Epic Service Announcement: New Blog Changes

In the time I've tried to be more serious about blogging, I've come to realize a couple of things: I've been sticking to doing about two different posts, and that's it (those being my Book Club Mondays and How To Tuesdays). That isn't all that I want out of this blog, however, so I came up with some great new ideas that I'm very excited to share with you!

First off, I'm going to continue to do Book Club Mondays every Monday, but am going to take a break from How To Tuesdays every week, and instead going to do them every two. In the meantime, I'm bringing in a new bi-weekly post called How I Blog - filled with motivation and my own ideas to stay motivated, and hopefully help someone else!

Besides all that, I'm bringing back Get Pretty posts of various makeup looks, and also Get Pretty Reviews, where I review some of my new (and old) favorites!

Among all of those new things, there are still others that I want to keep secret. According to my calendar, there will be a post every day for the entire post of July, and I'm going to do everything that I can to stick to that plan!

Un-blog related, but I'm also planning to do something really special with that novel I wrote a couple of years ago... stay tuned for more!

Book Club Mondays: The Mill River Recluse

After reading the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, I wanted a standalone read that would be able to capture my attention and help rid me of the memory of ever reading said trilogy. Brain bleach, if you will. Upon flipping through my Kindle looking for a new read, I happened upon The Mill River Recluse by Darcie Chan. I had downloaded it months ago with every intention of reading it, but it didn’t quite happen.  

A self-published novel that’s made it to both the New York Times and USA Today Bestseller lists, The Mill River Recluse is highly regarded both via Amazon reviews and word of mouth. It is a self-published marvel that has sold hundreds of thousands of copies digitally, without a single hard copy published as of yet. It’s a bit of an amazing story, and as someone who has an unpublished novel sitting on the hard drive of my computer, a bit inspirational! But of course, we’re not here to talk about me (for now), we’re talking about this great book.

The Mill River Recluse takes place in fictional Mill River, Vermont, and tells the story of agoraphobic, reclusive Mary McAllister, a widow who lives atop a large hill in a marble house built by her late husband. Turned from just a shy girl into a full-on recluse after being disfigured by her abusive husband, Mary refused to leave that marble house on the hill. She read and rode her horse, Ebony, to pass the time, and used her wealth to help the entire town of Mill River, though they didn’t know it at the time.  

An unlikely cast of characters included Father O’Brien, the town’s priest whose kleptomaniacal tendencies left no spoon in Mill River safe. He was one of Mary’s only views into the outside world past her window, and took responsibility for her care for at least 40 years. There is also ‘Crazy Daisy’, a girl who had an absolutely refreshing view – after being left somewhat brain damaged from birth, her lackadaisical attitude brought a great deal of light into an already great story. She spent her time creating ‘magic potions’, really by just mixing a lot of random things together. There were others in the town (obviously), including the newest police officer, his daughter, and a new teacher who held their own storyline along with Leroy, another police officer with a mean, jealous streak that leads to some of his own trouble.

From the characters to the writing, I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Mill River Recluse. It is definitely one of those books that you either love or hate – there doesn’t seem to be a middle ground. One thing I loved, and that was much different than other novels, is the way it was written. One chapter would begin with a story about Mary, growing up and giving the reader an idea of how she got the way she did. The next would was a third-person representation of what was happening around her. It reminded me a bit of the writing in Chuck Palahniuk’s Pygmy (and trust me, if you didn’t know that’s what you were walking into, that book was incredibly confusing). It was kind of a fun way to read, since you were getting history and back story in between reading in the present tense.

As of right now, the book is $2.99 in the Kindle store – don’t try to get a hard copy, though, since they don’t exist (yet). If you’re looking for a thoroughly enjoyable read that both won’t take long and will leave you incredibly satisfied at the story’s end, check out The Mill River Recluse. You will be so glad you did.

Book Club Mondays: The Fifty Shades of Grey Series

This week's Book Club Monday is a little special, in that I read three books instead of just one! Those three books just so happen to be three of the most popular books in recent history - the Fifty Shades of Grey series. 

I didn't really want to read these books, if I can be honest. I just wanted to see what all of the fuss was about. I went in knowing three things: they've been nicknamed 'mommy porn', they were all based off of a Twilight fan fiction story, and the writing isn't that great. These are all things I learned based on reviews I read online, so at least I wasn't surprised. 

Did I enjoy the books? Not really. Did I get some sort of weird sexual enjoyment out of reading all of the BDSM-laden sexcapades of one Anastasia Steele and one Christian Grey? No. The story has been done so many times before - disadvantaged, naive girl meets filthy rich businessman, they sleep together, and drama ensues. Of course. 

From what I learned going in, the books' events all take place in a matter of weeks. Anastasia meets Christian by going to do an interview for her college's student magazine in her friend Kate's place, and makes a great first impression by tripping and falling into his office face first. That, and she had nearly no interviewing experience, and asked the powerful businessman if he was gay. Of course. Because that would happen. Christian Grey starts all but stalking this poor girl, and then, of course, they fall in love with each other. At least E.L. James got the emotional abuse part of the Twilight storyline in there without fail. The first book, Fifty Shades of Grey, chronicles Anastasia's feelings through meeting the untouchable Grey, having her virginity taken by him, and trying to wrap her head around him wanting her to be his newest of sixteen submissives. Eventually, she realizes that this is absolutely ridiculous, and leaves him. And you're suckered into reading another book.

Fifty Shades Darker starts off with a strange Christian Grey flashback (since at this point we've learned he had a totally fucked up childhood), and gets right into the middle of Anastasia's pity party. She leaves him, but she feels badly. She got a new job as assistant to a commissioning editor at a prestigious publishing company in Seattle, and tries to fill her time working, crying, and sleeping. Such an uplifting message. Of course, at this point, Christian starts to weasel his way back into Anastasia's life, by creepily showing up at places she goes since he's tracking her movements via her phone - at the exact same time as her skeezy boss, Jack Hyde, decides that sexual harassment is the sure way to a woman's heart. Anastasia and Christian get back together. They bang each other - a lot, she changes his mind about wanting her as a submissive and wants to have a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship, they bang, they fight, they bang, etc. Honestly, I could only read the gratuitous sex scenes until about halfway through this book. At that point, they were almost mundane. As mundane as Anastasia's constant musing about how beautiful and untouchable Christian is in comparison to any other guy ever born. Christian continues to be creepy - even going so far as to buy the company Anastasia works for, and shortly after, fire her creepy boss, Jack - this is, after Jack attempts to force himself on her and causes a whole heap of trouble. His creepiness must be alluring to Anastasia, since she agrees to marry him. And they bang. And they bang. and Jack Hyde seeks revenge. Aaaaand then the book ends. 

By the time I read Fifty Shades Freed, the third (and final) installment of the series, I was so utterly and completely over Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey I could puke. Her undying love for this guy was sickening. He obviously had issues, and she did what girls do every day - she tried to fix him. We all know that never works. Now, I'm not entirely positive when Freed takes place in comparison to the first book, but the fact that Christian and Anastasia get married kills any thought of this relationship - and story - being even remotely believable. Or does it? They get married, Anastasia gets used to being the wife of a rich dude, Christian's helicopter is sabotaged and everybody thinks he's dead - but of course he isn't, and of course Jack Hyde is to blame… I'm sure you can guess the rest, so I don't want to spoil it for you. As far as entertainment went, though, Fifty Shades Freed took the cake.

All in all, I didn't find anything really worth liking or taking away from the Fifty Shades series. If anything, it just makes me sad that this is what writing has to be in order to be popular, and that this is what people all over the world are turning to in an attempt to fix their broken relationships and spice up their marriages just makes me shake my head. Although, I suppose the money spent on these books is cheaper than marriage counseling. 

How To Tuesday: Nail Fail!

Tonight, I was 100% ready to try out nail water marbling. I got out my nail polish and other supplies, and was ready to write a tutorial on this pretty popular new nail style.

Hypothetically, it seems pretty simple. You need nail polish, a small bowl, room temperature water, and a stick to stir the marble effect into. Once you get the marble effect you want, you dip your nail into the polish and are supposed to have an awesome effect. 

...Unless you're me. Then, you wind up with a barely-identifiable blob of purple and teal. And you somehow scrape all of the polish off of one of your nails. I realized that I forgot the final step of the dip process, which is pulling the excess away before you pull your nail back from the water. Whoops. 

Undeterred, I decided, "Okay, let's try Scotch tape nails instead!" So I painted them a single color, and figured that I would wait for them to dry and do a simple geometric design. 

That is, until I realized that I hadn't waited long enough and pulled off almost all of the first color I painted. Since it was already screwed up, I figured that I would pile on a bunch more of a second color just to see how it would look.

...And it looked bad. So I took it all off and maybe I'll pay better attention to the directions next time, and maybe not get quite so frustrated. Oh well - every DIY can't be perfect, now can it?

How To Tuesday: Fabric Canvas Wall Art!

Since things have been changing rapidly around my house these days, I decided that the previously undecorated bedroom needed a little something (especially since it's just mine). I wanted something simple that wasn't too time consuming, and that anyone could do! I think I found a great solution (at least for one of the walls in the room).

You will need:

• 1 yard of fabric
• canvas (mine was 22x28, but you can use any size)
• glue (I used E-6000, but you could use hot glue)

Now that your supplies are collected, let's get started!

1. Take your fabric and put it over the canvas (or canvases) you plan to use. This will help to get the design straight so that it looks the way you want it to. Also, if you feel like it, iron the fabric first. 
2. Starting on the top side, glue down your fabric. First, glue down the top and the bottom, then move onto the sides. 
3. When gluing the sides, be sure to pull the fabric taut so you don't wind up with ripples and lines (especially when you haven't ironed your fabric).
4. Cut off excess fabric from sides if necessary. 
5. Fold over corners so you have a nice, finished look. 
6. Hang and enjoy!

This is an incredibly simple, cheap project. If you need to spice up a room in your home, I would definitely suggest trying this out. Canvases are always on sale at local craft shops, and a yard of fabric (especially with a coupon) is super cheap! I personally would have used hot glue for this if doing it again, but I've never used E-6000, so wanted to give it a try.

Post your opinions in the comments - and if you try it, I'd love to see a photo!