Let's Review: Harry Potter's Bookshelf

I have read Harry Potter several times.  I just love those books.  I went to midnight book release parties, midnight movie showings, and even directed/performed/edited/produced movie trailers for several of the books before the official trailers came out for the movies.  I've stayed up to read "just one more chapter" that inevitably leads to finishing the book, even when it means several hours of reading.  I'm a little a lot obsessed.  Maybe you're obsessed like me.  That's okay- good things are meant to be enjoyed.  Several times.

So this one's for you, my English Major/Harry Potter obsessed readers!

Or anyone who loves Harry Potter and literature in general.

Ok, so maybe it's just me, but I really enjoyed this book.  It really reminded me of a college English class, where you really look deeper into a book and compare elements of it to other books or traditions.  Now I realize that not everyone would enjoy such a book.

But I am a nerd.

And I am also a stay-at-home-mom who needs something intellectual in her life :)

This book is broken up into chapters by topic.  For example, one section was about the Gothic elements in Harry Potter, including setting, character types, plot, etc.  It talked about what elements are needed for a setting to be considered "Gothic" and discusses how Harry Potter fills those requirements.  It compared character types in Harry Potter to those included in such Gothic Romances as Dracula, Frankenstein, and Jane Eyre.

Get the picture?

But John Granger (a fitting last name, by the way) doesn't just explore the Gothic Romance that is Harry Potter.  He also includes sections on the narrative, literary alchemy, postmodernism, satire, and eyeballs.

Yes, there is a chapter dedicated to the study of the eyeballs scattered throughout the Harry Potter series.

This book has a pretty specific audience and I have to admit that you must be pretty well read in order to enjoy this book.  You'd be pretty lost/bored/confused when Granger discusses Wuthering Heights if you've never read it.  I actually found myself in that situation a couple of times- a few of his references are not super well known in the United States.  And obviously you must have read Harry Potter (preferably multiple times) or else why would you even care about the books that influenced it?

If you're a nerd like me, get this book.  Now.  GO!

*I did not get this book for free or at a discount, nor am I receiving any kind of compensation for this review.  I just liked this book and thought you should know about it too*

Book Review- "The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy"

*Nope, I didn't get this book for free or anything.  I just wanted to write about it.*

 
I read this along side "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and I think that's really the way to read this book. This book is NOT going to explain the science behind what is going on in your pregnant body, so it shouldn't be the ONLY pregnancy book you read. But it DOES talk about the things you'll have to deal with day-to-day during pregnancy (like extra large boobs).

There are a lot of stories about women and their experiences with every aspect of pregnancy, so expect (usually funny) anecdotes that may or may not represent what you're experiencing. I really enjoyed reading this, as it's mostly a compilation of pregnancy and birth experiences.

Some people hate the fact that this book basically tells you to not worry too much about exercise during pregnancy. But I can understand where she's coming from- exercise is great if you can handle it, but lots of women do just fine without weight lifting and running every day. And if you've lost pregnancies or had a hard time getting pregnant (as the author has) you're going to want to take it easy- better safe than sorry.

Make sure you read the new edition- she specifically mentions that she rewrote the entire section on clothing, since maternity fashion has changed significantly since the first edition 10+ years ago.

I would not recommend this book for those who are determined to have a "natural" birth, home birth, etc. Those who are anti-epidural will likely have a hard time with this book's assertions that medicine will not degrade the birth experience.

Book Review- Out of Oz

I have one spoiler, and it's at the end of this review.  So beware.  Or not.

*I got this book for free from the Goodreads First Reads program*

I enjoyed this book quite a bit.  Now obviously this is the fourth and last book in a series (The Wicked Years), so I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who didn't read and enjoy the first three.  But if you DID read and enjoy the first three, you shouldn't miss this one.

I've liked that each book in the series has a different focal character (first Elphaba, Liir, Brr, and now Rain).  At first I thought this book would focus more on Glinda, since the story seemed to be building around her.  And now I realize that this was because Rain was BORING at the beginning.  And Glinda helped Rain to wake up and start to grow into a real and exciting character.  And I loved that she was able to change so much.  It really felt like I was watching her grow up as she learned about the world around her.

Little Daffy and Mr. Boss are ridiculous.  And they were awesome.  Even though I didn't really like either of them at first.

I love Brr.  I think I love him even more after this novel than I did after the last.

I think I really only have one criticism about this book- I could have done without all the mention of sex.  I really didn't mind the part regarding Rain and Tip's intimacy, but that's because it was touched on briefly and sweetly- without being crass and crude (or overly descriptive).  It's the same criticism I had of Wicked, the first book in the series.  This book didn't really have a whole lot of description in that area, but for a while it felt like a few of the characters were constantly doing it or talking about doing it.  I guess mostly when the company was in Quadling country, where people are apparently very open about their bodies.

But all in all, this was a great ending to the series.  It tied up all the loose ends without feeling like a "happily ever after." And that's a good thing because "happily ever after" stories leave the impression that nothing happened after, that the characters and the world ceased to exist after the last page is turned.  But this book ended in a way that left me satisfied to know that Oz is going to be okay, even after I finish reading about it.

It took me a while to read this just because life got in the way (wouldn't it be great if I didn't have to go to work every day!) so I'm going to have to read it again sometime when I have time to soak in the whole story a little better.

*Spoiler alert: Ozma was hidden in perpetual BOYhood for all these years?!?!?  I mean, I figured there was something strange about Tip, but that he was really a she who is the last in the missing line of Ozmas?  Yeah, I didn't expect that.  But thank goodness this whole Munchkinland war is over!

Harry Potter

In preparation for the next Harry Potter movie to come out, I have reread the books and am currently rewatching all the movies with Johanna.  Awesome.  But I also just finished watching "A Very Potter Musical."  It is great.  It's kind of a combination of all seven books, complete with music and humor.  I highly recommend including it in your preparations for the next movie this week.  Because really, what is a Hufflepuff?

Beach Boys, Books, and Sewing Snowflakes

Apparently I haven't done anything exciting lately.  At least nothing photo-worthy, since I have taken about 0 interesting photos since my last post.  Lame.

Ok, so that's not entirely true.  (Just mostly true.)  I work at the Covey Center in Provo.  Often, the performances there are pretty cool, but I'm usually content to watch from the monitor by my desk.  However, last week we had the Beach Boys do a concert there!  Only 2 of them were original Beach Boys (the rest were significantly younger), but they did more than 2 hours of classic Beach Boys hits.  Because things went so smoothly I was able to stand in the performance hall for a chunk of the concert.  It was pretty neat.  I even got a little déjà vu listening to a few of the songs since I heard them so often when my marching band did a Beach Boys show.  Those of us working that night also got to eat leftovers of the Beach Boys' dinner and a pie/tart (all made by my coworker, Keri).  Yum.

Beach Boys concert (sad photo quality because I took this from my phone)

It was finally my turn on the library waiting list last week for the second book in the Hunger Games series, Catching Fire.  I read it really quickly because:
     1. It was awesome
     2. There were no good stopping places, especially at chapter breaks.
Even the end of the book is a terrible stopping place.  This is really unfortunate because I am number 255 on the waiting list for Mockingjay.  I'm tempted to buy the book just so I don't have to wait that long to read it.  Although I'm number 18 on the list for The Lost Hero, the first book in the "sequel series" to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.  So at least I'll have something new to read soon.  I'm also rereading the Ender's Game series, so even though I have to wait for new things I want to read, at least I have something.

Lastly, I'm sure you've been anxious about my snowflake table runner.  Ok, maybe not, but I'll show it off for a minute anyway.  I still need to do some quilting stitches on it, but unless you look closely, you won't even be able to tell.  This has been the most complicated sewing project I've ever taken on without my mom's help, and though there are a few small mistakes, I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out.

Happy Monday!

Lazy Days of Summer

I have been such a bum lately.  My job at BYU ended last week.  I was sad to go, but it really was time.  I had 2 interviews last week for a job with Provo City, but I didn't get the job, even though I thought the interviews went well.  So I've just been sitting around the apartment, working on projects and reading and hoping I get some calls about other applications I've submitted.  It's actually been really relaxing, but I'm not so sure I want this much free time for the long term.

I have been making progress with my summer reading though.  Today I finished reading the Percy Jackson series.  I had such a fun time reading all five books and I recommend them to anyone who wants a fun, easy read.  I haven't exactly been sticking to my list... oops.  Today I went to the library and picked up some Gregory Maguire books and some Nicholas Sparks books that I'm looking forward to reading.

I really wanted to get out of the house last night so Aaron and I went shopping.  We went to DI and looked around, but didn't find anything worth taking home.  (I almost talked Aaron into buying a headboard, but only almost.)  Next we went to the RC Willey clearance center/outlet to look around.  We found a BEAUTIFUL bed frame that we both loved.  We found some super comfortable couches, recliners, and mattresses, along with some colorful washers and dryers and some smelly new refrigerators.  In the end, we came home having spent nothing.  Nothing!  I was so proud of us.  Our "shopping" trip turned into a free evening to look forward to and plan for a time when we actually have money to spend and a house to furnish.  And it was actually pretty fun!

I'm looking forward to the next few weeks.  Aaron's parents will be in town next weekend to bring his brother, Brent, out to BYU for his freshman year.  So we're going to get to spend some time with them, including a trip to the Salt Lake temple.  Then the next week, my brother Doug, his wife Cassie, and their son Archer will be out here to visit for a few days!  I haven't seen them in almost a year (the only time I've seen Archer) and I'm so excited.  Too bad Archer probably doesn't remember me, since he was only 5-ish months old then.

Oh, and our flowers:

Happy Thursday!

Reality

Sometimes life sneaks up on you.  So quickly, in fact, that it doesn't seem real-- more like you're practicing for the future.

Context:

I graduated in April.  But I'm having a hard time believing it because I don't feel like this summer is any different from any other summer I've taken off from school so I could work.  Yes, I have a diploma hanging on my wall, but how is a single sheet of paper in a frame supposed to represent four years of work?  It just seems unreal that that framed piece of 8 1/2 x 11 paper means that I'm completely done with college.  And I feel like I should be planning out my schedule, just like I've done since 2006.

My hours are running out at work.  For some reason, it doesn't feel like I'll be leaving this job anytime soon.  I think it's because the job itself doesn't end.  When I worked at the Freedom Center, it really felt like the 10 weeks of camp were coming to a close because there was a date when we would all leave, and the camps wouldn't run anymore for the year.  We had fewer and fewer counselors and campers as the weeks rolled by, reminding us that it wouldn't last forever.  But I'm still doing work that will prepare my organization for changes that are years in the future, so it's strange to think that I won't even be here to see those changes happen.  Things are going to keep going after I leave, but I don't feel like I should be leaving at all!

The summer "break" is ending soon.  A month from now, Aaron will be getting ready for his next batch of classes to start.  His little brother will be starting college.  My coworkers will be starting classes again.  And this 90+ degree weather will stick around for a little while, but not for too long.  And we only went camping once!  And I only use the pool once a week!  I've read so little of my summer reading list!  And I haven't played tennis!  I only made a few scrapbook pages!  So many things I wanted to do, and it just hasn't happened.  What happened to May, and June, and JULY?


Maybe I'm just overthinking things, but I feel like so many things in my life are changing, and I don't know if I'm ready to make those changes.  It's crazy to think of where I was 5 years ago, even 2 years ago!  High school, getting ready for marching band camp and the football season to start, working at a coffee shop, hanging out with Tony and Matt and Ashley and tons of other people I don't ever see anymore.  Miller Apartments, living with Michelle, just starting work as a Computer Lab Assistant, single.

Crazy.  Reality hits you.

Summer, Summer

So I've been working on that summer reading list...  I finished the Twilight Saga last night.  What a ridiculous ending.  (I'm sure I could write a lot about this series... so I'll try to restrain myself so I don't bore everyone.)  First of all, there was so much buildup for a fight at the end, and they ended up just talking it out.  Lame.  Also, Jacob isn't even a werewolf?  And the reason Stephenie Meyer didn't mention it until the last 4 pages is because "it never came up?"  Wow.  Also, the whole series was from Bella's perspective.  Except for the hundred or so pages in Breaking Dawn that Jacob narrates.  A few problems with that: her writing style didn't change, so I still felt like Bella was talking; there was absolutely no set-up for the switch-- if she had wanted to do sections from different perspectives, she should have done it throughout the series; and lastly, the majority of the things Jacob covers in his section are completely irrelevant to the story lines the readers actually care about (like Leah... everything about Leah...).

Anyway, I'm back to rereading Wicked.  I really want to see the musical again :(

And I have plenty of time to read these days, since Aaron works on homework in the evenings on campus during the week, leaving me at home alone to occupy myself until I go pick him up.  It's not bad, but I need to go to the fabric store or something to get another project going.

Aaron's spending lots of hours at school and work these days, which is good, because I really don't want to be stuck in a college town for too much longer now that I'm not a student anymore.  Well, actually, I don't have a problem with college towns, since I've lived in college towns most of my life, but the Provo bubble is getting old.

Aaron and I were doing so well at working out a few times a week together until Summer Term started.  We bought a workout video by Jillian Michaels and it's pretty good and tough, but I just can't bring myself to do it by myself in the evenings now that I'm used to doing it with Aaron.  Lame.  So I'm still as out of shape as ever, despite spending Saturday mornings running around, playing Ultimate.

So I've started my job search, since my hours as an OC are running out in just barely over a month. *Sigh*  I hate this.  One of the jobs I thought I was perfect for already emailed me a no without even an interview.  I hope I won't get too many of those.  I just hate job searching.  I wish I could just stay with OACL until we leave Provo.  Too bad I can't.

Vampires ate my weekend...

It's been a while-- oops.  It's been a crazy time at work, so the last thing I've wanted to do in the evenings was getting on the computer to blog.

We just moved offices from the Jesse Knight Building to the McDonald Building.  Instead of having one big office for the whole lab management staff, we have a series of smaller offices, so the OCs (Office Coordinators) have an office, the SAMs (Student Assistant Managers) have an office, and the technicians have an office and an equipment storage room.  We love it.  We have a nice big window, which we didn't have before because we were in a basement.  We have a door that we can close if we need to discuss confidential things, which we definitely didn't have before, since we shared a big office with IT Training.  And we have more desk space for all the random things we have to take care of.  It's great.

I finished The Lightning Thief and it was pretty good.  I'm excited to read the rest of the series, since this one kind of begged for a sequel.  I was actually surprised how much I remembered about the Greeks and their gods... We studied them in my 6th grade Social Studies class and I didn't think I remembered all that much from 10 years ago...

Also, this weekend I read Twilight.  Sorry Mom.  I just had to know what this craze is all about.  I have so much I could say about this book, but I won't bore you with everything... just the highlights.  Why can Bella smell blood when most normal people can't?  This was never explained, but she kind of made a big deal about it.  And I get it that vampires' natural human abilities are heightened when they become a vampire, but that doesn't really explain why Edward can read minds... was he a psychic back when he was a human?  And why can't he read Bella's mind?  And I'm sorry Stephanie Meyer, but you don't need to describe Edward's marble chest and bands of muscle every time he comes in a room.  I found though that if I read quickly, I was able to look over those ridiculous descriptions and hilarious phrases and was actually intrigued by the story.  As soon as I slowed down though, I couldn't help but laugh.  And even though I haven't seen the movies, I can't help but think that they should have casted very differently than they did.

So on to more Summer Reading.  I've already started Wicked and I'm planning on reading the rest of the Twilight series and the Percy Jackson series soon.

On a completely different topic, our weekend trip to Park City with Rebecca and Trevor was super fun!  We stayed at a family condo, walked around on Main Street, did some shopping at the outlet mall, and watched some fun movies.  And I got a perm!  Rebecca did it for me and... well...  it didn't quite work out...  The curls fell out, so we tried again later that week and it worked MUCH better!  I don't really know what went wrong the first time, but it doesn't really matter now because I have my wavy/curly hair and I love it!

Spring term is over, and Aaron did great!  But summer term has begun, and our plans have changed significantly.  Aaron was planning on just taking one class so he could work close to full time so we could get more money in savings.  But he found out that two of the classes he was planning on taking during fall are actually prerequisites for his capstone class which he has to take in the fall, even though he knows someone who took one of those "prerequisites" in their last semester a little while ago.  I guess they're actually enforcing things like that now, which they weren't when Aaron was making his plans for when to take his last classes.  So basically, he had the choice of taking those additional two classes now so he can take the capstone class in the fall and winter (it's a two semester class) or postpone graduation until the next April.  Well, I don't want to stick around in Provo for another year, so he's going to take 9 credits this summer so he can graduate on time.  Yikes.  This means I won't see him much during the week, since he'll stay on campus to work on homework and projects in the evenings if he needs to, since he focuses better on campus.  Oh well.  I'd rather sacrifice some time with him now so he can graduate and we can move on out of Provo.  But this means he'll only have 6 credits to take during winter semester, leaving him lots of time to work, apply for real jobs, and hopefully do interviews for those real jobs.

Our flowers are doing great!  So far they haven't bloomed, but they're getting big!  We started them as seeds:

And how they're huge!

As soon as we put our box out, people in the complex started copying us.  I rarely saw flowers in the complex until we put out ours when it was just dirt and seeds, and more started appearing.

Wow.  Long post, so congrats if you made it to the end.  Go get yourself some ice cream or something.

Diplomas and Dementors

Exciting news!  My diploma came in the mail last night!

It took a month and a half after graduation to actually get it, but I replaced the Sample diploma with the real one in the frame and boy, it looks beautiful!

We also finished the whole Harry Potter series this week.  This was exciting for me, not only because I finally get to cross something off my Summer Reading List, but because I have loved the Harry Potter books for many years and now Aaron can finally appreciate them for himself.  We listened to them instead of reading them, but it was a great way for us to do it together.  He was so funny when we were getting close to the end.  I would just sit there and watch the looks on his face change as characters he's grown to love died, hidden secrets were revealed, and everything came to a close.  Thank you, Aaron, for agreeing to listen to them even when you thought the movies were good enough, and you're welcome for proving that there's so much more to these stories than the things the movies show you.

Really, I'm glad we're done, because I was starting to have really weird dreams about Harry Potter, polyjuice potion, and the imperius curse.  Strange.  Now I'm just going to have dreams about Greek gods and their love children (I'm reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians now).

Side note:  I think we've decided to stay in our current apartment.  We've always known that our apartment is more/just as expensive than larger ones in Provo, but we blamed it on the location close to campus, the pool, and the furniture.  We did some searching, and we did find some furnished places with a second bedroom for significantly less rent per month.  However, most of them were further from campus than we want to be while Aaron's still in school, and we just don't want to deal with apartment searching and moving.  It's only 8 months right?

Uh, another side note.  Sorry.  I was just voted employee of the month at work!  Whoo hoo!  Free movie tickets for me!

Also, we're taking another weekend trip this week!  My coworker's family has a condo in Park City, so she, her husband, Aaron, and I are going up there for a few days.  I know we just had a long weekend but I'm still super excited to go.  I've never been there, and I've heard awesome things about it.  I'll put pictures up when we get back, because I'm sure we'll take lots on our adventures.

All kinds of excitement!

Well, I just turned in my last research papers of my college career!  All I have left is a written ballet final at 4:00 this afternoon, and a 3 page essay take-home final due on Friday by 5:00pm.  I did my gymnastics final this morning, turned in my 12 pager on symbolism in LOTR and did a presentation on it, and turned in my 10 pager on Hitchcock and Poe.  What a day.  And you know, it's really too bad I don't know French, because learning these French ballet terms would have been a lot easier if I did.

So Aaron's birthday is on Sunday.  I'm struggling a bit to think of something to get him...  Unfortunately, this boy has expensive tastes!  The only things he can think of that he wants are a desktop computer, a new digital camera, ratchets, and an angel food cake.  Well, I already bought the ratchets, and the angel food cake pan is all ready to go, but I just don't know.  And my parents asked me for suggestions of something to get him, but I can't tell them anything because, well, I'm basically out of ideas!  I know he's satisfied with just getting the ratchets from me because he's easy to please when it comes to gifts, but I feel a little lame just getting him some tools.  No, it's not that I feel lame getting him tools, I just really want to make him happy.

So I have to get my countdown on here because everything is getting so close!

• End of classes: 1 1/2 hours
• Aaron's birthday: 6 days
• Mom and Dad get here: 9 days
• Graduation: 10 days
• 1 Year Anniversary: 34 days

 On another note, Aaron has been working at the BYU Telefund for...ever... and he got a new job doing IT stuff that he's going to start either later this week or on Monday!  I'm so excited for him! He'll be graduating next April, so it'll be good that he has a whole year of relevant work experience before he starts a real, big-boy job.  Yay!

I'm so excited to see my parents next week!  I feel like I haven't seen them in forever, even though it's only been since Thanksgiving.  Though, to be fair, I think this is about the longest I've gone without seeing them.  Crazy.  They're staying with us in our one-bedroom apartment, so it's going to be a little tight, but I'm okay with that because I'm so excited!  I just hope the weather is good while they're here!

Summer Reading?

Ok so Aaron and I were talking the other night about the summer.  He's decided that he's probably going to take some classes over the Spring/Summer terms, which has made me decide that I need some awesome things to occupy my evenings when he has to be working on homework.  I've been gradually acquiring scrapbooking supplies, and I have tons of sewing projects in mind that I'd love to work on.  But I also want to do a lot of reading.  I read a lot for school, but with the exception of Lord of the Rings this semester, my school reading has never been really FUN reading.  So I'm going to start a book list of things I want to read this summer.  I'm open to any and all suggestions, so please let me know if you've found something great!

• Harry Potter (I've read them all but I want to reread a bunch before the movie comes out)
• Twilight (I've heard good and bad about it- I just need to know what I'm missing)
• Les Miserables (Love the musical, never had the time to get very far into the book)
• Wicked (All three in the series-- read them before, but I want to reread)
• A Walk to Remember (Great movie)
• The Notebook (Great movie)
• The Chronicles of Narnia
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians
• Wheel of Time series (Recommended by Adam)
• Fablehaven series (Recommended by Adam)
•  As A Driven Leaf
• The Hunger Games
• Deception Point
• Book of a Thousand Days (Recommended by Johanna)

That's my list so far!  Leave me a comment if you have any other suggestions!

Mount Doom and Mary Kay

I feel like I've been living in Lord of the Rings all semester.

I'm taking a great Senior Seminar class on Tolkien, Lewis, and Medieval Literature. I know that sounds a little random, since neither Tolkien nor Lewis are Medieval authors, but they were both Medieval scholars and wrote a lot on Medieval literature. So in addition to reading works like Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,and Pearl, I had to read the entire Lord of the Rings series in the first half of the semester.

And this is just for one class.

Don't get me wrong, I'm really loving the books, but I feel like all I do these days is read and work. Even when I'm sleeping, I dream about Frodo and Sam and Gollum and Merry and Pippin and all the other characters that I'm getting to know so well.

Unfortunately I got a little behind over Valentine's Day/President's Day weekend, and I'm just nearing the end when I was supposed to be done earlier this week. *sigh* I even forgot to eat dinner last night because I was too busy cheering Frodo and Sam on as they reached Mt. Doom.

So that's pretty much my life right now.

Speaking of Valentine's Day weekend, Aaron and I went out to dinner with Mike and Amber Turner (my old roommate and her husband) at Gloria's Little Italy. When we walked in, a lady gave Amber and I a flower each and a little paper to fill out to enter a drawing. Knowing that I rarely win anything, I filled out the form and promptly forgot about it.

Then on Monday, I got a phone call telling me that I had won! I won a free Mary Kay facial and a gift basket with a Mary Kay gift card, a Gloria's Little Italy gift card, candy, and other goodies! I'm getting my facial on Saturday and I invited a few friends to do it with me. I'm pretty excited!

Also, I just ordered my cap and gown for my college graduation. It's a little strange-- I am so ready to be done with school, but at the same time, I don't know what it's like to NOT be in school... I mean, I've always had summers off from school, but it's going to be strange to still live in Provo while Aaron and most of my ward are still students. Weird. I'll finally have time to scrapbook, and sew, and do all kinds of things I just can't do right now.

I put a couple countdowns on my Facebook profile:

• My birthday: 9 days
• Aaron's birthday: 51 days
• Graduation: 56 days
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1: 266 days
  

Sweet.