How to Adult

You know how when you were younger and you had this idea of what an adult was in your head? Mine was of someone who carried a huge purse, had a job, a boyfriend, drove a car, dropped big words in everyday conversation, drank coffee and carried themselves with just the right amount of confidence. It's weird how in society I'm deemed an 'adult', yet I feel so far away from that title most days.

And that random list of traits I had when I was younger, yeah I only have three of those: a huge purse, can drive and drink coffee, lots and lots of coffee. So far I haven't gotten my adult card revoked for not having the other things on my eight-year-old-self's list, so maybe what my current, twenty-year-old-self thinks an adult should be might be like my younger self's version in a few years, kind of irrelevant and based on out-there ideas I have on what makes someone 'mature'.

I bought the Rainbow Loom a week or so ago and whenever I create on it, I feel stupid. Like, stupid in the sense that I'm almost twenty-one, it's a Friday night and I'm at home, working on this kid's toy while watching Ghost Adventures. Then my mind goes off in one of its what am I doing with my life?! tangents. Then I actually started to think about the answer to that question, 'Honestly, Katie. What are you doing right now with your life?' I came back with the answer of 'just trying to hang on'. 

And right now I'm okay with that. I'm on one of my steps backward and if doing this Rainbow Loom thing helps me relax and stops me from heading in a full sprint backward, then I'm not going to knock it! (Okay, well maybe a little, but in a fully lovingly frustrated, 'This stupid pattern won't work' and 'who comes up with these weird bracelet names?' sort of way.)

This one's called a Hexafish.
See what I mean? Weird names, right?!

It's funny what can make you feel like an adult. What seemingly silly things give you the sense of being more grown up, more mature. Yet so quickly that feeling can fade and you're left looking around for your mom to come out of nowhere to rescue you; to tell you everything will be okay.

Even as you grow older, maybe that feeling of needing someone to rescue you never really leaves. Maybe over the years it just slowly changes; morphs into you trying to figure out the situation for yourself first, then just going to your mom for the bigger issues or just to talk about how you overcame that obstacle you thought was impossible to past. Maybe at one point you learn that you can handle this situation and even other challenges that may be thrown your way as you grow. Maybe a sign of being more "adult" is not always looking for your mom to rescue you, maybe instead that person you look to rescue you becomes yourself.

Happy Friday!

P.S.

I was looking through the photos on my phone and found this adorable (and blurry) picture of Max and I! He's at the beauty parlor (or as normal people call it, the Groomer's) today. I'm missing my little guy so randomly finding this photo made me smile! 

February Book Haul

I did pretty well this month with not going overboard on buying books. I did find some pretty awesome deals, so taking that into account, I think I did pretty well! My 21st birthday is next month, but I'm already trying not to have a huge-crazy haul so I can stick to reading more of the books I already own. Although, there is a trip to a my local indie bookstore that I'm planning for March, so I might have a bit of an issue sticking to only getting two books while I'm there. It's seriously a book lover's paradise!

-The Taste of Apple Seeds by Katharina Hagena
-Spellcaster (Spellcaster 1) by Claudia Gray
-Steadfast (Spellcaster 2) by Claudia Gray (Release Date: March 4, 2014)
-The Here and Now by Ann Brashares (Release Date: April 8, 2014)




A huge thank you to William Morrow-HarperCollins, HarperTeen and Delacorte Press / NetGalley for providing me with these awesome books to review this month!

The Taste of Apple Seeds was originally written in German and has been translated to English. It's an international bestseller, but I hadn't heard of it until I was contacted by the publisher to review it. I'm so grateful that this book was brought to my attention. It sounds like an amazing story that's filled with meaningful life lessons.

Spellcaster and Steadfast will be the first books I'll be reading by Claudia Gray. I've heard so many positive things about Gray's writing style and her other series, Evernight, so I can't wait to dive into this brand new world!

I read the first book in Ann Brashares' The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants when I was younger, but didn't really connect with it. I'm hoping that I'll enjoy The Here and Now more than my previous reading experience. Honestly, the summary sounds like something I'm going to love and I'm eager to try out another one of Brashares' books that's outside of the Traveling Pants universe! (Book/egalley not pictured above.)

-Emma by Jane Austen
-The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
-Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
-Cress (The Lunar Chronicles 3) by Marissa Meyer
-The Help by Kathryn Stockett




The clearance section at my Half Price Books has been getting stocked with new books weekly, it's awesome!! I found Wuthering Heights and The Help in hardcovers for only one dollar a piece! Yeah, Wuthering Heights doesn't have a dust jacket, but I'm totally not complaining, it's in great shape otherwise.

There's a new store opening somewhere up north so they were having awesome sales going on last weekend. I used my fifty percent off coupon on my purchase of Emma and The Handmaid's Tale so the grand total ended up being under five dollars for both books! Woo!

About a year ago the Barnes & Noble down the street closed and since then Half Price started carrying some brand new releases. This week they had Cress on display and I knew I wouldn't be leaving the store without a copy! I seriously can't wait to read this one, the first two books in Marissa Meyer's The Lunar Chronicles are incredible so I know I'm going to absolutely adore the third installment!

Here.

I've had this post in my drafts all weekend and still can't find words for last week. It's not that it was bad, it was just simply there. Nothing extraordinary happened, but nothing horrible happened either.

I feel like I'm stuck again. Like I'm doing just enough to not fall back into my old ways. I'm doing my homework, my chores, getting out of the house, being 'social', but somehow I'm not fully here. It seems like I keep losing myself to my thoughts, my worries, my doubts.

These past few weeks I've stopped making goals for myself. Whether it's something like getting out of the house by going to the bookstore, making a meal at home or even just painting my nails, I feel like it's the little goals that add up for me. That make me feel more than only here. So this week I'm making goals for myself, goals that are outside of my studies. Goals that make me feel calm; that simply make me feel here. 

Review: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Received e-galley for review.
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Published: January 28, 2014
Series: Cruel Beauty Universe
Amazon - Goodreads

Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast in this sweeping fantasy about one girl's journey to fulfill her destiny and the monster who gets in her way-by stealing her heart.

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

I've been reading quite a few retellings lately and even though Cruel Beauty isn't an absolute favorite for me, I still really loved it! The main character, Nyx, was raised to be an assassin to save her people by being sent off to marry (and kill!) the Gentle Lord, also known as Ignifex. I loved how the lines of good and evil were blurred and you had to continue reading to really help define those lines, but even at the end of the book there still wasn't this super defined line, which was one of my favorite parts of the book!

I really enjoyed that Hermetic elements (fire, water, earth and air) were in the book and that Nyx was well educated in the subject. I've never read a book with that aspect to it, so I was so happy to see Hodge's writing perfectly added that bit to the storyline. I also was really fascinated by the castle Nyx was sent to live in! It literally had a mind of its own, seriously! It can move rooms around and things that were once there might not be there when you turn around, it's crazy!

I loved how I really didn't know exactly who the villain of the story is or if I thought it would be someone, everything would get turned upside down. I really enjoyed the unexpected twists that the author added to the story and just the complete uniqueness of those surprises.

Cruel Beauty was an amazingly unique retelling of Beauty and the Beast that had me needing to know what Nyx's decision was going to be. Hodge's writing was eerie and just descriptive enough to start your imagination off on helping create this brand new world she imagined. I'll definitely be reading Rosamund Hodge's novella, Gilded Ashes, which is a retelling of Cinderella and takes place in the same world as Cruel Beauty is set in. If you absolutely love retellings, Cruel Beauty is an absolute must-read!

*I received this egalley from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Coffee, Cookies & Candles

I baked a lot of cookies, drank way too much coffee and burned a lot of candles, but I made it through last week. 

Reading: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Watching: Scrubs (Season 6)
Listing to: Florida Georgia Line's album Here's to the Good Times 
Drinking: Starbucks' Cinnamon Dolce Latte
Loving: Essie's Chinchilly nail polish and Bath & Body Works' 3-wick candle, Raspberry Peach Macaron.
Wishing: The snow would go away and warmer weather would take its place.
Wanting: A new astronomy professor... and a Mac.
Needing: Patience and motivation. (More coffee would be good too...)

Links lead to goodreads, Amazon, iTunes, Starbucks, Essie and Bath & Body Works.