I wish reading was cool...

I wish reading was cool. Back in my day, it was. Or maybe it's always been cool to me. Now every day I go to work and I'm surrounded by teenagers who would rather watch Jersey Shore than get lost in a good book as I so often spend my nights. 


My sisters and I were the kids that got in trouble for bringing books to the dinner table. I've had a library card for as long as I can remember. At this moment, I have 3 different library cards in my wallet. I'm an avid patron of the library. Last time I was on vacation in the Outer Banks, my sister and I convinced the library down there to let us borrow books while on vacation.

Library books!

Recently I've been sitting in on an 8th grade English class. These students don't know the meaning of words like distinctive. Their teacher urges them to read because that is a way they can expand their vocabulary. These students complain about having to read a novel, a whole novel, in two weeks. Some nights I read for a couple of hours at one time. 


These students live in a world where books are pop culture. They turn books into movies all the time and then these books become popular. They'd rather pay 10 dollars to see the film rather than read the book, then see the film. If they both read the book and watched the film, they can discuss the process of changing a book into a movie and the elements that sometimes get left out. 


Don't get me wrong, I've had several students, mostly high school boys, who will pull books out of their backpacks when they are done with their work. I always tell them I'm glad they like to read. 


I think we should work on bringing reading back. There's nothing I like to do more than escape into a really good book after a long day. I just forget about everything going on in my life and I'm absorbed into the words on the pages. 

My Kindle, Kendall.

So if you haven't lately, pick up a good book. Recommend one to a friend (or to me!). 


The last book I read was Reinventing Mike Lake, which was actually published by a friend of mine I know from my college town. If you need something to read and you have a KIndle or a Kindle app, try it out. It's only 2.99! 


What have you been reading lately? What kind of books do you like to read? 

Weekend Recap

This past weekend was one of those weekends that started off slow and then went full force leaving me wishing that it wasn't over. And that I had time to recover from it.

On Friday as soon as I got home from work, I took a nap. I hadn't slept that well the night before. All the announcing that I had done for the two days of the Central District Track and Field Championships had turned my cold into a mild case of tonsillitis. When I left the meet on Thursday night, my tonsils were so swollen and I had a fever.

So believe me when I say I did a lot of sleeping and laying around on Friday night and Saturday morning through afternoon. At least on Saturday when I went to my mom's boyfriend's house, I had Parenthood to keep me occupied. I am addicted to that show, by the way.

Source

On Saturday, the rest of my family headed up to Fredericksburg because my sisters were participating in the Historic Half Marathon there on Sunday. They left me at home with the dog, the cat, and Lynn.

Lynn had been craving sushi for awhile so we made that our plan for dinner on Saturday night. I had never been to Wabi Sabi, which is vaguely surprising since I have friends that used to go all the time. I guess when I was in high school I wasn't an adventurous eater. One time we went to a sushi restaurant in Richmond, I ordered a cheeseburger.

However, this time I ordered sushi. I had the Philadelphia roll and a tempura shrimp roll. Sushi is so filling and so expensive. I ordered one roll of each and had about half to take home in a box. It made for good lunch at work on Monday!

Sushi: really bad cellphone photo

After Wabi Sabi, we weren't quite ready to call it a night. So we headed where all pretty girls head on to on a Saturday night: Martin's. There we bought the craziest assortment of items. The cashier was totally judging us, between our assorted drinks, breakfast foods, two gallons of ice cream (I'm lactose intolerant and require lactose-free ice cream), chips and dip, and ice cream toppings. Lynn remarked that she probably thought we had just broke up with our boyfriends.

To add fuel to the fire (or well, that argument), we stopped by Redbox and picked out the two sappiest love story movies. Our first choice was Breaking Dawn Pt. 1; the second was Like Crazy, a movie I'd seen previews for but had forgotten about.

While eating massive amounts of junk food, we opted to watch Breaking Dawn first and it didn't make me groan nearly as much as I thought it would. Like Crazy, on the other hand, was not good. At all. I didn't realize it was one of those low budget, creative type movies. And the plot line was flat. I went to bed before it was over. Lynn said it didn't get any better.

Sunday, we got up and we were so tired. But we had plans to get things accomplished! First we had a breakfast of bacon, eggs, cinnamon rolls, and cubed potatoes. Then my family returned from Fredericksburg and then half of them left again to head to Blacksburg because my littlest sister is taking a six-week summer class.

Lynn and I headed to Glen Allen to go to my very first wine tasting, which was super cool. We're still upset that we didn't get to keep the glasses. How lame. Then we headed out to do some shopping at Virginia Center Commons. To finish up our day out, we went and got our nails done.

My new nail polish

When we returned back to Colonial Heights, I got back to my watching of Parenthood and then Lynn somehow convinced me to rewrite my resume. The next thing I knew it was 9:15 and I still had to drive 30 minutes home!

What did you do this past weekend? What are you going to do this weekend?

Sick Start to the Week

Hey loves! I hope your week has gotten off to a good start. Not to complain Mine hasn't started off quite the way I would've wanted it to. 


I'm sick. :(


I absolutely hate being sick. I'm a huge baby when I am sick. If I wasn't doing this long term assignment right now, I'd probably be in bed. 


Seriously, I run away from sick people. When I live with someone who is sick, Lysol becomes my friend. 


My sister just got home from college last week. Apparently, I didn't get the Lysol out fast enough because I caught her cold.


Well when preventative measures don't work, here's how I deal with my cold. 


1. First wave of defense: The magic VapoRub. Something my family swears by and apparently los cubanos do as well. In my house, we each have our own jar by our beds. 

Source

2. Chicken Noodle Soup

3. Medication

4. Naps

5. & 6. Ice Cream with maraschino cherries and Potato Wedges (So I spoil myself a little bit...)

Food Lion Potato Wedges!

What?! It soothes my throat!

What's your best cold remedy?

Growing old is mandatory...

...growing up is optional.

As of 7:04 a.m. Monday (April 23), I am 24 years of age. I'm still young, but I'm not that young. My six-year-old cousin asked me if when I turned 24 if I'd finally be a grown up. I'm still trying to answer that question myself.

I took the day off on Monday because I am lucky enough to have one of those jobs where I can take off whenever I want to (a not real job - another sign that I'm not quite a grown up yet). I slept in, was lazy, was spoiled, and looked cute. All of my favorite things. I'd been getting spoiled since Friday, having been taken out to eat 6 times over the course of 6 days. Some call it spoiled, I think I'll call it loved.

In honor of my 24th birthday and because this is my blog and I do what I want, I will be sharing with you 24 obscure facts you may or may not have known about this Southern Charmer.

1. I didn't learn how to tie my shoes with one loop (you know, the not two-bunny ears way) until college. No lie. And actually this fact, while very much true, was just a sneaky way of getting a photo of my new shoes I got for my birthday on here. =] Like?

2. I have never lived more than 20 miles away from the hospital where I was born, with the exception of the 4 years I was at JMU.

3. I love sunglasses. Especially my white ones. The reason I bought my first pair of white sunglasses is because someone told me that they would not look good on me, that white sunglasses look good on no one. I've been rockin them ever since. And I think I look good doing it.

4. I collect a lot of junk things that I wish I had the space to display. Interesting coins/money from different countries, spoons, Hard Rock Cafe T-Shirts, and postcards are just a couple of things I collect.

5. I was one of those nerdy people in school who liked to take notes. When I write stuff down, I remember it. I am always writing and always making lists. If you looked in my purse now, you'd find my reporter's notebook, full of lists, along with other assorted folded up pieces of paper.

6. I have a  super crazy freaky memory. Ask my friends. I remember facts, dates, events, stuff that no person should remember. It's absurd. I recently received my school records and found an assessment that my first grade teacher had written on me. It said, "Tiffany has an excellent memory."

7. When I went to college, I'd never been away from my family from home for more than a week at one time.

8. My mom thought there was something wrong with me when I was little because I wouldn't talk much. My uncle told her once I started, I'd never stop. That's been the case ever since.

9. At the age of 18, I'd only ever been to four states (and D.C.).

10. I've never spent more than 10 consecutive days outside the state of Virginia.

11.  I like stars. That "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" song? I always get the two middle lines mixed up...every time.

12. Sometimes I eat like a man. Or so, I've been told. I've eaten 5 blueberry muffins in one day. Once I ate 6 medium-size pancakes for breakfast and my cousin called me a pig!


13. I am a procrastinator, which sucks because my whole college major (journalism) is based on deadline. I do work best under pressure. 


14. I didn't write a personal statement to get into JMU. The application said it was optional so I opted not to do it. JMU is so hard to get into now that that would never work again. 


15. I've been into photography since I was little. I made a pinhole camera using directions from my Girl Scout book when I was 9. When I got to use the Sony Mavica when I was in 5th grade, I fell in love with it. I used to visit the camera section of Walmart every time we were there. The memory card for a Mavica was a floppy disk. Yeah, I'm old. 

Source

16. I've never been outside of the Eastern Time Zone. 


17. My friends get me hooked on tv shows so easily. I can't even name all the shows I've seen every episode of. 


18. I've been singing since I was a little girl. I used to make up songs and one Christmas I got a microphone for Christmas. I did chorus in middle school and high school for 4 years. During road trips, I rock out hardcore in my car. The sad thing? I can't sing at all. 

Bad picture because it's a picture of a picture. (December 1990)

19. I love watching the Olympics but they always make me wish I was more athletic. My favorite sports to watch are gymnastics and figure skating. Both are sports I tried after watching the 1996 and 1998 Olympics. I sucked at both. Go figure.


20. I once ate rabbit meat. It tastes like turkey. 


21. I am lactose intolerant. 


22. I didn't get my driver's license until I was 19.


23. 23 is my favorite number!


24. I absolutely love anything JMU. But this isn't really an obscure fact is it?