Just Throw a Brick

Hey McBrickers. Been awhile since a good old-fashioned HC&M, no? Happy: -This is my latest favorite musical: (there's some swearing in this version, this is what they performed at the Tonys.) Yes, that is Lin-Manuel Miranda (of Hamilton fame.) I know everyone's all into Hamilton and has been for like the past year, but I just discovered his first musical, In the Heights, and I love it so much more. Mostly because I feel like all the songs in Hamilton kind of sound the same (don't hate me.) The same can be said for In the Heights, I guess, but these songs have that Spanish flair that I just LOVE. I can't explain it. It's just there. I'm the girl who loves music in Spanish but only has a somewhat-rudimentary knowledge of the language. Lo siento. Whatever. Just give the soundtrack a listen and then tell me what you think? Or don't. I won't judge. -How about those Cubs, huh?! HUH?!?!?! I know I'm a bandwagon fan. I get it. But to be fair, I...

Hola, amigos/gringos... Today's my last day not working on a Friday. Next week I move to a five-day workweek again (gag.) I love this four days a week thing. My sisters visited last week! They were quick to remind me that their trip must be blogged about, so that's coming soon. It was great to have them here. They taught me how to Dutch braid and I taught them about Illinois. We spent a lot of nights just hanging out, talking about nothing and everything. It was awesome. I miss them. The apartment is a lot quieter now. And less full of stuff. (They were great houseguests and packed light, but still, we were definitely pushing the limit for how many people we could fit in here.) My friends all had their babies! And they're all cute. Good job, friends. Me and C are still debating on what/if we'll participate in our ward talent show. We'd like to do something funny, but not stupid. It's a fine line to walk. The sisters helped us brainstorm while they were o...

Happy Saturday, people! Usually I feel like the weeks just crawl along. And this one has, for sure. But I think it's crawled a little faster than usual. Yay! Everyone be proud of us. We also tried to be social last week, we really did. A couple invited us over to make potstickers with them, and it was on Friday night, which is hard for us (C's got L&F meetings until later) but we were like you know what, we'll make it work. So C got off his train on a different stop that was closer to the house the party was in, and so I had to find it. My GPS said I'd gotten there, only I was staring at a car wash and a row of crappy apartment buildings, with a train station nowhere in sight. So I got to do my favorite thing, which is driving around trying to find something. I hate driving in Chicago. It's crap. But I eventually found C at a random Walgreens, and then we made our way to the potsticker party... We were an hour late, but I had warned them ahead of time. So I...

It's Friday! I think the only thing that keeps me going throughout the workweek is that Saturdays, we have nothing. It's blissful. We usually meal plan and grocery shop in the mornings, and then do something fun for the rest of the day. Even if "fun" consists of walking around the huge outlet mall near our apartment. Or we'll take a trip to the two-story Target. Last Saturday we hit up the local Petco for a new fishtank for Jeffrey. Speaking of, he's been very listless lately. He barely makes it off his little leaf to say hi to me when I get home. I think it may be near the end for the little guy. :/ Don't die, Jeffrey! You're my only friend out here! And no, I still have never seen him eat. I don't know what's up with that little dude. Happy thoughts that don't include poor sick Jeffrey... Um... I'm getting back on my CBMR kick this week. I got my compensation book yesterday and I read it yesterday. All of it. At one point I looked u...

Basically, if you want to be inside my head right now, this is what it sounds like: I cannot get over this song. I'm done trying. I got off my Wildest Dreams kick and went straight into this one. As well as this one: So yeah, these two songs are basically going off all day, every day. I have a mind for bubblegum pop music, I swear. Want to see my bookshelf? It's basically the one thing we get to ourselves in this dang house. We're going apartment hunting tomorrow and we're finding a place. That's it. There is no other option. But anyway, back to the bookshelf... Cute, right? For someone who only gets a shelf to decorate? Here's what's on there, from left to right: - Trick or Treat sign, AKA our one Halloween decoration. (well we have P's Halloween drawing taped to the wall but I couldn't fit it in the picture...) Thank you Target $1 bin. - Paper crane - We got this when the sister missionaries came to have dinner with us the first...

Well friends, another week has come and gone... let's get right to it. Happy - I got the job! I guess my references were good enough, or that they least remembered who I was! We're going to have income again! I mean, we've had some lately due to C's temp job which has been amazing, but to have a steady, dependable income? Words cannot describe. That means we can FINALLY GET OUT OF THIS PLACE!!! Yessssss!!! I am now the administrative assistant for two deans in the Health and Science department at a local community college. Hopefully I'm good at it and people like me. I generally can find at least one person at a job that I like, even if the work sucks, so I'm hoping that stays true here. - I tried some pumpkin-flavored Greek yogurt and it was awesome. - CBMR update: Guess who's getting PUBLISHED! Well, not really. My review about someone else's publication will be published! Online! For the world to see and love! Or see and hate. Whatever. Deal with...

This week has been CRAZY but I've spent a little time trying to get through Gumption by Nick Offerman. I'm not sure why it took me so long to realize this, but books written by TV/movie stars are generally not well-written and are mostly opinion. I know, duh. But Gumption is written better than most. I can literally hear Ron Swanson reading it in my head. It is absolutely fantastic. So I'll get back to  you when I've read more of it. I've finally finished the introduction, so that's a plus. I just feel so guilty sitting down and reading when I should be throwing my massive hoodie collection into a big black trashbag (yeah, that's how McDanel girls pack for moves.) I suppose I should go through my massive clothing collection and throw stuff out, but that hoodie collection... I just can't get rid of it. Sorry C. I've known them longer than you. Freshman year - Proof that hoodies will always be awesome, and you can never have too many of them. Yes I...

Guys.  Do yourself a massive favor, and read this book. Thanks, Goodreads Yes, it's Brandon Sanderson and some of you aren't really into the science fiction genre. Neither was I. But this book is amazing, and everyone who is anyone should read it. I'm not even done yet and I'm telling you this. Coming from someone who inhales books for a hobby, take a couple days and read this bad boy. I'm serious. Our protagonist, David, lost his father in an Epic attack on a bank they were in. Epics are superhumans, with amazing supernatural powers (like creating illusions, killing people just by pointing at them, etc). However, every single Epic has one weakness, and it takes a smart guy to figure out what each one's is. David is that guy. Ever since his dad died when Steelheart (the big, bad, invincible ruler of Newcago) attacked, David has had one motivation - kill Steelheart. Because no one, except David, has seen Steelheart bleed, and he alone can figure out the s...

I finished Starbird Murphy and the World Outside  this week, so that was good. It was a fun little quick read, everything ends as you want it to, although a bunch of questions remain. It wasn't tied up enough for me, but for a short little YA general fiction book it did all right. I'm glad Starbird decided to stay in Seattle and go to school, and that she and Ben ended up together instead of her and dumb Indus. And personally, I believe her father is Iron John, not EARTH. That guy's a few fries short of a Happy Meal. This week, I reached out (on the recommendation of a friend) for Brandon Sanderson's Steelheart . Normally the science fiction genre isn't my favorite, but I trust E's opinion so I'm taking a whack at it (said in Parent Trap style). *"Bad to the Bone" plays in the background*  That being said, my stomach has been on strike lately (Rice Chex and water, anyone?) so I haven't felt like doing anything other than laying on a cou...

I'm not going to beat around the bush guys - I'm stressed a lot of the time these days. Figuring out how to move across the country will do that to a person. But what's my guaranteed stress-reliever? Say it with me - BOOKS! READING! WORDS! Thank goodness for books. This week, I'm currently in the middle of Starbird Murphy and the World Outside  by Karen Finneyfrock.  pic courtesy of Goodreads I've been in the middle of a Kimmy Schmidt kick lately, and this book is definitely on that track. It follows Starbird, a teenage girl growing up in a share-everything type church/commune in Washington. In their religion, they believe that everyone receives a "Calling", which is what they can do to help their little community. It is decided that Starbird's calling is to help be a waitress in the restaurant their group owns, which takes her away from her friends, her family, her crush, and everything she knows.  I'm only about halfway through, b...

This week I managed to finish Conspiracy of Blood and Smoke by Anne Blankman. *obligatory spoiler alert* This was was as good, if no better than Prisoner of Night and Fog . In that one, the title really says it - she was a prisoner in her own house and frankly, in her own land. In Conspiracy , we see her and Daniel a few months later, living safely in England with her psychiatrist buddy and his family, who love her like a sister, and it's really refreshing to finally see Gretchen have a family life that isn't terrible.  However, nothing stays good for long. Daniel is being accused for a murder he didn't commit back in Germany, so he decides to leave without warning Gretchen and clear his name. Naturally, because she's Gretchen and she's tough and awesome, she goes back to help him. She starts in Munich, and then for the majority of the time is in Berlin. This book centers around the Reichstag Fire and the political uproar it caused, leading to the Enablin...

I know, the blog has been spotty at best the last few weeks. I'm sorry(?). While I once sat at work doing hardly anything and had lots of time to plan out posts and find pictures, etc, now I spend all my spare time Chicago-ing (read: I look for jobs, apply for jobs, look for housing, email about housing, fb message C about things he's doing and jobs he's applying for, etc.) It takes about all the time I have right now. And while I'm looking forward to having more time to write on this blog someday, that day is not today. I am feeling rather conflicted today. Go Set a Watchman  came out, and while I really really REALLY want to read it, should I? Was Harper Lee taken advantage of? She said multiple times she never wanted to publish another book after To Kill a Mockingbird , and then all of a sudden, at 89, suffering from dementia, and in a rest home, she decides she wants to publish it? I find that highly questionable. :/ I feel like she may have been taken advantage o...

This week (or rather, Sunday afternoon) I picked up The House at Tyneford . *spoilers ahead* Thanks Goodreads! This book follows Elise Landau, a wealthy young woman enjoying her life in pre-WWII Austria as the daughter of an illustrious singer mother and a novelist father, with an amazing violinist as a sister. She however, feels left out since she has no musical talent. Her parents decide they're all going to America, but since they don't have the money for everyone in the family, Elise will be sent to a manor in England to become a housemaid. She arrives, has difficulty learning to be a housemaid, figures out how to be a housemaid, falls in love with the son of the head of the house, etc. Okay. When I saw the title for the first chapter was "General Observations on Quadrupeds", I knew I was going to like this book. And I did, mostly. However, it was highly predictable (not that that's a bad thing, just not as fun that way.) Things I liked: -Why I have...

This week, I picked up Greg Proops' book, "The Smartest Book in the World". Oh, you don't remember Greg Proops? Maybe this will help you remember... That's right, Greg Proops of WLIIA fame wrote a book, just like Colin Mochrie (although unfortunately, Colin's book isn't at the library.) He breaks the book into sections about music, movies, poetry, women, and historical figures you should know. I get bored in the movies and women section, since they're all movies I haven't heard of and the women usually bimbos, but the rest of it is fairly interesting. I think my favorite section so far is the one where he creates his ideal baseball team out of famous women in history that actually did something instead of star in movies. That said, this book is purely bubblegum entertainment. Like a friend asked me, "So, it's basically a book about topics you can bring up when conversation lags at a party?" Yeah, pretty much. Entertaining, ...

So this week I finished up Prisoner of Light and Fog  and it was an adventure. Thanks, Goodreads... It follows the story of the fictitious Gretchen Muller, an almost-adopted niece of Hitler. In their city of Munich, it is a well-known story that her father, Klaus Muller, died saving the Fuhrer's life during a march to overtake the government. Her father jumped in front of the hail of bullets, saving Hitler's life, and because of that, he treats the Muller family well, helping her brother Reinhard rise through the ranks of the budding Nazi party and treating her like a special niece. However, she meets a Jewish reporter, Daniel Cohen, who has new facts about the night her father was killed, and they paint a very different picture of that night than the one everyone talks about. She then joins in an unlikely partnership with Daniel to find the truth about her father and the night he was murdered. First off, I really enjoyed Gretchen's dedication to her education. When...

Do you ever just have a day that ends and you're like "You know what? I would have been perfectly okay if this day had never happened." Yeah, had one of those last week. And as is practice among people that are adults when this happens, I'm trying to think of good things that have happened lately, as opposed to dwelling on the meh. Unfortunately, adult mode is not working well today, but we'll try our hardest. Good Thing #1: C no longer has to pay an extra underage fee for renting cars! We can rent cars at the advertised price now. Yay...! (working on the excitement level here) Good Thing #2: I remembered to grab a strawberry PopTart on my way out the door today. Good Thing #3: We have cookies and cream ice cream sitting at home for me when I get back tonight. Also a few mini cheesecakes are left from C's birthday so I'll just eat one of those and be happy. Also, raspberries, the best fruit of all. Good Thing #4: My allergies have calmed down a lot...

Well, I finished Rules of Civility  on Monday, and I ended up liking it well enough. Thanks for the pic, Goodreads... In the end, Katey talks about how one decision can affect a lifetime, and how these decisions she made from 1938-1940 really defined her and made her who she is. While Tinker is a running theme, Eve kind of disappears after the first half of the book. While at first I was annoyed because she was easily the most entertaining character I've read about in awhile, at the end she talks about how you meet these people, they come in and then they leave and you're left with the memories. In that way, the whole missing Eve thing really worked. And since Eve is just one of those people that makes friends wherever she goes and is always moving on (we see this from her rejection of Tinker), it fits that she's only in the book part of the time. This book really was a snapshot of life - the happiness, the sadness, the anxiety of a new job, the excitement of new, you...

Maybe I'll start doing themed days on the blog, would that be weird? Wednesday I could talk about books I'm reading? Yay/nay? Well you're going to get it today anyway, because I need to talk about Bernadette.  And I'm not good at reviewing books, I just write my honest-to-goodness thoughts, so don't expect anything super deep, logical, or moving. *spoilers ahead* Okay, people. What the HECK was with that ending? I understand it's a satire about technology and Microsoft and that type of thing, plus it's in Seattle so you get the typical Seattle weirdo vibe, but I guess satire isn't really my thing. Maybe I'm not smart enough for it? I'm just a sucker for good stories. Where Bernadette  went meh for me was around the last little bit, where they go to Antarctica to find her. I loved how she escaped from the intervention with Aubrey, that was unexpected, just what I like to read. But the rest of it, and especially how it all comes down to an unse...

So now that all my trip posts are done, it's back to actually writing for this thing on a regular basis. The break has been nice but a lot has happened. Here's a list! Books read: 1.5 -  The Fault in Our Stars  and I'm almost done with Where'd You Go, Bernadette? I've really been liking Bernadette , it's been intriguing and hard to put down from start to finish. Definitely recommend, especially if you like books that aren't written in the "traditional" sense. This book is kind of a scrapbook of dialogue, emails, memos, letters, etc, but Maria Semple actually pulls it off. Usually those books annoy me, but this one doesn't. I'm hooked. And I'm actually at the part of the book where we're all like yeah! Where did you go, Bernadette??? But seriously, where? We're all wondering here. Also, is this not the coolest book cover ever? I don't know. It's just awesome. Thanks for the pic, GoodReads...  On the other hand,...

Anybody else feel like this week has gone on for freaking EVER?! I can't be the only one here. Ugh. But I have gotten a bit done, I suppose. The hedgehog cross-stitch is coming along well, and I finished a book. Anybody read The Mortal Instruments series? I read the first one, City of Bones this week, and while I'm not like "oh my gosh get me MORE", it was drawing enough for me to go to the library and get the next few in the series. And news flash, I thought there were only four, oh no. There are SIX. Which means I unwittingly stepped into a time commitment for these things. Cassandra Clare, you better make this worth it. Although my favorite paragraph had to be: Clary wondered if there were any ugly vampires, or maybe any fat ones. Maybe they didn't make vampires out of ugly people. Or maybe ugly people just didn't want to live forever. I really don't know why I thought this was so funny, but dang. I couldn't stop laughing. I know, I'm terri...