Book 11: Definitely Dead

This book picks up with the death of Sookie's cousin Hadley, a New Orleans vampire. This was pretty random, because it was never mentioned that she was a vampire previously—which seems to be a pretty significant detail to me. I hear that the back story played out in a book of Sookie short-stories though.

Anyway, Sookie is summoned by the Vampire Queen of Louisiana to clean out Hadley's apartment and meets Hadley's landlord Amelia—a witch. Although she travels to New Orleans with Eric and Bill, her new boyfriend Quinn is also in the area, popping in and out of the storyline.

Sookie learns more about her family history and perhaps why she is so drawn to the supernatural community. She also learns a secret about Bill that breaks her heart and may put Bill out of the running for Sookie's affections (and mine) forever.

This was another great book, though confusing at first because of the missing details. I appreciate that Sookie gets stronger with every book—not the innocent girl that always needed saving at the beginning of the series.

Movie 5: Valentine's Day

Such a cute movie! This is a great fluff movie—perfect if you're in the mood for something easy and light-hearted. As you can see from the trailer, there are tons of good actors, so you can imagine how many simultaneous plot lines there are as well. It was really interesting how so many of the stories and characters were interconnected, too.

As some of you have guessed, I was pretty happy that ♥ Taylor Lautner ♥ was in the movie, but who can resist Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Ashton Kutcher, and Topher Grace?!

Book 10: Dead as a Doornail

Like the other books of this series, Dead as a Doornail had lots of action, lots of mystery, and lots of surprises! Sookie is getting close to a couple of different men and I'm really wondering who she'll chose and where it'll go. My love of Alcide is completely over after reading this book, but I'm glad that Eric is back to being Eric. Dead as a Doornail answered a lot of questions from the previous novels, but as always, presented even more new questions to wonder about.

I'm going to Washington!

It's official! I'm off to the Olympic Peninsula, Washington in May 2010.

I must say, I didn't expect to be making plans for such a big item on my list until closer to graduation, but I'm completely thrilled!

How it all started:
I put this item on my list for two reasons. First, I have a thing for this type of scenery. When I was in Ireland last summer, I fell in love with all the greenery—in particular where there are areas of lush green met the rocky beaches/cliffs. I told myself that I would find something similar in the U.S. and explore it. That brings me to my second reason...

Again, those of you who know me know that I'm currently obsessed with Twilight. Part of my fascination with the first movie was the scenery--it's just so beautiful! I began to research the locations that Summit used to film the movie, and although there were several locations, the Olympic Peninsula seemed to be in the center of it all. I did quite a bit of research and figured out exactly where I needed to go.

As more details of the trip become available I'll be posting them online--and I'll also try to blog from the trip (or just after it, depending on my mood, internet availability, etc.)

Book 9: Dead to the World

Not surprisingly, I really enjoyed the fourth installment of the Southern Vampire Mystery series.

Charlaine Harris introduced more characters and added new plot lines, while tying in the previous books seamlessly. Bill is almost nonexistent in this book, and the connection between Eric and Sookie was really interesting.

In the HBO series, I'm all about Bill—but in these books, Eric is definitely my favorite! ♥

Earning My Master's Degree

So, I think most people know this by now, but if you didn't: I'm in graduate school! I've been pursuing my Master of Science in Information Design & Communication at Southern Polytechnic State University since the Spring of 2009 and slowly, steadily making my way toward graduation!

I think that the best way to keep y'all abreast of how I'm doing with this item on my list is to provide brief summaries of my classes (for those who are interested) and maybe post one or two of my favorite projects from each (if there are any!).

Here's a list of the classes I've taken (or am currently taking) so far:

• IDC 6001: Technical Writing and Editing (Spring 2009)
• IDC 6030: Foundations of Graphics (Spring 2009)
• IDC 6010: Writing Across Media (Summer 2009)
• IDC 6002: Information Design (Fall 2009)
• IDC 6135: Web Site Design (Fall 2009)
• IDC 6040: Applied Graphics I (Spring 2010)
• IDC 6110: Communications Project Management (Spring 2010)
• IDC 6180: Information Architecture (Summer 2010)
• IDC 6041: Applied Graphics II (Fall 2010)
  
• IDC 6035: Information Graphics (Fall 2010)
• IDC 6005: Visual Thinking (Spring 2011)
• IDC 6155: Online Instructional Development (Spring 2011)
  

Movie 4: The Lovely Bones

Okay, I loved this movie. They strayed quite a bit from the book, but I think that to truly appreciate the story you should read the book first. I've heard that people who saw the movie first were a bit lost because Peter Jackson spent more time on the graphics than the story itself. Many of the sub-storylines of the book are skimmed or skipped altogether, but the main storyline remains.

Aside from the story, the graphics were great, and so was the acting—Saoirse Ronan and Stanley Tucci really did a great job.

One last point: I fell in love with the song in the trailer at the :55 second mark. It's called Alice by the Cocteau Twins.

Book 8: Club Dead

Another great book in the series! This is the third book and my favorite so far. There was plenty of action (as there always is with Charlaine Harris), and I fell in love with Alcide!

In this book, Bill becomes distant and secretive, after he disappears, Eric enlists the help of Alcide Herveaux (a werewolf) and Sookie to find him. Sookie spends a lot of time with Alcide and develops feelings for him—it gets pretty interesting!

I hear that HBO has hired One Tree Hill's Joe Manganiello to play the role of Alcide in the third Season of True Blood (coming out this summer!)

The Fair Isle Project is Complete!

Well, it's finished! My first Fair Isle knitting project is officially complete, and I'm so excited to cross the first item off of the "Thirty Before 30" list!

I absolutely loved working on this project, too. Now that I've knitted Fair Isle, everything else seems so boring!

I decided on this pattern because I've really been into cowls lately. Most of the patterns out there are for loose, fun pieces—not really tighter, functional pieces. I grew up in Buffalo, so I definitely have an appreciation for functional winter wear. I've already put this piece to good use, and although it's not cold enough for a winter coat here in Atlanta, the cowl is a great with a lighter coat, and does a great job keeping the cold air out.

After finishing the piece, I've decided to modify the pattern a bit and give it another shot. I have a bunch of yarn left over, so I think I'm going to do the inverse: a pink cowl with a brown pattern. I'll be sure to post it as an amendment to this post when I finish!