& Another One Bites The Dust

and another one goes, and another ones goes.... another one bites the dust!

MY.FRIENDS.ARE.SLOWLY. DISAPPEARING!

If I were 75 or older I might be talking about death... but right now I am talking about social suicide. MARRIAGE! Ga.... I never realized just how many "friends" I had until they all started getting married and I get about three wedding announcements a month....give or take. December and March have been the busiest months but I have had at least one friend get married each month in between. I also found out that I have three weddings to attend already this summer and another one was just made official the other day. So the running total is now up to 4! Ga... it is a good thing I make friends quickly because I might be out of friends soon!

100=Disneyland

So... a few of my classes are somewhat hard. In one of my classes the class average is like a 50. That is doing well actually because there are like 16 kids in the class and two girls make 100 on all the tests and everyone else makes like a 40. I have made like 50's and 55's so I am actually doing pretty well in the class relatively speaking. Well... I am also really talkative in class. The teacher is a genius and will often say... "this is really

quite elementary" or "this should be so clear" to which I will sarcastically remark OH YEAH! DUDE! THIS IS SO EASY... why do we even have to TAKE this class? I feel like I learned this in second grade!!! This usually gets my point across that obviously he is there to TEACH and that we DON'T already know this...when really.... I sometimes feel like he is speaking spanish. You see... I can pick up key words in spanish and I can usually get the jist of the conversation but by no means do I understand every word and I definitely have a hard time SPEAKING it... so it is the same with this class. I get the majority of it but it is hard for me to reproduce what was taught. Well...one day in class the teacher said...Mandi...if you can get a 100 on my next test(out of 108- there is a bonus problem) I will take you to Disneyland! I think he half means this. I know he knows there is no way on earth I could get a 100...but if I do I think he knows I worked really hard and deserve it! Well...going to Disneyland with your teacher can be a little creepy so I told him I wanted an A in the class. He agreed. He says he will still hold his end of the bargain...I will graciously decline (don't get too creeped out the kid can't be much older than 26 ) but I am working my hardest to get a 100! Do you know how much I would LOVE to get an A in this class? Keep me in your prayers because I am going to be studying my behind off!

I don't ever want Spring Break to end!

So it is spring break! How am I spending this valuable time you ask? Well I will answer for you. On a vacation to Florida to bask in the warmth and the beautiful beaches? No. Home for a week of relaxation with my parents and family? No. Seeing cute boys that live in far off states? Nope... not that either. SO WHAT IS IT YOU ASK?!?! Well... I am spending my whole entire spring break sleeping and working!!!

Oh...so not exciting but nice. All of my friends are away and honestly? I AM LOVING IT! I love just me time. I enjoy being hidden from the world. I guess that is one reason why I liked moving to a city where I had no friends or no family at first. And... in just a week and a half I will be in SUNNY SAN DIEGO!! I will get to see one of my old best friends and be in warm weather and beautiful beaches! Granted.... it will only be for about 60 hours but i don't care! I am excited!

Winter Park Colorado

Sorry. Different day same excuse. ( I have been busy). I just wanted to update you guys with a few pictures. I have kinda been BLAH lately. With one best friend in Dallas, and another on a mission, my family in Texas (don't get me wrong I absolutely ADORE my gamma girls but.... yeah) I have been in a slump. Well...Saturday afternoon Candice sent me a text message to see when my spring break was. She was driving from Dallas to Winter Park Colorado where Tim's parent's have a condo and saw an exit sign for Salt Lake City. She thought I was about an hour away. (she sucks at geography) and invited me there for the week.Turns out it was about 6-7 hours difference but I decided I would go for a quick weekend trip anyway (even though I had a midterm Monday.) It took me about 20 minutes to decide I was going and about 15 minutes to pack up. I made a quick stop to the local sprint store to grab a car charger and I was on i-80 headed to Denver. I made it there in about 6 hours!! I got there about 7pm Saturday night and left about 4pm Sunday. It was a quick trip but it was amazing and much needed. We didn't do anything too special....we went to dinner, went shopping, (the cashier asked if we were sisters), she made blueberry pancakes for breakfast, we drank herbal tea and watched TV...we laughed...I am SO INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL for that girl. Anyone who knows me knows I LOATH driving as far as across the street but somehow the 13 hours in the car by myself seemed like nothing. ( I don't know that I would do it again anytime soon though) I am glad I did. I have been in a WONDERFUL mood since then. She really is one of the best people I have ever met.

Candice and I met our sophomore year in high school. We had PE and autocad together. I remember I couldn't stand her at first. She has a very polarizing effect on people. Either you love her or you hate her. I wouldn't say I hated her but she really got on my nerves. She was loud and obnoxious and that was about it. She was always in trouble in PE! I really wish I could remember those days better. I do remember however the first time she actually came and talked to me. It was our senior year of high school (we both skipped our Junior year and graduated a year early) and we had physics with Mrs. Bosworth together. I can't remember why but I was crying or I had been crying. I am pretty sure I WAS crying but it is very vauge. I just remember being sad. It was the last period of the day and I was in the back of the classroom. Candice kicked whoever it was out of their seat and came and sat next to me. She talked to me and made me feel soooo much better! From that day forward she sat next to me and we were best friends. She would invite me to eat lunch with her or go home for lunch ( my very first time I skipped school!! only lunch...but we weren't allowed to leave campus). She made me feel like I belonged. She even had a best friend at the time and Kate HATED me (she didn't even know me I think she was just jealous we spent so much time together) so Candice STOPPED being her friend to be MY friend. I never asked her to choose and I could have cared less if she was friends with Kate but Kate cared so Candice ditched her.


Just at a time when my church friends were being rude and making me feel left out because I wasn't a loser like they were... Candice came to my rescue. I really can't thank her enough for all she did. I didn't get along with my parents or my family very well back then. I guess they just weren't used to me yet and my sister and I got into a fight. I called candice sobbing and all i said was come pick me up. I didn't ask where she was or what she was doing and I didn't tell her what was going on. She knew very well I had a car. She NEVER asked questions...about ten minutes later -the time it took to commute between our houses- there she was. I hopped in her car. Right as we turned the corner my parents were turning the same corner in the opposite direction. Once they had seen me I knew that I would be in mega trouble if I didn't turn back around. I told her to turn back around and she did. She wished me luck as I got out of the car and that was that. I am sure I told her the next day everything that went down but she didn't care. She never cared. She was just there for me. I can't ask for a better friend. My parents hated her which I always thought was funny because I don't know that my parents have ever even talked to her. They just saw her. While her mom told me not to knock and to just walk right in, I don't think Candice ever came over to my house! I never invited her. I will always remember that day. We had lots of fun times too though! Our favorite thing to do was to run home after school and watch Jeopardy! We loved to try and get the answers right. We would coordinate outfits ( wear denim mini skirts on the same day or the day when she wore black leather pants with a red shirt and then I wore my red pants with a black shirt and then the next day we traded outfits)We also made a boat out of CARDBOARD and floated it across the pool in our high school for a physics project. We won and that boat would have lasted FOREVER but some boys got jealous and destroyed it. We also frequented the Galleria many times and I can't think of a better shopping experience than walking in the mall hand in hand into the many beautiful amazing stores they have there! We used to call each other girlfriend & lover all the time. One of the funniest moments in my life was when my mom sat me down and had a heart to heart asking me if I was a lesbian!!!! I was flabbergasted! Looking back I think I would have thought the same thing if I were my mom....but it was hilarious and offensive simultaneously at the time! I think we did it to prove something. Like we were going to do what we were going to do and you couldn't do anything about it. I think we WANTED someone to say something to us just so we could be mean to them! WE liked to be obnoxious and we both hated cops. ( i wonder if being pulled over a lot had anything to do with it) We were and ARE just so much alike. We definitely have our differences but we are a lot alike too. When I was just there she told me how weird it feels for me not to be going to medical school because we are always doing the same things at the same time. While she is not in medical yet she is preparing to take her MCATS . I wish I would have taken more pictures but I hope you enjoyed the ones I did take. The ones underneath are from past years.

Christmas 2005
Christmas 2006

"everyone loves you"

I am really blessed. Really Really REALLY blessed.

Just a random blog. My friend Lindsay had a bridal shower this weekend and I bought her some stuff but the bag I got from the local scandalous shop. Blue Boutique...it sells like lingerie and stuff like that. The bag said Caution... X rated gift. When I walked in I was greeted by the usual MANDO!!! with squeals of joy and excitement even though they were in the middle of a game and then there was more joy and excitement at the bag and everyone could not wait to see what I had gotten her. From that point until Linds actually opened her present everyone kept saying how excited they were to see what I got her and how I always got the best gifts, how they hoped I would come to their bridal showers, and how the Scandal (me) had once again been the life of the party.

Every time I walk into my sorority (always late because I have class that runs into our meeting time) I am greeted by exclamations of joy, shouts of excitement, and hugs that Mando has arrived. I can't think of anyone else they do that for.

Today while talking to one of my best guy friends online we were talking about one of my best girl friends. I was like yep... she loves me. To which he replied WHO DOESN'T?!?! When I tried to say that no one did he was like well maybe not those stupid people in Utah but everyone here in Texas does!! Right after that I got a random text message from a different friend merely stating they loved me.

I really have some of the best friends. Primo top notch friends. I feel very blessed that I am cared so much about by so many people. I think I find it easy to say that no one cares but when you take a step back you realize just how many people love you. I think I forget more times than I remember so I just wanted to write it down in case I have a bad day.... I can remember what great friends I have and how truly blessed I am to have real FRIENDS and not just acquaintances.

Thanks for being one of those people.

Buy Me Some Peanuts & Cracker Jacks

OK. The weather is warm. I am giddy! Millions of thoughts and anticipation for summer are making me very overwhelmed. I want to run, jump, and sing... It is amazing what warm weather can do to you. I am SO stoked for spring! I can't wait until temple square is full of tulips and everywhere you go and drive you see yards full of tulips and other beautiful flowers. Most of all...

I AM EXCITED FOR BASEBALL SEASON!

In August I bought a brand new baseball and I keep it in the cupholder of my car. I play with it in the car, yearning for a new season... anticipating the possibility the Astros will again grace the World Series sometime soon ( not likely but a girl can dream can't she?)..excited to watch the Bee's (SLC minor league) play, buying CHEAP season tickets, and sitting in the sun cheering for the home team.

MY LIFE IS GREAT right now!

P.S. I don't care WHAT they say about Roger (Clemens)... I still love you!!!!

Domestic

I love being domestic. I love being the ideal girl. I love cooking, cleaning, wearing heels ( and like the daring ones...not just plain jane heels), wearing my hair down, skirts, dresses, and anything girly, eating healthy, and working out. I love the feeling when everyone tells me how cute I look. (Vain- yes I know) It makes me happy. I will make one very lucky man very happy one day!

Utter Boredom

OK seriously. Someone needs to shoot me in the face. Four hours of boredom at school with nothing to pass the time. I should be studying but I accidentally left my book at home. I don't even want to go to class tonight. My teacher makes me want to shoot MYSELF in the face. UGH! Help! I need rescue from this horrible horrible spinning lameness. ARG! How many days until school is over?

Mando's Perfect Banana Bread

So... this one day I was CRAVING Banana Bread but my sister still had not sent me her recipe so I decided to look one up online. I modified it a tad and this is what I got. EVERY SINGLE TIME I make it people RAVE about it. I make it so often I even have it memorized! My first recipe from heart! I gave out the recipe to three people in one day after I made it again Monday night. My friend Isaac even sent me a message that said, "hey my mom wants your banana bread recipe , I told her that it was the most amazing thing that has been baked on this earth.... so ya..." Hahaha. I am kind of anal about giving out recipes... especially because I have become famous for this... but because I love you all... here it is.
I hope you enjoy it.

Preheat oven to 325.

(bowl one- large bowl)
8 tbsp unsalted butter ( that should be a whole stick) room temp
1 c sugar
2 eggs
mix the butter and sugar together until nice and creamy. then mix in each egg one at a time.

(bowl two- small bowl- cereal bowl usually works)
3 ripe bananas
1tsp cinnamon
1tbsp milk
mash the bananas together with a fork and then stir in the milk and cin. with it. i usually do this all with the fork too.

(medium bowl- bowl three)
2 c flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda
1tsp salt


so... then pour in the banana mush into the sugary buttery creamy heaven ..hahaha that would be bowl one. mix it with the mixer until it is all mixed in. Then what you want to do is get a spoon, fork, spatula, or your favorite mixing utensil for mixing by hand and pour ALL of the flour into bowl one. You want to make sure to mix & fold the flour in there but only until the flour JUST starts to disappear. ( as opposed to using a mixer and really mixing in the flour) Then pour it into your bread pan.

*note... I usually use just a dab of butter to grease the pan, not the spray stuff.

Put the bread in for 60 minutes and it should be perfect. Serve warm with butter for ultimate satisfaction!

Mando

P.S. Yes I meant to write Mando. It's a name the girls in my sorority and most of the frat guys call me. And yes...there is a story to it. I usually make the bread for them or my roomates so it has become known as Mando's banana bread.

Boxing is For Girls

For those of you who may not know... boxing is apparently for girls.Yes Yes... it is true. AND... because it is for girls I have decided to sign up for a 20 class commitment that must be paid for in advance and if you quit going you are pretty much screwed. What I was failed to be informed of is that apparently... boxing is for Nazi, pain loving, military boot camp loving, MASOCHIST girls! Jeez LOUISE! I have never ever EVER worked out so hard in 60 minutes in my life. Lucky me... I have 19 more classes to go. Actually... I suppose I am somewhat of a masochist myself because AFTER the class was over I ran for an hour and then went to the gym for an hour. I was on an exercise high! However, Saturday was not so pleasant and Sunday I couldn't even get out of bed because I was so much in pain I could barely move. Hmmm... doesn't sound like a great way to start your workout regiment. However, I do have 19 more classes left and I intend to make the most of it. I suppose I will be ready to join the marines after I complete this. I have an inkling boot camp would be much easier, and they might even be a tad nicer. Hmmm.

Why I Love Living in Utah

This first picture is a picture I took in Texas when I was home. Notice the difference.Beneath are pictures of my drive to my night class. Notice the mountains in the rearview mirror in the picture beneath.

Seriously? I love Salt Lake City. This is taken from the Business Loop at the Univeristy of Utah looking West at sunset.

This is taken near President's Circle still facing West (duh- the sun sets to the West)


I have many pictures of the beautiful scenery of Utah but seriously. I couldn't ask for a better campus than the University of Utah. I LOVE the mountains!

Cooking With Shanna

Please let me introduce you to one of my most favorite people in Utah. The name? Shanna. She is actually Katherine's cousin Branson's (Reed) girlfriend. Wow... that sounded more complicated than it was. I love love love her and one of my favorite things about her in addition to her rad personality is that she shares my affinity for baking, cooking, and cleaning. ( I know mom & dad...you are probably having a heart attack. I bet you guys never knew I would turn out so domestic!! ) So about every single one of my friends asked me to breakfast lunch or dinner last week and I was dreading going somewhere else when she asked me to go out to dinner so I instead told her I wanted to make something from scratch. Something I had never made before. I picked Lasagna and rolls. I really have to give her all the credit for the rolls but I did watch her make it while I got the meat ready for the lasagna. She actually posted her recipe on her blog here.


This is me mixing the cottage cheese and other stuff together for the lasagna.
Don't those rolls look absolutely yummy?
The finished product.

I also made a really yummy spinich salad with strawberries, cucumbers, red onion and a poppyseed dressing. Now that is what I call heaven!

Sorry

OK... I haven't been on here for a while. When I googled myself my web page came up. I think it is fine that people I know can access it but I don't want just anyone google-ing me to find my web page so I set it to private and NO ONE could read it. After a while I decided ....whatever. I took off my address and I just won't post contact info or anything. So yeah.... that's that. I have some new posts coming but I have to upload pictures first. Just wanted to say I'm back.

My Personal Super Heroes!

It's a bird!!!

It's a plane!!!

It's...It's.... MY MOM & DAD!


Growing up I was not particularly close to my parents. In fact, I often felt like a stranger in their house. They were so much older and I felt the age difference. Things were very different then than they are now. They are still my parents... but they are more like friends. I suppose I have always been as independent as I am now. Not self sufficient, but independent. I have always wanted to grow up and have my own house and pay my own bills. This led to a strained relationship with my parents. I hated doing things THEIR way.... I wanted to do it my way! It wasn't until I actually MOVED OUT that I came to have a REAL relationship with my parents. And oh.... what a relationship!! There are times I regret not being as close to them as I am now my whole life. And there are parts of me that could care less....because I am here NOW.

My mom and dad mean the world to me. So much so that my eyes are misty right now writing this. They are quite possibly two of the coolest people I know!

John...PAPA John... is so hilarious! And not like stand up comedy funny...but witty funny. Dry humor funny. IF you EVER wonder where I get my humor from... half of it comes from him...the other half from my mom. I think it is funny that so many of my friends growing up who only ever saw him in passing are still to this day intimidated by him because he hardly talks and he is a big guy. Anyone who actually KNOWS my dad knows how silly that is. My dad has one of the softest hearts of anyone I know. He doesn't put up with crap but he cares a ton. Anytime I need a blessing my dad is there! Anytime I need to vent my dad is there. Anytime I need ANYTHING my dad is there. Anytime I call him crying with a concern he does anything and everything in his power to fix it. Sometimes I feel so frustrated at his wanting to fix EVERYTHING. Sometimes I want to scream and shout "that's MY problem...not YOURS.... let ME fix it... " and then I Realize how LUCKY I am that I have a dad who wants to do it for me. Who is so protective of me...even at 23 and I suppose even at 53 and until the day he dies... he will be my dad. He will be my protector and until the day I die he will be one half of a team that is my hero.

Mirtia... mersha... the other half to the dynamic duo. My mom is the SILLY one! I would say having us kids would keep her young....but I think she keeps US young. Yet ...at the same time she knows when to act her age. She is the perfect mixture of everything! Strength, passiveness, worker, homemaker, student, teacher, role model, fashion model....I really aspire to be like her! When I grew up I didn't want to be anything like her... (don't ask me why because I have no clue) and now I aspire to be as much like her as possible! When people tell me I am funny or cool my automatic response (and yes I realize I am probably a dork for it but it just comes naturally) is "you should meet my mom!! she is me times [insert large random number here]!!" My mom is so much fun to talk to and I call her more than I call anyone in my phonebook. If I am not calling her I am calling one of my siblings which are just mini me versions of her. Like my dad, she is there whenever I need it. Actually, I think she is tougher on me than my dad. Ha Ha. I love her.

I love my parents so much and words could not describe how much I owe my life to them. They are my heroes!

Goodbyes

The first week of my last semester as an undergrad is officially over. Ironically enough the most interesting things that happened this week are completely unrelated to school.

Today sucked slightly because it is starting to sink in that Jade won't be back for another 18 months. At first I felt like she was just on vacation or whatever, but slowly it is sinking in. I believe I am getting too good at saying goodbye. My first best friend Matthias moved to San Diego just a few months after our friendship started to become concrete. He has been there for the past 8 years but we are still great friends. Candice moved to Dallas- still best friends. I moved to Salt Lake and left behind so many valued friendships.... and now Jade is bound for Taiwan. I still feel like she is just going to come back and tell us all she played a very big joke... but I called the MTC (Missionary Training Center for those of you non mormons who don't know the lingo)for her box number today and they gave it to me. Is the MTC allowed to participate in a "punk'd"? I dunno...

I am just glad I have had the opportunity to have such amazing friends in the course of my life! Be grateful for what you have right?

I am in LOVE

with the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report (silent t's) with Steven Colbert. Seriously... I used to watch it all the time but then the stupid writer's strike happened (well I don't think it is stupid but I miss my shows). I have been devoid of their wit since November 1, 2007! Alas! They are back! Even though they don't have writers they are still just as funny! Steven Colbert left a lot of stuff out. He made an obvious point that the writers were missed. Even without the writers though, he interviews people and he is so on top of his game! The man is so witty it is unreal! He can take anything someone says and turn it around! He will comment on your dialog and take it so literally. I LOVE IT! I love smart, informed, and witty people! If you have cable (comedy central) then you NEED to watch these shows! It is all about political humor but it is seriously funny stuff! I don't even watch TV very much but if it is, it is to see these two men. I heart them! And if you haven't bought/checked out Stephen Colbert's book ," I Am America, and So Can You" you need to! Hilarious! Even if you don't want to read the whole thing you should definitely just read a chapter. It will make you smile.

Also on the list of men I love--Anderson Cooper.

A Few observations

One of my all time favorite hobbies is people watching. With the start of the semester today came many observations. Here are just a few of my favorites.

Diet Coke- Why is it that every single last one of my teachers is addicted to diet coke? I almost jumped out of my seat with pointer finger ready and screamed IMPOSTOR to the teacher of my last class of the day. For the past year and a half that I have been here at the U almost 100 % of my teachers constantly drink diet coke during class. I wonder if they have some sort of endorsement deal with the company...(there was one exception with one teacher who was addicted to coffee...) so you must understand my confusedness when I walked into class and there was no diet coke. I figured he must be a new guy- he doesn't know the rules about teaching here at the University of Utah-but no, he has been teaching here since 1993. I then concluded that this endorsement deal wasn't around back then... so he was exempt. Phew- that was a close one. I almost embarrassed myself in front of the class.

BYU Guy- So... there are a lot of people that go to my school. It is not uncommon to see a sea of red with people supporting our school with the apparel they choose to wear. Every once in a while you will find a sweatshirt sporting a professional sports team or even the occasional NYU shirt or Georgia Tech or some RANDOM place of the sort. This is OK because they obviously have some sort of affinity for the area, the person that gave them the item, or whatever. However, today as I walked into my economics & law class I stopped dead in my tracks and gave the DIRTIEST look to this guy who was wearing a BYU beanie. First off, C'MON MAN!! Show some respect! Do NOT sport the apparel of the school from Satan here on this holy ground! OK so BYU isn't the school of Satan but that is our rival. Do you understand how STUPID you look by wearing that on campus? People just give you dirty looks and think, " sucks to be you. you couldn't get into the school of your dreams," and I am sure the gangsta football players perceive it as a neon sign saying you want to get jumped. Also, if you are going to wear the beanie, for the LOVE, please wear it right! He had it pulled down past his eyebrows. Hmm....maybe he lost a bet and was trying to conceal his identity while wearing the beanie. My last comment about BYU beanie guy is that he was VERY RUDE during class.... originally I concluded he was bitter about going not being at BYU but now I think maybe he did lose a bet. I would be mad if I had to wear BYU apparel too! OK BYU beanie guy, you are pardoned for now... but if I catch you doing it again I will be forced to give you a wedgie.

My last comment for the night ( I was much more long winded than I thought I would be) is about the quirkiness of people, especially at night. As I got out of class at 8pm I was walking towards my car that was parked across campus a bit. This is always a good time to see funny people. There was one lady who was probably late 30's wearing very frumpy kahkis ( you know the type- the ones with the saggy butt-) and those weird thick rebok shoes. Well... I guess she was trying to get her exercise in for the day? As she left the building about the same time as me, she probably got to her car five minutes sooner. Part of this is because we all know I am the slowest walker to ...er...walk the face of the planet. However, saggy butt decided to run in spurts. Yes, I said it. Spurts. 5 second spurts to be exact, ( I know because I timed it) She would walk and then run for five seconds, walk for 3 seconds, and then run again. It was really odd to watch. She turned around a couple of times to see if anyone was watching her, and kept at it.

There are a lot more things I could comment about for today but honestly ? I have been ready for bed for hours.

My Grandma

I love this woman more than I love a lot of things. She is amazing.

Blog

Someone once told me that I should blog everyday because I had the most interesting things to say. I know I won't be able to post everyday but I am going to put forth a conscious effort to post a lot more. Often times I think about posting a blog but then I don't.

My thought for today is about Texas First Bank. I have a lot of feelings towards that bank. It was there behind the teller line that I realized what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. It was there that I gained many of my most cherished friendships...

My life has been changed since the first day I walked in there.

My Love Affair With Books....

is sad. I read as much as I can while I am out of school and then for four months I read nothing but textbooks and then the ravishing of reading books for pleasure continues for just a few weeks. Rinse and repeat. In the week and a half of being off of school (not counting the week and a half I was in Texas) I read the following books:

The Giver (read again)
Why Men Earn More (not a classic but definitely interesting)
The Great Gatsby ( read again)
Pride & Prejudice ( I love the movie and just started it today. I am not yet done.)

My list of Books to read when I graudate ( just to clarify I graduate in May so that is the next time I will be able to read for pleasure again) are:

The Hobit followed by
All Three Lord of the Rings ( a Christmas gift a few years back that was never used)
Les Miserables
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Persuasion

And I will continue from there.

I have a dream of one day owning a library full of books I have read. I find it a shame I have not read in its entirety a list of classics. While I enjoy such authors as J.K. Rowling and Janet Evanovich I believe I must read Mark Twain, Jane Austen and many others to really be a well rounded girl.

Please, if you have read a book that changed your life, or effected your soul and you believe to be a must read (beside scriptures) please let me know. I would love to read it!