HAPPY HOLIDAYS.

Christmas is JUST around the corner!! I have been decorating the house and looking for new ideas for decorations. One of my FAVORITE sources when it comes to the holidays is MarthaStewart.com!! She has some GREAT ideas! One that I am working on now is a holiday wreath for my mom made from ribbon. You can find the link on how to make it HERE. She has great ideas for wrapping presents, decorating trees and holiday baking. Definitely a go-to site for the holidays!! =)

HOLIDAY DETOX.

The holidays can be a really joyous occasion!! So much in fact that you really let loose and enjoy TOO much eating everything in sight! Who cares right? It's the holidays, indulge a little! But then you end up indulging a lot and realizing that your skinny jeans don't fit and all you're wearing lately are stretchy tights!! Here's a simple holiday detox to boost your energy and burn fat in just 3 days!!





Check it out at Yahoo! health!!

PHOENIX.

Some auditory stimulation. Phoenix is one of my favorite bands. I love their sound! ENJOY.


TOO YOUNG by PHOENIX.

DEATHLY HALLOWS.

In t-minus 6 days Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is coming out in theaters!! I am too excited for this movie and have been waiting what seems like forever for it to finally premiere! So in celebration of this momentous occasion I made a shirt (as I do every year there is a premiere; ie: last year's shirt read "muggle") of the Deathly Hallows. This shirt was made with a plain white shirt that I got from Wal*mart (totally inexpensive, $3.00 on clearance; note to self: ALWAYS check the clearance section for unexpected deals! There's some great stuff there), some freezer paper (from any convenience/grocery store), and some black spray fabric paint (Michael's, JoAnns, Wal*mart; puff paint would work too).(Below are the pictures of the shirt I made for Harry Potter! I didn't take pictures of the process for this one, I just took pictures after I added each element.)









For this particular movie, I figured "What better symbol to put than the Deathly Hallows themselves?" If anyone is as die-hard a Harry Potter fan as I, they will recognize the symbol :) (As seen in the above pictures.) So here are the simple steps to making your own home-made, one-of-a-kind t-shirt:

1.) Find a nice, plain shirt in the color of your choice (this particular shirt is ovrsized and loose-fitting, very comfy. Any v-neck or crew-neck shirt would be great!)

2.) Get fabric paint. They come in tubes or spray paint but make sure it's for fabric so that when you wash the shirt later the paint doesn't fade or bleed out (Note: if the shirt is a darker color like purple or blue you may want to choose a paint that will show up better like gray or white)

3.) Cut out the symbol, words, shapes, etc. that you want to put on your shirt (Note: I cut these shapes out on a Cricut on the lowest speed as to not rip the freezer paper because it is very thin)

4.) Iron on the freezer paper to your shirt. Make sure that whatever words or shapes you want are centered on the shirt measuring from both sides so that you don't get a crooked picture; Once you put the paint on there's no turning back!!

5.) Once you've ironed on your design, paint the voided areas in the color of your choice. If you are using spray paint, make sure you cover up the entire shirt but for the design you want to paint or else you WILL get paint splatters everywhere. Also, make sure you put carboard, paper or some other type of barrier in between the layers of the shirt so that the paint doesn't bleed through to the back of your shirt. Below is an example of the "Team Edward" shirt I made for the Eclipse premiere!!



6.) After the applied paint dries, peel off the freezer paper and you should have a very neat and clean t-shirt!! Super easy and really fun to do!!

TORMENT.

The second novel in Lauren Kate's "Fallen" series.


"How many lives do you need to live before you find someone worth dying for? In the aftermath of what happened at Sword & Cross, Luce has been hidden away by her cursed angelic boyfriend, Daniel, in a new school filled with Nephilim, the offspring of fallen angels and humans. Daniel promises she will be safe here, protected from those who would kill her. At the school Luce discovers what the Shadows that have followed her all her life mean - and how to manipulate them to see into her other lives. Yet the more Luce learns about herself, the more she realizes that the past is her only key to unlocking her future...and that Daniel hasn't told her everything. What if his version of the past isn't actually the way things happened...what if Luce was really meant to be with someone else?"


NOTE: contains MAJOR spoilers. just saying.


Torment by Lauren Kate

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Great book!! I still wish we were able to find out a little bit more about Daniel and Luce as they were in the past. Such a tease!! And the only disappointment that I have (okay two disappointments)

1.) That Luce and Daniel (who have supposedly loved each other for thousands of years in different lifetimes, in different settings, and almost always come to find each other no matter where they are) struggle with the most minutiae of problems in this book. I mean it's one thing for Daniel to be completely beside himself with fear that Luce is just going to burst into flames right in front of him (let's face it, it's happened to him more times than he can count), yet whenever they get together they fight over the most trivial of things (her hair color, why can't she know the truth?, and why can't she be with him now?). What happened to all that trust that Luce had in Daniel in "Fallen"? Suddenly she forgot that she SHOULD trust his judgment when after all she trusted him when he told her that she was reincarnated every 17 years and that every single one of her lifetimes they fall in love resulting in her ultimate demise! It's just a little ridiculous to think that she could believe that, yet not believe him when he tells her to not leave school and be safe because people are hunting her.

Also, her turning around to kiss another guy?? Really?? I thought you were so in love that you are beside yourself with an overflowing devotion each time you're near him!! Did Luce happen to forget all of that when Miles showed up at her window?? I don't know, maybe it's just me. (I'm ranting; but I just hate that people who are so "devoted" can turn around and betray their "true love" like that. ie: Bella and Edward are engaged, Bella kisses Jacob; Bella is a slut.) & i know i know!! this is all a part of the reason why these books are so addicting... because they're written so well where you hate to love the 3rd wheel which in this case is Miles, because he really is a sweetheart.

and 2.) (despite my qualms about Daniel and Luce's destructive (literally!!) relationship, I am a hopeless romantic despite all that. And I love the parts of the book when they are together and sweet to each other, because they truly are in love. So with that said, the next book cannot come out sooner, and the ending was an AWFUL way to make readers wait until next year.... with so many unanswered questions and DYING to know what happens next :)! Loved it! Agonizingly waiting for 'Passion' to come out next summer. Lucky for me I have a growing list of books to read to tie me over until then.



View all my reviews at goodreads.com