B is for Books!

I love reading- especially fantasy books. I know I mention books on here a lot and pretty recently but I think reading and writing is wonderful and I have so much fun escaping to the world of fantasy. Fantasy is my favorite genre because I love to escape into a world where magic is ordinary and true love in inevitable. Here is a list of some of my favorite books, books that I will read over and over again!

First: My all time favorite book! I always love telling the story of reading the last book in the series and bawling my eyes out it was so powerful! Everyone has to read this book at some point in life if only to gain an opinion of this incredible book who made thousands of kids turn off the tv and open a book.

I can't tell you how many times I've gone to the closet and picked up this book heading to my favorite parts. My parents bought this for me when they went on a trip to Atlanta and I believe they were near or in Margaret Mitchell's house (she wasn't home:) I love this story and I find it presents a completely unapologetic view of the south. Its interesting and romantic.
I recently read this book and thought it was amazing! It was so cute and I wish I had it when I was about 12! I also wish I had a real Princess Academy! I bet tuition would be expensive though.
This is a great book! I love the language and the naritive. It is very mystical and beautiful and I would recommend it for anyone who needs a good escape from life.
Beautiful story! I love Victor Hugo- one of my favorite authors. I read this in High School and am planning on reading it again in a couple weeks.
This is my guilty pleasure. If you plan on reading it, plan on stoping at one or at least three. This is a great story and I think it gets a bad rap but its actually awesome.

When I said that Harry Potter was my favorite I should have included that this book is my most beloved. I have read it more than any other book and its thanks to my dad for reading it to me every Christmas. I'm looking forward to picking it up again this year...I even have it on my ipod so I think I'll listen to it with Adam.

Adam Turney: A book that I read during a college English course is Blindness by Jose Saramago. This book is the most amazing book I have ever held in my hands. The author is from Portugal so it is translated to English. The writing style is like nothing I have seen before. He does not use punctation like a formal writer does. Paragraphs will span several pages at at time. But it is the content of the book that touched me. It examines human nature and how people behave when placed in dire situations. I honestly have a difficult time explaining how amazing this reading experience is. The material is thought provoking and often had me wondering how I would have reacted in the same situation. This is a book I recommend to everyone that loves reading genuinely amazing literature.

Yes on Proposition 8

Tonight I took a list from the Vote Yes on Proposition 8 campaign and made phone calls to people in Hesperia California. For those of you who don't know- Proposition 8 states: "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California."

The reason why I did this is because it is a cause I strongly believe in. It happened in Massachusetts and now it is happening in California. The point is we are Americans living in America and where it happens in one state it will trickle to another and another.

Both Obama and McCain support this proposition. People wonder why others would want to impose on others rights. First of all, I believe that every child should be born to a loving mother and father. Second, I don't want my kids to grow up and be taught in the school system that homosexual marriage is natural and right. Most of all I stand by the Prophets and by

The Family: A Proclamation to the World

The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners.

**I must amend my previous post*** My Sweet Auntie pointed out to me that Senator Obama is not in fact in favor of Prop 8. What I read was the following quote...which cut off where it ceases to be bold: "I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I am not in favor of gay marriage. But when you start playing around with constitutions, just to prohibit somebody who cares about another person, it just seems to me that's not what America's about. Usually, our constitutions expand liberties, they don't contract them." In short- Its a political sell out. He's not in favor of the proposition even being in place because of the changing of the California constitution to read that marriage is between a man and a woman. McCain also took the sell out stance saying: "As I did in my home state of Arizona, I support the effort in California to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. However, the people of California will ultimately decide this issue, and I’ll of course respect the decision of the voters." So in other words from both candidates: "Hey I'm just trying to win an election here...don't ask the hard questions"

A is for ART!

I am an Art History NERD! Ever since I can remember I've always looked up to people who know about Art with respect. I was always impressed when people could pick out the difference between a Monet and a Renoir or a Da Vinci vs Michelangelo. My mom instilled in my a love for beautiful things and for some reason I associated refinement and beauty with Art. Sophomore year of High School I took a humanities class which enabled me to learn of the different artists and their work. The next year I took Art History which I threw myself into. My favorite type of art would be Renaissance art, followed closely by impressionism.

The thing I love most about art is the story of each piece. I find I love to hear the history of the master piece more than just looking at it. If there is a picture of a marriage I want to know who is getting married and if they lived happily ever after, if there is a picture of a funeral I want to know how they died and if they were loved in life. I love to know the stories of the artists. I loved learning of one of my favorite artists Artimesia Gentileschi who was raped and forever more took it out by painting strong women defeating men such as this painting of Judith slaying Holofernes:

I love the loneliness expressed in Vincent Van Gogh's paintings- such a lonely soul who was so talented.


I love Renoir because his paintings remind me of my mom. She got the painting of the girl with the watering can on a trip and I like to think that she knew she would have a little blond girl one day.

I love Manet for painting a naked woman in this painting because it needed a splash of neutral color to contrast the darkness. Leave it to a man to think: "I know what can contrast this darkness! A Naked Woman!"
I love Monet because of his colors, and basically because he is impressionism. Of all the impressionists I think I like his work the best.

Of course I love Degas who painted until he was blind and when he could paint no more he began sculpting. That is a true artist.

I love Michelangelo for carving his name in the Pieta because he was so proud he wanted the credit- but then regretted it because he'd tagged his create creation. I love him for giving us the Creation on the Sistine Chapel


I love Da Vinci for painting a woman that for the next 500 years people would analyze and dissect and ponder- becoming the most recognized work of art in the history of the world as people tried to analyze what she was thinking but only he realized that you can never tell what a woman is thinking.

I love Art Work...I will never forget the first time I visited the Louvre and I called my mom cause I knew she would be the only one who could really appreciate the moment...and we cried on the phone together, and then I ran off for hours looking for my favorite pieces.

Alpha-Blogging

Since Bree and Steph are doing this I thought I'd hop on board...I thought it was really cute and a fun way to stay blogging during the boring times of life :)

Basically you write a blog for every letter of the Alphabet! Sounds like fun to me so here I go...

(PS...I'd start with A for Adam but I've talked about him a lot recently on this blog so...I'll find something different!)