Tag Archives: Blogging

04.17.18
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Getting Personal #117: “Writing Table, Leeds, England” (Reblogged)

As I think about my experiences with my first Camp NaNoWriMo so far, I found this photo from England very fitting for today. I see photos of desks and libraries often, and I think this setup is perfect. It’s romantic, in a way.

It’s a little different, knowing that a desk like this would, in 2018, most likely hold some sort of computer rather than a journal, parchment, or stationery.

But, I like to wax nostalgic, thinking back to the days of my childhood when we didn’t have the family computer. I filled up notebook after notebook with random thoughts, song lyrics, the beginnings of stories, and more. I remember throwing out a bunch of them when I was a teenager, feeling ashamed at the time that I was holding onto the “childish” journals. I so wish I had kept them! But, I have memories. I made up stories about my Barbies, my stuffed animals, and eventually, Stephanie, my one American Girl doll I loved and treasured for many years. It was so innocent.

It fills me with happy memories, knowing that those journals and notebooks led me to writing longer stories. I have those stories in a blue binder covered with stickers – I did keep that. It makes me think how far I’ve come in my writing pursuits and endeavors. It makes me proud.

If I were sitting at this desk today, I wouldn’t have my laptop. I would have a notebook, or loose-leaf paper, with several pens, daydreaming and writing the day away. It makes me feel peaceful and pleased.

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

04.05.18
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Commentary #68: “Support Systems” (Reblogged)

I’ve been following Sara’s blog for quite a while. Her poetry is beautiful. She does fun Questions of the Day every now and then.

She also makes the time to reply to every comment that is posted. She’s so sweet, and incredibly supportive!

I wanted to share this post of hers about support systems. It’s a long one, but she pours her heart out. I know I’m glad I took the time to read it.

Sara, you’re an awesome person!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Sara's avatarLordess

For a large portion of my life, I have felt that I have not had a very strong support system. Growing up, I was not taught how to talk about my feelings, I was encouraged to shut them down. It was not until I was living in “the real world” that I noticed the way I expressed myself was not normal, but it was the only way I knew. I did not have the kind of parents you could talk to about anything and everything.

I first experienced death when I just turned 10 years old and I did not know how to deal with such a thing. I was not talked through loss. I was given the news and then left to my own devices. I even remember some cruel kids mocking how this person died. I was lost at that point and from here is where I started building…

View original post 1,130 more words

04.02.18
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Tag #42: The Rainbow Book Tag

Image result for rainbow book tag

Image Credit: THE JOUSKA

Thrice Read did this awesome tag!

Here’s the link to their post:

The Rules:

  • Thank the lovely person that tagged you!
  • It must be the dominant color of the cover, not the spine!
  • It has to be a book you own or the exact copy that you read. (Ex: There are two copies of The Hate U Give, choose the cover of the copy you read)
  • If you do not own a book of the certain cover, choose one that has the color somewhere on it.
  • Tag some people do it! Whether they are bloggers, bookstagrammers, or booktubers. Spread the love!
  • Make it a game or do the tag as originally intended.

Red

Image result for red book covers

Image Credit: Noree Cosper

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Orange

Image result for orange book covers

Image Credit: Paste Magazine

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Yellow

The Help

Image Credit: Goodreads

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Green

Image result for green book covers

Image Credit: Book Revels

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Blue

Image result for blue book covers

Image Credit: LitReactor

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Turquoise

The Vacationers

Image Credit: Amazon

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Purple

Image result for purple book covers

Image Credit: Adazing

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Pink

Image result for pink book covers

Image Credit: Fab Lexile

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Brown

angels-and-demons

Image Credit: Amazon

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White

Image result for white book covers

Image Credit: Savvy Book Writers

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Black

Image result for black book covers

Image Credit: Stephenie Meyer

Tag – You’re It!

This was a fun tag! I love color, and I love the different covers that books have!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

04.01.18
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Getting Personal #113: April Goals

Hello, April! I’m so happy that you have arrived. Bring on the warmer weather!!

Here are my goals for the month of April:

  1. Give blood.
  2. Celebrate Dad’s birthday!
  3. Participate in Camp NaNoWriMo, April 2018.
  4. See Avengers: Infinity War.
  5. Continue working on my Lady Lounge.
  6. Read at least two books.
  7. Enjoy time with Melissa!
  8. Attend the TAPA Spring Luncheon.
  9. Attend Olivia’s bridal shower!
  10. Visit LanternAsia with Al, Casey, and Beth.
  11. Attend the P.E.O. Family Gathering.
  12. Update my TBR.

Here’s the breakdown:

Give blood.

  • Our 18th Anniversary blood drive is this coming Saturday, April 7th.
  • If you’re in the Hampton Roads area, come on out and Give the Gift of Life.

Celebrate Dad’s birthday!

  • Al and I likely going to take my dad out to dinner to celebrate his birthday very soon!

Participate in Camp NaNoWriMo, April 2018.

  • See my announcement post from March 27th: Getting Personal #111: Camp NaNoWriMo.
  • I’m SO PUMPED to do this. Seriously! I haven’t felt this invigorated to write in months. Bring it on!

See Avengers: Infinity War.

  • We’re definitely seeing this on either the Thursday night it premieres, or Friday night. We’re so stoked!

Continue working on my Lady Lounge.

  • I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!!

Read at least two books.

  • I’ve finally broken out of my reading slump. I stopped reading the book I was attempting to finish, set it aside, and moved on to a different one.
  • It was an excellent decision – I’ve been powering through 5-6 chapters per night!

Enjoy time with Melissa!

  • My best friend is coming home for a visit!
  • She’s invited Al and I to drive up to Richmond on a Sunday, to eat lunch with her, her mom, and her stepdad.

Attend the TAPA Spring Luncheon.

  • I am part of the Greek Woman of the Year Committee, so I look forward to being part of the award ceremony on Saturday, April 14th.

Attend Olivia’s bridal shower!

  • After the TAPA luncheon, I’m headed to my mom’s to celebrate Olivia! She’s getting married in July. She’s one of the first friends I made when we moved to Chesapeake in 1992.

Visit LanternAsia with Al, Casey, and Beth.

Attend the P.E.O. Family Gathering.

  • This is something new we’re trying as a chapter. It’s not a formal meeting, but a space and place to harbor open discussion and idea sharing.
  • I’m hoping for a good turnout and positive discussion about the upcoming year!

Update my TBR.

  • It’s that time of year again! Look for my post within the first two weeks of the month.

Do you have any goals for the month of April?

If so, I’d love to hear about them! Comment below!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

03.31.18
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Getting Personal #112: March Goals Recap

BeautyBeyondBones

Image Credit: BeautyBeyondBones

So far, 2018 is turning out to be very busy. Most of our weekends have been chock-full, although we have had a blessed few where absolutely nothing was on the calendar. March seemed to drag on a little bit, probably because of the crazy weather! At least now it’s a bit more spring-like. Temperatures in the 60s and 70s – I’ll take it!

Here’s the link to my March Goals post:

Ready?

Here we go!

  1. Work at least one hour on my Lady Lounge every weekend. — Semi-Achieved.
  2. See A Wrinkle In Time. — Did not accomplish.
  3. See Ready Player One. — Accomplished!
  4. Attend a meet-and-greet with Old Dominion Greyhound Adoption. — Accomplished!
  5. Update the Household Bills spreadsheet by the end of the month. — Accomplished!
  6. Prepare for my P.E.O. officer transition. — Accomplished!
  7. Make chocolate mousse for the office. — Accomplished!
  8. Make at least one thrift store donation run. — Accomplished!
  9. Continue to make progress with my 2012 NaNoWriMo endeavor. — Accomplished!

Here’s the breakdown:

Work at least one hour on my Lady Lounge every weekend. — Semi-Achieved.

  • I was able to do this for a few weekends, but not all.
  • I spent two solid hours on one Sunday afternoon, and I was immensely proud of myself. I’m slowly carving a path through!

See A Wrinkle In Time. — Did not accomplish.

  • This wasn’t a priority for us. Maybe one day soon!

See Ready Player One. — Accomplished!

  • We have tickets to see it TODAY! Cannot wait!

Attend a meet-and-greet with Old Dominion Greyhound Adoption. — Accomplished!

Update the Household Bills spreadsheet by the end of the month. — Accomplished!

  • It feels good!

Prepare for my P.E.O. officer transition. — Accomplished!

  • I was officially elected and installed as the chapter’s treasurer!
  • Thankfully, almost everything is logged and recorded through Excel. That makes me happy!
  • I’m excited for this new role!

Make chocolate mousse for the office. — Accomplished!

  • Al helped me make it, and I brought it to the office last week. Out of three I’ve made since Thanksgiving, this one was the best of them all. It was awesome!
  • My department director was even able to find the original recipe online, and sent it to everyone.

Make at least one thrift store donation run. — Accomplished!

  • We dropped off all the clothing donations, plus the big boxes of books and DVDs.
  • Then, after that solid two hours of work in my Lady Lounge, I had quite a bit to donate. We loaded up the car and dropped it off at the CHKD Thrift Store near our house.

Continue to make progress with my 2012 NaNoWriMo endeavor. — Accomplished!

  • I signed up for CampNaNoWriMo for the first time, with a singular focus on this endeavor.
  • Read more in my March 27th post: Getting Personal #111: Camp NaNoWriMo
  • Feeling inspired, I went on an awesome sprint this past week. When Al was in the shower on Thursday morning, I wrote over 1,100 words! Woohoo!
  • And then, last night, I wrote another 884 words!
  • I’m up to 37 pages now. It’s really starting to come together, and I’m enjoying writing again.
  • I wrote approximately 2,025 words!! Happy dance over here!!
  • Current word count: 13,241 words.

Final Thoughts:

  • I was able to put Accomplished next to seven out of nine goals. More than 75 percent – I call that a win!
  • The one goal that was Semi-Achieved: This was mainly due to time constraints. However, I’m happy with the progress I made.
  • The one goal that I did not accomplish: I’m not too worried about this one. Movies will always be there to watch.

What about you? Did you have any goals for the month of March?

Come back tomorrow to see my April Goals!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

03.28.18
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Tag #41: The Listicle Tag

listicle-tag

Image Credit: Kristin Kraves Books

Thrice Read came up with an intriguing tag post!

Here’s the link to their post:

What is the Listicle Tag?

Listicle means a piece of writing or other content presented wholly or partly in the form of a list.

In this case, it’s a prompt for a particular top five related to books.

The Rules:

  • Create your own listicle tag, using the prompt from the person who tagged you.
  • Tag the creator of the post (not-so-modern-girl!) so that she can read all your brilliant posts and see how the joy of listicles is being spread.
  • Nominate as many people as you want!
  • Set those five people the subject/prompt of their listicle post!

The prompt I was given: Top Five Favorite Fantasy Novels

Laura Beth’s Top Five Favorite Fantasy Novels (in no particular order)

  • A Wrinkle In Time, Madeline L’Engle
  • Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling
  • The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis
  • The Green Mile, Stephen King
  • The Princess Bride, William Goldman

I have a much greater appreciation for Madeline L’Engle now – I want to read all of her books!

At this point, most people know my love for / obsession with Harry Potter! I love re-reading them every so often. It’s a great kick of nostalgia. And the movies are awesome, too. Can’t wait to see the new Fantastic Beasts movie!

I don’t talk about C.S. Lewis very often, but I loved all his works. Like L’Engle, I’ve gained a greater appreciation for him over the last several years. And the movies based on some of his books are well done, at least in my opinion. If you haven’t checked them out, I recommend doing both.

Stephen King is one of my favorite authors. I want to watch the The Green Mile movie adaptation again soon – Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan. What a combo!

The Princess Bride is best known for the movie adaptation, but the book is really good, too.

Tag – You’re It!

Your listicle prompt: Top Five Favorite Books Published in the 21st Century

This was so fun, and challenging! I need to read more fantasy, apparently. It was hard to come up with five!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

03.25.18
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Tag #40: The Cheesy Goodness Tag

The Cheesy Goodness Tag - Howling Libraries

Image Credit: Howling Libraries

This looked like a really interesting tag – I saw it on Jenna’s blog, Bookmark Your Thoughts.

Here’s the link to Jenna’s post:

The Rules:

  1. Pingback the original creator (Sydney @ Fire and Rain Books) so she can see all your cheesy goodness answers.
  2. Pingback the person who tagged you (as per usual).
  3. Have fun!

Cheddar

The traditional cheese: Name your favorite classic novel.

Although I’m very tempted to pick The Great Gatsby, I’m actually going to choose Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I’ve loved everything Austen has written, although I haven’t read everything (See my TBR!). I first fell in love with her books when I was watching Wishbone as a kid!

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Swiss

The hole-y cheese: Name an emotional roller coaster.

Looking for Alaska by John Green. This was the first of Green’s books I read, in 2011, and I had no idea how much emotion he packs into every book he writes!

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Blue Cheese

The controversial cheese: Name an unpopular book opinion you have.

I despise dog-earing pages. I will use any scrap of paper as a bookmark before I fold a corner of a page. Also, I really don’t like love triangles!

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Brie

The favorite cheese: Name an author you always want more of.

Tie between Suzanne Collins and J.K. Rowling! These two women, between Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, have shaped so many years of my life!

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Gouda

The Dutch cheese: Name a book that makes you want to travel.

The Vacationers by Emma Straub. Take me away!

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American

The fake cheese: Name your least favorite book / a book you love to hate on.

Many of my regular readers know the hate that I give to Allegiant, the third book in the Divergent trilogy. Ugh!

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Colby Jack

The mixed cheese: Name your favorite ship.

I can’t pick just one!

  • Katniss and Peeta, The Hunger Games trilogy.
  • The more I think about it, the more I wish Harry and Hermione ended up together!

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Mozzarella

The simple cheese: Name an old favorite you’ll never stop loving.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

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Pepper Jack

The spicy cheese: Name a book you can’t judge by its cover.

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain.

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Muenster

The monster cheese: Name a villain that you wish never had the joy of eating cheese again.

Many people who have done this tag already have agreed with my sentiment. I loathe Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter. *shudders*

Tag – You’re It!

This was such a fun tag, and really different from the other tags I’ve done (so far). I loved it! Thanks again, Jenna!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

 

03.23.18
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Tag #39: 90’s Kid Book Tag

The 1990s

Image Credit: 6iee

The ladies at Thrice Read did another awesome book tag that spoke to my nostalgic heart!

Ready to travel back to the 1990s?

Here’s the link to the original post:

The Rules:

  1. Please, please, please steal this tag and spread it around! I only ask that you link it back to The Literary Phoenix so that I can see everyone’s answers!
  2. Freeze tag was all the rage in the 90s. Tag someone (or many) you think would have fun with this!
  3. Have fun!

Pokemon

A GBA game and trading card game where you battled pocket monsters and strived to catch them all. Back in the day, there were only 150 Pokemon.

The author you need every book from.

John Grisham. He’s the author I give credit to for peaking my interest in law, so I want all his books!

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AIM

AOL Instant Messaging – how 90s kids communicated with their friends after school before everyone had a cell phone.

Book that connected you with your best friend.

Melissa will laugh when she reads this – Voyage on the Great Titanic: The Diary of Margaret Ann Brady, by Ellen Emerson White. I had never heard of the Dear America series before the sixth grade. Although we were basically best friends at that point, Melissa noticing that I was checking out the book from the Western Branch Middle School library, and mentioning that she owned all of them, that solidified our friendship for sure.

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Furby

Creepy needy robots you could teach to talk and were probably demon possessed. Somehow these made a comeback?

Book that seemed like a good idea but was actually a monster.

Ugh. I didn’t even get more than five pages into Fifty Shades of Grey. No thanks!

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N’SYNC

90s quintessential boy band. You may have heard of Justin Timberlake?

A book you hated to say Bye, Bye, Bye to.

The end of the Harry Potter series. I cried!

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Slimed!

Getting green slime thrown on you, courtesy of the show Figure it Out. Also apparently still a thing at the Kids’ Choice Awards?

A book everyone loved but you hated.

The Twilight series.

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Oregon Trail

90s computer game you could usually play at school, which was great. It taught us people used to die a lot of gruesome, messy deaths.

A book that made you wish you died of dysentery.

Allegiant.

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Mixtape / CD

Back before everyone had music on their phones (remember, we didn’t have cell phones!) folks would rip their CDs and make mixes for each other.

Three (3) books you recommend to anyone, anywhere, no matter what.

  1. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
  2. The Pelican Brief, John Grisham
  3. The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks

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Dial-Up Internet

You know how it’s annoying when you aren’t on LTE? IMAGING WAITING 10 MINUTES FOR INTERNET TO START AND ANOTHER 20 MINUTES FOR GOOGLE TO LOAD!

A book that took FOR FREAKING EVER to read.

Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins. I loved it, but it took me a while to get through it.

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Keenan Thompson

He’s that guy who’s been on SNL forever. Also Mighty Ducks. Good Burger. Keenan and Kel. All That. Everything.

That book that you see referenced everywhere and is in everything, but that’s okay because it’s awesome.

The Wizard of Oz.

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Thumbs Up, Seven Up

A game where most the class closed their eyes and seven people tapped someone’s thumb and you had to guess who did it without peeking.

Book where you peeked just REAL quick at the ending because you don’t like guessing game.

I don’t remember ever doing this. I like to be surprised!

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Dunkaroos

These were basically just Teddy Grahams dipped in frosting, which is still a wonderful snack idea.

Your ideal bookish snack.

Nothing. Not even water.

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Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark

Collections of short stories that would scare any sensible kid! Plus, there were illustrations…

A book that kept you up all night.

The Hunger Games.

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Bill Nye The Science Guy

Basically the coolest thing you got to do in science class was watch Bill Nye. He has a Netflix show again!

A book that taught you something new.

On My Honor, Marion Dane Bauer. This was one of the first books that taught me how important honesty was.

Tag – You’re It!

This tag filled me with so much nostalgia! I had or experienced nearly everything on this list, except for a Furby. Those things were like creepy Gremlins! Yuck.

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

03.18.18
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Tag #38: The Fictional Family Book Tag

I saw this tag pop up in my emails recently, and I was already considering doing it on my own. But then, Jenna was so sweet to tag me in it – Thanks!

Here’s the link to Jenna’s post, where I was tagged:

The creator of this book tag is Marrill at Books and Ravens.

The Rules:

  • Pick 8 books off your shelves (try to not pick just your favorites 😉).
  • Arrange them into a random order (randomizers are good for this).
  • In the order they are arranged, open them to a random page and write down the first name you see. Don’t mix up the names!
  • In the last book, find the name of an animal/pet and write it down.
  • Put the names in the right category.
  • Tag people (spread the love) copy and paste these rules in your post, or write them out yourself.
  • OPTIONAL: tag the creator. You don’t have to, but she would love to see people do this tag!

Parent One

Read All About It: A Kit Classic 1

Image Credit: American Girl

Roger from Read All About It!: A Kit Classic 1

Although he’s a kid in the story, I don’t think I would be very happy to have Roger as one of my parents. He’s snobby and a know-it-all!

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Parent Two

The Diary of a Young Girl

Image Credit: Goodreads

Anne Frank from The Diary of a Young Girl

Sadly, Anne never reached adulthood. However, I’m convinced she would have been a wonderful mother!

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Sibling One

Dallas “Dally” Winston from The Outsiders

I’m not sure having Dally as a sibling would be awesome, but it certainly would be interesting. The Outsiders is one of my favorite books, so I’ll take it.

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Sibling Two

the-underground-railroad

Image Credit: Goodreads

Cora from The Underground Railroad

I really liked Cora’s character, so I think she’d be a great sibling. She’s fierce and courageous, that’s for sure.

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Cousin

Aibileen Clark from The Help

Yes, this is awesome. I loved Aibileen’s character. I wish she could be my mom! But, I’ll take a cousin. She’s wise, and brave.

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Boyfriend / Girlfriend

The End of Everything

Image Credit: Amazon

Bobby Thornhill from The End of Everything

Ewwwww. I don’t think this would be a good match. I’ll pass!

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Best Friend

Oliver Wood - Pottermore

Image Credit: Pottermore

Oliver Wood from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Ummmm, yes. Definitely yes!

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Pet

The Runaway Maryellen

Image Credit: American Girl Publishing

Scooter the dachshund from The Runaway: A Maryellen Mystery

I think Scooter is one of the sweetest dogs, even though he’s chubby and lazy. He’s so sweet to Maryellen!

Tag – You’re It!

This was such a fun and different book tag!

Who would you want in your fictional family?

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

03.13.18
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Getting Personal #108: “Untreusee, Germany” (Reblogged)

I love posting photos from Just Wunderlust every so often. Their photos never fail to take my breath away!

This photo from Germany was no exception! I love seeing color in photographs. The colors here are just brilliant and striking!

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I looked up Untreusee, having never heard of it. It’s a lake in Germany, near the eastern border with the Czech Republic.

Now knowing it’s a lake, this photo makes me think of my church youth group trip to Sherando Lake when I was in high school!

Water has an immense calming effect on me. I need to be around water more often, I think.

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What about you? What types of nature calm you?

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂