the power of words

What has inspired me this week is wonderful messages from even more amazing people. Yesterday and the day before, as well as today, had a few low points but simply re-reading my birthday cards a smile came to my face and it changed my mood. It is great what a few simple heartfelt words can do.

books galore

Because my birthday was Friday and I had a meet Saturday morning I planned my birthday party for Saturday night. My meet went...okay, I shaved a second off of my 400m free and about 20s off of my 200m free but I have no clue how I did on my 100m fly. My shoulder was hurting really bad throughout the whole meet, I finished my races though! But I don't know if in the long run it will benefit me because my shoulder is really bad today... Apperently during my 400m free my arms were great and finally reaching again but during the 100m fly they were really short...whatever.

What I wanted to talk about however was my party, it was a blast and I had a great time with all of my friends who came over! I was really shocked with how many gifts I got, I loved them all. I recieved a bunch of little bits and bobs that kind of all have meaning, little bee slippers because I am a Seabee, candles...because I am obsessed. Shantel and her mum both got me great seperate gifts, Bonnie gave me some dishtowels and a cookbook for my Hope Chest and Shantel went for the more girlie route giving my make-up and brushes and nail polish.

The funny thing is though from four different friends I recieved Indigo gift cards... They really know me well! I was ecstatic to open up my cards and now cannot wait to go and shop! I always have a list of books that I really want to buy so this week, or more than likely next weekend I am all excited to go to Indigo, maybe splurge and purchase a Starbucks hot beverage and then walk around and find me some new books! Even though I still have a closet full of books I haven't read yet...

The List of Books I am Currently Lusting After:


The Maze Runner by James Dashner- Recommended by a close friend during the summer I have been wanting to pick this up since then, Thomas loses consciousness in an elevator, and wakes up with a group of boys in an outdoor expanse called The Glade. He can help them all escape-but only if he can unlock the dark secrets buried with his mind.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver- A story about a popular teenager who lives the last day of her life seven times over with variations daily. I did a short review on this last week and have decided I want to go and purchase it, I am someone who loves to own the book even if I have already read it. I feel the need to add it to my collection.

* The Fault in Our Stars by Hank Green- The story of a fifteen year old girl with a terminal illness, cancer. Hank reads the first chapter of this book on his YouTube channel and I adored it so I finally decided to jump the gun and go pre-order it! So excited to finally have the money to do so.

* Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson- The story of a woman who lost her memory two decades previously and wakes up every morning in an unfamiliar bed with an unfamiliar man. This man must explain that he is her husband, Ben, and that she lost her memory two decades earlier in an terrible accident and it has decimated her ability to form new memories. This book promises a plot twist, which I must admit are one of my favorite aspects to a book, and seems like it will be a great read.

Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist by Michael J Fox- One of the only non-fiction novels on this list but some days I can be quite the pessimist and actually had this pointed out to me the other day so I thought this book would be an interesting read. I always love inspirational quotes or stories so because I have been in little rut the last little bit I think this may be what I need to read. Michael talks about how he got through his dark days with his head held high and I think all of us have those days so it will be nice for some advice.

*Out of my Mind by Sharon M. Draper- The powerful story of a girl struggling to let the world know that on the outside she might be suffering from cerebral palsy, but on the inside is a brilliant girl wainting to be heard. I guess my heart went out to the main character in this novel, as she promises to be smart but struggling to make it apparent. All in all it sounds like something I would be interested in as it promises angst.

Cornered by Ron MacLean with Kirstie McLellan Day- I am a huge hockey lover and always look foward to Hockey Night in Canada with Don Cherry and Ron MacLean every Saturday night. Another non-fiction, this book is a type of biography of Ron MacLean's job history, from his early days to now, this greatly appeals to the sports fan in me.

Bruiser by Neal Shusterman- "Tennyson is freaked out because his sister Bronte is dating Bruiser, the toughest looking kid in school. But appearances are not what they seem...the bruises and scars on Bruiser's body don't belong to him. A story of abuse, recovery, and the courage to go on." I am a little unsure about this book as it comes off as a little cliched. I am sure that if it was bought for me I would have no problem reading it but I am hesitant to go and spend my own money on it.

*If I Stay by Gayle Forman- "One moment Mia is driving with her family-the next she is watching her damaged body being pulled out of a car wreck. As she lays in a coma, Mia must decide whether or not she will fight to survive." This book appeals to be greatly-again because of the angst, even though you just know she will survive-I love the whole will-she, won't-she struggle. This book I would not mind buying for myself.

*The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern- I don't even know how to begin to summarize this book, it is about a circus that arrives at night and is about the competition between two young magicians, male and female using their talent. The reader however knows the secret that this competition is a battle to the death. I have heard many rave reviews about this online so I cannot wait to go into the store and see for myself!

*mark the books I am most excited about.

11/11/11 at 11:11

The countdown is on. Today is my birthday, sweet sixteen to be exact, so tonight at 11:11 I will be blowing out my candles and making the most, "epic-est" wish of all time.

Today has been such a great day, it has been wonderful! Even though some moments were...less than lovely, as in, Tom forgot to wish me a Happy Birthday, Herb was all pissy and put me in a bad mood and my shoulder is killing me, when I think about the good things it was a great birthday. My friend Jeff said to me something pretty corny, but something really sweet, today as we walked through the rain, I told him about how the weather is always terrible on my birthday, today it rained all day and was quite windy, pretty miserable. He said, it doesn't matter, all that matters is who you spend it with! It was very sweet of him and it earned a big aww and a hug from me!

Honestly, I can't believe I am now sixteen, it's crazy to think of how much I waited for this day to come and now, it's finally here. And almost over.

I have been through hell this week because of swim practices, I even had to go swim on my birthday. And ya, I got punched in the face in water polo and my nose kinda hurts, ya my shoulder burns and I have a meet tomorrow, and ya I have eaten way to much cake today but I am frickin' sixteen now! It kind of is a great way to end the week. I have so many lovely friends who are so kind to me, all the time, but today was special. Last night I went out to dinner with Tom, Sarah and Shantel and we had such a great time. Today I went spent the morning with my mum, we went to the ceremonies before going home and just hanging out. Then I went to swim, Sarah baked me a cake, with Physics notes all over it and Alyssa made me a GIANT chocolate chip cookie and Ally made me a lovely card.

I am having a party tomorrow but I am proud to say that on an A/T graph (Anna/Time Graph) my position is now 16 and my displacement is unknown. :)

This post is very birthday themed and very happy and although my birthday is very important to me, obviously. I share my birthday with a very important holiday, Remberance Day. My great-grandfather fought in WW2 and survived. He passed away over a year ago now but Rememberance Day will always be close to my heart. I believe that it is important to remember those who fought for our freedom and willingly risked their life, mind and appendages. They were brave men and women who I am forever indebted and thankful to.

before i fall by lauren oliver review

So this is the first time I have ever done a book review but considering how much I read I don't know why I have never done one before. The book in question is Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. Now I have about fifty books in a box that I bought this summer that I am slowly trying to work my way through but when my friend brought in a book for me to borrow on Friday and I read the back cover I knew I had to start it immediately and it is now on my list of must by books.

The novel is about this girl who dies but then relives the last day of her life over again, and over again, and over again. I remember thinking that this is a depressed version of Groundhog Day and then on the next page the book actually made a reference the the movie.

At the start of this book I actually hated the main character, Samantha, so much so that by the time we had worked our way up to her death I thought, that's what ya get. Bad, I know. At first she is portrayed as a stuck-up popular high school bitch but as she relives her last day over again, as each day progresses she gets more desperate and you start to feel pity for her as she changes. By the end of the book she has become a likeable character but I didn't find myself 'clinging to a box of Kleenex' as Now's review predicted. Usually anything in a book can make me cry, happy days and sad days. I cried at the end of The Help just because I had grown so attached to the characters and didn't want the book to end. This was not the case for this book. I did find myself tearing up at the end just because it was so sad and the main character had done a 180 but I find most of my pity lies with Kent, a secondary character. If you read the book you will understand why.

This book was 339 pages long but I finished mine in one night, I am a fast reader but the book really did draw me in and I found myself wanted to know what would happen on the next day. Parts of the book made me want to scream at the main character but other parts made me smile and I will admit the odd, awww did escape me.

One aspect I really did enjoy was that you learn more about the minor characters personalties during each day she relives her last. At the start she looks down upon them all and has her own selfish, mean conclusions about their personalties but each day she spends time with one of them or another and you find out their hobbies and what the are really like, not just the way they dress. The character I mentioned before, Kent, changed the most in Sam's eyes though, the two of them used to be best friends but as Sam got popular she stopped hanging out with him. During the first day, she calls him a dork, insults most of what he does and makes fun of him but by day seven, well he turns out to be more then a battered blazer, funny hat and checked sneakers.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book and personally I did enjoy it. I will be checking out Derlirium by Lauren Oliver the next time I am in a bookstore to see if it is as good.

And that has been what has inspired me during my last weekend being fifteen, a book. Well that's no surprise. I also started working on a Christmas FF because I left my notebook with my other Christmas story at school...

almost one week

It's almost one week until my birthday! So excited for my sweet sixteen! <3 I am going to be having a little party at my house that will be very, very chill as I have a big swim competition that morning but also plan on having a family dinner with just a few very close friends where I can dress up and look all pretty! :)

Other then my birthday countdown steadily decreasing I have been doing nothing. I really have not had a life recently and cannot imagine having one until I graduate from university! Speaking of that I actually attended a Post-Secondary fair-type-thing where a bunch of booths were set up from around the maritimes and from Ontario. I got to talk to a Carleton representative and it was amazing! It seems so much more real now that I have a pamphlet in my hands. Their Bachelor of Journalism program appears to be very competitive however so I need to decide soon if that is the career I wish to pursue. It's hard, I really don't know. I can't see myself doing that but I suppose I need to try it before I can write it off completely.

I can however see myself getting a degree in English Literature or History though, easily. I would love it, and then maybe even go on to teaching those subjects? I don't know... I also SLIGHTLY thought about getting a Science degree... Why you ask? I have no effin' clue, I would most likely never apply it, and it might be a more rigorous course but I just really like science and thought it would be interesting... At least I could take a few science courses right? I LOVED Physical Geography and Biology and am loving Physics (as much as one can love Physics) and I loved Chem up in Quebec, we will see how I do next semester. It isn't something I can see myself applying to my life but it is something I am interested in.

Wouldn't it be ironic if after putting this much thought into something and spending $100, 000+ I ended up being a housewife?