ski the world.

i love skiing. i've been skiing my whole life. by no means am i an expert, but i love it. and that's good enough for me. one of my dreams is to ski everywhere i can possibly ski. okay, maybe not everywhere but i have quite a few places on my bucket list right now. while i was on my study abroad, i HAD to ski the alps. i was a day trip away from switzerland...how could i pass up that opportunity?? my dad met me in basel, we stayed there for a day then took a train to zermatt. we stayed in a tiny little hotel with the matterhorn outside our window. the next day we skied one side of zermatt. it was honestly the most beautiful skiing experience i have ever had. we skied mainly just on gornergrat. it was early december so some of the other areas were closed. my favorite part was at the very top of gornergrat there is a hotel and beyond the hotel is a huge canyon and the whole thing is covered in snow. i seriously felt like i was in the north pole or something, it was so amazing!

i've been working on a paper all semester about civil society in post-communist eastern europe so i've had to do quite a bit of research on eastern european countries. while i was in vienna, my haus frau's son (who is a big skier!) told me that skiing in bulgaria and slovenia is awesome and really cheap! so lately...i've really been wanted to ski in those two countries.

these are pictures of bansko in bulgaria...the picture on the top reminds me of how it was in zermatt...there were no trees anywhere, it was so strange since skiing here there are trees EVERYWHERE!

bohinj in slovenia is comprised of several smaller areas. as soon as i saw this picture i was sold. this looks SO incredible! i really like the open feeling of no trees sometimes...you feel like you could seriously get so lost on the mountain.

in addition to skiing there being cheap and pretty good, i really just want to visit those countries. although i loved being in western european countries on my study abroad, my favorite were the eastern european countries we visited (hungary, czech republic, slovakia). the history of communism there is so fascinating to me. it's so crazy to think that just 20 years ago they were all living under an oppressive communist regime and now they are (for the most part) fully consolidated democracies.

other places on my skiing bucket list:
cortina, italy
stowe, vermont
banff/lake louise, canada
vail, colorado
breckenridge, colorado
kitzbuehl, austria
whistler, canada
borovets, bulgaria
levi, finland
voss, norway
jackson hole, wyoming
saas fee, austria
big sky resort, montana
courchevel, france
niseko resort, japan
kiroro resort, japan
mt. bachelor, oregon
mammoth, california
mt. hermon, israel
alpensia ski resort/yongpyong, south korea (where the 2018 winter olympics are being held)
palandoken ski resort, turkey
alshan alpine ski resort, china
gulmarg ski resort, india
las lenas, argentina
bariloche, argentina
portillo, chile
valle nevado, chile

i know it's a long list and considering how expensive skiing is, it probably won't happen but..a girl can dream right?

30 things to stop doing to yourself.

i found this article while i was procrastinating of course! it has a list of 30 things that you shouldn't do if you want to move forward and progress in life. i really loved it and it made me realize how many of these i'm guilty of doing and are probably why i feel like i'm in a rut right now, so here they are (i added my insights to some...sorry this is so long...this is like my journal):

1. stop spending time with the wrong people.
2. stop running from your problems. i do this a lot. i ignore things i need to do. i ignore things that scare me. i should probably stop doing this.
3. stop lying to yourself.
4. stop putting your own needs on the back burner.
5. stop trying to be someone you're not.
6. stop trying to hold onto the past.
7. stop being scared to make a mistake. i am terrified of doing this. not that i don't make mistakes. i make plenty of mistakes. but i still get scared to make them. i think about all the mistakes i could possibly make, big or small, before i make every decision. it takes a lot of energy to do this. too much energy.
8. stop berating yourself for old mistakes.
9. stop trying to buy happiness. i think most people fall into this problem. i always think to myself "ohh when i have more than $100 in my bank account life will be so much easier!" or "oh my gosh i need those pants..my outfits will be so much cuter and therefore i will be way happier when i get those pants!" problem is...that's so not true. i definitely need to work on this!
10. stop exclusively looking to others for happiness.
11. stop being idle.
12. stop thinking you're not ready. this is something i really have struggled with lately as i get closer to graduating college and having to become a real adult in the real world. i don't feel like i'm ready to leave provo, but i also don't feel like i'm in the position to stay here. i don't feel ready to support myself entirely or have a career. but, i know that i need to be heading in this direction, so i need to convince myself i'm ready!
13. stop getting involved in relationships for the wrong reasons.
14. stop rejecting new relationships just because old ones didn't work.
15. stop trying to compete against everyone else. i'm not a very competitive person but i once heard someone say that we need to not compare our behind-the-scenes to everyone else's highlight reel. otherwise, we get a misconstrued picture of what we think our lives "should" be like. facebook/twitter/instagram/blogs so do not help with this!
16. stop being jealous of others.
17. stop complaining and feeling sorry for yourself. the month of october was one of those times when you just say "when it rains...it pours" it really really poured. and for far too long i was feeling sorry for myself instead of putting things into perspective and realizing that these trials were sent to me for a reason and that i have been truly blessed in this life and that this was just a blip in the big scheme of things!
18. stop holding grudges.
19. stop letting others bring you down to their level.
20. stop wasting time explaining yourself to others.
21. stop doing the same things over and over without taking a break.
22. stop overlooking the beauty of small moments.
23. stop trying to make things perfect. i am a perfectionist with a lot of things, not all things. this is proved to be a real challenge for me. i spend way too much time working on things that really don't need to be "perfect". this article said it best, "the real world doesn't reward perfectionists, it rewards people who get things done."
24. stop following the path of least resistance. i have to quote what this article said with this one, because it's exactly how i feel about this, "Life is not easy, especially when you plan on achieving something worthwhile. don't take the easy way out. do something extraordinary."
25. stop acting like everything is fine if it isn't.
26. stop blaming others for your troubles.
27. stop trying to be everything to everyone. this article says "narrow your focus", yeah, i need to do that. I have so many...too many...dreams for my life and instead of working hard to make a few of them happen, i distribute my effort into all of them and end up achieving...none.
28. stop worrying so much. i have always been a worrier. always. when i was in elementary school my mom got me a "worry stone" as a joke because i seriously worry that much. i stress about anything and everything, things that don't even really affect me, things that are completely out of my control, things that don't really matter...honestly it's endless. and it truly does me no good.
29. stop focusing on what you don't want to happen. two words: POSITIVE THINKING!
30. stop being ungrateful. i'm not great at this, but in my prayers i try to really express gratitude to my heavenly father and i am big on thank you notes and making sure people know i appreciate them...but, i can certainly work on this! gratitude brings so much happiness to your life and makes all your problems seem so insignificant! no better remedy for sadness, anger, frustration or hate than gratitude!

i'm sure that no one made it to the bottom. this was mostly for me. the end of the year, although cliche, is a great time to evaluate my life and decide what needs to change or what i need to work on. not to mention, this gave me a solid thirty minutes of procrastination which is always good!

anal retentive.

my whole life i have been an anal retentive, perfectionist, planner, and organizer. you would think this would be good (and also prevent me from procrastination...but turns out it doesn't). instead, this really just makes me the grown up...which really is no fun. or as amber would call me, a focker.

for example, today i went to school at 10. i am so so so anal about checking the weather before i go outside. i hate going outside unprepared for whatever weather is about to greet me. i also hate going outside with an outfit that is either too cold or too ward for the day. so yes, i check the weather probably 3 or 4 times before i leave for the day. it was in the 20s this morning. so, i put on a light sweater, my combat boots (they are great on snow and ice...again, need to be prepared!) and this big parka type jacket from h&m. its sooo warm. i thought i was dressed fine. well, a couple hours later i go home to meet up with amber so we can go to the library. she has on a short sleeved shirt and a thin leather jacket. naturally, i ask if she's going to put on another jacket since it's freezing. her response "well...i'm just going from one cold place to another...sooo...no." i think she's crazy. we go to her car, i have my new gloves on even and as we are in the car she starts making fun of me. she tells me how comical it is that i am wearing gloves. so, because i'm now self-conscious about it, i take the gloves off and leave them in the car. i'm not tryin to be like michael jackson or anything...then as we are walking to the library she calls me a focker (her favorite word) because i'm wearing a big jacket. really, i could have gotten away with a lighter jacket. but, i HATE being cold when it can easily be prevented. and i hate even more to be unprepared.

another example, we had our ward christmas closing social tonight at this cabin up provo canyon. i of course google mapped it the minute i got the address earlier today. i was so prepared. once again, i really dislike being unprepared. well, we are driving up the canyon and i asked my roommate if she wanted me to give her directions and my other roommate says, "well, we can just follow people there". we probably would have been just find doing that but of course in my head i'm thinking "ummm...yeah, follow people? how do you know they're going to the same place we are? what if we get lost? it's freezing. it's dark. we all have gps on our phone. so not necessary to chance it and just follow people." granted...its like a one street town so there are only a few ways you can actually go, but my theory is better safe than sorry. i know, i'm so not spontaneous. like i said, i WORRY. i plan, i organize, i prepare. that's what i do. and i seriously do not know how to go about my life without doing those things.

last day of classes on thursday. i could not be more excited! i finally got to go skiing last saturday. it was such a fun day! we stayed with kiersti friday night and headed up saturday morning. originally i was planning to only go a half day and go to the basketball game at 3. but, after i met up with some friends and the sun was shining, i couldn't resist skiing the whole day. we didn't leave until 4 and we got davanza's after. MY FAVORITE! honestly, a dream day. nothing better than pizza after a long day of skiing. also, the second half of the day i was the only girl skiing with four boys. i'm used to that happening since none of my girl friends ski. but it's seriously the greatest because i always ski outside my comfort zone...ya know, since i'm not spontaneous or adventurous and 90% of boys are. it's definitely good for me. anyways, time to get back to my all nighter. maybe one day i'll take some pictures on an actual camera instead of an iPhone.

not the first blog post to transpire as a result of procrastination

i am without a doubt the world's greatest procrastinator. seriously, if that could be a career, i'd be set. unfortunately it's pretty much the antithesis of all that is required to obtain a career. bummer. i have to write five pages by tomorrow at 9 am. i've had less time to do a lot more so i'm not that stressed about. which is sort of the problem. why do i do this to myself? i wish nothing more than to be in bed right now. i also despise nothing more than i do writing papers. i would rather study for tests all day long than write research papers. i wish that were an option.

tonight i went to carl's intramural game. they lost, no more games until next fall! it was freezing. so so cold. but it was so fun to hang out with em, ash, amb and kiersti. then ash came home with me, we stopped and got big gulps (so bad, i know...i needed the caffeine tonight though) and watched 90210 and ate grilled cheese. that i burnt. and our kitchen still smells. luckily i have these sitting next to me as i pretend to do my homework.

if you have never made orange pomanders before, do it now! they smell amazing! i want to go buy more oranges and whole cloves because i seriously can't get enough of them. also, the more cloves you put in them, the more they will dry out and the longer they last!

today i was thinking how awesome it would be to win something. and how i NEVER win anything. ever. recently i decided i was going to enter all blog giveaways on my favorite blogs, just to see if i can win anything. no luck yet, but today i had an epiphany. while attempting to further procrastinate this paper i'm supposed to be writing right now, i decided to literally enter every sweepstakes i could find. the month of october was not my favorite. i think i must have really really bad luck. either that or the adversary is just trying to get to me in really dumb ways. so i wanted to test my luck a little. see if anything cool...like winning any sort of contest...could ever happen to me. i know, so lame. but i really just want to win something...anything! it would make me feel so much better about my crappy luck and then i wouldn't feel so bad about how much i hate cars and money and computers and all these things that my luck seems to affect. so ya, i pretty much entered like 50 contests. i'll keep you updated.

i promise i love my life. that last paragraph sounded way negative. i'm so grateful to be here in provo and at byu. i live in a nice house, i have a good car, i have a job, i'm healthy, and i have wonderful family and friends. like i said, i just had bad luck this semester. 

back to procrastinating again. in another attempt to procrastinate, i typed this on my phone. 

i am so not kidding when i say that i legitimately have to remind myself that this has been my lifelong goal, that i've put too much hard work and energy (and $$$...thanks mom and dad!) into this to quit now. even though i really just want to drop out of all my classes. who needs to know theories of comparative politics, and the weaknesses of civil society in post-communist eastern europe when all you're gonna do is teach a bunch of 15-17 year olds that won't even remember what the bill of rights is two weeks after they learn it.

ok that was also really negative. i mean, i enjoy learning. i really do. and i know that i am so so blessed to be able to have the opportunity to go to byu. but...aren't i allowed to feel completely burnt out and so beyond ready to be done with school and homework forever? at least when i'm a teacher i'll be the one that gets to issue all the homework. hahah i can't wait. it's gonna be really fun.

tomorrow i am going up to park city to ski a half day. first day on the slopes! i'm so excited!

okay okay...i really need to crank this paper out so i guess i'll have to resume my procrastination tomorrow afternoon.

gute nacht!

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okay, so maybe i will try to blog again. only because emily told me to. like i said before, my life is so not exciting. but i like it that way. this semester has been one of the hardest ever for me. not because my classes are hard, because they really aren't. but because i cannot for the life of me stay motivated to finish any homework or actually go to class! talk about senioritis. i am so ready to be done with school. today i was in the car with amber and we were talking about school and i was getting so overwhelmed thinking about all my end of the semester tests and papers and i seriously started saying, out loud, "i want to graduate college. i will graduate college. i want to graduate college. i will graduate college." i'm really not kidding about that. i have to remind myself daily that it has been my lifelong goal to graduate college. i'm so so so close. i can't give up now! even though i really want to so i can just be a ski bum all winter.

i don't really want to rehash the last three months so instead, i'll just post about thanksgiving. because it was SO great. and i need to vocalize everything i'm thankful for, really just so i can remind myself how i really have no reason to be such a brat about school. i flew to vegas for like a day last week. my mom picked me up and we ran errands for a couple hours. i love love love hanging out with her. she even brought me jimmy johns in the car! yum. she bought me christmas decorations. and we got to go to the ghetto (north las vegas) to check on a rental for her client. i made her run back to the car with me because there were random people wandering around the streets and i thought for sure we were going to get shot up or robbed at gun point. since, ya know, we're real rich and stuff. luckily we didn't. it was fun to pretend like it though. the next day we drove to arizona. and then, i got to spend four days hanging out with my most favorite people. thursday morning we did the turkey trot. my mom, dad, sister, amber and i all ran the 10k. everyone else did the 2 mile or 1 mile walk/run. i was so scared to do the 10k. but i'm so glad i did. i am NOT a runner. i hate running. i have short little legs that get me nowhere. i feel so awkward when i run. i have bad knees. and running doesn't make my knees feel very good. but, i did it! i finished! i didn't train...like at all. the most miles i have ever ran at one time is 3.5...ya, probably not a good idea. i was hating my life the first three miles, then i felt way better the last half. i was so tired. but i felt so good after! my time sucked but all i cared about was finishing. my hip flexors and quads and back were SO sore for the next three days. it was bad. but definitely worth it.

thanksgiving dinner was bomb. as usual. i didn't get a real thanksgiving dinner last year so i was so excited to be with my family this year! after we all went and saw like crazy. i was so excited to see it and then...the ending ruined it all. oh well, at least it was free.

the next day we did some shopping. we went to the scottsdale mall and it was so crowded. NOT fun. we never do black friday shopping. not worth it. no joke, we drove around for probably 20 minutes stalking people as they walked towards their cars in an attempt to steal their parking spot. although, if i had money, black friday shopping online/cyber monday is a wonderful wonderful idea. i love shopping online. i stopped by the barney's there. so dreamy in there. they had my favorite miu miu pumps. it was really fun to stare at them. if only. maybe someday when i'm makin the big bucks as a teacher. ha. we ate lunch at this super cute place called modern burger. so yum! i love sliders. after finding something for family pictures in nordstrom we were very happy to leave. i was so exhausted i napped on the car ride home. then, i went to my grandma's for the afternoon and pretended to do homework when really, i was watching extreme makeover home edition. then we had yummy mexican food for dinner! followed by a bonfire with s'mores and some hair coloring. thanks em and amy for being the best hair dressers ever :)

saturday began with a pedicure and manicure...my favorite! then, i got to take a nice long nap. followed by some time at my grandparents. my grandpa is a huge history buff and every time i'm at his house he has some new (to me) books from his gigantic library to show me. so fun! we also took family pictures. not my favorite time of the year. i love having pictures of all of us but it's always so dramatic. and really entertaining. i love my family. we all went to dinner at this italian restaurant. with 13 of us, we definitely made a scene. talking way too loud. taking way too many pictures. my grandma making friends at the restaurant (not out of the ordinary). we're quite the spectacle. after, my mom, grandpa and i spend a couple hours planning our trip to europe next summer! I CANNOT WAIT. i love love love traveling with my family. my parents are the best travelers ever. seriously, the greatest. we are spending 21 days in 13 cities. starting in frankfurt-->nuremburg-->rothenburg-->heidelberg-->lake constance-->garmisch-->vienna-->prague-->waldeck-->amsterdam-->antwerp-->bruges-->cologne-->frankfurt. we are driving to all these cities...i'm most excited for that. it's gonna be busy but so so fun. i can't wait to go to vienna and to show my family where i lived for 3 1/2 months! also, to nuremburg. last time i was there, i tried to find the family they lived with when my mom was born but got very very lost. so i'm excited to finally meet the family my grandparents lived with for several years!

sunday we left early. amber was a total nazi trying to get us out of the door. she was freaking out at 6:59 when we were on the driveway saying goodbye instead of in the car and on the freeway. ash and i may or may not have been taking our time just to spite her. i have never driven from mesa to provo. and i never want to make that drive again. way too long. we drove 5 miles out of the way just to say 10 cents on gas. amber's decision, btw. i slept like 95% of the drive. they didn't ask me to drive...i can't imagine why! (i have really bad luck with cars. that's for another post another day though) also, i learned how to read in the car without getting carsick. if i lay down and read a book on my phone, i don't get car sick. magical.

okay, well now that i have procrastinated like a lot. there's that lack of motivation thing again. time to go do homework. aka go to bed.

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i haven't blogged in a really long time. and really, i kind of don't like blogging about my life much anymore. it's too boring. however, i felt impressed to write a quick little post on someone who plays a very big role in my life. amber is my best friend, cousin, and roommate. we do everything together. tell each other everything. we love hard, we fight hard. we know each other inside and out and we've been attached at the hip since birth. she has a blog, and she is much better at writing in it than i am. she's much more entertaining to read and always has something good to say. unfortunately, some people just can't seem to accept the fact that you can be beautiful and intelligent and funny and kind and spiritual and loving and genuine and compassionate all at the same time. because that's what my best friend is. she's got a lot going for her. and for whatever reason, people don't want to see girls like her shine and succeed, so they try whatever they can to bring her down. i hope that she, and others, never forget what an incredible person she is. she is the best friend i could ever ask for. she is always willing to help others. always knows how to put a smile on my face when i'm having a bad day. she loves to make others laugh. she is a strong daughter of God who loves her Savior more than anything. she is so diligent in the gospel, i sometimes can't even believe how great she is! she is so disciplined when it comes to being healthy. she is wonderful at doing hair, makeup and picking out cute outfits. she loves to learn and is always eager for opportunities where she can learn new things. she loves her family and her friends unconditionally. she is so forgiving and accepting of others. she is always looking for ways to find the positive and be happy. she is proactive with her life and a wonderful example to me. i love her so very much and i wish that everyone had the chance to get to know her like i do, because let me tell you, you're missing out on the chance to know, without a doubt, the coolest girl around :)

outdoorsy weekend

this weekend we finally did something more exciting that watch movies! on thursday night i went to a bonfire and it was freezing! but i loved the cool air. i am so excited for fall! on friday i took my cousin ashley to the airport at 4 am. so. cold. but it was so fun to hang out with her for a little bit. she is so fun and i'm so glad she's up here now. then, i came home and crashed. we ended up going to another bonfire friday night and then we went fishing in this stocked pond at sundance at midnight. i'm so outdoorsy, right?! it was so fun. partially because you're not supposed to fish there so it was a little exhilarating to be doing something you're not supposed to. its also a little embarrassing that i feel rebellious after fishing in a pond you're not supposed to fish in. clearly my life is little on the boring side. anyways, we caught two fish and then went back to provo and put them in the stream on the south side of campus. then, we finally got to bed around 5 am. saturday amber and i did some shopping and then some friends from high school, jeremy, alivia and tanner came over to make dinner. jeremy made us this really good pasta since he served his mission in italy! after, we headed over to alpine village for a random party...so weird being there now and then went back to our house to play an intense game of boys vs. girls catch phrase. always a good time! then, i played awkward 7th wheel and opted out of watching a movie with everyone and wrote my talk instead :) sunday was a really really really good day. i love giving talks because i always end up growing more than i could ever do in just my regular scripture study. the bad part is i always cry. the rest of sacrament was great and we had an awesome lesson in relief society about the law of chastity and eternal marriage...probably one of the best lessons on that topic i've ever heard. after church i made tanner's mom's recipe for shredded beef tacos for some boys from high school. they were so good! i forgot that i had had them in high school one night when tanner's family had me over for dinner...they were almost as good as sister garrett's!

here are some pictures from our fishing excursion!

jeremy being one with the fish

the boys with their prize

sitting on the dock outside one of the banquet rooms fishing haha

preparing for our adventure

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i decided to start a new goal of blogging everyday or every other day. just as a personal journal since i'm really really bad at journaling in the five journals i have sitting on my bookshelf. i'm hoping that it will be easier since it's typing...and not writing by hand. i'm gonna try to post pictures often too but seeing as i never take pictures we will see how it goes! i'm hoping that i can eventually print it my blog and keep it as a journal.

in the past three and a half months since i've blogged a lot has happened! i went to key west with my family, celebrated my 21st birthday, went to san francisco with two of my best friends alivia and mackenzie, went on a family houseboat trip and spent a month at home. oh, and i moved! amber and i moved to arlington and we love it! we share a room and since we moved in i'm pretty sure we are almost always together. we have so much fun together and we love our room! we got to paint it and decorate it (cheaply of course) so it feels a little more like home. i love my classes this semester, well all but one. i'm taking utah history (the one i don't like...its even more boring than it sounds), classroom management, history teaching methods, history teaching practicum, theories of comparative politics and american government and politics. i have two part time jobs as a research assistant to two different professors. one is in the school of education and the other is in the history department. its really nice because i make my own hours for the most part and it's great experience!

i really like our ward so far. everyone seems nice and pretty social. aaaand, i've already been asked to give a talk...this sunday. ohh the benefits of being a convert! everyone thinks you must have something great to say when really i've got nothin. but really, i'm grateful for the opportunity because i always learn so much when i prepare my talks and it helps me overcome my fear of public speaking a little more each time :)

so, first post down...lets hope i can follow through with this...

happy birthday to my forever best friend!

i started this post weeks ago and never finished...but i finally logged on today and decided it needed to be posted.

so, amber and i jokingly call each other eternal best friends or forever best friends because well...we are family. and we will quite literally be together for ever! lucky for me to have a best friend that will never ever leave me.

yesterday was her 21st birthday! i love birthdays. and i love when i get to be in charge of how the celebrating goes down. i am so grateful jackie birthed amber on may 9th, my life would be nothing if this day never occurred. therefore, i had to show just how grateful i was by making amber feel like the princess she was. we started out the day at midnight on sunday. we stuck some candles in some cake someone dropped off and sang happy birthday then pigged out approximately 5 minutes before we all went to sleep. we like to keep things healthy around apartment 135. i made sure to shower amber with love texts throughout the day, reminding her it was her birthday just in case she forgot. in the late afternoon she opened her presents and cards from my parents and i. i was soooo excited to give them to her. i think she liked them a little bit :)

then, for her glamorous birthday dinner i made a quesadilla with beans and avocado and we split it. a couple hours later the real party started. sadie and i made a rainbow...yes rainbow cake. and it was sooo fun! i'm going to do this every time i make a cake! here's how it turned out (it looked better in person):

we had some friends over to serenade her happy birthday and then watched the memphis/okc game. it was a fun fun day.

at 2:15 am, i received a text from amber (she has a knack for waking up in the middle of the night with a need to satisfy her outrageous sweet tooth) that said "i love you. you are perfect. you are the most amazing person. i love you so so much". that might be the left over rainbow cake and delirium talking, but i think that means she had a good day.

amber is a huge bright spot in my life. we have been practically inseperable since we moved to provo and i wouldn't have it any other way. we definitely have our moments when we get on each others nerves, but the best part about our relationship is that we snap out of it real fast.

am & sades joint bday dinner at malawis!

i hope she never forgets how wonderful she is. happy 21st birthday to my favorite person alive!

bookworm

i've always loved reading. ever since i learned how to read i've had my nose in a book. back in elementary school, we had to make some sort of "relic" in GATE, that would serve as an artifact that represented our "graduating" fifth grade class 50 years from now, assuming the area was destroyed and archaeologists came to dig up the area. what would you want them to find? i made a mosaic of a book that said 'read'. books are the greatest escape. summer time is always my favorite because i can just lay outside and read. all day. on countless occasions i have finished a whole book in a day. that is always my favorite. but since i've been in college, i haven't read nearly as much. i generally stick to the quick, on the edge of your seat, reads (james patterson, dan brown). which are great, but i have such a long list of books i want to read. so, i'm going to start. the other day i didn't feel like doing homework so i laid in my bed, with the window open, listening to the rain, and read a book about secret societies. don't judge me i love that kind of stuff. its so entertaining. and historical. hahah. i learned about the origin of assassins. from the middle east! crazy story. yesterday while i was at the library doing homework i decided to check out a book i've been wanting to read for a really long time. brave new world, by aldous huxley. i also checked out a book about the english language by bill bryson. if you have not read anything from him, you most. he is hilarious. on my study abroad we all switched books because we had so much time to read and my friend emily lent me the lost continent: travels in small town america. any description i give you won't be enough to explain how great this book is. so just read it. more often than not, i caught myself on the subway with tears of laughter in my eyes wishing so badly i could muster up some amount of grammatically correct german to express to someone around me how outrageously funny this man is. anyways, i checked out his book the mother tongue: english and how it got that way. i'm so excited to read it!

while i was in california over christmas break i raided the bookshelves of my english & history teacher grandpa and found a really old copy of animal farm and anthem by ayn rand. i haven't finished animal farm yet but i read anthem in a day. it was fascinating. i encourage anyone and everyone to read it. its only 100 pages. incredible look at the results of totalitarian collectivism and ultimately the importance and significance of the individual. anyways, after reading this futuristic novel, and LOVING it, i decided it was time to tackle brave new world. i've heard it's amazing. i started it the other day and i already love it. i'm currently in the middle of way too many books. i'm a couple chapters into my book on the congress of vienna, 1816, halfway done with all quiet on the western front, in the middle of my secret societies book, a couple pages into brave new world, and a couple pages into animal farm. maybe i'll finish one eventually?

i really want to start a book club. seriously. so...if you want to join, let me know, currently the membership consists of me myself and i.