primrose everdeen: the girl who started the fire.

**note: spoiler heavy, and likely won't make any sense without reading the Hunger Games.**

Book character of the month, from these girls. This month we're talking about Prim, twelve years old in the first book, Katniss' younger sister, the kinder, softer version of Katniss, with all of the good qualities and none of the bad.  

We all know that Katniss was the girl on fire. I like to think that Prim was the girl who started it. It began with Prim. Her name was drawn in the reaping, Katniss took her place to protect her, and that's what started it all.

I've had mixed feelings about Prim:

She is an amazing character, I'll give her that. I love her relationship with Katniss. I am a big sister, and I understand how Katniss feels about Prim. Prim is almost Katniss' opposite. She's easy to love, easy to get along with. Katniss is a jerk. I feel like Katniss would not have been the same person without Prim to protect, even prior the the reaping.

I do feel like it's harder to connect to Prim throughout most of the books. In the Hunger Games and Catching Fire, she's not really there. We get a lot closer to her in Mockingjay, to the point that I cried my eyes out at that one little specific spot near the end of the book.

Overall, I did love her. I just didn't quite connect to her the way I did to other characters (specifically Finnick. I will never forgive you for that, Suzanne Collins).

What are your thoughts about Prim? Love her? Hate her? Only kinda-sort like her?

mondays are my favorite.

Quote love: "We don't need to have just one favorite. We keep adding favorites. Our favorite book is always the book that speaks most directly to us at a particular stage in our lives. And our lives change. We have other favorites that give us what we most need at that particular time. But we never lose the old favorites. They're always with us. We just sort of accumulate them." 

 

Specifically this Monday, which, even with a rocky start, ended up being abnormally restful and enjoyable. I'm still on Easter break; classes at Taylor started tonight but I won't be back until Wednesday. No Taylor= no early start= happy Katie.

I know it's cliche and whatnot to talk about the weather, but I like it. I like weather, I like hearing what it's like for you. The blogging community is so spread out across the world that even though it's pouring rain at different intervals throughout my day, it may be desert or winter for you. The weather today: rainy, rainy, rainy. As it usually happens on Mondays, this calls for extended lessons of Dutch, a Beatles/Coldplay radio, and endless cups of tea. As soon as the rain goes away I'll have pictures of something other than drops of rain on flowers. My room gets terrible light even during the summer, and even though the rain saturated the greens and greys outside, it doesn't brighten up my room at all. Because of that, all the interesting pictures I could take of my books, my two unfilled Eiffel Tower journals, my new bracelets, and the letter I got, I can't take because of silly low light. As soon as it's sunny...

Our travel plans for France are coming together neatly. We'll be spending a week in England, flying into London. I'm hoping to convince my parents that a few hours in London are absolutely necessary. I've been to London before, but this time Libby lives only an hour away and I'll never be that close to meeting her again. And her parents think it's a brilliant idea...or something along those lines. After England, we should be heading to over to France. Maybe there'll be a little one-day-holiday in Paris at some point during the summer. No matter what those five weeks end up looking like, it should turn out to be nothing short of an adventure.

My weekend was ordinary, except for Sunday, which included church services in the morning, lunch afterward, and Settlers of Catan during the afternoon. Read that sentence as: Everyone else played Settlers of Catan, and I skipped out and read a book. I'm averaging one book a day since Friday afternoon, and I'm not about to let that stop. :)

Tomorrow should include another blog post, (I'm pushing two hundred posts, and it's a little alarming how long it's taken me to get here since one hundred. Things to do: post more often) bike around the block, (2.5 miles; we're from the country) and knock out this section of Dutch. And speaking of Dutch, my current favorite Dutch words are the ones that begin with kn, as in knie (translated as knee. Not that hard to figure out ;). You pronounce both the k and the n, and it makes for a much more enjoyable speaking experience.

How was your Easter weekend, whether or not you celebrated?

wake up in the morning feeling like it's friday.

did you guys see what I did there? clever, right? (if you didn't, rebecca black+ kei$ha. not that terribly clever.) fun fact: I cannot stand kei$ha. I get shivers just thinking about most of her music.

I've had this post in the drafts for a few weeks, and I don't think I'll have the time or the desire to write a real post today, so, without further ado, the abcs of me:

Age:16+ several weeks. 

Bed Size: double. what kind of a question is that?

Chore you hate:  I happen to love clean laundry. getting it clean, not so much.

Dogs:  German shepherd. she's big and disobedient and sheds too much. I don't know what I'd do without her.

Essential start of your day:  socks. I can't focus/sleep without them.

Favorite Color: Rudy Steiner's hair, also known as yellow.

Gold or silver:  silver or gold, either/or. I can't usually wear regular metal cause it gives me a rash. This makes belts a problem.

Height: five three. my brother calls me an oompa loompa, which is completely untrue because I am not orange.

Instruments I play (or have played): I used to play the cello. it didn't last long.

Job Title: sometimes I babysit. a few weeks ago: me; "what's your favorite vegetable?" little child; "umm, butter." that kid knows what he's talking about.

Kids: none. 16, people.

Live: the Middle of Nowhere, Indiana. also known as Farmland. I tell people I live in Muncie though, which is almost true.

Mom's Name: Ann without an e.

Nickname: Kates, Katie, KT, Bennie. My prof calls me Katherine. Everyone else in the world calls me Katie.

Overnight hospital stays: none! I'm so healthy.

Pet Peeve: I hate it when people touch my head. It drives me crazy.

Quote from a movie: Eugene; "you were my new dream.
Rapunzel; "and you were mine."
awwww.

Right or left handed: right, but I vacuum and put my contacts in with my left.

Siblings: the older brother, the three younger sisters.

Time you wake up: on MW, 6:15. On every other day, 8:30.

Underwear: ...I wear them.

Vegetables you dislike: MASHED POTATOES. Boiled potatoes. Potatoes in soup.

What makes you run late: I forget stuff a lot.

X-rays you've had done: dentist. boring, right?

Yummy food you make: I used to sell bread. I can make cupcakes and granola and caramel corn.

Zoo animal:  elephant.

feeling bored? take a shot at this yourself and send me a link! I'd love to see what you wrote.

this is what's up.

I'm thinking: no more listening to for me! It's becoming just a *little* too trendy; I believe I've seen at least three blogs containing it today, so thank you very much, but I'm good without it. I don't want to completely forgo this little section, so there will possibly be some sort of replacement. We'll see.
Quote love: "It goes without saying that Katherine drank her coffee black. Katherines do, generally." John Green. 
 this Katherine drinks her coffee black; relevant quote? yes, it is.

owned by the notebook doodles.

I really didn't mean to be gone so long, promise. 


Here's the short story: I had Disciple Now over the weekend, which surpassed my expectations; Monday and Wednesday were Taylor, with church on Wednesday night; Tuesday was homework and sleeping in till 9:30; today was much of the same, in addition to Alia's spring musical and babysitting tonight. 


Besides Disciple Now, the best part of my week was by far this lovely little package:

I know. Aren't they pretty? HarperCollins, you guys rock. 

I've seen this print float around the blogsphere many times, and now I finally have my own. It's even prettier in person. 

I feel like that wall should say something about me, I just really not sure what. If you look closely, you'll see both Buzz and Woody, a hope pillow and a signed bookplate from my Between Shades of Grey prize pack, my broken sunglasses that I bought in the UAE and can't bring myself to throw away, the library card from when we lived in Bradford, a metro ticket from Paris, paperdolls for Natalie, Jordanian currency, an old picture of Ali and I, several-years-old Valentines, my old passport, my "girl who reads" drawing from my best friend Shaina, and various quotes and boarding passes. That's my life right there.


It's been somewhat of a lazy week for me. I have half of next week off, which is not only really exciting, but it'll give me an opportunity to catch up on some things I've been needing to do. I'm looking forward to free Starbucks and picking out a prom dress tomorrow. 


Worthy of mention: the box looks like it could contain an engagement ring. Well...it doesn't. 


Goodnight lovelies!

I'm no Rapunzel.

Listening to: Heads/Tails by Hotspur. New favorite song, thank you Bleah. 
Lyric love: Heads we go to London/ And try to save the queen/ Tails we go to Paris/ And try our hand at romance/ Call it in the air. 

Just one more Disney painting to add to my collection.

In other news:

-I'll be gone all weekend, so I'll try to have a few things scheduled.

-Comment moderation is turned off permanently, unless you're commenting on an older post. I suppose this means you can leave me nasty anon comments and I can't do anything about it, but we don't want that happening, do we?

-Book suggestions, anyone? My stack is running low, and I'd love to hear some of your favorites.

-On Monday I realized that Flynn Rider's twin is in my drawing class. I now can't figure out why it took me so long to notice.

-The blog's second birthday is coming up in less than a month! I think it would be really wonderful if we could hit 200 followers before then. If so, I'll try to organize a little giveaway of some sort.

If you haven't noticed, spring is 100 percent here... Hope you have a warm and sunshiney afternoon!

john perkins said it right.

Hello friends! How's your Saturday been?

 photo credit scenic glory.

Mine's been lovely. I woke up to pouring rain, promptly ran outside, shorts and everything, to mail a letter off to New York. Not only did we have a morning of heavy rain, this afternoon was beautiful. Bright, sunny blue skies. 70+ degrees. Vibrant green grass. Absolutely beautiful.

I wandered down to the woods late-afternoonish to take a few photos, read a few books, and write a few letters. Only the first two ended up happening, because I happened to forget a pencil. *hits self on head.* It was as beautiful down there as it was up at the house. Granted, it smelled a little more swampy, but the house and meadow don't have the sound of creek moving over rocks.

Our woods used to be my favorite place in the world. We would go down there all the time. Four years ago, Anna and I may or may not have snuck out at night to run down there for a few minutes. Last November we jumped into the creek, jeans, sweatshirts, and all, finishing it up by geocaching.

I used to spend all my time down there, and part of me misses the me who would have tried to catch the snake, instead of tentatively poking it with a stick until it uncurled itself and slithered down its hole. Part of me misses the girl who sat curled up on the tree bent over the creek, writing in a journal even when the snow started falling.

I think part of me misses that me, while the rest of me looks forward to the me that's coming up.

As I wrote last week, I'm going to France this summer. Besides being incredibly excited about the trip itself, it's looking like Mimi is going to be in France/Switzerland/Germany around the same time I'm in Europe. It adds about 600 times more anticipation to my growing excitement for this summer.

My dear penpal Bleah called today (actually, after I called her three times) and, because Camp Rock 2 was playing downstairs and neither her nor I had anything better to do, we talked for over an hour. I'm not sure that you could fit any more Tangled references into a one hour space than we did.

At one point we caught ourselves in the middle of another rant about how it's not fair that Eugene is not a real person, and I remarked, "Look at us, we're talking about boys," to which Bleah responded, "How typical and predictable of us."

  "At lunch, we sat outside. In typical teen-girl fashion, we talked. But we talked about untypical things. About how Snowball and Napoleon are Lenin and Trotsky, about how there was bokeh dancing on the blades of grass, about how English teachers should love words. We spoke of the stolen clay knife, why freckles were cute, and the sheer beauty of books narrated by unusual characters. And all this whilst plaiting grass and weaving daisy chains." Libby from Catching the Stars.

That is why I love this Libby quote: because most of the time, we don't talk about typical things. Many of my conversations lately with my best friends have centered around the things I used to eat. (For the curious, the list is as follows: carnations, pansies, Christmas trees, books, stinging nettle tea, and grass.) I love this quote because I love to talk about classic lit. I'm working my way through Les Mis right now, while Anna reads Pride and Prejudice. I love hearing what she thinks about Darcy, what she thinks about the story. I love this quote because we use photography terms all the time, and bokeh is my favorite. I love this quote because "the sheer beauty of books narrated by unusual characters" makes me flash back to the Book Thief.

If you're in the mood for a list, the other happy things about today: the sunlight hitting the mist after it rained - black pomegranate tea - drawing rainbow rectangles - Prismacolour colourless blender - sending Bleah a few Justin Bieber posters, because we all know how much she loves him - singing random lines of the Tangled soundtrack over the phone with Bleah - piles of clean laundry - floral print boots, scarf, and dress - Switchfoot songs playing on repeat in my head.

Hope you have a lovely Sunday.

beatles monday.

Listening to: For No One by the Beatles.
Quote love: “My daughter was asked by a little old lady in a London hotel restaurant what her daddy did - she answered, “He’s a pirate.” I was very proud of that answer.” Johnny Depp. Borrowed from bffMimi's tumblr, which disappeared somehow. anyways. she rocks.

I love rain, but I wouldn't have been opposed to some sunshine today.

Happy Monday! Are you drowning yet? This is the perfect start to the first week of sixteen. I'm a fan off rainy days. It's a drizzly Dutch kinda day, and I'm completely loving it. I'm finishing off a cup of pomegranate tea with my Pandora set to the Beatles station. Rain, pour down. It is somewhat ironic that it's raining during the week that I'm writing about my summer in the desert, of all places.

In lit today, we were discussing W.E.B. Du Bois' the Souls of Black Folks. (how boring does that sound?) Our prof told us to discuss double-consciousness, which is a fancy term for, basically, the person you are and the person other people view you as. (if you want to read something I wrote awhile back along those lines, click over to here. it's mostly about blogging me and real me, but it follows the same idea.) My friend and I turned to each other and smiled. She was in Jordan in January, and I was there last summer. We both talked about being white females in a Muslim country, and how she got lost in downtown Jordan at night.

For me, the big thing was English. It got to be weird to see a white person who I didn't know. I was in a souvenir shop a week or two before I came home, and there was a group of Americans there. It was weird to hear an English speaking white person who I had never met. I liked being the minority, weirdly enough.

It seems like everywhere I go, it's the people that matter. Like Mimi. Cause she's amazing. There was the awkward few weeks when we didn't know each other, and it was weird. Then we went to the UAE together and: instant friends. I. miss her. so much. I watched Nacho Libre with her and we laughed even when it wasn't funny. See our earrings in that picture? We match, mostly cause I'm a massive copy-cat and she saw them first and I was like, woah, I love those! So we both bought a pair.

Whew. Run-on sentence much?

Mostly what I'm trying to say is that it wouldn't have been the same without her. And Mimi, I miss you tons.

Oh! I completely forgot. So remember when I wrote about the Delirium contest and begged you to vote for me? Well, I kinda won. And it was kinda amazing.

fifteen for a moment.

Listening to: 100 Years by Five for Fighting.
Lyric love: "I'm 15 for a moment/ Caught in between 10 and 20/ And I'm just dreaming/ Counting the ways to where you are...15 there's still time for you/ Time to buy and time to lose/ 15, there's never a wish better than this/ When you only got 100 years to live."

Fifteen has been one of the best years of my life. There's been change and adventure, new friends and old ones.

I traveled across the world and back. I made favorite memories (the time I came home from the dig. I was gone three days, tops. When I walked into the door,  Gabriel, age five, ran out of the kitchen, grabbed me around the waist, and whispered, "Katie, I missed you.") and best friends. I wrote my first letter to Bleah and met her less than two weeks ago.

Fifteen was a good year. After fifteen years, they wrapped up Toy Story. There was Tangled -which, actually, I'm watching right at this moment- and the Dawn Treader and I discovered Charlie.

I learned about ISO and aperture and shutter speed and how they work together. I bought Darcy during my Pride and Prejudice phase. I read Pride and Prejudice three times during that phase and watched the movie at least once.

I read. Oh my goodness, I read. The Book Thief and the Hunger Games and half of Les Mis and Save the Date and Paperdoll and Matched and Anne of Green Gables and so, so much more.

Fifteen was Paris and cameras and college. It was mail twice a week and a new passport photo.

It was you. You, dear followers, are the most amazing people ever. I love hearing your stories, reading your comments. Fifteen wouldn't have been the same without you.

Fifteen was the best... here's to sixteen.

In true Katie-ness, my summer of sixteen promises to be amazing. At the moment, the plan is this: my parents and I. Red white and blue striped flag. Macaroons. (my favorite almost cousin knows exactly where it is now.) Tourists. Sidewalk cafes. Berets. Escargot, but not this trip, because that's something I'm eating with my brother.

Have you guessed? Yes! I'll be in France for a month early in the summer. And yes, I'm completely excited. My dad is going to be teaching a few classes there, and I'm tagging along for the fun of it. Hopefully there will be some language study, and maybe a trip to England for a few days. And in England maybe I'll get to hang out with Libby for a few hours.

I'm so.excited.

Basically that's my big news. I'll fill you in on some more details about the summer, and all next week you can hear about last summer.

ps: fan of the Hunger Games? Paper Bird and Little Fairy are hosting a link-up featuring Prim Everdeen. I'll be linking up my own post in a week or two. Definitely something you should check out!