Winners!

I have randomly selected the winners of a couple of contests I had up on the blog and the winners are...





For a copy of "Shadowheart" by Tad Williams:



The winner is: Lisa Hronek; Aurora, OH





And





For a copy of "Midsummer Night" by Freda Warrington:



The winner is: G. Feddema; Calgary, Canada





Congrats!

What's On Your Xmas List?

Christmas shopping is in full swing and I don't know about you but I have a really hard time finding good stuff for my friends and family. I usually get my best ideas from someone else! So here are some ideas from me that you can steal and hopefully, one of you will make a list I can steal from. ;)

For the confection connoisseur in your life...

The world's biggest Gummy Bear. Seriously.

Leave it to the guys at Toddland to come up with this! 

Twinkie Chan's cupcake scarf. Deliciously adorable.

Agent Lover's cake hats!! I have a pink one :)

I love these mini donut trays! Baked, not fried. Great gift for your masterbaker ;) 

My new favorite treat. Seriously delish. Fran's Famous Salted Caramels (I like the dark)

Or what about surprising your gift-ee with a cooking class? Fun and thoughtful! 

Your local Williams Sonoma offers courses here.

The girly girl...

The Yokoo Minnie bow! I have it in pink and cranberry :)

PJs are a traditional Christmas gift, but Betsey Johnson PJs are my kind of cozy!

I imagine these would feel like warm marshmallows on your feet. But, you know... not sticky.

Cute accessories for your iPhone! You can even take it to the next level and get an amazing 

bedazzled one ;) This one is amazing!

Such a cute pen! And only $5

For your favorite nerd...

I don't have to tell you that 9 1/2 out of 10 people would love to get an iPad under their tree. I am one of those people.

I love anything Star Wars. In fact, Ben and I are taking full advantage of our last name and naming our child "Something" Han Soto. Yes I'm serious. And my best friend's last name is Walker but she refuses to name her son Luke Sky. Go figure.
ANYWAY- these suits are amaze and I got the Threepio one.
Use code SPLISHSPLASH for 10% off

Also see Skymall's Star Wars Shop.

I will never stop loving Napoleon Dynamite. You can sleep like him every night.

My sister used to play Ninja Turtles. Now she can have a TMNT Snuggie!
My lovely friend Jolie got me a leopard print one and I'm using it to lure my puppies into snuggle submission as I type!

Hey Book Worm...

Coffee table books are always great gifts. Here are some goodies!

All books from modcloth.com

Sparkle Sparkle...

Everybody needs a little glint and glimmer in their lives. 

From Tarina Tarantino's Acid Alice collection. 

Show your love with an initials necklace! I love this double initials one cause you can have you and your boo's initials or a first and last... whatever you want! Maybe you're a two timer? None of my buisness...

Get a cute necklace, support a good cause!

"I Am Number Four" Trailer

Plot Summary: Three are dead. Who is Number Four? D.J. Caruso ("Eagle Eye," "Disturbia") helms an action-packed thriller about an extraordinary teen, John Smith (Alex Pettyfer), who is a fugitive on the run from ruthless enemies sent to destroy him. Changing his identity, moving from town to town with his guardian Henri (Timothy Olyphant), John is always the new kid with no ties to his past. In the small Ohio town he now calls home, John encounters unexpected, life-changing events—his first love (Dianna Agron), powerful new abilities and a connection to the others who share his incredible destiny.

HARRY POTTER, HARRY POTTER, OOH!

After much delay,

No offense (by which I mean this is kind of cruel and I hope she never reads this), but I had to laugh at the girl who showed up at the ticket line at around 9 PM and said "THEY'RE ALL SOLD OUT?"

(In case you were gravely concerned with her Potterlessness, her story ends happily - there was a 3 AM showing that was available.)

Here are me and my favorite lab partner in the world:

Stephanie's sweater and tights: mine. My sweater: my brother's. Ravenclaw tie: gift from my brother. Polo shirt: Catholic school uniform. Skirt: made by my grandmother. Argyle tights: H&M. Argyle socks: gift. Flats: Steve Madden.

The shiny spot on my forehead is where Jon drew on my lightning bolt scar with eyeliner. Usually I would have used lip liner, but I threw away my only lip liner during my makeup purge, so I ended up with a shimmery silver scar, which is... kind of like unicorn blood, I guess. Anyway, Jon and I were looking for a well-lit place to draw each other's scars on and accidentally ended up wandering to the film rooms (or whatever they are):

This is our photographer Jon, whose incredible dedication to Harry Potter led him to buy a t-shirt from Hot Topic right before heading out to the theater. As you can see, he wasn't aware of how small Hot Topic tees run (I can fit a small at most places, but I literally cannot jam my body into a Hot Topic small), thus! Awkward sleeve action and Severus "The Bravest Man I Ever Knew" Snape:

See how Stephanie and I are damsels in distress? We're actually faking it, because we know Harry Potter is going to save us. Because he's Harry Freakin' Potter. (He's the man.)

Unfortunately, I happened to be in the bathroom for the five minutes when a group of people came into the theater to perform "The Mysterious Ticking Noise," so I had to console myself afterward by watching the Potter Puppet Pals version over and over and over.

...Snape, Snape, Severus Snape...

03 December 10

This shutout victory made me happier than their previous two games in which they scored seven goals apiece. Let's hope they can have some similar glory when I go see them against the Ducks on the 8th.

Book Review: "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms" by N.K. Jemisin

I've been in a reading rut. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. I pick up a book, read half, and then lose interest. The books I've been trying to read have been good too-- really good. Sometimes, though, it just doesn't matter. The mind doesn't quiet and just finishing something, anything, seems like a massive hurdle. So it was a relief to pick up N.K. Jemisin's debut novel, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and find a book that broke through my funk and jump-started my reading back into first gear.



Following the murder of her mother, Yeine Darr is summoned to the city of Sky by her grandfather and told that she is now in contention for the throne. Sky is the seat of the powerful Arameri family who rule The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms with the power of captive Gods at their disposal. Following the Gods' war the Arameri became the chosen people of Itempas, currently the most powerful of the Gods. They also gained custody of the imprisoned Nightlord (Nahadoth), the God who lost the war and has been imprisoned in a human shell for thousands of years. Barely sane, Nahadoth is chained to the Arameri family and has destroyed entire nations at their command.



Yeine knows little of the world she is forced into. Her mother gave up the throne before Yeine was born and Dekarta, Yeine's grandfather, never forgave her for leaving. Yeine not only walks into the usual palace intrigues and debauchery, but has to navigate a world of mad gods and jealous magicians while trying to find out who murdered her mother.



I've read some reviews that say "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms" is fairly standard fantasy due to the well trod storyline of powerful families and living Gods. But I think to say that is to miss what the book is about entirely. "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms" is a book about how people connect and the needs that tie us together; and ultimately the main character, Yeine, is the heart of "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms"-- everything flows through her. Early on we're introduced to Nahadoth and a couple other minor gods (known as "godlings") who are tied to and live in the Sky castle. My favorite thing about "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms" has to be the various Gods and the prominent place they have in the story. Rarely have I read a fantasy that allows the Gods to be main characters without humanizing them too much, but here they are alternatively intriguing, alien and frightening in the way that Gods should be.



One critique that is valid of "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms" is that the villains are rather boilerplate. They possess the kind of cruelty and indifference that are common to most 'bad-guy' characters. We're given enough background to understand that they have become that way thanks to unlimited power and no consequences. And the narrative does falter when Yeine comes to Sky and has the potential to upend the status quo and offer an alternative to generations of abuse-- and no one really seizes the opportunity. But there is a soulfulness to "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms" that kind of transcends most of these considerations because, again, it's the feelings the characters evoke and the relationships that develop that mattered to me more than anything else. It's not the e-vil-ness of the villainy that we should be focusing on, but how it affects those it touches.



I really connected to "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms." It may not be for everyone due to its unusual style. Jemisin opens each chapter with a a kind of stream-of-consciousness narration that doesn't make a whole lot of sense at first, but becomes clear as the story progresses. But I liked it because it's a nice change between that and the first person recounting of events by Yeine. I loved the feel of "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms." Jemisin captures raw emotion in a way that worked for me and had many small moments that I thought were genuinely touching. There are times when the story can seem a bit convoluted but it never really strays into overly-complicated territory. It has it's fair share of suspense and mystery, but ultimately I'd recommend it for its soul.



4 out of 5 stars.

you're knocking us off our feet

I didn't wear this out because I don't think I can walk in heels anymore.... let alone run or dance in them. [EDIT: I was intending to wear this out with different shoes... but I decided to power-nap before Harry Potter instead. And I was intending to wear those shoes the next day for a scholarship dinner... but it rained.)

This would be really boring to me if my shirt weren't plaid. So I guess it's a good thing that it is.

I would be more interesting but it's 1:30 and I just finished typing up my last assignment for the semester and I JUST WANT TO GO TO SLEEP THIS DEDICATION THING IS SO DEMANDING

Blazer: thrifted Ralph Lauren. Plaid shirt: Field & Stream via Costco fo sho. Jeggings: Forever21. Heels: Payless.

This is completely unrelated, but Darren Criss was always cute to start with; add in ten square pounds of musical talent, a heaping spoonful of lyrical mastery, and a dash of cheesy televised fame, and I'll be listening to him crooning to me at 1:40 AM while I nurse a cup of peppermint green tea steeped in lukewarm milk attempting to blog about an outfit from three weeks ago.

If you listen to this at least three times (the first time probably won't do it for you), it will BURROW INTO YOUR EAR AND FEED ON YOUR BRAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINS

Remind me never to post this late.

Oh, look! A Darren Criss!