Monthly Favorites ~March 2015~

So the month has passed! I had a few posts to make before I could get to this one, but here's what I was obsessed with in March!

BOOKS

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

Book Review

I finally managed to read this, after wanting to for years and years. I'm sad I didn't read it sooner, because I think I would've liked it more if I'd read it as a teen.

From Far Away by Kyoko Hikawa

Read online for free

This was one of my favorite manga in high school and the beginning of college, but I've never been able to purchase it since Borders went out of business. And even then it was hard to find it. But I found it online and have been rereading it, and I still love it!

Check out what else I read in my March Wrap Up

MOVIE

How to Train Your Dragon 2

I finally got to see this, and BOY is it GOOD! I adored it and watched it twice!

VIDEOS

This video is hilarious. Disney set up a fake construction zone and then had Disney characters mimic those passing by. Apparently they've been doing this in several malls all over America and Canada. I wish they'd come to my town!

Here is the master himself, JRR Tolkien, reading the brilliant Riddles in the Dark, where Bilbo meets and beats Gollum at his own game. While it's different from the movie's interpretation, the movie really is close. Especially how Andy Serkis does Gollum! IT'S JUST LIKE TOLKIEN! If your fan in the slightest you really should listen to it! It goes faster than you'd think!

Ya'll should know that I love me some violinists, with Lindsey Stirling and certain YouTuber mentioned below. I found this on Tumblr, and had to track down the vid on YouTube so I can listen to it all the time! DSharp does Glad You Came, and BOY is it good! His performance goes beyond just the music, making it fun to watch as well as listen. Very well done!

YOUTUBER

Taylor Davis

YouTube Channel

Ya'll should know about her from my 2014 Music Favorites. I found her because of her amazing Legend of Zelda covers, but she has quite few covers, and now has her own album out! She's very talented and I love listening to her music.

BOOKLR

bookandwords

Tumblr

Heather from bookandwords was the first real member of Booklr that I followed. She's obsessed with Criminal Minds and books, so her picture is always of Reid reading. :)

MUSIC

Crazy by 4MINUTE

This is my favorite of the month by far. I fell in love with the dancing in the choreography video and then got the song in my head, and now I can't stop listening to it!

I Want You to Know by Zedd ft. Selena Gomez

Music Video

I was alerted to this awesome song by Spotify, and I just keep listening to it. It's really well done!

Piece by Piece (Album) by Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson's newest album dropped, and it's really well done! I liked Heartbeat Song when it came out, and then the album dropped, and I just loved it!

The honorable mention is Selena. March 31st was the 20th anniversary of her murder. I grew up in a predominately Mexican area of town, so I heard her music everywhere. First I fell for her music, and then for what she stood for. Then I saw the movie and learned her story and what she faced, and the tragedy of her murder when she was only 23. Selena was the first woman to sing Tejano music to ever do well, all while barely being able to speak Spanish (she was born and raised in Texas). But she kept performing, despite being booed at along with her brother and sister as kids. By the time she was a teen she was getting bigger, and at 15 she won best in that genre, winning it a total of NINE times. She won a Grammy for Best Mexican/American Album in 1994. Sadly, one year later she was murdered by the president of her fan club, Yolanda Salvidar, who'd been embezzling from her. Selena went to confront her, trying to work things out, and was shot and killed.

I love her music, and found her spirit amazing. She was so hard working, so giving. It was a tragedy to lose her so young. She continued to win awards after her death, as her English album dropped just after. Her family has continued to rerelease her music as her fans are just as strong in their love for her even today. I often find myself in the mood to listen to it. Even now I find myself wanting to cry listening to "Dreaming of You", the title track.

So those were my March favorites! What were you obsessed with this past month? Did you also know about Selena's anniversary?
:)

My Weeks in Pics ~12/1 - 12/14~

So I found that I have a TON of pics to share, so let's get started with what I've done the first half of this month! :)

I managed to read over 100 books this year! For a while I thought I'd only read about 50 books and call myself awesome. Instead I'm at 110 :)

For more details check out my post about it and how amazing it felt reaching that goal HERE.

My brother was nice enough to take me pretty early to the doctor for a normal bloodtest (I do NOT do well with blood tests, they freak me out so I've passed out and thrown up and stuff, so not driving helps me relax a LOT). We were both surprised by a friend wanting to hang out after we had breakfast. I got to play with a rare breed of cat, and not just one, but four Japanese Bobtail kittens! They were so cute! Then we saw Guardians of the Galaxy just before it left the theaters. It is SO GOOD! Hilarious and ton fun, but also had me crying in the first 5 minutes! Well done, Marvel. :D

Taylor Davis is a new YouTuber that I discovered, who did a few covers for the Legend of Zelda, which were really awesome, and then I discovered she did a WHOLE ALBUM! I was sad that I couldn't hear it, but it's on Spotify! And it's awesome. What made it even more awesome is she saw my random tweet, favorited it, and then replied! :D

In case you guys don't know, I am one of two teachers that teach the four turning five year olds for my ward at church. They're all a tad crazy, and whether we have 5 or all 14 of them, it's always an adventure :D. But one of them is really a sweetheart, and he always gives me a big hug if he sees me outside of church. So he wanted to give me some cookies he and his family made! They were peppermint white chocolate chip and they were DELICIOUS! XD

Mighty loves my bed. Especially when I forget to make it, getting his desert-filled fur all over my pillow and giving me allergies. -_-'

Peter Hollens, an awesome YouTuber was trending on Facebook for DAYS because he's so amazing! :D

My Tumblr name that I didn't get to choose (gah) is llobrien13, and I've recently become part of Booklr (which is why I'm doing the Book Photo Challenge for December from Books and Cupcakes). Someone I just started following, Books and Cookies (not to be confused with the last Booklr I mentioned, they're different people), is a singer! And she's REALLY GOOD. Not like, "not bad" but like, "OMG SHE'S AWESOME" that kind of good! I'm glad she saw me reblog that song she did, cuz it's true. :)

Another movie I saw recently in theaters was Big Hero 6. And Disney is stepping up their game! It's SO GOOD. I loved it! You've got to see it, whether it's from the library for free or in theater like me, you need to!

Another shot of Mighty on my bed, but not a lighthearted one. Mighty got in a fight and lost against a cat bigger than him (surprising cuz he's a BIG cat) and got his nose and eye clawed up. His eye's pretty much fine (he can see out of it and the line isn't white, meaning it's not a scar, just healing up), but his nose looks awful, mostly cuz he kept rubbing it and smeared a huge glob blood that's dried there. But he was really not okay that night, though he's rather mad at us for not letting him out for very long all weekend. He's okay, just bloodied up.

Rather a large amount of pictures for just two weeks! I'll probably have a LOT more coming, cuz I'm gonna be decorating and got some fun plans for the holidays. Hope you and your pets are doing great!

Monthly Favorites ~November 2014~

SOOO I posted NOTHING last month except my monthly favorites!!! GAH I'M SORRY! I was rather stressed out due to a family member's lack of health, and a wedding...I was just stressed and stopped doing much for a few days.

I have a month in pictures to post. I WILL be posting that, so be prepared.

Also, this month I decided that because I have like, two more books to read before I finish my Goodreads goal of 100 books for the year I'm gonna post a picture a day on my Tumblr. They're not reblogs, or just sharing someone else's post, I'm taking the photos myself and sharing them on there, so check it out!

ANYWHO, onto my favorites!

BOOKS

Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto

This manga has been running for 15 years, and I've been reading it for 13. And it finally ended. This past week I finally finished the 700 chapter, and it was over. I'm gonna miss the insanity of this series and it's crazy characters and the super twisty plot!

Cinder and Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Cinder was the read of the month for #AYearAThon in November. I read it really quickly and enjoyed it, though so far it's my least fav of the series. Scarlet claims the top spot, and the first 200 pages of Cress have already proven it better than Cinder. Regardless, they're really good and I seriously recommend them for everyone!

MOVIE

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

I know, I'm SO behind the curve when it comes to movies. Trust me. I haven't seen Maleficent or Guardians of the Galaxy either. BUT! I finally saw this and it was SO GOOD! So SAD but so GOOD!!!! Can't wait to see where they'll take it next. SO much better than the last trilogy!!!

TV SHOW

Dragons: Defenders of Berk (part 1)

I haven't had much of a chance to watch TV this past month, BUT I got to watch this DVD, which is the first part of season 2 of the How to Train Your Dragon show. And it's just as good as the original. The kids are hilarious, the lessons are good ones, and the dragons are really interesting. Can't wait to watch part 2...too bad I'm number 10 on two copies at the library. :(

VIDEOS

Boys in Books Are Better by ItsWayPastMyBedTime

This is just a cute, fun video about how so often us bookworms can't help comparing normal guys to amazing people from books, like Mr. Darcy, or in my case Lucivar Yaslana.

Dragon Age by Lindsey Stirling

Lindsey is a genius in many ways, including her videos. I've been following her for about four years now, and watched her videos go from just her dancing around to costumes to THIS. This video is majestic and AMAZING!!!

You Are More by Michelle Phan

Another empowering video from Michelle Phan, this one is telling everyone that yes, people are going to label, often people you trust and love, and yes, they can really hurt. But you're more than a label. Once again she's working with Love 146, so watch the whole video to see how you can help victims of human trafficking!

YOUTUBER

Taylor Davis

YouTube Channel

While watching some Legend of Zelda fan videos on Pinterest of all things, I found her cover of Song of Time/Song of Storms. It's beautiful, then I watched all four of her Legend of Zelda covers, found out there was an album, then watched a different video...and I was hooked! I'm listening to her right now, actually! She's really talented, and though she doesn't dance like Lindsey, and has a different style, I love it all the same!

MUSIC

The Heart Wants What It Wants by Selena Gomez

Since I saw the video I was hooked. The rawness of her performance, whether it's a track or live, combined with the beautiful lyrics...it's just so pretty! I love this song and other than the continuation of Taylor Swift's 1989, this is my top track of the month!

Time's End by Theophany

This is actually a fan album that's for free HERE. Of course if you're not broke like me you should at least give him some money, because this album is PHENOMENAL!!! I love it so much that I had to burn it so I could listen to it all over the place!

Good Boy by G Dragon and Taeyang

Another song I found from YouTube (seriously, check out the music video, it's so fun and trippy), this song easily gets in my head and has been on repeat ever since! Had to list it as third, nothing else compares!

That's everything I've been loving this past month! Look forward to my month in pics coming tomorrow, as well as my November Wrap Up on my YouTube channel! I'll do my best to post more next month, maybe even do a weekly pics for my daily challenge! :)