The Pioneer Woman . I wish I was The Pioneer Woman. I truly do have aspirations of being super domestic and creative someday, but I think deep down I am just a lazy, boring person. I blame it on not having the appropriate space and tools, but we'll see if I feel and behave differently once we move in together and get into the married life routine. On a seemingly unrelated note, I am over purchasing books to read. Although I think it would be fun to have a living room filled with books and bookshelves, it honestly feels like a waste of money and space to me. I only get around to reading a book for a second or third time unless I really love it; all of the rest of them just sit there gathering dust until I feel like they aren't cool anymore and then I give them to Goodwill. So... I'm done buying books unless I read it once and just really need to have it at my disposal at all times. Enter the I-Share catalog and Heartland Community College's library. I'v...

I'm currently reading a book that my brother told me about and lent to me. It's called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter . I have to admit that I was leery about this book. Though I am a fan of both Abraham Lincoln and tales about vampires (really the only books about vampires I've read are the Twilight series, but I do tend to also enjoy movie depictions of them, such as Van Helsing ), I just wasn't quite sure about this one. The cover, for one thing, turned me off. I mean, c'mon. It seemed too cheesy for me or something. I was concerned that right away I'd be rolling my eyes and/or bored, but I was so wrong about it. After about five pages, I was really interested. It's based on Lincoln's "secret diaries" and the way it's written really makes you think that this could have happened. It also has a lot of history tied to it, which always peaks my interest. While looking for a picture of the book cover, I discovered that it's being...

I'm reading a really good book right now that I'm excited about! It's called Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil  by John Berendt. I feel as though Philip's friend, Mike, told me about it a few years ago. I've had it on my shelf since then and decided to pick it up a few days ago. I really had no clue what it was about before I started reading it. I liked the title and the cover art because it sounded and looked kind of creepy and I like things that are kind of creepy. I've been hooked since about page 3. It's about Savannah, Georgia and, from what I can tell, is also about a murder that occurred there. I like it a lot because the author is good at painting pictures of what the town is like. (He described Savannah in exactly the way I would picture it to be--quaint, green, garden-y, old, historical, willow tree-y, southern-hospitality-y, and almost England-y.) The characters are also very vivid to me. The story just flows and, overall, I'm reall...

Today's List (Day 26): Books I'd Like to Read This Year There are a lot of books that I bought from Amazon last year that I still haven't gotten to. I had asked for suggestions from friends and I'm currently working on this one: I can't get into it and I hate putting down books and starting others. I have a lot of books that I would like to read again, like Eat Pray Love (for about the fourth time), the Harry Potters, and Commitment (another book by the author of Eat Pray Love ). Add to that all of the other books that I have from last year and I have plenty of things to work on. I think I'm choosing not to read because I'm still savoring the fact that I don't have to. I did a lot of reading in grad school and am glad to not do it anymore, even though I can now choose to read what I want. We'll see if in the next few months I feel like not watching tv and movies.

I'm currently reading a book (for fun!) that Philip got me for Christmas last year, called "Looking for Class." The author (Bruce Feiler) attended the University of Cambridge in the early 1990s and the book chronicles his time there. I know most of the places and little English nuances that he describes and it just makes me so happy! Here's one of my favorite passages so far: "Among students, tourists, even professors, there is one indisputable manner in which Cambridge promotes love: it is an incredibly, at times overwhelmingly, romantic place. For some, the charm is the setting. Cambridge, wrote Henry James, boasts 'the loveliest confusion of Gothic windows and ancient trees, of grassy banks and mossy balustrades . . . of single-arched bridges spanning the little stream, which is small and shallow and looks as if it had been turned on for ornamental purposes.'" Even though he was there over 20 years before I was, it's amazing to me that th...

I recently read this book for class and it got me thinking a lot about myself. Ironically. Because the book is all about how those of us in this generation were raised to think we're super special and unique and, therefore, have really high self-esteem and can border on being narcissistic at times. It also talked about how we have very high expectations for our lives (in terms of making money, having a movie-like relationship, and generally feeling fulfilled in every realm of life), but don't necessarily put the work into meeting those expectations because we don't feel like we have to (because we're super special and unique). We then become depressed when life doesn't meet our expectations. It was just really good and gave me a lot to think about. So the semester is completely over for me now and I am oh-so-happy about that. I got As in all three classes, which also makes me happy. Work is over for a solid two weeks, but I think I'm going to go into He...

Well, I got talked into staying with T-Mobile. I went up to the little kiosk in the mall last night and asked them when my contract was up so that I could cancel it. They asked me all sorts of questions about why I wanted to cancel (everyone I really talk to is on AT&T; there were no phones that I wanted that T-Mobile carried; I didn't want to spend a fortune per month paying for a data plan, etc.). So anyway, I got all of my questions answered and decided that it was better for me to keep the plan that I had. I've been with T-Mobile for four years and I've never had a problem with them. I really like them, actually. I got a BlackBerry for $30 (really $80, but with a $50 rebate) and I can try the $15 data plan for a month without paying for it, at which point I can cancel it if I don't want it. The guy looked into a lot of things for me and was really helpful--he even gave me a free case for my phone. It's the little things, ya know? So my phone's prett...

An update on the binder situation: I got an email back from Carrie (house mom in Cambridge), who I had left the binder with and who was going to take it to the DRC to see it off from the post. She apologized profusely about it, which made me feel bad because it wasn't her fault at all. She admitted that sometimes people in the DRC are "awkward, especially [insert name of individual who I suspect purposefully did this],"which I believe means that the only person who is awkward is that person. . Anywho... she thinks that I should email John (supervisor at Cambridge) and explain what happened, but I'm kind of over it at this point and realize that not much can be done. I think Carrie is going to try to gather the bits that were missing and perhaps find the actual binder and send it to me. That would be nice, but I'm not getting my hopes up about it. Oh well. I just started reading the book Traveling with Pomegranates last night because I received it in ...

Seven years after its release, I finally spent the $35 and got Brandon Boyd's book, White Fluffy Clouds . I remember wanting it badly when I was so into Incubus back in the day. (They are still my happy place.) It came in the mail today and took me about 20 minutes to look through. It makes me wish that I were creative in some conventional or unconventional way. My mind is so boring and immature compared to his. Granted, he's into crazy shit like outer space and other worlds. Not only is he super creative and into crazy shit, but he has the skills and talents to be able to create something out of it. I have none of these things. So all I can do is (poorly) write a blog entry about other people's creativity. At least I can appreciate it.