Ultimately, the book is a fun, easy read. The character of Becky is written with great wit and a sassy demeanor. Unfortunately, her struggles with her feelings for Felix come off as too easy and faith played. The author spends a lot of time letting Becky nag Felix, and the reading audience, with Mormon and faith based principles. It comes across less dynamic. Felix, as a character, allows himself to be harassed and rarely pushes Becky back as a character. In this way, Becky never grows as a person. There is an instance where Becky is forced to see how Felix felt in situations she put him in, but the writing feels hard to read and inauthentic. Growth is not shown in her character and the reader feels somewhat harassed and put upon much in the way Felix might feel.

Tragedy occurs about halfway through the book and rather than outright deliver in writing style, the author skips a great majority of what could be character development because “Becky would want it that way.” It was a major cop-out in the chance to really show some movement. If, as an author, you choose to force the faith of your character on your audience in one setting you absolutely must show the lack of faith in other settings instead of glossing over it.

Overall, the book was good. The lack of characterization and movement makes it a quick read, if an unbelievable one. The ending, again, felt rushed and as a reader I felt somewhat cheated, but this is chick lit. A well-developed ending is probably not to be expected. I was disappointed, but there was hope in the ending and I suppose that is the message the author wished to convey.

My bad.

There was a time I wrote in my blog every day. This past summer, however, was a time for me to spend discovering who I have become as an adult and if I am satisfied with myself at the present moment or if I am ready to move forward and become more. Part of my job, that has become a part of who I am, is the ability to assess myself and use that assessment for self-reflection and introspection. It’s constant and consuming and can be overwhelming in both the best and the worst of ways.

Part of writing a blog is understanding and knowing the proper balance of how much to share with people and how much to keep sacred. This summer was pretty sacred for me out of requirement, necessity and propriety. The good news in all of this is that I feel like I have a better understanding of who I am and where I am going. One of the first things I learned in my undergraduate psychology Motivation course was that humans are motivated the most by Fear and Love and if you can combine the two there are few things humans won’t do.

It has been the summer of fear and love and confusion and growth.

I am me, which is more than enough, and I am content with the change and growth that are occurring even when it is scary.

It’s good to be back.

And sometimes…we don’t need more than that. Sometimes, as people, we just need enough. So for today, I offer you my enough. Each of you makes me smile, think and realize things about myself that I would not otherwise realize. Thank you for enough.

Because I’m a girl and a good cry from joy can make me happier than anything. And I’m ok with being a wuss.

When I don’t know that anything is coming to my post office box, I check it less frequently. Honestly, I don’t need Hardees coupons or local flyers. When I opened my box this week, I had a gift. It was a slip of an envelope that had Kurt Halsey’s name on it.

One of my first blogs, in a much different time of my life, was about a custom Kurt Halsey piece that Leon had commissioned for me for Christmas. I love his work and lately had been longing for something that represented where I feel I am now.

I mentioned in my twitter that I was wishing for the postcards of his most recent works. I had no idea what I’d do with them, but I would find something creative. In my mailbox this week were these.

Thank you, mystery gifter. You have no idea what kind of week I’ve had and what they meant. Kurt included a couple of handwritten post its that made me weepy.

And I cried.

Like the little wuss I am.

And I loved it.

I’ve mentioned before that freebies are the way to my heart. However, when I received the box with my Personal Microderm in it, I was very concerned. See, in some ways, I’m like a man. The first thing I saw was a DVD that said I must watch the instructional video before using my Personal Microderm.

…

… … …

Luckily for them, it was only 6 1/2 minutes long or I may have had to send it back. I really am just that impatient. The kicker that got me to watch is that this is a complex tool that looks like a face dremmel and it’s going to be rubbing and sucking my face. I should probably learn how to use it.

Fine. I decided to watch the video. It wasn’t bad. The perky show-offs actually worked for me and it’s pretty easy to learn how to use the Personal Microderm. I have really sensitive skin, so I use the little blue discs on my face and the big ones on the other skin on my body. I don’t let it suck for long periods of time and keep the skin taunt or my face will blister and I’ll look like The Thing from The Fantastic Four. Got it.

I opened the rest of the items and got to work. I plugged in the Personal Microderm and got it set up. It was only with slight trepidation that I set it to whirring and stuck it on my skin and…

Oh! WOAH! OH MY JELLY BEANS! WHAT THE SNICKERS BAR IS GOING ON HERE?

There was no pain but it felt like someone was trying to give me a hickey on my face. OOOOOH, ok. Too much time spent on one area. Move on more quickly. I did it on my entire face and the time spent? Less than 4 minutes.

My face glowed for a good 6 days after using the Personal Microderm. People noticed it and I didn’t need my makeup. I consider this a very, very good thing. It evened out the redness in my face. And the best part is that I only have to replace the discs every 2-3 months. For $15, this is a great deal after the initial investment. My skin is beyond super sensitive and I’ve seen no ill effects from using Personal Microderm, though everyone’s skin is different.

Thank you Skincarerx.com for an impressive showing and the opportunity to review such an awesome product!

Yes, it’s mild. I didn’t run into someone’s car because he had an Obama sticker on it, though the thought has occurred to me as recently as earlier today. See, we were cruising along at 40mph in a 40mph zone, which is a little slow for me, but it’s the law and I always abide by the law. Ahead of me by about a quarter of mile, I see a stop light and a car that is just sitting there with a green light. Clearly, Chumbass (as her new nautical sounding name was for the ride) was not paying attention to the light and as we began to get closer, I began to panic. Chumbass finally paid attention to the light and inched her way through the green at a solid 10mph.

Did I mention that Chumbass had a huge dent in her left rear backside? Right next to her Obama ’08 sticker. Yep, this was not her first go round on the magic green light debacle.

What happens in this situation?

I say these words slowly, on the off chance that Chumbass has taken her eyes off the cellphone, donut, brisket or pen she has dropped: “Driiiiiiiiivvvvvveeeee Yooooouuuuuuuurrrrrr Caaaaaaarrrrrr Chhhhhuuuuummmmmbbbbbbaaaaasssss.” My goal in this is that she might read my lips and see that I was really concerned that she might not realize that hey, she’s driving a car, and remember to drive her vehicle.

In fact, my biggest comment in the car is “Drive your car” spoken slowly so the the other driver, who clearly cannot discern what I am saying, can understand me when spoken to slowly. From another car. Which may be behind them. Or far enough away that they can’t see.

However, like Obama, I have hope. For all the Chumbasses in the world.

Bass ends the novel on a promising note, however, and the book was an excellent, clean read that had me savoring every chapter. It was not a book that I wanted to rush through, nor did I have to force myself to read it. I could pick it up at my leisure and continue on and enjoy the book in increments. This is rare in a novel. Well-written and thought-provoking.

I wanted one of those little yellow pieces of plastic more than anything.

Luckily, I lived just down the road from my cousins and their parents were much crazier than mine. Or, it’s quite possible they knew that the secret to peace of mind over that particular summer lay in an enlarged water bill and a little piece of yellow plastic. Either way, my cousins got the slip-n-slide and I got to walk the quarter of a mile to their place every day to bust my butt on the plastic and the hard dirt underneath.

Run Run Run Run Sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide YES I’M FLYING NO NO NO I’m rollling! OUCH!

And back in line I’d go. And don’t think it was a short line. I wasn’t the only kid who knew about my cousin’s slip-n-slide. We lived in the country and the neighbor kids heard. So did their parents, and their parents weren’t going to pony up for a slip-n-slide or a water bill either. We’d dutifully get in line about ten kids back until we bled enough that it just stung too much to go again that day.

Nowadays, oh how old I feel saying nowadays, nowadays, the slip-n-slide has become so fancy! You can slide into a pool! The piece of plastic is HUGE and there are safeguards for those wimpy kids who care about bleeding. On the 4th of July, I found out exactly how intricate the whole slip-n-slide industry had become.

In Nashville on the 4th, our downtown area is amazing. Truly an amazing sight to behold is the area by the river that just lights up with booths of any kind of food you’d like, booths where you can buy the coolest hats on earth and a whole street dedicated to the littlest cowboys and cowgirls in the city.

As jets flew over the city celebrating our Independence, we walked around with bottled water and looked to see what was happening in our fair land. My little sister marveled at the cute boys. My mom wanted to go see what was going on down by the river. And me? I kept getting pulled towards these huge inflatable bouncy things, as all moms do.

After getting a stamp on his hand that made all the rides FREE, AJ was off. One of the first few rides to catch his eye was a large slip-n-slide. When I say slip-n-slide, I don’t mean one close to the ground. This inflatable wonder was about 4 feet off the ground and looked like a long island. Kids would run and jump UP onto it where sprinklers would shoot down onto them for about 20 feet. The line was short, but the joy was long.

I stood by the end and watched as child after child, including my own, jumped onto it and laughed themselves silly. It’s not been a great summer by any standards, but I couldn’t stop laughing along with them. The thing about joy is that it is utterly contagious. Some would jump up there, realize “OH NO THERE IS WATER UP HERE” and try to get down until mom or dad would take their hand and then lead them through the slide. After which, they would cry to go back on. There was a devilish little thing, who couldn’t have been more than three, who would go through the whole thing, slam his body down to the concrete after he got done, like the hulk, and give devil hands. I’m not kidding. Just like the orange ones to the right. He was totally “rock and roll” about the slide. And AJ? AJ would run, jump, slide, fall on his bottom, laugh and do it over and over again. He probably did it 30 times. I laughed just as hard as he did every time.

Yes, children are amazing and sometimes the smallest things in life are a recipe for joy. Just add water.

Edit: My apologies to the winners the last 2 weeks. I haven’t mailed out the prizes due to lack of mailing boxes/envelopes. Those will go out on Monday. Please don’t hate me because I procrastinated.

It goes with most of the items in my wardrobe. My mother didn’t like the pattern because she thought it was busy, but when worn with a solid color shirt, I felt like it dressed up the outfit a great deal. With some dangly earrings and dress pants, I think it would be great and stylish. Probably the most attractive thing about this hat is it’s price, which is less than $15. Overall, this is a great deal for the cost and well worth it.

You can own some items from Coveryourhair.com as well! They have graciously offered to sponsor a surprise giveaway for the readers of my blog. They will mail a box containing $25 worth of surprise freebies that can be shipped worldwide to the winner of my weekly July drawing!

It can be yours if you win.

Here’s how to enter and the types of chances you can take to win. All entries WILL BE VERIFIED. If it can’t be verified, it doesn’t count. If you make it easier for me to verify by linking me to it, I will like you more as a person. Leave a comment before July 22, 2010 at 5pm CST telling me which of these you’ve done so I can verify your entries.

1) Visit http://CoverYourHair.com and write into your blog comment which items you would love to have.

For additional entries:

2) Join our Google Friend Connect:
Go to http://www.coveryourhair.com/blog/ Click “Join This Site” in the Google Friend Connect box.

2) Stumble them on Stumble Upon

3) Follow them on twitter

4) Subscribe to their Blog feed

5) Add Coveryourhair.com to your blog roll

6) Follow them on Networked Blogs,
Go to http://www.coveryourhair.com/blog/ and click “Follow This Blog” on the Networked Blog box.

7) Bookmark on on Delicious

8 ) Fan them on Facebook

Things to know:
**Comments posted after the deadline won’t be included in the drawing.
**If you win, you must email me your mailing address within a week of the drawing end in order to receive your prize. If you do not, I will re-draw for the prize. I am not responsible if you do not receive your prize. If it gets lost, etc., I’ll feel really bad, but I can’t replace it.
**I will be using a randomizer to choose the winner of the giveaway. As long as your entries fit the criteria, you are eligible.

I decided to break up the make-up and give the guys an opportunity to maybe participate this week if they wanted to do so as well. This time I’m giving away something I consider so cool it’s ice cold. This little flexpod minitripod gripper can hold digital cameras and camcorders and the best part is that you can wrap the legs around objects so it doesn’t require a flat surface to get your picture/video. It is one of the coolest little gadgets I’ve seen. See that amazed face in the picture. That was me saying “OoOOOoOoO.”

It can be yours if you win.

Here’s how to enter and the types of chances you can take to win. Please make one comment with a note to all of the things you’ve done to enter. All entries WILL BE VERIFIED. If it can’t be verified, it doesn’t count. If you make it easier for me to verify by linking me to it, I will like you more as a person

1) Leave a comment before July 15, 2010 at 5pm CST telling me one thing you’ve done or want to do this summer. (1 chance)

2) You can tweet this giveaway and/or link it on facebook and/or link to it on your own blog for extra chances to win! You can do this as often as you like, but it only counts once. (1 chance each)

3) You can add the blueshelled facebook page to your facebook pages! This is going to make me really happy. (2 chances)

3) You can put a blueshelled.com blog button (seen in the sidebar-along with code to add it to your blog or website) on your blog or website, or if you already have one, you qualify, for 3 extra entries. I will verify this before your entries will count. Let me know it’s there and where I can find it. It’s pretty!

Things to know:
**Comments posted after the deadline won’t be included in the drawing.
**If you win, you must email me your mailing address within a week of the drawing end in order to receive your prize. If you do not, I will re-draw for the prize. I am not responsible for anything that happens once this stuff leaves my hands. If it gets lost, etc., I’ll feel really bad, but I can’t replace it.
**I will be using a randomizer to choose the winner of the giveaway. As long as your entries fit the criteria, you are eligible.

Things to remember here: 1/the giveaways are made possible by me. I rely on word of mouth to bring people to my blog. Please spread the word about blueshelled.com! 2/If you or anyone you know might be interested in sponsoring a giveaway here, please let me know. 3/ This blog sucks up the love. Thanks!

Pricklies is a real word. And if you don’t believe me, don’t you dare play Scrabble with me, ever. I mean it.

It’s hot here.

That was a redundant statement. It’s hot like those peppers that if you eat the whole pepper it will eat your stomach from the inside out are hot.

Everyone was smart enough to bring water to class, but I had a peanut butter sandwich. Not just any peanut butter. The stick to your friend if you blow them a kiss while eating it peanut butter, which is also known as Peter Pan. Because of “the Pan” the SmartWater the size of Mexico I brought with me was gone within 10 minutes of class starting which also necessitated me leaving class an average of 12 times per hour.

So, I ran out of water and I didn’t exactly trust the water fountains. No, there was a time I walked by and there was poop in one of those fountains. I’ll get bottled water. Sometimes, I have no quarters, but, by golly, I had a single dollar and 4 quarters. On break, a scheduled one, not a Smartwater necessitated one, I grabbed a water and threw the quarters in my pocket.

Later, as I was thinking about the “England!” incident with A.J. and the quarter question at trivia, I pulled the remaining quarters out of my pocket and examined them closely. One was from 2006 and had nothing that made it different than any other quarter. Another from 2005 was the same. However, the third was an old style quarter with the eagle on the back. This one I examined more closely. The edges were worn smooth and George Washington’s hair had no definition. The year was 1966.

1966. Long before I was born. How many hands held this quarter? How many pockets? How many wallets? Had anyone famous held this quarter? Infamous? How many children bought something special with this quarter? Had it been in piggy banks? Jars for saving? Retirement funds? How many cans of soda had this quarter bought for someone as thirsty as I was? That quarter has been around through so many historical events, just traveling the world. Or has it been sitting in someone’s home collecting dust until someone cleaned out a carpet or a couch? Was it in a landfill?

The one thing I know is this: That rough edged quarter has seen more life than I ever will.

I slowly put it back in my pocket and wondered where it will go when it leaves my hands.

As such, you’re in luck…I’m giving stuff away. And I’m not talking a little bit. I’m talking a little bit every week in the month of July. Every Friday new items will be posted for giveaway and you can win as many times as the randomizer hits your number, as long as you are in the U.S. (for my giveaways). I know. I’m a bummer, but customs is not my friend. HOWEVER, for the third week of giveaways, I’m working with the company Coveryourhair.com, and that lovely group will ship WORLDWIDE. So, don’t give up on me, please? I haven’t forgotten you at all.

The first giveaway is makeup and skincare! As you can see there is a Too Faced palette, some Oil of Olay skincare, some Estee Lauder skincare (for face AND body), Estee Lauder mascara and lip gloss as well as an ultra glam bag.

Here’s how to enter and the types of chances you can take to win. Please make one comment with a note to all of the things you’ve done to enter. All entries WILL BE VERIFIED. If it can’t be verified, it doesn’t count. If you make it easier for me to verify by linking me to it, I will like you more as a person

1) Leave a comment before July 8, 2010 at 5pm CST telling me one thing you’ve done or want to do this summer. (1 chance)

2) You can tweet this giveaway and/or link it on facebook and/or link to it on your own blog for extra chances to win! You can do this as often as you like, but it only counts once. (1 chance each)

3) You can add the blueshelled facebook page to your facebook pages! This is going to make me really happy. (2 chances)

3) You can put a blueshelled.com blog button (seen in the sidebar-along with code to add it to your blog or website) on your blog or website, or if you already have one, you qualify, for 3 extra entries. I will verify this before your entries will count. Let me know it’s there and where I can find it. It’s pretty!

Things to know:
**Comments posted after the deadline won’t be included in the drawing.
**If you win, you must email me your mailing address within a week of the drawing end in order to receive your prize. If you do not, I will re-draw for the prize. I am not responsible for anything that happens once this stuff leaves my hands. If it gets lost, etc., I’ll feel really bad, but I can’t replace it.
**I will be using a randomizer to choose the winner of the giveaway. As long as your entries fit the criteria, you are eligible.

Things to remember here: 1/the giveaways are made possible by me. I rely on word of mouth to bring people to my blog. Please spread the word about blueshelled.com! 2/If you or anyone you know might be interested in sponsoring a giveaway here, please let me know. 3/ This blog sucks up the love. Thanks!