Bollywood Movie Obession

A couple weeks ago, my dad all of a sudden decided that our family needed to start widening our horizons in the kinds of movies that we watch.  I guess he was getting tired of watching Frozen over and over again.  So my dad rented some Bollywood movies from the library to see what we'd think.  He put in the first movie, Jab We Met, and I realized just how different Bollywood movies are from movies over here in America.

 First of all, in every single Bollywood movie, people just randomly start doing really awesome, perfectly choreographed dances while they sing.  It's really cool, and lately I've been in my room trying to do some of those moves they're doing!  It's very unique and defintley different from anything else I've ever seen!

Bollywood movies are also very looooong, I think one of them was like 4 hours!  To an average hour and a half American film, that's crazy long!

But I realized I have a new found love of Bollywood movies, I am so glad my dad introduced me to them!  I love seeing all of their crazy colorful outfits and the beautiful saris the women wear.  Everything is just so colorful! :)

My two favorite movies I have watched so far would be, Dostana, which is a romantic comedy, and Om Shanti Om which is a romantic movie but it's a little bit creepy as well!  You should watch these if you haven't!

By being introduced to Bollywood movies I also have a new celebrity crush now, Shahrukh Khan, who is one of the most popular actors in Bollywood right now.  He's so cute and he's really good at dancing!  Sadly he's 48 and married with 3 kids, so I don't have a chance, but I guess we can all dream!

Anyway, I love Bollywood movies and I can't wait to watch more!  Have you ever watched a Bollywood movie?  Do you have any Bollywood crushes?

Thanks for reading!
-Alyssa :)

The Fault in Our Stars

Last night at about 1:00 a.m I finished one of the best books I have ever read.  I'm sure everyone on the planet is pretty familiar with the book, The Fault in Our Stars.  And I'm telling you, if you haven't read it yet, you need to go get it, and read it NOW. The characters Hazel and Augustus are so believable and I got so emotionally attached to the story, that by the end, I was surprised that I was just sitting on my bed in my room!
John Green is an amazing author.  That guy knows how to write, he knows how to make me feel so happy one moment, and the next moment, miserable and crying tears into my pillow.  If you haven't read the book, here is the summary from Goodreads:

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

This book was amazing and it literally took me like 2 days to finish.  This book has just the right amount of happiness and sadness, but not too sad that it's depressing.  The Fault in Our Stars is bittersweet, which is a great way for a book to end, not overly happy, but not heart-breakingly sad.  

I'm also so excited for The Fault in Our Stars movie to come out on June 6! Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort will be the perfect Hazel and Augustus.  I can't wait!

Have you read The Fault in Our Stars yet?  Are you excited for the movie?  Leave a comment below!

Thanks for reading! :)
-Alyssa

It's Been Awhile!

Hey guys!

Okay, I know this is terrible.  It's almost been a whole YEAR since I last posted.  But I'm a sophomore in high school, so life's been pretty stressful!

So much has happened since the last time I blogged.  For starters, I finally got a dog named Rory!  If you've ever seen Doctor Who (I mean who hasn't) then you'll know where the name comes from!  He's a full beagle, and he's not even 1 yet so he is really tiny and just so adorable!

Rory!! <3

I also joined a synchronized skating team called the Ice Diamonds.  I used to be on a syncrho team, but it wasn't like an official team.  But anyway, the season actually just ended, and it was sooo much fun.  We skated to music from Harry Potter and traveled to Michigan and even Chicago for some of our competitions!  The higher level Ice Diamonds team, whose theme was Great Gatsby, actually won third place at Nationals, so that was pretty exciting!  I can't wait for the next season to start up again!

Another thing, on May 16, my family and I are going on a trip to Alaska.  And no, we're not flying out there, We're driving.
 In an RV.
 It is so my family to decide to do something crazy like this, but I am beyond excited!  I mean, who gets to say that they drove out to Alaska?! Anyway I am just so thrilled and I'll blog throughout the whole trip (if there's internet that is, that might be a problem...)  But I am going to try and blog more often and fill you in on everything that's going on!

Thanks for reading! :)
-Alyssa

What's Been Happening

Hey everyone!  I know it has been ages since I last posted, but now I finally have time to blog more since it's the summer!!  I am so happy and relieved that it is finally summer, now I can relax and I can now say that I am officially a sophomore in high school!

I have been busy working on writing my novel lately, and I am really getting into it!  I am still on my first draft, but I am making a lot of progress.  I want my book to be around 100,000 words, which is good for contemporary YA fiction, which is the genre that I am writing in.

I have also have some great news!!  Just when school finally ended my dad got a Chromebook laptop for me!  I was and am so happy!  It works great, it's fast and it's portable.  I am also so happy because now I don't have to share a computer with my brother, that can be really hard sometimes...

I am also so excited because we will be going up to my great-grandpa's cottage soon!  We always go fishing, play cards, water ski, and watch fireworks there, (since we will be there on the fourth of July.)  We all have so much fun, and it's a great way to get the family together so we can all have an awesome time and talk about everything new that's been going on!

Sorry for not blogging in so long and I will definitely get back into it this summer!! :)


-Alyssa :) <3

A-Z Challenge

      I signed up for the wonderful A-Z Challenge this year but sadly, I actually won't be able to do it this time.  :( I'm just waaay too busy!  So I'm really sorry!  I was going to do it on the books I've read or books I want to read!  So I'm very disappointed I won't be able to do it this year! I will still be checking out other people's A-Z posts and be commenting + following!

Thanks everyone!
-Alyssa

YA Highway: Road Trip!

Hey guys!  Again today I'm doing the YA Highway question of the week!

This weeks question is: 

What's the most dramatic road trip you've ever been on?

 In 2011 my dad decided we were going to move out to Seattle, Washington.  This was something that took us completely by surprise because we had been living in Ohio for five years.   So instead of doing the normal flying out to Seattle, we drove out to Seattle...

Yes, we drove across the whole country practically, but it was one of the most awesome and unforgettable trips that I had ever taken!  We got to see so many cool sites like, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, Devil's Tower, Sun Valley and more!!  It took us a long time to get to Seattle but we finally made it!  Seattle was so beautiful, we went to see the Space Needle of course (which was super awesome by the way!) And we just had so much fun there!! 

But after a month of being in Seattle, my dad decided we should move back to our house in Ohio!  We were all completely taken aback when my dad had told us that, but we were also feeling like this wasn't the right place for us to be living in.  So we packed our things and drove the long journey back home!

I'm the one in pink!!   (Hiking in Sun Valley)

  If you want to participate click the link at the top of my post!! 

Thanks for reading!

-Alyssa :)

YA Highway: Good For a Laugh!

I've been wanting to do a lot of blogfests lately and I'm doing another one today!

So, today I'm participating in the YA Highway question of the week!

This week's question is:

Who is your favorite comedian or funny book and/or movie?

I am going to share by favorite funny book because, I just recently finished a really cute, humor-filled read!

The book is called:

Anna and The French Kiss

This book was soooo funny and it was just a very fun read.  I loved that this book took place in France. I also loved how the author explained the different and awesome places there.  It felt like I was really in France!!  And I absolutely loved all of the characters.  They were all very well developed, and they didn't feel one dimensional.  Here's a summary of the book that I found on Goodreads.

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris--until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming,beautiful, Étienne has it all...including a serious girlfriend. 

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?

It was such a great book and I highly recommend you read this, if you want a fun, cute and romantic read!! 

If you want to sign up, click the link at the top of my post!

Thanks  for reading!

-Alyssa :)

Express Yourself Blogfest!

Today I am participating in the Express Yourself Blogfest hosted by Dani and Jackie!

This week's topic is:

Are there any books, movies or music you are anticipating this year?

Yes there is!  Here are some of my answers!!

BOOKS:

Splintered, by A.G. HOWARD.

Here's the summary I got from Goodreads:

This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence. Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.
When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.

This book looks really awesome!  I am totally intrigued by the cover too, the first time I saw it I was like, I need to read this! It's also cool that her name is Alyssa, just like me! :)

MOVIES:

Oz the Great and Powerful, Catching Fire and Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters.

I'm anticipating all of these movies very much!!  They all look so exciting and totally action-packed!  I can't wait to see some of these movies in the theaters!

Music:

One Directions new album, Take Me Home.

This album isn't coming out, it already came out a little bit ago, but it is really new and I love almost all of their songs!

Hope you enjoyed my answers!  If you want to do this Blogfest, go over to the link at the top of my post! :)

Thanks for reading!

-Alyssa :)

YA Highway: Fantasy Bookstore!

Hey guys!

It's been hard for me to blog on a regular schedule, and once I skip blogging for a week or two I just feel like I'm letting all my followers down!  So then I don't blog for even longer!  Which in the end, just makes it worse...

Anyway, first,
I wanna give a big shout out to my sister Jessica McKendry from Write.Skate.Dream for finishing her novel called From The Ashes!! :) :)  Great job Jessica!!

 Today I'm participating in the YA Highway question of the week.  This week's topic is:

Imagine you get to open your own bookstore.  What would it look like?  What kinds of books would you sell?

I would want my fantasy bookstore to look really cutesy and almost look like it's in a fairy-tale!  Since I'm fourteen years old, right now, I would like to have my bookstore be pink and just look super cute! I would have cute decorations all over the bookstore to make it look even better! In my bookstore I would sell all kinds of books!  Of any genre as well, so it would bring in all kinds of people, little kids to adults!  And of course I would have my sisters book in my bookstore too!! In my bookstore I would also have a little bakery inside, selling cupcakes, cakes, muffins and more, so you can read and enjoy a yummy dessert! This is what I think my bookstore would look like!

 Hope you enjoyed reading!  

-Alyssa :)

December Already!

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT'S ALREADY DECEMBER?!?

I can't!  It feels like the year has gone by waaay to fast.  I say that every year, but I feel like I haven't gotten enough done yet!  Do some of you guys feel like that?

Anyway let me start by talking about some things we did over Thanksgiving.
Every Thanksgiving pretty much our whole family comes over to our house.  That's 17 people!  That's a lot of laughter a lot of fun and a lot of mess.  I do admit I am a very organized person, so when one thing is out of place it really bothers me! And I absolutely hate clutter!!
And do take into consideration that there aren't only adults over at out house  we have three 8 year olds (my cousins and my little brother)  and one 5 year old.  That's a lot of mess!!  But I controlled myself and tried to stay out of the messiest rooms so I wouldn't just start cleaning everything!

Over Thanksgiving we went ice skating, we baked yummy croissant rolls (Pillsbury, those are the best!!) we planned on making gingerbread houses but we didn't have the time.  We also played the fun word game Apples to Apples a lot, and we went to a hockey game and our dad got us a suite to stay in!! The room was awesome! :)

Here are some pics!

My cousin Isabella :)

Me and Jessica with little cousin Matt at the suite!

Suite at Monsters Game!

Also real quick!  I have an ice show that's on Saturday and I'm doing a program with one of my friends.  We are skating to a song called Palladio by the band Escala.  They area a group of 4 girls and they play on electric cellos and violins!  They are so awesome! Wish me luck! :)

Thanks for reading!
-Alyssa :)

Cooking Class!

       Yesterday my mom, dad and I went to a really awesome cooking class at the Loretta Paganini Culinary School of Cooking.  We went to a really cool pasta making class where you get to make your own homemade pasta in the flavors of, original, spinach pasta, tomato pasta and even...

.............

Chocolate pasta!

With a delicious raspberry sauce! 

I know it sounds weird!  I even thought it sounded really weird at first too!  But once we made it in class and tried it, I thought it was one of the best pastas that I had ever eaten, like in my whole life!  The pasta making process was really fun too!  You have to roll out the dough, (it's only made with flour, one egg and salt.) and then you flatten it out with a really cool machine, and then finally, the coolest step, you put the now thin pasta in a different part of the machine, and the pasta gets cut into perfect noodle strips! It's so cool!

******

Anyway I did tell you (in my last post) that if the lemon ice cream that I made turned out good, I would share the recipe with you!  And the lemon ice cream was amazing!!  Here's the recipe!

• 1 lemon, juiced and zested
• 
  
• Another lemon, juiced
• 
  
• 2 cups of white sugar (If you aren't a person who likes things pretty sweet, cut it down to 1 cup.)
• 
  
• 4 cups of milk

• 
  

Here are the directions!! :)

In a medium bowl, stir together lemon juice and zest with sugar until smooth. Stir in milk.  Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturers' directions.

Lemon Ice Recipe

Enjoy!!

Thanks

-Alyssa :)

Happy Halloween!

  First of all, HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!! :)   

Second, I have really good news, just on Monday I passed my intermediate moves in figure skating! I am so excited because now I get to start working on the next level called novice moves.  I am really excited to start working on these, they sound so fun!! :)

I am also going to make lemon ice cream this afternoon!  After I'm done with all of my schoolwork for today...By the way I have a test in every subject today!  Ugh..  I'll tell you if the ice cream is good though, and if it's really good I'll share the recipe!

This Halloween I will not be trick-or-treating mainly because I'm too lazy to figure out what I should wear for a costume and secondly I just kind of want to have a nice relaxing Halloween eating Almond Joys, Kit Kat's an of course Reese's.  One of the best candies ever invented if you ask me!

What are you being for Halloween?  Or are you not dressing up?

Have a Spectacularly SPOOKY Halloween!

Thanks
-Alyssa :)

Regionals and my Birthday!

                 I know I keep making excuses to why I haven't been blogging for a while, but I really have been super busy! Just on Saturday I was competing in qualifying regionals in Ann Arbor Michigan at the Ice Cube arena.  I love this arena because first, I competed there earlier in the year (so I was used to the rink and not as scared) and second I just love the name The Ice Cube!  It's so cute!! :)
Anyway, it was a great  experience that many people don't get to do, so I thought I might as well take this opportunity.  I skated really well while I was in my program.  I landed all of my jumps cleanly and I went in to them a lot faster than I did in my previous competitions.  I just wanted to go for all of the jumps no matter what happened.

Me and my mom (my coach) posing for a pic! :)

So I ended up taking 12th out of 18th, which isn't bad especially considering that I was doing the less complicated jumps than everyone else.  But I improved my previous score by three points!!  So I was happy because when you're competing, the only one you're really  competing against is yourself.  So I'm very happy with my placement!

Anyway yesterday was my 14th birthday and I had an awesome time!  My grandparents were over (they actually were watching me compete at regionals too!) we went out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant, my mom made an amazing coconut, pineapple cheesecake, and I got some really awesome gifts!  I got some awesome cookbooks, I got the movie The Avengers, (I LOVE THAT MOVIE!!) I got some clothes + cute pink legwarmers for skating, and an amazon gift card!  This week was so much fun!! :D



Thanks for reading! :)

-Alyssa :)

A Cinderella Story!! YA-Highway

Today I will be participating in the YA-Highway Road trip Wednesday!

THIS WEEKS TOPIC IS:

 In honor of this month's Bookmobile book, Marissa Meyer's CINDER, name a fable or story you'd like to see a retelling of. If you're feeling creative, come up with a premise of your own!

At the end you'll see the twist I put into the story!!

   Cinderella did not have a good life.  Her stepmother and her two stepsisters were terrible to her.  She was treated like a slave.  One day Cinderella heard of a ball coming up, she wanted to go so bad, but her stepmother, and her two stepsisters wouldn't allow it. 

 Cinderella's eyes brimmed with shiny tears.  Everyone left for the ball and she had to stay behind doing chores...Then all of a sudden a short, plump fairy Godmother appeared and magically gave Cinderella a beautiful shimmering white dress!  Cinderella went to the ball and everyone thought she was beautiful.  The handsome prince wanted to dance with her, she graciously accepted.  After the dance with the prince, Cinderella knew she had stayed at the ball for too long!  

She ran as fast as she could and her glass shoe fell off!  The prince had no idea where she had gone so he searched all over to find her, and marry her!  Finally when he got to Cinderella's house, he put the shoe on Cinderella...But the shoe didn't fit!  Her foot had grown!  He didn't believe that it was she, that he had danced with.  Cinderella was devastated!  

He searched the rest of his life for the women who could fit into the tiny shoe.  Soon the fairy Godmother realized what had happened.  The fairy Godmother felt very sorry for Cinderella so, she turned her adorable dog Bruno into a handsome young man, and the two ran away and lived Happily Ever After. :)

Hope you enjoyed reading!! :)

-Alyssa 

Genre Favorites Blogfest!

Today I'm participating in the Genre Favorites Blogfest hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh!  In this Blogfest you have to...                     

List your favorite genre of:

Movie

Music

Books

And Guilty pleasure from any of these three categories!

Favorite MOVIE genre: Action/Adventure

I love action/adventure movies like Star Wars, Mission Impossible, and The Avengers.  All of these are so awesome!! :)

Favorite MUSIC genre: Pop music 

I really like any of the most new and current songs that are coming out.  I love the new song, Want You Back by Cher Lloyd, and Drive By by Train.

Favorite Book Genre: Fantasy, definitely fantasy.  

I love fantasy books, because it lets you explore a new world that is so magical and different from anything else!!

My Guilty pleasure: Comedy Movie   

My guilty pleasure is watching Blades of Glory over and over again with my family.  It's such a funny comedy movie starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder who are both male pair skaters who skate together.

Hope you enjoyed reading!!

-Alyssa :)

I'm Back!

 Things have been really hard for me lately, in my last post I was saying how I had just gone to Wisconsin for a week.  When we got back from Wisconsin, school was about to start so I had to start prepping and getting all of the school supplies that I needed, and then the next week we went to California for 10 days!  We had so much fun there though!  And then after California I had to catch up on all of the school that I had missed.  So that's the reason for me not posting for a while!  Sorry guys!  Just been so exhausted!!!

Anyway California was really awesome!  We visited Monterey, (So many sea otters + seals here, literally all over!!) Carmel, Yosemite, Palo Alto (we visited Standford!  My dad went to school there!) and San Fransisco!  Here are some pictures of our trip! All photos are taken by me!

We saw sea otters while kayaking!

Baby deer while hiking in Yosemite.

Yosemite.

Me and my sister Jessica from Write.Skate.Dream

Thanks for reading!

Alyssa :)