Comments make me smile

If you have a blog, I think you can understand how exciting it is to get a comment on a post! It's like a nice little present sitting in my email inbox for me. I try really hard to write comments on the blogs that I read, because I assume that as long as I write nice things the authors will appreciate hearing feedback as much as I do.

I haven't quite figured out the best way to address peoples comments sometimes. If you write something on a post of mine, should I go to your blog and make a replying comment on your latest post? Or should I reply to your great comment on my own blog, without any knowledge of whether you will ever have the opportunity of enjoying my witty replies.

To combat this problem and encourage a greater supply of comments, I am going to start replying to yours. All of them. My friend Kelli is in Africa, and she recently started replying to all of the comments on her blog, and I love reading her responses. Thus if you leave me a comment, something sweet, something funny, or maybe even something disagreeable, I will reply, and most likely within a few hours of you doing so.

So feel free to ask questions or make comments as per your pleasure, and then if you would like to know what I think about what you said, come back and check things out again. (And if you are lurking, leave a comment and let me know you are here. Believe me, there are few things in life that make me as happy as knowing that people are reading my blog!)

5 Love Languages Quiz

That Boy talks about this theory all of the time. I really should take the quiz or read the book and let him know what I come up with for myself. It's a great way for you and your significant other to learn to communicate with each other better. Take the quiz here.

In Memory of President Gordon B. Hinckley

As the prophet of my childhood President Hinckley will always be my prophet. I would be half-sleeping through each session of conference until he came on, when I would perk right up to hear his latest joke introduce his next talk. At the Press Conference where he announced his Presidency he was asked what the theme of his Presidency would be. He replied "Carry on!", and there is no doubt that even without this giant of a man at it's head, the Lord's church will continue to roll forward over all the earth. I love him dearly.

I am not a huge fan of Glenn Beck, but I really liked this.



We will all miss you President Hinckley, and I know that we look forward to the many years to come with President Monson at the head of this great church.

Temple Ready? Why Thank You Jasmine!

I was reading this letter that Manolo for the Brides wrote regarding the lack of sleeved gowns in the bridal industry, when one of the commenter's posted a link to Jasmine Bridal regarding the option to make gowns Temple Ready! Yes, a large scale designer is giving brides the option to customize their gowns to make them temple ready. I don't like ANY of the gowns, but I think it's a good first step. It would be great if more designers would realize that not everyone wants to walk down the aisle in a sleeveless gown. (Well I won't really "walk down the aisle" really, but you get the idea.) I have no idea how much Jasmine gowns cost, I hate when they won't put pricing information online!

MissNowMrs

A few posts ago I talked about how to change your name. Then I discovered this site. Disregard what I said previously.

A Roll of Black For Me Please

The only color they really need to add to this lineup is pink. (In case you don't read Spanish, this is a company that sells colored toilet paper!)

Pedi per i piedi

Manolo for the Bride wrote a really good post about manicure/pedicure safety a while back. Most brides get their hands/feet done before their wedding (even if they were previously salon virgins). When I really sit down to think about the whole I feel a little sick to my stomach. I have worked in food service long enough to know that employees have a tendency to get lax about being sanitary, and I can't imagine that it is much different in a lot of salons.

Erlanger recommends mani/pedi fans take the following rules to heart:

1. Ask nail salons about their disinfection practices. Only patronize salons that sterilize their instruments.

2. For instruments that cannot be sterilized, such as nail files and pumice stones, make sure the nail technician uses disposable versions.

3. Patronize salons that use “pipe-less” whirlpools with external impellors that can be easily accessed for thorough cleaning, very similar to physical therapy whirlpool tubs. Hidden tubing cannot be properly drained.

4. Clean, plastic soaking tubs or pans are generally safe and good alternatives to poorly designed whirlpools.

For added safety, you can always bring your own nailcare tools and polish with you to the salon. Don’t walk around with bare feet–bring your own flip flops if the salon doesn’t provide the disposable sort. Make sure your manicurist washes her hands, uses sterilized tools, and thoroughly cleans out foot spas after they’re used. If you voice your concerns and the salon staff balk, they’re not worth your time or money.

DeBeers Settlement

I know I have like 5 readers total, but I hope that at least one of you will tell someone about this so they can get some money back!

Summary of the Settlement

De Beers is the largest supplier of rough diamonds in the world. Beginning in 2001, Plaintiffs in several states filed lawsuits against De Beers in state and federal courts alleging that De Beers unlawfully monopolized the supply of diamonds, conspired to fix, raise, and control diamond prices, and issued false and misleading advertising. De Beers denies it violated the law or did anything wrong.

The Settlement Agreement provides that $22.5 Million be distributed to the Direct Purchaser Class, and that $272.5 Million will be distributed to the Indirect Purchaser Class. De Beers also agrees to refrain from engaging in certain conduct that violates federal and state antitrust laws and submit to the jurisdiction of the Court to enforce the Settlement.

Who stands to benefit?

Consumers: All persons located in the United States who purchased any diamond or diamond jewelry or other products containing gem diamonds for personal use and not for resale between January 1, 1994 and March 31, 2006. For example, Consumers include people who purchased diamond jewelry to wear or to give as a gift.

Get thee over to this website and get some money back from those demons!



https://diamondsclassaction.com/

Princess Consuela Bannanahammock

This is a little bit premature for my little engaged friends, but I thought you might like to know how you should go about getting your name changed. This tip is brought to you by Mrs. Bee from Weddingbee.

1) Marriage Certificate - You can request copies via mail, but I went down to the City Clerk’s office and picked up 3 copies of my marriage certificate in person. I ended up only needing one (for my passport) because the DMV and the social security office returned my certificate after looking at it. It’s $15 for the first certificate, and $10 for each additional certificate - they only accept money orders or cashiers checks as payment. I was in and out of there within 20 minutes with certificates in hand.

2) Driver’s License - With this completed form and my marriage certificate, I headed to the DMV where it took me 3 long hours to take a picture and get my new driver’s license. One thing I completely forgot to do was practice signing my new name for my license! The cost - $10.

3) Social Security Office - You can mail in this completed form, your marriage certificate and your passport or driver’s license (which will be returned to you) to get a new social security card. I knew the wait wouldn’t be that long in our local office, so I went in person and was in and out of there within 20 minutes. The card should arrive within the next week or two.

4) Passport - Because I renewed my passport less than a year ago, I can get a new passport without any additional fees. Here are more details on that here, and the regular process to get a new passport via mail. It costs $67 for a new passport and an additional $60 for an expedited fee.

Midsummer Nights Dream

I saw Midsummer Nights Dream on Wednesday night with Heather and I can't say enough good things about it! It is a slight re-interpretation of Shakespeare's work, but I like the idea of taking a concept and putting a fresh spin on it. The theme is colonialism, and the setting is Latin America.
When Bottom has his head turned into that of an Ass, is has this "Brazilianesque" look to it.

I loved the Athenian costumes! Heather did a play with Genna (laying on the ground in this picture) and so it was fun to watch her. She did a great job!

I have to write a report on it, and luckily it was a great play with a lot for me to attempt to interpret and analyze. This play made me wish that I had an All-Arts Pass. I want to go to more plays!

Shoe Clippies My Dear

DC Nearylwed Miss Capitol Hill taught me about something amazing, something so great that I can't believe I had never heard of it before. They are called shoe clips and I think they are the greatest way to make an inexpensive pair of shoes look chic. I stole the above picture from her, so if you are interested in any that you see, please click on the link to the DC Nearylwed site to find out where all of those clips can be found.

I did a quick search on ebay and I found all kinds of great options for really good prices. A very plain pair of shoes for a great price could really be dressed up with something like this!

Madame Paulette Stain Remover Kit

I have a nickname. It is a sad one, but I accept it's use because it is one I have earned. My nickname is PigPen, or as That Boy likes to call me, PP for short. I get grease everywhere, all of the time. I drip food on myself, spill things in my lap.

Luckily this brilliant lady named Madame Paulette knows other girls like me, and she has created a stain remover kit that apparently even Melania Trump, Beyoncé Knowles, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Eva Longoria are fond of. I will probably be packing around one of these on my own wedding day.

Galvanized Greenery

If you are looking to save some money at your reception, I would definitely think about using plants and greenery instead of trillions of flowers. These plants look so cute in galvanized tin containers (which can be found for super cheap at Ikea!), and my dad would especially appreciate that scallions in the back left corner!

Coffee Filter Flowers

What would your mormon guests think? They might not even realize what they are looking at when they see them. I don't think that this would ever work somewhere other than at a low-light reception, but they would be insanely cheap, and in a setting with vaulted ceilings and low light they could be really cool. I don't know how hard it would be to put them together. Amber from Daisy Chain snapped this photograph at an Anthropologie store. Yes Anthropologie.

Poppies. Not puppies. Poppies!

I think these poppies are so adorable! Betsy makes them from glass beads and recycled silk thread. At $15 each they wouldn't be something that could be spread throughout the entire reception hall, but pinned on your dress, in your hair, on the dresses of your bridesmaids or flowergirls they could be so cute! See more of what Betsy makes at the foundling shop on etsy.

The Beginning-Bride Power

I decided recently that since I now have 2 close friends getting married (Amber and Shelly), and a few others who seem like they are getting close, I am going to truly reveal the extent of my wedding madness to all of you.

"Hello, my name is Jenna, and I am a Weddingholic."

Using Google Reader I subscribe to 35 different wedding related blogs, and also to the blogs of almost as many wedding photographers. If I am not studying, eating, or sleeping I am trying to find time to feed my obsession. I have lots of fun things saved on my computer, websites bookmarked, and blog posts starred, and I am going to start sharing them now. I plan on taking all of the interesting and useful things that I learn from these blogs and posting them here (in hopes that not only my friends can use them, but I will be able to sometime in the near future).

The first site I am going to share is called "Bride Power". A gem of a site where they showcase and sell designer gowns at drastically reduced prices. Check out the Mega Markdowns section where gowns originally $4000 are selling for $400.

This dress is only $200!


























I really love this dress, with it's one point bustle in back, cloth covered buttons, and the cute little folded band at the top.
















And so it begins....

"I Burn. I Pine. I Perish."

I wrote a few posts ago about how I was going to be getting a new Shakespeare professor, and we met him for the first time yesterday. Although I am sorry that Dr. Christiansen is sick (obviously very sick as she gave up all of her classes for the semester), I couldn't be happier with the switch!

I had a few students tell me that Christiansen was a great professor to take Shakespeare from, and now I realize they said that because they were a little bit crazy. Apparently she "specializes" in taking a rhetoric based approach to Shakespeare.

I am working on my Persuasive Writing class through independent study right now and the one thing I have learned from it is that I HATE studying rhetoric. I know that there are people out there wholove that kind of thing, but I am slowly learning that I am not a scholar in that way. I thrive on creativity. I don't want to sit around analyzing how the use of a metaphor affects the audience in some way, I want to be experiencing something.

The new professor we have, Fox, takes an entirely performance based approach to Shakespeare. We watch films, plays, perform the parts ourselves. Whereas I would have been fighting for a C with this rhetoric based approach, I think that an A is definitely possible, and I will enjoy the class in the process. Grading is based on 2 midterms, a final, and 1 long and 1 short paper. That is it. Definitely much much easier than the previous professor's requirements.

I am reading The Taming of the Shrew right now, and I can't wait to start class discussion on it tomorrow! "I burn. I Pine. I Perish." I kind of have a burning desire to watch one of my favorite movies of all time "10 Things I Hate About You". Isn't it fun to learn when a movie you love is based on something as great as a Shakespeare play? And don't you just love when Heath Ledger sings to Julia Stiles in the bleachers and gets detention? Because I do.

We can still hear you....

Sometimes when I am stressed, I need a music break. Usually involving lots of guitar and drums, other times a quick shot of "Confessions on a Dance Floor."

I just got shushed twice. By the same guy. My ipod was only at half volume the second time. I really couldn't have been that loud. I rolled my eyes at him the second time he came over to ask me.

After 4 straight hours of Italian Worksheet Inferno I didn't really care if his supersonic hearing was preventing him from studying effectively. Yes I am not going to admit that I was the problem. Mostly because I believe that if you are that easily distracted you should bring some headphones yourself. Or study in one of the back corners of the first floor, near the maps. No one ever studies there.

If you want me to turn my headphones down, here is my response to you.

1. Move somewhere else (my music is not bothering me, do I really need to be the one who moves?)

2. Go talk to library security. At least I will get 5 minutes of peace while you are off tattling on the girl with All American Rejects playing on the first floor.

3. Get a petition from everyone else in a 5 desk vicinity. If they all agree that my music is too loud, I will happily turn it down. Otherwise you may want to pursue some kind of profession which will enable you to make good use of this sound related talent you have. Like joining search parties for lost children in the mountains. Plenty of boy scouts are getting lost in Utah all the time, you could be one of those people that call out a name and then wait for a feeble reply. Your ultra-sensitive hearing should be quite effective in recovering people. And instead of being annoying, you will be annointed as a hero. Which is a much better thing to be after all.

Narcissistic. Am I?

I have never been able to understand people who say that they don't have anything to write about. I always have so many things to write about that my post's page is filled with un-finished drafts that I never get to finishing. I think the difference between those who write often and those who don't think they have anything to write about is that the frequent writers are narcissistic enough to believe that somewhere in the Universe there exists people who actually care what they are writing about. When I really think about it, it is a little bit conceited to think that there are people who care about the mundane happenings in my life.

Except to me, they aren't mundane! I am living life at a break-neck speed right now and I can barely keep up with everything that is happening. To give you an idea.

If I thought last semester was hard, I was kidding myself. I was somehow really smart in choosing my class schedule last semester and it was a nice transition into being an upper-classmen. Now I am gasping for breath, feeling like I must be the dunce in all of my classes (and that all of my classmates and my professor must have caught on by now).

I am getting a new professor in my Shakespeare class next period. We haven't had our class be taught by Dr. Christiansen yet, and sadly she is sick enough that she is not going to teach the class at all. We are getting a new professor tomorrow, and apparently a new syllabus along with it. I am hoping for something easier.

I broke out my crown again yesterday. I had to get up and be at the dentist at 8:00 this morning to get a new one glued in. The dentist I have down here is unbeatable. He has glued in this tooth for free twice now. He could charge me like $40 each time, and he does it for free! I recieved teeth whitening trays today, and hope to have blindingly white teeth with a brand new crown by the end of February.

There is a possibility That Boy will come this weekend. I won't say any more about it because I am not supposed to get excited. So....I....AM.....NOT......EXCITED (exceptitisallIcanthinkabout).

I started working at catering again. I haven't told my Mom yet. Maybe she will read this blog and find out. I don't know why I thought that was a good idea. My parents have just done a good job of instilling a sense of pride that comes with working, and when I am not working I crave that feeling of accomplishment. I haven't even worked one shift yet, but I know it is going to be about 500 times better than Magleby's. I can't wait to have some good times in the dish room with all of my handicapped friends again!

My movie for the 24-hour marathon is screening tomorrow night. I can't wait to hear the audience reaction and see what others came up with.

Book of Mormon Challenge

Our Bishop extended the ward the challenge to read the entire Book of Mormon by the end of the semester. Which goes alone perfectly with what I had already committed to do. It will be helpful to know that there are so many people around me struggling to find the time to commit to reading 5.5 pages a day so that they can all achieve this great goal our ward has. I think that I am going to try to read extra pages on the weekends and give myself a little bit lighter load when I am already so exhausted on the weekdays. I am trying to use my manuals from Brother Parker's religion class and really try to get new insights each time that I read. It's a good feeling :)

Oh, and it is helpful that I started reading the BOM over again at the beginning of this year, meaning I am actually a few pages ahead of the 5.5 pages a day. I don't think that buffer will last long though.

School is just sucker-punching me in the face. Daily.

Convergence-24 Hour Film Marathon

I participated in the LDS Film Festival 24 Hour Marathon yesterday. At 10 AM Friday my team (consisting of Tyler Winterton, Tyson Pyle, Cory Latshcowski, and myself) received a theme, an item that must be included, and a phrase. The film must be turned in 24 hours later. This is what we came up with. What do you think? Do we have any chance of winning? :)

Is there any way NOT to disappoint you?

I can't seem to shake myself out of the strange mood I am in after meeting with a professor of mine this afternoon. I took my Ranch Life Folklore Documentary up to her in an attempt pitch the idea of making something similar for her class and I walked out feeling so......demoralized. I can't think of a word that describes it much better than that.

I had done my homework, preparing thoughts on the different concepts that might work for doing the project, and she really shot me down without listening to what I had to say. It became obvious that I had moved from a very liberal Folklore professor who was looking for new ideas and ways to approach the discipline to an older (I am not trying to be insulting, just pointing out that I think her age has something to do with how non-progressive she is) much more traditional professor. I admit that went into the meeting with hopes that might have been a little bit high, butI didn't expect her to react with such revulsion to the idea.

I am still stewing over it because she just kept saying to me, I am so disappointed in you. I am just so disappointed to you. Basically she was attempting to convey this message of "I expected so much more from you, and now I can see that you aren't anything and I think you will just be a disappointment to me throughout the rest of the semester." Part of the reason that she signed my add card was because my Folklore professor from last semester had given me a good recommendations, and I am not sure what she expected because of it.

I am frustrated. I am annoyed. I am also hurt. After an experience that I had which involved being attacked after doing nothing wrong, I am quick to get defensive when I feel attacked for no reason. I respect her opinion concerning what should be done in her class, she didn't even have the courtesy to watch the film. She would hardly even touch it, and pronounced it as something that would never be taken seriously, and was absolutely shocked that the folklore archives would accept it without at least a 5 page paper attached to it.

I think I will settle down after I have done the hours of homework that I have ahead of me, and I fully expect something like this to happen again because Iam never going to be the type of person who only does the minimum or what is the standard. I am always going to be pushing the boundaries as far as I can, and I would much rather grow up to be an open-minded liberal than a short-sighted traditionalist.

Finalized Class Schedule

I have a complete class schedule. It is finalized. I am not changing it. I can only think of 3 things that you could offer me in the entire world that would be enticing enough to get me to switch any of these classes. But I won't tell you what those things are because I want to keep this schedule.

This was my old schedule:

Italian 201

British Literary History 1

British Literary History 2

Shakespeare

Christian History

Movie Madness: A Psychological Approach to Film and Literature

Here is my new schedule:

Italian 201
British Literary History 2 (Yes I am going to take 1 before I take 2, but I don't it's ABSOLUTELY essential that you take 1 before 2. Although I can tell already that it would be helpful)
Shakespeare
American Authors: Cormac McCarthy (A crazy crazy choice, but it fills a requirement, and now that the movie No Country For Old Men is coming out, people will be talking about him all over the place)
LDS History: 1901-Present (Still a little nervous about this one, but we talked about Lorenzo Snow today and it was the COOLEST history lesson. He did some pretty amazing stuff. Like drowned and came back to life again. Never felt the effects of age. And saw the Savior in the SLC temple. I love him.)
Myths, Legends, and Folktales (Another Folklore class with a professors that encourages creativity, meaning the possibility of an opportunity to make another documentary is very high. I am so excited!)

On a side note, while I was sitting here in the library, this guy came up to my new friend Sean sitting at the table with me and told him how he got in trouble for telling someone about a website that BYU is developing that hasn't been approved by President Tanner and President Samuelson yet. It's the BYU version of ratemyprofessors.com where all of the student ratings for each of the professors are available. Sean was nice enough to invite me over to his side of the table and let me look up some of my professors. Funnest game ever! I think I will add "please encourage President Samuelson to approve the ratings website" to my nightly prayers.

Fall Semester 2007 Grades and.... The Greatest News!

Grades are in!
Although it isn't everything I wanted (everything I wanted being nothing lower than an A-), this was still the semester where I earned my highest college GPA ever!

Dante's Divine Comedy=A-
English Grammar=B
Fundamentals of Literary Interpretation=A-
English Novel=A
Folklore=A
Creative Writing=A

The first three classes, the ones that I did the worst in, were all in the morning, and the last three were all in the afternoon after 1. Maybe there is a little bit of a correlation between my grades and the time the class is? Haha, not very likely, I think it is more like the last 3 were my funnest classes!

I am excited/apprehensive for the new semester to start, I think that I can make my goal of the lowest grade as an A- this semester. I am just not that great at grammar, and no matter how hard I worked I don't think it was possible for me to take 18 credits and get an A in that class

This winter I am taking:

Italian 201 (If it feels like I have been taking Italian forever, it's because I have. I keep failing it and having to retake it. But that was the old Jenna. The new Jenna would never do something like that.)
British Literary History 1
British Literary History 2
Shakespeare
Christian History (with the greatest religion professor of all time, Alonzo Gaskill)
Movie Madness: A Psychological Approach to Film and Literature

The last class, Movie Madness, is my "fun" class for the semester, and I am still not sure that it is the class I would like to take. I think I would much rather take a story on writing fiction or writing creative non-fiction. I am unwilling to switch out of any of my other classes to make room for a fun class during those times and so my options are really limited. I will just have to keep checking back over and over to see if any spots open up.

For the best news yet, I just realized that I don't have to take 18 credits my last semester, only 15! Such a relief I can hardly believe it! This is seriously the biggest weight off of my shoulders. Woohoooooooo!

Special Christmas Delivery

It wasn't a stork that brought her, Santa did. The Canon G9. Her name is Pia and she is so beautiful that these pictures don't even begin to do her justice. She has unfortunately made me realize how little I actually know about photography.






I certainly can't do anything with her, but I found a few pictures from timwill photography that will give you an idea of what she can do.
























The following are a few of my sad attempts to use her thus far. I am posting these images raw, *gasp* no photoshopping. It's a big step for me, but maybe I will be able to start taking pictures that are pretty to look at even before I work some photoshop magic. I really need a child or a small animal to practice on, I like taking pictures of living subjects.

Documenting the pink hair. Look closely and you will she why Shay is a punk rocker with flowers in her hair.



















Off for a rocking day of snowmobiling.


Learning to use the macro and attempting to play with the white balance. This keychain is the kind of thing that hangs in the farm pickup I drive around when I visit home.














Working with the color replace function. Everything is black and white except the skin. Like photoshopping "in camera". wwwooooooowwwwwww



Yay for my new baby!

2008 New Years Resolutions

There are far too many people who just don't make the effort to develop New Years Resolutions. I won't deny have a long list of resolutions that were forgotten after the 3rd week of January, but it is so sad to think that people justify alack of goals this way. Whether or not they are kept is unimportant to me, rather it is the act of sitting down and evaluating my life for areas that can be improved. A year from now I will be able to look back and see if I made any improvements in my life. If I do achieve them, a pat on the back is in order. If I don't, I will get to re-evaluate my life once more and try to improve. This year I came up with 10 things I would like to be in the habit of doing by the time 2009 rolls around.

Jenna Andersen's New Years Resolutions 2008

1. Travel throughout Europe before doing study abroad in Poland
• I am planning to do the BYU study abroad program in Poland this July and August, and before I do that I really want to spend 2 weeks visiting England, France, Spain, and Italy. Being able to do this will be determined by how well I stick to #3 on the list.
  
2. Use Fitday for 60 consecutive days
• This is fitday. And I love it. If you want to lose weight, this is the way to go. Well unless you have the money to get a bodybugg.
  
3. Stick to budget every month
• I have a real budget of my very own for the first time in my life. I have been tracking what I am spending using Microsoft Money for the past few months, and it is time for me to learn how to reign things in a little bit. Spend a little less on food, a little less on my hair, and a lot less on my personal care (I admit to being a little bit of a makeup junkie) and cut out my bad habit of impulse buying completely and I should be able to make this one a reality.
  
4. Earn a 4.0 for 1 of the 2 semesters I have left in school
• Definitely my most difficult goal out of all of them. I have to do 2 more 18 credit semesters to graduate in December, but with grammar out of the way I am feeling like it is doable now :)
  
5. Read one article from the Ensign each week
• Every time I sit down to read out of the Ensign I wonder why I don't do read from it all of the time. So inspiring and uplifting, a good chance to destress from life. And a good opportunity to remember that most everyone else is struggling with the same things that I am.
  
6. Read one chapter from Jesus the Christ each week
• An entire chapter feels daunting, I could spend a week reading an entire page of Talmage's masterpiece.
  
7. Write in my journal once a week
• I am actually not doing too bad at this, the problem is that I only do it during church, which means I am doing something good (you know, writing in my journal), but I am ignoring something better (the principles being taught to me in church). Thus, I am shooting to write once a week, but I would really like it to be once a week during a time OTHER than during church. I have been writing more frequently than I ever have before this past year, and it is wonderful to be able to read back through the things I wrote and see how I have changed.
  
8. Finish the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price by 2009
• This goal won't seem quite as achievable at the end of the year, but it really only breaks down to just over a chapter a day. I can so do this. I will just have to remember that when I am in the 70+ verse chapters. And Isaiah.
  
9. Read Mere Christianity, The Hobbit, A Tale of Two Cities, A Room of One’s Own, The Little Prince, The Wizard of Oz, Animal Farm, and Of Mice and Men
• Mere Christianity because I have a book that has a quote from one of C.S. Lewis's works for each day of the year, and it is so inspiring. Anyone quoted by the Apostles is just a genius.
• The Hobbit because I remember starting it once, but I don't remember ever finishing. After Hobbit I plan to move on to the LOTR trilogy, something I am pretty certain I have never attempted.
• A Tale of Two Cities because I read Hard Times this past semester and I hated it. So I plan to give Dickens another chance.
• A Room of One's Own because I can't ever expect to be a good writer before I read one of the best female writer's best works.
  
• The Little Prince is a work that I first learned about from our Chinese foreign exchange student Kong Yi. I thought it was a silly book if she was reading it, but I seem to be coming across frequent references to it lately.
• The Wizard of Oz because the journal that I write in is actually a Wizard of Oz themed journal with quotes from the text sprinkled throughout the pages.
• Animal Farm because I am planning to live the majority of my life in a post-communist society, and communism is something I can't even being to understand. Plus it is short which is something to be appreciated at times.
  
• Of Mice and Men because the Pearl is one of my favorite books of all time and I would like to read another one of his works.
  
10. Blog every day for 1 month
1. Anything goes for this one. I just have to have one thing posted for one day of the entire month.