Always Look On The Bright Side of Life

Bright Side: This cover of Pharell's Happy by Walk Off The Earth and Parachute


 I saw them in concert last month and it was a fantastic show from both bands!



What was your Bright Side today?

Bright Side: Books & Love

Not only do I unabashedly love books, I love the characters and their stories, especially when it comes to falling in love. I have a weakness and it is a good, well-written love story. I don't care if the story is the central focus of the story or not, so long as it is honest, relateable, and makes me swoon.

Swooning is important. Very important.

So here are some of my favorite books. Click the titles for summaries and enjoy!


Contemporary Reads:
Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell
The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
Old Magic, Marianne Curley
The Last Little Blue Envelope, Maureen Johnson
Looking For Alaska, John Green
Where She Went, Gayle Forman
Anna and the French Kiss, Stephanie Perkins
Lola and the Boy Next Door, Stephanie Perkins
Attachments, Rainbow Rowell
Just One Day, Gayle Forman
Twenty Boy Summer, Sarah Ockler
Dash & Lily's Book of Dares, Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
Storm, Brigid Kemmerer



Fantasy Reads:
Throne of Glass, Sarah J. Maas
Sabriel, Garth Nix
Finnikin of the Rock, Melina Marschetta
The Girl of Fire and Thorns, Rae Carson
Siege & Storm, Leigh Bardugo
Cress, Marissa Meyer
The High King, Lloyd Alexander
Howl's Moving Castle, Dianna Wynn Jones
Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine
Brightly Woven, Alex Bracken
The Wake of the Lorelei Lee, L.A. Meyer
Something Strange and Deadly, Susan Dennard
Princess of the Midnight Ball, Jessica Day George
The Princess Bride, William Goldman

What was your Bright Side today?

Bright Side: When everything fits together...

Listening to this song.


While listening to the sounds of one of my favorite sites, Rainy Mood.


While it's actually raining outside.

While writing this scene.

"The rain is pouring outside.
Thunder rattles the windows.
It seems fitting.
The weather.
It’s exactly how I feel.
Like crying and screaming at the same time."

What was your Bright Side today?

Bright Side: People Catching References

Wonder Boy and I finally watched The Croods the other night. On a sort of related note, I'm odd and I make a lot of sound effects at work. I don't remember why I did it anymore, but I was in the front office at school and a parent overheard me do this...



Her exact words were, "Have you been watching The Croods?"

It's the little things.

What was your Bright Side today?

Bright Side: Finding the perfect song

"Mayday, mayday
Someone save me"


"Oh somebody wake me up
Oh somebody tell me you will
Tell me that you're going to save me
That everything is gonna be okay"


"I'm screaming but nobody can hear me
Can you save me from myself?"


Stumbled across Mayday by The Icarus Account while listening to an iHeart Radio station. It just resonates with my main character, Remy, in my story, Duckie, Be Happy. I've had it on repeat since I found it. I only wish I'd found it sooner!


"Can you save me from myself?"

What was your Bright Side today?

Bright Side: Buying this book (as soon as it released) yesterday!

I haven't started reading it yet, but you'll probably get another post about it when I do. There are pictures. There is an introduction by John Green. I am so excited to read Esther's story. <3 Check out the This Star Won't Go Out Foundation.

And the release of this trailer this morning.

I refreshed my facebook and tumblr feed over and over. I couldn't wait until I got home to watch it. It took five minutes to load in the copy room because we're in the middle of the school building. Then I cried. And then I watched it again. And cried again. And I've sort of been crying all day thinking about how perfect it looks. How Augustus is even wearing the right Jersey and he has the tulips and the way he calls her Hazel Grace and tells her she's beautiful. Okay? Okay.


Is it June 6th yet? Because I don't know if I can wait.

And If I haven't made you cry enough, check out this amazing song written by Troye Sivan after he finished reading John Green's The Fault in Our Stars.


What was your Bright Side today?

Wound up sitting down talking to a kid who was upset about a game today at recess. He's in first grade and he's usually a sensitive little guy so I sat down with him and before I knew it, there were at least ten kids sitting with us. The ground was dry and the sun was warm and one of the kids suggested we play duck, duck, goose. It was lovely and fun and it just made my day!

What was your Bright Side today?

Bright Side: Book Club!



My mom's book club read The Hunger Games for January. The group ranges a lot in age and mom invited me because she knows how much I enjoyed the series and how invested I am in YA literature. It turned out to be a blast talking with them about the book, the series as a whole, and even how the books have translated so far into the movies. Apparently I kept them on topic more than usual and they all want me to come back! It was very fun seeing the book from the point of view of a variety of women and it was fun to talk to some of them who really didn't like the book. If any of you ladies read this, thank you for inviting me! I had a blast!

What was your Bright Side today?

Bright Side: Disney Songs



Who doesn't? Well I did have a college professor who pretty much despised everything Disney but he had his reasons.


This medley in particular makes me happy every time I hear it.


Who hasn't fallen in love with Idina Menzel singing Let It Go?


Or just Elsa and Anna in general?
Art by c-dra


You can never go wrong with Li Shang singing I'll Make A Man Out of You.

Of course there are more, but those are the ones on my mind right now. What are your favorite Disney songs?

What was your Bright Side today?

Bright Side: Books that break you


Sounds strange, but it's true. These books are incredible. If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman. They are realistic, brutally honest and heartbreakingly beautiful. I somehow missed the Shuffle article and song lyrics at the end of Where She Went the first time I read it. I read them this time, and cried and cried.

"Happy Birthday"
Prepare For Landing, Track 4

Another day, another year
To light the candles, without you here
It's still the day that you were born
She says we laugh as we mourn

Nothing, she tells me, is ever really gone
Not you, not me, not him, it all just rolls along
An object never disappears without any trace
In its absence, there still exists a kind of negative space
Fill it up, she says, with love, with song, with candles on a cake
Light the darkness, take my hand, it will all be okay

So happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday, we sing
Then plunge our fingers into cake with neon sweet frosting
Hands slick with sugar icing, we feed each other cake
Like a wedding we'll have someday, the family we create

Nothing, she tells me, is ever really gone
Not you, not me, not them, so long as we carry on
So light a candle, take a breath, blow deep now, blow strong
Because after darkness, there always comes the dawn

But sometimes, that's what you need. A good, cathartic cry. It's what Adam needed. I do not say this lightly, but Adam and Mia are one of my favorite Young Adult couples, in part, because they don't feel like a teenage romance. They feel like real people with fears and doubts as real as any you might have. I highly recommend these books. Just make sure you have a box of tissues handy. And possibly someone to hug. Very tightly.


Like Gayle. Who is a total sweetheart. I adore her. And her shirt. It sums up her books perfectly. ALL THE FEELS. For reals.

What was your Bright Side today?