Read-A-Thon!!

I've been reading a lot since school got out and I love it! I stayed up until 3 am last Monday night/Tuesday morning reading (yes, Ethan was gone!) and my mom couldn't even ground me! Gone are the days where she can hide my books around the house so I won't read anymore! I know I'm a bit of a nerd, but I love reading! I'm pretty open to any kind of book so if you've got suggestions send them my way!! In the meantime, here's what I recommend!

Loves Music, Loves to Dance
by Mary Higgins Clark

--It's a good thriller book and a pretty quick read. If you're prone to nightmares I'd be a little wary, but don't worry about it too much. It's about a serial killer in New York but has some pretty interesting twists. Not very graphic so you don't have to worry, but it does get into the killer's mindset, which I found more fascinating than creepy, but that's just me!




Considering Kate
by Nora Roberts

--Another pretty quick read, but I guess that depends on the person, a quick read for me is about 350-400 pages. An interesting romance I guess you would call it. I really like the main character, Kate. She's very determined and spunky. It's one of Nora Roberts' earlier books meaning it's cleaner and, thank goodness, has not been turned into a Lifetime movie!!



Big Stone Gap
by Adriana Trigiani


--One of my favorites to date. I absolutely loved this book! The main character is a down to earth, blunt, not afraid to say what she thinks, self-proclaimed spinster and I love it! From the minute I started reading I was laughing at the way she just states everything, point blank, and how she sees it! It's written in first person and it really helps you get into the characters and fall in love with them!


The Promise
by Danielle Steele

--Gentry recommended this one and I read in about 2-3 days. Not my favorite, as the ending left something to be desired but not a bad book all in all. The story line is interesting and the plot has a lot of potential. Gentry really really liked it, so the recommendation comes from her.





Something Wonderful
by Judith Mcnaught

--This is the one I stayed up til 3 am reading! I read it in one day and loved it!! It was a really good book set in about the 1800's and has very tumultuous characters that you fall in love with! It's one of those books you know what's going to happen but when it does you're screaming at the characters and have to keep reading to find out how it ends!! I highly recommend!





So Worthy My Love
by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

--This one was a little bit harder to read because it's set in medieval times so their speach is very different, but it's a really good book! It definitely falls in the category of historical romance but has quite a bit of adventure in it!! I borrowed it from my mom and it was really worn out so everybody else must has really loved it too!

The Honk and Holler Opening Soon

by Billie Letts

--This is a good story about a small town, the troubles of life and gives hope that there's always a way to get over it. The characters were interesting and were very developed and had such diverse backgrounds it gave a very interesting dimension to the story line. It took me a minute to get into it, but it was a good read and not too difficult.

So far those are all the ones I've read in the lovely month of May! I'm currently reading The Oath by Lindsay Chase which is about a woman in the late 1800's who is a doctor but is meeting some very stiff opposition. I'm hoping to have it done by the end of the week! One more plug, I highly recommend reading Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. It's about a girl on a dairy farm in Wisconson and is way fun!! I'll have another review at the end of June!

Paris in the Springtime

The biggest perk we get from Ethan's job is free domestic flights (and almost free international flights) so in celebration of me surviving the school year Ethan took me to Paris!! It was the first time he's been back since his mission and he was awesome, still knowing the bus stops and speaking wonderful French! We stayed with a lady from his mission and she was soo kind to us! We went to The Louvre, where we of course saw the Mona Lisa, and lots of other amazing art. Unfortunately after being there for over 3 hours we got pretty turned around and started going in circles, which is not good on an empty stomach! After that we walked down the Champs Elysee to the Arc de Triomphe! It was a very long walk but I loooove people watching so it was lots of fun! We also went to the Chateau de Versailles and I looooved it! I don't know all the history but I love going to historical buildings and soaking in everything that happened there. The smell of old wood, the creak of the floor, the vintage furniture, I love it!



Natascha was a great cook and had the missionaries over so she made Ethan's favorite which, honestly I don't know how its spelled but I would say Tart de Flete...don't ask. She also made Tiramisu LDS style (without coffee or alcohol) and it was really good! Friday was a holiday for them so most businesses and shops would have been closed so we went to Disneyland! It was so fun! It was interesting to see the difference in the rides from California, and I pretty much just get excited about Disneyland. As soon as we got through the gates I started running for the rides! Ethan thought I was crazy! I was really sick on Saturday when we went to the Eiffel Tower, but I held in strong and walked up 700 steps to the top! It was hard when I felt like my head was going to explode and my nose was beyond clogged, but I'm so glad I did it! The view was incredible! We ate at Mcdonalds the most because there are not as many cafes and such like you see in the movies, so we got a little desperate! The fry sauce was different and sweet and sour was called Chinese sauce and the Sprite was bitter...bearable, not horrible!




We went to see the Notre Dame on Sunday and it was a little bit awkward because they were holding Mass while all of us tourists were wandering around with cameras! Flash is not allowed inside any of the buildings so my pictures are blurred any time I took pictures inside, but this was worse because it was sooo dark in there! It was gloomy looking but I loved the architecture, I loved walking around the building and seeing the old age on the building. Some of the gargoyles faces were weathered off, but were still intimidating! We saw a guy in confession too, which made things a little awkward. The organ was playing during Mass and it was soo loud echoing off the stone walls and made the building even creepier! Sunday night Natascha made us a farewell dinner of ostrich steaks and fries, with a dessert of pastries from the Bulongerie (I don't know how to spell in french) and it was very good! It was really weird eating ostrich, but I'm not gonna lie, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be!

D I Y

Our poor little apartment has absolutely no storage space so I've drug Ethan around to several DI's and other furniture stores to find something that would fit in our tiny space, but to no avail...even at DI! We were flipping through the STACKS of weekend ads and coupons when we came across one for Big Lots. I'm not a big fan of Big Lots but lo and behold there was the cupboard we were looking for!! We rushed right over (after we struggled to remember where it was) and bought it! Ethan was then lucky enough to get to put it together! He got a little frustrated at time but in the end we got it all put together and I actually have a place to put groceries and a little bit of food storage!! I'd still like to find another cupboard of some type to put in the dead space under our bar but I'm still looking!















I tried to help but Ethan didn't exactly appreciate my methods so I resigned to taking pictures!

Ugh

Well, it's now been 4 weeks and we're just barely starting to resolve all the issues caused on that lovely day January 31. It was a Saturday and I was on my way to Wal-Mart to buy some groceries and find some fabric to finally finish my chairs (needless to say my chairs are still not done) and I got stuck in stop and go traffic in front of University Mall. As I sat behind a suburban minding my own business I looked up into my rear-view mirror to see a car speeding towards me only a split second before it hit me so hard I jumped the couple of feet between my car and the one in front of my slamming into the back of them!! I had seen the car before the impact so I took my foot off the brake and turned my wheel in a vain attempt to swerve out of the way so only the front drivers side hit the suburban, but unfortunately the back part of my car was smashed by the guy driving so recklessly. I immediately drove to my parents and spent a couple hours with my dad's heating pad and sharing my his ice pack for his knee he was using. I headed to the doctor's office Tuesday and was sentenced to a few weeks in a neck collar to help take the tension off my muscles. It's atrocious!! I'm going back to see him tomorrow and we'll see if I do physical therapy or chiropractic work! Always so much fun!

We're still waiting for the check from his insurance compnay to fix my car and for the girl who hit my car in the parking lot about a week before to pay for the damage she did to the OTHER side of the car!!

Seattle

Ethan was home last weekend (surprising I know!) so we decided to take a quick trip up to Seattle, WA. It was so much fun and kind of a way to celebrate Valentine's early, just like we have to celebrate every other holiday. It was a little chilly but the sun decided to peak out Saturday afternoon while we were on the ferry! We didn't have any real plans except to go so when we go there we just walked around the streets people watching and seeing the city. We ate in the dirtiest looking little Mexican food restaurant but it was actually pretty good! Saturday morning we ordered room service before heading out to see Bainbridge Island. It was good to just get away from everything and go have fun for a weekend!!

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Cooking!

A couple weeks ago I finished our seat covers for the dining room chairs and Ethan stained our table. He was so proud, he invited his parents over for dinner. We decided to make chicken rolls with rice and gravy! Ethan helped make the chicken rolls and got everything put together while I was in class! We also had to buy some new glasses because Ethan was sick of using mugs!
Then for the super bowl my assignment was to make cookies and I was so excited to use my new Bosch that my mom gave us for Christmas!!

Our home

We did this a long time ago but I never downloaded the pictures off my new camera until the other day so here we go! We painted our kitchen to give our apartment a little more life and we had lots of fun doing it!

He's such a goofball!!