A Little bit of this, a little bit of that, will somebody please get me a Kit- Kat!

Hey! How is everyone? Grand, I hope!

It's been a very long time since I last picked up my pencil almost a year, actually. It's not because I don't love to draw, I do, but see, I lost a lot of my art supplies and drawings in a fire I had last year, 2009. When things like that happen you lose a bit of yourself, I guess. Well, a few days ago I was going around the blogs I follow and one of my favorites is The Twirling Dragon. Kim has wonderful art and mostly she seems to draw the Human face and body, though she can draw just about anything. I, on the other hand, love drawing animals such as Dragons, lions, gorillas, and have only drawn the Human face twice(years and years ago) and never the human body. So, when I was over at Kim's blog I had this overwhelming desire to draw and try my hand at the human body, which I've never done before. A little nervous I got up and found me a mechanical pencil and a piece of white copy paper and started to draw my lil' one. Once I got started I realized how much I've missed drawing and the utter solitude it gives me. I completely zone out. By no means is my drawing perfect but I think it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. I could definitely use more practice, and I'm sure you can tell I used my eraser quite a lot during the process, but now I'm super ready to start drawing again! And as soon as I have a little extra money I'll be heading to an art store to get me some real art supplies. :)
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I have decided to recommit my life to God. I started a new church about 3 months ago and I'm really loving it. The last time I went to church regularly and enjoyed it I'd have to say was when I was about 14 or 15. A church van used to come pick us kids up in front of our trailer park and take us to church every Sunday morning and Wednesday night, but at around the age of 16 or 17 I lost my way and started struggling with my faith. One Sunday morning, about 3 months ago, I woke up and decided its time to make a change and give my woes to the lord. It's been a hard couple of years for us and I had a lot of woes to lay down, but I did. I have not only started going to church on Sunday mornings, but Friday nights "Road to Recovery" and I've volunteered for many church activities, as well. It's been an amazing ride so far and has really opened my heart to the lord and his blessings. Miracles can happen.


Great Song! Love it.(Logan I think you'll really like it :)

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Finished reading a couple books over the past few weeks The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin and Bite Me by Parker Blue. Both books I enjoyed and highly recommend. Then, this week I'll be starting The Iron Hunt by Marjorie M. Liu and also Before They are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie













Also you can enter to win a SINGED Copy of The Name Of Wind by Patrick Rothfuss over at Rememorandom Awesome book, too, so everyone should enter!:)



Well, I guess thats about it for today and I hope you all have a fantastic week!! :)

Thanks for reading, Krista!

Saying goodbye to Winter and hello to Spring...

Just a short lil' post to share a few Winter pictures and this very pretty "Winter Song"!! :)

I had a wonderful winter this year, because I'm one of the many who really enjoys a good snowfall! Yep, that's right, this year it snowed at the beach! I coudn't believe it! The snow was super fun to play in and absolutely beautiful. However, I am completely ready to say hello to warmer weather, as you can tell from my new header picture I took on a Warm Spring Day! Oh, how I have missed you, my shorts and flip flops! :)


Tennessee Snow! The first snowfall we got to play in this year! So cute!


My lil' Miss Aubriannah loved the snow especially eating it! lol. We were staying in Aberdeen with my Aunt Darlene when it snowed ice and realized we had forgotten her mittens, so we made homemade ones--a pair of socks with plastic baggies taped around them. It worked like a charm, too! Ha-ha! :D



Yep, the first snowfall here at the beach in ten years and everyone of us EXCITED, as you can see! Ha-ha!


Ha-ha, That's my Daddy! Yes, that snowball is meant for me! Him and my lil' brother(up there on the top porch) totally ganged up on me so every time I looked up I had another snowball hitting me in the face! I was totally soaked by the time we went inside to warm up I had to change all my clothes! LOL! It goes to show that you're never too old to play in the snow and have tons o' fun!


And last, but definitely not least, our beautiful Slanted Snowman and his awesome Snow-Hat!!! LOL!


I had tons of fun this year with all the many snowfalls I got to experience, but I am so ready to say goodbye to you my friend Winter and Hello to you Spring!!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed your winter, too! :)

Krista

The Road to old memories...

As I sit here contemplating what exactly I should write I can feel the nights chill vibrate through me, it runs up my spine and sends goosebumps down my arms. I love night and all the mystery it brings. The cool fresh air, the many sounds; night creatures you cannot see, the whirl of leaves as the wind picks them up to carry them off to a new home, and the noise that sounds so much like absolute silence. Everything is louder at night, because when darkness engulfs around you it seems to bring a kind of silence with it. Not too many are awake at this hour. Their all safe in their warm beds doing what I love most and often do, dream. Dreaming is a passion of mine. I daydream often and I almost always have dreams while sleeping.

Memories seem a lot like dreaming to me. Remembering those times on the playground swinging by your knees upside down on the monkey bars. You don't realize how wonderful that feeling truly was until you're older and trying desperately to do it again, and just the slightest pressure on the back of your knees sends you screaming in pain. Dreaming about how limber you once were when you could climb up trees like one of the monkeys. So fast, so easy. My fondest memories are of when I was a child, as I hope most peoples are.

I can remember vividly as far back as about 4 or 5 maybe even younger. It's hard to know how old you are in your own visions of the past. It seems funny to me how our minds and memories work. For me, I can't remember everything I've ever done, learned, or read, but I try and soak up as much as I possibly can, more so now then when I was a teen. Mostly I remember my most fun, most horrid, and most intimate memories the best.

My favorite memories are of my childhood in a house I came to love. We didn't have a lot of money growing up, so we lived in an old one story pinkish color house with a worn porch, and weak broken windows covered with a thick plastic and duck-tape--the tape for men. Those things though didn't really matter much to a child because our front-yard was big and our backyard was vast and endlessly full of trees. I loved those days playing hide-and-seek in the woods. I love to run and I was the best at climbing trees so not many could catch me. It was fun and exhilarating being so high up when you're so small. Its strange how you could find yourself deep within the woods in a matter of minutes and still we always seemed to find our way home, though every tree looked the same. The adventures we had were endless. Pirates, soldiers, princesses, kings, ninjas, ninja turtles, and I could go on and on I'm sure. I grew up with two brothers and our next door neighbors were boys, so I was pretty much a tomboy from the get go. There was nothing they could do that I wouldn't try or do myself, even when they said, "No way, you're a girl!" I remember the boys next door had a treehouse and because I was girl there was no way they were letting me up there, and in an 'all boys clubhouse' at that. I would try climbing up the wood planks but they had ammo, pine-combs. They definitely hurt, so ultimately I would give up and go do my on thing like finding frogs, or climbing on things like my playhouse or the shed just so I could jump off. Eventually, the boys would get bored in their "all boy clubhouse" and come join me. It's amusing how that works. Boys are weird for sure.

I still love that pinkish worn down house and those woods. I had my first kiss there, my first set of stitches, and I played my first and last game of beebee gun tag, but those are stories for another time...

Once again, Thank you all for reading.

Krista

Books to Movies...

Went to see The Lightening Thief this past weekend and I thought it was a really good movie. I enjoyed it. I've heard up and down reviews, though, and the downs seem to be the ones who have read the book first. I did not read the book and I really enjoyed the movie. Some of the plot seems to have been recycled from other stories and or movies before it, but it was still pleasant to watch. What I'm wondering though is... Do you like to read the book first or vise versa? I mean, it seems I come away disappointed no matter which way I go. See, if I see the movie first, I tend to put the book to the bottom of my to read list, and then when I do end up reading the book the story can sometimes be a bore because I know around about what's going to happen. But, if I read the book first, I seem to be disappointed with what they left out, or didn't interpret the overall story in the same way I had it played out in my mind while reading. It seems to be a lose-lose situation for me, however, I think I enjoy reading the book first so the movie doesn't ruin an otherwise wonderful story. What about you?

I'm even looking forward to watching Shutter Island, but I just can't decide whether I should run out and read the book first! What a dilemma! lol. I just adore Leo, though. He is totally my dream guy. ~heart flutters~

Anyway, I'm headed to the book store today (love that place ha-ha) and I'm hoping to pick up The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin so I can join in on the Barnes and Nobles book club discussion with the author here and anyone is more than welcome to join in. Yes, even you! (hint, hint, wink, wink, lol). Really looking forward to this book. Love the cover, by the way. I have always been a sucker for fantastic cover art or just art in general really. However, the cover does remind me of The Never Ending Stories castle in the movie... Does it not? o.O

Once again, Thanks for Reading! Next Post more in the Life of Krista, ha-ha! :)

Living up to my title: Life or Something Like It...

When I first started this blog I had no idea where I was going with it. I didn't really know what to write about and if people really wanted to hear all about my actual life. The only thing I did know was that I was absolutely IN LOVE with books, so this blog became a book blog. Which by no means is a bad thing; I love books and book blogs. But, well, I'd like to share some of my intimate feelings with you and live up to my title now: Life or Something Like It... So if you're looking for a book review or just a post about books I'd say turn back now, 'cause today I'll be sharing a little bit of My Life or I guess you could say, what happens to be in my noggin... lol :D

So where do I even begin?

Hmmm, it may be a little morbid for some of you but I think I'll start with my first real experience with death. You may be wondering why I said "Real" death? What I mean is, it's the first time I've had someone I knew well and loved dearly pass away. Death is never an easy thing, though, no matter what. So let’s start at the beginning shall we...

I got a call early morning on December 16 from my mom she was crying so hard she could barely speak, she whimpered in the phone to me, " David passed away this morning..." I replied in total shock, "What? What do you mean David passed away?" Some of you may not know, but my little brothers name is David, so automatically the first person I thought of was him. Then my mother whimpered again, "David S*** passed away this morning." It was heartbreaking for sure, but I couldn't help myself when I sighed in relief that it wasn't my little brother David named after my Uncle David. Then total shock hit. I didn't cry right away. I wasn't really sure I believed it, you know, because I had just seen him at my little girls’ 2nd birthday party. Hugged him, told him I loved him, thanks for coming and I'd see him again soon. It was a surreal experience to get that phone call. We packed us up a bag that day and headed down to my Aunt Darlene's house to comfort her in her time of loss. You see, they've been together for 28 years, and 6 months before he died they found out he had brain cancer, but that doesn't mean his death didn't come as a surprise to everyone. See my Aunt Darlene and David's daughter had seen him through what they thought was going to be the hardest part, David's brain surgery. At the time of his surgery they felt they were ready for the worst but David pulled through it. He was a strong man, a fighter, but as you may know cancer can really break a person down and work its magic through your veins. His heart gave out in the ambulance on his way to the hospital the morning of December 16, 2009.

I can't describe how his wife must have felt and is still feeling, but I can tell you how it made me feel. When I first walked into her house and David wasn't there it really hit me hard that I would never again get picked on or get one of his famous loving Bear Hugs. He was David, and he was gone. My heart was breaking and not just for myself but for my Aunt Darlene and his family, too. That Sunday was his funeral and I remember the feeling I had most-LOVE. Love for David, for all his family and friends, for my family and friends. I just wanted to hug everyone and make sure they all knew how much I really loved them no matter if I didn't know them all that well or not. I was seriously bursting with love and tears. That night, I believe, or maybe the next night, we went out to eat and still I had the "need" to hug and say I love you to my other aunts and uncles that I see all the time but never really have that intimate moment with. Then a few weeks later came Christmas morning at my grandmas house with my close family. I remember I had that same loving feeling. I ended up being the only one, that as soon as I came in, to give a hug to every person that was there. I was happy to be there with them, and I'm pretty sure they knew at that moment I really loved them. So, for me, with death came love.

In loving memory of my Dear Friend and Uncle David may you rest in Peace.

{Edited March 1, 2010} I just wanted to add a quote and this here song. Love it.

As for the quote; "Sometimes it takes a funeral to see how blessed we are to have life."

Thank you all for taking the time to read! :)

Books read in 2009 :) And Skiing fun!

So I thought it'd be cool to write down all the books I've read this year, 2009, in no particular order. :)

FANTASY-- SCIENCE FICTION:
1.Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
2.The Well Of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
3.The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
4.Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
5.Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
6. Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
7.Lamentation by Ken Scholes
8. Canticle by Ken Scholes
9. Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
10. Discworld Graphic novel-- The Colour Of Magic by Terry Pratchett
11. Discworld Graphic novel-- The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett
12.Unclean Spirits by M.L.N. Hanover
13.The Sword Of Shannara by Terry Brooks
14. Of The Forest by Juliet Marillier
15. Legend Of Singurd & Gudrun by J.R.R. Tolkien
16.The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien
17.One Second After by William R. Forstchen
18.A Canticle For Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
19.The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
20.The Host by Stephenie Meyer
21.Pandemonium by Daryl Gregory
22.The Strain by Guillermo DelToro and Chuck Hogan
23.Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith
24.Street Magic by Caitlin Kittredge
25.Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells
26.Touch the Dark by Karen Chance
27.Claimed by Shadow by Karen Chance
28.Embrace the Night by Karen Chance
29.Curse The Dawn by Karen Chance
30.Midnight's Daughter by Karen Chance
31.Unclean Spirits by M.L.N. Hanover
32.Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison

ROMANCE
33.Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
34.Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
35.Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
36.Magic Study byMaria V. Snyder
37.Fire Study byMaria V. Snyder

CHILDREN (9 &up)
38.Coraline by Neil Gaiman
39.The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
40.The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
41.The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud
42.Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud
43.Roverandom by J.R.R. Tolkien

MYSTERY
44.And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
45.Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

YOUNG ADULT
46.The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
47.Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
48.Pastworld by Ian Beck
49.Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier
50. Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
51.The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti
52.The Naming by Alison Croggon
53.The Riddle by Alison Croggon
54.The Crow by Alison Croggon
55.The Singing by Alison Croggon
56.Graceling by Kristin Cashore
57.Fire by Kristin Cashore
58.Legacy by (16 year old) Cayla Kluver
59.The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima
60.Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs
61.Rebel Angels by Libba Bray
62.A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
63.Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
64.City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
65.City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
66.City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
67.Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
68.New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
69. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
70.Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
71.Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines


So yeah, I know I haven't been around lately to visit all my favorite blogs so sorry guys you are all awesome and I will try my very best to be a better follower! :)

Things have just been quite crazy around here with all the holidays and work. I also just got back from a week long Vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, which was so very cool. I had a lot of fun and had many new experiences!

Went skiing for the first time ever, and I tell you, it was so much fun! It was my two brothers, my lil' brothers girlfriend, and me. All of us newbies, and, of course, we were all way too cool to take skiing lessons. lol. Well, we were all in the practice area trying to figure out what we were doing and how these big boots and skis worked. It was pretty easy to get going, turn, head down the small hill, and slide to a stop at the bottom, right. Yeah, so after I, and seriously only me, actually slid down the hill a few times I was so ready to go up the lift! I asked my brothers if they were ready and they said " Heck no, are you crazy!" lol, and all of them were seriously too chicken to go up at all! I couldn't believe it, so I just went on my own. I got in line for the lift, let it take me to the top of the Newbie section, which is still pretty high up there if I do say so myself, and then I got off. So now there's only one way down.... I went for it, I got around the first curve, then the second one, and here I come down this crazy amazing hill and I'm flying! But then all you can see are tons of people just standing at the bottom TALKING with their skis and snowboards on, and I felt like they were yelling at me saying, "Come on, I dare you to hit me in the back!" lol. So yeah, I'm flying down this huge hill trying my best to slow down and hopping I stop before I hit a few people. Well, stopping ends up to be a pretty easy task to do when you completely bomb out at the bottom! At least I had a few feet to spare before I hit anyone, however, I can't say the same for my skis! Hey, falling stopped me, but it didn't stop me from wanting to go back up that lift again and again to feel that awesome rush, and me and the snow becoming one. :) After my first time down My brother and his girlfriend saw the whole thing, of course, and still they weren't so sure until I got up and said "WHOA, that was so much fun!! I'm so going again!!!" I guess once they seen me, their sister, making it down okay and alive they felt they could brave it out. :) My lil' brother didn't even fall once!!!(he was going down like a granny, though, I'd say!) ha-ha. The only way I knew how to stop was by falling!lol. Man, I had so much fun till I twisted my ankle! It hurt, but I said whatever, and went SNOW TUBING! Now that was awesome, too!!!

So who wants to hear about my first Horse Back Riding Experience????