Water For Elephants

Water For Elephants is a historical novel written by Sara Gruen. I hadn't previously heard of this book, but Kevin's Mom loaned it to me to read and apparently it has been a pretty big hit for a while.
This book is based on a character named Jacob who flees from his hometown after his parents have been killed in an accident. Jacob was attending Cornell and decided to get up and leave, realizing he couldn't live in the town where his parents were killed. He then joins a circus called The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth, where he is thrown into the bizarre world of the circus crowd. Jacob meets many characters that test his strengths and weaknesses, and even his devotion to the heroin Marlena, the head trainer's wife.

I enjoyed this book for many reasons: it gives the reader a rare look into the world of "circus freaks" and still gives the reader the fictional tale they desire. The story is written as a memoir from Jacob, as he sits in an old folks home and desires to go to the circus that has just come to town. It's a tale of true tests while the reader watches Jacob struggle to maintain his own moral compass while falling in love.

Out of a 5 star rating, I would give this story a 3 1/2. It was a good quick read and I am now more interested in the world of the "circus life", but it ended a little too abruptly and perfectly for my liking.

Book Club

Soo.. i've decided that I want to start reviewing books for you all. For everyone that knows me, I always have a book with me: in my purse, in my car, near my bed, at work, etc. It's definitely my addiction :)

I go through about 2-3 books a month, so I decided that I will review the books I read as soon as I finish them for you all :) It would be awesome to hear all your input, and hopefully I can encourage some of you to pick up certain books and try them out. I'm currently reading Water For Elephants, so I'll let you know the outcome

Cheers!

Holiday Cheer

Greetings Everyone! Happy Holidays! I hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving & Halloween. I always begin these posts talking about how busy I have been ... and shockingly, I have once again been so busy I haven't had time to post. I am so happy about it being December. This is my favorite month of the year; it includes cold weather, presents, happy people and getting to be with family (and even going more into debt buying presents! Ohh fun).


Kevin and I have finally moved. We are now living in Orange County, residing in little ol' Seal Beach. For those of you who don't know, we found a little condo to move into and we just moved in this weekend. It was kinda bad timing-Thanksgiving, lots of homework, moving, Kevin's birthday, etc. But it was better timing than during the summer around the wedding :) But we are all settled in and slowly clearing all the boxes out.



For Thanksgiving we went to Kevin's parent's home. We ate some yummy food and I spent the evening cooking with my mom-in-law :) The week before I also went to "Friendsgiving" with the co-workers, which was a blast.














Elena, Kristy, Shelby and I also got the chance to go see Dane Cook at the opening of the Long Beach Laugh Factory. It was a fun experience, but I probably wouldn't pay another $50 to go see him again.

For now, this is what has been going on in the life of Christie. Now onward to writing my final term papers!

Ninja Cat Video

No matter how many times I see this video I can't stop laughing .... enjoy Ninja Kitty!

Happy Halloween :)

Happy Halloween!!!!!!

I hope everyone has a great Halloween :)

Sorry for the lack of updates ..... why do I feel like my blog always begins that way? Haha.
We've been busy, BUSY and more busy. All is great though. I just survived my midterms. I can't handle my grammar class anymore, but I'm sticking through it and will survive. It looks like Kevin and I are going to be moving within the next month! Nothing is 100% yet, but it looks as if we will be moving into a Condo in the Seal Beach/Rosmoore area. We have been in our current apartment for 3 1/2 years now - good LORD time flies by fast. But we are ready for a new place, and we are excited for this. So I'll keep you updated as we get updates :)

This election coming up has me all up in jumbles. I'm not one to broadcast my beliefs and who/what I'll be voting for, but I'm definitely still undecided on a lot of things. I'm still doing a lot of research and making sure I understand the pros and cons of a bunch of things, but I have a feeling I won't completely know all of my decisions till I get to that poll Tuesday morning. I hope everyone gets out there and votes though ..... and don't you all love how Krispy Kreme and Ben & Jerrys are giving away free things to people who vote? Haha.

" Did you vote?"
" Duh! Look at my red white and blue doughnut!"

I wasn't able to follow through with becoming a foster parent to the animals in local shelters. I got that crappy flu that everyone had on the day of my orientation, and the next orientation isn't until November. But now..... with Kevin and I moving I'm not sure I should make this commitment till we are all settled in. ( Or maybe I can just persuade Kevin to get me a Kitten or a small dog for my birthday ;) )

I hope everyone has a safe and great Halloween! I'll be spending it serving coffee to all those teens dressed as god knows what lol.

Time for an update!

Herro everyone :)

Lots has been going on lately. The good, the bad, the ugly ... haha.

Unfortunately, my Uncle Jerry passed away on September 28th. We haven't been able to figure out the details, but it was something with his Pancreas. He was only 50 years old, and had never drank/smoked, was always active, and was currently helping his 13 year old daughter keep up with her Junior Olympic standing in Skiing. We are waiting on the toxicology reports to help us heal our hearts with all these feelings of unanswered questions and feelings. My Uncle Jerry was an amazing person, a talented man, and a man who loved to make others laugh. We had the funeral on Sunday, and talk about emotions. This was only my second funeral and it was really tough. I just really hope that I can keep up with the feeling I have currently of taking advantage of every minute of my life, kissing and hugging my Husband as much as possible, and trying to make my Uncle proud.

Sorry for the rambling, but I just feel like I can never say enough about him and this story, and that I just hope that you all will go hug your best friend, Husband, Wife, Daughter, Son, etc. and let them know how much you love them :)

Onto the fun news! I have decided to become a Foster Parent to animals from the local shelters! My application was approved, and I am going to an orientation this Saturday. Basically, whenever a shelter has a animal(s) that are in need of constant attention, they will call me to come pick them up and I can keep them for some time until they are better and ready to be adopted. My job will consist of giving them love, a home for the time, helping them with any medications,etc. This will be a tough one though, with all the love and joy I will gain from this experience, I'm sure I will be getting some animals that have been abused or that just might not make it in the end, but at least I will know they were loved and taken care of in their last few days. So I'm sure I will be posting pictures and stories of the animals I receive so you can hear their stories and see how things work out! Wish me luck :)

Otherwise, everything else is normal and okay. Kevin is doing his same ol' routine with working a bunch. I'm going to school 4 days a week, working at the 'bucks, and now trying to spend as much time as possible with my Aunt and Cousin and helping them through this time :)

love you all, and HUGE hugs sent your way

The Twilight Saga

Is anyone else reading the Twilight books? I am AMAZED at how good they are. So far, I've read the first two and I'm waiting for the third to be delivered in the mail from my Mom :) I didn't think I would find another group of books that would make me so happy after the whole Harry Potter ordeal, but so far these have been just as good .... if not better. Is anyone else reading these? I highly recommend them, I'm sure they are favored by the females more because of the love story aspect ...... but I think the guys will love 'em too :)