A New Favorite

Summer is here which is a wonderful thing. And as spring was ending and summer was starting I found myself a new favorite. I know, I’m the girl who claims to not have favorites for a variety of reasons. And for the most part I stand by that. I don’t have set favorites. I don’t have one favorite book or one favorite movie or one favorite color. A lot of that depends on my mood and what’s going on in my life and all the rest of it. But I do have groups of favorites. Favorite books. Favorite colors. Favorite TV shows and/or channels.

Lately, my new favorite is HGTV. And to be completely honest, I’m about as likely to take on a home renovation or decoration project as I am to take on a big cooking project. And yet two of my favorite TV channels are HGTV and Food Network. I get completely sucked in. I love watching people cook. I love watching homes get renovated. It inspires me for what I might do in the future. I get just as sucked in to these shows as I do to my mystery shows and sitcoms and teenage dramas.

It helps that these shows, the HGTV and the Food Network shows, make for good background noise. They’re what I listen to while I clean my room or while I blog or while I color in the awesome new coloring book my dad bought me. I grew up in a house where we used TV as background noise, and these channels make good background nose.

What are some of your favorites? Let me know!

BrittanyM

Friday Fun: Lots of Snow

By the time this post gets published, there may or may not still be a lot of snow on the ground. But as I write this post, a few days in advance, there is A LOT of snow on the ground. The first blizzard of 2015 came in on Monday, spent the day yesterday, and has cleared out by today, leaving lots of snow and whatnot in its wake.

Here in Mystic we were lucky. There’s a lot of snow, but no real damage (that I’m aware of) and no power losses (that I’m aware of). We had an early dismissal on Monday and snow days Tuesday and Wednesday. It’s been nice having a break in the middle of the week, nice to not have to be doing something every minute, nice to have some time to be a little lazy. I did do some homework, I did watch a lot of TV, I did read a little, I did write a little. I spent a lot of time with family. I spent a lot of time in comfy clothes. All in all it was a great middle of the week break.

Were you hit by the snow? Let me know what’s going on in your little corner of the world.

BrittanyM

Little Random Piece

I don’t actually have a lot to say. I’m two days into summer and life is pretty good. I’ve spent the past two days vegging and watching TV and sleeping. And there’s really nothing wrong with that. It’s a good way to start summer, especially after having had such a busy senior year. But that’s not really what I wanted to write about.

All I wanted to write about was this. The final Harry Potter movie was on tonight. For those of you who have read my blog before you know that I really love Harry Potter, that it was a huge part of my childhood. So I tuned into the movie because I was hanging out with my mom who’s almost even a bigger Harry Potter fan than I am. And the truth of the matter is, it still makes me choke up. I know what’s going to happen and when and why and none of that matters. It still chokes me up.

BrittanyM

Today Is

Today is…the first day of the rest of my life. It sounds a little dramatic, but it’s the truth. I graduated college yesterday which was overwhelming and exciting and so many other things. And in my usual klutzy nature I almost missed the last step and fell on my way to get my diploma. Well, my diploma folder. Luckily I didn’t fall or do anything equally embarrassing. Because we all know that it could have happened.

But, all graduation dramatics inside, today is my first full day as a college graduate. Today is the first day of the rest of my life. The world is my oyster. I really need to stop with the cliches because, well, they’re cliches for a reason.

Today is a really nice day though. I’m spending it writing and watching TV and with family because that’s a great way to spend any day. Soon I have to start working on reorganizing my room and sorting through all my stuff, and my grad school program starts in July. So life will kick in again soon enough.

Today though, I’m just going to enjoy the day.

BrittanyM

Friday Fun: Catching Up

Hi Everyone!

Sorry that I’ve been MIA for most of the week. Mostly it was because I didn’t have a lot to say, and partly it was because I’ve just been so busy with work. Taking six classes means a lot of work a lot of the time, and my family is coming up to visit tomorrow, so I’ve been working on getting things done in advance. But also, I figured that if I don’t have anything I want to say, it’s ok if I go MIA for a day or two (or four). It’s not as if I’m planning on disappearing completely. If that’s the case, I’ll give you guys a heads up.

So all of that out of the way, things are good. School is keeping me very busy, but I like most of the work I have to do so that’s ok. And life has been a little exciting because it’s been premiere week for TV, and while I have some shows I still need to catch up on, the premieres that I have seen have been really good. Regular readers of this blog know that I’m a little bit of a TV junkie, so premiere week is an exciting thing for me.

In other news, I think I had previously mentioned that I had discovered a new young adult author, Susane Colasanti. Since writing that post, I’ve read 4 of her books, and I’ve absolutely loved them. They’re the type of book that I just have to read until it’s done because I so desperately want to know what’s going to happen next. Her books are entirely relatable and realistic, and I highly recommend going out and reading her books. You won’t regret it.

I’ve also been excited lately because fall weather is (slowly) starting to roll in, and I adore sweater weather. Summer is wonderful and I love it, but I’m ready for cooler temperatures and fall clothing. This only in part has to do with the fact that I’m very tired of wearing my summer wardrobe. Just a smidgen.

That’s all for now, and I’ll try to write again soon. Maybe even tomorrow.

BrittanyM

Love of Books and Stories

I know that in the past I have written about how much I love books. In the intervening weeks that sentiments hasn’t changed, just like I don’t imagine it changing ever. For as long as I can remember books have been an integral part of my life. I love to read. I love stories. And that’s just simply the way it is.

I think when people hear the word stories they automatically assume that books are being talked about. After all, it’s books that tell stories, isn’t it? And that assumption certainly isn’t wrong. Hundreds of books tell dozens of different stories. Some books hold more general appeal than others, and some have better writing styles than others, but all tell stories. Personally I’m a fan of young adult literature even though I’m quickly outgrowing the “young adult” title. I love “The Hunger Games” series. I grew up with the Harry Potter franchise. And I’m a huge fan of Sarah Dessen’s books. (Girly, I know, but I am a girl, and I love the stories that she tells.) When it comes to the young adult genre pretty much anything is fair game once. I don’t believe in judging a book by it’s cover. I believe in judging it by how much it interests me. And outside of the young adult genre I love both ends of the spectrum. I’m a big fan of Jodi Picoult’s work, and I’m also a big fan of Mo Willems’ work. (For those of you who don’t know he writes the pigeon books and they’re hilarious.)

But stories aren’t just told by books. Stories are told by TV shows and by movies. They’re told by commercials and movie previews. They’re what are found on book jacket covers. They’re what can be found in a collection of pictures. Stories are everywhere in every form imaginable. And I like to imagine them in all of those forms.

Besides being quite the bookworm, I’m a little bit of a TV junkie and I love going to the movies. I love seeing how stories unfold on the small and big screens alike. It takes skill and talent to make a story look and feel real on the screen, but telling a story on screen also allows for a different way of presenting a story than a book does. More points of view can be used. Different scenes can be seen. It’s an entirely different way to bring in the audience, and I love that.

Clearly I’m a big fan of stories in all forms, something that will never change. And who knows? Maybe one day it will be my stories in the books and on the screen.

BrittanyM

TV Binge Watching

Apparently “binge-watching” has become a real thing. It shouldn’t really surprise me because in all honesty it’s something I’ve been doing for a long time. You find a TV show that you really like and you watch all of it as quickly as you can. I just did it this summer with Castle, and now I’m all caught up for the fall season. So the action doesn’t surprise me. The fact that it has a name sort of does. It makes it sound like a bad thing, and I don’t think it necessarily is. I think so long as one goes about their “normal” life binge watching is fine. It’s nice to have something to look forward to. I might be largely alone in that opinion, but it’s the opinion that I’m going with. I’m not saying that “binge-watching” is for everyone or that it doesn’t need to be handled appropriately. But I think it’s fun to catch up on TV and I think that a better name could have been come up with for “binge-watching.” Thoughts?

BrittanyM