It's The Little Things In Life That Count

I have recently been thinking about how much people these days think about the big stuff. Like how your life will turn out. What grades you get in school. What kind of person you are.  These things are definitely important but as we're brainwashed by all of these big, important, sometimes frightening things, we tend to overlook the things in life that are little, special, and not meant to be overlooked.

These days you can't go 10 minutes without seeing someone texting on their Smartphone, or typing madly on their computer.  It gets harder every day to find people who smile, who laugh, just for the sake of being happy. Girls at school gossip about who asked who out, who said what, who lied, who's a B-word, and who's not. But have you ever wondered why they do that? It's pleasure, sure, but the only reason it's pleasure is because they're getting the pleasure of indulging in thinking of someone else's pain besides theirs.

I might be over-thinking this, but to me it seems like no one ever enjoys the peace and quiet of a calm day anymore, no one enjoys the LITTLE things in life that count.  Like going out to lunch with their mom, or laughing so much that they cry, or even something as little as the good feeling when you're driving and there's a thunderstorm and when you go under the bridge the rain pauses for those couple of seconds, and it's so surreal if you think about it, but sadly, most people don't.

Ultimately, you're not going to care about some drama you had in 7th grade later in life. You're going to care that you made the right decisions.  You're going to learn that back then, you should have appreciated the small things.  As Taylor Swift said in her 2010 country album Speak Now, there are so many things that you wish you could have said at the time, when you should have said "I Love You" or "Goodbye" or anything else meaningful you should have said at the time.

It's sad, the way that people are slowly being detached from this way of living, being taken over by endless text messaging, Internet addiction, and lots of other sad things.  Even I sometimes catch myself gossiping or obsessing about who asked who out or finding I'm addicted to technology.

But, it's the little things in life that count.  Like eating a perfectly iced cupcake on a Sunday afternoon in the fall, closing your eyes and letting its sweet taste take over your mouth, forgetting about everything else.

love, love, love,




(PS. You might be wondering why I'm writing a post on a Wednesday afternoon when I'm usually at school. :) I actually have a day off today, so that's why...heheh)

2.5 Crazy, Awesome Weeks

Now that it's Saturday I am so excited to be back and posting on my blog! Well I just wanted to say that I have had a totally and completely awesome first couple weeks of school and am so happy and enjoying life right now, :) The weeks are hectic, no doubt, and sometimes stressful, but mostly I'm lovin' it.

The most exciting thing about last week was our first field hockey game of the season.  We won 2-0 and I got to play two different positions-- Right Wing (forward attack) and Left Mid.  It was such a fun experience and our team is really good for having not played together before (I say with a hint of brag in my voice).  Playing field hockey makes me forget how much i LOVE, genuinely enjoy, playing it. It's not like that for a lot of things. I mean, I enjoy ballet, I enjoy tennis, but not in the same way as I adore field hockey.

Besides field hockey, my life is good. I'll be 13 a week from Tuesday, which I'm pretty dang excited about XD. I'm really hoping I'll get a cell phone but that's kind of a long shot, you know? I have a lot of homework every night, but surprisingly I don't really mind, it makes me feel very productive and accomplished.  In English I mostly get A's, in math I mostly get B's and C's, so what? Im enjoying myself so thats just everything that matters. I'm also making a lot of new friends, drifting back and forth between the "popular" group and the "non popular" group (yes, I hate these rankings but sady when you're in 7th grade that is how it is).

The only thing I'm feeling a bit down about is the amount of reading I'm fitting in, which is about...um...a book every two weeks? I feel bad and totally disconnected from the world of books. Sadly, I was very proud of myself when i finished a book during the week this week. Also, my blog. As I've said in my post policy i'll post on weekends but that never seems like enough.  Nonetheless I'm looking for some feedback on my blog:
- Do you think I should post more often? Less often?
- Do you think my posts are too mixed up and scrambed? Should I keep my blog to one subject, not many different ones?
- Do you like the layout of my blog?
- What kind of posts interest you about my blog and why?
- What should I post more about? Less about?
Please please PLEASe give me your opinions, I will definitely not be offended if you hate something about what I wrote, I am just lookin for feedback and what I can do to make my blog better.

Now to my followers! I freaking love you guys. I don't think I wouldve keept up with this blog if it weren't for you. Although I have nearly 50 followers I really want to give a shout-out to 3 of my most common commenters (LOL):

- Grace from The Humble Watermelon (always makes my day with her sweet comments)

- Delaney from Random Ranting (makes me laugh both on and off her blog)
- Erika from Living For The Books (she was my first-ever follower!)

Now I'm not gonna bore all of you with mushy useless "thank you so much" comments, but I do want to say thank you to ALL of you, especially those I listed above. You guys rock!

Fresh From New York City: A US Open Package

(I'm the one with the ponytail)

 I write this fresh from New York City.  Yesterday I experienced what was probably the most unforgettable day of the entire summer--visiting New York City, which is, conveniently, not a long drive from our middle-of-nowhere residence.     The day started out with an early departure at quarter of seven am.  We were about ten minutes into the drive when my mom asked my dad cautiously, "You DO have the tickets, don't you?" and my dad almost swerved off the road when he had the realization that, no, he had forgotten the tickets.  Typical Dad.  We turned right back around, got the tickets, and were on the road, but then heard from my oldest brother, who was meeting us in New Jersey to spend the day with us, and realized that he was sick with a fever, vomiting, chills, and everything bad you can think of.  So he didn't end up coming.  About an hour later, we pulled into Flushing Meadows Park (that name makes me laugh every time I hear it, for some reason), and walked to the U.S. Open tennis tournament, 2012.

Music swirled around, the crowds' voices turned into a vague murmur, and the scorching August air slowly burned our skin.  If you're a tennis fanatic, like I am, you know that the biggest tennis stadium in the entire world lies in Flushing Meadows Park, New York, with 22,000-some seats.  At first we thought we'd get stuck with the ones way high up where you can barely see the ball, but then my parents' friend showed up with front-row tickets and immediately the day turned from awesome to awesomer, if that was even possible.

Yes--this was literally how close we were to Serena Williams

Yep, I was about ten yards away from Serena Williams (who, if you are clued in to the best sport to watch in the world, is American) in that first match.  And Roger Federer (from Switzerland) in that second match. It was extremely surreal sitting that close up to the play. I still had to process this in my brain and by the time both matches were over, I felt a bit dizzy, as if I'd just woken up from a wonderful dream.   The highlight of the day was when Serena Williams won and as she was getting applauded, she looked straight into my eyes and grinned.  No, I'm not making this up.  No, I didn't imagine this.  Ask my mom.  And the second-best part of the day was when, after winning a long point, Serena turned to her box, made that tigress face, and yelled, "C'mon!" with a fist pump.

Me in front of the court

Of course, those weren't the only two matches we saw.  We started off by heading over to the Grandstand (which is one of my favorite places ever, despite being puny compared to Arthur Ashe) to see Jack Sock, from the USA, and Nicolas Almaro, from Spain.  I must admit I loved this match (yes, partly because, I guiltily admit, I'm a bit head over heels in love with Jack Sock,even though he ended up losing in 4 sets).  After the first set we left to go see the end of Agniezka Radwanska, from Poland's, match, where she beat Jelena Jankovic, of Serbia, in 2 pretty easy sets.  Then we saw Serena and Roger.  Roger Federer seems much taller in person and also much more real.  I don't really think of these people as real since I had never actually seem most of them in person.  But yes, they are living, breathing people. (Of course they are.) Then after their matches, we rushed back over to the Grandstand, where James Blake (USA), and Milos Raonic (Canada) were about to begin.  Okay, one thing.  I was rooting for Blake at first, because after all he is American like me, but then my dad and I were sitting in a crowd of Canadians (and I consider myself to be partly Canadian lol) so I cheered right alongside those Canadians for Milos.  Those were all the matches we watched.

On the way home, I kept replaying each match in my head, from the first match to the last match.  All were amazing and unforgettable.  I'll never forget seeing Serena Williams and Roger Federer that close up, I'll never forget hearing Americans chanting, "USA! USA!" and then all the Canadians yelling back, "Can-A-Da! Can-A-Da!" I'll never forget when Serena looked straight at me, or when I screamed, "I LOVE YOU ROGER!" when he was signing autographs. I'll never forget the Grandstand. I'll also never forget walking around the Open, breathing in the New York City air, and getting lost for 12 hours into the world of tennis.

The Beauty of Food

If you know me in person, you definitely know that I'm well-known for my notoriously picky eating habits. I have the same thing every day--for breakfast, either maple and brown sugar oatmeal (which I will only eat if it's bought in Canada), or chocolate-chip pancakes.  For lunch, an English muffin, toasted, with melted peanut butter; and for dinner--well, this differs, but my favorites are spaghetti parmesan, ravioli (I love Italian food), risotto, with favorite sides being: green beans, wild rice, asparagus, strawberries, melon (watermelon is my favorite!), and a lot of other fruits and vegetables.  In terms of multicultural foods, my favorite is Italian, but I also like Chinese, Japanese, and Mexican. But those are pretty much the only foods I will eat. 

As I watched my sister and mom cook this summer, their meals were always beautiful.  Israeli cous-cous, risotto cakes, zucchini and cinnamon muffins (they sound disgusting but are actually worth living for), lemon cake with chocolate frosting, etc.  You name it, my sister will cook it.  I don't eat half of the food they serve, but I always wish that I liked it because it's always served in a beautiful way.  Some of it I eat--I love the zucchini and cinnamon muffins and lemon cake with chocolate frosting, and a lot of other foods they have served over the summer.  I think my favorite of the summer were store-bought cinnamon buns, which are TO DIE FOR.  The Canadian food is so much better than the American food!

Seeing all this beautiful food made me realize something--that nature is beautiful. Because we wouldn't have food without nature.  Look at those juicy red strawberries and shining blackberries in the picture above.  They show us that this is our Earth, and we must appreciate it by enjoying all the lovely things it has to offer.

If you want a better way to enjoy eating rather than just gobbling it up, then follow the directions to this simple exercise I read about in a magazine.  Serve someone a simple but healthy food, such as berries and cream, or carrots and hummus.  Walk them through eating it, telling them to taste each bite verrryyy slowly, and to admire the texture and taste of what they're eating.  Make sure that they're eating it slowly! The point of this exercise is to eat slowly and carefully. Don't rush through eating that piece of chocolate cake, or even those mushy vegetables.  Just eat it, soak it all in, relax, and you'll actually find yourself enjoying it.  The next time you eat, think of this.

It may seem really weird at first (it did for me!) and you might not like it because you just want to eat your food fast so you can be over with eating.  But try it, it really works.  And you don't have to do it all the time.  So relax, take deep breaths, and enjoy the wonders of nature. ♥.

Goals for the 2012-2013 School Year!

I've been thinking a lot about what I want to achieve in and out of school this year.  Not only for books, reading, and blogs, but for a lot of other things too.  Each year before the upcoming school year, I make a list of 14 things I wanted to achieve in the school year.  I completed 13/14 of my goals for 6th grade (the one I didn't achieve was playing tennis 3 times a week--i just didn't have time to do that). and I'm determined to set goals I can achieve this year, not easily but still believable.  After much thinking, here are my 14 goals:


Annie's Goals for the upcoming year:
1. Do well on the field hockey team and play midfield.
2. Get High Honors in school.
3. Work hard in ballet class--especially in the winter when I'm not playing any other sport.
4. Practice piano for 10-15 minutes a day, depending on how much time I have.
5.  Complete all my homework each night.
6. Make new friends and be nice to everyone
7. Update my blog at least twice a week
8.  Read a book every couple of weeks
9. Continue writing my fiction story
10.  Finish 7th grade successfully
11. listen to my parents when they say i should do something
12.  Email my sister once a week.
13. Eat healthier--less chocolate and more vegetables!
14. Go for 2 or 3 mile runs in the winter.

Even though most of you don't really care what my goals are, this is just a place to keep track of them and not lose them and have them in one convenient location. thanks and wish me luck for this year! :) haha

Summer's Almost Over...

Heheeheh...flip-flops. The greatest things ever made. 

So, summer's almost over.  School will begin in a couple weeks, there's already a different feeling in the air, and I'm not on vacation anymore  - __ - I can't decide whether I'm happy summer's over or sad it's over.  Yeah, I know, weird thought.  Most people are so sad that summer is over but I'm the kind of person who likes to DO things and sometimes summer gets a little on the boring side and all I do is read, swim, update my blog, and play tennis and field hockey.  I like to go to school. I admit it.  There's something incredibly exciting about Pre-Algebra, don't you think? (Nope, I'm not being sarcastic.  I actually LIKE Pre-Algebra, weird as it seems.)  But also there's something incredibly SAD about summer being over. No more beach days.  No more awesome sleepaway field hockey camps.  And worst of all, no more flip-flops!!!! Not only are flip-flops against the dress code, they won't be in season anymore.  When school ends, I'm more excited about wearing flip-flops than going to the beach.  Yes, it's weird. And yes, I am a weird person.
    But flip-flops aren't the point of this post even though I love them more than I can tell you. The point is I've had an interesting but good summer.  I've gone to music festivals, seen friends, spent time with my sister before her crazy excursion across the world this year, grown my hair long, painted my fingernails obsessively, read more books than any other summer, made a blog, spent probably too many hours on the computer, argued with my mom, gotten school supplies, eaten a lot of watermelon and caramel-y candy bars that are only found in Canada (Caramilks), watched the Olympics, turned 12 and three quarters, listened to music that I normally wouldn't listen to, and a lottt of other things.
  I love my blog and having a place to rant about random things, review books, and just write, write, write.  Everyone has given me so much inspiration and even though I don't have that many followers my now 35 followers mean the world to me and I think I would have given up without them supporting me and commenting on my posts.  Yes, this is the part where the blogger gets teary but I'm just not that kind of person.  I just wanna say thanks, and that's it.
   While I'm really excited for the upcoming school year, I have to be honest and say that I'm a little scared.  Being a 7th grader and starting a new school--how will that work out for me? Good? Bad? Somewhere in between? Will I start on the field hockey team? What about the tennis team? Am I gonna make friends easily? Am I going to have ANY time to read and write posts? :O Am I going to really miss my sister badly? A lot of things are running through my mind right now.  Don't get me wrong. I'm pretty excited about everything. But there are also minor worries.
   Enough of that, though! School year, here I come!!!!!

The Challenges and the Benefits to Writing and Reading.

Obviously if you read my blog you know that I'm a 12-year-old who is hooked on reading, writing, and the whole English language, basically.  I grew up on books.  I grew up looking up to my older siblings, through their high school and college experiences and looking at the way their English papers were carefully typed out and the way their books were covered in a rainbow of annotations. I've always loved the whole reading and writing thing—ask anyone.  My mom's computer is filled with endless Microsoft Word documents of stories I started but never finished.  I did get around to writing a complete novel—exactly 44 chapters--when I was 10 years old.  It was about a bunch of girls who went on a quest to stop evil demons from attacking Fairyland.  Yes, this is a typical 10-year-old subject but I worked really hard on that novel.  I still have the manuscript somewhere under the dust in my room.  And reading? I'm never NOT reading a book.  If you see me and say, "Hey Annie, what are you reading these days?" my answer is never vague.  I will look at you straight in the eye (something that has always been annoyingly difficult for me to manage) and respond seriously.  If I didn't have books to read I don't know what my place on this earth would be.  

Lately, though, all of this has become challenging.  I'm now old enough to read (most) of the things that my siblings and parents do.  I can now participate in discussions with my family that I couldn't just last summer.  When I was younger I would stare off into space as my family discussed something that didn't concern me. Now I jump into the discussions and it feels like they're actually listening to what I'm saying and taking it into their minds.  I try to be as witty as I can but it feels like it's not enough.  My brother and sister are now in their twenties (my brother in his mid-late, my sister in her early-mid). My other brother is nearly 18.  As they go do things that normal people that age will do, here I am stuck at age 12, feeling panicked because I can't publish a book or do great things with my writing.  I have my blog and my books.  i feel content reviewing the books I read and being 12; not really worrying about being successful.  I have to remind myself every day that I'm 12 years old. I'm not 26, 23, or even 18.  

My conclusion is that writing is only easy if you make it easy.  If you sit at the computer wringing your hands because you supposedly have "writers block" like I often do and if your mom is telling you, "Don't worry, it'll come to you soon enough," then you need to just sit down and write.  Fewer and fewer documents on the computer are saved each month.  I know that I need to regain the excitement I had about writing just a few years ago.  Sometimes my sentences don't fit together and they sound clumsy and stupid. You've probably noticed that by reading my blog. But a good writer needs to be gritty and tough and honest (or a complete liar). Things I will be soon. Someday. 

So I've decided something. One thing.  I'm going to keep up with writing.  Through the rest of middle school. Through high school and college. Through my life. Because something tells me I was born to read and write and though that may sound overly dramatic or a bit strange, I know everything was meant to be.

If you have any words of wisdom for me, whether you're 12 like me, a teenager, or an adult, I would love to hear it.  It would mean so much to me :)

Clockwork Princess, Angel, Prince... and other things.

*Edit of previous post!*
My new copy of Clockwork Princess has arrived. Magically, it came in the mail just a day after I pre-ordered it on Amazon. Isn't that just wonderful? I now know what happens to Jem, Will, and Tessa, and all of my questions have been answered by Cassandra Clare.  A wonderful book, really.  Will ends up with Tessa. Jem lives.  But they all live happily ever after. Oh, and Tessa becomes a Shadowhunter. :)

My Rating of this Series: 5 out of 5 stars
Who Recommended it to me: My Goodreads buddies
Who I Would Recommend it To: anyone and everyone.

So I've fooled you haven't I? Probably not, but I can dream about it, right? I can wish that it were March 19, 2013 and my brand-new copy of Clockwork Princess has just arrived fresh in the mail.  I can wish that the paragraph above were printed on the jacket of the book.  I can wish. 

       I loved Clockwork Prince. If there was one word for this book it would be heartbreaking.  I love Will and am totally Team Will but there was something I couldn't help but like about Jem now flipping through the pages of the book.  Jem is so sweet to Tessa in a way that Will is not.  But for some reason Will's personality seems right for Tessa even though Jem struggles with his sickness to the point where he doesn't think he will live.  I think Jem will end up living but Will will end up with Tessa. I both hope so and think so. 
     I posted an earlier review of Clockwork Prince that seemed 
very anti-Jem and let me tell you, I just love Will so much that I can't think of anything but him, but let me tell you I don't                      HATE Jem. I actually like him quite a lot.  He has this manner that I really like about him and maybe he would be better for Tessa in the long run but I just love Will and think that he's perfect for Tessa. There's rarely a time when I get so caught up in which character a girl in a YA novel will end up with, you'll know that from reading my reviews. For example, The Hunger Games. One of my favorite books.  Couldn't care LESS about who Katniss ended up with.  I understand why she ended up with Peeta.  But I didn't care about it.  In this one, I really care.  I want Tessa to end up with Will sooo badly, but also I can sigh and deal with it if Jem ends up with Tessa because he really is a great guy.  There were actually times in Clockwork Prince where I really loved Jem almost as much as I loved Will. Of course, it ended up with me feeling positively heartbroken for Will so I have to say that I am hard-core Team Will.  I loved the way that Jem was so secretive about his feelings, so mysterious, whereas Will showed everything he was thinking all over his face and everyone knew what he thought (most of the time).  
   Okay, now I'm going to comment on the cover of Clockwork Princess.  As you have probably noticed, I can't resist a pretty book cover.  I especially can't resist a pretty book cover with awesomeness in its pages.  So that's why I was literally jumping up and down when I saw the cover of this book.  I mean, take a look at it for a second. It is gorgeous. 
   Let me mention to you that I finished the existing Infernal Devices books in a matter of 72 hours.  I finished Clockwork Prince in less than 24 hours.  These books are amazing! Positively amazing.  I don't know why I didn't read them earlier.  Let me ALSO mention to you that if you have not read these books, you are missing out on a wonderful life opportunity that may never meet you again.  
   So go out and buy the whole series because you won't want to stop reading.  Buying Clockwork Angel alone was a huge mistake.  Within hours I was saying to random people, "This book is amazing! I need the sequel!" even after I was only 100 pages into it.  
   Well these books are amazing.  I enjoyed them so much that I suggest that everyone in the entire world should read them. 

       

To-Read books!

Synopsis:
We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . .
Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.

Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . .
There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss-maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it’s his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her.

When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.

Synopsis:
Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days.

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war-- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting as The Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices, Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.

Synopsis:
After Shell's mother dies, her obsessively religious father descends into alcoholic mourning and Shell is left to care for her younger brother and sister. Her only release from the harshness of everyday life comes from her budding spiritual friendship with a naive young priest, and most importantly, her developing relationship with childhood friend, Declan, who is charming, eloquent, and persuasive. But when Declan suddenly leaves Ireland to seek his fortune in America, Shell finds herself the center of a scandal that rocks the small community in which she lives, with repercussions across the whole country. The lives of those immediately around her will never be the same again.

This is a story of love and loss, religious belief and spirituality—it will move the hearts of any who read it.

Synopsis:
Twelve-year-old Lucy Desberg is a natural problem-solver. At her family’s struggling pharmacy, she has a line of makeover customers for every school dance and bat mitzvah. But all the makeup tips in the world won’t help save the business. If only she could find a way to make it the center of town again—a place where people want to spend time, like in the old days. Lucy dreams up a solution that could resuscitate the family business and help the environment, too. But will Lucy’s family stop fighting long enough to listen to a seventh-grader?   In a starred review, Kirkus said this novel “successfully delivers an authentic and endearing portrait of the not-quite-teen experience,” and Booklist called it “a warm, uplifting debut.” Readers everywhere have responded to Lucy’s independence and initiative—not to mention her great style.

Synopsis:

Somewhere in South America at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of Mr. Hosokawa, a powerful Japanese businessman. Roxanne Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening until a band of terrorists breaks in, taking the entire party hostage.

But what begins as a life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different. Friendship, compassion, and the chance for great love lead the characters to forget the real danger that has been set in motion and cannot be stopped.

Ann Patchett has written a novel that is as lyrical and profound as it is unforgettable. Bel Canto is a virtuoso performance by one of our best and most important writers.

Everyone's thoughts?