book report

i mentioned in this post that i have a goal to read thirty books this year. i'm now on book number 23 so i'm feeling pretty good, especially considering last year i basically read nothing that wasn't a textbook (if you're in school and feel like you'll never have a life again, i want you to know it gets better). the last two books i read were why not me? by mindy kaling and all the light we cannot see by anthony doerr, and i loved them both so much that i had to post about them here (even though i already posted these reviews on goodreads) (which you should seriously join if you haven't already).

why not me? came out today and i bought it and read it immediately. i am a devoted mindy kaling fan and i had been incredibly excited about this book since hearing mindy speak about it at bookcon. i love mindy and i loved her fresh, funny take on topics like fame, television, work, friendship, and dating. why not me? felt, in many ways, more personal and mature than is everyone hanging out without me?, and it was exciting and entertaining to be privy to the behind-the-scenes realities of mindy's career, relationships, and life in hollywood. i also found many of the essays inspiring, particularly the titular one, which discusses confidence and hard work, and "unlikely leading lady," in which mindy shares her refreshing opinions on body image and beauty standards. my favorite thing about this book was either that in reading it i felt like mindy's friend and confidante or the approximately two pop culture references included per page. she gets me.

all the light we cannot see won last year's pulitzer prize for fiction and was a new york times best book of the year, so it obviously needs no endorsement from me. but if you thought that was going to stop me from telling you about it, you were wrong! it follows a blind french girl and orphaned german boy as their lives intersect in the chaos of world war II. i couldn't wait to finish and yet i never wanted it to end. the characters are lovely, the story poignant, and the writing masterful. it's beautiful and heartbreaking, and most of all, an incredible, luminous feat of storytelling. i can't recommend it highly enough.

my other favorite reads this year include the martian, spinster, men explain things to me, one more thing, unbroken, and wild. if you have any suggestions about what i should read next, please send them my way!

take care

this year i am really trying to take good care of myself. last year was really crazy and chaotic. i was so overwhelmed with school and work and life that i didn't take very good care of myself or my body. now that my life is much calmer, i'm trying to make up for that and do things that make me feel really good. these are the goals i'm working towards this year.

plan meals.

during school i would never plan my meals ahead of time. lots of times i forgot to eat or i would find myself eating the most random foods at the most random times. looking back, my eating habits were a lot worse than i even realized. now my schedule is much more routine and i have a lot more free time, so i'm trying to be very intentional about what i eat and when. planning my meals ahead of time makes me really excited to grocery shop and cook. it's still not easy, but it's become something i really enjoy doing every week. it's also less wasteful. before planning my meals i would buy produce and an embarrassing amount of it would go bad in the fridge.

eat healthier.

i'm not a fan of dieting, and even the thought of cutting out whole food groups makes me very sad, so i'm finding a version of eating healthy that works for me. basically i am trying to cook with lots of fresh and nutrient-rich ingredients, mostly vegetables. and drink a lot of water. i am also halfheartedly trying to eat fewer sweets, but i live in new york, home of levain bakery and doughnut plant, so "trying" is a loose term.

exercise more.

exercising at all would basically accomplish this goal, as i pretty much never worked out during my last semester. i really miss going to the gym, and i want to get back into a regular exercise routine. new york has so many fun fitness classes and i want to try a variety of them.

read more.

both last year and the year before i set a goal to read thirty books, and i am sad to say that i never hit that number. during the semester i would start reading book after book but just didn't have the time to finish very many. now that i'm not a student i am so happy to have time to read for pleasure. i've been reading at home and on the subway and it is definitely a highlight of life. this year i hope to finally exceed my thirty book goal.

put away electronics.

i'm attempting to check social media a little less and i'm especially trying to put away my phone and laptop a while before i go to bed at night. i've always struggled with insomnia, but i'm sure it's compounded by my using electronics before bed. i think putting away my phone and laptop will rest my eyes and help me unwind and relax. i also waste a lot of time on the internet when i could be reading or otherwise productive, so i'm going to try to spend that time on worthier activities.

essentially i want to be very intentional about how i treat my body and how i spend my time. i'm genuinely excited about all of these goals and i think they'll contribute to my feeling happier, healthier, and more fulfilled.

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it's been a while. life has pretty busy of late but i always miss writing on this little blog. i've been lucky enough to have a lot of cool things going on recently so i'm working on a few different posts to document it all. it's currently 1:30 a.m. but i can't sleep so i figure now's as good a time as any to write a blog post. we're a couple weeks into january and i've still been thinking a lot about resolutions and the new year. honestly, i was pretty glad to see 2013 go. both the happiest and the hardest experiences of my life happened in 2013. i grew a lot and learned a lot but i am so ready for a fresh, new year to fill with life lessons and experiences. i've got a whole bunch of exciting plans for this year—completing an internship, taking the LSAT, applying to law school, and graduating from college, to name a few! listing those all out together is both thrilling and terrifying, just so you know.

i'm a list-loving, resolution-making kind of girl, so of course i have to talk about my new years resolutions too.

1. read the scriptures every day.

2. read 30 books.

3. go to bed earlier.

i really struggle with scripture reading, so my goal this year was not to miss a single day. it's only been three weeks and it has not been easy for me! i'm starting to settle into a better routine and i can see myself getting more out of the scriptures and feeling a change in my daily life. if you want to follow along, i've really been loving this book of mormon instagram account that posts verses to read and a discussion question to think about for every day of the year.

i'm excited to read 30 books this year. that may not seem like a lot, but when you're busy with school and work, it's a challenge. i've noticed, though, that i'm a lot happier when i make some time to read for fun during the busyness of the semester. some of the books i look forward to reading this year are the monuments men, steve jobs, lean in, and the spectacular now.

i'm from a family of night owls who also suffer from insomnia, so i haven't really established good sleeping habits (exhibit a: it is 1:30 a.m.) and this is something i am realizing is so important. i have work/school every day from around 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. with maybe an hour break, and so far this semester i have been exhausted! i am obviously failing on this resolution so far, but let it be known that i am giving myself a grandma bedtime from here on out.

on this note, i'm also trying to abide by two general ideas this year. one is taking care of myself and the other is using time wisely. 2013 was a hard year for me health-wise, so this year i really want to take good care of my body and myself. for me this means eating healthier, getting more sleep and more exercise, and taking time to relax. i am also trying to use my time more wisely. i often find time management difficult, so this year i am striving to prioritize and plan and cut out time-wasters and generally make the most of my time. i saw the quote below somewhere on pinterest and i loved it (as beyoncé is my idol) so i threw together a prettier version in photoshop. anyway, i thought it was brilliant and true and a good thing to remember.

let's do this, 2014.

on resolutions

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i love this time of year. i've been reflecting recently on the past year and the things that i've experienced and learned. 2012 was a good year for me. i turned twenty. i finished half of my junior year of college. i got a new job that i love. i got to travel a lot. i grew closer to my family and friends. i had a lot of really wonderful experiences. i also had some difficult and trying experiences, but those have helped me to grow and to learn more about myself, and i'm just as grateful for those experiences as i am for the others. with the beginning of this new year, i've been thinking a lot about this talk and i've made several of my own resolutions for 2013.

this year, i resolve to:

1. have more meaningful and consistent scripture study.
2. go to bed earlier.
3. read thirty books.

the first and second resolutions are both things i have struggled with in the past, but i know working on them will make a world of difference in my daily life. the third is just something i've been wanting to do. i love to read, and making time for reading even during school makes me a lot happier. i'm excited to work on these things and see the changes they bring about. happy new year and here's to resolutions!

home stretch

summer is coming.

one more week of classes, then it's finals week and i'm heading home! i can't wait. my mom and lauren visited us this past weekend and it was so great. i'm excited to get to spend more time with them very soon! i'm really looking forward to going home for the summer. i'll be working full time, but i've got a lot of plans with lauren and some personal goals that i hope will help keep me feeling sane and productive.

one thing i was worried about this summer was how to keep up my french! i don't want to forget everything i know since i won't be taking it again until the fall. i bought a french book of mormon and i'm going to read it alongside my english copy, which i think will be challenging and also awesome. one thing my teacher suggested i could do is keep a journal in french. i love that idea! i also plan to watch a lot of french movies this summer. i hope you're up for that, fam... 

other things i am really looking forward to this summer? day trips to new york, philly, and washington dc. seeing this show and this exhibit. a potential family vacation to california. checking off some of these. having time for leisure reading. it's gonna be good. now i've just got to get through finals week...

p.s. last week i got saltwater sandals and an iphone and i am obsessed with both of them. that's all.

twenty

in honor of my birthday today,

20 things to do before i turn 21

1. read the book of mormon

2. vote for president

3. master the art of wearing lipstick

4. take a day trip to washington dc

5. try a new recipe every other week

6. dye my hair

7. watch every major audrey movie

8. fill up a sketchbook

9. learn how to french braid and perfect my fishtail braiding

10. read more books, especially the classics

11. go to the sundance film festival

12. learn how to sew

13. save money for a study abroad or internship

14. watch more foreign films

15. refine my wardrobe to better fit my style

16. go to a concert

17. watch downton abbey

18. take more photographs

19. read a general conference talk every week

20. develop a new talent

photo cred

nineteen.

yesterday i turned nineteen years old.

in honor of my birthday, i have made a list of nineteen goals that i want to accomplish before i turn twenty. and here it is.

1. practice cooking

2. read the book of mormon again

3. try sushi

4. learn to sew

5. take computer art classes

6. go to tucanos

7. vote!

8. buy harem pants

9. get a new job

10. read jane eyre

11. change my major

12. make a music video

13. get straight-across bangs

14. audition for divine comedy

15. learn more about photography

16. reread the entire harry potter series

17. buy a really great pair of high heels

18. travel somewhere i've never been

19. fill up a sketchbook

here's to a great year!

happy new year!

i love the beginning of a new year.

i've always loved setting goals. not that i was ever great at accomplishing them, but i love the process of sitting down, realizing what you need to do differently, writing it down and working towards things every day. whenever i make goals, though, i tend to get overzealous and try to make too many changes at once, which doesn't work out so well. this year i'm trying to keep it pretty basic. and when i get back to school i plan on writing all my goals down on sticky notes and putting them all over my room where i'll have to look at them all day, every day. i am committed to making this semester even better than the last one.

here are my new year's resolutions for 2011:

study more in the library.

go to bed earlier.

read my scriptures EVERY DAY.

work out monday/wednesday/friday mornings at 6 am with smeag and kendra. [we did this somewhat this past semester but we got pretty lazy towards the end....]

eat healthier.

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i'm determined. i'm sticking to these goals.

and you know what?

"nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."

-thomas jefferson

here's to 2011. i've got a feeling it's gonna be good.