Under the Skin

This year, I decided to take a Creative Writing Class.  Though I have considered myself a writer since the age of about eleven, I had never actually taken a formal class on the subject.  The community around here has "community development classes," that you can take on various subjects for a small fee.  I signed up to take a Creative Writing Class and enjoyed it thoroughly.   In this class, we were talking about how English has so many words that mean the same thing--but they aren't interchangeable.  The point of the exercise was to decide what connotation you wanted on the word.  Our teacher gave us a list of words that all meant "weigh comparatively less than most people," and had us rank them from most positive to most negative.  In the positive, we had positive words like "svelte," and "fit."  There were neutral words like "lanky" and "lean." There were negative words, like "gaunt," "emaciated" and...

Cupcakes are very pretty.  But I don't get the hype.  Because, quite frankly, they taste rather bland, and sometimes even horrid.  However, I live in Salt Lake City, which is something of a cupcake Mecca.  I think it's the stay-at-home moms that all have a dream of being a cupcake baker thing.  I'm not really sure.  But, we have a lot of cupcakeries.  I mean, A LOT.  So I figured that this is the perfect opportunity for me to try and find a cupcakery that changes my mind about cupcakes.  I will call it the Cupcake Quest! The first cupcake place that I tried for the Cupcake Quest is a cupcake place near my apartment on Highland Drive around 3900 S called So Cupcake. I go into So Cupcake and it's got all the overly cutesy decor you would expect.  Garish prints that look like a Victorian house threw-up.  Disney princesses (I'm not kidding).  Little cute chairs and tiny teasets.  I got four cupcakes there, including the gi...

My violin and piano students are having a recital on Saturday.  So, I'm going to play as well.  And I decided to record the piece I'm playing for the piano part.  I know that the point of Falling With Style is to do unpracticed, unfinished, unedited things.  But we're deviating.  However, this also gave me an opportunity to see where, when nervous, I flub up.  Also, when I'm nervous, I play things faster than I intend.  I feel that happened with this piece as well. It is the 2nd Movement from Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata.  This is one of my Dad's favorite songs, and that's part of why I chose it.

I would never consider myself a health-nut.  I'm really not.  I don't wear Lulu Lemon.  I don't eat organic.  Etc. Etc. Etc.  (and you have my permission to read that King of Siam style).  In fact, I eat processed sugar (gasp!), and I sit in front of my laptop watching a movie with a bag of potato chips sometimes.  There are days when I don't eat a meal because I honestly forget (and yes that is one of my New Year's Resolutions...).  However, I am in the healthy BMI category.  I am in the healthy body fat percentage category. In fact, I'm in the athlete body fat percentage category.  My fasting blood sugar is enviable, and I know people who would kill for my blood pressure.  So, here's my guide to being healthy. First a disclaimer: Some of these pieces of advice do not apply to morbidly obese people, or people with documented, medical conditions.  Medical conditions do not include thinking that gluten is of the devil.  M...

Writing a list for teen boys/teen girls is hard, because the carry-over is very large.  As I said on my Elementary School Girls list, I tend to like "boy books" more than "girl books." There are definite exceptions, but that is mostly me. With the Teen lists though, I will also include parental warnings.  It is up to you to decide whether or not these books are appropriate for your teen, and I bear no responsibility if you give this book to your child and material is objectionable to you,  but I will try and give you an idea of what could be considered objectionable. 1. Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud (first is The Amulet of Samarkand) Warnings:  they are summoning demons, but it doesn't have Satanic overtones; some violence; questions about who is actually good (especially in the second) 2. Maze Runner Trilogy by James Dashner (first is The Maze Runner )  Just a random note, I found out approximately two minutes ago that James Dashner is Mormon...

My favorite website, goodreads.com, released the 15 Best Fictional Vacation Locations , along with chosen tour-guide, and activities.  I have decided to analyze the picks. This all really reminds me of my 4th year at Young Women's Camp, when the theme was "Can you Imagine?" (Alma 5:16).  Every group was a different imaginary land.  We were Atlantis.   1. PEMBERLEY (Pride and Prejudice) Tour guide: Mr. Darcy Suggested activities: A swim in the lake, a fencing class, an unexpected reunion with a suitor you just rejected My thoughts:  I could enjoy this one.  I would also want to see the house.  Because that's what people go to Pemberley for, right.  And I'd want to meet Georgianna, because she's always just seemed like so much fun!  2. ANKH MOPORK (Discworld) Tour Guide: Samuel Vimes or Rincewind Suggest activities: Drinks at the Mended Drum, a lecture at the Unseen University (if you can find it), a visit to the Dwarf Bread Museu...

On my kitchen table, there is a flower. It was given to me by my ward as a Mother's Day gift.  But I don't like looking at it, really.  Because I feel like it shouldn't belong to me.  Because I don't get recognizing people for things that they didn't really do anything for. And the prevailing idea is thatI should be recognized for being female.  I just was born that way.  I have no problem with the idea that women are all born with maternal qualities.  I have no problem saying that all women are nurturers.  I do believe what one female general authority said, which is, "Women are mothers by virtue of their birth, not by virtue of having given birth." (I think it was Sheri Dew, but I'm not 100% on that).  Women don't have to have actually given birth to a child to have fulfilled a mother role.   I spend a lot of time with kids.  I dedicate my life to children.  I am not a natural with many people--but I am natural with chi...

I love it when I get to review the next installment of a series--because I have a terrible habit of not being involved with a series until it is done/almost done.  Anyways, here we are. This is the book that when the librarian brought it out to me from the back (it hadn't been put on the hold shelf yet), I had to refrain from some mild squealing. I LOVE this series so much.  A lot of people were disappointed with the third, and they're definitely entitled to their opinions.  The fourth steps it up in a lot of ways.  Ally, Jack, Cass and Marco are on an epic quest to reunite the powers of Atlantis. How?  By retrieving the lost seven loculi, which are hidden in the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.  Easier said than done as the majority of the Seven Wonders no longer exist.  But it's all complicated by their timeline--because of their genetic mutation, G7W, if Ally, Jack, Cass and Marco cannot complete their task, restoring Atlantis and uncovering ...

Lots of series reading going on right now. However, I just finished the last one for this series, so now I can review it! The Five Ancestors series revolves around the "founders" of the five major branches of kung-fu.  Fu, Malao, Hok, Seh and Long have to save China from the evil usurpers who destroyed their home, Cangzhen temple.  Tiger, Monkey, Crane, Snake and Dragon. At first, I was nonplussed.  It seemed like it would be enjoyable for 2-5 grade boys, but it lacked any real substance and contribution.  My reaction after the first book, "I already saw Kung-Fu Panda, and all of the characters are the same as the characters from Ninjago." I mean, without exception.  Tiger in my mind (Fu) sounded like Cole.  Crane (Hok) sounded like Zane. Monkey (Malao) sounded like Kai.  And Grandmaster sounded like Sensei Wu. I think that the biggest problem was new author.  The first two or so were very amateurly written, and the characters were all arc...