Ridiculous Facebook About Me- 2

  This ridiculous Facebook 'about me' is for my dear sister-in-law Sara.

    I have 6 boys and 1 girl who's due to make her appearance in January. Sometimes I wonder why I haven't started my children's Olympian training. I need those boys to be in tip top shape, so that they can beat Michael Phelps in the 2016 Olympics.
My life goal is to be the best monkfish fisher in the whole world. Those little fish are so cute! Here's a picture:

   Aren't they beauties? My other life goal is to be a sea monkey farmer. I loved my son Benny's so much that I've found my true life calling. Those little creatures are the best things ever!
  In my free time, I like to look for antique linens. I'm not sure when that started. I also enjoy being a lady who lunches. I especially like to eat dessert. It's the greatest part of a meal.
   I also like to fall asleep on the couch about 9pm. But it's ok to do that, because I get up early and do mommy stuff all day.
   One day, I hope to learn all there is to know about legos, pokemon, and excel.

One Week Left in England

   I have one week left of my extended stay in England. I want to say it seems like just yesterday that I got here, but honestly I think that time only goes as fast as you think and I want to think that time passes slowly. That and it feels like it's been ages since I hugged my sweet puppy Stella.

Stella is always happy. And lazy.

   And then when I think of Stella, I think about how she ate one of my sandals one time, and then I think about my shoes that I miss. Ahh shoes, that I haven't worn in months! It'll be like getting a whole new shoe closet! And then there's all those clothes I haven't worn in months. A whole new closet! Yes!

   So what will I do with this week left here? I'll eat British food--mainly clotted cream--cuddle my nephews, and hang out with my people. And then be sad on Thursday night, because getting on planes makes me sad. I love to pack and travel, but I hate to go. Hopefully August will be here in no time so I can see all my people soon!

Readings

   I've read several books over the past few weeks, in the hopes that I would make my google spreadsheet a nice long list. I've made it quite the list, but sadly it's not as long as I thought it would be. Alas, I'll just keep reading, and here's what I read on Saturday.

   This past Saturday I spent a lot of time in the car with 6 of my nephews, Robby and Sara were off getting Santa's shopping done, and I brought along Across the Universe by Beth Revis.

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   Across the Universe has got to be one of the strangest books I've ever read. It's starts off in 2036 with Amy and her parents at a lab to get frozen for a journey to a new earth like planet that will take 300 years. Personally, I would have told them to keep their new planet because the idea of being frozen, while I'm still kicking, makes me feel icky or icy(ha!). The first chapter is the freezing process for Amy's parents and her last. If anyone can make it through the first chapter, then the rest of the book is worth it. I thought that the first chapter was rough, not because it was written poorly or because it was terrible, but because Beth Revis makes it seem so plausible. The believability of the book is what makes the story. In the next chapter, it's some 200 years later on board the ship Godspeed, and Elder (the chapters go from Amy to Elder's point of view), is having his leadership lessons as he's next in line to be Eldest the ship's leader when he learns about the bottom part of the ship where the icy cargo is stored. And not long after he discovers it, someone unplugs Amy's icy coffin with the supposed intent to murder her. Amy is saved and she learns all about life on the ship, and how she's been woken up 50 years too soon and cannot be refrozen. The people on the ship are mono-ethnic, have never been anywhere but onboard the ship, and all have the utmost respect for Eldest. As the book goes on, it starts to seems like an outer space combination of Brave New World (the people on the ship have strange mating practices) and 1984 (it's very dystopian). The story doesn't really have a good ending, but this is the first book of the trilogy, so I'm eager to see what happens next!

Almost there!

The other day, that day would be Friday, I went out for my run. I don't do a whole lot of distance because I'm still working on being able to run for a mile without stopping. It's on my 12 before 2012 list! And I am super happy to say that I am SO close to a mile! So so close! It's mental! I never in a million years thought that I'd be able to run an entire mile without stopping. When I finished I did a happy dance. It's what I do.

John Green's happy dance. It's a lot like my happy dance. 

(RED) Christmas Party

Obnoxious Facebook About Me for John Green

   So a year or so ago one of my best friends and I wrote each other's About Me sections. We wrote some ridiculous things with descriptive text that still doesn't make much sense at all. Well, I decided that I'd put the one that Meghan wrote for me back on my page. It is rather humourous and not at all about me. Except that part about my harmonica playing. Well, that's not really true, I don't even own a harmonica. One day...
   Back to the true meaning of this post, I've decided that it would be brilliant to write an absurd about me for random people. It doesn't matter if I know them, if they're made up, or even if they're famous. Famous is a term I use lightly, because someone who is famous to me might not be famous to you. If they aren't famous to you, then it's time that you learned about the vlogbrothers. Which you can do here at their you tube page. So here is my first not-exactly-true-life biography for someone I don't know.

     John Green


  I'm a writer. I also make videos with my brother. In these videos, we debate important topics like pizza, corn dogs, facial hair, and whether or not Red Green pooped in the nintendo. People, those are important things to think about in today's world. Especially since today's world is worried that the world might implode or explode or turn into a Kardashian.
  In my free time, I like to wander through the woods with a short person strapped to my back. Why do I do this? I'm not sure, though I am fairly confident that the short person on my back has been eating my groceries. I should really look into that guy. Oh wait, someone just told me he's my son. Fatherhood, I forgot.
   I live on an island in a sea of awesome called Nerdfighteria. It's a great place, come visit and talk about important topics like the ones listed above. Also, the only foods available on Nerdfighteria are corn dogs and pizza. But to order pizza one must have a mustache.
  I'm also the king of finding Alaska, having too many Katherines hanging out, and towns made of notebook paper. If you don't get these references, we aren't friends. Why? Because it means you haven't read my books: Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines and Paper Towns.

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Up next, I don't want to say in case I forget. 

My runs here lately

   Running has become a daily (well, weekday daily) thing. I never anticipated such a thing to happen to me. A couch loving, perpetual napper, book reading kind of girl. It did though, and I have to say, I'm happy every time I get my butt out the door to run. This week, I finally ran a distance (it's not a mile, but I'm a beginner, a slow beginner) that would be long enough to prevent me from getting eaten by zombies or trampled by Death Eaters at the Quidditch World Cup.
   This past week, I finally ran more than 1/2 a mile! I know, it's not a long way or even a race-able length. For me though, this is a big development. I've never been able to run more than 40 feet without wanting to stop. It was amazing! I have said about a zillion times that I never thought I'd love running, but I love it every single time I'm out there!
    Running all that way made me feel so much better about all the time I spend away from the house to run. It made me realise that all this time I'm spending isn't being wasted, especially since I'm able to go farther and farther. I just want to jump up and down thinking about it! I'm absolutely mental.
   Now I just have to think about my next pair of running shoes...

Oh Homer, you make me feel better about my running. 

Mix 'n' Match

Beautifying in the Cold

As Marissa of The Boot and {av} of {long distance loving} have both posted their winter/cold weather beauty routine, I thought (especially since I'm lacking with a post idea for today) I'd share my beautifying tips. There aren't a lot, but here's what I use:

At night, I normally take a shower, it's usually my 2nd one of the day. I like to be clean.
    1. After having a nice clean face, I dab some Clinique Emergency Relief acne spot treatment on if I have any major issues.
   2. Once I've successfully treated a pimple, I slather some Aquaphor onto my cheeks, lips, and tip end of my nose. I have a very dry nose people! This stuff is my absolute favorite drugstore purchase. If you don't have any, get some.

In the morning, once again, after showering (it's all this running--it makes me gross), I get all prepped for the day. I put on sunscreen, makeup, and hope for the best.
  1. I use Eucerin's Daily Protection sunscreen. It's lightweight, smells like sunscreen which makes me feel like I'm going to the beach, and is fragrance free. Wins.
  2. The I use Clinique's  Line Smoothing Concealer. Why is it line smoothing? Well, that's because it's the only one that's light enough to cover my beautiful dark allergy circles. It works like a charm.
  3. I don't do green or purple or blue eye shadow. I think I look silly in anything but neutrals. I love love love Clinique's Eye Shadow Duo in Like Mink.
  4. Mascara. It has to not mess with my contacts and make my eyelashes amazing. Clinique's High Impact mascara does those things. It also comes in a sparkly tube.
  I could probably do ads for Clinique. I'm a makeup snob, and won't use anything else for fear of hives. My allergies are intense. Also, I forget to put on blush a majority of the time. I'm not even sure why I have any.

My purse essentials:
   1. Nivea Essential Care lip balm.
   2. Revlon Super Lustrous Creme in Love That Pink
   3. Vaseline tin.

York. The Old One.

   This past weekend, the boys had several days off from school, so Sara and I decided that a trip was just what we needed. Of course, we decided this while Robby was away. We have some entertaining ideas. If I were to list them, you might start to think that we need psychological assistance. We like to think that we have brilliant plans that should be put into immediate use. Sadly, we aren't in charge anywhere.
   On to our actual trip! We decided on Wednesday that we'd go to York and leave on Thursday. This is how all vacation planning should be done. Right before you want to leave, especially if when you want to leave is on a weekend that's also a federal holiday. I'll be a travel agent one day, and also a life coach (because my brilliant ideas should help you make your life better, and it'll be better when you do things the Sarah-Way.). So Sara called and made us a hotel reservation. This is no small feat considering there's 9 in our party. The 6 boys and the 3 grown ups. Though, I'm quite certain that the grown up title isn't really a good match for me. Maybe it's because I still live at home and such. Anyway, we had a hotel and were ready for travel.

Because of Doctor Who, I am now wary of any and all angel statues. 

A coffee shop that was right on the river. It was precious.

York Minster

I felt that the shop owner must be a good person. That means that she or he likes Harry Potter.

My first Christmas lights sighting!

Walking the Roman Wall.

A weeping statue! Scary! 

Shambles. It was adorable! 

The thing to gain from this. York is amazing! If you find yourself in England, make it up to York.

A proper British night.

Oh Guy Fawkes, everyone always thinks of the 5th of November as anything from V for Vendetta. Wrong people! Wrong!! It's about the real person Guy Fawkes who plotted to blow up Parliament. Nowadays, the people of Britain celebrate his infamous plot by burning his effigy and setting off fireworks. It's all good fun, and the twirly whirly curly whirly fireworks are the best! I did manage to take some pictures before I put my camera in my bag, and when I realised that there was an amazing photograph moment I yanked my camera out and lost half my batteries. Really, I wouldn't expect anything less from myself.

I was there, and I'm even in this picture. But sadly, the flash wasn't flashing properly. 

The fireworks guys setting them off. 

Someone else's sparkler. 

Pumpkin Time! It's only a week late.

We carved pumpkins here last week, and I scooped out pumpkin guts and cut the tops off and drew the intended design on them with sharpie. Not in that order, but we still managed to cut out some legit pumpkins.

Pumpkin guts. Delicious. 

Pumpkins with plans. Yes, that's my Deathly Hallows one.

Snaggle tooth and Scary Face.

Our other pumpkins by Benny and Isaac.

Harry Potter!! Win!

January in Georgia

January in Georgia isn't cold that often. 

A running nutter

  So I've been running for the past 4 1/2 weeks. That's something I never thought I'd say. Me a runner?! Crazy talk! It's true crazy talk though, and I've got to say, I love it. I love pushing and making myself go for it.

  With all this enjoyment, I've come to realize that having a set schedule for when I run and for how long is kind of ridiculous. I never know what could be going on that day or how much time I'll have or how my legs will feel. Because I've come to that realization now, I've decided that a good way to keep myself in check is to post on here my runs from the week.

    Here's last weeks recap:
      I went out and ran every single week day for 25 minutes. I would make a pretty chart to say this, but every day doesn't require such a thing. So here's this excellent picture I found on Pintrest:

Truth.
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Television. It would be books, but I've been sucked in.

If you're into things like aliens, time travel, David Tennant, robots, space travel, and Time Lords, than Doctor Who is the show for you. I'd seen all the pins on Pintrest about Doctor Who and figured it'd be great. It is. There's history, the Doctor visited Shakespeare in an episode, evil-doers, and general nerdiness. I love it! Now, all I have to do is make it through the episode Blink. It's about weeping angel statues. It's creeping me out to think about it, and I haven't been able to finish it. I did read about it though, so I know what's going to happen. I could go on and on about how amazing this show is. In fact, I do go on and on about it to Sara. Poor girl. Time to man-up and finish that crazy episode so I can move on!
    I do have some fall-esque photos to post, but with class registering, book reading, and Doctor Who watching my time is spent.

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Scandal Free Minnie Mouse

This week's Friday's Fancies is all about Halloween!
So I decided to go with a scandal free costume, because
I don't think that Halloween is a good enough excuse to
look scandalous. What can I say, I'm just a tiny bit of a
prude. Be sure to click the button to see everyone else's Friday's
Fancies!

My 12 by 2012

I saw this over on The Small Things, and I thought it was brilliant. It's a list of goals to complete before 2012 comes around.

1. Be able to run at least a mile without stopping. I'm nearly there!

2. Don't get a drastic haircut. A hard one, because I love my hairdresser. A lot.

3. Have all my Christmas shopping done before December.

4. Have my list of books read up to 200.

5. Make my crazy just a little bit less crazy.

6. Wear crazy high shoes because I can.

7. Have a week of jean free outfits, and actually wear them.

8. Get better at crocheting.

9. Finish mine and Sara's scarves.

10. Re-read all the Harry Potter books.

11. Keep running every day.

12. Stay happy.

It's not a life changing list, but I think it's doable and will come with good results. What are you hoping to achieve before next year?

Luncheon with My Mama

Once again, I'm linking up with the always fabulous {av} over at Long Distance Loving for Friday's Fancies! I love this week's inspiration, Think Pink, for breast cancer awareness. It should be a treatable disease, not a life taking one, so research and testing needs to be done! Get checked every year by your doctor.

Book. It would be books, but it's only about one.

   So my time this week has been taken up with lots of reading. Not reading lots of books, but that's ok. The book I read was so spectacular! It was like reading Harry Potter for the first time. When I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the first time back in 1998, I was mesmerized. I thought that surely the book itself was magical. I looked the book over, trying to find out why such a plain paperback was so magical. I know now, that it wasn't the book that was magical, it was the story and the characters and being able to so easily imagine that I was a part of Harry Potter's world. Ever since reading that first book, I've felt that way about every other Harry Potter book. I always feel whenever I pick one up to read that something magical is about to happen. It makes a small town life exciting, and it always makes me wonder. So to get that kind of feeling with a new book as an almost adult was a big deal to me. I read this book slowly, well, slowly for me anyway, to savor that feeling for as long as possible. I don't know what it is about a great story, but I'm rather confident that I'd be happy to earn a degree in reading. Sadly, you can't earn a living by reading alone.
   The book that gave me such a feeling is A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. It's about witches, daemons, and vampires, all very exciting things to me. The story starts in the nearby Oxford at the Bodelian  Library with a witch named Diana Bishop. She unknowingly calls up lost manuscript, which sets off a reaction in the creature world. Soon, she meets Matthew de Clairmont, a vampire, and their adventure starts.
   I'd love to just write out an account of the story, but then the fun of reading the gigantic book would be gone. Read it, love it.

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