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Some bird sketches while I worked in class (I’m doing a study on them I promise I’m not off-task)

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Great news!! I finished reading ‘My Year of Rest and Relaxation’, so I’m going to have a review posted in the next few days. It was a pretty quick read, surprisingly, but I could barely put it down!

Anyways,, today I went to breakfast with a friend (my soulmate) and we had a lot of fun taking pictures and chatting (she’s my new lockscreen and I told her all of my deepest secrets).

We stopped at five or six stores to find a cup she wanted and they were sold out :(( but on the bright side I have a gift idea for her birthday!

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Happy new year!! In 2022 I traveled across the country and lived for an entire year in a state I had never been to before, a 20 hour drive away from family and friends. I had never been so far from home but I’m so grateful that I had the chance to experience something completely different.

For 2023 I’m hoping to stay closer to home (fingers crossed) and to really and truly appreciate the people I’m surrounded by while I’m here, before I (again, hopefully) move up north to live peacefully and very much away from the city.

Welcome 2023 and thank you 2022 for being such an insane year ❤️

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I think I’m going to start posting whatever crosses my mind and lately it’s been a lot of books and a LOT of women’s issues so that’s what this blog is now I suppose.

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*BONES AND ALL NOVEL SPOILERS*

I read the description and was interested in the concept more than anything, but underneath a seemingly hot take on something so taboo as cannibalism, this book says absolutely nothing. The writing itself was lacking in emotion and fell flat for a majority of the novel. Despite plenty of imagery and descriptions there was never a full or meaningful picture of any place in the novel. I never got a solid emotion or was able to pick out any significant imagery in the novel other than the heavily implied importance of the books, which at times seemed so out of place. It felt as though this book was just a collection of places that had no meaning themselves, and that the books theme played no role in the actual storyline or emotion of the book. I was unable to connect to any character, much less Maren. There was a lack of feeling in most of what should have been pivotal and altering moments for her as a person, and she never seemed to come to a full realization or experience any growth.

I also struggled to understand the concept of her “affliction” or struggle with inherent cannibalistic urges. The concept of her eating people who want her doesn’t fit with the first incident with the babysitter, unless we imply something sinister about that girl, and comparing that incident to her eating a majority young boys who seem to want her badly and pressure her we don’t get a sense of where that fits in. If the act of her eating them is a metaphor for sex or intimacy, the babysitter does not fit in. Also along those lines, how is a toddler killing and eating an entire person, down to the bones? How does this grown woman allow a toddler to simply kill and eat her? I believe this novel doesn’t establish any supernatural ability with the eaters, so this seems to be only a way for the plot to work, which is fine and wouldn’t have detracted from the novel if the emotional aspect had landed.

The emotions in this novel were almost nonexistent. I felt that Maren seemed to be a very “woe is me” character without taking any precautions. I didn’t get an overwhelming sense of loneliness from her that would have worked to drive her to crave such company, and I also didn’t get a strong sense that she was working so hard to avoid them in a way that could create a conflict in her mind. It seemed that she more so relied on people avoiding her and then went along with whatever they wanted, leading to deaths and ultimately forcing her mother to uproot many times.

There wasn’t a huge statement on feminism like I expected, and it seemed like Maren was hesitant to be on her own, but also that she never really experienced it. I didn’t get a strong message about female sexuality and coming into your own the way I thought I would, especially with confusion surrounding her reason for eating people.

Overall, it was a dry and hollow rough draft of what could have been a very good novel. The concept is great! I was very interested at the start, but pieces didn’t add up and nothing ever impacted me. Dry writing that fell flat and dull with no real message and characters that I wanted to love but couldn’t help but hate.

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I've been playing around with some embroidering lately, and so far so good! Tonight we had salmon for dinner and it was really good. I've been making sense of things over the past few weeks, and on Monday my school is moving to distance learning. This isn't ideal, but most of my classes are mainly online already, so I'm not too worried.

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I'm just beginning my second semester, so half of my junior year is over! It feels like it's flying by. I'm way farther ahead in my bujo planning than I've ever been before, and I am already starting to plan out my spreads for February. There have also been many very cold days and long car rides, but the trees are always so gorgeous this time of year. I'm hoping to be more active now that the busy part of the dance season is over, so hopefully I'll be posting more!

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new year, new quarter, new space! dorming as a junior came with its downsides; but as a first-year, out-of-state student, my options were pretty limited. I think I’ve finally gotten to a cozy and inviting place when it comes to my dorm, and I’m really lucky to have this space. our dorm doesn’t get a lot of natural light (and during the winter it’s exceptionally worse); so I decided that I wanted to add some bright pieces like photos of my friends/family, posters, art, and pillows to brighten up the space. here’s a teeny tiny look!

when you’re living away from home or on campus, it’s so important that the space you come home to and spend the most time in is comfortable and inspires your creativity.

art/posters are thrifted or compiled from travels; gold sunburst mirror is thrifted; brown leather mini backpack is from fossil; galaxy tote bag is from the leonardo da vinci museum in milan, italy.

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I started my bullet journal for 2020 today. It feels like time is flying by faster than I can absorb everything. I have a new years party very soon that I'm dying to go to, and my sister came up from Texas to visit over Christmas break.

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10/17/19

I'm so happy right now, and in a weird way I almost feel sort of relieved? I feel like I've met my best friend/platonic soulmate and I can't even write my feelings down. She's sleeping in the other room next to mine and I can't believe someone this radiant is even friends with me. I feel like my whole life I've been struggling with clouds and she's just swept them away so I can finally see the stars. She always snaps when she has something to say and she laughs when she's nervous and she's not afraid to tell me when I have bad ideas and she gave me a picture of Jake Gyllenhaal bc she knows I rly like him and ugh she's just so beautiful and genuine. This probably sounds super sappy but it's like 12:30 in the morning when I'm writing this and I just have so much love for her.

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I have been doing all of my online class work at the library and it's so relaxing. I love how quiet it is, and they play different music every day. I've also done my October calendar different this month and I'm liking all of the room to write activities so far.

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9/5/19

Homecoming week was busy, but I had so much fun! After the game a friend and I skipped the dance and went to IHOP. We spend a lot of time together in the car, so both of us have a crazy amount of playlists. I also finished my October cover page this week! I still have a little bit left to do on the other pages but so far I love it!

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sep. 29th

junior year started about three weeks ago and although it started quite slow by now my calendar is full with due dates, presentations, exams and quizzes. i am starting to realize why everyone says that junior year is much more challenging than sophomore year. thankfully i still feel motivated to study, i hope u do too!

let this year be successful!

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It's been a while

I took a little break from my socials for a while because I've been ~upset~ recently. I'm feeling a lot better though, so hopefully I will be posting/being active more in the next few weeks. So far junior year is going well, and I love my psychology class! I'm going to be uploading pics of my bullet journal spread for October soon, and then maybe some more psych notes. Dance has also been very exciting recently, and I've choreographed our contemporary routine for the competition season. Things are looking up again !

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Today I started junior year ! I'm excited to learn as much as I can before taking the ACT later this year. This is my first year taking online college courses too so I'm going to try my best to stay on track with my studying. So far I love my Spanish teacher and I have friends in almost all of my classes.

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The Ariana concert was last night and it was absolutely amazing. Her voice is unreal. We had to leave at 6:30 this morning, so I'm really tired.

I also spent $65 on a sweatshirt oops

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I'm very excited!!! On Monday I get to go to the Ariana Grande concert with a friend (even though it's a 3 1/2 hour drive), and then the next day I'm meeting with the owner of the cafe in my town to see if I can start waitressing! This could be my first job and I cannot wait. The same friend I'm going to the concert with already waitresses so we could be working together a lot.