The Top 10 Most Important Books I've Read

My incredible sister challenged me to write about the top ten most important/influential/inspiring books I have read. She put it up on her blog, which she would always tell me about but I never actually knew what it was until now, and now I'm blog-stalking her. Mua ha ha!

Anyways, I've always loved reading and have always wanted to write books, but creating this list was actually incredibly hard. It would be a million time easier for me to write about the most important songs in my life. I think I connect with music in a very different way than I do with books. So I thought about it all day and stole a lot of the books from my sister's list, but I think I've made a pretty complete list of the books that have helped me most in my life. It's random and some of them may seem odd, but these are my favorites all for very different reasons.

1. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom --This is perhaps one of my favorite books of all time. If you haven't read it, it's about a dying man teaching one of his past students about life. It's honestly one of the most beautiful and inspiring books I've ever read. I really think it taught be about life and living life to the fullest. 
2. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare --For a very long time I told people this was my favorite book, and that's still mostly true. I love this story so much because it's pretty much what every love story is based on, but this is the first and the best. There's something about a tragic love story that I just love so much (which remind me, it's Halloween time, so go watch my favorite movie: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog)
3. Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling --Currently at work I'm listening to the audio-books of the whole Harry Potter series. I believe these books are some of the greatest, most well written books ever written. I honestly love them so much (although not as much as my sister) and they were the first books as a kid that I truly fell in love with. In elementary school I had a Harry Potter club with two of my friends and it helped us bond in a very special way. I love Harry Potter and the way these books helped me grow up. Harry and I grew up together and I will always love these books in a very special way. 
4. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss --Every Christmas Eve my siblings and I read this book together and it's my most favorite holiday tradition and something I want to keep up with my future children. This book is a beautiful story of the true meaning of Christmas, and about life. It's not about gifts and material things, it's about family, friends, and about love. That's a lesson that I love to be reminded of every Christmas. 
5. The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye --I read this book over and over again as a child because I always have been, and probably always will be, obsessed with princesses. I love reading stories about princesses. And in this story she has brown hair like me and doesn't care about being a princess, she just want to live a normal and ordinary life, but she's still a princess and still incredibly special. I love this book. 
6. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins --I have a very weird dark side. I love reading about pain and death sometimes. All my most favorite songs are super depressing and my husband thinks I'm super weird because of it. This book gives me so many feels! I love that it's brutal and honest and there's no sympathy there. Life is brutal and hard and not all stories and chapters in our lives have happy endings. I honestly love this book, and think I love the movies even more. I'm literally freaking out over Mocking Jay trailers! 
7. Chicken Soup for the Kid's Soul --This is another book I read multiple times as a child. It has 101 different stories about real life. And I truly feel this book taught me more about life than any other book. It taught me about heartache and pain, about joy, about being grateful, about family, about friends, about life! I love this book. 
8. Emeralds and Espionage by Lynn Gardner --This one may seem weird, but it was the first book I read about adults and about real love. My dumb teenage self learned a lot from this book about love and not to settle for anyone who doesn't believe in my morals and they must treat me like a princess. And that's exactly what I got. 
9. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green --I didn't read this book until this summer, but as soon as I was done, bawling my eyes out, I felt that it was one of the greatest books I had ever read. This book is so real, so raw, painful, and beautiful. I enjoyed it so much and am scared to see the movie because it's impossible for it to live up to what the book brought me, but it will make me sob for hours. 
10. Divergent by Veronica Roth --I've reread this book so many times and seen the movie so many times. I don't know what it is. I love this book. I hate the third one, but I love this book. I think it is an incredible view of female empowerment. I can be powerful and strong and brave. I love that this book reminds me of that. 

What are the top 10 books that are most important to you?

Let me know in the comments below! 

I'm Not Perfect

Lately I've been really frustrated with myself for not writing on this blog and for not cleaning my apartment as much as I should and for not having it decorated all fancy like other couples my age. I just get really angry with myself. I always have been my own worst enemy. It's something that has caused very real problems for me in my life when dealing with my depression.

But I think it's time to get very real with myself. I won't always be able to accomplish the things I set out to do. I won't always have a clean house. My life won't ever be stress free. I won't ever have enough money in the world to buy everything I want. I may never figure out what I want to do with my life.... but that's okay.

Because I'm not perfect.

And I don't think that I should ever expect that from myself. I struggle a lot with thinking my life has to be perfect, but it doesn't have to be, it probably never will be, and I've decided to accept that about myself.

I'm not perfect and I never will be, but I can always work hard every day to be the best person I can be. My goal in life is to do the things that make me happiest. Maybe perfection doesn't belong in my life.

Random Thoughts

Sometimes I just like to write random thoughts that pop into my head, because... why not.

-I miss my beta fish. Juan and Sassy. They were awesome and then I gave them to my brother out of kindness and because I knew they wouldn't survive the trip to Texas, and within a month he killed them both. He told me Sassy died through a Snapchat and never told me Juan died. Stupid Snapchat. I had ten seconds to see my gay fish for the last time...

-I keep forgetting my new address. But give me a break. Chris and I have been married a year and a half and this is our fourth apartment. UGH! As much as I want to move out of Logan, I also don't want to move again for a while.

-Lately I've been obsessed with New Girl, because it's awesome. My favorite quote from this show is: "I just want to listen to Taylor Swift alone." Story of my life. :) But I also love Zooey Deschanel. She might be my next "Style Icon" on this blog.

-Speaking of Taylor Swift, I don't believe I've mentioned on this blog just how OBSESSED I am with her new song. And the music video. She's such an awkward dancer and I love it. And I know this song came out months ago and she just released a newer one, but still so obsessed. Taylor Swift will always be one of my favorites.

-I also don't believe I've mention specifically on my blog that my brother-in-law is getting married next month. It was on my Twitter and Instagram and maybe my Facebook, but I don't think I put it on the blog. Remember last year when I posted about my "new brother"? Well it's that brother, Sheldon. He's marrying this girl named Aubrey who is awesome and we're already like sisters and I helped her pick out her wedding dress and she is going to look FABULOUS!!! Seriously, that dress is amazing on her. Sheldon and Aubrey are also the newest members of "the dancing cow family" (AKA, liking my Facebook page), so they deserve a shout out for their awesomeness. Thank you!

-I just really want to dye my hair. I messed it up and it turned red and now my roots are growing in and it looks weird. I have a $50 gift card that can be used at over 100 spas and salons across the U.S. but none of those are in Logan. So lame. So either I have to pay full price and use my gift card at a later date or drive to Ogden to get my hair done, but with gas money I'm pretty sure that just makes it cost more. So annoyed right now.

-I love Lego video games. I played Lego Star Wars for like... two weeks, and now we're on the Lego Movie Lego game. It's awesome.

-I miss Avatar. Not the stupid blue people movie which I hate, Avatar: The Last Airbender. I watched two episodes last night and I'm just sad that it doesn't really exist anymore. Because honestly, that it one of the greatest shows there ever was and it's my favorite. It will always be one of my favorites and I am going to raise my kids to watch it all the time. In fact, it may be the only show I'll allow them to watch.

-I love fall!! But it's always so short in Utah I don't get to fully enjoy it before the snow comes. But I just love pumpkins. We bought a little pumpkin and it's adorable and I love it.

-Well I don't really have any more random thoughts for today. I think I'm going to go shopping now. And by shopping I mean, explore the mall and not spend any money.

Style Icon: The Kardashians

This summer I became kind of addicted to watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians. I'm only slightly ashamed. Honestly it's funny, okay, some of it is totally staged and I think it's funny. But also, it makes me want to be rich and steal their closets, because they dress wonderfully.

I cannot chose a specific a specific Kardashian to highlight in this post, so this post is about all of them. They always look classy and rich even when sometimes they're just wearing a plain t-shirt. Sure they have expensive tastes that I will never be able to afford, but some of what they wear could be able to find in cheaper places. Those are the outfits I'm going to highlight today.

I think I like Kortney the best actually. I love how she's a mother and has a little family and she seems to dress more casual than her sisters. 

One of the main reasons I love the Kardashians is because they aren't your typical stick-figure celebrities. They have butts, they have boobs, and they aren't afraid of their curves, they flaunt them and it's gorgeous! Honestly, Kim and Khloe may not be the best role models in their life decisions all the time, but I would feel a lot better about the world if more girls aspired to look like the Kardashians and not be afraid of flaunting their curves. 

Cue mine and Chris's new favorite song:

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the Kardashian version of my style icons. To check out my other style icons CLICK HERE. Sorry there were so many pictures! They are just too fashionable!! 

This is Not a Fashion Blog

I find it funny that some of the most popular posts I write on this blog are my "fashion" posts. Because first and foremost this is a lifestyle blog, where I write about anything and everything that I feel like.

This is not a fashion blog.

This is a blog where I write about what I know and what I feel. I like clothes and I like looking at different styles on Pinterest and I like shopping (but never get to because I'm broke), so I enjoy sharing my personal style, whether or not people actually find it "fashionable". But that doesn't make this a fashion blog.

I love writing and reading so I write about that. I like television and movies. I like date nights with my husband. I like being LDS. I like telling stories. I like wearing makeup and playing with my hair. I like my life and that's what this blog is about. It's about me and my life. It doesn't fit into one category, it's a little bit of everything.

This blog is simply me.

Navy

So I've been curling my hair like this every day now. I love it! If you follow me on Instagram (which, why wouldn't you?) you may know that back in July I tried dying my own hair for the first time. It was supposed to be black and it turned out kind of red. And I liked it for a few days but then it faded weird and now it's just this weird orangey color. Although, I'm just more dramatic, no one else finds it as weird as I do. But I'm planning on dying my hair soon. 

So I love this outfit!! Navy is one of my favorite colors to wear, I always think it looks good on me and it's the only other color in my closet besides black. Ha ha. Sadly, that's mostly true. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this outfit because I sure do! And I love doing my hair like this!! 

Shirt: Kohls, Skirt: Walmart, Boots: Ross, Necklace: The Alamo!

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Zoo

So during my lunch break Chris usually visits me and brings me food. This particular day we ate Subway by the zoo! I always love zoos, they're probably my favorite places in the world. Zoos and aquariums. Yep. Also, I'm wearing my work badge in the pictures. I forgot to take it off. 

Shoes: Blowfish, Skirt: Costco, Shirt: H&M, Cardigan: Target

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What I'm Doing With My Life

Some of you may recall back in February when I wrote a post called "I Hate College" and the second part of it "I Greatly Dislike College". You can click on the links if your interested, but basically all they talked about was how much I hate college. It makes me depressed, I get incredibly stressed out, and I struggle with getting good grades... a lot. College makes me feel stupid when it should be making me feel smarter and smarter each year.

Because of my very strong opinions about college, a few of you have recently asked me if I'm still in college. I talked briefly about my new job and how I work full time but I never really explained why I'm working full time and no longer going to school. So here is a brief summary of what I'm doing with my life:

I don't know. 

Pretty much I decided that I'm done feeling depressed all the time. My depression isn't something that just goes away, I have to face it all the time. Even during the happiest moments of my life I'm still clouded over with my depression. But having dealt with it for a while, I've learned that I can fight my depression a lot better if I'm in those happy moment. 

I decided that I would stop doing things that make me unhappy and focus my life on what brings me joy. Writing brings me joy, so I've been writing in my books a lot. Working brings me joy because I feel like I'm actually doing something positive for myself, my husband, and our future. Blogging brings me joy, but you wouldn't know since I've been the worst blogger for the past few months and haven't written anything (sorry). 

But college never once brought me joy. I spent four years in college and it just kept getting worse and worse. But another important factor, I didn't even feel like I was in the right major! I couldn't keep subjecting myself to being miserable and putting myself in debt for something I didn't want. 

I'm not saying I'm giving up on college forever. There is a great chance I will go back someday and finish what I've started... once I figure out exactly it is I want to do. 

All I know is that I want to be a writer, and I've found that I can still write just fine without knowing how to analyze a Shakespearean soliloquy in ten pages. Even though I love most Shakespeare plays, I don't find it necessary to beat one line into the ground over and over again trying to analyze every single letter! As long as I understand it and enjoy the story, aren't I fulfilling Shakespeare's intention? I love reading but I get so annoyed analyzing every little detail of books and writing about it for pages and pages. 

Basically, I don't know what I'm doing with my life. I expect my life to be an adventure and I don't really want to confine myself to one thing. When I figure out my life calling I will probably go back to college, but for now I'm enjoying working and writing and spending time with my husband. I love my life and I'm having fun just being happy and letting it take me wherever. 

Besides, I did earn my associates degree, so that's something, right?