Anne of Green Gables

A few weeks ago, I was checking the collection of teen audiobooks at my work looking for something to listen to, and I saw that we had Anne of Green Gables. I knew the basics of the story, because I have seen bits and pieces of the movie, but I have never read the book.

Well, I absolutely loved it!! L.M. Montgomery's writing was very clever and entertaining, and Anne was such a hoot. I love that a book with such a strong and smart female character was published in 1908. I loved Anne's imagination as well as her competition with Gilbert Blythe. :) Here is a NPR piece on the 100 year anniversary of the publication of Anne of Green Gables that is quite interesting.

I talked with a librarian about how much I enjoyed reading a book that had such a strong female role model, and she recommended some other books, which I then read. These included The True Confessions of Charlotte Dolye by Avi and two books by Karen Cushman- The Midwife's Apprentice and Catherine, Called Birdy. I enjoyed Avi's novel and plan to read more of his work. Karen Cushman's work is enjoyable as well. Both books were pretty short, so they are fast reads.

I also got two other books read before the semester started today- The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, and Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan. The Handmaid's Tale was somewhat disturbing because it was a story taking place in a future society that has stripped away almost all of womens' rights.

Sarah, Plain and Tall is really short. In school, you were always given a few options for books to read, and I like to go back and read the ones I never got to, like Sarah, Plain and Tall or Anne of Green Gables. I always look at the summer reading display at Barnes and Noble and think I should eventually read all of those books. I'm sure I never will, but I would like to continue trying.

Bella

This movie is amazing! I kept seeing it at the Redbox, and even though I didn't remember it ever playing in theaters, it caught my eye. I had a free rental a few days ago so I watched it. It's one of those movies that reaches inside and touches your soul. Most movies are just mindless entertainment, which I am not complaining abouut. I quite enjoy those types of movies as well, but once in a while movies come along that are just so beautiful- movies like Bella, Crash, or Once.

It's about life, and how one occurance leads to another in ways that we can't see. How something that seems so terrible can lead to something beautiful. How people can have effects on others that they could never dream of.

Demolition Derby, Olympics, and Mamma Mia

That basically summarizes my weekend, which was one of the best I've had recently.

On Friday, we decided to go to the SL County Fair. Other than $5 for parking, admission was free. Granted, it was a lot smaller than the Utah State Fair, but I still had fun. Nicki and I took Jackson into a petting zoo. The little animals were SO cute!


After we ate dinner, we continued walking through. B98.7 had a booth where you ccould spin to try to win something. I won, and he said I could pick anything on the table. Along with movie tickets, Cherry Hill passes, and other things there was a book. A book I actually wanted...it's called Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. She is LDS, and a feminist and historian. She also coined that phrase, which became very famous. I was so excited to get the book. Although, the guy manning the booth wasn't very happy when I asked if that was his book. Since it was the only book, I was unsure so I asked. He assured me that it was not his book: "No, no, no." Kinda funny. We also went to the Demolition Derby, which was an additional $10. I had never been to one, though, and neither had Nicki so we wanted to go.


After the Derby, Adam, his mom, and I went on the Gravitron. Man, that one makes you feel sick! I might be done going on that one.


Saturday morning, I woke up and went to the Farmer's Market by myself. I was very nice. I got there before it got too hot and crowded. I was specifically going because the Main library was have a small book sale there. I got 8 books for $10, which made me really happy. I also got to try a slice of pumpkin bread, and a mini red velvet cupcake. I picked up some sausage to make later that was so good! I did have to work on Saturday, but after work I went over to Jordan Landing and met Sara, a friend from work. We ate crepes over at A Taste of Europe, walked over to B&N, and then went to see Mamma Mia. It was cheesy, but really enjoyed it.


On Sunday, we had church, a family dinner for Nicki's birthday, and the baptism of one of the kids in our primary class. Along with all that, I have been watching the Olympics all weekend. I recorded stuff and would watch it whenever I had time. On Friday night I stayed up pretty late after the fair watching the Opening Ceremonies, but fell asleep during the Parade of Nations. I watched the rest of it on Saturday, and we have also been watching some of the sports. We watched some of the women's beach volleyball, and the swimming. Michael Phelps is so amazing! So far, he has won two golds (one individual and one team), and I hope he continues to win more.

8 things

8 things I am passionate about:
1) Adam
2) my family
3) books
4) keeping an open mind
5) my faith
6) happiness
7) education
8) taking care of myself

8 books I have read and enjoyed:
1) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2) Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
3) Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer
4) Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
5) What Should I Do With My Life? by Po Bronson
6) Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
7) Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
8) The Giver by Lois Lowry

8 words/phrases I say often:
1) honey
2) oh really?
3) I'm tired.
4) I love you.
5) Can we ..... (whatever $-costing event I want to go to)
6) Does this look okay?
7) I'm bored.
8) Work was okay.

8 things I want do to before I die (in no particular order):
1) Go to London
2) Have a child
3) Get a Bachelor's degree
4) Own a home
5) Get a Master's degree
6) Go to Alaska
7) Make a difference
8) Go to New York City

8 Things I learned this past year:
1) Weight loss is possible, and it is worth it.
2) Enjoying your current stage of life is better than hoping for the next.
3) I can be happy even when I have missed some opportunities.
4) I have learned how important it is to like who you are.
5) I waste too much time, but sometimes that keeps me sane.
6) My faith is still important to me, but in different ways.
7) I will never read all the books I want to, or see all the movies I want to. Still trying to fully accept that though. :)
8) Live music is pretty awesome!

8 Things I miss:
1) my Grandma
2) the Holladay apartment
3) being a daily part of the twins' lives
4) my carefree teenage life (sometimes)
5) autumn
6) running through the sprinklers
7) the feeling of new love
8) food (or at least some of my old favorites I have cut back on, like chinese food, cheesecake, etc)

8 things I currently want/need:
1) an elliptical machine
2) a laptop
3) Penelope dvd
4) To Kill a Mockingbird dvd
5) the ability to sleep less and not be tired :)
6) a smaller body
7) a haircut
8) free gas for my car :)

8 items I could not live without (or at least wouldn’t want to):
1) car
2) love
3) cell phone
4) computer
5) books
6) movies
7) bed
8) my glasses (I'd be so blind!)

Books

I've seen this on a bunch of blogs, so I decided to see how many I have read. This is a list of books that apparently the average adult has only read six of. I've read 25, but plan on reading a lot more.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Shakespeare's complete works- I doubt I'll ever read his complete works, although it would be kinda cool.
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
37. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
38. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Animal Farm - George Orwell
41. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
42. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
43. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
44. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
45. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
46. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
47. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
48. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
49. Atonement - Ian McEwan
50. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
51. Dune - Frank Herbert
52. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
53. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
54. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
55. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
56. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
57. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
58. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
59. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
60. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
61. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
62. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
63. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
64. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
65. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
66. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
67. Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fiedling
68. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
69. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
70. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
71. Dracula - Bram Stoker
72. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
73. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
74. Ulysses - James Joyce
75. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
76. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
77. Germinal - Emile Zola
78. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
79. Possession - AS Byatt
80. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
81. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
82. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
83. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
84. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
85. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
86. Charlotte’s Web - EB White
87. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
88. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
89. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
90. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
91. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
92. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
93. Watership Down - Richard Adams
94. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
95. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
96. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
97. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
98. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
99. Night - Elie Wiesel
100. Twilight series - Stephenie Meyer

Megan's mosaic

1. around the bend, 2. the legend on boulevard, 3. Mount Tamalpais, 4. Day 131: Sphere, 5. James McAvoy, 6. water droplets in the shower - o.k. bokeh, 7. London Underground - Zone 1 & 2, 8. Chocolate Cupcakes, 9. Day 106 - I am a librarian, 10. love message, 11. i heart nerds, 12. bookworm...



I've been seeing these on a few blogs, but one of them actually gave instructions, so thank you! This is copied over from her blog.

Here´s how you do it...

Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr search, using only the first page, choose your favorite image, copy and paste each of the URL’s into the mosaic maker (3 columns, 4 rows).

The questions:
1. What is your first name? (Megan)
2. What is your favorite food? (Chinese)
3. What high school did you attend? (Highland)
4. What is your favorite color? (teal)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (James McAvoy)
6. Favorite drink? (water)
7. Dream vacation? (London)
8. Favorite dessert? (chocolate)
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? (librarian)
10.What do you love most in life? (romance)
11. One word to describe you. (nerd)
12. Your Flickr name. (Bookworm Bishop)

Breaking Dawn

-Yes, we were dorks and decided to get Breaking Dawn shirts. Although, in our defense, they were a lot more people even more dressed up. The theme was a wedding of course, and so people were in prom dresses to be like bridesmaid's dresses.



-It was so packed. This is outside B&N after 11 when they had everyone go outside to wait until midnight.



-Yes, that is a silver Volvo. That is also "Alice" and "Rosalie" confronting "James." You can also slighty see "Edward" behind the redhead in blue.

-On Friday morning, I went to get wristbands for Karen and me. Unfortunately, we were in the 576-600 group. I could have been worse, but it still meant we would be pretty far back in line. Adam and I met up with Karen and Steve for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, which was yummy. After doing a couple of other things, Karen and I headed to the Barnes and Noble. It got so packed by the end of the night. They had activities going, although we didn't do any of them. It was pretty crazy. They made everyone leave at 11 and wait outside, like I mentioned. You had to be in your wristband group of 25, and then each group of 25 was let in. We were pretty far back, so we didn't actually leave with our books until after 1:00. Altogether, it was fun, although I wish they could have had the distribution of books handled better. It would have been nice if we could have pre-paid for our books. Anyways...

I got home and started reading at about 1:30 after Karen and Steve had left. I read until 4:00, then slept until 9:00, then woke up and continued reading. I had to go to work at 12:30, but it was okay because I needed a break. There are some pretty big ideas to digest, so I went to work for the four hours, and came home and read more. With bathroom breaks and a longer dinner break, I finished around 10:30 tonight. Less than 24 hours after I got it!! I still don't quite know how I feel about all of it....so I'm off to look at some websites like the Twilight Lexicon and then I am going to go to bed since I only got 5 hours of sleep last night.