January Favorites

BAND/ARTIST: Frank Sinatra I've always been a huge Frank Sinatra fan. My dad listens to a lot of "old-timey" singers like Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Jim Croce [Jim Croce has nothing to do with Frank and Bing. Oh well]. So I guess you could say I grew up listening to them and learning to appreciate them. I stole a greatest hits CD from my brother. I've tried to listen to all the songs fairly, but I have to admit that "Fly Me to the Moon" and "The Way You Look Tonight" are definitely my favorites. I am absolutely in love with Frank Sinatra's voice. I could go on and on about it, but I feel like I wouldn't do his voice any justice. If you haven't already, you NEED to listen to him sing. He has the voice of angel.

SONG: "We Found Love" by Rihanna I freaking love this song. I know it's repetitive and mostly just a dance mix. But I think that's the reason why I love it so much. It's just so catchy! Anytime I hear I immediately start dancing. Even when I'm driving. Don't worry, I'm off driving court supervision and my ticket's gone. And I also really like the lyrics. And just watched the music video for the first time. It's pretty... whack. I mean, that's the only word I have for it. She's half naked for the whole thing! You know what, I think that makes me like it even more. Whatever. Go Rihanna.

BOOK: The Once and Future King by T.H. White This book is taking me FOREVER to read. That's the reason it's my favorite this month, it's literally the only book I've read in the past month and a half. In fact, I'm still reading it. But it would probably be my favorite of the month, anyway. It's really intellectual. I don't know if any of you have read this, or even heard of it. It's my dad's all-time favorite book, and he really wanted me to read it. I wouldn't have heard of it if it weren't for him. The Once and Future King is about King Arthur, Guenever, Lancelot, and the Knights of the Round Table. It begins with King Arthur's childhood and just goes on from there. Like I said before, it is not a fast read by any means. But if Camelot or King Arthur or Lancelot interests you in any way, I highly suggest this book. T.H. White writes in a very intellectual, yet creative way; it'll definitely make you think.

BLOGGER: Ferweh Fernweh is an collaborated, online magazine managed by six girls, who all have their own separate blogs I believe. Actually, Carlotta who I featured in my November Favorites post is one of the writers. It covers a lot of different creative areas. There's cooking, photography, stories, DIYs, poetry, and a lot more that I'm probably leaving out. I actually made some chocolate pumpkin bars from a recipe I found on their blog, and the bars were delicious. "Blending the past with the present, Fernweh is a collective guide to life made lovely." [from Ferweh]

TV SHOW: The Big Bang Theory I know I'm super late to the party, but The Big Bang Theory is a hilariously, genius TV show. I just want to cuddle all of them. Especially Sheldon. If you haven't already seen it, it's about two roommates/friends that live together, Leonard and Sheldon. They're really smart [especially Sheldon] researchers at a university in California. They have two other friends, Howard and Raj, who also work at the university. Leonard and Sheldon live in an apartment across the hall from Penny, an aspiring actress working at the Cheesecake Factory. Please watch it. It's smart funny, not stupid funny [not that stupid funny is always bad..].

VIDEO GAME: L.A. Noire L.A. Noire is set in approximately 1920's Los Angeles. You play as a detective working different types of cases. You start out as a beat cop and work your way up the law enforcement ladder. You have to search crime scenes, examine evidence, question suspects, follow leads, and investigate lots of different apartments. And the medical examiner always wants to search the body for semen. The is rated R. Just a warning. It's also really long. Literally. There's three different discs for it. I'm currently on the second disc. If you really like murder mysteries and the 1920's this game is for you. It's also not a first-person game, which is always a plus in my book. No matter how many times I play Portal I always get vertigo.

THING: Slippers Yes, more footwear! I bought a pair of $10, ugly slippers at the grocery store three weeks ago. They're not really cute at all, but they're warm. And to me, that's all that's important. I mean, it's not like I'm wearing them out in public.

And guess what! I'll be eighteen in three days, on February 7. That's so weird. I'll be an adult. I've also got a new feature to introduce that will hopefully force me to blog more regularly. In case you haven't noticed, I'm exactly on any sort of schedule or deadline system.

December Favorites

To be honest, I'm not even trying to get this done before the month ends. I give myself a week after.

BAND: Fall Out Boy Let me be straight with you. Middle school and freshmen year I was a bit of a scenie weanie before the "scene" thing kind of took off. I was absolutely OBSESSED with Fall Out Boy. I think I've mentioned it before, but I am a proud owner of all the albums that Fall Out Boy ever put out. Including the obscure acoustic album and the album that they didn't even promote. I know all the words to pretty much every song. Except for the non-promoted album and the last album [the last album was complete crap, sorry boys]. This month it's been more of a nostalgia thing. I still think they're pretty good. I mean, Patrick Stump's voice is amazing. I wouldn't necessarily recommend them. But if you want to, it won't be a waste of time.

SONG: "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" Come on people, it's Christmas! But I want to be specific about this one. My favorite recording is by Hilary Duff on her Santa Claus Lane album. From 2002. Classic Hilary Duff. And I don't really give a crap that her voice was auto-tuned the crap out of. It's Hilary Duff. I just love her so much.

BOOK: The Hunger Games If you don't know about The Hunger Games I don't even know what to think. I reread it because my friend Kayla was reading them for the first time and I was a little jealous. It's just so good! I'll give you a little bit of background, although I think pretty much all of you probably know about it already. It's set in what used to be a part of America, after a huge war. There's twelve districts all being controlled by the Capitol. Every year they host the Hunger Games where two tributes, one boy and one girl, from each tribute have to fight, or just survive, to the death until only one remains. I guess this way the Capitol can remind everyone how big of jerks they are and the power that they have. The book follows Katniss Everdeen and her experience with the Hunger Games. It's the first in a trilogy and I'm begging you to read it if you haven't already. There's even a movie coming out in March, I think!

BLOGGER: the lexical gap. Lex is probably my all-time favorite blogger. She's funny, witty, and tells it like it is. She has this whole series going on why she hates Twilight. I mean, that alone is reason enough. Seriously, though, her blog is so fun to read. She's really upfront about the way she feels about a certain topic/person/thing/etc. and actually gives rational thought out reasons [unlike a lot of people who think they make sense but just sound ridiculous]. If you don't follow her blog you're missing out.

YOUTUBER: wehavegirlfriends The funniest thing of my life. Three guys, Kevin, Mitchell, and Kyle, tell short stories from their lives. Most of them are about things that happened while they were in high school. Stories like parties, run-ins with cops, and girl issues. It may sound kind of overrated, but these stories are so freaking hilarious and not what you would expect. I laughed so hard I almost peed myself. It's actually more like a podcast with very crudely-drawn illustrations. As in, stick figures. Do me a favor and just watch one. That's all I ask. You will thank me for this.

TV SHOW: Sons of Anarchy I actually didn't watch any particular TV show series this month. All the shows that I normally follow had finished their seasons. My family did get Netflix this month, however, so I decided to watch Sons of Anarchy from the beginning. It's an FX series about a motorcycle gang club.Yes, a motorcycle gang. They live in southern California and run a car repair shop. While secretly running guns and eventually drugs.Listen I know it sounds weird that I like this show, but I can't stop watching it. Plus the main character is hot. In a different way. Watch it, don't watch it, but I'm obesessed.

VIDEO GAME: Super Mario Bros. Wii I bought this game with some Christmas money and it is awesome! It's kind of like a combination of the old school Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros., with a completely different twist.It has a 4-player option and has a cool feature that I refer to as "bubbling." If you're about to die you can press A causing you to be caught in a bubble. Your teammate can then release you from the bubble. There's also some sweet new power-ups [propeller hat anyone? perhaps a penguin suit?! just to name a few] and some new moves. You can never go wrong with Mario.

THING: Snow boots! I bought these boots on sale in November in anticipation of snow. It's now January and snow has yet to be seen here. In fact, it was freaking 50 degrees this week! What the heck?! I am a cold weather person and the weather has been killing me. Especially because I got these freaking amazing new boots! Not that the lack of snow has stopped me. I wear them all the time. And I will continue to until springtime. So just try and give me crap, I don't care.

And now I need to go catch up on my blogs. Happy New Year!

November Favorites

Three days late, once again. Bah Humbug.

BAND: Cage the Elephant So, I've still been listening to a ton of We the Kings. But if it's not We the Kings it's definitely Cage the Elephant. The only way I can describe them is stoner music/a tad of screamo. Some of you may be thinking that this does not sound good. But trust me, they make it work. They only have two albums, self-titled and Thank You, Happy Birthday. You can tell they are totally into their music, which I find makes it that much funner to listen to. Their music videos are on the freaky/funny side. And by that I mean their video for "Around My Head" features the lead singer taking his dead girlfriend everywhere with him. Do not let that deter you.

SONG: "The Story of Your Life" This is not a song by Cage the Elephant, it's from We the Kings' album Smile Kid. And, actually, the album's name is taken from a line in this song! Waddayakno? Like all their songs it's really peppy and upbeat and cute. Please listen to it.

BOOK: The Name of the Star This book is by Maureen Johnson, a very hilarious, clever author whom I adore. It's about a girl, Rory, from Louisiana who goes to a boarding school in London. Just as she arrives there murders start to take place in London that mimic those of Jack the Ripper. It follows Rory's life as she gets introduced to the boarding school lifestyle and the paranormal. It's the first in a trilogy and just came out in September. I highly recommend this book. It has all the right amounts of mystery, paranormal, kissing, and humor.

BLOGGER:  pastor's girl's ponderings I just recently started to follow her blog, but I wish I had sooner. In all her posts she has beautiful photographs that she takes herself. She blogs about her family, her life, and the like. Whenever I read her posts I just become really relaxed and realize that sometimes the things I worry about just don't matter so much comparatively. It's like a breath of fresh air.

YOUTUBER: LukesArcade Obviously, this is a gaming channel. On it several different people play different games (including last month's Youtuber, Joey Graceffa). They play Batman, Pikmin, Plants vs. Zombies, and a couple others. So, if you like to watch gaming videos totally check this out! If not, I understand, some people don't like to watch other people play or even play video games themselves.

TV SHOW: New Girl My best friend Jordin and I are absolutely obsessed with this show. It's on FOX and it features Zooey Deschanel. That right there is enough to have me convinced. It's a really quirky, funny TV show about Jess, who moves into an apartment with three complete strangers. Who are all men. Jess is quirky, hard to embarrass, and completely lovable. I have to say out of all the guys on the show, Schmidt is my favorite. Mostly because he's completely ridiculous. Definitely, definitely watch it.

VIDEO GAME: Call of Duty: Black Ops I know this game is old. But I started to play it last month and haven't stopped. Mostly because once I start a game I can't stop until I've finished it. I think I'm about halfway through the campaign. I considered getting Modern Warfare 3, but I'm not sure. If I'm going to spend that much money on a video game I would rather have Batman: Arkham City.

THING(S): Infinity Scarves My favorite things to wear in during the wintertime are scarves. I was shopping at American Eagle for scarves when I came across this dark green, knit infinity scarf. I bought it and went back a week later to buy another, white one. Basically it's just one big loop that you wrap around your neck twice. I like them so much better than regular scarves because their wrap around your neck twice and keep your neck and face pretty warm. I also think they're so much cuter than regular scarves.

I realize I didn't include a movie of the month. The only movie I watched this month was Immortals. I went to see it with my friends Kayla and Morgan. I didn't like it much because it was supposed to be 3D so it was somewhat cheesy. I also didn't follow the story of Theseus too well, which I thought was what the movie was. We all agreed that it was decently good, though. Mostly because of all the half-naked hot guys. (Sorry if that's awkward for any guys reading this, I'm just being truthful.)

October Favorites

I've decided to try this thing when at the end of each month I tell you all about my favorite things of the month. It's mainly a YouTube thing, but considering I don't actually make videos, I'm turning it into a Blogger thing. So we'll see how this goes. [And, yes, I realize it's 3 days late.]

BAND: We the Kings I used to be a huuuuge We the Kings fan when I was a freshmen. I swear I know all the words off their first CD [self-titled]. After that, though, I didn't really keep up with them. I'm not sure why. But I just recently ordered their last two CDs [Smile Kid and Sunshine State of Mind] off their website. Right now I have Smile Kid in my car stereo. I haven't listened to Sunshine State of Mind yet but I have high expectations. If you haven't already you should definitely check them out.

SONG: "She Takes Me High" So, obviously, because I've been listening to We the Kings nonstop, one of their songs is my favorite of the month. It's the type of song that's expected by them: upbeat, cheesy lyrics, and totally pop rock. But I can't help jamming to it all the time.

BOOK: Heist Society This is a book by Ally Carter that you should definitely read. It is a Young Adult book, but if you're a book snob don't let that discourage you. The basic gist of the plot is that there's this 15-year-old-year girl, Kat, whose family is made up of art thieves. They're always stealing valuable paintings and whatnot, because, well, that's what art thieves do. Except Kat's dad gets accused of stealing some gangsters precious art collection. Kat has to get them back so that the gangster doesn't do anything to him. This book makes me want to become a highly-skilled art thief, wear black all the time, meet an incredibly hot millionaire, and tiptoe around doing daring, dangerous things. Like I said before, you should definitely read it.

SNACK: Quaker Quakes - Cheddar Cheese I know a lot of people have this misconception that rice cakes aren't good. But I promise you, they are. At least the cheddar cheese kind. If it's crunchy and cheesy chances are I'll like it. Plus if eaten in small proportions they're not that bad for you.

BLOGGER: Random Ramblings If you're into books and blogs about books, this is a great blog to check out. Jillian always has great reviews of books, many of these books are now on my ever-growing to-read list.  Not all of her posts are about books, but these are just as good as her reviews.

YOUTUBER: JoeyGraceffa This is Joey's personal channel on YouTube. His main channel is a music video channel, WinterSpringPro, which he does with another girl. This channel, however, is his personal vlogs. I love him so much! He's terribly adorable and reminds me a lot of my friends Trevor. If anime, video games, and music are your thing then what are you waiting for?

TV SHOW: American Horror Story This TV show is creepy as shit. No joke. I can't even begin to explain it. This family moves into a huge, old mansion where a bunch of murders took place but they don't know. All this weird stuff happens to them. And somehow this random, crazy neighbor of theirs is obsessed with the house. I can't explain it any better than that. It's on FX on Wednesdays 9c. If you watch it, please don't think I'm psycho. I have no clue why I like this TV show so much, I just do.

MOVIE: Paranormal Activity 3 I haven't watched many movies this month, so pickings were slim. But I did really like this movie. It's rated R, so if you're younger than that you'd have to find someone to take you. It follows Katie and Kristi's lives when they were very young girls. The whole background of why the things happen in the first two movies gets explained is this one. I would say it's the best one out of all three. Scary movies don't usually keep me up at night, but this one did. I went and saw the 10 o'clock showing the day before it released with a bunch of my friends. We were all scared out of our minds.

VIDEO GAME: Cube Field So I haven't had much time to play any videos games this month because of school. I don't think cube field actually qualifies as a *video game* but it's the only one I've really played this month. Basically you just have to navigate around a bunch of cubes. Really simple. It's supposed to help your perception and reaction time. I usually play it while I'm in Intro to Business because we don't really do anything. It's one of those games that you play if you have your computer and have some time to kill.

THING: My Brand Spankin' New Packers Lounge Chair I saw it at Farm 'n' Fleet with my dad and I couldn't not get it. It's sooo comfy. I could literally sit in it and read or watch TV for hours. It must be good luck too, because the Packers are 7 and 0! Yeaaaaaaaaaah! It wasn't a purely impulse item, though. My old blue one had gotten really uncomfortable and dirty. I mean, I did have it for almost 7 years.

What do you guys think, should this be a thing?