Posts Under Newsworthy Category
Are there any bookstores open after midnight? Seriously, because I don’t think I can wait any longer – aka until tomorrow afternoon sometime – to get and read the new Sweet Valley Confidential book. I’ve been waiting long enough (uh, since I heard about it!)
I started reading Sweet Valley books when I was 7 or 8; and fell in love. As an advanced reader, I remember I had to get permission to rent books off the intermediate book shelves at school; including Sweet Valley books. Once I read all the Sweet Valley Twins books, I was SERIOUSLY itching to read the Sweet Valley High books. My mom forbade me from reading them, deeming me “too young” (and she was probably right, ’cause I’m pretty sure I was 9 or 10 at the time). Then one day, when we were at the library, I grabbed the nearest SVH book, started reading it, and when I heard my mom coming ran to the bathroom where I hid. For almost an hour. Until finally she banged on the door enough to get me to come out, where I was trying to hide the book under my shirt so I wouldn’t get in trouble. Long story short, I got caught, and she had to explain to the librarian that no, I wasn’t trying to steal and/or ruin the book – I wasn’t allowed to read them. Some kids play with fire, some sneak out, some don’t do their homework or get in trouble at school – but no, my worst crime at 11 was trying to read a book. Rebel, rebel.
Moving on, I eventually was allowed to read SVH books, and even got into the Sweet Valley University books. To say the Wakefield twins and Sweet Valley were an important part of my childhood is an understatement. In 1996, you were either a Babysitter Club fan, or a Sweet Valley fan – and I was 110% into those books.
I even had an Elizabeth doll (my younger sister had the Jessica doll) complete with an SVH letter jacket – my grandmother brought them back for us from Florida, as they were never sold in Canada. There was a short-lived TV series, and it sucked, but I watched it anyways.
I grew up with these books – as most girls my age did – so you can imagine how friggin’ EXCITED I am for this book to come out. (In case you missed it, the answer is a loud VERY!)
The guise is this is 10 years later, and the twins are all grown up. They’re both 27, and I think that’s another reason I’m so excited for this book – I’m 25, and it really feels like they’re old friends I’m about to reconnect with. I was reading SVH when I was around the same age as them. And now, I get to read a whole new book – and still be able to relate.
A few lucky people have gotten their hands on copies early; and the comments I’m hearing are only making me that much more excited:
“This entire book really just made me want to punch Jessica’s face in!” and “Some things never change, Elizabeth is STILL so uptight”
Uhm, yes please!
If I had to fathom a guess, between the YouTube videos the publisher is pumping out, and the free first chapter that’s available to read - I’m going with Jessica stole (and is possibly marrying?) Elizabeth’s guy. And it must be Todd, right? How many times has Jessica tried to steal Todd (or any other guy Elizabeth is dating for that matter). Because what else could be the “ultimate betrayal”, coupled with the tease that one twin is getting married? Jessica HAS always been boy crazy, and often disregards other people’s feelings – especially Elizabeth’s. Don’t come hunt me down if it turns out I’m right and just ruined it for you, ’cause that’s a TOTAL shot-in-the-dark-guess.
I really am about to explode waiting for this book – it was bad a few weeks ago after I read the first chapter; but now that it’s SO CLOSE it’s killing me. I’m grabbing a copy tomorrow afternoon as soon as I am free from my morning engagements… so, uh, don’t expect me to answer my phone, tweet, or Facebook until it’s finished. Which will probably only take a few hours or so, but still. EXCITED!
“I wonder where the flowers is!”
52 Weeks: Week Twelve
This picture is dedicated to the crazy Canadian weather we had this week.
It was beautifully warm last week – I even busted out my new leather jacket I got for Christmas and have been dying to wear.
Then, last week, I heard an old, interesting proverb – it goes something like this: “A late Easter, a long cold spring”
I probably shouldn’t have laughed and said, “yeah, right!” when I realized Easter was, in fact, late this year.
A few days later, I heard it was going to get cold. Really cold. Next thing I know, I’m waking up and there’s a full fledged snow storm going on outside my window.
Sigh. You’ll have to wait a few more weeks to get planted, tulips.
(and yes, I AM sitting on a metal bench covered in snow, and yes, it WAS very cold ;)
As a sidenote – I never blogged my week 11 photo, as I was really behind/busy; and next thing I knew I was already on Week 12! I also felt it might be a tad redundant, since the photo is of me with one of my Irish Car Bomb cupcakes… and I already blogged about them a few days ago. So if you really wanna see my week 11 photo, just follow the link up there :)
Outtake:
I didn’t like the processing on this one as much, or the way I’m sitting and looking at the flowers. I felt the over all tone in this one was more serene, and happy – like I’m enjoying a nice spring day, not that’s I’m grumpy it’s -7 and just snowed. I think the one I chose to be my Week 12 photo captures my disdain much more effectively.
About 52 Weeks: I’ve decided I’m doing the 52 Week Photography Challenge this year. 52 weeks, one picture a week – each a self portrait.
“She was told, if she folded 1,000 paper cranes the gods would grant her wish, she wished to get well, … She ended up folding 644 cranes before she died.” –Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata
I read this book when I was a little girl – I think maybe in grade two or three. I remember learning how to fold paper cranes, and we tied them to string and they dangled from the ceiling in the classroom and opened the windows – they blew in the breeze like they were flying away somewhere.
They say cranes live to be 1,000 years – and if you fold one crane for each year of their life your wish would be granted. The “she” in the story is a young girl who has leukemia after Hiroshima. She begins to fold paper cranes; and at first, she folds them to wish for life. But soon, she begins to wish for world peace and happiness after realizing everyone has hardships.
While she died before completing the cranes, her classmates and friends finished them for her.
It’s a story that sticks with you. And when I stumbled across the “1,000 Cranes for Japan” photography project, I knew I had to take part.
“I think it would be a beautiful show of support and love for Japan if flickr was flooded with paper cranes.”
There’s almost 900 photos in the group so far – so they’ll be reaching 1,000 any day now.
Other Crane Projects
Students Rebuild is collecting 100,000 paper cranes, and once they get them, they plan to weave them into an art installation. Even better, the Bezos Family Foundation has agreed to donate $2 for each crane they receive (up to a maximum of $200,000) to Architecture for Humanity’s reconstruction efforts in Japan.
The Miya Company is collecting photographs of 1,000 cranes to make a wish for continued strength, peace, and eternal hope for those in Japan. For each crane of the 1,000 they’re collecting, Miya Company will donate $5 to Save the Children for Japan’s relief and recovery.
If you want to make your own crane for one of these projects, I found a really great explanation with photos.
“Aged”
52 Weeks: Week Nine
The prompt for this week’s Focus52 was “aged”, and I was inspired to recreate a childhood photo.
Out of the few I had on my computer, I decided to do a school “mug” shot from 1993. I’m not going to lie, part of the reason was because this was the ONLY outfit from my childhood photos I could possibly recreate on short notice without a shopping trip… seriously, my pictures are filled with plaid frocks, jumpers, puffy sleeves and giant collars. Thanks, Mom.
You can see the original photo below.
Bangs are courtesy of photoshop, and a stark reminder why I will never, ever try anything other than side swept bangs. I’ve been thinking about jumping on the bang wagon recently – nuh uh, no way! Thanks for the reminder 1993 :)
Original Photo (straight from 1993!):
***I’m playing catch up this week – I kept up with taking photos, however am behind on posting them as I was in Europe from Feb 17-March 3… and was sick the week after! And also busy sorting through and processing 1,250 Europe pictures – which I am still working on!
About 52 Weeks: I’ve decided I’m doing the 52 Week Photography Challenge this year. 52 weeks, one picture a week – each a self portrait.
“Planning Paris”
52 Weeks: Week Eight
Just like the title says – a Tuesday evening in Paris, France after an exhausting day of sightseeing… studying the map and planning our plan of attack for the next day.
This was taken at our “hotel” (it was more like a hostel) in the heart of Paris… after our original hotel “lost” our booking (we think they gave it away, as we didn’t try to check in until 8:30pm) and had to find different accommodations. The initial hotel was at least very helpful, though the woman didn’t speak english – so she spoke to her daughter in french, who typed what she was saying into google translate and then she read it back to us in English! Clever, I thought.
***I’m playing catch up this week – I kept up with taking photos, however am behind on posting them as I was in Europe from Feb 17-March 3… and was sick the week after! And also busy sorting through and processing 1,250 Europe pictures – which I am still working on!
About 52 Weeks: I’ve decided I’m doing the 52 Week Photography Challenge this year. 52 weeks, one picture a week – each a self portrait.
