My Antonia

One of my goals for this year was to read at least eight classic books this year. I discovered that the Provo library has a large collection of books on tape. Thus, my two hours of commuting each day has become a wonderful time to reach my goals. The first book I read/listened to is my new favorite book - My Antonia.

I often found myself sitting in my car after I had arrived home just to finish listening to the chapter. The sun-baked praries of Nebraska, the struggling immigrant family, and the old farmhouse became a part of my life for a few weeks. I loved riding across the fields with Jim and Anotnia on their small pony.

Here's a little part that I especially loved. "There were no clouds, the sun was going down in a limpid, gold-washed sky. Just as the lower edge of the red disc rested on the high fields against the horizon, a great black figure suddenly appeared on the face of the sun. We sprang to our feet, straining our eyes toward it. In a moment we realized what it was. On some upland farm, a plough had been left standing in the field. The sun was sinking just behind it. Magnified across the distance by the horizontal light, it stood out against the sun, was exactly contained within the circle of the disk; the handles, the tongue, the share—black against the molten red. There it was, heroic in size, a picture writing on the sun."

The writing is so amazing that I feel like I am right there. My favoirte part of the story is when Antonia's father dies and Jim is left alone in the farmhouse. He goes down to the kitchen and imagines Antonia's father's soul sitting there behind the stove. He isn't scared but just sits there quietly so the soul can rest before starting its long journey back to Bohemia.

I loved loved loved this book!

More reviews to come.

Bridal Fair Craziness

And the wedding-ness continues! Last Saturday was a bridal fair extravaganza. Jessica, Deborah, Princess Emily, and Jen Dymock and her sister and my roommate Lindsay and I all went to the fair. I was a little hesitant because it always seemed like such a silly thing. We entered the gym and walked past all the little high school girls standing in a line in different bridal dresses and bridesmaids dresses and heard all the really cheesy big band music and thought "Oh dear." Then someone started handing out all kinds of free stuff. There were caterers with crepes and cheesecake and chocolate covered strawberries and such. There were florists with free roses. And most significantly, free hand massages and hair stylists.

It was actually very fun. Really, we have most everything planned for the wedding but it was fun and I talked to a lady that does glass blown temples and crystal sculptures and I told Cameron it might be a nice wedding gift to get me a Manti temple.

I also talked to a great florist and we talked about flowers that will last for three days and all kinds of stuff.