Toodles!

I'm headed to the mountains of western Virginia for the weekend! I'll be back on Sunday. I'm going to visit my friend Katie from school :o) In the meantime, here's a photo of my Katie's parents' farm! Sorry for the odd border and old timey style... I did it up for a calendar and it's the only copy I had on hand! Read more...

Review: Viva Lost David and Signed Book Giveaway!

On the surface, David Vermillion seems like your typical 21-year old- fresh out of college and unable to find a job. After years of hard work in undergrad, David is more than a little put off by the lack of progress he’s made since graduating. To make things worse, David’s boyfriend, Boy Red, declares that he’s moving to Vegas.

Deciding that he needs a change of scenery, David makes the decision to go to Vegas. Aside from going after Boy Red, it’s an opportunity for David to reinvent himself. Considered an “old soul”, he has always been behind the times in terms of music and entertainment. After moving out to Vegas, David cuts his hair, changes his wardrobe, and immerses himself in pop culture in an effort to make the “New David” more like other people his age.

David’s move to Vegas turns out to be quite an adventure- rooming with a crazy ex-supermodel, dating a rock star, and more! Living on the strip, he works simple day jobs while spending the evenings hanging out at the coolest clubs and bars. Living the fast life is great, but David realizes he has to return to real life eventually. Law school still beckons, and his family and friends in New York miss him. David knows his Vegas adventure won’t last forever, but he intends to discover who he is and what he wants from life before he’s done.

This book was great! Viva Lost David is a book about self-discovery… When David begins his “adventure”, he defines himself by his relationships and his taste in style and music. During his time in Vegas, he completely changes who he is and immerses himself in relationships that are riddled with red flags. By the end of the story, he comes to realize how superficial it all is and how he doesn’t want to be someone else- he wants to be David. Just David. The story has a great message about staying true to your own colors, even if it means going against the mainstream.

The cover design is eye catching and definitely fits the story. The background is purple, which is David’s favorite color, and the Vegas style sign gives a good indication of where the story takes place (as if the title doesn’t). The drawing of David making the shape of a heart with his hands conveys the idea that he is looking for love (a feeling that can be easily be shared by anyone!). The story itself is incredibly well written. Character interactions are interesting and meaningful and there are no unresolved plot elements. The book had a little of everything- adventure, self discovery, romance, and more! I particularly liked that David’s love life was alluded to without getting into the raunchy details that some romantic tales tend to give. I thought it was very tastefully written.

The characters you encounter are an incredibly colorful bunch! David works the counter in one of the hotels on the Strip, and later in a hostel, both of which provide interaction with all manner of tourists and hotel employees. Yvette, David’s first roommate, is an aging ex-supermodel who is tragically trying to hang onto her glamorous lifestyle. David dates a number of guys, ranging from the clingy French tourist to the closeted rock star. The characters all contribute to the story, providing experiences for David that help shape who he becomes during his time in Vegas.

David’s adventure is the sort that all 20-somethings dream of- faced with the choice of more school or becoming a career person, he chose instead to break away and experience life. During his adventure, he was able to reinvent himself and break free of the mold he had fallen into, allowing him to experience relationships and events that he would never have encountered in his previous life. It’s so easy to become caught up in life and growing up that we don’t often stop to enjoy it. There is a short period in life where an individual is young enough and free enough from the obligations of adulthood to take a break and have some fun, and David seizes the opportunity. On a whim, he chose to leave his family and friends behind to go out in the world and find himself. Personally, I envy his courage.



Win a Signed Copy!

Entering is easy! All you have to do is post a comment! The giveaway ends on March 24th and the winner will be announced March 25th! (U.S. Only please!)

I am not requiring anyone to follow my blog to win! However, I will not be contacting the winner! You have to check back to see if you've won! Therefore, following would probably be to your benefit, but it's not required. Winner will be announced March 25th and will have 48 hours to contact me before the book goes into the Book Box!

*I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. The author also provided a copy for a giveaway.

Read more...

What have you Stumbled Upon lately?

Does anyone do StumbleUpon? I love that button! Whenever I'm bored I stumble around to all sorts of random sites! Here are a few incredibly awesome sites I've come across that I think you'd like to look at...

1. Kez atveres- This is just a random page of images, but it'll blow your mind! The images are all animals done with painted hands! Personally I love the elephants, but I think it's because the texture of the hand is perfect for the image. You should totally check this out!

2. Short Story- I'm sure you've seen this one, but it's still incredibly funny. Talk about a creative mind!

3. Harry Potter Group Portrait- You may have seen this... someone made this drawing a while back and it's always been a personal favorite. If you like Harry Potter, you'll totally appreciate it. There are a bunch of similar images out there, but this is my favorite!

4. Answering Machine Messages- Trying to think of what to say on your answering machine/voicemail recording? Some of these are hilarious! Someone compiled four pages of things you can say, such as:

"Hi. This is John:
If you are the phone company, I already sent the money.
If you are my parents, please send money.
If you are my financial aid institution, you didn't lend me enough money.
If you are my friends, you owe me money.
If you are a female, don't worry, I have plenty of money."

5. Bad Parking Note- This is hilarious... I left a note once. Someone was taking 2 spots and they were the only available spots on campus. So I grabbed a chalk pen out of my glovebox (I honestly don't know why it was living in there) and wrote "LEARN TO PARK" all over the windows. I promise this person's note is much funnier than mine! --In case you have trouble reading the note, I'll type up what it says in the comments.

6. "Wash Me" Taken To A New Level- Scott Wade lives on a dirt road that constantly leaves his Mini Cooper's rear window in serious need of a bath. Instead of tracing "Wash Me" into the dirt, he creates a work of art! Paying homage to the great works of other artists, he makes some awesome stuff! This is a homage to Van Gogh's "Starry Night" and Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa".

7. Survival of the Fittest M&Ms- This is an awesome post which I occasionally read for a good laugh. In fact, I've started doing this myself, although I don't keep the survivor. They all end up eaten... I apparently lack the necessary restraint to not eat the last piece of chocolate.

8. 65 Awesome Treadless Shirts- Threadless.com is a site where people can submit designs to be printed onto shirts. This person compiled a bunch of designs they thought were awesome. I'll be honest and say I don't get some of them, but others are really awesome! I love the "Sky Scrapers" and the Tan Panda designs! This design is pretty awesome... At the bottom is all looks like trees in a forest but as it reaches the top it converts into a bunch of buildings. Symbolic? Perhaps...

9. Best Movie Mistakes- People vote on this site and a ranking lists the top movie mistakes of all time! I love reading about errors (does it bug anyone else that Noah says, "Dad and I used to lay here and watch the light change from green to red to yellow" in The Notebook???)! In fourth place- "Just as Jack says, "On deck, you scabrous dogs," to the very left edge of the screen over Jack's shoulder is a grip crew member with a tan cowboy hat, white short sleeve tee shirt and sunglasses, just standing there looking out to sea." I love that this site even includes images of each mistake!

10. Creative Mug Designs- Some completely awesome mug designs! I love the camera lens and the anamorphic cups! I don't think these are all legit designs (I don't think you can actually find a camera lens mug) but the idea is totally awesome! Talk about taking your work home with you!

Very cool stuff, eh??? I love Stumble!!! If you have Stumble, be my Stumble friend! I'm VaBookworm87 (I know, who's surprised?)!

Read more...

Assassin's Creed II

Don't you just love that fantastic feeling when you remove something from your to-do list??? And don't you just dispse that sinking feeling as you add two more things in its place? That seems to be the way of my life lately... The to-do list never shrinks, no matter how much I do!!! It's insane!!!

And worse off, I made the error of opening my Assassin's Creed II box... I'm completely addicted! I actually got so wrapped up in it that I forgot to study for my Micro midterm until the night before... I've never in my life crammed the night before an exam and I will NEVER do it again either! It was awful! But on a miraculous note, I got a 97!!!

So this Assassin's Creed II game- AMAZING! And a tad nostalgic... the whole thing is in Italian cities (2 primaries including Florence and Rome). The whole time I'm running around in the game I'm like, "Oh... I miss Florence! Oh look! The Duomo!" It's so sad!

It's probably totally weird to think this, but the main character, Ezio, is a total hottie! He's totally rocking the tall dark and handsome Italian thing! That's him to the left. He has really nice hair too... too bad it's always under a hood once he gets into the assassin thing.

Apparently Ubisoft even made a mini movie that was released in three parts. I've embedded the first, which is actually really awesome! I'm assuming the actors used were the models for the characters, because they all look identical. I'm going to watch the other two parts now :o) Too bad it's only a mini movie!

I loved the first game, and this second one definitely didn't disappoint! You should totally check it out if you're into gaming. If you've got kids who play- it's an incredibly violent game, so that'll be a parental unit decision whether you let your kid play :o)

Read more...

Busy busy busy!

Socializing is exhausting! I'm the type of person who can socialize for a couple of hours and then needs about 12 hours to recharge. I had an incredibly busy weekend... And spent a ton of time with people. It was fun, don't get me wrong! But now I'm ready for a day of chillin' on my own :o)

On Saturday I had a baseball game which was a total nightmare! The umps were in training, so they kept making incorrect calls, missing calls, and stopping the game to confer with each other and their trainer. They had no idea who the home team was, what the score was, or what inning we were in! It was awful! And to top it all off, it was freezing outside, and my face still managed to sunburn!

Afterwards, one of my student athletic trainers and I decided to hang out. We played a board game for a bit and then we went over to my brother's house. We planned on doing a late lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings and hitting up some putt putt at the ocean front. B.Dubs was good, and Tuna (my student) works at one so she got us a discount. Putt putt was... interesting. The place was an indoor course called Top Gun Putt Putt. We determined it's more or less based on the concept of Top Gun and not the movie, because there wasn't anything related to the movie decorating the place. It was incredibly cheesy, but we still had fun. Big brother was creamed, but I beat Tuna by only a couple of strokes so it was a tight game.

I crashed at big brother's house and spent part of the night playing Assassins Creed II. When I woke up I played some more (I was bored and brother wasn't awake yet!). And then we went to the shooting range with a friend. I shot big brother's rifle. The image on the left is shooting at 50 yards while standing, which I discovered is exhausting and almost impossible to stabilize! The image on the right was shooting at 50 yards while sitting.

After shooting big brother and I went out for delicious pizza! Atlas pizza over by his house is this little local owned place but it has incredible pizza! And then I played more Assassin's Creed at his house (Ok- it's a sickness).

When I got home, I noticed one of my fish looked like she was about to drop babies. I had promised myself I was done saving babies (my baby tank has about 100 fry swimming about in it) but I couldn't control myself and I tossed her into the breeder basket... When I came back an hour later, she was done having babies so I placed her back in the tank. Needless to say, she dropped 75 fry! So in one fell swoop my fry count doubled... oops! I suppose I'll have to start finding homes for the older fry (who are approx. 2 months old now)! But yeah, here are all the new fry --->

Anyone need a fish? Read more...