Christmas in July Reveal!

Hello everyone! Today I’m excited to share with you what I received in my recent Christmas in July book swap with The Book Monsters. I was paired with Jennifer from Feffer Books, and I had so much fun getting to know her through this swap!

I love getting packages in the mail, so I was pretty excited when I received Jennifer’s package a few days ago. The premise of the swap was that you swapped wish lists and whatever other info you wanted with your partner, and they had to get you at least one book off the wish list and one other item. And the rest was up to you! So here’s what I got from Jennifer:

So here’s what I got:

• Looking for Alaska by John Green
• A cute, flowery bookmark
• Chocolate-covered caramels
• Brown Sugar Vanilla Hazelnuts (I totally ate them not long after I got them, but I saved the packaging for this picture! haha)

Christmas in July Book Swap

Hello everyone! I’m excited to announce that I’ll be participating in the Christmas in July Book Swap!

It sounds like a really fun opportunity to get to know other bloggers and share a love of books. Everyone who’s participating filled out a wish list of books we want, and The Book Monsters are matching everyone up with a partner who will get his or her partner one thing off the gift list as well as a few other little goodies.

June 30 was the last day to sign up, so look forward to follow up posts by me once I’m matched up with my partner!

Words Are My Life is Back!

Hello everyone! I may not be as cool as the kids (or dinosaurs) from We’re Back, but I couldn’t resist mentioning that awesome movie.

Sorry for my absence over the past few months. Since I started my new beauty blog last December (now found at beyoutiful-beauty.com), I wanted to just focus on building up my content and followers for a while. Now that I’ve gotten a better handle on that, I decided to resurrect this blog and work on building this one up!

Thanks for being patient with me during this time, and be sure to check back soon for book reviews, life updates, my thoughts on current events, movie reviews and much more.

If you have any thoughts on posts you’d like to see from me, feel free to leave a comment down below and I promise to do my best to make it happen.

Thanks guys, and hope you’re having a great day!

The Circle Book Review

One of my friends from book club recommended “The Circle” by Dave Eggers, and I’m so glad she did! I was on a long waiting list at the library for it, but once I received it, I finished it in one weekend. It was 504 pages, but it didn’t feel like it because I just couldn’t stop reading once I started!

The story revolves around a recent college graduate named Mae Holland. She is hired to work for a quickly growing social media and technology company called The Circle, which “links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency,” according to the book’s review on Amazon. Her old college roommate also works at The Circle, and that’s how she nailed this dream job. People who work there are full of life and energy, always wanting to push social media one step further to more easily unite people from all over the globe.

Eggers describes The Circle campus in detail, from the huge buildings and the dormitories for Circlers (employees) to  sleep and live in to the parties, concerts and sporting events that last until the wee hours of the morning every single day. I just could not get enough of reading about this place! Mae’s work involves responding back to customer inquiries, comments or complaints and sending them a satisfaction survey, but that turns out to be one of the least important duties of hers. To fully understand how The Circle works, all employees must have a high rating of participation on the social media site. To get a high rating, one must post, comment, upload photos, reply back to other people’s posts and much more; it seems like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest on crack, all combined into one. While this is all an unofficial part of her job, it seems to be the most important part of the company. I don’t want to say too much more than that, though, because it’s much more interesting to figure it all out for yourself.

I thought this was a fascinating topic, and one that is certainly timely with the rise and the importance of social media. Even though the premise that social media can make us lose all sense of privacy in real life, the concept felt new and almost refreshing to me as the book progressed. I saw social media in a whole new light, and I can’t say I liked it very much.

The characters were dynamic and exciting. Most of them changed throughout the course of the book, for better or worse. There was an air of mystery with each of the characters, and the ending was very unlike I would’ve predicted from when I started the book, but I loved it. It spoke volumes about our culture and our obsession with documenting everything about our lives, but The Circle took it all one step (or two or ten steps) further.

I could just go on and on about how I was sucked in from the first page to the very last page, but I digress. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for a fairly quick, fascinating read. Whether or not social media is your thing, I think the way it is discussed in the book will appeal to most anyone. Not all of the reviews I’ve seen were very positive, but I think people should give it a try before casting judgment good or bad on the topics of social media, privacy and the role we play in all of it.

I Pledge Allegiance to the New Year…

Christmas is now behind us, which can only mean one thing: New Years resolutions! Every year people go crazy with list making and goal setting for a “new year, new me” type of feeling, and most set incredibly high goals, notice it’s harder to accomplish than originally planned, give up within the first week or month and never think about it all again until next December.

While I’m all for list making, this is one time when I really think lists should be about quality over quantity. Too many people get caught up in the notion of creating a whole new version of themselves by doing and having certain things that they become unhappy and lose sight of what they already have. I recently saw an article on the Huffington Post that people should read and keep in mind when setting goals for the New Year. One reason I really like the article is because it pinpoints small, manageable steps that will can help make both you and the world better in the process. I think more people should approach resolutions that way, instead of making grand, unattainable goals that lose steam within the first few months (weeks, days, hours) of the New Year, and maybe we’d all be a little happier. Maybe.

Anyway, the last point that the author made in the article really resonated with me:

“Lastly, don’t be so hard on yourself. You will slip. There will be times where you’ll be lazy and lack the discipline to follow the points of this contract. Don’t self loathe when you do. Remember to be gentle with yourself. Give yourself permission to be soft, to not know all the answers, to be vulnerable, and most importantly, to be human…”

And therein lies the root of most of our problems, at least for me: self-loathing and being hard on yourself. Those have been my main problems now for as long as I can remember. I think it’s easy to find merit in other people, but more difficult to compliment yourself. I’m not exactly sure why that is, but I know I’m not the only one who speaks more harshly to myself than I would to a friend, let alone anyone else. And why is that?

So I think I’ll set a few goals for myself as well for the New Year. I’ll probably add more as the year goes on, but here are a few to get started:

 

1. Focus more about what would make me happy. I often am caught up in my own thoughts, worrying about what other people think about me at work, restaurants, stores, movie theaters, etc. I worry what people will think of how I dress or do my makeup or what I say, but what’s the point? I spend too much time worrying, so screw that!
2. Stay in the moment. I need to remain in the present more instead of dwelling on the past or worrying about the future.
3. Forgive myself. We all make mistakes. It’s time I start forgiving myself for being human!
4. Learn a new skill. Whether it’s practicing how to be better at public speaking or maybe picking up a new language, I just want to be learning something (or multiple things!).
5. Read more. I go to the library constantly, but for some reason I barely pick up most of the books from my table before their due date. This needs to change!

What are your goals or resolutions for 2014? Are you going with the “new year, new me” saying, or are you just hoping to stay the same?

To Believe…or Not to Believe

This post was a little difficult for me to start, but I think it’s important for me to finally say something:

I don’t believe in God anymore.

I went to church almost my whole life. I attended church camp in Park Rapids, Minn., for years. I was confirmed in tenth grade, and then I taught Sunday school classes for a few years, as well as co-lead a confirmation group Wednesday nights. I just wanted to be a good Christian. I held my values close to my heart. I didn’t drink until I turned 21. I didn’t swear or disrespect others. I bought cross necklaces, books on faith and Christian rock CDs.

I had been going to church basically my whole life, but it felt like I was just rehearsing lines and believing because other people told me to believe and I was a good girl and I wanted to fit in. I feel I truly became a Christian when I was in ninth grade. I was invited by a friend to go to a Superchick concert at the Civic Center here in Fargo, and I really wanted to go because I liked their song on the “Legally Blonde” soundtrack, and they were a Christian group, so I felt I should be there to fit in as a Christian, in a way. I didn’t really know what to expect, andthe experience was very eye opening. I don’t remember every detail of that night, but I do remember we left in small groups from the concert area to go to a different part of the Civic Center to discuss God and Jesus’ presence in our lives. We all got free copies of a book that I think was called “Jesus is a Carpenter” or something like that. Actually, I might still have it somewhere in my room. Anyway, we sat in small groups discussing God and Jesus, and I remember feeling my heart start to open and swell up in acceptance of all this love that was flowing throughout the room among the groups. A little while later, we went back to the concert area where Superchick and another band performed, and I felt renewed and amazing. Suddenly everything started to make sense to me, and I felt a sense of faith larger than I’ve ever felt since. Life was good.

Over the years I held steadfast to that faith when it seemed like many of my friends who had gone to Sunday school or confirmation with me had dropped away. I didn’t necessarily like to read the Bible in my spare time or anything like that, but I did love to listen to the Christian station 97.9, read Christian books and go to church on Sundays. The pastors at my church have known me since we first moved to Fargo when I was little, so I think part of the reason I liked going to church was to get some recognition from them for showing up so often, honestly. Also, even though my parents aren’t religious, most of my family members are, so their gifts, particularly around Christmas time, have a Christian theme. And I, once again, just wanted to be a good little Christian girl, so I kept embodying the beliefs with which I was raised.

In my junior year of college I took a Philosophy of Religion course, and we talked a lot about arguments for and against various religions, but we mainly focused on Christianity. Having no tangible faith or science to back up my faith never bothered me before, but it started to grind on me during the class. I began to understand and even side with the arguments against religions and a higher power watching over us all, but I didn’t think about it all much beyond class discussions or papers. I just didn’t feel compelled to defend my belief in Christianity anymore.

Then a few years later my grandpa got sick and he passed away after a few months. Six weeks after that, my grandma, his wife, also passed away. This past year has been very difficult for me and my family to say the least. I used to lean heavily on my faith, but over the years I noticed I had been doing that less and less. Lately I realized I haven’t really thought about God, Jesus or any religion in quite a while, probably months. And I honestly feel rather indifferent about it.

I’ve been thinking about this lately, and here is the conclusion I’ve discovered: I don’t currently believe in God or subscribe to any particular religion. It took me a long time to admit that, though, since religion had shaped me so much for most of the time I’ve been alive. I just no longer feel the drive or need to believe in a higher power, and I’m okay with that. I certainly don’t mean to slam anyone who believes in religion. I believe it’s great to have faith, regardless of what you believe in.

I don’t know if I’d necessarily consider myself an atheist or maybe something else entirely. I’m just not sure right now. I just believe in being good to people and living with love. I plan to read more about different religions to better familiarize myself with them, including Satanism and Wicca, to name a few. I feel like I’ve been routed in Christianity for so long that I don’t really know much about other religions. I miss reading and scholarly work, so perhaps this will become my new project: read about religions to see if something calls out to me. And if it doesn’t, I’ll be just fine. I believe in myself, my values, my friends and my family. And at least for right now, that’s good enough for me.

The Power of Music

Do you know a song that makes you stop what you’re doing and just listen to the whole thing through until the very end every time you hear it? One that stops you in your tracks and just overpowers you?

Music is so wonderful, and it just blows my mind when I think about the power it can bring to any situation. Music can make you feel happy, sad, happy, validated, depressed, understood, enraged, calm, etc. It’s insane how three or four minutes of your life can be drastically changed because of words and notes that are combined. Lately I’ve been listening to all of my Pandora stations on shuffle, and I really like not knowing what kind of music will play next or how it will have an effect on my mood.

It’s very interesting what different types of music can do for your mood. I listen to rock music when I need to focus, I can feel my temper rising up or I just want to ignore the world for a while. I listen to mellow indie music when I just want to sit, think and be relaxed. I listen to musicals when I’m in a fun mood or just want to belt out some tunes. I listen to slow, sad music when I just feel like being alone or I feel frustrated with how things are going.

The one song that gets me every time is “Lost” by Michael Buble. I love all of his songs, but every time this song in particular plays on my iPod, computer or phone, I instinctually close my eyes, take a deep breath and simply become engulfed by the sound. I don’t quite know what it is, but I just get the song. It just moves me every time I hear it. I always have to stop what I’m doing to just appreciate the lyrics and the music of what’s been my favorite Michael Buble song for years.

Here are the lyrics:

I can’t believe it’s over
I watched the whole thing fall
And I never saw the writing that was on the wall
If I’d only knew
The days were slipping past
That the good things never last
That you were crying

Summer turned to winter
And the snow it turned to rain
And the rain turned into tears upon your face
I hardly recognized the girl you are today
And, God, I hope it’s not too late
Hmmm… It’s not too late

‘Cause you are not alone
I’m always there with you
And we’ll get lost together
‘Til the light comes pouring through
‘Cause when you feel like you’re done
And the darkness has won
Babe, you’re not lost
When your world’s crashing down
And you can’t bear the thought
I said, babe, you’re not lost

Life can show no mercy
It can tear your soul apart
It can make you feel like you’ve gone crazy
But you’re not
Things have seemed to change
There’s one thing that’s still the same
In my heart you have remained
And we can fly fly fly away

‘Cause you are not alone
And I am there with you
And we’ll get lost together
‘Til the light comes pouring through
‘Cause when you feel like you’re done
And the darkness has won
Babe, you’re not lost
When the world’s crashing down
And you can not bear the cross
I said, baby, you’re not lost
I said, baby, you’re not lost
I said, baby, you’re not lost
I said, baby, you’re not lost

While it has a sad tone overall, I believe it also contains hope: hope that we’re not alone, hope that we’re understood, hope that everything is going to be alright. And we all need that kind of hope now and again, don’t we?

What are some songs that you just get? What songs really convey the power of music to you?

Happiness

This is such a simple idea, yet one that gets forgotten a lot: “whatever you decide to do, make sure it makes you happy.” We shouldn’t go through life angry and unhappy all the time. Everyone is always trying so hard to be happy, but at what cost? I think some of us put too much at stake on our quest for eternal, or even temporary, happiness. Sometimes I think we put up with more than we need to because we think we’ll eventually, maybe, some day get or have something better. But what kind of life is that, always waiting for something better to happen?

I think we should wake up each day, smile and get ready to face the day. Some things will happen that will make us happy. And then even more things will happen to make us sad or angry or upset in some way, and I think we all (especially me) just need to learn to let things go and be happy.

I’m not saying we can’t be sad at all. Obviously there are times when we are more than welcome to be sad, like in the case of deaths, accidents, tragedies, etc. But I think it’s how we choose to deal with life’s obstacles that can make us see our lives as positive or negative forever, instead of just temporarily. If we always belittle and judge others, that negativity can infect your mind. As one famous quote says, “you can’t live a positive life with a negative mind.”

I’ve really started to realize the importance of this quote lately when I think things aren’t happening quite the way I would like them to. The world doesn’t revolve around me (or you!), so I need to learn to let things slide off my shoulders if they don’t contribute to my happiness. I am embarking on a journey to find (and keep) my happiness, and it starts today.

Lists, Lists, Lists…

After a little hiatus, I am back and ready to keep writing on this blog. These past few months have been a whirlwind with work and life and trips and everything else, but I promise that I’m back and I’m committed to making this blog successful again!

I’ve noticed a lot of different articles have been circulating lately on websites like Huffington Post and Buzzfeed with lists like what every woman should own by the time she turns 30 or do before she gets married. While some items have some merit (i.e., “Learn how to cook. Not because you’re getting ready to be someone’s June Cleaver, but because it’s reassuring to know that you can fend for yourself in the kitchen”), not every one is a gem (i.e., “Have a summer fling. Even if it doesn’t last past Labor Day, it’s a fun memory to look back on — and makes for a fun story to reminisce about”).

What are your thoughts on lists such as these? While I normally love to make lists and check things off, I can’t help but feel nervous about ones like those listed above. I feel like the lists that are trending now include mostly cliches, not in-depth, meaningful things. Everyone wants to have all the answers all the time, but that’s just not possible. Do these lists help us feel more in control, like our future is within tangible grasp? Or do we just like seeing what other people deem important in their lives? Why do we seem to like listening to other people tell us what to do?

There are so many adjectives women are “supposed to” embody and so many verbs women “should master” before reaching certain milestones in life, like marriage or turning the big 3-0. But why?

The Great Gatsby is One Big Hot Mess

I love Baz Luhrmann.

I love Moulin Rouge.

I love Romeo + Juliet.

I love Leo DiCaprio.

So it should be no surprise that I loved The Great Gatsby. And by loved, I mean I’ve seen it in theaters three times already.

I’ve seen a handful of movies in theaters twice, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in theaters three times.

I absolutely loved The Great Gatsby, and here’s why.

The soundtrack did a wonderful job of combining new and old elements to create a sound so unique and creative that only Baz could have weaved it all together. While I’ve seen some criticism from others concerning the believability of using of rap music in 1920s New York, I believe somehow it just all fit perfectly. To me, the music really emphasized the parties and the fun time period, along with the dramatic and sad moments, too. The varying time period with the genres of music were all so different, but it was so different that it just really worked for me.

While I saw it in 2-D, I can see why some would love to see it in 3-D. The parties come alive, the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock shines bright and all the beautiful colors and costumes pop right out to the audience. The scenes and camera shots were just gorgeous, like when Daisy and Gatsby are talking near some trees before Nick walks over to interrupt them. The camera shows different angles on both of them, including only showing half of Daisy’s face blocked by Gatsby or parts of their bodies, andI thought all of  that was really artistic and beautiful. I also loved how the sound effects weren’t just there to be in the film; they really added to each of the scenes. One example was when the characters got a room at The Plaza on a hot day and a servant is chopping ice, and you can hear it loudly and clearly as they pan to each of the characters and then to the building from the outside.

The movement from the characters within the film is my favorite aspect. The characters all walk in a certain way and everything flows together. Whether it’s Jordan Baker playing with a golf club, turning around and saying “Well, you must know Gatsby” to Gatsby pacing around Nick’s floral-filled living room while he waits for a guest for tea, all the movements seem natural but also like they’re part of a large synchronized routine. The characters almost appear to be floating on air as they navigate from scene to scene. It’s just beautiful. Everything looks effortless, although I’m sure a lot of work went into making it look perfect.

The actors’ performances are also wonderful. I’ve never been a big fan of Tobey Maguire, but I thought he did a really good job playing Nick. Leo DiCaprio was magical, which surprised no one. I heard girls in my theater all three times who sighed happily after Gatsby is finally revealed, lifting up a glass in a salute to Nick in slow motion with fireworks exploding in the background. Everyone was caught up in his spell. Carey Mulligan fit the role of Daisy perfectly as well. Other parts made me cringe, like the role of Tom Buchanan and Wilson, the mechanic, but they fit into the film so wonderfully and realistically.

As some people say, Baz Luhrmann’s films are a big hot mess. And I agree. The Great Gatsby was a two-hour big hot mess of crazy music, vibrant costumes and wonderful sound effects. I may just be a beautiful little fool, but I loved every minute of it, old sport.