Favorite Ships of All Time Pt. 1

Hey guys,

It's Amber again and I'm here to bring you some of my all time favorite OTPs that I adore more than anything in the world.

Legolas and Gimli from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Okay, okay. I know that this is a bromance ship in canon and honestly, they are one of my favorite bromances of all time but- how do you expect me not to ship them? Gimli left the Earth he loved so much to go with Legolas when he decided it was time for him to go to sea. That's love man, not friendship and ugh, they way Legolas looks at Gimli in the movies? I just can't. Also, their relationship in the books was just too sweet for me not to ship them and it is a ship I will gladly go down with.

Damon and Bonnie from the Vampire Diaries. I have loved them from season 1. Right from the start, there has just been so much tension between the two and it has continued throughout the series. I adore these two souls so much and their bond is one for the ages. Ugh, the things I can say about this ship are numerous and I am so damn sad that they will never be able to get the end that I think they deserve. They have honestly made each other better people and have helped and defended each other so many times. I love my precious babies.

Shane and Jenny from the L Word. Oh my God, these two. They were one of my very first ships. I loved their friendship in season 2 and I adored watching it grow and blossom over the years. They truly loved and cared for each other and my heart honestly melted so much when they finally got together and kissed during season 6. I am and will forever be upset at the fact that they didn't get to make a real go of it. They deserved their happy ending so much.

Jackie and Fez from that 70s Show. I don't care what you guys say. Fez was Jackie's happy ending. He was a guy who loved her for her, despite all of her many flaws. He always loved her and she finally loved him back. A ship I didn't know I wanted to happen until it was just starting to happen.

That's it for today but keep an eye out for part 2.

25 Facts About Me

25 Facts About Me

1. I loathe love triangles. Seriously, they just really get on my nerves. I really hate it when a particular ship is introduced and then they introduce another love interest out of nowhere, one where the possibility of that ship just never crossed your mind before. Yes, I am aware that sometimes love triangles are good plot points and I'm not going to lie and say that they don't make things interesting sometimes but they are just soooo annoying. 

2. I have an unhealthy addiction to funko pops. This is a pretty new addiction tbh but it is already getting pretty out of control.I have so many funkos on my wishlist it is unreal. They really shouldn't be so cute though. And the dorbz, ugh they're too cute. 

I have to say, I think my favorite funko pop right now would be the seated Sally I have. She comes with her cat and she just looks too cute sitting perched on top of my bookshelf. 

3. I love peeps. Those sugary confections, normally shaped like chicks? I love them. They are my all time favorite candy and I absolutely have to buy some every holiday season. I just feel weird not buying them. 

4. I do not have a favorite band. I have bands that I like to listen to but for the most part I tend to go through phases. Right now, I've been very into the Moana soundtrack. It's just so good and the songs are so catchy. My favorite songs are Shiny and We Know the Way but honestly, the whole soundtrack is just too good for words. 

5. My favorite color is green. Yeah, I know, dumb fact but it is my favorite color. Green is just so vibrant and makes me feel super happy inside. Lime green and emerald green are my favorite shades. 

6. I have commitment issues when it comes to watching shows. I have this weird habit of starting shows but never really watching them all the way through. Sometimes they'll get to weird points and I'll randomly decide to check something else out or I'll just decide not to watch anything at all. That doesn't mean I don't love tv because I do, Amazon Prime and Netflix are two of my favorite things. 

Some shows I'm currently watching are Supernatural (on season 8), The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (one more episode left) , Gilmore Girls (trying so hard to get through season 6), Doctor Who (I know I'm on the 12th doctor but I'm not sure which season...) +others. (too many to mention right now). 

7. My favorite book series is the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer. This series really helped me deal with a lot of issues growing up. I found it around the same time that I discovered Harry Potter but for some reason this series resonated with me more. There is something about the characters that sticks with me and will probably stick with me forever. I love this series so much and have read it over and over multiple times and am already planning a tattoo for it. 

8. I go through obsession phases. One time, I was so obsessed with bookmarks they were all I bought for a month. I've also been obsessed with: indie nail polish, bath bombs (still obsessed tbh), funko pops, loose leaf tea (just added so many different kinds to my wishlist), and Hamilton the Musical Soundtrack (Used to listen to it all day, every day for months).

9. I love tomato sandwiches. They're just so delicious. 

10. I really love girly movies. Steel Magnolias is one of my all time favorites. 

11. I've been reading A Game of Thrones for 3 years. I'm pretty sure that I have anyway. It's not that I don't like the book because I really do. Okay, so I dislike Momma Stark, her POV bugs me and I always wish they end almost as fast as they start but I adore Tyrion and Daenerys is pretty awesome as well. Jon Snow is currently a character I enjoy but don't really love and Arya, while I do really like her character, she just hasn't shown up in the book enough for me to form a really strong bond with her. 

I've also been reading this book in 3 different formats. One, a mass market paperback was broken in half by my son but it intimidated the hell out of me anyway (it was 808 pages long). Then, I was reading it on my phone's kindle app but since I'm not the type to use my phone too often that didn't last long. Now though, I'm about 79% through it and am now reading it in one of those floppy paperback formats which I adore. They are 100% less intimidating than the mass market paperback versions that can hardly stay open. 

12. I adore Audrey Hepburn. All time favorite actress, for sure. My favorite movie of hers is a tie between Funny Face and My Fair Lady and I ship both of the ships in them so hard.

13.  I am currently planning to write a sci-fi story. Am currently laying out the groundwork and I am so excited to really start exploring this world more.

14. One of my favorite shows of all time is the L Word but I have never finished the series. I stopped at season 6 episode 4 because I got spoiled for the ending and just wasn't interested in finishing it on such a bad note. I honestly didn't want to witness my ship getting ruined (Shane and Jenny 4ever) and just didn't want the last few episodes to sour my opinion of the show as a whole because I love it and the characters so damn much. 

15. I read mostly slash fanfiction. Don't ask me why but I tend to ship boy/boy ships more common than boy/girl ships. It just happened and I have decided not to question it ever. 

16. Until recently I have always active rped on Harry Potter sites. I tend to mostly follow AU Post Potter rps but recently I had a trio-era site that only focused on the side characters. I loved it but ended up having to quit it due to some life things and just- an overall disinterest in writing something that I could never get published later. 

17. I have always wanted to write a book. Since I was a little girl. It has literally always been and always will be a dream of mine. 

18. I am a history major. History is bae. 

19. Sudden noises/movements freak me out.  Don't know why, they just do. 

20. I am not a religious person. However, I do find religions/religion in general fascinating. 

21. I have over 30 books on my tbr pile. For shame!

22. I tend to order the same food out of habit rather than try out new foods. I sort of have a fear of being disappointed by new foods so once I find something I like at any restaurant I tend to order it every visit, just because I know I'll always be satisfied.

23. Speaking of food, I love sushi. Favorite food of all time. 

24. I attend college online  I sort of have a huge fear of crowds but also, online college is a lot more convenient due to my having a child at home that I have to take care of. 

25. I used to dog-ear books. And probably still would if a lot of my books weren't so damn pretty.

I Read 29 Books This Year (And Why That's Disappointing)

Hello guys,

A bit of an introspective post today.

I logged into my goodreads account to start following some more groups and maybe even get an idea of what to talk about in blog posts (maybe join top 5 Wednesday for a start). Instead I was confronted with how many books I managed to read this year and felt a weird sense of longing and disappointment.

Now, in case you were wondering I managed to read 29 books this year which was 4 over my goal of 25. You would think that was a good thing and in a way, it is. The thing you don't know though is that earlier this year, from January to July I was reading about 7 books a month. I was active in goodreads groups and often participated in monthly challenges.

Then my husband came back from deployment and I stopped reading as much, falling into an incredibly long book slump. I have started about 10-15 books and have only managed to finish a few of them- three books.

I have read three books since July. And as someone who loves to read, someone who used to carry a book in her bag a la Rory from Gilmore Girls and was almost always with a book, this hurts me. I feel as if I let my inner bookworm down which is stupid yes, but it doesn't take the feelings away.

On the positive side, I did read 29 books this year and while not a lot of them were 5 star reads, quite a few of them were pretty great.

Amber

Currently Reading: Eleanor and Park

Hi guys,

It's me again and I'm here to tell you a bit about what I'm currently reading.

Now Eleanor and Park is a book that has been around for quite some time. If I remember right it was published in 2013, during a time where I wasn't really doing much reading. Now I have already read two Rainbow Rowell novels, Fangirl and Carry On and I loved them a lot, especially Carry On which was just beyond magical to me and also added a lot of humor to the whole Chosen One trope but Eleanor and Park is a book that I have recently heard a lot of not so good things about.

Recently, it came to my attention during a twitter thread that there were quite a few things within Eleanor and Park that were triggering to poc culture, especially Korean culture. This made me feel a bit conflicted about reading it but since I had bought a signed copy before knowing that it contained anything racially insensitive I decided to warily read it anyway.

Is it bad that I still love Rainbow Rowell's writing style? Because I have to tell you that I do. There is something lovely about how Rainbow Rowell writes a book. Her way with words is just fantastic but I do have to let you all know that right from the beginning I found some things within the literature that were racially insensitive. Things were mentioned about people that I felt did not need to be mentioned and would not have been mentioned had the characters in question had not been POC.

As for the book itself and the friendship/eventual romance between Eleanor and Park, I do find that at first, I was a fan. Their friendship was very adorable and they both gave things to each other that no one else had but I do feel that they sort of went a bit weird once they confessed their love for each other (for example: Eleanor's comment about how Park has "magic eyes" and makes her feel like a cannibal <--- say what now?).

I'm hoping that once I get going again on this book that I might be able to enjoy their romance a bit more. If so, I'll give you all the details and if not, you can be sure to hear all about those details as well.

Amber

Growing! We Do It Everyday...

Greetings friends,

I know I have been incredibly absent from the world of blogging and nail polish lately but I'm here to let you all know that I'm back. Now, I feel like I owe you guys an explanation for not just my absence but also as to what I plan to do on this blog from now on. As for the explanation, well I had another child, moved houses and also became a full-time online college student, pursuing a degree in Teaching History for Secondary Education.

I also happened to lose a bit of interest in nail polish and the nail polish community. With two children and the full time job that is pursuing an education, it hasn't been easy to settle down and paint my nails. I've also been rping, tapping into my love of Harry Potter and creating a community where people can write their own HP stories to their heart's content has sort of taken over my life in some aspects but honestly, sometimes I feel more like pretending to be Lee Jordan in his world than feel like living out my own life, not that I hate my life but fiction is where my imagination roams and fact can get a bit lonely at times.

Now as for what you can expect to see in the upcoming days and weeks of my blog are a splattering of my own interests and ideas. Some days I will post reviews of books, bath bombs, and possibly even episodes of television shows. Other days I might feel like going over some issues I have had when it comes to reading, going through school full-time, parenting and other random things. I may even come at you guys with a haul every once in awhile.

The thing is though, that I am here and that I do feel a lot more evolved and complicated than I once was and I hope you accept me as I am which is flawed but still learning.

Amber