Text Talk: Week 4

Okay, okay. Admission: This week my book buying went a little bit out of control. The justification I'm using: Ryan and I are leaving for Orlando on Tuesday and are going to have a lot of time to kill, about 9 hours each way. So obviously I needed to buy books for the plane (as if I don't have a wide enough selection to choose from to begin with). We just so happened to be in Portland yesterday for an appointment I had and I was having no luck clothes shopping, so to brighten my mood, we stopped in Powell's. Thankfully I only had $20 in cash so I was able to limit my spending. But we'll get to what I bought in a minute, for now, here's what I've been reading!

Title: Spirit Bound
Author: Richelle Mead
Genre: YA Paranormal
Pages: 489

Reaction: In my opinion, this was the worst book yet. I gave it a 3/5 stars, for some reason I just couldn't get into it. I think it was a lack of adventure and Richelle Mead playing into some of the typical genre cliches: the helpless girl being torn between two guys. The main character, Rose, up to this point has been a badass ass kicking chick. In this book she turns into an insecure whiny girl that isn't enjoyable to read about. It by no means deterred me from continuing on to the last book.

Title: Last Sacrifice
Author: Richelle Mead
Genre: YA Paranormal
Pages: 594

Reaction: I'm nearly half way through this book and already it's better than it's predecessor. My goal is to have this finished by tomorrow so that I can start my trip to Florida fresh. It's also helpful that this one is addicting and I just can't wait to find out how it all wraps up. This is the last book in the series, although if I need another Vampire Academy fix in the future, there is a companion series titled Bloodlines that I can pick up!

Books Added to the Library This Week:

Title: Safe Haven
Author: Nicholas Sparks
Genre: Adult Contemporary/ Love Story?
Reason: Alright, I've never been one of those girls that swoons over Nicholas Sparks books, or buys tons of romance novels, I prefer paranormal or dystopian any day. But I figured I should give it a shot, plus I found this book in Eugene at Goodwill for $0.49. That price can't be beat for a practically brand new hardcover. I'm sure I'll need to have my tissue box close!

Title: Last Sacrifice
Author: Richelle Mead
Genre: YA Paranormal
Reason: It'd be rude if I didn't. Plus it's the last in the series, see above!!!

Title: Cathedral of the Sea
Author: Ildefonso Falcones
Genre: Historical Fiction
Reason: After reading Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, I was obsessed with anything Spanish and anything deemed historical fiction. On Goodreads, this was one of the books recommended for people who liked that book, so I thought I'd give it a shot. When I saw it on Bookmooch, I had to snatch it up!

Title: The Art of Fielding
Author: Chad Harbach
Genre: Adult Contemporary
Reason: I much prefer the other cover, but I was able to score this one from Powell's for half off the cover price. This book is about America's favorite pastime, baseball. Most of the people I follow on Goodreads that have read this book absolutely loved it, so I thought I would give it a try.

Title: Legend
Author: Marie Lu
Genre: YA Dystopian
Reason: This has been getting rave reviews left and right. All of the people I follow on YouTube have read this and LOVED it! I normally wouldn't buy a book at full price, but something told me I just had to have it. I think this will be coming to Florida with me!!

Title: The Princess Bride
Author: William Goldman
Genre: Fantasy
Reason: So something I had never understood is people's obsession with this movie. Honestly, I tried watching it when I was younger and quit like 20 minutes in. From what I've been reading, it's an amazing, fun adventure which dabbles in the fantasy realm. That just screams my name. I'm excited to give this book a shot and finally watch the movie in whole.

Title: World War Z
Author: Max Brooks
Genre: Zombies (aka Horror)
Reason: Technically, I didn't buy this book, Ryan did. The last time I tried to buy him a book (The Passage by Justin Cronin), it sat on his bedside table for months without being cracked. A year later, he still hasn't read it. That being said, I have no doubt in my mind that this book will soon be mine. We were watching a video the other day talking about the summers biggest blockbusters which included World War Z. Ryan was all amped on wanting to see it, but I told him that unfortunately I wouldn't be able to watch it unless I've read the book first. Everyone knows the books are always better. So I told Ryan that in order to see the movie, he'd just have to buy me the book. Looks like I got my way!!!

I'll be doing some hard decision making this afternoon trying to decide which four books are worthy of traveling cross country with me on Tuesday! I'll keep you all posted!!

A Week in Photos: Weeks 10 & 11

I got just the kick in the ass I needed to write a new post. I got my first comment on my blog and it was from a high school friend saying to get my butt in gear. Thanks Doro- that's just the motivation I needed!

I promise I really am working on a post that will be long and informative, I just work on it chucks at a time and only when I'm feeling the writing vibe, so not very often obviously. Procrastination, I need to work on that.

Sunday 3/3: On Saturday, Ryan got his oil changed and the perk of us taking his Camry to the Toyota dealership is that they wash the car, in and out! It was a surprisingly sunny Sunday, so we decided for some reason it was the right day to put the Oregon sticker up in the back window. Of course I viewed this as a photo-op, thus the ensuing picture. GO DUCKS!!! (March Madness starts TOMORROW!!! Ducks play at 1:40 PM, and yes I will be watching from work :)

Monday 3/4: Over the weekend while I wasn't at work, we acquired this handsome sign. Before, the building we are in was a convalescent center, so it was good to get our insignia up before any families tried dropping granny off at a drug and alcohol treatment center. Ryan had a large part in creating this sign and I think it's magical (it has a ton of detail close up).

Tuesday 3/5: There were some aforementioned shirts in another post about The Chive, so it was a wonderful day when we came home to find these packages. Of course the packaging was really catchy and creative with a large sticker that said CENSORED. Sadly though, Ryan has yet to take his shirt out of the package to wear it, it's a point of contention in our relationship. Peanut was glad to ease the tension with posing for this picture though.

Thursday 3/7: Though this isn't really "Throwback Thursday" worthy because it was only taken a week or so before, I thought this was a lovely photograph that I had to share. I hate to admit this but often times now, I picture photos I can take just to post them on Instagram. I will admit though that I have gotten a little burned out and have slowed my roll a little bit. Maybe that should tell me something about my days though, that I'm not doing enough beautiful things or that I'm not seeing the beauty in the everyday? As with everything, I think there is a fine balance between too much and too little, I'm working to find that.

Friday 3/8: One of the things I love most about it being winter is that we get to run the gas fireplace and we get to see our kitties loving the heat. I know I have snapped shots of Marley like this before, but I can't get enough. He just so unashamedly flaunts his kitty goods to get the most comfortable he can be in front of that fire. I admire him. He's one heat loving cat.

Saturday 3/9: It was a surprisingly warm, sunny day for early March. My dad decided to come down to spend the day with me just to get out of Olympia for a while. Ryan and I had given him a gift certificate for a restaurant on the river called the Bridgewater Bistro. It's one of the most beautiful spots in Astoria if you ask me. We were able to capture some shots of the foggy bridge but the pictures don't do it justice! It was truly a stunning sight.

Sunday 3/10: I know everyone will bemoan "springing forward" part of daylight savings. I for one, love it. This picture was taken at 7:00 pm and it was still daylight! I went on a bit of a walk about, just to take in all of the exquisite old homes in Astoria, and I came across this scene. This down the bushes to the street that leads to the river in some respects reminds me of some of the streets in San Francisco or Seattle to some extent. Astoria is a very picturesque town full of beauty like this.

Monday 3/11: I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but when my father takes pictures on his phone, I know it will take days of me hounding him to finally give them to me. That being said, this time wasn't so bad. He had taken this picture of me and Ryan on Saturday and it only took him two days to get it to me. Old men and iPhones might not mix.

Tuesday 3/12: Despite what Ryan and I think, the cats truly run our house. I really do think that our cats are smarter than we are and they have us trained really really well. I don't know if anyone else thinks this about their animals, but this picture really encapsulates who runs shit around our house. Marley, king of the castle, on his throne.

Thursday 3/14: To try my hand at being domestic, I decided to make cupcakes for two of our clients that were having birthdays on Friday. I spent my 25th birthday in treatment so I knew that it could be a humbling, lonely experience if you don't have someone making it special for you. What I find funny of the Betty Crocker company is that they think if they put on their box not to eat the dough, that you actually won't. Let's just say I ended up with only 18 cupcakes instead of 24...

Saturday 3/16: I have had a weekend in the works with my mom for a while. Her and her best friend Shari wanted to do a girls shopping trip all over Portland and it's not like they had to twist my arm into it. This picture was just off 23rd near the Alano Club and I just died over the magnolia tree in bloom. I am so excited that warm weather and flowers are right around the corner.

Sunday 3/17: We were staying at the Marriott City Center and we woke up to this scene! The St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Run. Singlehandedly this made me feel really guilty about not running like I should be and very envious because it looked SO FUN! There were runners as far as the eye could see and they were spread all over down town Portland. I didn't feel guilty or jealous for very long though, right after this we had a wonderful breakfast at the Original Dinerat where I consumed three large pieces of creme brûlée french toast. I got the better half of this deal :)

 Sunday 3/17: And finally, no trip to Portland is complete without a stop at Powell's Books. This was what I was looking forward to all weekend. Though I have a mild book hoarding problem, I justified buying more books because I had finished 10 already this year. Everyone likes getting new books (even if you already have a stack of 40+ you have yet to read) so I can't deny myself that feeling. I have made a deal through this year that I can only outright purchase new books once I have read 10 from my pile. Sounds legit, right? Anyway, I have been dying to get my hands on a John Green book for ages now, and I have finally succeeded. At Powell's I purchased book two of the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan, Paper Towns by John Green, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore, and Looking for Alaska by John Green. The other books I acquired in non-buying (aka free-ish) ways. Those include Uglies by Scott Westerfield, Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, Night Road by Kristen Hannah and Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I was thinking about adding another weekly post that included my currently reading/to be read, because I always love hearing about what people are reading. Thoughts?

That's all for now, I'm working on this whole "accountability" and "adulthood" thing, so I'll make an attempt at creating more regular posts!! Thanks all for reading! Until next time.

A Week in Photos: Week 2

 Sunday 1/13: After what seems like months of rain, we finally have caught a break here on the coast. For the last week it's been wonderful having the sun back around! This is a shot from Beards Cove in Washington on our way to Ryan's dad's house for the unfortunate Seahawks game.

 Monday 1/14: Our handsome boy Marley has a strange issue regarding his whiskers. I'm not sure if they're extra long or if they bother him, but whenever he turns his head he makes a face very similar to this one.

 Tuesday 1/15: In the long wintery months in Astoria, it's rare to catch many trees or bushes that still have green, with the one exception of the ivy in our yard. Our mailbox happily sticks out of this friendly reminder that spring is not so far away.

 Wednesday 1/16: When I was living in Portland, I had to drive the Sunset Highway home every day in rush hour traffic, hating life. Cars backed up, horrible rain, near death experiences. Living in the small town of Astoria is often frustrating in it's own way, lack of cultural experiences, small town mentality and most major shopping being two hours away. But it's on days like these that the natural beauty on our drive home makes all of the little sacrifices worth it.

 Thursday 1/17: SE Portland is such a quirky place that I haven't had much time to explore. This picture was taken when Ryan and I went to catch up with his cousin JD after moving home from Las Vegas. This funky graffiti was on the side of a fence right outside JD's door.

 Friday 1/18: On Friday evening, Ryan and I drove up to Olympia for a celebration of my mother's birthday. We went to a childhood favorite, Dirty Dave's. Not much has changed here and that's just the way I like it. I remember this machine from when I was younger, I had every birthday from the age of 3 to 7 at this joint! It was wonderful going back- the pizza was as wonderful as I remember it!

Saturday 1/19: Saturday was officially my mom's birthday and it was a wonderful time staying at her house and having breakfast with her the next morning. She was off to the beach with one of her dear friends!