The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I've never seen this movie and this is another book on our list. This was a cute story about two children that before meeting, had pretty sad childhoods. Together they discover a secret garden that gives them both the health and happiness their lives were lacking. There was a theme developed half-way through the book that I believe dealt with the power and "wonder" of a higher being. The children referred to it as "magic." All in all, it was a lovely book. =)



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Happy New Year!!!

Stationery card

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Harry Potter y la Piedra Filosofal, by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter y la Piedra Filosofal by J.K. Rowling

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I love the HP series. It was fun to re-read this book in Spanish. It was a great way to practice my Spanish reading, although, not sure if I'll ever need to use the Spanish word for wand in any real-life scenario, lol.



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A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I have seen various versions of this story in movie form but have never read the book. It's a short/easy read. Like the movies, it highlights the importance of family and fellowship. Great book to knock off our list right before Christmas!



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Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I kept on reading because I wanted to see how the story ended, and while it was pretty entertaining, I have to say it was not one of my favorite books. I'm not sure why I didn't really like it. I enjoyed reading about the characters, especially the main character, she was strong, smart, and passionate. The story ended well so that wasn't it. Not quite sure what made me not "love it." I'll have to keep thinking about it.



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Coldplay & the Music Midtown Festival

After years of being an UBER fan, I finally got to see Coldplay live!  As an early birthday present Justin bought us tickets to the Music Midtown Festival in Atlanta, Georgia.  Ten bands, alternating stages, and beautiful Piedmont Park.  My favorite bands of the day were: The Constellations, Walk on the Moon, The Black Keys, and of course, Coldplay. 

Here's my favorite moment of the evening:

Coldplay playing Yellow 

That's when it all hit me: 

I was seeing Coldplay live.

The entire stage was projecting yellow light. 

They sounded AWESOME.

My wonderful husband thought of this all by himself and planned it for me. 

I'm sure you can guess what happened next. In true groupie form, I started to feel tears well up in my eyes and I could barely sing along without my voice cracking. ha ha ha ... I know, super dramatic, but hey, at least I wasn't as bad as the the one girl who took her shirt off. Yeah, that totally happened.  Anyway, back to my obsessed fan behavior. I was soooo moved, not so much because of the song, but because I was so grateful to be  experiencing them live and to be sharing in that moment with and because of Justin.  

They played all of their popular songs: Vida la Vida, The Scientist, Fix You, Life in Technicolor, Paradise (new song), Clocks, What If, In My Place, and Every Teardrop is a Waterfall.  They also did a tribute to R.E.M. and sang Everybody Hurts. 

AMAZING EXPERIENCE - THANK YOU JUSTIN! =O)

**If you're interested in reading more about the festival you can read Justin's blogpost about it.  He wasn't quite as Coldplay partial as I was in describing Music Midtown: http://www.justinandrewfincher.com/2011/09/27/music-midtown-2/

Yellow is ALWAYS the answer!

We recently moved into a townhouse that we really love! We have been making small decor changes here and there. Our one BIG change has been to the guest room.  Since we are renting we weren't planning on painting any of the rooms, but the green in this room was starting to kind of drive me CRAZY. Plus the paint job was not so great and there were patches of beige paint in a few spots. Not a fan. So I decided to paint. We chose a BEAUTIFUL color that we thought was versatile. That is, one that would work for a guest room, and in the future, a little person's room.  I've always loved to paint so I was looking forward to this project. However, turns out that painting after working all day, four days in a row, is really not a good time. Regardless, with the company of my "Friends" and my husband I got it done! 

So here's what it looked like before:

                                       

Trying to figure out what shade of yellow

And finally, the finished product complete with all of our mismatch-we-already-had stuff:

Lights on

Lights off - Natural Light

Lights on

We're still trying to decide on exactly how we want the furniture arranged. We just put it this way for the time being.  Once we put everything exactly where we want it, we'll put stuff up on the walls and ta-da guest room will be done. 

Come visit!