Graduated from Nursing School!!!!

Yesterday, after two too many years of nursing school ;) I finally graduated from nursing school! It's been a long road and you all, my poor blog readers, have had to hear me moan about it all this time. ;) I'm so thankful to be through it but I am also so thankful for the invaluable education and life lessons I have garnered from it. Next is taking my state boards, aka the fearsome NCLEX! So my moaning isn't over yet. ;)
Here are some pictures of the joyous occasion though!

Having a drink after finding out we passed with
my amazing nursing school friend April. We
couldn't have made it through without each other.
And yes that's A drink... mixed with orange juice no less! 

My little siblings and I before the ceremony! 

My parents and I. :) 

That's my Dad. ;) 

Thank you everyone for cheering me on through this nursing school marathon! It's been crazy fun! :)

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Bout of Books- Day 1&2 Updates

I've been a little behind with the Bout of Books updates but I'm catching up! I had this little matter of a final that heavily influenced my future and work so I wasn't really having time for blogging. I did have time for reading though. :)
Oh, and yes, I PASSED NURSING SCHOOL!!! I'll be graduating at the nursing pinning ceremony on Thursday!!!! More details and fun pictures then. :)
So far for Bout of Books I've read:

• Gone With the Wind- Six chapters
• Little Women (audiobook) (re-read)- 1 chapter
• Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories- COMPLETED
• When Shlemiel went to Warsaw and Other Stories- COMPLETED

Pretty good so far! The two last are children's books so were fairly quick reads but I'm still proud of myself. ;)

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Top Ten Authors I REALLY want to meet!

Fun topic! There are a lot of authors I like that for various reasons I'm not entirely intrigued to meet so this list does not reflect my favorite authors necessarily. :)

1. Jane Austen
2. J.R.R. Tolkien
3. Charles Dickens 
4. P.G. Wodehouse
5. Agatha Christie
6. Brian Jacques- I actually did meet him years ago when I was seven. 
7. Samuel Clemens- AKA Mark Twain
8. Charles Dodgson- AKA Lewis Carroll
9. Harper Lee
10. G.K. Chesterton 

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It's Monday! The Final

As you read this, I am most likely in the midst of my last final for nursing school! I appreciate your prayers. This semester has been challenging and fun all in one and in some ways it was my favorite semester and some ways I couldn't wait for it to be done (senioritis much?). However, I am grateful to have finally reached  the end and I'm looking forward with fear and excitement to taking the NCLEX (nursing state boards) and taking on a nursing job in the "real world". :) The pinning ceremony (basically a graduation ceremony for nursing) is later this week and then I'll be officially graduated! Not officially an RN yet though until I pass the NCLEX. :)
I'm also hoping that will give me more time to read. ;)

Finished This Week

• none

Currently Reading

• Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (re-read) (audiobook)
• Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransom (re-read)- Still reading this aloud to my brother. I think it will be a slow process. He complains about it every time I have the time to read it to him but when I'm actually reading it to him he loves it. 
• Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts by Jerry Bridges
• The Valley of Vision

Coming Soon

• Dream Thief by Stephen Lawhead

Reviews Posted this Week

Boys of Blur by N.D. Wilson 

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Liebster Questions- Just for fun :)

Holly over at Nut Free Nerd posted some questions for the Liebster Award. I've already won several Liebster awards so I don't care about all of that but I do like answering questions. :)
Here are Holly's questions.

1. Bookmarks or folding the pages? Bookmarks
2. Paperback or hardcover? Hardcover 
3. Socks or Barefoot? Barefoot
4. Movies or TV shows? In the last few years I've watched more TV shows but before that I was definitely movies. I think though at this point in my life it's TV shows. I like watching a forty minute episode as opposed to a two hour movie... though sometimes it becomes two (or three!) forty minute episodes. ;)
5. Pens or Pencils? Depends but normally pens. 
6. Sci fi or fantasy? This is a hard question! I really knew little and had read or seen little with sci fi except Star Wars before a couple years ago and now I'm a big fan of it. However, I'm still a big fan of Fantasy... most notably the Lord of the Rings. I really don't feel like I can answer this question. 
7. Series or stand-alones? I think stand-alones. 
8. Rain or Snow? I HATE THEM BOTH!!!!!!!! Probably snow more though. Rain actually has benefits. 
9. Shopping online or in stores? Depends. Probably online though. 
10. Road tripping or flying? Road tripping. 
11. Answering questions or asking them? So I feel like I'm contradicting myself after I just stated above that I like answering questions. To be clear, I like answering them when I have time to think about an answer... like when I'm writing a blog post. I do not like getting questions sprung on me. So I'd go with asking questions. :)

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Book Review- Boys of Blur

For the Full House challenge and the library reading challenges I read N.D. Wilson's novel Boys of Blur.

Synopsis from Goodreads: When Charlie moves to the small town of Taper, Florida, he discovers a different world. Pinned between the everglades and the swampy banks of Lake Okeechobee, the small town produces sugar cane . . . and the fastest runners in the country. Kids chase muck rabbits in the fields while the cane is being burned and harvested. Dodging flames and blades and breathing smoke, they run down the rabbits for three dollars a skin. And when they can do that, running a football is easy.  But there are things in the swamp, roaming the cane at night, that cannot be explained, and they seem connected to sprawling mounds older than the swamps. Together with his step-second cousin "Cotton" Mack, the fastest boy on the muck, Charlie hunts secrets in the glades and on the muck flats where the cane grows secrets as old as the soft earth, secrets that haunted, tripped, and trapped the original native tribes, ensnared conquistadors, and buried runaway slaves. Secrets only the muck knows. 

I've enjoyed all of N.D. Wilson's books so far and Boys of Blur was no exception! Think Beowulf as a boy's adventure novel and there you've got it! As you may remember, I read Beowulf at the beginning of this year and loved it so of course I couldn't help but love Boys of Blur. I'll admit it was a trifle confusing at some points and I think if you haven't read Beowulf you will probably find it very confusing but the thing about me is I just keep reading a book no matter how confused I am, maybe looking back to see if I can figure something out but most likely not even bothering to and in the end it all comes together and I don't care how confusing it was. Probably not a good policy over all but that's how I roll. I read too fast to... that's another bad policy I have. :(
I liked the characters in this story and I liked that N.D. Wilson gave them real issues that many children today are facing... child abuse, step-parents, divorce, ect. They aren't huge themes but they're definitely there and I like how they're dealt with.
Overall I thought it was a great boy's adventure novel and I handed it to my younger brother to read next as I'm sure he'll enjoy it too. :)

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Top Ten Books I will Probably Never Read

This week's them for Broke and Bookish's Top Ten Tuesday is the top ten books I will probably never read.
There are a variety of books that I'll probably never read for various reasons. For example, The Hunger Games... I know so much about them already I probably wouldn't enjoy them very much reading them at this point. Anyways, I'm not a big fan of dystopian novels. If you have a question about why I won't read something feel free to ask... if you want to try to convince me to read it... feel free to try. Jut know it probably won't happen. :)

1. The Hunger Games 
2. Divergent
3. The Fault in Our Stars
4. Gone Girl
5. Twilight
6. Fangirl 
7. If I Stay
8. Looking for Alaska
9. The Notebook
10. A Game of Thrones 

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It's Monday! One more Week and than Graduation!!!!

How do you like my new blog layout? I used to change my layout all of the time but then about this time last year I stopped. However, I'm glad I've done a change. :) My favorite part is my new header and the best part about the header is that it encompasses so much geekiness in one place!!!! No it doesn't include all of my favorite things but it includes the most important ones... Lord of the Rings, Pride and Prejudice and Doctor Who. :) I might do some more changes with the layout in the next couple weeks just to tweak it. We'll see. :)

I am really and truly in the last stretch of school! I just have this week of a preparatory class for NCLEX (Nursing state boards) and then my final and I graduate! There's also the little matter of actually taking the NCLEX but one thing at a time! ;)

I was able to (finally) watch the 2002 film version of The Importance of Being Ernest (I've already watched the 1952 version). I enjoyed it a lot, though it was weird seeing Colin Firth in a different roll than Mr. Darcy. It did have it's issues though. All in all though enjoyable. Both version are actually. :)

Currently Reading- I know it's a lot! This isn't normal for me. :)

• Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts by Jerry Bridges
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (re-read) (audiobook)- It's narrated by Barbara Caruso! I'm so thrilled! She narrated the Anne of Green Gables audiobooks that I listened to earlier this year and adored. 
• Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransom (re-read)- As I said last week, I'm reading this aloud to my little brother. Surprisingly he's already starting to enjoy it. He kept me going four chapters straight the other day. My throat was getting really dry! 
• The Valley of Vision

Finished this Week

• Boys of Blur by N.D. Wilson 

Coming Soon

• Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell- Readathon started this past Friday but I haven't quite yet. I've still got time! ;)
• Dream Thief by Stephen Lawhead (re-read)

Reviews Posted this Week

• Armadale by Wilkie Collins
• The Borrowers by Mary Norton (re-read)

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Bout of Books #3 Sign up Post!

It's time for another Bout of Books! This one starts the day of my final so it's perfect timing. I'll have tons of free time afterwards to read! :) Well... that is I hope I'll have tons of free time. ;)

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 11th and runs through Sunday, May 17th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 13 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I'm excited to sign up and hopefully get caught up with some reading!
In May I have a few books "scheduled" to read for my various reading challenges so I'll be reading those for sure. Those are:

1. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
2. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
3. Dream Thief by Stephen Lawhead

I also hope to dive into some other books though. Those are listed below.

1. Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
2. Big Red by Jim Kjelgaard (re-read)
3. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White (re-read)

Are you joining in the Bout of Books? It's tons of fun! :)

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Birthday Month Reading Challenge- May

May has come with graduations and the much anticipated end of school!!!!! :)
I hope you're all keeping up with the Birthday Reading Challenge! If you're behind don't worry; I'm sure many of us are. ;) Just catch up as you can. :)
Here's a list of authors with their birthday in May. A more complete list is HERE.

• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Walt Whitman
• Tony Hillerman
• Margaret Wise Brown
• Margaret Rey
• William Péne du Bois
• Irene Hunt
• Eleanor Estes
• Daphne du Maurier
• Richard Adams
• Leo Lionni
• J.M. Barrie
• Edward Lear
• L. Frank Baum
• Arnold Lobel
• Susan Cooper

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