Thanksgiving

I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving!! Mine was busy.  Sometimes a lot of family time is too much family time.  One bright side was this adorable puppy!  She’s so cute.  She’s also a little insane. I have many a bite mark on my arms from her, but they were all worth it.

In my family, time is usually spent playing cards but this year the tradition was overrun by iPods,  iPads,  and iPhones.   My cousins and I spent hours on end playing Temple Run and, after dinner, the whole family joined   in and we played Draw Something with each other.  I can't say I preferred this communication but I also can't say it wasn't fun.

My little cousin is a little too proud of his score of a wimpy 260,000 in Temple Run. I’m sorry and slightly ashamed to admit that my family participates in Black Friday every year.  I’m even more ashamed that I like to participate.  Now, you may be thinking that ‘participating’ means going out at 11 and shopping for a few hours. No.  My family starts at midnight and doesn't stop till 5 then wakes up early and shops more.  It’s bad but super fun.  Seriously though, I feel like an awful person but it’s just fun.  This year we started at 11 and went to 3 then woke up later, drove 3 hours and continued. Usually my family doesn't go all the way to Sacramento so we were a little shocked by the amount of people at the mall that morning.  We're used to a couple families but mostly 30 to 50 year olds...well that doesn't happen in Sacramento.  The mall was full of teens. I'm not the type to be overwhelmed by crowds but there were times when I wanted to grab my mothers hand.  As a 16 year old you have to be pretty afraid to do that.  When we were at Macys, a fight occurred upstairs and the women working were saying it had been happening all night.  It was a little terrifying to know that people could get so angry over things. It was bad, but I got a lot of clothes I really like so I think it all equates.  My favorite purchase by far was these heels from Forever 21.  I've fallen in love.

We also watched Cloud Atlas and it was amazing.  Seriously, if you haven't seen it, just go.  I hope you all had a wonderful day with family and good food. I've got to get back to some school work.  Only 50 more pages of Anna Karenina to read tonight! Have a good day!

Sharpie Eyebrows!

I was watching a recent YouTube video by the wondrous Zoella in which she and Tanya Burr had the idea of using a sharpie to fill in your eyebrows.  I know, this is probably an awful idea but why not.  I have nothing better to do right now....except an essay...or three...even more reason to try it! Here's the video if you want to watch it.  It was pretty entertaining.  Would You Rather (Beauty Edition)

Eyebrows PreSharpie

    (Dear God my nose looks huge....)

 The instrument.

Just some proof that I actually put Sharpie on my brows.

So what do you think?

Personally, I think I look kinda ridiculous.  Maybe with a brown sharpie instead of a black one it would look more normal.  However, I think my problem was my natural hair colour.  As a blonde, black eyebrows doesn't really fit...but I think if your hair is dark, sharpie brows wouldn't look too out of place. I think it would definitely work as an alternative if you really need to fill in your brows though.  Next thing to test, Sharpies as eyeliner!  Okay that one actually sounds like a bad idea.  Something that toxic close to your eyes sounds like a trip to the hospital to me.  I can still smell the sharpie on my brows...though that could just be my brain sometimes I smell weed when I hear a Drake song.... Anyway, the only thing I'm worried about now it how to get it off...

Hello again...

Okay, this time I swear I’m staying around.  I’m going to reboot this blog.  I love the idea of having a place to document what I think in a formal way, which is why I’m starting this blog instead of just keeping a journal for myself.  Plus I need a place to procrastinate in a creative way otherwise I’ll just spend 10 hours on YouTube like I did today…yeah that was a bad move when you have a paper to write.

I’m planning to put a lot up on here.  Random pictures I have taken, reviews of books, movies, products, rants about the IB program. I can only hope you enjoy!

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore Levithan
Publisher : Harper

Pages :  440

Series : Lorien Legacies Book 1

Rating: 4/5

Nine of us came here
We look like you
We talk like you
We live among you - but
We are not you
We have powers you dream of having
We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books -
But we are real.
They caught number one in Malaysia, number two in England, and number three in Kenya.
They killed them all.
I am number four.  I am next.

I loved this book. It was way more than I expected.  I assumed that this book could not possibly live up to the hype it receives in my head but it surpassed that hype.  The roundness of the story, the way that nothing was lost and the development of the characters are perfect.

During the final battle of a war between the Mordagians and the Loriens, the Loriens send 9 kids and their Cepan, mentor, to earth to ensure the survival of their species.  A spell is placed on the kids that they can only die in order of their numbers as long as they are separated from one other.  However the Mordagians have followed these kids to earth and they are killing them one by one.  One, two, and three have already died, but number four, John, the protagonist, is still alive.  After moving to Paradise, Ohio his legacies, powers, begin to emerge and so do the Mordagians.

I loved the characters most of all. I really liked Sam and Mark.  I really lived how they were given time to develop and evolve as characters.  You also really have time to learn about all of the characters and why they are motivated which was great and something I don’t see a lot in what I read.  You get to learn about John before the Mordagians show up and before his legacies arrive and you get to see him uncover, train and learn to control his powers.  Also, Berni was also just a fabulous addition who is just perfect and if the author kills him I will cry.

I loved the antagonists.  The Mordagians aren’t jumping out of every corner attacking.  They’re a real threat. They plan and stalk and figure out the best way to kill the Lorien.  And when John actually fights them they aren’t easily killed which is nice when you consider how many books have a ‘huge’ threat above the protagonist’s head but when that threat arrives the protagonist has no problem killing it cause they’ve trained for it.  John had trained but he still has major difficulties and almost dies a couple times.  

The only thing I didn’t love about it was the romance.  It was entirely unnecessary in my opinion and it gets really obnoxious in the 2^nd book (spoilers?).  Yeah, the immediate love and cuteness really bothered me and I really wish it just wasn’t a part of this book because I Am Number Four would have been better without it.

Overall, you should definitely read this book.  It’s one of the best superhero/alien books I have ever read. 

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Publisher : Knopf

Pages :  260

Series : N/A

Rating: 3/5

I've left some clues for you.

If you want them, turn the page.

If you don't, put the book back on the shelf, please.

So begins the latest whirlwind romance from the bestselling authors of Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist.  Lily has left a red notebook full of challenges on a favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept it's dares.  But is Dash that right guy? Or are Dash and Lily only destined to trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations across New York?  Could their in-person selves possible connect as well as their notebook versions?  Or will they be a comic mismatch of disastrous proportions.

In Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, when Dash looks up his favorite author he is surprised to discover a red moleskin notebook hidden away.  He is ever more surprised to find dares in the notebook.  These dares lead him to picking up books like The Joys of Gay Sex and Fat Hoochie Prom Queen.  Once he’s finished the dares he leaves the mysterious Lily with a dare of his own creation.  Soon Dash and Lily are trading dares and learning about each other.  But will their romance work in real life or is it restricted to the written word?

This is only one adjective to describe this book, adorable.  That one word perfectly sums up how I felt about this book.  It wasn’t sexy, hot, fantastic, amazing or cute, it was adorable.

Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares was much more innocent and contained then Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist.  In my mind, Nick & Norah’s is a huge rollercoaster that you rip right through with lots up ups and downs and circles where as Dash & Lily’s is more like the Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland, calm, serene, thought provoking, and has a few surprises.

By far my favorite aspect of Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares was the setting.  I loved the feeling of Christmas time in New York, especially because you get to see it through two very different sets of eyes, Lily who loves Christmas and Dash who couldn’t care less.  I loved everything from the Santa at Macys to the street of crazy decorated houses.

In the end, I liked Dash & Lily but didn’t fall in love with it.  It was adorable and real, everything it should be but it was missing the spunk I’d be expecting from Rachel Cohn and David Levithan.  If you’re looking for a cute, young novel, give Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares a try.

Small Town Sinners by Melissa Walker

Small Town Sinners by Melissa Walker
Publisher : Bloomsbury

Pages :  273

Series : N/A

Rating: 2/5

     Sometimes you just know everything is about to change.  That you'll finally get your own moment in the spotlight.  This is that year for perennial good girl Lacey Anne Byer.
     With her driver's license in hand, Lacey has a little freedom from her protective parents now - or at lease more than she had before.  And as a junior, she is eligible to try out for a starring role in Hell House, her church's annual Haunted House of sin.  But it turns out Lacey doesn't need to play a role to have her moment.  What she needs is Ty Davis.  He's smart, cute, and best of all, new.  He doesn't know sweet, shy, good girl Lacey Anne.  With Ty, Lacey could reinvent herself and maybe get her first boyfriend.
     As her feelings for Ty grow, and conflicts surrounding Hell House intensify, Lacey finds reason to test her own boundaries - to question the faith she's always known to be absolute.

Small Town Sinners is the tale of Lacey Anne Byer who lives in the small town of West River.  Lacey’s Christian upbringing and pastor father have cemented her as the good girl in town.  Then she meets the new guy, Ty Davis.  Ty is perfect boyfriend material in Lacey’s mind.  The only thing standing in the way is Ty’s persistence of making Lacey think with her own words.  Ty, and other events, are making Lacey question her faith.  Suddenly Lacey has changed from seeing the world in black and white (right and wrong) to varying shades of gray.  What will this church girl do when forced to think about abortion, teen pregnancy, bullying and drunk driving without the input of faith?

I don’t know if I’m right but I keep coming back to the fact in my mind that I wasn’t raised in a faith driven house hold.  I have no idea what Lacey is going through, I can’t relate.  Therefore, I want to read about extremes.  I want to be told that growing up Christian is worse than growing up like I did.  I want to see the problems and I found the normalcy in Small Town Sinners tedious and boring.  I wanted Lacey to fight back and rebel because I would have found it interesting, not because it would help her character grow.  I don’t know if this is a hurtle I’ll ever be able to overcome but it definitely stopped me from enjoying Small Town Sinners.

Even with my own mental road block I still found Small Town Sinners okay.  I loved the exploration of Hell Houses.  Before I’d read this book I had no idea what a Hell House was. (A Hell House is like a haunted house but they scare you with grossly hyperbolized images the church believes are wrong.  For example in Small Town Sinners one scene in the Hell House is a Gay Marriage where after getting married one of the husbands dies of AIDS and it is implied that only gay sex results in AIDS.)  I found the whole idea of a Hell House shocking and at times unbelievable.  I wish the topic and the rights and wrongs of it had been explored in more depth.

Overall, I found Small Town Sinners to be an okay read.  I wish I could say it was fantastic and made me question my own morals but it really didn’t.  If you’ve read Small Town Sinners and were left with a different opinion, let me know! I want to know what others thought about this book.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
Publisher : Knopf

Pages : 183

Series : N/A

Rating: 5/5

     Nick’s just seen the girl who dumped him walk in with a new guy.  What else can he do but ask the strange girl next to him to be his new girlfriend for the next five minutes?

     Norah would do anything to avoid conversation with the not not-friend girl who dumped Nick…and to get over the Evil Ex whom Norah never really totally dumped.  What else can she do but answer Nick’s question by making out with him?

      With one electric, unexpected kiss, the five-minute couple of Nick and Norah set off on an uncharted adventure called the “first date” that will turn into an infinite night of falling in and out (and in and out, and maybe in and maybe out) of love.  Theirs is a first date of music, laughter, heartache, confusion, passion, taxi driver wisdom, and a jacket named Salvatore.  And of course a killer soundtrack.

     As Nick and Norah wander through the middle-of-the-night mystic maze of Manhattan, they share the kind of night you never want to end, where every minute counts and every moment flickers between love and disaster.

I LOVED AND DEVOURED THIS BOOK! I started it last night around midnight and couldn’t stop. I loved everything about this book.  Everything, from the queer band members to Caroline’s drunken state to Tris’s nice but not attitude.

I think what I loved the most was that it was a love story but it wasn’t predictable.  And finding that is really hard for someone who has watched every romantic comedy on Netflix.  I find that whenever I read or watch a romance I can always tell when the inevitable fall apart then come together is going to be and I couldn’t predict that in Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.

This book has been on my shelf for years now and I’m so glad I finally picked it up.  Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist is the only book I’ve ever read where I just wanted to reread it over and over and over again.  Don’t let this book pass you buy.