Catching Fire... and the obsession continues

I don't know how I am going to write this book review with out giving away some spoilers so if you plan on reading this book you may or may not want to read this review. But before you look a way know how much I loved it and if you have read the Hunger Games you have to read this book too. Also have a copy of Mockinjay near by for when you finish because you are going to need it.

OKAY people who don't want spoilers look away.

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In Catching Fire we join Katniss and gang six months after she and Peeta have been declared victors. Their act of "love", eating the berries, is seen as a act of rebellion which has caused a spark in the districts. Six months after the games the Katniss and Peeta have to tour the districts, which is a rub in the face to the districts to prove the Capitol is powerful.President Snow comes to Katniss to warn her that she has to put out the spark. She has to convince the districts that she and Peeta are really in love and not acting out of rebellion but they doesn't seems to be enough to please President Snow or stop the spark. The tour is not ideal but they can only hope life will be okay but then the worst comes... this year is the 75th Hunger Games and being such a big occasion the Capitol has a surprise for them. President Snow announces that each district must supply their tributes from previous victors. This means Katniss for sure and Peeta takes Haymitch's spot. Katniss has set it in her mind that Peeta must come out of the games alive, he is the only one who can help the growing rebellion. But what will happen in the end?

I admit I am on "Team Peeta". When I was reading the Hunger Games everyone was asking me if I was on "Team Gale" or "Team Peeta" but to be honest I didn't know because I didn't know Gale from just that one book but Peeta captured my heart when he announces his love for Katniss. I am a sucker for a love story. It just crushes me how much he loves Katniss and can't accept his love. I know she keeps saying that she wants Gale but her actions reflect that she needs Peeta. I mean is he is the one that calm her down and stop her bad dreams and he is the one that keeps putting himself on the line to protect her. So I love Peeta and I just wish they could be together forever.

I am so hoping that Peeta and Katniss get together that my co-worker who is on page 300 of Mockingjay has told me that if they don't end up together I am going to need therapy. Yeah I get swept up in love stories.

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I also get really wrapped in stories, in general, and these are great novels to get wrapped up into, so when they announced that Katniss would have to go back into the arena I was really mad. How can they do this to her and to me again. How can she and Peeta survive another time in the arena. The only thing that got me through this torture was what my friend said when I was reading the "Hunger Games" is that the story is told through Katniss' eyes so she has to live. I kept telling myself every time I worried that she would not make it out of the arena alive. Even with this knowledge my heart pounded in indication of what was going to happen and how was she going to survive. I don't know if I would have survived these books if it was not for my friend's good insight.

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I will admit when I am reading a book that has me holding my breath, I read the last page to see what is going to happen. The last line of them saying there is no District 12 I was like what the what? How much more are these people going to go through till it ends? I guess I will find out when I finish Mockingjay. I want to finish so I can stop holding my breath but I don't want it to end because I love these characters and these stories and I don't want them to end. Because like Peeta says "I wish I could freeze this moment right here, right now, and live in it forever." I don't want to live here forever as I know there are other books to read I just love Suzanne Collins writing she keeps me on the edge of my seat and I just don't want to put it down. And when I am in these books I just escape into another world and I love books that allow me to escape.

I am so glad my friend made me read the Hunger Games... I will put them on my list of books to read over and over again.

I know this is not actually in the movie just liked it.
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The two things I hope for in MockingJay....

1. Peeta and Katniss will end up together or else I will just cry

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2. That Cinna is alive, I hate what they did to him

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I can't believe I thought I wasn't going to like these books and now I am just absorbed into them.

Gilmore Goodness

Song: Raise your glass

As you get ready for this weekend I hope you enjoy watching 

this little montage of the great seasons of Gilmore Girls. 

Have a great weekend. 

Happy Birthday Audrey!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUDREY HEPBURN!

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Audrey Hepburn is by my favorite actress and my favorite movie of mine is
Roman Holiday.

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I love the movie so much that when I went to Rome, I tried to find the exact seat she sat on at the Spanish steps so I could say I sat in the same place as Audrey Hepburn. 

This is me on the steps.

Here are some of my other favorite movies/photos of Audrey Hepburn.

Sabrina

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Audrey and Humphrey Bogart 

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A great classicly Audrey outfit

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My Fair Lady

Song: Loverly

I always thought it was a shame that they didn't allow it to be Audrey's voice

In sixth grade I was in choir and I thought I could do this as a solo

so I learned every word to this song.

I love this ball gown

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Charade

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Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn were great together. 

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A great ending scene:

Funny Face

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Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn

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Since she was a trained ballerina I thought it was great how much dancing she got to do in this movie. 

Now my favorite co-star of hers:

Peter O'Toole 

How to Steal a Million 

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She is so beautiful

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This film is full of comedy and 1 liners

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But Audrey Hepburn was much more than a great actress and a great beauty. 

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I know Audrey Hepburn lived in Holland during WWII. Trained to be a ballerina but she was too tall to be a prima ballerina and never trained to be an actress. Later on went to be Good Will Ambassador for UNICEF.

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Writing this post and finding these pictures and clips reminds me just how beautiful she was inside and out. She only made 27 films but she probably the most known actress in the world. 

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I could not finish this post with out this clip from Breakfast at Tiffany's

Trying to find a place

This song lately has really spoken to me. 

Hello Lovely Readers,

I had a post all set for today but I rescheduled it for Monday so I could write this more honest post. 

I feel like I haven't really written anything. I feel like I have made a lot of list and posted a lot of pictures. So this post is kind of random combination of the things I have been going through.

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Remain in me, and I will remain in you.

-John 15:4

My relationship with God has faded away, I am sad to say. I am still a believer but for the last few months I months I have not made it a priority in my life. I could justify myself by saying that I have been really bus as I try to finish school but I don't know how true that is. Mostly because this fading away I feel started back in March. But this blog post is not so much focused on my fading. It  is more about the impact on my life.

On Sunday I was sitting in church leaning up against the wall not paying attention to the sermon but instead thinking about the curriculum for children's church. I was on my phone looking up the passage and some how got to John 15 and I read John 15:4. I have probably read it a hundred times and could recite it as an over used verse. But since Sunday I have realized hoe true it is for me. 

Lately, I have felt like something is missing in my life. I feel like a lot of my fiends lives are changing, they are graduating school, getting in relationships, having babies, or other things. And I feel kind of stuck. I think of things I want in my life or want to do in my life and how I can't get them. At least not now, and maybe not until I finish school (2 more years). And sometimes this stuck feeling overwhelms me. It makes me sad when I feel how my life is missing something. 

But is my life really missing something?

No!!! If I was listening to God I would know I was exactly where I was suppose to be. The school, the program, I am in has been a dream of mine. Since I was in high school. God has blessed me in pursuing this dream. He has long protected me.

Once I went on a retreat in Gloucester, at a friend's house on the ocean. During a quiet time I found a place sitting on the rocks. I couldn't focus on my reading so I found myself staring at the rocks below me. When the tide was coming in it looked like one rock was "protecting" the rock behind it from the crashing waves. Then the longer I sat there I saw the tide go out and I saw what was the second rock holding up the first rock. Since then I have seen the symbolism of God in these rocks. He is the first and second rock both protecting me from the hard waves and holding me up.

On that trip I found these rocks and 

since then I have had these rocks on my dresser to remind me.

But as I admitted my walk with God has been on the wean, so the little voice inside of me has come in and told me, my life is missing something. I am seeking people around me get the "things" I want and to be honest I am jealous. It doesn't help that emotionally I have felt like I have been a yo-yo.

Going back to the verse "remain in me and I will remain in you." I have seen this in my life. The more I remain in God the little voice that tells me I am constantly wrong goes away and it speaks softer than a whisper. When I remain in God I hear a voice that tells me I may not have everything I want but I am all right. 

Right now though I can't hear God speaking to me. I have often wished God would tell me what to do like the movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" but he has never spoken to me that way. Most of the time it is just a feeling, or things my friends and family say that lead me on my way. Since I haven't been really seeking God out I haven't had that feeling or God's whisper. And I miss it. 

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Last time I read the bible I was reading 2 kings.* It seems to be a long list of kings with names I don't now how to pronounce and really no stories or life lessons I can relate to. I need a book to read. I have list of book I want to read but I am not for sure what I should read. Any suggestions.

*- I wrote this in my school notebook but I have not wanted to post it till I was done with school. Yesterday and today I have taken time to read my bible. Yesterday I read John 15 and 16 to get more content around the verse. Today I went back to Ephesus, it is like my comfort blanket, I go back to it whenever I don't know where to go. Today I read Eph. 1:11- "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will." I know at the heart of it I know God is working out everything to His will and though it may not be exactly what I want it is what is suppose to be happening. 

I need to stay more constant with God, which is hard, but it is always rewarding.