Monday Night

This is what Russell and I did this Monday night. We went to a cozy little tea place, bought some macarons, and drank a pot of tea. I read on my Kindle while Russell finished up our wedding invitations. Some peace and relaxation while our wedding creeps closer.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

I made a mistake of only bringing one book during my family trip to Vancouver and Seattle. So when I finished the one book I brought, I spent two days waiting to get to a bookstore so I can get another novel. When in the airport in Seattle, I was able to buy a book from a small bookstore. I bought this book since I heard many good things about it.

Note to self: I must not read this in public. I find myself laughing out loud while reading this book. Mindy Kaling has a way with words that I will forever be jealous of.

Oh, and my favorite section is by far this one:

It is just so cleverly titled. Also, I relate to this chapter in a funny way. Though I was not bullied when I was little nor did I struggle with being chubby, I still forget nothing. Haha, this is not to say that I wish I didn't. 

One of my favorite passages from this section is when she talks about high school and directs it towards teenage girls. I agree and love this advice so much that I will put it on this blog in hopes that a teenage girl will stumble across this blog and take something away with it.

Sometimes teenage girls ask me for advice about what they should be doing if they want a career like mine one day. There are basically two ways to get where I am: (1) learn a provocative dance and put it on YouTube; (2) convince your parents to move to Orlando and homeschool you until you get cast on a kids' show, or do what I did, which is (3) stay in school and be a respectful and hardworking wallflower, and go to an accredited non-online university.

Teenage girls, please don't worry about being super popular in high school, or being the best actress in high school, or the best athlete. Not only do people not care about any of that the second you graduate, but when you get older, if you reference your successes in high school too much, it actually makes you look kind of pitiful, like some babbling old Tennessee Williams character with nothing else going on in her current life. What I've noticed is that almost no one who was a big star in high school is also a big star later in life. For us overlooked kids, it's so wonderfully fair.  

 — Mindy Kaling, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)

Back to Basics

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

Little Beauties by Kim Addonizio

I bought two books this weekend (and a bridal magazine)! I'm going to get back into reading, guys. It's time I filled my head with some beauty and got rid of worries and negativities. 

On a side note, today I was watching the ducks land into the pond and I couldn't get over how poetic it was. 

Books

(Source: Observando) 

Reading Good Writing

I miss good books. I know that there are many out there but it feels like for every one great and beautifully written book I read, I have to get through at least ten blah/boring/mediocre ones. I don't even know why I'm being picky seeing that my writing is blah/boring/mediocre. It's just...I miss good books and I miss good writing.

Detective Fiction

I'm reading the Sherlock Holmes mysteries right now. My detective fiction class has gotten me into mystery again. Did you know it was the Nancy Drew series that got me into reading? For the longest time I wanted to be a detective. And then I read a ton more of other books and wanted to be/do a million other things (ride horses, be a wizard, go to wayside school, have a pet fish, swim with dolphins, discover a stream with magical capabilities, dig holes, etc.) that I realized the reason these stories fascinated me so much was because they came from the imagination. It was then that I realized how powerful books can be and how words are so beautiful and creative. Then I realized I wanted to write because all these stories were given birth to by ordinary yet amazing authors. People who picked up books when they were little, who sat at libraries and bookstores reading and imagining...until one day they picked up a pen and became as amazing as the people who wrote the stories they had read and been inspired by.