Top 6 Male Celebrity Crushes!

6. Ryan Gosling: ever since I saw the movie The Notebook, I've had the hots for this blond haired, blue eyed babe. I'm hoping he'll be willing to act out some scenes from the movie with me ;)

5. Hayden Christensen: totally fell in love with him in Star Wars when he played Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader (most of these crushes are movie themed as you've probably already guessed). Who could say no to a bad ass with a light saber ;)

4. Cory Monteith: GLEE, GLEE GLEE! Cory is simply adorable and seems really down-to-earth (...I'm following him on Twitter. What?). Plus he not only can act but sing as well! I'd love to play the Rachel to his Fin ;)

3. Chad Ochocinco: This picture featured in Cosmopolitan says it all...

2. Jake Gyllenhaal: Probably my longest standing celebrity crush! I've loved him since I saw October Sky in sixth/seventh grade. From his long hair in Prince of Persia to his crew cut in Jarhead, from shaved to stubble, Jake can really pull off anything and still look hot. Even though he dumped Taylor Swift over the phone, I still love him and would have all his children.

1. Robert Pattinson: who doesn't love a fellow awkward geek? With a sultry, sexy voice? And perfect hair? Even if he smokes? I don't care if he's not the best actor, he can be my Edward Cullen any day! Bite me?

Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read unless you don't plan on reading the book or, if you do, until after you have read it. This blog is not a review, but my reaction to the book.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series by Ann Brashares has always held a special place in both my book shelf and my heart. One could guess based on this fact how excited I was when I learned a week ago that Brashares had written a fifth book, an adult novel, as a companion to her Young Adult series. After reading some reviews on the book in both blogs and newspaper articles, my excitement grew, but I also grew weary. One summary published by Publisher's Weekly broke my heart, causing me to burst into near hysteria at work (how embarrassing!). How could a book review bring such a surge of emotion? Well learning that one of the beloved main characters of the series died under mysterious circumstances, her friends suspecting suicide might do the trick. While most people wouldn't have the same reaction I had to this news, I don't think most people become as infatuated and involved with the characters of books as I do. Having been a teenage girl myself when I first read the books (...technically I'm still a teenager, but I feel more like an adult these days), I fell in love with a quartet of girls so similar and yet so different from myself. I felt like I was reading about myself in those books, or at least the Megan I wanted to be or hoped I was. I idolized Carmen, Bee, Lena, and Tibby, wanting nothing more to have an inseparable group of friends who were gorgeous and brave and wise, though human too, for they made so many mistakes just like the rest of us. See? The way I'm writing about them now makes it sounds as if they are real and my friends, not four fictional girls. That's the beauty of Brashares's writing; her characters are so realistic and relate-able that it's hard to believe that they aren't real. 


I believe that's one of the things that drew me to the series. I remember always being on the lookout for the next book to arrive so I could curl up on the couch for a few hours and walk in the shoes of Tibby, Lena, Carmen, and Bee. I remember being so disappointed when Brashares announced that Forever in Blue would be the last book she'd write for the series. I made sure to mark the exact date of the book's release on my calendar and somehow convince my parents to take me to the mall thirty minutes away in order to get the book in my hands the day it came out. Having been 15 at the time, I remember being disappointed in the ending of the series. Having only experienced one year of high school, I found it hard to connect with the four girls, now in college, and found myself angry, not sad or happy as I expected at the end. That's it?! I remember thinking. I was so frustrated that I put the books on my shelf and didn't touch them again until Last Wednesday when I read online that Brashares's had written a fifth book, an adult novel, to accompany the series. Without a second thought, I immediately picked up my battered copy of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and began reading (I'm on of those people who always has to re-read all the books in the series when a new book comes out. I do it to both refresh my memory of what has happened in previous books and to get myself siked up about the new book). Maybe because I had now graduated from high school and had experience a year at college myself, I was able to finely understand and appreciate all the things that I had found so frustrating in the fourth book when I read it four years ago. Somehow, too, the girls who had seemed so much older than me while first reading the series, now seemed so unbelievably young and naive. While for some people this might have lessened their affection for the series, mine grew. I, too, had been young and naive at 15, 16, 17, 18 (and still am today at 19) and while not having exactly the same experiences, I did remember how it felt to be at that same age and act out based on all my confusing thoughts and, now looking back, rash and crazy decisions. When Tibby was talking in Girls in Pants about how she was afraid of losing the intimate relationship she had with her best friends when they all went off to separate colleges, for I, too, had those same thoughts and worries. 


In the end, having read the series through for a second time, I was utterly scared to pick up Sisterhood Everlasting, knowing that Tibby would die in the first hundred pages. I put off reading the book. Well in truth, I got really busy Monday and Tuesday and then started and finished another book Wednesday, but I honestly could have picked the book up and started to read it before I went to bed or after I finished reading the other book yesterday, but I somehow knew that this was a book I couldn't read in parts. I had to find a time that would be largely uninterrupted so that I could fully experience all the emotions that I knew from just reading a summary online that the book would arouse in me. 


And I wasn't disappointed. Much. 


Due to the weather, I only worked for two hours this morning before my boss sent me and my fellow workers home (it pays to have an outdoors job sometimes). I came home and ran on the treadmill, had lunch, took a shower, and then finally, reluctantly even, settled down to read. I read straight through the afternoon and night, stopping only to go grocery shopping with my mom and eat dinner. Having just finished the book some 40 minutes ago, I can't quite yet put to words how I feel. I feel happy because though Tibby died, she took care of her friends. The book ended on a joyful note, all of the girls living together on a farm that Tibby had bought and all of their relationships (Bee and Eric, Lena and Kostos - FINALLY) finally working out after five books (Everyone except Carmen ended up with someone in the end which is quite sad because in only one of the books did Carmen have a relationship that ended in her favor). Basically all the loose ends from the four previous books were tied up and everyone lived happily ever after except Brian, though he did have Bailey, his and Tibby's daughter, and Carmen's dad. I know after five books and finally an end I could be happy with, I should feel content.


But I don't.


Maybe it's because the girls are no longer girls, but adult women turning 30 (a milestone I'm still 11 years away from) that was hard for me. I've never been good with change, especially drastic changes. Ever since the year I was to turn 16, I've had some serious struggles with leaving childhood. I'm not quite sure why yet as I'm still trying to figure myself out. Maybe it's the responsibilities that come with being an adult or the lose of innocence. Like I said, I'm not sure, and I might never know, why I'm struggling so hard against adulthood.


Maybe it's because Carmen had a weak story line and Tibby had none at all (for obvious reasons, Megan, she was DEAD the entire book...). Maybe it's because all the storylines, except for the plot twists involving Tibby's death, seemed utterly predictable to me after reading the four previous novels where the girls seem to get into the same sort of trouble each book and miraculously see the light at the end of the tunnel, enabling them to correct their mistakes and, in the case of Carmen, Tibby, and Lena, be forgiven by those they've hurt.


Maybe it's because the book ended almost too perfectly. A very bizarre admittance from a girl who doesn't like to watch movies or read books that don't have the ending I think they should. I don't want a realistic ending for my characters; I want a perfect ending where everyone gets what they want. In this case, almost everything did end perfectly for them so why am I upset? Could it be that the girls had become so life-like and real to me that I expected the ending to be happy, but not quite perfect just like real life?


...maybe it's because now that all the loose ends have been tied up, the series really is over.


How sad.

A Midsummer Afternoon's Dream

It was the good hair day that should have tipped her off. Alyssa's hair, normally thin and a little flat from sleeping on it while it was still wet, was voluminous and  fell perfectly around her oval-shaped face. She attributed the awesome hair to the fact that it was freshly cut, layered with the edges razored... very edgy if she did say so herself. She put on her cutest dress (with pockets), pairing it with a necklace made from a pocket watch she had bought at a yard sale last summer. She was in a particularly good mood because her boyfriend, David Atkins - guitarist and singer for the pop-punk band Morning Comes Early - was coming by train to visit her in NYC.

Not wanting to be late in picking David up, Alyssa left her apartment early to begin her walk to Grand Central Station. As she passed the local cyber cafe, Adam Cecil, one of her best friends since forever and fellow NYU alumni fell into step with her.

"Hey," he said casually.

"Hey," she said back.

"I hear David's coming today."

"Yup."

"Cool."

They continued their walk in silence until they reached the train station.

"What platform are we meeting him on," asked Adam.

Alyssa didn't question Adam's "we." Adam and David had also been best friends forever and she knew Adam missed hanging out with him. "9 and 3/4."

"Seriously?!"

"I wish. 10."

Just as David's train pulled into the station, Alyssa's cell phone went off.

(http://audiko.net/ringtone/Kim+Possible/kim+possible?ring=14632439#play)

"What's the sitch?"

"ALYSSA? ALYSSA?" Kyle Wilson had never quite mastered the use of a cell phone, so he thought he had to shout to be heard.

"Coach, COACH! Stop yelling! What's up?"

"I have a mission for you. Liz Alexander has stolen Brosidon's shell necklace and with his powers is threatening to turn NYC into the next Atlantis! You've got to stop her!"

"I'm on it, Coach." She snapped her Envy 2 shut (she still hasn't gotten a smart phone yet) just as David approached.

"I can tell by that look on your face that something is up," he said, as he pulled her into a hug.

"Not much... Coach just called... Liz is trying to take over the world... AGAIN."

David chuckled. "When will she ever learn? This sounds like it's going to involve costumes and  flying unicorns... LET'S GO!"

*****

By the time they were able to round up some awesome costumes from a vintage store on Broadway and summon the flying unicorns from their home on the top of the Empire State Building, waves of water had already begun making their way through the streets downtown. Merciless laughter echoed through the streets as the waves grew bigger and bigger. Hopping on the back of her flying unicorn Jack, Alyssa, followed closely by Adam and David on their unicorns, urged Jack on in the direction of the laughter. Reaching the ocean in the amount of time it would take an Olympic Athlete to run 100 meters, the trio of friends spotted Liz before she saw them.

"BLERGHHHHHH!!! I'm Liz and you can't stop me!!!" She shrieked as soon as she glimpsed the unicorns, "I HAVE THE POWER OF BROSIDON!!!"

"Quick!" Screamed Alyssa to her companions, "Distract her!"

The trio bombarded Liz with Cosmopolitan magazines, men with muscular (fat) necks, and double-rainbows.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Screamed Liz, for her friends had prayed upon her weaknesses: sex, men, and you-tube videos. Alyssa went in for Brosidon's necklace for without it Liz would be powerless and shrink back into her normal self. Just as she grabbed the shell necklace, Liz back-handed her, sending Alyssa sailing off of Jack and tumbling straight down into the waves below...

Splash.

Alyssa woke with a start. She sat up from the hot leather seat, realizing she had fallen asleep while tanning in Liz's boat. She looked over the edge in time to see David emerge from beneath the surface of the lake. "I thought you'd never wake up!" he said, climbing aboard and giving her a quick kiss. 

"Yeah, I thought you were dead," said Liz, who was laying out on the back of the boat.

"I wish you were," said Adam as he flew by on a jetski.

"I just had the strangest dream!" Alyssa exclaimed. "I was living in NYC with Adam and you were coming to visit David and I was a super hero and Liz had the power of Brosidon and was trying to flood NYC..."

"I wish..." said Liz as she dove into the lake.

"...And we had to save the day on flying unicorns!"

"Sounds pretty neat," said David, always the supportive boyfriend.

"Hey guys!" Liz yelled as she emerged from the lake, "Look what I found!" She help up a shell necklace.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Alyssa screamed as she jumped off the boat, grabbing the necklace out of Liz's out-stretched hand.

Taylor Virginia Mills

Once upon a time there was a girl named Megan. When Megan reached the tender age of 18, her parents shipped her off to Saint Michael's College to cultivate her mind by means of higher education (and some say to also improve her "value" so she might attract a future husband...). Here she not only grew intellectually, but also socially, meeting some charming women she would soon refer to as her "suities."

One of these girls was named Taylor Virginia Mills. She was vivacious and charming, but also a bit awkward if truth be told. Megan, being a bit awkward herself, felt an immediate bond with Taylor which further grew when she found out they both loved puppies of all colors, shapes, sizes, and species; music (except for Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros); sweets; and dark pigmented men... ahem. Over a little over a semester at college these girls transformed from mere acquaintances into best friends!

Now that they have gone their separate ways for the summer, Megan finds herself missing her good friend (along with her other suities). If only they didn't have 3 hours and 4 minutes of driving and two states separating them! Otherwise they'd be together everyday, all day! Even though they have so much distance dividing them, Megan knows that their friendship will stay strong with frequent texts, letters, Facebook comments, Tweets, and skype dates. Sooner than they know it, August will be here and they will be together again in Potigny 226!

*Let it be known that Megan does not agree with Taylor's frequent switches from omnivore to herbivore (just pick one!), nor her desire to put her dog on a vegetarian diet.

A Tribute to Chess

Last night at 5:07pm my American English Spot rabbit, Chess, passed away. Chess has been in our family for seven years. My grandma bought him for me from a rabbit breeder in CT while she visiting my Aunt Fran. I remember when he first came home when he was about a month old. At that point in time we had a little cage for him in our garage. But soon Chess began to out grow his little cage so we bought him a new purple cage that he lived in until his death. My mom likes to joke that he was the best fed rabbit because since we almost never had rabbit food, Chess lived off of my dad's Kashi cereal, strawberry tops, and all the vegetables left over from vegetable platters. Even though he ate a lot, Chess wasn't fat just really long.

Even before I left for college last August, my little sister Allison began to take care of Chess. She moved his cage from outside my room down the hall closer to her room. He was her constant companion from the time she got up in the morning until she went to bed at night, resting in his cage only while she was at school.

Chess was loved not only by the members of my family, but by all our friends too. When I would be hanging out with friends, Chess would some how always end up hopping into my room, allowing Allison to barge in to retrieve him and hang out with my friends too. Chess also  participated in our photo scavenger hunts and was a guest at my murder mystery New Year's Eve party!

Chess was also really great friends with our family dog, Luke. Chess would hop around Luke, trying to get him to play while Luke lay down in the living room. Sometimes Luke would take the bait and chase Chess around the living room, but Chess always got away because he could slip under the furniture. Whenever Mom went to pet Chess in the morning when she got home from work, Luke would always stick his nose in the cage to give rabbit kisses :-* As a dog and a rabbit, Chess and Luke should have been enemies but I'm glad that they chose to be friends instead. 


In short, Chess will be dearly missed by all of us. I'm glad he died with my mom petting him, knowing he was loved. I know he's in bunny heaven now, hopping through the clouds munching on strawberry tops <3

May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back.  May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields.  And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand.  ~Irish Blessing

Summer Reading Part I

Being an avid reader, college life definitely made it hard to find time during a jam-packed week full of classes, schoolwork, studying, eating, and sleeping to find some spare time to read for fun. That's one of the main reasons I was so looking forward to summer vacation; the opportunity to actually have a say in what books I wanted to read and not have to dissect them and/or write a paper for class. Since my mom is also an avid reader and knew how much I've missed this hobby, she's been setting aside books for me to read since Spring Semester 2011 started. So far, these are the books I've read (as per Mom's suggestion):


May:
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult
The Help by Katheryn Stockett


I've really enjoyed all these books. My friends all read The Poisonwood Bible in AP English and gave it mixed reviews, but it's one of my mom's favorite books so I thought I'd give it a try. Though a little slow at first, I ended up really liking the book and learning a lot about the struggle in the Congo. This book also made me really think about US Foreign policy. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE AMERICA but sometimes I think we as a Core country tend to stick our nose in places where is doesn't belong (i.e. Republic of Congo 1960, Chile 1973, etc.). This book truly made me think about what is right and wrong, and what I, as an independent adult, believe in. 
Jodi Picoult has always been one of my favorite authors. I really love the way she sets up her books because you get to see point of view of several different characters and her books are always filled with unexpected twists. I also really like the fact that she tends to write about controversial topics (In Sing You Home for example, Picoult wrote about some of the struggles that the LGBT community face). This brings my to another book I read, The Help. The author Katheryn Stockett also chose to write about a controversial topic, in this case the treatment of African Americans prior to and during the civil rights movement of the 1950's and 60's. I couldn't put this book down which was hard because I read it at work one weekend and had to get up every 15-30 minutes to set up the next exercise of the Motorcycle Safety class. Like Picoult, Stockett also wrote from the point of view of several different characters which was probably another reason I liked it so much. One of the reason my mom chose this book for us to read was because a film adaption of the novel is coming out this August! I just watched the trailer and so far it appears that the filmmakers really stuck to Stockett's novel (I'll include the trailer below). As a reader, it always makes me happy when filmmakers stick to the book the film is adapted from as close as possible.

June:

Confessions of a Shopaholic and Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella

So far this month I've read the first two books in Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic series. Having watched the film adaption Confessions of a Shopaholic. I thought the film was really cute which was sparked my interest to read the books. Having read the books before me, my mom told me that they were nothing like the film and she was quite right. Being a lover of fiction, I obviously like the books way better than the film. The main character, Becky, is really hilarious and constantly getting herself into trouble. As a fellow young and newly independent adult and lover of shopping, I can sympathize with Becky's character (though I'd also like to state that I have WAY more self control than she does!!) which is probably one of the reasons I love the books so much. I'm looking forward to reading the next four books, though it might be a while before I get to read the next one... I don't think my dad would be too happy if I continued to buy a new book on the Kindle over the next few days...


Well, that's all for now! It's a beautiful day outside so I'm going outdoors to soak up some sun.


XOXO, Megan


P.s. - I've just discovered that another book I've read is becoming a movie this year! My Granny gave me this book two Christmas's ago. I'll definitely be bringing tissues to this movie... the book was so sad! I definitely recommend giving it a read though.