Shanghai Girls by Lisa See Review

Shanghai Girls revolves mostly around a relationship between two sisters.  Pearl and her younger sister May, live in 1930s Shanghai; they are living a great life, full of wealth, happiness and limitless opportunities.  Until it is revealed that their father has gone into debt in his business and has no money to pay the mob except by selling his daughters through a planned marriage.  Also, there are bombs landing in Shanghai at the worst times possible, taking the lives of people they have known all their life.  Pearl has to make many hard decisions that will change lives forever, not only her own, but for her family too.


http://www.lisasee.com/books/

I feel as though my summary didn't go deep enough into the storyline, but believe me this story has MANY twists and turns.  I couldn't believe that so many bad things could happen to these girls without ruining their relationship.  Pearl is a very strong main character, even though she likes to play it on the safe side.  She gives up all of her hopes and dreams for her family and seemingly gets nothing back.  I loved her character, I wanted so many good things for her; but she gave her sister everything.  May was the "prettiest" sister, and was spoiled by everyone in her family.  I hated that she got whatever she wanted, but everyone let her get away with it, including Pearl.

I loved this book, but I have to say it was one of the saddest books I've ever read.  I saw my own sisters reflected in Pearl and May and continuously hoped for their happiness, but overall this book is great. It'll make you thank God that you were(if you were?) born after this time and really appreciate what you have.  I'd love to hear what you think!

Sewing project

I went to a local sewing shop yesterday where I made this super easy bag with a zipper.  I had never done a zipper before and now I'm so confident, I can't wait to make another bag.  The bag was vinyl so I couldnt pin it but that didn't make it any less difficult, we used sewer's double sided tape to place the zipper.  The needle did get a little gunky, but the tape is water soluble so you just have to wipe it off.

 This is the bag inside out.

 Here's the bottom.

The measurements were 8 x 10 inches.  After cutting that, we started sewing on the zipper.  Once that was done, we sewed the sides, make sure the zipper is OPEN.  For more info on the corners, watch my video.  I then flipped it inside out and was done.

P.S. The last seam was 2 inches up from the corner.

weavealicious!!!

So, lately I've been really getting into wearing weave, but I don't want to damage my hair so I've been wearing clip-ins. I looked up some videos on youtube and their are so many helpful videos on how to put them in, sew tracks together, and even make them from scratch! I think it's so resourceful. Luckily I found some tracks in our closet, so I sorted through them for the best ones and I bought some snaps from Sally's and used them to clip the tracks in my hair. I have to say though, that the most helpful video for me was one were a guy sewed some tracks together and then to some clips. It really encouraged me to do the same and now I have some thicker tracks that are a lot more secure. There's a link at the bottom for the video.

It's SPRING BREAK!!!! and I'm so happy just to chill around the house, but I'm not at my house, I'm in Virginia, Yay! I have some family here so I've been visiting family, shopping, and eating too much. The second day I was here we went to an outlet mall where I got some stuff from AC Moore, for a project I'm going to do a bit later. There was also a Hibachi Buffet that had the one of the best buffet's I've been to; they even had this egg cake that was the BOMB! I'm going to have to try to make my own. (P.S. If you have a recipe for it, I'd love to try it.)

 Here's the link for the weave vid:
make your own weave

Knitting

So, I just started knitting, Yay! I had watched a video by Secret life of a Bionerd on knitting and it looked so simple the way she taught it. I also had this bag full of yarn so I started watching video after video of tutorials and now I've knitted my first scarf. It's a wide grey scarf and all I had to do was buy some knitting needles from Wal-mart for the low price of 2.60 or something like that, so in all it's a great deal. I also plan on going to my first real lesson soon at a yarn shop nearby so I'm really excited for that. I hope I learn to knit a hat :) .

What Do I Want to Be in the Future?

In reality, I have no idea. When I was younger, I wanted to be a nurse, like my mom; a pediatrician, for no good reason; and a salesman, because I'm good at math. I'm considering so many different things right now, hoping that something will strike something in me, but it hasn't happened yet. My school schedule is:

1. Allied Health 2
2. Advanced Functions
3. Fayetteville Tech Community College courses

I love learning about the body, so I figured by taking Allied Health it would put me in the right direction and it has, but I'm still very confused on what I want to be, when there are so many great options.
My Fayetteville Tech class is called exploring health careers, so I signed up to get a feel for some occupations I'm not very familiar with. The course includes 4 different classes; it has speech lang. pathology assistant, pharmacy tech., health care mgmt., and dental assisting. the classes are definitely good to prepare me for college, but it has only really helped me rule out a few things.
So my main choices right now are pharmacist, dentist, and physician; but physician includes so many categories! I'm so confused.

R.I.P. Michael

For Christmas, one of my friends got me the new Michael Jackson Experience for the wii and I have to say the game is really fun, especially if you're a Michael fan. Me and my sisters spent at least an hour just dancing to the songs at 12 midnight. The game is just like any other dance game for the wii, but it's completely dedicated to Michael Jackson. the controls are easy and it's a good workout. I also really liked how they had videos of dance instructors to show you some of the moves. This game is a great gift for anyone born between 1955 and 2000, I think anyone can really enjoy this game. The game is just what it advertises, a Michael Jackson experience, so don't buy the game expecting to see Janet Jackson's "Nasty Boys" or something.

New Smell

I'm so Happy to have started my own blog, I have considered this for so long and I feel so accomplished that I've finally started. At the same time though, I'm away from my main computer so I won't be able to post certain things until I'm back in NC. Right now I'm in Virginia, Yay! I haven't gotten to really do much yet, which is sad, but I'm glad to just be able to enjoy my winter break.
I've been trying to stay active so I try to work out on the regular, but I haven't actually been doing that recently because of the cold weather, so when my sister suggested I try her workout(one she'd created) I was so excited, but once we got started I felt so weak, I was really pathetic. She had me doing squats, jumping, stretching, and a whole bunch of other stuff; and sadly I just couldn't keep up, but hopefully we'll do it again today or tomorrow so I can do better, wish me luck!