I heart Harry Potter.

It is FINALLY Friday. Well, pseudo-Friday!

It's been a long week this week, and we are off school tomorrow for Veteran's Day. I am so excited to sleep in tomorrow with Nick and the puppy son. I really, REALLY can't wait! AND! Even better: Nick is off work today for the holiday, so even though I have orientation for Petsmart tonight until 7:30, we will get to spend a few more hours together than usual :) Speaking of Petsmart, I am really excited tonight to start orientation. I can't wait to learn about what I'll be doing in the groom shop. I'll definitely be sure to update later or tomorrow what I find out!

I posted a little while ago a book list. In that post, I talked about how we are reading the book Night in my AA class for their long independent portfolio piece. The first few pages were really hard to get interested in, but after I got past that, the book is SO good. It's very said and graphic, but very interesting and I don't want to stop reading at all. So that I don't get too far ahead of the class, I started re reading (for about the 10th time..) the Harry Potter series. Hello? Why haven't I done this since high school??

Seriously? HP is intoxicating. It was in high school, and it still is now. It totally makes me want to buy some cloaks, a wand, and a pretty, pretty white Owl and name it Hedwig. Doesn't Hogwarts truly exist? Seriously, I would even live in a cupboard under the stairs for a while if it meant I could someday end up at the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I'm only halfway through Year 1, and my favorite part, so far, is when Harry gets to go shopping for all of his school supplies, and is discovering all things magic for the first time. 

What is your favorite part of the Harry Potter series?

I am really, really hungry, so I can't wait for lunch today! (Vegetarian Minestrone and a salad, yum!!) Hope you all have a great Thursday/pseudo-Friday :) xoxo stephanie

Wednesday.. not so wonderous

I realize, it IS Wednesday, today, but I have bad news - I was a slacker and didn't collect pictures for this week's Wednesday Wonders. I am disappointed in myself, also. Sad face.

You had to have noticed, though, that Femmena Mala has a new look! I wanted to change it with the season, and probably will change it up again in the near but slightly distant future :)

The above banner is courtesy of Amy from amyshmamey.

She SO graciously offered to make this banner for me for free a couple of days ago, and I am so happy with the way it turned out! I think it really makes the place look Autumn-y :) Thanks, Amy! <3

This week has been kind of frustrating. I really try my hardest to be upbeat here, and I rarely make space to write anything negative, simply because so many journals in the past have turned into that. However, I have been feeling really down lately, and I am not entirely sure why. I think it may have part to do with the fact that I spent all of this weekend alone in the apartment, and I thrive on being around people. I wanted to go home to spend time with my parents, Cate, and Tony, but I felt terrible leaving Guillermo alone after his surgery. 

Nick has also been having a rough time at work the past few days, and it might be rubbing of on me a little, too. Hopefully, I can get through this week and recharge over the weekend. I try hard not to let myself get down, and I haven't done too great of a job this week. 

What do you all do when you're feeling down?

Hope everyone has a great Wednesday. <3

Happy Tuesday!

First! Make sure you all catch my feature from this morning on Shawni from A Spoonful of Love here!

I am having a really great day, today! So far, I have just been at school, and I DO have class tonight, but I am still pretty chipper :) I just spent a good amount of time catching up on blogs and getting that infamous Google Reader bold number down to zero. It's one of my favorite things to be able to read excellent posts and "star" them to check out again, later! Especially when it comes to the 2398 vegan/vegetarian blogs I am subscribed to ;)

Here are just a few of the posts I have starred since I began using Google Reader. I am a huge fan of finding new recipes and trying things out, so that's mostly what they are:

I am really excited to try out the these three most recent of my starred posts: "How to make brown sugar," "Pumpkin pizza," and "zucchini and chickpea burgers!" I am lucky that Nick is so open to trying whatever I make, even if it's a bite or two. 

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking a lot about Sophie Kinsella and her Shopaholic series. Well, I finally finished it, and the final book was just as great as the previous five, and the end leave plenty of room for a seventh book, so I am really excited! After I finished that book, in about three days, I started on one of the other Madeline Wickham (Sophie Kinsella's pseudonym) books I own but haven't read: Sleeping Arrangements.

The book was pretty good, but not what I was expecting from SK. However, I would still recommend it :) 

Also: I am teaching The Crucible to my AA kids, as I said last week, and they are really struggling with it. However, this is the first time I have read it at all, and I am loving it. I think it's really eerie and perfect for the fall season - and it's really interesting! We are also watching the 2004 film version alongside it, to make sure that the kids are understanding what they are reading. 

Lastly - Petsmart called today to formally offer me the spot in.... their groom shop! It was between that and Pet Care, which is their umbrella term for the part of the store that deals with fish, birds, reptiles, etc. and while I would have accepted it graciously, I was really hoping for the groom shop position. This means I get to work with puppies - every day! I am SO excited, since animals would totally be my profession if I weren't teaching. Yay!! 

Hope you all have a lovely Tuesday, I am off to mail Jaelynn from Pardon My Ffrench a thank you package for sponsoring me this month! 

<3 S

Bloggin' Ladies: A Spoonful of Love

Tuesday means Bloggin' Ladies! This week's feature is Shawni - she's a terribly sweet, helpful, and caring blogger who crafts like crazy and blogs about it. Enjoy her, please :) 

Name+Age+Site/Blog

Shawni Marie, 27 years young, aspoonfuloflove.blogspot.com

What is something interesting about you? 

I have a huge heart. Too big sometimes. But I love to share it. With anyone. No matter what.

When did you begin blogging? 

Let's see... about 2 years ago on tumblr. But I have only been on blogspot for about 4 months and i have met the most AMAZING people through it.

Who is your inspiration for writing? 

People. My life. Anything I want to share with others really...

Where do you get your ideas?

I ask a lot of questions to other bloggers and see what's inspiring them. Also, I find my crafts inspiring me a lot lately and wanting to share those.

Do you have any advice that you want to share with fellow lady bloggers?

Follow your heart and be TRUE to who you are. Don't follow trends, make them follow you. If you have a heart of gold, you'll be loved in the end. By someone. By people who stuck with you. That's all that matters.

What is one thing you are looking forward to most in your future (blog or otherwise)?

Opening my Etsy shoppe. I can't wait to share my bookmarks with the world. If no one buys them,  I will just start selling them for a penny. Because I just don't care about the money, I care about giving people a little piece of my heart.

Thanks, Shawni! <3

As promised...* + Sunday Letters!

As promised, here is my little guy wearing his cone. He only wears it when we aren't with him, and I had to go to Kroger earlier to buy some ingredients to make pumpkin cranberry scones! 

He is so cute. This is what his ears looked like when he was a baby baby. <3

Here's the scones I made earlier! For my first try, they turned out really well and I am super happy with them! I also made some cinnamon butter to spread on them and before I baked them, I sprinkled sugar and cinnamon on the stop. Yum! 

Sunday Letters...*

Dear ex-boyfriends,

Thank you for showing me what a boyfriend shouldn't be. Thank you for teaching me how to remember who I am in a relationship. Thank you for teaching me confidence and resilience. Most of all, thank you for teaching me what love isn't so that when I found it, I knew the difference.

Love,

Stephanie