A Little Bit About Me...

1. My boy side

[x] I love hoodies.
[x] I love jeans.
[x] Dogs are better than cats.
[x] It’s hilarious when people get hurt.
[] Shopping is torture
[] Sad movies suck
[x] You own a car racing game.
[x] You played with hot wheels cars as a kid.
[] At some point in time you wanted to be a firefighter.
[x] You owned a ds, ps2, ps3, n64, or sega.
[] You used to be obsessed with power rangers.
[x] You have watched sports on tv.
[x] Gory movies are cool.
[] You go to your dad for advice.
[] You Hate Drama.
[] You own like a trillion baseball caps.
[] You used to collect hockey cards.
[] Baggy sweats are cool to wear.
[x] It’s kinda weird to have sleepovers with a bunch of people.
[] Green, black, red, blue, or silver are one of your favorite colors.
[x] You love to go crazy and not care what people think.
[] Sports are fun.
[x] You talk with food in your mouth.
[] You sleep with your socks on at night.
[x] You have fished at least once.

2. My girl side

[x] You love to shop.
[x] You wear eyeliner.
[] You wear the color pink.
[x] You go to your mom to talk.
[] You consider cheerleading a sport.
[] You hate wearing the color black.
[x] You like going to the mall.
[] You like getting manicures and/or pedicures.
[x] You like wearing jewelry.
[x] You cried watching the notebook
[x] Dresses are a big part of your wardrobe.
[] Shopping is one of your favorite hobbies.
[] You don’t like the movie star wars.
[] You are/were in gymnastics.
[]It takes you around one hour to shower, get dressed, and make-up.
[x] You smile a lot more than you should.
[x] You have more than 10 pairs of shoes.
[] You care about what you look like.
[x] You like wearing dresses when you can.
[x] You like wearing high heel shoes.
[x] You used to play with dolls as little kid.
[x] You like putting make-up on others.
[] You like being the star of everything.

3. Appearance

[] I am shorter than 5′5″.
[] I have many scars.
[x] I tan easily.
[x] I wish my hair was a different color.
[x] I have friends who have never seen my natural hair color.
[] I have a tattoo.
[x] I am self-conscious about my appearance.
[x] I’ve had/have braces.
[x] I’ve been told i’m attractive by a complete stranger.
[] I have more than two piercings.
[] I have/had piercings in places besides my ears.

4. Experiences

[] I’ve gotten lost in my city.
[] I’ve seen a shooting star.
[] I’ve wished on a shooting star.
[] I’ve seen a meteor shower.
[x] I’ve gone out in public in my pajamas.
[] I’ve pushed all the buttons on an elevator.
[] I’ve kicked a guy where it hurts.
[x] I’ve been to a casino.
[x] I Always Get Mistaken As Much Older Than I Actually Am.
[] I’ve been skydiving.
[] I’ve gone skinny-dipping.
[] I’ve drank a whole gallon of milk in one hour.
[] I’ve crashed a car.
[] I’ve been skiing.
[] I’ve been in a musical.
[] I’ve caught a snowflake or snow on my tongue.
[] I’ve seen the northern lights.
[] I’ve sat on a rooftop at night.
[] I’ve played a prank on someone.
[x] I’ve ridden in a taxi.
[x] I’ve seen the rocky horror picture show.
[x] I’ve eaten sushi.
[] I’ve been snowboarding.

5. Relationships

[] I’m single.
[x] I’m in a relationship.
[] I’m engaged.
[] I’m married.
[x] I miss someone right now.
[x] I've Played With Someones Emotions On Purpose Before.
[] I’ve gotten divorced.
[] (depends what kind of love) I’ve told someone I loved them when I didn’t.
[] I’ve told someone I didn’t love them when I did.

6. Honesty/Crime

[x] I’ve done something I promised someone else I wouldn’t.
[x] I’ve done something I promised myself I wouldn’t.
[] I’ve snuck out
[] I’ve lied to my parents about where I am.
[x] I’ve cheated while playing a game.
[] I’ve ran a red light.
[] I’ve witnessed a crime.
[] I’ve been in a fist fight.
[] I’ve been arrested.

7. Death and suicide

[x] I’m afraid of dying.
[x] I hate funerals.
[x] I've thought about how i would die.
[] I’ve seen someone/something dying.
[] I've had a near death experience.
[] Someone close to me has attempted/committed suicide.
[] I’ve planned my own suicide before.
[x] I’ve written a eulogy for myself.

8. Random

[] I can sing well
[] Stolen a tray from a fast food restaurant.
[] I open up to others easily.
[] My Parents Are Divorced.
[] I watch the news.
[] I don’t kill bugs.
[x] I sing in the shower.
[x] I am a morning person.
[] Ive been abused.
[x] I paid for a cell phone ring tone.
[] I am a sports fanatic.
[x] I twirl my hair.
[x] I care about grammar.
[] I have “?”’s in my screen name.
[] I’ve copied more than 30 cd’s in a day.
[] I bake well.
[x] My favorite color is either white, yellow, pink, red, blue, black, purple, or orange.
[x] I would wear pajamas to school.
[] I like Martha stewart.
[] I know how to shoot a gun.
[x] I laugh at my own jokes. cause they’re funny
[] I eat fast food weekly.
[] I’ve not turned anything in and still got an a in a certain class.
[x] I can’t sleep if there is a spider/cockroach in the room.
[x]I am ticklish.
[x] I love white chocolate.
[x] I bite my nails.
[x] I’m good at remembering faces.
[] I’m good at remembering names.
[x] I’m good at remembering dates.
[x] I honestly have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life.
[x] All my answers were totally honest

Birthday Stuff and Wreck This Journal

Hello friends! Sorry it's been so long. My birthday was Thursday and every day after that was just busy. So what's new? I'm reading a pretty awesome book called Divergent by Veronica Roth that one of my best friends recommended to me. I'm not going to lie, it's pretty awesome. After I've finished Divergent, I'm moving on to a book called Remembrance by Michelle Madow. It's $0.99 until April on eReaders. Miss Madow came to my school Friday and talked to us about her book, and it seemed too interesting to pass up for the price.

Other than that, my birthday was really great. I got a really sweet engraved journal from my boyfriend, a nerf gun, journal, and yoyo from my best friend, and money from my parents and grandparents. Which I've spent on, wait for it, an excess of Lalaloopsy dolls. They are my obsession and I started collecting them around Christmas. I'll post a picture of them at the end of this post. :)

Other than those gifts, I got a Wreck This Journal. I am beyond obsessed with it for a few reasons. First, since I finished my Smash Book, I didn't have anything creative to do. Second, it really helps me when I have Writers block. My biggest problem when I write is worrying about ruining a piece. However, the purpose of a WTJ is to ruin it! So after I go through a few pages, I start to feel better and can write better quality things than I could before. Lastly, it's just super fun! With pages like "Pour your coffee on this page" and "Rub dirt on this page", it's interesting to see how you can make those things look nice. Which I know isn't the point, but I think that if you just do what the pages say, it's too easy. Trying to make those things look good is the hard part.

Well, I hope you all are well! I'll be reviewing Divergent by the middle of the week, so look out for that.
 :)
Bye!
--Kayla

Oh, Dude....

It's been awhile! I did finish Scorpio Rising by Monique Domovitch a few days ago, and I figured I could do a short review for it.

There's not a lot to say, honestly. I got the book for free, so I'll try not to complain too much. I never much connected to the characters. It was, what I like to call, a SKIN DEEP novel. Superficial. I wouldn't call it bad, because I kept picking it up so I could get it finished. It managed to keep my interest for short spans of time. There were far too many things, however, going on at once for me to remain interested.

It is about aspiring architect Alex from NYC, and aspiring artist Brigitte from France. The book is all over the place, but never quite reaching the level of 'complex'. I believe that if Domovitch wrote a book just about Brigitte, it would be amazing. But somehow the character of Alex muddies up the story. I never much connected to him.

One thing I will say is the author is beyond creative. It was amazing how she searched for real-life solutions to solve her character's problems. Alex didn't simply 'recieve' a scholorship, Brigitte couldn't just 'catch a break'. No, things had to be super complicated. While at times, this was the novel's saving grace, more often than not, it was it's curse.

I will give this book 3/5 stars.

Moving on, I finished one other books this weekend. It was called Ain't No Sunshine by Leslie DuBois.
This book was....wow.
It is centered around childhood friends Stephen and Ruthie in 1960s Virginia. Stephen falls in love with and wants to marry Ruthie. The problem is, Ruthie is black, and interacial marriage is against the law. Despite all odds, they find ways to be together.
This book was SICK. Not in the good way. Not like, "Oh, dude, that book was SICK!!". More like, "Oh....dude....that book was sick. Ew.". Not that I wouldn't reccommend it, because it was a really sweet love story, but there was a wrench thrown in the story about 60% through that will leave you reeling. And then, at the end, DuBois gets your hopes up and you think that everything will be okay. But in the epilogue, all those hopes are shattered.

I'd give this book a 4/5 stars. But if you decide to read it, beware. It's a little more than strange.

I hope everyone is doing well. Sorry these reviews were vague, there just wasn't much to say about Scorpio Rising, and there isn't much you can say about Ain't No Sunshine without giving away very important details.

I don't think my next blog post will be a review, but we shall see. :)

Bye!

BZZZZZZZZ!

Hello all! Today was quite the day. It all starts last night with my dog. He for some reason didn't want to sleep, which meant that I didn't get any sleep either. And this morning was the early bird class, so I needed sleep. Well, I get up this morning, and I'm angry. I'm tired, I'm grumpy, and my hair looks really bad. So I walk into my kitchen to get something to eat. Alas, I'm out of cereal, and there is no oatmeal (no oatmeal that I'm willing to eat anyway. Come on, peaches and cream oatmeal is nasty). So I'm standing there getting ready to explode, and I notice there is a tiny bit of coffee left in the coffee pot. Enough to fill up my coffee cup I bough months ago with the intention of taking hot chocolate to school. So I think, hey, caffeine could only help, plus it's warm so it will make me feel full until lunch. So I pull out the creamer and put about a half an inch of it in the bottom, and fill the rest of the cup with coffee.

Two gulps later, and I'm feeling good enough to do my hair. But this was only the beginning.
As soon as I got to first period, I was feeling a little tired. So I basically chugged half of the container and then tried as hard as I could to focus on notes. Within 10 minutes, I felt like electricity was running through my veins. At first it was too much to handle, but after a few more minutes, it became tolerable. And I began to focus better than I've ever been able to focus in my life. It was like the teacher was talking to me through a megaphone and the talking of my classmates didn't phase me.

Long story short, I may have developed a caffeine addiction today. However, since I want to be a writer, I figured that drinking coffee and writing novels go hand in hand. Throw in a beach house, turtleneck, and a yellow labrador retriever and I'm good to go.

Anyway, that's my story today. I hope you all are well. I'm working my way through a book called Scorpio Rising that I'm hoping to finish tonight or tomorrow. I'll write a review as soon as I'm through.
Good night!

Elephant Girl: A Human Story

There are so many things I'd like to say about Jane Devin's book, Elephant Girl: A Human Story, Unfortunately, I have neither the time or the words. All I can say is it was breath taking. Yes, it was another free PixelOfInk find, and it was even more amazing and well written than Breaking TWIG.

Elephant Girl follows the troubling life of Jane Devin, who is the author. However, I had difficulty deciphering if this was a Autobiography or if it was written in an extremely believable voice. As believable as it was written, it's hard to wrap your mind around such a tragic life that stemmed from sexual abuse, near poverty, and an emotionally instable home life.

Written in three voice, (Child, teen, and adult), Devin's book totally captures the ups and the downs of a truly downtrodden human being. I was sorry to see the book end. While it's tragic and makes you think about the secret lives of people you may know, the book also easily captures the few bright moments in the main character's life. You find yourself cheering her along, pushing her just a bit further, knowing there would have to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

The only complaint I had was once Devin reaches adulthood, the book tends to jump around from conversations with her therapist to the small moments in her life that affected her past the age of 18. But even this wasn't enough to make me give the book less than 5/5 stars. If I could give it more, I would.

On Amazon right now, you can purchase Jane Devin's book for $16.99 if you order a paperback, or just $4.99 if you own a Kindle. It's a good reminder to be thankful for what you have, rather than what you do not, because there is always someone who has less and who had to work far harder to get it.

Happy Valentine's day, everyone! Hope it was great!

Breaking TWIG

Hello, again. How much could I have to say since yesterday? A lot. Believe me.

Shortly after blogging about the immense amount of books I had to read, I finished reading The Help, and began a book called Breaking TWIG by Deborah Epperson. It was yet another free download from the wonderful site PixelOfInk. The book itself only costs $2.99 now, it is no longer free, but I promise it is worth every penny. I will try to summerize it enough to get your interest without giving anything away.

The book follows the life of Becky. The book opens with a prologue where Becky tells about her grandfather telling her a story about the Pickers and the Picks. (This remains important throughout the whole story). The basic idea is that a Picker finds someone weaker than they are, and in a sense bullies them until they lose their identities. A Pick is the victim, the one who is bullied. As the story progresses, you learn that Becky's father had died and Becky now lives with her mother, stepfather, and step brother. Becky's mother is vile and abusive, yet I couldn't help but appreciate her character in a way. Her stepbrother is a demon. And her stepfather was a surprising hero to the story. He feels and intense connection to teenage Becky and does everything in his power to protect her from her own mother.

Becky's main concern in her confusing and tumultuous life is keeping a promise she made to her father as a child: To keep the family store in business and to take care of his garden when he passes away. A series of things happen that get in the way of Becky's promise, but she remains loyal to her father's wishes. This loyalty stands in the way of her safety and protection, which greatly concerns her stepfather, who wants her safe.
Becky devises a scheme to keep her garden and store safe that in turn affects her life in ways she never imagined. Becky finds unlikely strength in a controversial romantic relationship, and strives to 'beat' her dark past despite her mother's attempts at keeping Becky under her thumb.

 Overall, I'd give this book 5/5 stars. I was literally unable to put it down and finished it in about 5 hours. I strongly reccommend it to anyone who owns a Kindle. After finishing Breaking TWIG, I started another book called Elephant Girl: A Human Story by Jane Devin. I'm about halfway through now, and I will write a review as soon as I've finished. Thanks for reading! Have a lovely night.

DROWNING IN BOOKS!!!! *Help*

I will admit it here first, folks. I have a problem. My problem is I'm addicted to a site called Pixel of Ink. This website posts somewhere around 9 to 12 free Kindle books DAILY. So, needless to say, I have a library full of unread books that are begging for my full and undivided attention. Tell me, how in the world am I supposed to read all of these books and keep up with my homework? Because I surely don't know. I am hoping to start one of these books today, but I just started reading The Help again, and I'm one of those people who, once they start a book, cannot put it down until it's finished. (Unless, it seems, that it was assigned by a teacher. What can I say? They give us really boring books to read.)And let's be honest, if you've read The Help, you know that you become fully enveloped in each individual character's life. I adore books like The Help, because when there over, you feel as though you've gained a few new friends. Anyway, that's what I have to say today. I hope you all are well! Have a lovely day.

Stuff.

I'm TERRIBLE at keeping on top of this thing. I apologize. I've been fairly busy with homework and studying and that extra class I told you about. It hasn't been fun. But this is a good month. Because it's valentines day and my birthday, and Titanic in 3D comes out. Just about makes my life, not going to lie. I'm kind of dumb that way. Hmmm what else... Oh, I finished The Kite Runner. I was reading it for my Composition class. It started out iffy for me, but the ending was nothing short of phenominal. It reeled me in halfway through and I was so involved in the characters. Only problem is, now that it's finished, I have nothing to read. Fortunately, I was clued in on this awesome site called Pixel of Ink, and they give away free Kindle books daily, new books every day. I haven't found any that have the WOW factor yet, but I feel like it's only a matter of time. I really just need something great to read. I've resorted to re-reading The Help and Water for Elephants over and over and Over As much as I adore those books, there IS a such thing as too much of a good thing. I hope you all are well, and I hope the rest of your week goes fantastically. PS, I just realized it's Tuesday....THAT MEANS DANCE MOMS! Yay. Goodnight!