13 Books to Read this Spring

Finally finished my fall reading list (I know, I know, it's February), so I figured it's high time to start a new list! This one is just as random as before... a nice mix of classical literature and fantasy and fairy tales and even a memoir thrown in there just for kicks and giggles.

This list is a bit deceiving, since lots of the "books" are actually series, and therefore have more than one book. I think the total amount of books I'm planning to read here is actually 38. Not to scare you off, or anything.

In no particular order:

Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling
This is a re-read for me, but I found a few at a used book store a few weeks ago, in pretty great condition. So of course I couldn't resist buying them, and then I started reading them again and now I can't stop. If you like the world of wizards and magic... this is where it's at.

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
Also a re-read. Ever since stumbling upon the Lizzie Bennett diaries and watching the BBC Pride & Prejudice with Sara (speaking of which, Sara, it's time to watch that again....), I've been meaning to re-read the book. There's something about the language of the novel that I love. Almost makes me wish I had been born in another time, another place.

The One I Left Behind by Jennifer McMahon
Found this book on a list that I stumbled across on Pinterest. Don't remember which list or what the theme was or anything, but I remember thinking that it looked interesting. I'm always up for a good murder mystery. Serial killers are a fascinating psychological study.

Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close
This one was on a list of "books for young women to read in their 20s" and since that applies to me, I thought I'd check it out. It certainly seemed one of the more interesting ones. The first thing Amazon says about it: "Isabelle, Mary and Lauren feel like everyone they know is getting married." Sooo, yup.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
First of all, the author has a really cool name. So obviously it must be worth reading. Secondly, this is one of those series that everyone I know read in like 5th grade, but for some reason I always thought I wouldn't be allowed to read them. Not sure why, because I look at them now, and think, "There's no way they can be that bad." So I'm going to find out.

Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers
Mary Poppins has always been one of my favorite movies, but I've never read the books. With all the hype about Mary Poppins (the Fulton just did the musical, and 'Saving Mr. Banks' might still be in theaters, I'm not really sure), I figured it was definitely time to sit down and read the books, to see how they differed from the movie and the musical. I still haven't seen 'Saving Mr. Banks.' I need to get on that.

The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith
This is the book that 'Philomena' is based on, and it's a NY Times best-seller, so I'm going to give it a shot. Non-fiction isn't necessarily my thing, but I can enjoy and appreciate a memoir. Maybe because it tells more like a story. This one is about a woman's 50-year search for her son.

Little Women by Louise May Alcott
I think I first read the Great Illustrated Classics version of this book when I was in elementary school, but I'm not sure I ever read the unabridged version. But I love the story of the March sisters. In some ways, they remind me of my sisters and me. They had so many fun adventures, I somehow wish I could have been a part of them.

Maze Runner by James Dashner
I heard this is being made into a movie. I think I found it in a list somewhere before it was supposed to be made into a movie. Which means I'm not really jumping on the bandwagon, right? In all seriousness, though, it seems right up my alley: a dystopian society, the main character dropped in with no memory of his former life, a giant maze with creatures that are trying to kill all the kids.... sounds awesome.

Princess Bride by William Goldman
I muddled through this book once a long time ago, but don't really remember what I thought about it. Since it's my favorite movie, I'm determined to love the book. And really, there is something in this for everyone: pirates, sword fighting, true love, adventure, and comedy.

Once Upon a Curse 
This is a collection of short stories that I found in one of those websites that let's you put in an author/title and find similar books that might interest you. Although, I'm not entirely certain this particular book is what the results were referring to, but when I looked it up, it piqued my interest, so here it is. I'm always up for a good fairy-tale-with-a-darker-twist.

Faraway Tree Stories by Enid Blyton
HERE'S THE THING. I have been looking for this book since I was about eight years old. I have this memory of reading this book at my neighbor's house, and thinking it was the best book ever. Then they moved away, and I guess the book got lost somehow, because they never seemed to know what book I was talking about when I'd ask them. But I always remembered being absolutely in love with the book because it was about an enchanted forest and exciting adventures in a tree house type thing. I can't believe I stumbled across this. I'm so excited.

Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton
I think it was Star who first introduced me to HONY on Facebook, and I quickly fell in love with his photographs. They're so real and he manages to connect so beautifully to the people and their stories. I want to move to NYC just so I can be a part of it.

8 Things I Will Actually do on this Snow Day

This morning my friend Star blogged a list of 10 things to do in the snow that don't include technology, a guest post written by our friend Elizabeth. The list included awesome things like write something, play in the snow, practice an instrument, or play a board game. I really appreciate this list, because I always have the best intentions when it comes to maximizing my snow days, really I do. I'm always like, I'm going to get up at a decent time and GET STUFF DONE.

But somehow there is always a reality that my day is not spent doing any of those things.

Therefore, I present my list of what I will actually do this millionth snow day of 2014.

1. Try to work from home. I'm currently in the middle of creating a show to premiere at Cherry Crest this summer, something farm-related and fun for kids that we can use year after year (as opposed to specifically dealing with the maze theme, which changes every year). I came up with this idea to do a mystery, where something gets stolen from the barn, and the farm animals have to solve the mystery, and figure out the clues.... it sounded SO GOOD in my head.

2. Watch New Girl. Ashley got me hooked. So thanks for that.

3. Stare wistfully out the window while the snow falls steadily, mocking me. The snowflakes are probably singing a joyful chorus... "We can't stop, and we won't stop."

4. Indulge Christy by standing on the porch to take a picture in the snow. Take note of my enthusiasm. The picture does not do my face justice. I was making an awful grimace. At least, it felt that way. On my face.

5. Browse Facebook. A lot. As much as I'm trying to stay off it.

6. Obsessively refresh the Submissions Only website. Their reformatted website launched this morning, apparently, which I discovered when I clicked on it at 7:30 this morning, in hopes that they had announced when season 3 would air. No dice. But since they redid the website, that means a big announcement must be coming soon, right? RIGHT?!

7. Wear sweatpants and my bunny slippers all day. Because why not??

Partway through writing this post, I helped my dad scrape off our cars, and in the process, he informed me that this is perfect snowman-making snow. My whole outlook on the day changed. The result:

8. Build Eva, the Mysterious Alien Snow-woman

Needless to say, I'm tired of the snow, really I am. But it's not a bad day at all. And regardless of whether you do awesome things from Elizabeth's list, or the lazy-person things from my list, enjoy the day that we've been given!

DIY Canvas Art

I've seen this one circling Pinterest for awhile, but never really found one with super clear instructions. Most of the pins are just pictures of the finished product. And I know, it's really not that difficult and probably summed up in a simple phrase: Put painter's tape on a canvas and paint over it. (The "peel the tape off after it's dry and you have awesome original wall art" part is implied). But I figured I'd write my own blog, give my two cents, add all the little tips that none of these sites seem to have. So after my adventures with paint and stickers, I thought I'd give this one a try. Sara was looking for a fun and easy project for her youth group to do while on a retreat, and so we decided to test it out. I think they turned out well!

Supplies:

~canvas

~paint

~paintbrushes

~masking/painter's tape

~newspaper (if you want to cover the table)

Step 1: Paint the canvas. 

Pretty basic. Apparently neither one of us likes red paint, haha.

Step 1.5: Wait for the paint to dry.

This was Sara's least favorite part. 

But seriously. Pretty important if you want your design to turn out

the way you want it. Otherwise, the tape peels up the paint.

Step 2: Place masking or painter's tape on the canvas.

You can use it to make letters, lines, squares, shapes, just about anything. The tape is the part that you won't be painting over, so anything underneath it will show through in the final product.

Step 3: Paint black over the whole canvas.

Paint carefully. Make sure the tape is firmly pressed down. Try not to let the edges get peeled back while you're painting. Take your time, or the paint might seep under the edge of the tape, which makes more blurry lines. Using spray-paint would probably solve that problem. I haven't tried it yet because I haven't taken the time to go out and buy black spray paint. 

Step 3.5: Wait for the paint to dry. Again.

Sara's other least favorite part.

Step 4: Remove the tape from the canvas.

Peel carefully! It's really important (again) to make sure that the paint has dried completely before you start to peel up the tape, or the paint will get smear-y and might peel up with the tape. But hey, the results are pretty great:

And really, that's all there is to it! Sara is a self-proclaimed non-crafty person, and she had a great time. I believe her words were "Super cool and super easy!" It's really a basic project that anyone can do, even kids. Mom could put the tape down on a canvas and let the kids finger-paint over it, and it would have the same result. 

Have at it, friends! Let the original-art-making commence!

The 12 "Days" of Massanutten

Vacation time at Massanutten! It might have been 10 degrees outside this week, but inside it was full of love and laughter and warm hearts <3

12 wonderful women whom I am so very happy to call my friends (yes, there's a baby in there too!)

11 movies watched throughout the week... Including, but not limited to, Sweet Home Alabama, Walk the Line, Maid in Manhattan, Princess Bride, Italian Job, Safe Haven, Mamma Mia, and The Holiday. Also, we watched a lot of Price is Right. We might have sat on our butts for 50% of this trip. What are vacations for?!

10 hands dipped in paraffin wax. It makes your hands oh-so-soft, but you look like a kid with chicken pox while doing it. Regan, Sara and I have great chicken pox faces.

9am = average wake-up time every morning. This takes into account that Missy regularly stayed in bed til 11am, while Lil got up at 7am.

8 spacious bedrooms with 12 beds... everyone could have their own bed!

7 rounds of Crazy Uno, also known as "Everything Sara Wants, Sara Gets"... because no one else can keep track of whose turn it is so all we can do is listen to her. Crazy Uno is like regular Uno on steroids... you can play out of turn at any time by laying down a card identical to what has just been played. This skips the people in between, and also doubles the penalty of the card. This means that if all 4 Draw-Four cards are played at the same time, the person who gets hit has to draw 16 cards. It's awful.

6 pots of coffee at IHOP. There were only 3 of us who even ordered coffee, so we're not quite sure why they brought us so many pots. But yay, breakfast for dinner!!

5 sequin outfits bought at Plato's Closet... We are quite sure that we will use them in the 2014 stage shows, which will somehow include music and dancing from the 80s. Everyone agreed to model them, but only if their faces weren't showing (the internet, ya know, it's permanent). It was a 20 minute ordeal to get this picture.... couldn't stop laughing. We can have so much fun for only $30!

4 late nights, full of snacks, movies, and lots of pillow talk. But also Sara getting up at 4 in the morning to feed and burp Cassidy. I have a new appreciation for being the mom of an infant.

3 home cooked meals... Donna makes awesome food. Enough said.

2 hours of tubing out on the mountain! Super steep hills and fast lanes and not very many people meant that we got a lot of rides out of the afternoon. Totally worth braving the cold!

1 adorable baby who officially captured our hearts. I think most of the pictures we took of this weekend were of Cassidy Page... just look at this face!!

 How can you not love her??

 Seriously. The cutest. 

PS, huge shout-out to Sara, Donna, Lil, Mel and Missy for helping me with all these numbers! 

Mason Jar Journal

Last year about this time, this photo was making it's way around the interwebz, on Pinterest and Facebook and Tumblr. The premise was suggesting that you take an empty jar, and write down all the fun/happy/memorable moments of the year and put them in the jar, then take them all out at the end of the year and look back on the events of the year. Being the trend-follower that I am, I also pinned the photo to my arts-and-crafts board and determined that I would follow through with it. But I (like many people) make resolutions every year and (let's be honest) who really follows through with those anyway?? They are always good ideas in theory, but rarely do I seem them come to fruition. I didn't have high hopes for this one.

Lo and behold, I sit here twelve months later, surrounded by all the awesome things that happened to me this year! Somewhat in shock, I might add. It dawned on me earlier this week that the year is almost over, and I actually completed this project. 

I've always kept a journal, but since I went to college, my entries got more and more sporadic, and it took me until the end of my senior year (December 2012) to completely fill the journal that Linna gave me on my 16th birthday (in my defense, it WAS enormous). I bought a blank journal, ready to start chronicling the new season of my life in 2013.... and it just never happened. So I have never been more glad that I completed my Mason Jar Journal. At least the best moments of my year were recorded.

Some of the highlights:

Thanks to everyone who helped make this year a fantastic one! 

"My Favorite Things" is not a Christmas song.

I just... have this beef with everyone who thinks this song is a holiday song. I want to know who decided that it should be played on Christmas radio stations. Whoever it was.... please know that it was a stupid idea.

There is really only one reference to anything remotely related to Christmas: "brown paper packages tied up with string" and seriously, it's a biiiiit of a stretch... Maybe it's mail. WHAT IF IT'S JUST MAIL. Everybody loves getting mail, right? Who doesn't love mail? And that is why it's on a list of Julie Andrews' favorite things.

And then there are the decidedly winter-y phrases: "snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes, silver white winters that melt into spring" "warm woolen mittens" "door bells and sleigh bells."But that's not the point. The theme is not winter here! The theme is "my favorite things." The song also talks about girls in white dresses (most likely worn in the spring) and bees stinging (which they only do in the spring) and raindrops on roses (let's be real... probably spring time) and whiskers on kittens (could be anytime, but they're cutest in the spring).

I just don't understand why it became such a popular Christmas song! It's not like they sing it at Christmas time in the movie. In fact, due to the thunderstorm raging outside and the events of the following "Do Re Me" sequence (frolicking in the meadow, falling in the lake, etc), I'd guess that it's probably summer time. The movie does not have a single Christmas scene in it.

Wikipedia lists at least 34 Christmas albums that feature this song. And that's not even necessarily all of them! It's not a new phenomenon, either. These albums range from as early as Jack Jones' album in 1964 to Barbara Streisand's brand spankin' new 2013 album.

Last night, I heard this horrendous rendition, which is what sparked this soap box:

It's long and drawn out and melancholy (It's a song about favorite things. How can you be sad when you sing it?!). The song starts with some tinkling bells, like something out of The Nutcracker. Then halfway through, all of the sudden the music is grand and sweeping like she's about to go into battle, and everything is so dramatic! It's basically the "Sugar Plum Fairy" meets the Narnia soundtrack. (Sidenote--her hat thing.... futuristic space bathing cap?)

I just don't understand. I will never understand. Please join me in boycotting this song as part of the holiday tradition! I promise to never include it on a Christmas album. I promise to never include it on a Christmas play list. I promise to never play it at holiday parties and family gift exchanges! I promise to restore this song to it's rightful place: far FAR AWAY from Christmas!!

I leave you with this parting thought: