Spring Reading Thing Wrap Up

I FINISHED!!!!!  I finally finished a reading challenge!!  Which means that I can cross off number 81 in 101 in 1001, which was to "Do everything I plan to do in a book challenge."  Of course, I finished the last book LAST NIGHT at 9:30, in my true procrastinator way, but the point is that I finished, and I feel darn good about it!  


Here are the books I read.

Yep.  Still love it :)  I was kind of surprised that I liked it so much as a kid, but there ya go :)

Very fun book.  You could totally see what the end was 3 miles away, but there were some surprises all throughout, which made it interesting.  Very clean, which I loved, and a sweet love story, both between Emily and Jonas and Emily and the Lord.  

Wow, I was not expecting this to be so intense.  It definitely showed this mother's love, how powerful it can be, and how worth it it can be.  Very good.

Why in the world do people obsess over Edward Cullen when Mr. Darcy is CLEARLY a better choice?!  Beautiful book, so glad I finally read (well, listened to :)) an Austen book.  I definitely see more in my future!

Oh goodness, still love love LOVE this book as well.  

I love the way that Oz and Roizen explain our bodies in easy-to-understand terms and illustrations.  Some yummy recipes too!  I love seeing a "just take good care of yourself" book instead of a "only-eat-carbs-or-protein-orgrapefruit-or-candy-bars" diet book.  Loved it.

This was probably one of the best books I have EVER read!!!  Be warned though, you will HAVE to read the 2nd book as well, and I am assuming the 3rd.  It took me a loooooooooong time to get past the first 50 or so pages (mostly because there were so many names and I kept getting interrupted so I would forget where I was and couldn't find my place again) but I am SO GLAD I did!!!  Absolutely beautiful.  And again, I have to say, waaaaaaaay better than Twilight!  It gripped me much more than a bunch of vampires and werewolves, partly because it could have been a true story.  I find myself wanting to tell people about something that happened in the book, and then realize that it wasn't real life!  I totally recommend this.

Alrighty, guess that wraps it up!  Thanks Katrina for putting on another wonderful reading challenge!

Thrifty Awesome-ness

My mom and I went to a huge community garage sale a few weekends ago, and we found ourselves at the home of a man who formerly had an antique shop and still dabbles in, um, antiquity?!  Anyway, we got to talking with him, and my mom mentioned that she had bought some stuff from him before...so he let us go into his shed in the back where he kept all the rest of his stuff!  He said we could take a look and buy whatever we wanted, he would give us a great deal.  The place was immaculate, perfectly organized...beautiful, blissful.  I wished that I had brought my camera because it was just so breathtaking!  And then these little beauties caught my eye:

Aren't they beautiful?!  I fell in love with them instantly and my mom suggested I ask him how much they were.  I kind of brushed it off cuz I thought I couldn't afford them.  And then something in me said, "Hey, if you don't ask, you don't know."  I think it was my mother-in-law ;)  So I asked and he said he'd give all 3 of them to me for...are you ready?!  Are ya?!....  FIFTEEN DOLLARS!!!!!  I plunked down the money and was on cloud nine for the rest of the week.

It's the simple things in life, isn't it?!

I Heart Faces Photo Walk

So yesterday was absolutely one of the best days ever!  I went on my first photo walk!  It was put on by one of my favorite sites, I Heart Faces.  Our fearless leader was Katrina Kennedy and she was FANTASTIC!  She even let me borrow a lens that I have been umming and awwing about buying.  What a gem!  I was able to ask questions and get some pointers, which was super helpful as I am just starting out on this fun adventure!  

I took over 500 pictures, almost all of a lovely, sweet girl named Marina.  She made it so much fun cuz she would do whatever any of the 26 of us would ask her to do.  Total sweetheart!  Very different from my usual subject who cries to be held 5 minutes into the "session" ;)

Here are some of my faves.  Some of them are not great, and I know that, but I was really just trying to do new things and play around with my camera.  So let me know what you think!  I'd love to get ANY kind of feedback!

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There ya go! Like I said, I would appreciate any feedback, whether you are "into" photography or not!