like a continent on my hand.

Enjoying: (in a weird sort of way) my sunburn. Guys, it's spring.

Quote love: “She started writing notes and keeping them under her pillow, and then she started writing them on her pillowcase, hoping they will help her have better dreams. And if she couldn’t sleep, she could just read them and be reminded of something so stunningly beautiful that her heart would swell and her bones would sigh and for just a second, the world would not seem like it was going to crush her.” 

So far, this vacation (holiday, if I were British) has been amazing. 

Because: Bleah Briann, raw fish, segway rides, and bookish things.

Bleah: my super amazing penpal lives in Houston. I had a layover in Houston. So, the day I left, I called Bleah, emailed back and forth, got permission from all three sets of parents, and it happened; I actually got to meet Bleah. It was like, basically the best experience ever. We actually hugged, and we talked about silly things. We were actually together, in person, face to face, for a little while. Now I can for real say that I miss her, cause I've met her. 


You bloggers will understand what it was like. Think of your very favorite blogger, the one who comments all the time, your virtual best friend. Imagine meeting this person. 


Exactly. 


That was what it was like meeting Bleah. There was lots of squealing and hugging involved. Definitely something I never thought I'd get to do.

Raw fish: since we're in a tropical island and all, the first day I decided that I should try some local food. Local food being, in this case, fish. 

Here's the deal. I hate fish. I really, really hate fish. It's not an, I'll-only-eat-fresh-fish-from-the-mountains-of-Colorado sort of thing, because I rarely eat that, even if it's available. I never ate the fresh catfish and bass when we had a fish fry at Grandma's house. Last month, I had shrimp for the first time. 

I'm just not a fish person. 

On the huge fish platter I ordered: calamari (octopus- marking it off my bucket list), red snapper, shrimp (which was totally predictable) and ceviche.  The red snapper was good and not fishy. The calamari was good and not octopusy. The shrimp was normal. The ceviche... 

Well. It tasted like lime and cilantro. The consistency was different. Stringy. Chewy. Raw, I guess. It was a good experience. I'm not sick yet, which should count for something. 

Segwaying: this was so amazing. So. Amazing. We toured old San Juan city on segways. And really? It was so much fun. Like, I don't even know how to describe to you how much I enjoyed it.

We decided that I'm not very adept at applying sunscreen. I mean, there's sunburn shaped like a continent on my left hand. There's a big sprawly patch of burn on the back of my right leg, with one little dot of white where I got the sunscreen. Personally, I like it- kinda. It doesn't hurt. The lines aren't weird enough to be embarrassing. It feels like summer finally.

The part about the books: because my best friend's family is amazing (favorite adjective, I guess...) before we left for PR we went to the biggest Barnes & Nobles I've ever seen. It was beautiful.

This is fun because my little sister walked away with the first two Hunger Games. I'm so excited for her to read them so we can talk about the books...the casting decisions...all that fun stuff.

Ali bought my favorite Sarah Dessen book, which makes me happy because I like to talk about the books I like with someone who's read them.

And both of them are reading the Book Thief.

Here's the thing about the Book Thief. It's one of my favorite, favorite books ever. I know that I say everything is my favorite, (I exaggerate way too much) but this one really is. This book is gripping. The story is sad and enchanting and beautiful and heart-breaking. It's written like no other book I've ever read. Finishing it, you sit there feeling empty and full all at the same time.

I'm excited they're reading this because no one I know has read this. I'm excited to gush over Rudy and talk about the best parts of the book. I want to walk up to Anna in the half-breath stillness after the last word in the book. I want to tell them both that I cried too.

I can't wait to have someone to talk to about the book, in real life.

What's going on with you? Spring break? School? I'm loving hearing what you think about the British/American debate. Very amusing. 

Have a lovely Friday!

post script: unedited pictures, all of them. don't judge.

post script two: blogger is being stupid and the formatting is jank. just ignore the weird spacing and the text size changing.