Breakathon Readathon Review: Bossypants

What an absolutely hilarious read! I’ve noticed in the past that, when I obsess about something, I immediately go for the roots. With Lord of the Rings, it was learning everything I could about the history of Middle-Earth… with 30 Rock, it was reading this autobiography. Since reading Tolkien’s biography for my paper, I’ve been on a bit of a (auto)biography hunt, and certainly Tina Fey’s was everything that I hoped it would be, and more. I could hear her voice leap right out of the text. I laughed out loud many a time, (which is a big thing for me! I am a silent reader... Most of the time I am the idiot reading in public who is beaming like a ray of sunshine at the happy ending or pulling the same faces as the character in the story). Anyway, I got everything I wanted from this book - including some really great embarrassing photos, highly amusing anecdotes, and a generous dose of her trademark humor - and I recommend it very highly.

Likelihood it will be reread: 95%

Likelihood I will try to recommend it to others, so I can talk about it to them: 75%

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Page count: 288

Challenge: Breakathon Readathon

My roommate and I have a bit of a competition going on over the break. We call it: The Breakathon Readathon.

Rules:

1. No Harry Potter. Or Twilight, for that matter. 
2. No rereading things over the break (but you can reread books you have read before.)
3. Try to stay away from audiobooks, but they are allowed.

During our break from school, we are to read as much as possible. We're quantifying it by page number, so the idea is to just read, and read a lot. I am challenging myself to read as many books that I haven't read before, (with the exception of one or two, because it's been many years since I've read them!) For some added fun, I'll be writing reviews of the books I read, too. I'll give you an updated page count, too.

Interested in what's on my list? They cover a wide array of genres... Here's a list of the books I've pulled from my shelf:

• 13 Little Blue Envelopes, Maureen Johnson (I have to finish this one - I started it months ago!)
• The Last Little Blue Envelope, Maureen Johnson (Presumably I'll want to read it, as it's the sequel!)
• Name of the Star, Maureen Johnson (Because I got it months ago and it has been EATING AT ME that I haven't been able to read it yet!)
• An Abundance of Katherines, John Green (I've been meaning to read this for ages - I've loved his other books and this is just on my list.)
• Looking for Alaska, John Green (Same as the above reason!)
• The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins (I have heard that this is an AMAZING read.)
• Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins (Presumably, I will have to read this one, because it's the sequel to Hunger Games)
• Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins (The last book in the Hunger Games trilogy... same reason as above)
• Lover Eternal, J.R. Ward (Because I read the first one and borrowed this from Ally months ago and should probably return it. Also, throwing in a romance novel seems like a good idea for a change of pace.)
• Lola and the Boy Next Door, Stephanie Perkins (I loved her first book, Anna and the French Kiss, so I picked this one up a few months ago and have been meaning to start)
• The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien (Because the movie is coming out next year, because I haven't read it since I was 14... because I just want to read it again, okay?) 
• All Wound Up, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (The latest in the Yarn Harlot's collection of knitting-related books, so naturally it's on my list.)
• Bossypants, Tina Fey (Over Thanksgiving break, I watched all five seasons of 30 Rock, and since then I have been a teensy bit obsessed with Tina Fey...)
• Earth (The Book), Jon Stewart (Sort of linked to my obsession with Tina Fey, in that it's a book written by a comedian and looks hilarious!)

So that's the list right now, and by no means will I be sticking to the order! It will in all likelihood change! Any suggestions for books I should read?

Penultimate Day of Classes Blog

(Too bad I didn't write this blog yesterday, otherwise I would have gotten to use one of my favorite obscure words: Antepenultimate. The third to last in a series.)

I have some photographs to share - as is my way, is it not?

I've been trundling along the end of the semester - through the biannual Finals Cold (I always seem to get sick. Stress colds, I suppose.) This semester isn't so awful as previous ones - things are nice and spread out. I guess I'm just ready to be done with these classes.

Tomorrow, 12/2: Exam.
Monday, 12/5: Paper (15-20 pages)
Monday, 12/13: 3 Essays (2000 words, 750 words, 750 words)

On my way to work the other day, I saw a camel.

Yep, that's a camel.

It's part of a "living nativity" thing that this church at Bee Caves and MoPac do every year. Every year I forget about it, and so inevitably I drive through through the light thinking, "Was that a camel?!" I pointed it out to Emma after I'd picked her up, and she said, "I LOVE camels!"

She's a bright girl. She also saw the moon the other day and said, "The MOON. Isn't it BEAUTIFUL, Stefanie? Stefanie, the moon came out to say hello to you!"

How could anyone NOT like gratuitous pictures of Emma?

Also, Emma can recognize some letters now. My hart practically bursts every time I show her the letter E and she proudly says, "That's E. E for Emma!" And to show how SUPER smart she is, she also recognizes S. "S for Stefanie!"

My new current favorite picture of her. Emma LOVES to swing.

Every time I tell her it's bath time, she looks at me very seriously and sais, "This is Emma's last bath. No more baths."

And the other day, I was eating a snack with her and she looked directly at me, pointed her finger, and said (through a mouthful of banana), "Stefanie, chew."

Miss Emma also knows how to operate an iPad. She can unlock it, find her favorite TV shows, and start and stop episodes. All by herself. I watched her go through like six different Dora the Explorer episodes before she decided on which one she wanted. I knew Apple products were intuitive, but I guess I underestimate the toddler population! (She loves to play with the volume. I love to snuggle with her and read a book while she watches Dora.)

She's such a big girl. Look at her a year ago!

Miss Emma still can't eat yogurt without being messy. Not much changes, except now she has more hair. (And she can speak better this year. And she has more teeth. And she...)

Miss Emma will be THREE soon. Don't talk to me about it.

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I went to see my asthma doctor the other day. Ever the sample-giver, he gave me a sample of my favorite kind of inhaler. The usual number of doses in an inhaler is 206, but this one is MINI. It only has 65. AND IT'S MINI.

Really, it just supports my theory that everything is more awesome in its miniature form: muffins, sharpies, squashes (my roommate gave me a mini acorn squash the other day!) And now, inhalers.

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I have some thank you notes to send out for my birthday presents. Mom gave me these stickers last weekend (since her last name no longer begins with a P) and I thought it would be ULTRA CLASSY to put them on.

Don't they just SCREAM classy?

We also determined that I must be an adult if I send thank you cards with absolutely no prompting from her. 

Well, crap... 

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Also, tomorrow's my last day of classes. Where did the semester go?

Class Rings, (gratuitous pictures of) Emma, and the Best Class Ever

This week has been a happy interruption to the endless cycle of school work and real work in my life... I got some time off of work, I finally felt ready to begin writing my paper (which I am sure I will write about soon - it's kind of all I can talk about these days!), and I got my class ring! 

My mom and dad came to the ceremony on Wednesday evening, which was, predictably, mostly calling out names and posing for photographs.

I'm up there somewhere! See me?

The eyes of Texas are upon you, all the live long day...

We sang The Eyes of Texas, which has become my favorite song over the last few years here at UT.

And after the ceremony, I posed with my new ring. 

It's silly, but I keep looking at it. It's a visual representation of what I have done at UT. Even though I'll leave in a few months with little more than a slip of paper and what's in my brain (the latter is the most important, of course) it feels really good to have something shiny to show off. 

Isn't it beautiful? You can hold it if you ask me nicely!

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In other news, LOOK AT EMMA.

Next year, I won't be looking after her regularly because her mom will be on maternity leave. Of course, I will miss my Emma... but I'm getting my dose of her adorableness while I can! 

And lastly, a lifelong (okay, college-long) dream I've had is to have class at Starbucks. Well, I suggested it a few months ago in my Lexicography class and...

AT STARBUCKS!!

YESSSSSSSSSSS!

Thank you for my coffee, professor! Best class ever!

(We have a rather small class, and only seven or eight of us showed up that day anyway. Thank you, Professor!)

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I lied. That last one wasn't exactly the last lastly.

I'd like to say thank you to my mother for giving birth to me 22 years ago. 

Obviously not a picture of my birth. I'll spare you the gory details, and instead present you with the messy details of my first birthday.

And yes, I know I'm not actually 22 until 11:55pm.

"It's not my birthday without you reminding me of that!" I told her on facebook.

"It's hard for me to forget, you know," she replied.

(Touche.) 

A Knitterly Post

Last week was really stressful for me - I had my last short story for my creative writing class due, I had a test in my history class (and the first exam we had I didn't do as well as I had hoped I would, so I tried to study a lot more for this one) and I have been feeling a lot of pressure from my various and sundry occupations of babysitting and teaching that I felt like I might break by the end of the week.

Well, everything that I was fearing ended up passing like no big deal. I knew that I would be able to tackle everything I needed to (and less important things would fade to the background), but it was sure a big relief when I came out intact. I spent the weekend relaxing, cheering on UT on Saturday night (WHAT A GAME. 43-0 win!), and knitting.

I have been knitting so much stockinette and garter stitch lately (for you non-knitters - all just flat, plain, boring ole knitting, no fun things like cables or lace), that I literally exploded into a fingerless mitten pattern with all the cables I could want on Sunday afternoon. I knitted all afternoon, and even the finicky cables couldn't stop me from adoring the whole process.

(Pattern: Evenstar Gloves)

I've only knit the first one, and it was delightful - and I can't wait to knit the second one and wear them! Texas is giving us its version fall right now, where it's kind of moderately chilly in the morning and moderately warm in the afternoon. It feels a lot like Oxford did over the summer. Maybe someday I'll be able to wear a sweater in the morning AND the afternoon!

About a week ago, I also started a long-promised present for my stepsister Katie. Remember my Wealsey sweater? Well, she wants one too! Here is the beginning of that!

I'm going to try and knit the letter into hers as intarsia, instead of sewing it on as a double stitch after the fact. I figure that K is a lot easier to chart than S was. S was awful. S defeated me.

Emma's little sister's blanket is progressing, though I've taken a break from it for a while. I have edges and weaving in ends still to do. But I am super proud of it. :)

The other project I've been working on for a while is the Sunday Market Shawl, which I knit with some Malabrigo that I've had just laying around for a while.

It was a super easy knit, and I am definitely going to knit another one sometime! It's not so much a shawl (though it stretches out wider to be a kind of wrap) as a scarf, and I know I will be warm and toasty all winter (if winter ever comes!) with it!

I finally visited Gauge, the other yarn store in Austin, and that's where I bought the yarn for my mittens, and this baby. Because I simply couldn't help myself.

(Dizzylettuce, Peacock Bronze)

Oh baby - you're going to be 420 yards of something BEAUTIFUL.

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Now, it is off to class I go! My roommate woke me up this morning with a conversation that went something like this:

Leslie: "Stefanie! Stefanie! Wake up!"

Me: "What?"

Leslie: "I have a pumpkin spiced latte and I don't know what to do with it!"

I have the best roommate EVER. She brings me coffee. :D

What's new, Scooby Doo?

What have I been up to, you may ask?

1) Studying

Lots of reading and lots of tests in the world of Stefanie at the moment. Such is the life of Stefanie The Student. (But only for another semester! I GRADUATE IN MAY.)

(...I hope this is as earthshaking to you as it is to me. Because, like my mother always tells me, I was born just yesterday.)

2) Working

These days, I'm babysitting at a church, for Emma, and for another family, AND teaching piano... it's a lot of driving, and a lot of children, but it's super fun! Here! Have a gratuitous picture of Emma!

(This one's my phone background at the moment. What. a. sweetie.)

3) Knitting

I have a variety of projects that I've knitted recently. Some of them are for Real People and/or Real Purposes, and some of them just for me. Here, have a look at a few of them!

This blanket is ALMOST finished. Emma is going to have a little sister soon, and so I'm knitting her a baby blanket. :)

This is a sweet little bird called a Chubby Chirp. I did a speech on knitting in my speech class and so I spent some time knitting little toys and things to bring into class with me.

A little bunny lovie I knit for the purposes of my speech. I'll probably give this one to Emma's little sister, too, as it's knit from the same yarn as the borders of the blanket.

This is an earring from a pair that I knit, also for the purposes of my speech! It's lovely, and I can't wait to experiment with other designs! It's wire and beads. :)

4) Working

Did I mention I work all the time? Ask my roommate - I'm never home during the week. To make up for the mention of the sad thing, have some more gratuitous pictures of Emma!

Pretty much the sweetest thing I've ever seen!

5) Reading (which is more or less a subcategory of studying... sometimes.)

I'm writing a paper on Tolkien's languages, so I'm reading a lot of Tolkien right now. Luckily, I got to choose such an awesome topic, I get to mix some work with pleasure! This has led to an outbreak of writing in Elvish on my whiteboard...

And I've just started reading The Yarn Harlot's latest, All Wound Up, because I went to see her speak at Book People yesterday. She signed it and everything!

I also got to meet Maureen Johnson, who was at the Austin Teen Book Festival a few weeks ago, and I had her "revenge sign" my copy of Paper Towns (written by John Green, an author friend of hers, and who also signed that book). I posted the photo on Tumblr (a blog website), which prompted a spat of popularity when John Green reblogged my post (adding "Stop signing my books, Maureen!") and suddenly I was immensely popular. (Okay, okay, it was my photo that was popular!) I don't know that that kind of thing will ever happen again, so I reveled in the temporary internet popularity.

There's Maureen on the panel! If you don't already, you should follow her on Twitter. (Should you have a twitter. (She's @maureenjohnson)

Some other things I've been enjoying recently are my new toys! I recently got a new computer (a MacBook Pro) and a shiny new phone (the iPhone 4S). They are both absolutely DELIGHTFUL.

And since it's fall now, that means TONS of apple butter in my apartment! DELICIOUS. Cottage cheese and apple butter is the most delicious breakfast of all! And my roommate Leslie likes to put it on her scrambled eggs.


Also, fall is FOOTBALL SEASON. Here's me wit Hookem on the field before the most recent game!

I know that I should update le blog more often. Perhaps I will? Sometimes it's hard to remember to when I have so many other things to do!

Dumb Questions and New Changes

Already, I am pretty sick of the question which immediately follows anyone asking, "What are you studying?"

"What do you want to do with that?"

The answer I feed to people (after they often prompt me with, "Teach?") is, "I'd like to go into publishing. I'd like to be an editor. I love red pens!"

This usually elicits a giggle or a comment resembling "Wow" or any of its derivatives, and then we move forward with our conversation. The unfortunate thing is that, more and more I find myself wanting to shout, "Whatever the hell I want to do with my English degree! What did you do with yours, huh? Anything that applies to what you do now, eh?"

This immature response is something I avoid actually saying, of course... but it sure doesn't get any easier every time I hear that dumb question.

I understand just as well as anyone else that the question inevitably comes from a natural desire to be polite and have good conversation. It's a legitimate question... however, it doesn't make it any less annoying. I remember having similar frustrations when I was a senior in high school in regards to: "What do you want to study?" and "Where do you want to go to college?" I happily answered, but grew more and more weary of that by May. Now that I'm close to finishing, nobody wants to know what I've learned, just how I'll use it.

Just once, I'd like to be asked: "Oh, you're an English major? What do you think about Austen's use of irony in her books?" or "Can you analyze this for me?" Even, "English majors are my favorite! Here, have all the jobs!"

(A girl can dream, right?)

The paralyzing fear that gripped me then grips me again now: Do I know what I want to do? Am I actually any good at it? Have the last four years been worth anything? I'm leaving with a piece of paper and what's in my brain... is that enough?

It probably is enough, if I want it to be. It's just really scary at this point, seeing the top of the hill and wondering if I'll ever crest it.

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/endrant

I apologize for the rant. It's been on my mind all night/all week/all summer, particularly because of one of my classes. I'll be blogging about my classes soon, which all seem pretty cool so far. And they come with practical application to boot!

In other news, I'm changing the name of the blog again, this time to "three by five". Moving forward into a new frame of mind and phase of life, it's not always just one of those days for me anymore... For a description of what the new title means, click this link. For the short explanation, I offer you this: I wish you were here with me, and that I didn't have to share with you my life through words and pictures. But for now, it'll have to do.

In other super happy funtime news, we won the game this weekend! Hook 'em!