Feet.3

The last of 'em.

Feet.2

Some R&R

For these next two weeks I'm going to be a little in-and-out.

I left Saturday morning to spend the week at my cabin and will be back "in town" Thursday night only to leave Friday morning on a plane to Arizona.

I have a few posts scheduled but no reviews because I didn't read far enough in advance for that. I will not have that much access to internet this first week but I'll try and get a review or two scheduled during the one night I'll be spending near wifi. No promises though. And I'll also try to get a few things scheduled for the second week too during my short layover at my own house.

But while there's all this uncertainty please just bear with me. I promise there will be tons of good stuff happening when I get back online. Pictures from the Grand Canyon, footage of my screeching while I learn to drive a motorized vehicle, pretty pictures of the peaceful lakeshore, and of course about a bajillion reviews because what else am I going to do with my two unwired weeks but read?

So yeah. That's my little state of the union for you guys. See you soon.

Feet.1

I never realized how many pictures I take of feet. Going through my photo archives I realized that there was an unreasonably large amount of photos focusing on those ugly appendages.

You guys might think this is totally weird but I'm going to do a few posts with the pictures here. I think it's interesting. I think the photos tell stories. And I think feet are pretty cool.

I interview you

Questions from Ms. Steph Bowe

You can travel anywhere in the world instantly in a matter transporter. Where do you go?

GREECE. So I can live in a little white-washed house and swim in blue water and eat oranges and become raven-haired and olive-skinned.

You can read only one book for the rest of your life. Which book is it?

Either Wicked by Gregory Maguire or The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I think they're both endlessly interesting. You could read them a bajillion times and still never pick up every nugget of awesome that the author deposited in there.

Do you believe in magic?

How else would Harry Potter have been able to defeat Voldemort?

You can combine any two animals into one creature. Which two animals do you choose and why?

A horse and a fish. Like this Neopet:Yeah. I still connect things in "the real world" to the marvelous world of Neopets. Don't judge me.

Zombie apocalypse scenario: You have about five minutes before a horde of zombies break down your door and eat your brain. Death – or zombification – is inevitable. You can make only one call. Who do you call, and what do you say? (For this question, you can imagine you have the phone number of everyone on the planet, including famous people.)

I don't want to answer this. It's too hard.
I'd probably call Barack Obama just because he's the voice I would want to have resonating in my head as I met my death. I'd probably do a lot of huffing and squealing. And tell him that I loved him. That would be a good way to die.

Follow these instructions:
1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.” Please include your email address.
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

You know you want to.

Neglection

is quite profitable.

A little bit of what I've been up to while shirking my blogger-ly duties.

NYC - a list and pictures

More pictures here.

10 things I did in NYC:

1. Bought just two books at The Strand. are u 4 real? by Sara Kadefors and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by...some guy and Jane Austen.

2. Explored this cute store and came out with my first pair of jeans that cost over $50. My my. They're pretty beautiful though so it was money well spent.

3. Also went to the Levi's store because I don't think you're a real American until you have a pair of Levi's. Mine are khakis so they don't have the little V on the butt pocket or anything but I love them all the same.

4. Walked through China Town. It was so weird because one block is normal and the next is an entirely different cultural group. Just like that. Had some great wanton soup there.

5. Took the Staten Island Ferry to Staten Island and back just to float by the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. I fell in love with the orange color scheme of the boat.

6. Went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They have the prettiest rooftop sculpture garden there which looks out over Central Park and all of southern Manhattan.

7. Walked over to the New York Public Library. Why can't all libraries be like that one? The reading rooms and the shelves and the tables andtheandtheandthe. Gah. So gorgeous and scholarly.

8. Felt like I was sort of at the center of the world at Times Square. Seriously. It's so loud and bustling and commercial.

9. Saw Wicked on Broadway. I saw a musical on Broadway. We had second row seats off to the side which only limited the view a teensy bit and still let us see everything super close off. I loved it so much.

10. Explored Yale University. We walked by the Skull and Bones tomb and saw all of the beautiful old buildings. It's a cute little town and a really nice campus. To think that I was just nonchalantly strolling the streets of one of the most prestigious universities in the world...yikes.

Sarah Quigley Signing/Last Day of School

Hate that picture. Grossgrossgross. I look slightly pregnant. I'm not.
But it's the only one I took so I guess I'll have to deal.

Sarah Quigley is the adorable author of the newly released YA novel, TMI. I haven't read it yet but according to almost every review I've read, it's awesome. Of course it is. It's set in Minnesota.

So let's start at the beginning.
Friday was my last day of school. I had to take two finals and then was released from prison at 11:30. It is so great to have your last day be only two and a half hours long. I love it. I got to walk to the neighborhood cafe, drink tea spritzers, eat grilled cheese that tastes like grandma's, and get sunburned while sitting at the park. I also saw the movie New In Town for $3. It's hilarious and Minnesotan and it has Harry Connick Jr in it. I think I can just leave it at that.

After all that fun, my friend and I headed over to The Red Balloon Bookshop to meet Mrs. Sarah Quigley. The Red Balloon is the definition of indie. It's aimed mostly at kids but it does have a section of YA and some adult stuff too. It's also pretty teensy. Before Friday I hadn't been in there for a year or two which is a tragedy.

I don't know what I was expecting, but when I walked in I was a little shocked because it was all old people. Like adults. Not old old. Just in comparison to me. There were a few younger girls there but my friend and I were almost the only teens.

What's so cute about it is that all of the adults were family/high school classmates/college classmates that came to see her. Awww.

So she talked for a little bit - about the book, about her background, about how she got her gig as a writer, etc, and then she read an excerpt and then we got our books signed and...that was it.

It was fun.

Although I do have a confession. I didn't introduce myself as a blogger or anything. I was too scared of all the old people and of being like, "Yeah I'm a blogger and you're book is about how one girl gets in trouble for all of the stuff she posts on her blog and I'm just like her and I need attention, blahblahblah." So yeah. I don't think Sarah knew who I really was. I've even emailed her. How pathetic am I? Sarah, if you ever read this, I was the blonde one in the striped dress. Don't hate me.

The Lake

Memorial Day weekend at the cabin. It's officially summer.

A Little Bit of Skin

Thanks to Little Brown Pen to alerting me to this masterpiece of a music video.

Look! I'm Special!

An interview with me just went up today over at Across the Pond. Check it out!

A conspiracy

Jordyn is having a count down to the release of 20 Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler. My post went up today. Enjoy.

A concert

*** These are not my pictures. They were taken by my dear friend Rachel. :)

I Tried

...to type something interesting and intelligent and coherent for today but that didn't work and so this is just going to be a random, word-barf post. Like a diary except not so revealing because, hey, this is the internet.

1. Spring allergies are killing me. Mentally, physically, emotionally, everything. I'm dying here. It's like this feeling that nothing's going to get better. Like my eyes are going to be nasty and blood shot for the rest of my life. Like summer's never going to come. Like I'm never going to have fun ever again. Seriously. I'm that congested and moody. The only thing that makes me feel better is watching this:
It's just so happy. Expect a post about this when the Pilot comes out. Probably lots of fangirling.

2. Can I just reiterate how congested I am?

3. I hate having to make decisions. My options for this summer were to either find a job or to resign myself to a month of volunteering to watch little kids scream out in the middle of the woods. The job thing was basically an impossibility as I am going to be out of town for two and a half weeks for various trips and whatnot, so I'm doing the volunteering thing which sucks. Because I was expecting to get paid for it this summer but because of budget cuts, they took away the paid positions. Next year I'll get paid for five weeks but this year it's all volunteering again. But then two months of relative freedom which should be nice. I just have to endure a month of sunburn and mosquito bites first.

4. If I lick my arm, I smell like chlorine. Yum.

5. No school tomorrow because of teacher workshop/prom. So I'm having a picnic and going to a concert. Maybe that'll lift me out of my allergy induced bad mood.

6. I really love when it's windy outside and you have your hair down and it blows around like you're a model with a big wind fan turned on you. I always imagine that I've got this perfectly windswept 'do when in reality I look like Medusa. But while all the hair swooshing is going on, I feel lighter than air.

SEARCHING

...for someone who reads/has visited my blog who DOES NOT have a blog of their own.
I know this is a shot in the dark because, for the most part, bloggers read other bloggers' blogs and they're the ones who leave the comments and what-not, but.
If you do read my blog and you're just a random person on the street without your own blog, pleasepleaseplease leave a comment here.
Also, an email address is preferable? Or you could just email me at livsbookreviews@gmail.com
Please.
I'll love you forever.
And I don't bite, I swear.

My Baby

This Monday, I came home to a wonderfully large and bulky package sitting on my front doorstep.
My dog took quite a liking to it...


Ah yesss...


My favorite part? Click to enlarge.

I've been click-clacking away all week. And while typing on my laptop keyboard, I already go to "shift-8" for the apostrophe. *palm-forehead*