I are reading!

Question: When's the last time I told you what to read?
Answer: I have no idea, which must mean that it was forever ago! Let's get to it!

Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt. Given my well documented (in my mind) hypothetical dislike for historical fiction, I normally wouldn't pick something like this up. I mean, it takes place in the 1960s! That almost qualifies as "back in the day!" (I don't think a single person who was there for the "back in the day" conversation reads this blog, but I'm leaving that joke anyway). But I needed to read it for the Maryland Mock Newbery, so I gave it a shot. I love this book. I laughed with sadness and happiness while reading this book. Doug is a character that you will love to read about. Bonus plug-since I recommended this book to my mom, she's read every book that Gary D. Schmidt has ever written!

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White. I think it's safe to say that paranormal books for teens is a popular genre. Some might say an overdone genre. They wouldn't be wrong. So to find a book that totally fits the genre and finds something new and fresh to add was a pleasant surprise. An even better surprise was how much I loved the main character (the real test of a good paranormal book, since I usually wouldn't care if the protagonist died a terrible death. Sometimes I actively root for this to happen). More fun surprises: how funny it was, how much I believed in the romance, how enjoyable the mythology was. I'm looking forward to the rest of this trilogy (another point in its favor-it won't go on and on into eternity).

Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George. I might be a bit biased here, since I met the author (oh yeah, I'm cool. Just kidding, I'm the nerdiest. I should probably post about my swimfanning one of these days). Tuesdays is a great fantasy for younger readers, something I especially enjoyed since I've been sucked into so many dense and complicated fantasies lately. This is exactly the type of book elementary school me would have loved. Bonus: it's the first in a series! but not the frustrating kind that leaves you with a horrible cliffhanger.

The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell. I love a good fairy tale retelling, and this one is one of the best I've read in a long time. It starts off as a retelling of the 12 Dancing Princesses (which is really popular right now) but it also includes some fascinating elements that I will not spoil here. Reveka is an engaging heroine, and the story is begging for a sequel. Just don't count on getting one too soon, since book 1 just came out.

Darth Paper Strikes Back by Tom Angleberger. The sequel to one of my favorite books of 2010, The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. These book have a lot of Wimpy Kid appeal, with a nicer protagonist and more Star Wars references. They're funny and heartfelt, and they come with origami instructions! Come visit me at the library and I will show off my Origami Yoda. It's pretty impressive.

Chime by Franny Billingsley. I think this is a love it or hate it type of book. I love it, and I can't see why anyone wouldn't, but I've heard enough people who hate it to think it must be true. I do hate cover, though. Blech. Anywho, as to why I love it: the beautiful language, the believable and somewhat swoony romance, the super cool somewhat historical but also with magic setting, and the twin sister! Yay for twin sister!

 

A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz. Speaking of fairy tales...A fun and bloody revisiting of some of my favorite childhood fairy tales (and a few that I had never heard before). As a child, I would have loved this book for being gruesome (much like the original version of the tales). As an adult, I also love it for being a great book about childhood.

Pegasus by Robin McKinley. Longtime fans of Robin McKinley know that she has never written a sequel in her life. No, The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword do not count. What a time for her to start! Her latest book, Pegasus, is gorgeous. This book reminded me why I love Robin McKinley in the first place. Alas, the story is not complete, however. This is the first of 3(!!!) parts! And who the heck knows when the next one will come out, let alone the last one. Still, I loved every single page, and I will be only too happy to continue the journey whenever the heck Pegasus parts II and III get released.

Foundling by D.M. Cornish. I  just praised Tuesdays at the Castle for being uncomplicated fantasy, so you might be confused to find this super dense, really complicated fantasy on my list. But it is so good! The whole Monster Blood Tattoo trilogy is fantastic, a snapshot of a world that is as real as our own. This isn't a trilogy for people who want every detail to play an important part in the overall plot. It's not a trilogy for people who want everything wrapped up in a tidy little bow at the end. It's mostly just a trilogy for people who like things that are amazingly wonderful. Bonus factor: illustrations!

The Enemy by Charlie Higson. This book freaked me out and totally wrecked me. It's definitely not for the faint of heart. I was disgusted and terrified most of the time I was reading it, and the rest of the time I was crying. What can you expect from a world where all the grownups are either dead or zombies who want to eat you? I haven't psyched myself up to read book 2 yet. I think maybe in the summer, when it's light for more of the day. Definitely don't read this one after dark.

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce. Let's say you're an 11 year old boy who's so tall that people often mistake you for an adult. What do you do? Correct them? Slouch so you look younger? Or do you ride the coolest amusement park rides, test drive a few cars, and then con your way into a space program? If you're Liam, you do the awesome stuff. But silliness aside, this is also a great book about what it means to be a grownup and a tribute to awesome dads. As someone with an awesome dad, I approve!

Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Hey! That's not new! That came out before I was born!" True, but I just barely read it for the first time. And it's cuter, sweeter, and funnier than I ever thought it could be. I truly cannot wait to have kids, just so I can read them this book. There is a reason it's a classic, folks.

And there you have it! 12 books for 2012. Read on!

It's Hard to Say Goodbye

"It's hard to say goodbye." -Bryce Larkin, in the pilot episode of Chuck.

How prophetic those words turned out to be. Two weeks ago, in an epic 2-hour finale, Chuck signed off for good, after 5 seasons and 91 episodes. It's been an emotional journey (both for me and our hero, Chuck). Let's commemorate one of my favorite TV shows of all time (and I love TV, so that's saying something) with a list (hey, I also love lists!) of what I love about Chuck. If I can stop crying enough to actually write it. Okay, I've been "writing" this for some time now (I started the morning after it ended) so the tears have stopped and the nostalgia has set in full-time. Let's go!

1. The Cast. I initially checked out the show for Adam Baldwin, who so fantastically played Jayne in Firefly. And he's even better as Casey, the NSA agent with a million grunts. Pretty immediately, though, I realized that the whole cast was pretty special, from Yvonne Strahovski (who knew she's really Australian? She hides it well) to Ryan McPartlin, and of course, light of my life Zachary Levi. Not only are they genuinely good actors, I'm also pretty sure they'd be fun to hang out with.

2. The Characters. Captain Awesome, why are you not someone I know in real life? Jeff and Lester, I'm super glad that I don't know you in real life, but I enjoyed having you on my TV. Some I loved immediately, and some snuck up on me, but eventually, saying goodbye to the characters on Chuck was like saying goodbye to real-life friends (yes, I know that means I have no life).

3. The Guest Stars. Scott Bakula! Linda Hamilton! Timothy Dalton! Chevy Chase! Nicole Richie! Oh wait. JK, she was actually really good, because you're totally supposed to hate her character. Summer Glau, the Old Spice Guy, Tricia Helfer, I could go on. And on. Because Chuck has had a million awesome guest stars, from the super geeky to the super cool.

4. The Funny. Chuck is super funny. Probably funnier than most of half-hour comedies on TV. I can rely on Chuck for at least one good belly laugh per episode, usually more. It's honestly one of the happiest shows I've ever watched.

 5. The Serious. Which is not to say it doesn't know how to be serious. There are moments on the show that are heartbreaking and just plain tragic. It has made me cry! Not as much as it made me laugh, but for a funny show, Chuck really knew how to bring the drama.

6. The Action! Spies!!! I'm sure they're not really as much fun as Sarah, Casey, and Chuck are, but this is TV! There are car chases, fights, gun play, and more! True story, the only Emmys that Chuck has ever won are for the super awesome stunts. Also, Sarah Walker is my hero. My action hero. Har har!

7. The Music. Quick: name a current artist and their latest song! The chances that I've heard of them and actually know the song: pretty low. The chances of me searching for a song on the internet after I heard it on Chuck: much, much higher. The songs were always perfect and frequently cool enough that I could pretend very briefly to have music cred. Bonus points to Tim Jones, who wrote all the musical themes and the score, which could be beautiful, funny, scary, or all three at once.
          
8. Jeffster! Here's where I insert a picture of myself wearing a Jeffster! shirt. JK, I don't have a picture of myself wearing a Jeffster! shirt. But I do have a Jeffster! shirt, so someday it could exist. The world's creepiest cover band, with Lester on vocals and Jeff on keytar, Jeffster! has provided some of my favorite musical moments on the show, including a fantastic performance in the finale that had me laughing, cheering, and crying.

9. The Romance. Proof that having your main couple get together doesn't have to kill a show. It can make it awesome! When Chuck and Sarah finally got together, I cheered. When they got engaged, I cried. Yes, it's safe to say that I was crazy invested in the relationship of the fake people on my television. Whatever, it's romantic!

10. Rewatchable! In the 2 weeks since Chuck went off the air for good, I have watched 26 episodes Chuck. That's right, I started from the beginning, and I'm already halfway through season 2! And I still love it. In fact, I probably love it more now than I did before.

"I love you, Chuck. Nothing's ever going to change that."-Sarah Walker

Me too, Sarah. Me too. Thanks for five Awesome years, Chuck!

I'm being tested. HELP ME!!

I got a new calling at church a few weeks ago: I am now the Family Home Evening coordinator in my ward (for those of you keeping track, I'm also the Family History Consultant. Wheee!) Anywho, FHE is the calling I like to call "the soul crusher." It gives people nervous breakdowns. So I'm a little anxious. And wondering who has it in for me.

Since I still have my family history calling as well, you can bet that we're going to be doing some Family History FHEs. I also have a small selection of FHEs that I planned in grad school that we'll probably be pulling out. Still, I need more ideas! Anyone have any they would like to share? Some specs to help you out-the people attending are probably in their twenties or early thirties. They're single. They're mostly female. They range in number from 5 to 20, although if 20 people showed up to FHE, I'd probably die of shock.

Okay, friends and family. Now's the time to help me magnify my calling. Go!

Check one off the list!

New Year's Resolutions time once more, folks, and as you can see, I have totally succeeded from last year! My first goal was to stop procrastinating, and I'm writing this 3 days early. I saved New Years! On to 2012!

1. Fit into that one pair of pants. You know who you are, pants, aka, my Nemesis of Christmas. You caused me a lot of pain, suffering, and undignified pants-wearing habits. So, even though you aren't my pants, and I will probably never need to wear you again, this year I will defeat your evil, skinny ways!

2. Stop getting fries at Burger King. This might help with number 1. Anywho, my initial goal was to eat at BK less, but then I realized that I could still get burgers, which I really like, if I cut out their grody fries, which I totally don't.

3. Read all my church assignments during the week so I know what's going on in RS and Sunday School. Yes, this is a repeat goal from last year. And the year before. Actually, I did much better last year than I had before, so I figure if I keep making this kind of progress, I will probably be 100% on this one in about 20 years.

4. Get a passport. In case I need to quickly flee the country.

5. Read some children's classics. I finally read Winnie the Pooh last year (loved it!!), and this year, I'd like to knock out The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland.

6. Shop more at the farmer's market. First of all, it makes me feel cool. Second, they have good stuff. Third, I'm pretty sure it's good for the earth. Fourth, sometimes the people from Ace of Cakes shop there! So I'm going to do it.

I think that's enough to be going on for a while. I'd say the next year at least. Good luck with all of your resolutions, faithful readers!

'Tis the season!

I like to do it up right at Christmas, and by "it," I mean my house, and by "up right," I mean decorate it like there's no tomorrow. I've had some special requests (Hi, Mom!) to see the awesomeness, so here goes.

 

I got this nativity for $1! Awesome, yes?

 Crabs for Christmas! Yay! I live in Baltimore!

 I don't think anyone appreciates how awesome my wrapped bannister is, but it is really neat.

Jeffrey, my Christmas fish! Isn't he pretty? I will keep him, even after Christmas is over.

 Stockings hung by the chimney with care. I made the one in the middle, and I made the money that paid for the other two. Not made as in "made on my own printing press," but made as in "earned when I was working."

 Our Christmas tree! Kate cut it down herself. Very manly and tough. Plus, there's candy in all those little red boxes. :)

 Dollar store wreath! Actually, it cost more like like $5 plus labor, but I didn't charge myself for that.

 The tiny gingerbread house I made at Maren and David's.

For our last FHE at church, we also made gingerbread houses. You can't tell from the pictures, because there's nothing here for scale, but the one we made at FHE is about 5 times bigger that the one I just showed you. Anyhow, it was a group project type of thing. My group was Leah, Monica, Sabrina, and moi. I think we did a pretty good job!

 The back of our house, as decorated by me.

 Sabrina's side of the house, complete with climbing vines and a tiny snowman.

 Lean's side of the house, plus a really good view of the front porch as made by Monica.

 The front of the house, complete with stained glass windows, done by Monica. Notice the tiny snowman, plus the awesome roof done by Monica and me, and the red brick chimney (with smoke coming out).

Creepy gingerbread representation of me, as done by Leah. I made the skirt, though.

Ta da! My house, decorated for Christmas. There's a lot more, but I didn't think you'd want to see 500 more pictures. Have a Merry Christmas, y'all!

 

Happy Birthday to Me!

That's right, faithful readers! About one month ago (I am a slacker at blogging and at life), it was my birthday! We shall not mention my age or my birth year, because I don't want people to be able to stalk me through the internet. Yeah, that's what it is.

Anywhoodles, I had a great birthday. First of all, you can't go wrong with a Halloween birthday. You get to dress up, plus people give you candy! And when they find out it's your birthday, they give you extra candy! My lovely coworkers gave me great presents, including some super awesome Harry Potter pencils, a Butterbeer scented candle, Butterbeer earrings (they look like little bottles. They're so cute!), and Butterbeer flavored cupcakes. Mmmm...cupcakes...  Also, I have really nice church friends, who had a party for me and gave me socks! Apparently, they noticed my well-documented affection for socks. Good times.

The library team in our Halloween best. You can't see my HP scar in this picture, but I had several children convinced that it was real. I am just that skilled with makeup.

Then it was time for my present to me: another trip to New York City! I went with Kate and my friend Jessie (who also documented our fun times on her blog). When we got to NYC, we met up with Niki (who was already there because an international friend had been visiting), and Larissa, our awesome friend in Brooklyn who let us stay with her. Niki and Larissa spent a lot of the trip pretending to be embarrassed by Kate, Jessie, and me, because we inadvertently wore matchy red jackets, but I know the truth. They were just jealous.

 

We even walk in sync. That's how awesome we are. No wonder they were jealous.

The first thing we did (besides sleeping and eating, which are things I do all the time, so they don't seem exotic) was go to the Empire State Building! It's really, really tall. And after you ride the elevator up to the 80th floor, the workers will tell you that it's much faster to walk the last 6 flights of stairs, rather than waiting for the elevator. They're not entirely wrong. It was pretty fast. But they're big fat liars about it only being 6 flights of stairs. I definitely counted 8. Luckily I have Sheera power, so I handily made it to the top. I thought we might lose some of our party on the way  up, though.

So yeah, the Empire State Building is crazy tall. I took about a million pictures from the top, just to prove that I was there. Also, I actually remembered to bring my camera and to get new batteries, so it seemed like I ought to take advantage of that. 

 

My favorite of my Empire State Building pics. I look pretty!

Also, the views (you can basically see the entire city, and since it's ginormous, that's a big deal) are totally awesome, so I took about a billion pictures of those. Here's a few that freaked out Mom. I told her I leaned waaaaay out to get them. JK. She was just freaked out because you can tell how crazy high up we are.

Look at how little the cars are!

 

This one kind of freaks me out, too, if I'm being honest.

We spent a whole lot of time up at the top, admiring the views and attempting to get really cute pictures of ourselves on all sides of the Empire State Building.

 

Admiring the View. This picture is a lie. I did not have any quarters for this machine.

 A pigeon that freaked me out at the top of the Empire State Building. Doesn't it know how high up we were? How did it get up there? Why did it get up there?? What does it want from us?!?!?!

Then we had to spend some time in the gift shop, of course. I really, really wanted one of these gorillas for my collection (why yes, I do have a collection of gorilla stuffed animals. Thank you for asking!). But since the price of one Santa-hatted gorilla was only $1 less that the fee to get to the top of the Empire State Building, I couldn't really justify it.

 

Curse my public servant salary!!!

After our trip to the Empire State Building, it was time for everyone to indulge me! Because it was birthday! So we went to the main branch of the New York Public Library! I mostly wanted to see everything, but even more than that, I mostly wanted to see the lions. Do you know about the lions? They're ginormous marble lions out in front of the library, named, appropriately enough, Patience and Fortitude. That's appropriate because those are two of the main virtues you need to work in a public library!

 

Fortitude! 

Patience!

The library was just as amazing as I hoped it would be. It's almost like a museum, it's so pretty inside and out. And there's a gift shop! My "Shhhhh!" t-shirt was a great investment. In my happiness.

 There were many steps and columns. It was most tranquil.

I don't know why this picture is so little, but look how pretty the inside of the library is! Look!

The other awesome thing about the library was that I saw a celebrity! A librarian celebrity! I read a blog on School Library Journal's website by a children's librarian at NYPL. And almost as soon as we stepped into the library, I saw her! I'm afraid I might have gone a little swimfan on her, but rather that being freaked out, she was super nice, and said it made her feel like a rock star! (True story, we communicated about that through her blog post the next week.) The best part about it was that she told us about the first 90-second Newbery Film Festival, which just happened to be occurring at the library in about 15 minutes! We stayed for about an hour, watching many 90-second films about Newbery award-winning books. It was super fun! I wish we could have stayed for the whole thing, but fabulous New York City weekend waits for no woman (not even a librarian), so we missed the last half. Still, it was awesome. Plus, Jon Sciezka was there! Anyhow, you should really check out some of the 90-second films. They're very impressive and short.

After our fabulous and educational time at the library, we decided to get tickets to a Broadway show. I'll not lie, this is my favorite thing about NYC. Broadway!!! We really wanted to see How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, because little Danny Rad-cakes is in it! But it was sold out (sad face), so we had to settle for this:

The closest we could get to Daniel Radcliffe. :(

But we still really, really wanted to see a show, so Kate and I were tyrants, and made us buy tickets to Billy Elliot instead! I think not everyone wanted to see it, but they bought the tickets anyway, with very little protest. And they all liked it in the end, so I'd say it worked out. In the time that we had to wait before our show, we decided to eat dinner at a restaurant called Juniors. It's the busiest, fullest restaurant I have ever been in. There were seriously about 10 million people in there. I think it's because it's right there in the theater district, so all those hungry theater people come to eat. Also, they have excellent cheesecake, which we knew from our last visit to NYC. I wish I had taken a picture of the cheeseburger I got. It was enormous! I honestly didn't even eat my fries (or finish the burger) because I was so stinkin' full. I couldn't even stomach ordering cheesecake! But I did order a black and white cookie (which came in super handy on our bus ride back to Baltimore Sunday night).

 

This...is not a picture that I took. I stole it from the interwebs. But yeah, imagine this, with about 5 times as many people, and that should give you a good idea what it was like.

After dinner it was time for us to see Billy Elliot: The Musical. For those who don't know, Billy Elliot was a movie made about 11 years ago, about a little boy who lives in Northern England in the 1980s during the coal miners' strike. In 2005, Billy Elliot was turned into a musical with music by Elton John! Fancy! Also, it won a bunch of Tony's when it first opened on Broadway. Anywho, Billy is an 11 year old boy who starts taking ballet, kind of by chance, and it turns out that he's really good and loves to dance, but people aren't necessarily supportive of him. The play is about Billy and his dancing, and the town and the strike, and it was awesome. The boy who played Billy was amazing. He made me feel bad for having no talents, he was just that good. He was a fantastic dancer, his singing was lovely, and he was such a good actor that he made not only me cry, but Kate as well! And that's much harder than making me cry. There is some bad language in it, (especially in this one super awesome song that's goes back and forth between the miners and the little girls in Billy's ballet class), but I would still definitely recommend the show. If you want to see it on Broadway though, you better hurry, because it's closing in January!

 

He just wanted to dance, and that was my dream, too!

After the show, we wandered around Times Square for awhile, including going into the M&Ms store, which was pretty neat. By this point, though, I was super tired and I refused to take my camera out. So I don't have any photographic evidence of it, but honestly, we were there.

Sunday was our day for winding down, going to church, and then heading back to Baltimore. I ate my giant cookie on the bus. It was a great way to leave New York. I can tell why people fall so completely in love with the city. I've had so much fun both times that I've gone! I can't wait to go again! Of course, a lot of it is because of the people I was with. So thanks a bunch for being awesome, Kate, Jessie, Niki, and Larissa! You made it a great birthday trip!

Group Shot!

I did it!

I grew something in my garden, and then I ate it before a rat did!

Those of you have been following my gardening woes know that last year, my maiden voyage of front-yard gardening, was a complete and resounding failure. All of my plants died, and not one produced any sort of food. This year, I tried some new tricks, but it looked like my garden might still follow a similar course. First of all, it was, once again, really hot and dry this summer, but I was much more diligent about watering than I was last summer. Second, I actually planted these plants in the soil, instead of just in large pots.

Anyhow, things started off with a whimper, as my zucchini plant shriveled up and died in less than a week. But my tomatoes were growing steadily taller, and my peppers weren't shrinking, so that seemed like a good sign. And in August, something exciting happened: I saw an actual tomato on one of my tomato plants! It was still tiny and green, so I decided to wait for it to grow/ripen. That ended up being a mistake, because the day I finally went out to pick it, I discovered that a large bite had been taken out of it! Oh Noes! My conclusion was that a rat had eaten my tomato. I was a bit discouraged.

Then came September and the floods. Not literally, but almost. We had a whole heck of a lot of rain the last part of summer/early part of autumn. The result: my peppers started to grow! And yesterday, I was finally able to enjoy the fruits of my labor when I ate a banana (I think) pepper grown in my own front yard! I ate it in a quesadilla, for anyone wondering. It was delicious!

This is not an actual picture of the pepper I grew in my yard, by the way. I tried to get of picture of that, but my camera is dead, and going to the store to buy batteries was not something I wanted to do. But this gives you a pretty good idea. 

So that's my success story. I also have a bell (I think) pepper growing, and I'm really hoping that I get to eat it before it dies or gets eaten my rodents. My goal for next year is to be able to eat at least 3 things from my garden. Any gardening tips, faithful readers?