Good-bye 2011

There is currently 8 hours left in the year 2011... I've been reading lots of bloggers' end-of-the-year/ year-in-review posts, so here is mine. 

When I started thinking back on this year, I realized that I was able to do some pretty new and exciting things, the biggest of which was my trip to Italy. It was the first time I'd left the continent or even been on a plane. I was re-reading my posts from the trip, and looking back I can say that it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life! 

I also had other fun little trips and adventures, like visiting Georgia for a weekend and going to Michigan for the first time. Plus, college in general has been pretty great - I've done well academically this year, taken some pretty awesome classes, and had so much fun with my friends. But to say this year has been really good wouldn't really be true - it's been a very up-and-down year for me. I don't want to be ungrateful because the good times were really good, but the low points were very low too. It's not really stuff that I talk about on here... I'll just say I get rather discouraged about things sometimes. 

I read this quotation yesterday by Hal Borland: ‎"Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us."


I guess that's true... nothing is going to magically change just because we decided a new year would begin on January 1. I think I have learned things though this year, and I am trying to make changes to have a better year this year. 
So here are some things I hope to achieve in 2012:


- Travel: I've been itching to travel somewhere lately. If I could, I'd love to go back to Europe, but that won't be happening for a while :( At least I am going to be visiting at least two states I've never been to in the next couple of months! Hopefully I will get to do even more traveling. 
- Write: My poetry class forced me to write poems, which was great. Now I need to keep up the work and keep writing. I'd love to get something published, but even if I don't yet, I want to keep reading and  writing. 
-Maintain/lose weight: In the past year and a half, I have at least 15 pounds. At very least, I want to maintain my current weight, but I'd love to lose another 5 or 10. I have been doing well exercising over this break from school, but the tricky part is keeping it up when I get busy. I want to continue eating healthy and find new healthy recipes to try :) 
-Blog: I haven't done as much with this blog as I could. I really want to blog more regularly, and add more focus/creativity.

Christmas break

I hope you had a lovely Christmas! I have been home from college for nearly two weeks now, and the time has quite been flying by between getting together with friends, a weekend shopping trip, my birthday, and Christmas celebrations with relatives. In my down time, I've been trying to catch up on much-needed sleep and also read some pleasure books. As an English major, I spend so much time during the semester reading required books that it's really only on breaks that I have time to read books just for fun. 

I had been wanting to read this book, Wide Sargasso Sea, ever since one of professors recommended it. It's a sort of retelling of Jane Eyre, from the perspective of the character "Bertha," whose actual name in this book is Antoinette. The plot mostly takes place before the events of Jane Eyre and tells the story of Antoinette's childhood and unhappy marriage to Rochester. Having just studied Jane Eyre in my Victorian literature class last semester, I enjoyed another perspective, although it definitely does not present a flattering picture of Rochester. 

On a different note, I am currently in the middle of Catching Fire, the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy. Yes, I confess I have jumped onto this bandwagon. As an English major, I am a little wary of some popular fiction, but the story really does just suck in the reader. I read the first book as part of my young adult lit class last semester, and ever since have been waiting to read the second two. 

The most recent other significant thing I have done is dying my hair for the first time! I had been thinking about it for some time and finally decided to just try it. My friends and I had a little hair-dying party last night and here's the result: 

At first, I was concerned that it was too dark, but I think I've gotten used to it and like it :) I'm looking forward to having something new. 

Finally, I received many pretty pieces of clothing for Christmas, so I really will have to try to do some outfit posts soon. I haven't done any in a very long time!

Gift guide

My first bit of news...


I am done with classes/papers/exams for the semester! Yay! Today I had my last exam, and now I am free - so I can finally write a post that I have been wanting to do for a while. 


This year for Christmas I am trying to buy gifts from smaller stores or independent sellers. For one thing, I think you can find more unique things, and for another, I'd rather give my money to individuals. Just an idea :) 


So I thought I'd share some of the websites (from etsy) where I found some items. I won't share exactly what I bought, in case someone I bought things for reads this. 


Folding Chair Designs - They have some really cute hair accessories
Moonbeamwishes - Awesome greeting cards 
PlaidCupcakeDesigns - A bit of this and that 


Another place where I actually asked for something for myself is Violet Bella. I adore her jewelry and have been wanting something from there for quite a while :) 


If you want even more gift guide ideas, check out this list from Scathingly Brilliant. 


Happy Christmas shopping - only twelve days till Christmas! 

DIY - "Book Shelves"

I may not be a naturally "crafty" sort of person, but when I saw this DIY project on Ruche's blog a while ago, I thought it was so cute and would be a perfect way to decorate the painfully white walls of my dorm room.  Early in the semester I bought some books at a used bookstore with the intention of making them, but alas the semester nearly went by before I got around to putting them up. However - finally today I put together this "book shelf," and here is the result:

Hmm... one looks a little crooked 

Now my wall is not so sad!

The original instructions can be found here. I modified the instructions a little to make it work for me. My dorm does not allow larger than 1-inch nails in the wall so that is what I used to attach the brackets to the wall. I used the screws that came with the brackets to attach the brackets to the books. For the largest book I used three brackets to make it sturdier. I am a little worried they won't stay on the wall because of the 1-inch nails, but so far since last evening they have stayed up. If something falls on my feet while I am sleeping, however, it will not be so good :P

Here's how I screwed in the brackets before I put them on the wall
(It would have been much easier if I had an electric screwdriver, but I used what I could find)