Ephemeral Thoughts

Zendala Dare 64

2013-07-07T14:44:00.001-04:00

Hello All :) It has been quite a while since I last posted. Life has been a bit hectic lately (but only in good ways). I just started my new job so I'm getting use to a new schedule and it's off season for my boyfriend's work so he gets to work at the office here in town (yay!) instead of traveling all over the U.S. (and sometimes Mexico). We finally got our apartment all in order. Our office has been a box haven since we moved in but we successfully put our desks together and got rid of the rest of the boxes. We had an incredibly lazy 4th of July since it was raining here in Atlanta but I hope everyone else got to see some fireworks!

I'm so excited that I had time to do Erin's Zendala Dare this week. I swear her challenge is my absolute favorite one to do even though it doesn't seem like it when you look at my post history. For me, zendalas take more time to complete so I'm more likely to be able to squeeze a Diva Challenge in. I have a sketchbook I use just for zentangling and I often have many pages of half done pieces, so with the DC it's easy for me to finish off a piece I've already been working on with whatever the particular challenge is that week. With zendalas I have to start and finish one whole piece which is a bit of a challenge for me.

Our challenge was to fill the zendala with tangles that begin with either H, E, A, T or H, O, T. I decided on HOT so my tangles include: onomato, henna drum, twisted rope, ojo, and tagh. When I first saw the template I knew I would unintentionally make it very dense if I let myself so I tried to make it as light and airy as possible.

DC120 & Pin of the Week

2013-05-30T17:35:00.000-04:00

Bales is one of my favorite tangles. It's incredibly intuitive and I barely have to think while constructing it. Perhaps the best quality of bales is how versatile it is. You can come up with endless ways to fill the space. Bales is almost a string within a string. At least, that's how I chose to utilize bales this week with Laura's challenge. Below is my simplistic design for this week:

Today is a special day for my blog. I'm sure you're wondering why and it's because I'm finally introducing a new addition to my posts. Lately, I've mainly focused on my challenge entries with an occasional post for my One A Day Zentangle Journey (which reminds me I'm incredibly behind in updating that). I have plans for other topics and weekly updates but I've been so busy with my unstable retail hours and last minute interviews I haven't actually gotten around to rolling anything out. Well today is the official reveal of my new Pin of the Week segment! I have what some may consider an unhealthy obsession with Pinterest. I usually stop by at least once a day but I thankfully resist the urge to pin every slightly cool thing I see. I only pin the things I find really useful, interesting or inspiring. Or recipes that I would actually make. Not the ones that have a million ingredients, weird equipment, and require more time than I have to give.

Anyway, my favorite pin this week was from AFewShortCuts.com. I got a Keurig as a birthday present a few years ago and I've noticed lately my cups have become increasingly smaller. I thought it was just a bug with my model since my family got it on clearance. It had been returned and repackaged or something I believe. I was wrong though! Apparently, you're suppose to clean your Keurig occasionally. And now that I stop to think about it, it does make sense. I don't know why it never occurred to me that the insides would probably need to be cleaned occasionally. If you have a Keurig, just follow the picture below and you'll get step by step instructions on how to clean it and then you too can feel like an idiot as it's super easy

Diva Challenge 119: Ebony and Ivory

2013-05-23T21:16:00.000-04:00

I am about to find myself back in the realm of full time employment! I'm basically waiting for my background check and drug test to go through and as long as those come back good (which they should!) then I will be getting an official offer!

I'm very excited about the new job, especially after my terrible week with retail customers. I had a customer yesterday that easily ranked within the top 3 worst customers I've ever dealt with. I have never had someone talk to me with such disdain and contempt over something so trivial. And I use to work for a background screening company where I talked to convicted criminals on a daily basis. None of them ever talked to me the way this rich, entitled bitch did. Sorry for my language but I'm still upset by the situation and I spent the better part of my day yesterday crying off and on. I usually have a fairly thick skin with customers but this lady somehow wormed her way around my barriers. Thankfully, drawing is always therapeutic for me. Below is both my challenge entry for Laura this week and the results of my at home therapy session with myself.

Instead of mirroring patterns I tried to keep the black/white ratio even as a whole piece. I saw a lot of entries using the mirroring technique though and they look really cool. I'm going to try that on my next piece.

Zendala Dare: 58

2013-05-18T20:25:00.001-04:00

I'm so happy I had time to do Erin's Dare this week! Mandalas normally take me a long time to finish so it's rare that I have the time to finish one but I love seeing what she has in store for us each week. Her creations are always beautiful and inspiring. Below is my entry for this week:

Adventures in Monotangles: HI-CS

2013-05-16T00:10:00.000-04:00

I think I barely made the deadline for Ray's challenge this week. HI-CI is a really cool tangle that I'm sure will be creeping it's way into many drawings. For some reason the picture of my color version doesn't look nearly as good as it does it person. I'm going to blame my camera phone.

Diva Challenge 118: Kuke

2013-05-15T15:46:00.003-04:00

Hello again :) I hope everyone is having an amazing week. My interview went *very* well this past week. I did have to take two assessments while I was there. The first one was the Wonderlic test and I found it to be relatively easy. I don't remember the name of the second but it was really hard and I'm not sure how I did :( It was LSAT style questions and those are always hit or miss with me. The problem is that I over analyze the question and I let it stress me out. But it is what it is and I can't go back and retake it so hopefully I scored well enough that I'll still be able to go to the next interview step.

This week Laura had us try Kathy Abbot's tangle Kuke. This tangle is really fun to me and it makes me think of spring so I wanted to do a colorful tile. Below is my quick drawing I did this afternoon:

Yes, that is Indyrella which I made a point of saying I didn't like a few weeks ago.
I revoke that statement. It has slowly grown on me. I think the problem before
was trying to make it a monotangle. To me it really needs other tangles to work.

My normal style is black and white and I was curious what this would have looked like without color so I decided to play around a little with a photo editor:

Pretty neat. I can't decide which one I like better. I am definitely going to try Kuke again at some point this week and I'll be posting whatever I come up with and I can't wait to see all the other creations this week!

Challenge Catch Up: Diva 115, 117 & Monotangle 9

2013-05-08T00:45:00.002-04:00

Hello All :) I have been rather busy lately and I'm obviously a bit behind on challenges. My potential job opportunity I mentioned previously didn't pan out :( BUT there is another one in the works. If this job doesn't come through for me I officially give up on the full time job front and I will instead focus on getting into grad school. I really want to do speech language pathology if I go that route. I was thinking of potentially becoming a speech teacher but I also really love sign language so I think it would be cool if I could find an area where I can work with deaf people on a daily basis. My ASL has gotten a little rusty but I pick it up extremely fast. Just need to find a local group to join. I'll add that to my never ending to-do list. On to the challenges:

I missed the deadline for the Diva challenge 115 but I've been wanting to do a landscape tangle for a while and Earth Day seemed like the perfect time to do it.

This was the first time I tried betweed and it gave me a few difficulties but I think I'll pick it up quickly. This one is going into my file to add color to later. I think it would make the layers stand out even more. I might try another landscape this week too. I really want to add more layers.

This week the Diva challenged us to use the new tangle Schway. Upon first look, I will admit, I was not a fan. I don't like arrows. I feel like I said the same thing a few weeks ago about stars. I also don't like hearts too much. Do I even like shapes?! Anyway, I was actually quite pleased with my results.

Ray over at Mindful Creations had us use 'NZeppel this week which has become a new personal favorite of mine. It even sneaked it's way into my Diva piece above. I had so much fun playing with it I have two entries for it this week but one of them in currently MIA. So instead I have the same piece twice!

It reminds me of stained glass so I decided to add color...

My phone takes terrible pictures. The digital camera is currently playing
hide and seek.

I am mentally exhausted today so I will try to switch out the photos for higher quality ones ~~and add links to the tangles/bloggers~~ tomorrow. Can't wait to see all the other entries!

Adventures in Monotangles: Challenge 6

2013-04-13T22:56:00.002-04:00

I really need to invest in a scanner. I used a
real camera instead of my phone's camera
this time and now I have a flash glare.

This week Roy had us use auraknot for our monotangle. I have to admit, I'm not very good at auraknot. I still don't think I really did it correctly.

For some unknown reason, I really hate stars. Not real stars. Real stars are wonderful. But stars as drawings make me cringe. I continually want to look away so I decided to make my auraknot more flower like which of course meant I had to cheat and add some other shapes.

Click here to see the other entries this week.

Onto a different topic, if you guys don't follow Erin at The Bright Owl you have to check her out. She does Zendala challenges and the one she created this week is absolutely gorgeous. I can't wait to jump into it. Mandalas are a nice twist to a normal zentangles. I really love them but they're also a little more time consuming for me so I don't get to do them as much as I would like.

As always, don't forget to leave a comment below (feedback always feels wonderful and I normally make it a point to check out your blog and leave a comment back), follow me on pinterest (I have a whole board dedicated to zentangles as well as an awesome art inspiration board), and/or check out my etsy shop (which is a little empty right now but I'm working on getting some more stuff up later this week).

Diva Challenge 113: Hip To Be Square

2013-04-11T19:43:00.001-04:00

Hello all! I hope everyone is having a lovely week. Great news! I passed the pre-interview questionnaire and I have a phone interview scheduled for Monday morning. I've been reading up on the company via www.glassdoor.com (which I highly recommend to those job hunting) and it seems it will be a very straight forward "Tell me about a time when [fill in the blank]" Q&A. I think with my previous job experience I can highly tailor all my answers for the position. One of the girls I use to manage just got a job there so I'm sure the recruiter recognizes the company name and I made sure to list her as an employee referral so I feel like I have a really good chance of landing this job. I don't like to get my hopes up too much though so I will continue on to more interesting matters (at least for you) like the Diva's Challenge 113!

This week we were to draw squares within squares and tangle away inside those squares. Normally I don't like strings but this week I think I did really well with it. I'll probably use this type of string again in the very near future. I also decided to try a few new things like taking pictures as my work progressed and using color!

Sometimes when I see other people's entries I'm baffled as to how they even started their creation. Well if you feel that way as well, here's my starting string(s?):

Yes those are triangles. But they are within my first square border so I think it counts!

Here is my finished project in black and white:

Excuse the blurriness. I was in Starbucks and attempting to discreetly use my phone's camera.

My next picture requires a little back story. I was perusing Pinterest today (you should follow me by the way, I pin awesome, beautiful, inspirational, and worthwhile things) when I saw a link for this video. I thought her work looked really cool so of course I went out to find some Souffle pens. I bought mine from Michael's and luckily I had a 50% off coupon because they were originally $24.99. I would suggest following the above link to amazon because it's only $13.92 there. I also really want some neat stencils like she had in the video so if anyone knows where to get them, let me know! I tried looking at Michael's and I couldn't find any.

The pens didn't turn out quite the way I expected. From the video it looked like the black would show through completely but it actually turned a little milky looking. It's easily fixable though if you don't like that look (which I don't). You can just retrace where the black is OR color first, let it dry, and then trace in black. The below picture is when most of the ink is dry except for the purple. I'm going to retrace all the black later and post that picture at another date. I also want to add green on the vines using a color pencil.

So what do you guys think? Color or no color? I personally prefer the black and white and I can't wait to see all of the other entries!

If you guys like my work please follow my blog and check out my etsy shop! I'm about to start posting with more frequency and I have some great ideas on future posts which include a DIY planner I'm finishing up, some type of art challenge (not zentangling though, I'll leave those to the awesome CZTs :) ), and other secret goodies you'll have to wait for!

Diva Challenge 112: Tuxedo

2013-04-01T19:29:00.002-04:00

I thought my version of Tuxedo came out a little dense
so I tried to keep all the other tangles light and airy.
I probably could have sneaked another dense one in.
Oh well.

This week, I Am The Diva, challenged us to create a zentangle with Tuxedo (Created by LeeAnn). When I saw this tangle I knew I had to practice it a lil before jumping right in like I normally do. After a few practice runs, I finally got the hang of it. Although a little time consuming, I really like this tangle because you have tons of little areas in which to fill in with other tangles! To the left is my entry for this week, and click here to see the other fabulous entries.

Now I'm off to do fun (?) job hunting stuff. I have to take this hour and half long pre-interview test tonight. Hopefully the work will finally pay off and I'll find myself with an interview and then a job offer! Wishful thinking perhaps but if the location is the one I think it is for this particular company then one of my old employees may have passed along my name. Times like these are when I'm really glad that I was a well liked manager.

Adventures in Monotangles: Challenge 4

2013-03-29T23:01:00.000-04:00

Indy-rella. I have to admit, this is not my favorite tangle. The same curved line over and over again lulls me to sleep which results in sloppy lines. I also find it surprising this one is considered an "official tangle." These type of tangles do not have step by step instructions available (unless you go to a CZT class) and I just flat out do not see the need to have instructions for a repeated curved line. For some reason, I assumed all official tangles would be the really pretty and at least moderately difficult tangles. I think I would be a little upset if I paid for a class and this was the tangle taught. Hopefully no one gets offended by that statement. I don't mean it in a mean way. I love zentangling but this tangle leaves me baffled.

To the right is my entry for Roy's 4th Monotangle Challenge. In the top portion I used the XS Faber Castell pen and a few strings to define the area. I hated the way it was going so I changed to the brush pen with no strings and (surprise, surprise) I liked the results a lot more. The brush pen seemed to flow more naturally with this tangle and if you've read my blog, you know strings tend to stifle me. While Indy-rella will definitely not be the center focus of any of my tangles, any time soon, I wouldn't mind it as a small filler some time. My entry was pretty blah this week, probably due to my dislike for the tangle. I might try again later this week with colored micron pens instead. Click here to see the other entries which are probably leagues above mine this week!

Abstract Undulations

2013-03-13T15:53:00.002-04:00

I've been a bit behind in posting lately but I have been a bit busy. In a few short days I will be setting sail for Cozumel and Belize! Is it any surprise that I have yet to pack a single piece of clothing? I think not. We leave on Saturday, return on Thursday, followed by a day of rest from my vacation, and finally moving all my stuff into my new apartment with my wonderful boyfriend! I've also been endlessly applying for jobs, trying to sort through my stuff to get ready for the move, working part time at my dreadful retail job, and working on a new way to bring in money, namely, my new etsy store.

"But Kat," you say, "Your store has an open date of February 2012!" Well yes...yes it does. Last year I thought about trying to sell my art online but at this point I still had a full time job and I was so excited to open it that I threw together a less than wonderful piece, threw it online, and then sadly watched no one buy it. This year though, this year I have bought quality paper, quality archival ink, and I have a new mindset about the whole new thing. So to end this long post I leave you with a picture of my first art piece for sale (that is also conveniently a link to my etsy store).

One A Day Project : Day 2

2013-01-31T12:39:00.002-05:00

I told you guys the difference between Day 2 and Day 1 would be amazing! On Day 1 I was afraid I would never be able to use the string method. Day 2 proved me wrong.

At first I wasn't a huge fan of Nightsbridge (Knights Bridge?) but I really liked how this turned out. It reminds me of a butterfly. I think it's a great start of things to come. If you've seen any of my previous posts I'm not a complete newbie to zentangling or drawing in general (although I don't think I've ever posted any of my non-zentangle stuff) but I decided when I got this book I would follow it exactly. So far it has worked out well. Hopefully, that will continue to be the case.

One A Day Project : Day 1

2013-01-29T14:21:00.000-05:00

For Christmas, my boyfriend gave me this zentangle book along with a few other incredibly thoughtful and sweet gifts. I've been wanting one of these for a while but I haven't gotten around to getting one. I find that when I go to tanglepatterns (an awesome website) I can get easily overwhelmed looking at all the patterns. I wind up spending three hours looking at patterns and no hours actually drawing the patterns. In addition, I tend to make judgments on the tangles without actually trying them which I have learned is greatly to my detriment. I can't count the number of times that I think "Ugh, that's ugly, I would never use that" and then I actually try it, put my own spin on it, and then I wind up loving it and using it constantly.

I also love the way this book is split up. You typically get 2-3 tangles to learn each day and then you just draw a tangle using those tangles and any of the previous ones. I've started taking pictures of the day's tangles on my phone and then I just work on those whenever I have a moment for however long it takes me to get done. Sometimes it's one day, sometimes it's four or five. Long story short: This book is awesome for beginners or people who get a little overwhelmed with too many choices. Word of caution: Don't buy the digital version from Barnes and Nobel. Apparently it's not set up correctly and won't work on most people's devices. It never even occurred to me to buy the digital version though, I love the feeling of a book in my hands and the ability to quickly flip through looking for inspiration.

I decided to start a segment on my blog where I chronicle my journey through this book. I won't be showing any of the pages of the book, nor will I go super in depth on what is under that day just because I feel like that might sway some people from actually buying the book and I don't want to take away from their accomplishments. All of the tangles are available in the public domain though so I think it's acceptable to show what I end up with.

For this project I decided to put my small moleskin sketch book to use. It's the perfect size and easy to carry around with me. If you buy directly from the moleskin website it's $13.95 and I think you can get the same one from Target for $13 flat (plus no shipping!). And of course, it wouldn't be a zentangle without some micron pens. These Pigma Micron Pen Set #01 0.25mm are my favorite but I also use .35 a lot.

My tangle for day was absolutely abysmal. I don't know what I was thinking...It really is terrible. For some reason I couldn't break outside the lines on day one. And it shows. Just wait for day 2 though! The difference is amazing! (And yes, I already have a few days done, I didn't think to blog about this until day 3 or 4 but I don't want to pile it all on at once.)

Weekly Challenge #90

2012-10-12T22:56:00.003-04:00

This week's challenge for I am the Diva was a string challenge. Normally I'm not a huge fan of strings. I feel too confined by them and they don't flow as well to me. I've been altering the IX tangle and it has somehow turned into one of my favorite new tangles. Its been creeping its way into all of my drawings lately.

I went in search of pencil to draw the string outline and I stumbled across a pink gel pen. It was fun mixing in color as I went instead of coloring everything in at the last minute. To see all the other entries click here!

"Maybe" A Short Film

2012-10-02T00:13:00.000-04:00

ABOUT THIS FILM

Film maker:: jgrey
Synopsis:: Lost in his thoughts, a man is joined at the bus stop by a young woman. As his imagination runs wild, he can't help but wonder: maybe she's the girl of his dreams...
Genre:: Drama
Running time:: 2:20

Zentangle Challenge 88 Entry 2

2012-09-30T15:59:00.001-04:00

My first attempt at the IX challenge was not my absolute favorite drawing of mine. After looking through the other amazing entries I decided to try again but this time I went the route of simplicity and color. I really need to see about either getting a scanner or finding my camera. These phone pictures simply do not the drawing justice. To see the other entries click here!

Zendala Dare #25

2012-09-29T20:09:00.004-04:00

Below is my entry for The Bright Owl's Zendala Dare #25. In places I seemed to ignore the lines of the template so I'm not entirely sure I did this challenge correctly. It was fun to try anyway. I choose not to believe there are rules when it comes to anything art related, thought I do wish I had left more white space in the middle. You can also tell I started getting bored with the vines. They got very messy, very quickly. I like the repetitiveness ...but only to an extent. Then I get impatient, wanting to get to the next tangle. Click here to see the other entries!

My Turning Point on the Road to Zentangles

2012-09-29T18:15:00.001-04:00

When I first stumbled upon Zentangles I read just about everything I could find on it. I looked at hundreds of other drawings by all sorts of zentanglers - the certified, the experts, and the zen inspired artists. I spent a ridiculous amount of time on tanglepatterns scouring through all the different tangles. I tried doing the random strings. I tried drawing objects and filling the inside. I tried doing squares of tangles. None were producing anything I liked too much. I had a few "ehhh not bad" moments. But none where I was like "Yes!! This is it. I want to show people this. I want to hang this in a frame and put it above my desk!" That was when I decided to throw all the advice I had read out the window and draw like I normally do.

See I'm not one of those people that is scared of drawing. I draw all the time, especially flowers, trees, foliage, etc. What I found was that most of the advice out there is for people with very little drawing knowledge. People who see a blank sheet of paper and feel a little overwhelmed. Most of the time when I look at a new tangle, I don't even bother with the directions. I can usually figure out how to draw it on my own, in a way that is a lot more intuitive for myself. With this drawing I posted, I started in the upper left corner with a few criss crossed lines and then just drew as I liked from there. No shapes to constrain me. Just my mind and a piece of paper.

Music From...

2012-09-29T17:35:00.000-04:00

ABC's Promo For the New Fall Season

I was watching ABC the other day when I saw a promo for the season of 'Once Upon a Time', 'Revenge', and a few others. I fell in love with this song so of course I immediately took to the internet to search the lyrics and find out who it was by. Long story short, the song is called "A Little Taste" and it is by Skyler Stonestreet. I was excited to find that I was one of the first 20,000 people to see this video!! I've really been into this type of music lately. Kind of seductive/sexy. Sometimes jazzy. It reminds me of burlesque?

If you like the song above, I highly recommend:

Cat & Mouse by Nikki & Rich
The Mating Game by Bitter:Sweet
Switch by Jazmine Sullivan
Under My Skin by Gin Wigmore
Anything by April Smith and the Great Picture Show

Zentangle Challenge 88

2012-09-29T15:41:00.003-04:00

I've recently stumbled upon this type of drawing called Zentangle and it is my new obsession. I don't follow most of the typical rules used in Zentangle because they don't really work for me. The first step is to draw a 'string' and then draw inside the boxes your string creates. My mind doesn't work very well that way so I typically start with a tangle I really like and then work my way out in whatever shape it takes. Technically this makes my work zentangle inspired art and not a true zentangle. Either way, it's incredibly relaxing and as soon as I started playing by own rules my drawings started getting much, much better.

I decided to start following "I am the Diva" to partake in the weekly challenges to learn new tangles and find some inspiration from the other amazing drawings. Below is my entry for Week 88 (sorry for the bad quality, my phone was dying and I've misplaced my camera). The main tangle is IX in the middle. I put a little of my own spin on with using curvier lines. Click here to see the challenge and the other entries.

Book Review: Elsewhere

2012-01-25T00:11:00.002-05:00

For some unknown reason, this book really struck a cord with me. Perhaps, it was just the fact that this book dealt with death which is always a touchy subject. I cried multiple times while reading this and I'm not sure if it was due to hormones or the book. I feel like it was a combination. While this book was geared towards young teens, which was shown through the writing style, the content had a more adult feel to it. And by adult, I do not mean sweaty, groping in the dark.

What I liked:

The new perspective on what the after life may be like. While there were some holes (like I know that these two young characters are technically in their 20s, but when they're physically like 10, do they stilll.....you know...or anything else? Did they before but then stop once they got to a certain age? It's just very confusing and I found it slightly distracting) overall it was simple but well constructed.
Some characters actually had distinctive voices.
I loved how people could communicate with animals in the after life.
That Liz actually reacted like a teenager upon finding out she died and took time to mourn.

What I DISLIKED:

The prose felt very simple and young to me
The romance just kinda hit out of nowhere. We didn't get to actually see it happen, it was mostly told.
Liz was sometimes a little annoying, especially towards the latter end of the book when she was suppose to be more mature mentally.
There were some plot holes. Like the fact that most people in Elsewhere are old. But if they're all aging backwards then technically their age demographic should mirror the real world demographic. Unless there are different areas of Elsewhere and only people who have died in the past 15 years are allowed in that area.
I wish there was one more chapter maybe showing the future couple in their new lives!!

Book Review: Beastly

2011-06-05T22:03:00.000-04:00

A Brief Summary: Basically a retelling of Beauty and the Beast if you couldn't tell from the name and the recent movie. Kyle/Adrian is the biggest douche bag on the planet. He gets a curse put on him for being so conceited at a school dance and is turned into a beast. Cue the entrance of an average and abused girl (Lindy) and some weird semi kidnapping/hostage situation equals romance, gardening, and love oh my. Oh yes, and all of this is set in a present day high school/Brooklyn.

If I could choose one word to describe this book, it would be "eh." It wasn't breathtakingly amazing. It wasn't so horrible it caused me physical pain to read it. It was a cute, no thinking involved book. However, like all things in life there will be things that certain readers do not like, no matter how good the book and here are a few things that I could have done without:

1. Lindy (an annoying name in itself)really grated my nerves. At first she didn't bother me but the closer I got to the end of the book the more I didn't like her. She was incredibly weak and was portrayed in a very child like way. Especially in her interactions with Kyle/Adrian. We are suppose to think that she's extremely intelligent but we never got to see it.

2. Kyle/Adrian went from having no interest in this girl to falling in love with her basically because he had no other options. We didn't even really get to see it happen. It was another one of those cases where the author just tells you what happens instead of showing it and developing it.

3. Scattered throughout the novel are some chat room images that K/A is participating in to get some support with his transformation. While, I didn't mind these snapshots, at times I found myself more interested in what was happening with SilentMaid than any of the actual characters the book was focused on. Which means, the real plot was somewhat lacking.

4. Kyle/Adrian did some really creepy things. I don't want to spoil too much but I'm just going to say a)alley watching people and b)the dress. Anyone who has read this will probably know which scenes I'm talking about.

Now, just to be fair I'll list a few things I did like:

1. The first part of the book really interested me. I liked seeing K/Andrian be a jerk and get his ass handed to him. I quite enjoyed reading his snotty nosed spoiled kid persona more than his over the top polite and weird prose that no one would ever talk like persona.

2. Something about Will's character (the blind tutor K/A's father hired) made me really like him. And I also liked the twist at the end with the maid.

3. I liked that Lindy didn't start out as drop dead gorgeous. The way I interpreted her later descriptions was that the more you fall in love with someone the more beautiful they appear to you. I know some reviewers thought this was more gorgeous girl in disguise, removal of glasses/hair tie equals=beautiful hottie a la "She's All That." I think through Adrian's own transformations and through falling in love with her he was able to see past her flaws and see the things that made her beautiful. I've seen this in my own life. I found my first boyfriend to be decently cute when I first started dating him, but the more I fell in love with him the more attractive I found him.

Overall, I would recommend this for young adults/teens that want an easy beach read. Definitely don't waste your time on it if you don't have a lot of time to read in the first place. I haven't seen the movie, but I doubt it's much better...although, at least it has some really hot eye candy for some of the movie.

Subliminal Messaging Through Teen Fiction

2011-02-17T15:03:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite things to do is to read and I believe it's a good idea to instill a love of reading in children. Although, how to go about doing that is not something I really know how to do. But, this is not the subject of this blog. Normally, before buying a book I do some research on it on Amazon. You know, read the ratings (the 1 star ratings as well as the 5) and occasionally I'll stumble on to their forum section, either before I buy, or after when I'm about to leave a review. I always get annoyed with the parents on there complaining that "OMG, there was a kissing scene and I can just not believe the author would put that in there! I am just beside myself with rage. The author had the AUDACITY to ALLUDE to *whispers* s-e-x!! My wonderfully perfect child is only 14 and should not be exposed to that kind of nonsense!!!!RAWRRR down with books!" Despite the fact, that if they were truthful with themselves, their children are exposed to a lot worse watching tv, getting on the internet, and in general, interacting with people.

Anyway, my point was suppose to be that I can't stand when adults freak out about what a book is teaching to their children and while I was reading today I found myself having an "adult" moment. I tend to read young adult fiction for the most part (although I do love all different kinds) and yes before you start bashing me, I know they are formulaic. Just like 95% of all books out there. I'm okay with formulaic and I'm okay with things being unrealistic. Because it's fiction. I need to stop now before I go off into another rant.

Back to the topic at hand, I found myself thinking about the message these books sends to young girls and if they could be partially to blame for some of the problems youth find themselves in. Yes, I just died a little bit inside for even having that thought.

In young adult books, the love interest is almost always the first boyfriend the girl has ever had and he is always her soul mate. Combined this with all the other media outlets and it gives off the impression that if a girl doesn't get a boyfriend by the time she's 16 or 17 she's weird and if she does get one then he should be the one. And if he isn't, then there is something wrong with her. I just wonder if we portrayed relationships a little bit more realistically if it would have an effect on how girls feel about themselves and what to expect out of relationships.

This doesn't mean I am now completely against teen books. I still enjoy them and I will probably encourage my children to read them if it something he/she enjoys. But, I will be sure to point out that people rarely marry their first boy/girlfriend. I had more things I wanted to talk about when I was thinking about writing this blog earlier, but they've evaporated from my mind. If they return to me, I'll edit this.

P.S. If you like the picture I used for this blog you should visit www.bookshelfporn.com Don't worry, I promise it isn't dirty...unless you get aroused looking at awesome pictures of libraries and books. It's okay if you do, no judgement here *shifty eyes*

Music from...

2011-02-10T22:35:00.000-05:00

It has been said that I'm a little bit of a music whore. I can happily spend hours searching for new music. But, a lot of my new music I find while watching tv (One Tree Hill is actually the best for this). This week while watching Grey's Anatomy (am I the only one in love with the new ped doc and Karev?) I heard a voice and the voice sounded very familiar. And who was this person? Why, Lenka of course! Oh wait...You've never heard of Lenka? Shame on you.

While I really enjoy me some Lenka, I would not recommend her for people that like hard rock and the like. Unless you have a very wide range of musical taste like I do (I seriously enjoy everything from classical music to rap...minus most country). I would however recommend listening to her on a lovely warm and sunny day while driving with the windows rolled down and nice cup of coffee nearby. She's kinda similar to Ingrid Michaelson if that helps you with genre. I'm glad to see her get some mainstream media coverage though. While she might not be for everyone (she has some songs I don't like), she does offer up some cute, fun music.

What songs of hers should you start with you ask? Well here are a few of, what I think, are her better songs.

The leftover teenage angst in me loves "Anything I'm Not"
"Trouble is a Friend" (watch the music video, it's pretty cute/cool)
"The Show"
"Like a Song"
And of course her new song "Everything At Once" that was on Grey's Anatomy tonight

If you enjoy those songs I would also recommend "Geek Love" by Nerina Pallot and "The Quiz" by Hello Saferide. I'm always on the look out for new music so if anyone has any suggestions let me know! As long as it's not country. I might have to find a well for you to fall in if you offer up some of that. Although, I'm ashamed to admit I'm a sucker for Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats." It's just so damn catchy!

Word of advice: Be sure to have your google search setting on safe if you search for Lenka. Unless you enjoy looking at all kinds of "adult content". In that case, you're welcome.