My Very First Give Away!!!

So I decided it's time to start clearing my bookshelf's and what better way to do that then a give-away!?  Rules are really simple (I don't like things to get complicated), you just have to follow my blog AND comment on this post and you will be entered to win a copy of Toni Morrison's Beloved.

You can comment whatever you would like, honestly I just want to give it away to anyone who is interested.  If you want you can just simply comment by saying "me," or go elaborate and post a whole story, but everyone will have an equal change of winning (I am going to draw a number randomly).  The contest is going to end June 15th.

Good Luck to all (mostly me and hoping that more than one person enters!)!

Fifty Shade of Grey Review

What I was expecting...

What I got instead...

I was so completely distracted by the ridiculous writing in this novel to even slightly enjoy any of it. This is the worst book that I have ever read. In order to finish the rest of it halfway through I decided that someone should turn it into a drinking game (I can't drink right now because I am pregnant but I would have gotten WASTED).

"Oh crapola" is actually written in this book along with "he is yummy". And among the "Ohhhhhh fuck" and "Ohhhhh shit"'s in this book I wanted to hang myself. Actually halfway through I took a count of how many times "Holy (insert Fuck, Shit, Cow, Moly here)" and just in the last half it's written 83 times. 83 times!

Another expression that was giving me readers anxiety was the main character's reference to her "Inner Goddess" which in the last half of the book is written 41 times. Kill me.

You can tell the author just wanted to play with her thesaurus with sentences such as, "it's not how I envisaged my first romance," and "finally, my medulla oblongata recalls its purpose." *gag* *kill me please*

The same words are written on every page of this book. Here is my summary of the book...

"Jeez, my inner goddess is screaming holy fuck" he mutters while she blushes [insert violent sex scene where after the girl cries].


By the way whomever classified this novel as "the best romance ever written"...Seriously? Seriously? This guy beats her to the point where she is crying and she admits staying with him because he is beautiful and rich. Who ever wants a relationship based on this one is seriously "fifty shades of fucked up" like the main character describes himself. I am so angry at this book that I can't even go into depth about how wrong it is. And there are two more!?!?! No thanks, I will insert my above sentence into word and copy and paste it all about 300 pages worth and tell people I read the other books.




Please, for the sake of your sanity, don't waste time reading this book.  And if you do, don't tell you I didn't warn you.

How to Drive in Hawaii

Many people come to Hawaii every year to visit the Island and capture it's beauty.  But if you are visiting Oahu, then you must be aware that Oahu just beat out LA for the worst traffic in the United States.  People are questioning how this could have happened.  Well, it's because it takes over an hour to drive 15 miles home from wherever you are going.  There are not many ways to get where you are going, and with so many people going to the same places at the same time of course  there is traffic.  I won't mention the controversial Rail project because people want to shoot me when I tell them it's a good idea, so instead I will give you tips on how to drive in Hawaii like a champ...

1. When getting on the highway make sure you are going about 20MPH so that way if you need to break immediately at the end of the ramp you are able to.

2. Blinkers...Pshhh you don't need those.

3.  When getting off the highway onto your ramp make sure you slow down to 40 MPH before you reach the ramp.  Preferably about a mile before hand.

4. Only drive in the left lane if you are going 5 miles under the speed limit.

5. A stop sign is exactly what it says.  Stop. Then you can go.  We don't alternate here, we just go into the intersection quicker than the other cars so they have to stop longer for me to go.

6.  Ride people's bumpers no matter what.  Even if they are going 10 miles over the speed limit.  You must not be further than a car length behind them.

7. Merge? Fuck that!  If you see your lane is closing up ahead make sure you speed up as fast as possible till you get to the very end and try to get in front of the entire line of cars that have already merged. Suckers.

8. Don't let cars coming onto the highway in front of you, no matter what.

9. Everyone hits parked cars, there is no need for a note stating you damaged their vehicle.

10. Compact spots are for every size vehicle.  If your truck bumper is sticking 6 feet out, thats the buildings problem for making their spaces so small.

11. No need to turn on your lights if it's raining, or even if its dark out.  You only need those on if it's past 8 PM.

12.  If it's raining, SLOW DOWN to 25 miles an hour on the highway.  Do this without your lights on, or flashers...because we don't do that here.

13.  Yield = Stop completely and wait for every car in sight to be off the road.

14.  Blocking the intersection is completely acceptable.



Hopefully these tips help you out on your wonderful stay to the islands.

Book Review- Mockingjay

So what did I do this week?  I spent my week reading The Hunger Games trilogy.  Was it worth it?  Heck yeah it was worth it.  This series is awesome.


The last book in this trilogy definitely did not disappoint me.  As I was waiting for the moment for Collin's to write a steamy exchange between Peeta and Katniss, I noticed that as a writer she is very masculine. By no means is that a bad thing.  I realized that the characters really struggle to reach the intricate level of intimacy and emotion- which I find really hard to comprehend because they are slaughtering everyone.  It seems as soon as an emotional moment is going to happen, Katniss is drugged with Morphling.  I found this to be an interesting observation while I was reading the last book.

I don't want to give much away, but I like the end of this novel because it basically wraps everything up, leaving the audience with a bitter happy ending.  Who doesn't like happy endings?

And the series as a whole was really great, mostly because of the political stand point of why a communist based nation never succeeds.  Democracy always wins, Hooray!

Favorite quotes from the last book:

"It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart." (Page 154)

"But in the end, who does it benefit?  No one.  The truth is, it benefits no one to live in a world where these things happen." (Page 375)

"But collective thinking is usually short-lived, we're fickle, stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self destruction." (Page 377)

Book Review- Catching Fire

Like I promised, I am finishing the trilogy before I move onto the next book on my bucket list.  Catching Fire was surprisingly just as good as the first.  It's starts off a little slow and I would lie if I said I wasn't begging (in my mind) for Katniss and Peeta to do the dirty deed.  Really, I think they should and I am about a quarter way through the third book and still screaming at my kindle for them to get it over with!

I won't go into too much detail about Catching Fire because I feel like anything I can say would give away something.

But if you read the first one and loved it then I would suggest moving along to Catching Fire and I can guarantee you won't be disappointed.

#184 Make a list of books I want to read and read them all

#16- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins


Ok folks, now that the semester is finished I can go back to the books I want to read on my bucket list.  I am not ashamed to admit that I read The Hunger Games in one day.  It was really good.  It's not overly poetic or filled with amazing examples of literacy, but it is definitely an enjoyable read.

If you haven't heard of The Hunger Games, then I will assume that you are living under a rock because this book really reached it's height when "they" announced it was going to be a movie.  And of course when a book is about to become a movie there is a frantic line of book lovers at the cash register itching to  compare the book to the movie (hey now, it's ok I do this too).

The Hunger Games is about a young girl named Katniss (comment on this name below- I am still searching for baby names!) who volunteers to take her sisters place in this gladiator horror "reality show" for the superior land of their nation.

This story is basically a wicked twist on communism in the world after ours.

Entertaining, yes. And The Hunger Games is the first book I have read in a while that I actually shed tears (even multiple times) and I will not blame my crazy pregnant hormones!

I know I only listed the first book on my list of books I want to read, and I really want to move on but I have to say I am sucked into the series and will be continuing the next book later tonight.

Book Review: Song of Solomon

Song of Solomon will probably be the last of Morrison that I will review. It's not that I don't think Morrison is a good writer, she is a phenomenal writer actually. I just do not care for her particular writing style. I feel so let down when she interrupts action with a flashback of a character's history, then never goes back to the action. I believe this style shows her incredible amount of poetic writing, but it's almost torture for the reader.  I tend to be one of those readers who will skip through pages to get back to the action, and I don't believe that is fair to Morrison because every single page is filled with incredible poetry and prose. 


My favorite example of Morrison's writing that I love is the beginning of Chapter 10 "When Hansel and Gretel stood in the forest and saw the house in the clearing before them, the little hairs at the nape of their necks must have shivered.  Their knees must have felt so weak that blinding hunger alone could have propelled them forward...A grown man can also be energized by hunger, and any weakness in his knees or irregularity in his heartbeat will disappear if he thinks his hunger is about to be assuaged.  Especially if the object of his craving is not gingerbread or chewy gumdrops, but gold."  I just love the fact that Morrison takes such an innocent childhood tale and compares it to the danger of Milkman's adventure.
Song of Solomon is about a man named Milkman who has a pretty boring life for the first 200 pages of the novel. The reader is introduced to all the key characters in depth.  We see that Milkman is kind of a moocher with no real plans in life besides drinking and hanging out with his friend Guitar.  At "part two" the reader is shown Milkman's journey to be able to "fly away" to his destiny. Milkman takes a journey into his families past for a search for gold but ends up finding something better at the end- the sense of his identity.

Overall Song of Solomon is a great concept, just really drawn out (for me). And true to Morrison's style, a lot of the action will have a giant build up and lead to nothing but a short recounted tale later on in the book (which drives me nuts).


If you read any of Morrison's other books and enjoy her style of writing, I think you will love this one because its 337 pages of metaphors, similes, and folklore.  

Feeling left out

After being put on bed rest for a mandatory 2 weeks for contracting shingles, I have been suffering from the worst depression.  Being stuck in a house by yourself (ok I have the cat to keep me company) is really depressing.  And to make things worse no one really wants me around either.  Even though I have been on the island for almost two years I have failed miserably to make friends.
I think being pregnant is just making it even harder.  And people from my job hardly ever want to do anything.

I guess what is bringing this up is that people from my workplace uninvited me to a BBQ. I know, it doesn't sound like a big deal.  But what makes me feel bad is the way it was brought to my attention, like...no one wants me around.  I understand where my coworkers are coming from with the fear of me having shingles, but it has cleared up.  I guess I am just hurt because I go days without having a conversation with anyone, and that's pretty darn depressing.  Netflix has become my only friend.

What do you do when no one wants to be around you and you have nothing to do? I have tried to make the best of it and catch up on TV shows, I have read and cooked.  What cures depression for you?

Home made Sugar and Cinnamon Toasted Almonds

So after my epic food fail from Thursday night, I decided the next thing I was going to experiment and cook should be something I am more familiar with...sugar.

Since I have been pregnant, I have cut back on meat because the Alien Child inside of me will not let me stomach it.  In order to receive the same amount of protein I have been making sure to eat a handful of nuts.  Mostly almonds because they are my favorite.  I wanted something different and I thought about the carnival almonds I used to get all the time from the local fair and amusement parks back at home.  I did some research and came up with my own little recipe for the nuts...

What you need:

• 3 cups of almonds
• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 1 tsp of salt
• 2 1/2 cups of white sugar
• 3 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 tsp of cinnamon (add more if you want more of a cinnamon taste rather than sugar)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees F
• Lay down some waxed paper on a large baking dish (or just choose to grease it, but with the sugar caked on...trust me you want the paper)
• In a medium bowl mix the egg white and vanilla until frothy 
• Add Almonds in the bowl and make sure you coat all almonds
• Add sugar, salt, brown sugar, and cinnamon to the bowl and mix until mixture is even spread on Almonds
• Spread Almonds on the cooking sheet.  Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes taking almonds out of the oven every 20 minutes to "stir"
• Cool. And eat deliciousness. 

These came out amazing, and I will be making them again.  They are also good for around the holidays so make sure you mark this for future reference!

Food Fail

Ok so the other night I tried to do a chicken bake.

Here is what was in it...yukon gold potatoes, half an onion (bottom of the pan was covered in olive oil).  The chicken was marinated in Italian seasoning, flour and salt and pepper. I covered the dish with some parmesan.

Sounds like it would be good no?  It was OK- nothing I would recommend cooking.  I think I had the wrong cut of chicken and because I don't like rosemary I didn't add too much seasoning.  It was just kind of bland.

I want to try this again, does anyone have any suggestions?

Earthetarian

As most people know Facebook has been a great learning tool for connecting to some great sources that fit your lifestyle.  Earthetarian is a Facebook page that has been gaining a significant amount of members since it began and there is a reason why!  Organic recipes, news and fun facts are offered on this page that can help reshape your eating habits one day at a time (good for us slow learners!).  Because I know Lisa, the owner of this page, I tracked her down between her three jobs, hiking excursions, food shopping trips and basically jam-packed life to answer some questions for some of us who are just learning how to cook- let alone go 100% natural.

What inspired you to start your Earthetarian page?

A year ago, the name Monsanto or the words GMO, BPA and organic meant nothing to me. I recently started delving deeper into research on the food industry's goods and evils in hopes of learning why America and the world has become so reliant on fast food and unhealthy eating and living. I had seen other food blogs and thought, what better way to reach out to the public than a personal food blog? This is where my inspiration was born.

I have a healthy love affair with cooking, eating, gardening and photography, so creating a food and gardening blog felt like a natural fit. My goal with Earthetarian is to inspire people to make a healthy lifestyle change and to sustain it. It's easy to do a weight loss program or diet, but people have a tendency to go right back to their comfort zone once the program is finished. I want to show people that being healthy is a lifestyle change that eventually becomes an incredibly fun and addictive habit. It doesn't have to be pulling teeth, and it doesn't have to be expensive. Buying locally and organically helps the local farmers and economy, and cooking and growing at home is healthy, rewarding, fun, and saves a lot of money! I am passionate about people and their well-being and I believe that positive energy spreads throughout the Universe so you have to start somewhere. If I can reach out to at least one person a day who is inspired by my blog and decides to make a positive lifestyle change, I will feel fulfilled. It's a start.

What are some things people can find on your page?

Lots of fun stuff! Knowing is half the battle, so I share lots of informational links with facts from legitimate sources so people can educate themselves and learn to think freely to make their own decisions. I am often shocked by the plethora of information I read every day, so I like to share that with others. I make it a point to do at least one post a day to keep it interactive. Some things you can find on my page include:

- Recipes with step-by-step photos, prep time, cook time and nutritional ingredients

- Photos of food and the entire creation process

- Video tutorials on how to make a recipe

- Gardening tips/information

- Health and wellness tips/information

- Features on friend's blogs or websites

- Food information, such as foods that give you energy, foods to avoid, foods that boost your sex drive (yes, it gets personal!), and much more!

- Questions to interact with my fans, such as "is buying organic important to you?" or "what is your signature dish?"

- Photography on: world travel, Oahu hiking, home gardening, local farms, farmer's markets, breakfast creations, appetizers, entrees and desserts

- Local farmers market and health food store locator information

- Where to find local cooking classes for free

- Environmental facts

- Did-you-knows (Ex INTERESTING FACT OF THE DAY: Hawaii relies on shipping lines to bring in goods from the mainland and other countries. If we ever had a disaster and our ties were cut off, each person on all Hawaiian Islands would be nine meals away from hunger, and 12 meals away from starvation. The Hawaii Government estimated that the Hawaiian Islands only have a seven-day food supply available. Scary thought. This is why it is so important to learn how to grow your own food and become more self-sustainable in addition to SUPPORTING YOUR LOCAL FARMERS instead of relying on the un-fresh food shipped in from the mainland. We need to take care of ourselves.)

- Good websites

What are some of your favorite recipes?

This is a tough one! I would say my top four favorites are:

- Home Made Pesto Sauce (I make this one a lot)

- Vegan Pad Thai Spinach Noodles with Tempeh

- Massaged Kale Salad with Feta Cheese & Pine Nuts

- Turkey Quinoa Chili

How hard is it to shop local and why is it important to you?

We are very lucky to live in Hawaii, where local foods and produce are readily available. There are multiple health food stores all over O'ahu and most partner with local farmers to sell their goods. Also, farmer's markets occur every weekend all over the island, including locations in Hawaii Kai, North Shore, Kailua, Aiea, Ala Moana and many more.

Shopping locally is extremely important to me because I know my money is going to a good cause. Buying locally is actually quite often cheaper than goods from the mainland because of shipping costs. People think buying locally is more expensive, but this is a general misnomer that I'd like to clear up right now. I recently stopped shopping at large corporate grocers such as Safeway because their produce is generally not organic nor is it fresh. The produce that they sell comes from farms on the mainland, where fruits and veggies are picked when green and ripen on the one - three week trip to get to our islands. Much of the produce is also laden with pesticide and chemical sprays. By the time it gets to our plate on the islands, half the nutrients are gone. I always do my best to shop locally because I know it is fresh - as in, possibly even picked from the vine that morning. Not only does it support our local farmers, it keeps our money locally, stimulating economic growth. 

Do you ever run into any difficulty while shopping?

I ask lots of questions about food when grocery shopping - perhaps I have never bought a certain item before or don't know how to cook it. Sometimes I simply want to know where it came from and what dish it would go well in. I have found that in some grocers, even the natural food stores, the employees are not knowledgeable about what they are selling. I think in the future it would be an excellent idea to train all grocery employees on information about the products and foods they are selling so they have a responsibility vested in the company and take an active interest in sharing that knowledge. 

Do you find it takes a lot of your time or is shopping locally something that is realistic for the average person?

Shopping locally is not time-consuming at all, and I genuinely believe that it is very realistic for the average person. Because of the convenient locations and frequency of farmers markets and health food stores such as Foodland Farms, Down To Earth, Umeke Market and Whole Foods, there should really be no excuses to shop any other way. It's all at our fingertips. We just need to care and see the positive impact of shopping locally. If you are on the fence about switching your purchasing habits to buying locally and/or organically, I highly recommend visiting and touring a local farm on your day off, such as Otsuji's Farm in Hawaii Kai, or Ma'o Farms in Wai'ana'e. Once you talk story with these farmers and tour the land to see the hard work they put in, and how passionate they are about making an honest living, it will change your life and from then on you will just follow your heart because it makes sense. The great thing about some of our local farms is that they partner with high schools and colleges to help students learn about agriculture, help them afford a college education, and graduate. It is heartwarming to see all the lives that are touched because of these programs highlighting Laulima and the A'ina (many hands and the land).

So you recently started to make videos, can we look forward to a blog in the future?

Absolutely! Because this is my very first blog, I wanted to go the safe route and make it a Facebook page because I enjoy the interaction and real-time. However, once I test the waters, I'd really like to expand into my own website, so yes, a blog is definitely in the works. :-)

In case none of this convinced you to go check out her page (Here is the link again) Maybe this will...

Thursday Thoughts

Brittany- Do your papers.  Get off Facebook, blogger, pinterest and just off the internet in general. Wow this root beer tastes amazing.  Maybe I should clean the computer room, it looks like it could use a quick vacuum...no write your paper.  The dog sure could use a bath, and the tub could also use a bath...is that more important than my paper?  Oh My God.  I NEED those shoes. Ok step one... pick a prompt...alright number one, I don't feel like reading the rest.  Augh I have to read a book....skip that one. Degeneracy...look that up. Nope, lets see number three... my tummy itches. Maybe I should put some cocoa butter on it. Man I am getting hairy.  Alright back to my paper... use peer-reviewed secondary materials, um no.  Let's see what was number one again?  Oh I have a Facebook notification...

The above is the perfect example why it takes me so darn long to get my papers done for class.  If there were a contest for procrastination I would win because I would take forever to apply and do it at the last minute.

I drive myself nuts.

Last Day of Classes

But why am I still stressed out!?

Well, now I have finals I have to worry about, and on top of that I have a ridiculous week of work with virtually no time to study for them.  Being pregnant is hard during this time when I could normally work through the week on 4 hours of sleep every night.  I tried to do that the other day and it was not pretty.  Apparently being over tired leads to morning sickness and extreme headaches.  Hopefully at least the time will go by fast.

*Oh yeah*
Does the happy it's May dance! Goodbye lonely April and Hello Lonely May! Every month is an achievement for me.  I know that sounds corny.  Unfortunately this deployment has been filled with a lot of work on the guys end resulting in zero communication while the boat is not in port.  Not even an email which has made time drag for the last few weeks.  I am that wife that checks her email constantly, but because I know I am not going to get anything my mailbox sits unattended.  I still write emails every day even if he isn't getting them.  Eventually when their boat is able to transmit signals then he will receive all the emails I wrote at once.  I want him to know that even though I knew he wasn't (or maybe he is who ever really knows?) getting emails that I was at least thinking about him everyday.  Sometimes our emails are the only light (figuratively and literally) in their lives.

*baby news*
I have genetic screening next week to make sure the baby is healthy and that I have a completely viable pregnancy that is *cross your fingers* low risk.  I really want a low risk pregnancy because the only way my insurance will cover a water birth is if the doctor declares I will have zero complications.  I am required to do the birth at a hospital with my insurance, just in case something were to happen.  My morning sickness has gone from all day sickness, to just sickness in the first couple of hours in which I am awake. At least now I can function like a normal human.  I am sure the dog is happy he is getting his daily walks again. Nothing else too exciting.  Still haven't bought anything and I am not planning to until I know the gender of the baby (in June- so close but so far away).