Sunday, April 30, 2017

April Snapshots


1. I finished my reread of the first two books in the A Court of Thorns and Roses trilogy, gearing up for the release in two days! One of my favorite things to do when rereading my favorite books is to mark my favorite parts and quotes. I've only done this for Sarah J. Maas books and for my Harry Potter books, so tabs in my books signify how important they are to me. 


2. My favorite item in this month's OwlCrate. An exclusive candle from Novelly Yours, that is Simon and Baz inspired. Carry On is another favorite of mine and I was so excited when I received this. /// 3. I found an arc of the first book in The Land of Stories series at a secondhand bookstore, and I couldn't resist and had to get it. I knew it would be a cool addition to my TLOS collection. 


4. A grilled cheese sandwich made mac and cheese! It was so good. /// 5. Fawkes and his puppy cone. A friend and I went to get snow cones and Fawkes got his own treat too. 


6. USA vs. Russia. I saw the USWNT at the beginning of the month. A lot of my favorite players weren't on the pitch, but I still love watching this team play.


7. Sometimes your favorite musician takes 7 years to release new music, so once you get your physical copy in the mail, you freak out a lot. I absolutely love this EP and can't wait to hear more music from the Criss brothers. - Jessica

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Fawkes


Why do puppies have to get big so fast? Fawkes has grown so much since I got him, he's now 7 months old and I can't deal with how fast he's growing. I wanted to take some pictures of him in bluebonnets because these photos of McCoy and Hazel are some of my favorites of them. But with how busy school has been, by the time I got around to taking him out, there wasn't a whole lot of good bluebonnet patches. Plus with how hot it has been getting, every time I tried to place him in front of some bluebonnets he would run to the shade. So here are the photos I managed to get of him...


His derp face gets me so much in the last one. I really need to start taking more photos of him and the other corgs and get back into sharing photos on the corgi blog. I've also been debating lately on setting up an Instagram account for posting photos of Fawkes only, but we will have to see if I can keep one up. - Jessica

Monday, April 17, 2017

Favorite Posts (Part I)


Everyone once and a while I like to browse through old posts, it's a great way to reminisce and sometimes cringe at some of my old photography. I've been in a bit of a blogging stump lately and I wanted to start a new series where I revist some of my favorite posts.

Cyanotypes - I really miss taking darkroom and developing my own photos and prints. One of my favorite classes that I shared on my blog was when we made cyanotypes. One day I'll make cyanotype prints again!

Thank You Harry - My Harry Potter wall is one of my favorite parts of my room and I loved writing about my experience with Harry Potter and a little bit about how it's impacted my life.

Instax Diaries #4 - Instant film is pretty much the only film I shoot now a days, because of how convenient it is. I love each time when I have taken enough instant shots to be able to share them. This post in particular features some of my all time favorite shots I ever taken on Instax film.


Bookshelves (Part 1 and Part 2) - Along with my Harry Potter wall, my bookshelves are another favorite part of my room. And I love looking through my blog and seeing the evolution of my shelves, to how I use to organize everything and especially the volume at which my collection has grown in a relatively short span of time (most of my collection is from the last two years). I'm also really proud that these are two of the most viewed posts on my blog.

December Unboxings - I have developed an obsession with subscription boxes lately and last December I received three (Owlcrate, the Wizarding World Loot Crate, and Litjoy Crate). I had so much opening these boxes and sharing some of the items in them. I also had so much fun taking these photos and editing them. I hope to do some more unboxing posts in the future.

- Jessica

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Books I Read in March


I had a good reading month, I managed to read 12 books total and 6 of those books were of the seven I planned to read during spring break (I didn't get to Caraval). Even though I read a ton in March, I'm still behind on my reading goal... So here are the books I read and some of my thoughts and opinions on them.

A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab - This is the last book in the Shades of Magic Trilogy. I loved this book, this whole trilogy is one of my favorites. I love the character and story developments. The world that Schwab has created in this series is beautiful and so complex. I'm very sad that this trilogy has ended but Schwab has hinted that she might return to this world again.

Stranger Than Fanfiction by Chris Colfer - This book follows four friends, who have bonded over a TV show, that go on a road trip with one of the actors from that show. I'm a huge Chris Colfer fan, I really loved his last YA book, Struck by Lightning, and his middle grade series, but I was really skeptical about the plot of this book. I had enough good things about this book, so I decided to give this a try. I actually ended up liking this book, it was very character driven and I really enjoyed that aspect.

Been Here All Along by Sandy Hall - This book is about best friend/neighbors, Gideon and Kyle, as they realize they like each other as more than friends. This was a cute and very quick read. I did have some problems with the main female character, especially her characterization, but overall I liked this book.

At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson - This book follows Ozzie after his boyfriend disappears because the universe is shrinking. Last year, I read We Are The Ants by Hutchinson and it is one of my all time favorite books, so going into reading this I had really high expectations and they were met. I absolutely loved this book, this book is so beautiful and the story is so incredibly moving and profound.

We Are Okay by Nina Lacour - This book follows Marin, who after her grandfather dies, she moves across the country and tries to forget her old life and friends. This was another quick read, that I enjoyed this month. It is very character driven, but there's mystery elements that I think added to the story.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling - This was a reread for me, since both the new edition with added content and the audiobook with Eddie Redmayne were released. I really loved the new content and I especially loved Redmayne's narration. Redmayne brought so much of Newt's character to this book, so that it was more than just reading a textbook. Although I was disappointed that the new hardcovers removed Harry, Ron and Hermione's commentary from the original edition.

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamine Alire Sáenz - This book follows an Sal and his friends as they navigate their lives, from getting ready to go to college and experiencing death. This is another book that I had a lot of high expectations for, because Sáenz wrote one of my all time favorite books, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, and my expectations were met with this one. I loved this book, I loved the writing and how the plot relied heavily on the characters and their development.  

By Your Side by Kasie West - This book follows Autumn, who finds herself locked in a library during a long weekend with her school's resident bad boy. This was another quick and cute read. I really enjoy Kasie West's writing, and I overall really liked this book.

The Wish Granter by C.J. Redwine - This is a Rumplestiltskin retelling and the second book in a series of standalone retellings. I absolutely loved the first book, The Shadow Queen, and I was really disappointed by this book. I found the plot of this book to be too drawn out, I didn't really care for the main characters or the instalove.

Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare - This is the first book in Cassandra Clare's new series set in the Shadowhunter universe that is set 5 years after The Mortal Instruments. I absolutely loved this book, I love the characters and the mystery elements involving the story. One of my main issues with The Mortal Instruments series was that I didn't particularly care for the main characters, and I did not have the same issue with this book, I absolutely love both Emma and Julian, especially how they developed and both their relationship developed. I can't wait to read the sequel, Lord of Shadowswhen it comes out next month.

Last Night I Sang to the Monster by Benjamine Alire Sáenz - This book follows Zach, an 18 year old, who is in rehab, instead of high school and he doesn't remember why. As with all the books I've read by Sáenz so far, I loved the writing. I really liked the main character and how so much of this book is faced on the relationships he builds with other people.

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas - This is the first book in a Beauty and the Beast retelling, where Feyre is a hunter who is taken from her family for killing a faerie. This was another reread as I'm getting read for the third book in the first trilogy to come out next month. This was an interesting experience for me, because I absolutely loved this book the first time I read it. This time I didn't love it as much because my perspective of the world and some of it's characters has changed so much after reading the second book. I still absolutely loved this series, it's one of my favorites, and I can't wait to continue on with my reread.

And those were all the books I read in March. My school schedule has gotten worse in the past couple of weeks, so I'm probably not going to be able to blog or read as much as I would like, but I'm going to try and cram in as much as possible. - Jessica