Dang- is that the date already??

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I'm sitting on the sofa biting my nails because I know I've been a naughty blogger lately. Sorry!! You know-- it's not in my nature to be mysterious, but I can't talk about it {what's happening} and I can't talk about why.

Can anyone name that movie?? {Think men-- think classic-- think 11+1}

It's like when someone says don't tell....and all you wanna do is tell. So as previously stated I'm avidly hunting for other things to keep me more than preoccupied. Unfortunately my blogging has suffered from it, but I am still here!! I'm still loving comments you leave for me and also reading up on your lives as well. You guys always have the greatest bits of wisdom that some how fit so perfectly in my life at any given moment.

One thing I can divulge is that Royal has been otherwise preoccupied for over  3 weeks now. Ans as luck would have it that aforementioned preoccupation hasn't allowed for us all to be together. I miss him most fiercely. My heart aches for him and I long for the day when we are reunited. When I finally can feel his strong arms wrap around me and bask in the feeling of my bones melting and the invisible knots that have formed begin to loosen and then disappear. When all is right in the world again because we are together. It's amazing to me how much power his mere presence has over me. So because I am having a {massive} "I miss Royal moment" I'll leave you with this quote from a master storyteller.

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So, now having heard my "tragedy" tell me-- what is your favorite Shakespear anything....quote, play, factoid?? Shout off below in the comments.  Ready-- Set-- Go---->

xO-Etheline

a little bit of me

We had the Sister Missionaries over for dinner last night. It was loads of fun. I whipped up a pot of taco soup which was delicious, yet probably a silly idea since it was 88 degrees outside. After some healthy conversation that was centered around the east coast being far superior to the west coast, we ate, and then the sisters shared this video with us. You can find visit Mormon.org to hear about other people stories and a very easy to understand breakdown of what we as Mormons believe. You can even request a Book of Mormon or chat online with a missionary with any question you may have. 



This video really hit home with me. Forgiveness is something that has been on my mind as of late. I've always grasped the concept that when we sin we have the power to ask for God to forgive us. And I know it is my job to forgive others when I am wronged, no matter what the circumstance, no matter how hard. What I seem to always forget, is to forgive myself. I don't always feel that I have made up for the wrong that I've done. It is so easy to be so hard on ones self. One of the steps of repentance is to make amends, sometimes that means with yourself. A few weeks ago I had a marvelous experience that allowed me to realize this, and that in order to put the past behind me and move on I need to forgive myself. This will allow me {and you} to be healed fully as the repentance process is near completion.

It is a wonderful that God has given us. We have had the power to choose, as well as the power to plead for his forgiveness when we falter. I hope that each of us can find it in out hearts to allow the principle of forgiveness to work in our lives.

xO-Etheline.

Word To Live By

I'm straying off the "Words to Live By" path a little today.

Hear me out though- you'll love it I promise.

See I found this Oscar Wilde quote and it just made me smile and I knew it would make you smile too--

Look::

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But then I kept digging and found some more quotes that I simply had to share. They aren't all pretty, but the truth of his words speak volumes. I mean, there's a reason the mans famous...he knew his {insert word of choice here}

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 {Nail on head}

 {unfortunate, but if it's gonna happen I'm gonna want it up front}

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 What's your favorite quote, Oscar Wilde, or other??

xO-Etheline

Big time storybook addiction:: A Discovery of Witches

Let me start out by apologizing for the disappearing act last Thursday and Friday. I was having major technical difficulties that could not be helped. To my great relief though things are better and back to normal and so I'm really excited to share with you a little review on a book I finished over the weekend. {I love it. 5 Stars all the way}

Back story:: When I was 23 years old I discovered this passion that silently laid dormant inside of me. I LOVE to read. Before than I had read maybe 10 books {and that included the harry potter series}. Don't laugh, but for me it all started with Twilight. Even now 3 years and 100 books later I still hold a special place in my heart for that book because it opened my eyes to a whole new wonderful world of books. Afterwards I went through a downward spiral procession of paranormal fantasy. So when I saw A Discovery of Witches sitting on a shelf at my local Barnes and Noble my mind reeled with the possibilities of long nights reading and getting swept away into the forbidden romance between a witch and a vampire that I was promised on the book jacket flap.

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I'll be honest the {witch and vampire fall in love} plot made me a little uneasy at first-- the whole genre has sort of been played out and I'll be the first to admit. First it was vampires, then werewolves which led to anything post apocalyptic that I get my hands on, and angels (fallen or any other kind). I stayed there for a while it was really fun. The more comfortable I become with reading, however, the more I sprinkled in some of the hard stuff. You know-- classics and women's fiction {affectionately known as "beach reads"} The good news A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harness includes a forbidden romance but, know that there is much more to it than that. For starters there's no teen angst or whining. This is {NOT} a YA book.

Our two lead characters, Matthew de Clairmont, resident 1500 year old vampire/scientist and fellow at Oxford, and Diana Bishop, early 30's witch/professor studying the history of science, particularly alchemy, are fully developed and well rounded. Their strengths and weakness are revealed throughout the story and they generally act like real people. Harkness has a gift for making the unbelievable; believeable. Like if there really were supernatural beings walking the earth with us, this is how you'd expect them to behave.

The plot unfolds gradually so give it a few pages for it to clamp onto you and never let you go. Trust me you will enjoy every bit of how Harkness unravels all the details of the story. As Diana and Matthew work together to understand the secret behind the bewitched document Ashmole-782 it seems that at every corner there is more than meets the eye. This includes all side of the supernatural world becoming interested in what the secret behind this manuscript means for them all.

Diana and Matthew's relationship slowly deepens over the course of the novel, but their love seems to run deeper than the average fantasy couple. They are far from perfect and somehow find ways to learn to accept the others faults and yet still choose to be together. They draw strength from one another and lift each other up-- and to me is much like a real marriage. 

If science and paranormal stories tickle your fancy than race off to the bookstore {or ebookstore} and get this book. You will not regret it!!

Take a peek at some of the places and things you'll spend time with inside A Discovery of Witches:

{via :: Bodleian Library at Oxford}

{via :: Great topic of debate}

{via :: Early morning crew}

{via :: All Souls College}

{via :: French Chateau's}

{via :: plus a little bit of this}

{via :: and that}

{via :: Upstate New York}

{via :: Grimoire}

You know what else? It's perfect timing to read this book because the sequel Shadow of Night hits bookshelves this July.  You can pre-order it here. So get reading my friends and of course don't forget to share your thoughts with me when you 're done. We can have our own little cyber book club. {Seriously...lets do that. Who's in?}

xO-Etheline

Words to Live By

Have you read  How to Win Friends and Influence People ?? It' filled with little nuggets of wisdom like this one... 

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One thing I love about reading is that you can come across passages that really can change your life; if you let them. That if it hadn't been written it never would have had the chance to make your life better. It's amazing. This particular quote really stuck out to me because sometimes I struggle with making friends, yet it's in my nature to be somewhat of a social butterfly. Quite the conflicting conundrum. I've always thought maybe I have to strong of a personality and people get tired of me. I wasn't sure what the deal was. When I read this I decided to take a harsh look at myself in the mirror. I thought, maybe I'm to focused on myself and not with others well being. This was not a good mirror staring session, but facing realities about yourself that may not be flattering never is. The good is coming out on the other side of the rabbit hole. To realize how to fix the problem and move forward in faith to fix it. My new goal for this month is to make 2 new friends. To help them grow and be able to share their same interests. Off I go-- today is day 1.

Have you read this book? Have you put similar ideas into practice? Tell me about-- Tell me I'm not a lost cause..lol

xO- Etheline

a funny conversation

I love the TV show Castle, and I couldn't be more thrilled that {SPOILER ALERT} Kate and Rick and finally together!! Can we say long time coming??

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The following did not take place before a live studio audience, but it was still petty funny!!

Mom: What's happening?

Me: {watching castle} Oh, this is the one where they are stuck together in that creepy room.

Mom: They wake up hand cuffed together?

Me: Yeah, its really funny. Actually they are being held by a mother and her sons who are trafficking tigers.

Mom: Tigers? Like older woman?

Me: No mom, not a cougar, a tiger...as in jungle cats. They sell them to zoos and stuff.

The end. I can always count on my mom for a good laugh. I love her tons!!!

xO- Etheline

all by myself

This post is all about misdirection today. Here, let me show you...

This is me {no, not really} as I'm sitting here on my typewriter laptop drumming my fingers on the keys trying to figure out a way to navigate today's post. I'm getting no where fast, I'll tell you this much. 

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Life is indescribably hectic right now for our family of 5. Exciting, but hectic. We have tons of possibilities popping up at every corner {thank you Heavenly Father} but this doesn't make things easier necessarily. The worst part is:: I have to keep a lid on it all. I hate secrets, folks! Hate!! I can't spill any of these amazing things right now and it's killing me. I feel like a kid who is bouncing up and down and at any second could burst and let the cat out of the bag.

So until I can spill I have instead decided to keep myself preoccupied with things like this-- 

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and this....

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Well Audrey here has read my mind I'm gonna scoot before I spill the beans. Don't worry though-- you won't be in the dark forever friends. As soon as we have something concrete the flood gate will be lowered! Trust!!

-xO- Etheline

Words To Live By

I'm keeping my Words To Live By simple today friends.

 

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Sometimes I find the old adage less is more really is the best way to get a message across. And so I leave this message that I find great comfort in with you today. I love it! I want to just slap it on a canvas and put it up in my office; if I had an office. Happy Tuesday:)

xO-Etheline 

Currently Craving: Dessert{s} + Other Goodies

We have been gone for a little over two months now. Two--can you believe that??  Let me tell you the one thing I truly miss; my kitchen. I never understood before now how much I took for granted a full sized stocked fridge, multiple burners, and an oven that I have always had access to. Rest assured though it will never happen again!! Some moments occur where I miss the freedom of walking into my kitchen and whipping up a delicious treat for me and my familia. Like these ones below----->

{WARNING: may cause drooling}

On the other hand, I don't miss the piles of dishes that were usually left in the wake of the mama of the families occasional Mad Hatter ways in the kitchen. In my defense the results where usually well worth it! I haven't used an oven since we left...that feels so odd to me, yet there are so many people here in Colombia that don't even have one; have never even used one. I feel so blessed to have the simple things that make me so incredibly happy in life. Yes, like an oven.

Man I would kill for a good old fashioned American Cheeseburger!! And some BBQ chicken. And some homemade chocolate chip cookies. Don't misunderstand, you can get most of these things here, but they just aren't the same. I'm nor sure if that's good or bad, but there it is.

Now go into your kitchen and bake something for me your family. Anything. Get a move on now<33

xO-Etheline

Weekend Wrap Up

As stated earlier in the week in went horseback riding. On a real horse- with horseshoes, a saddle, and reigns!! I'm not talking a pony here either. 100% bon-a-fide horse. That little girl in me was jumping for joy!!

{be advised} I have run out of mascara and refuse to fork over the amount of cash at the moment to replace my favorite make up item. So please excuse the extreme hot mess.

Salento

Royal and I

 All my life I have thought that if I tried enough things I would stumble upon something that I was an absolute savant at. When I was 17 I thought it was archery. Strange, right?? And in case you were wondering....it wasn't archery. When I got on to my horse it took a few moments to get my bearings but after that I was completely comfortable. I was even out in front of our guide. He complimented me through out the day which only made me blush, because when I was galloping through the countryside I felt like I was Julia Roberts in Runaway Bride {lol}

Pretend Pioneer Woman an MM

Cheese

Time of my life!

Beautiful right?

At the end of our ride:(

I was so surprised at how natural it felt for me to hold the reigns and ride. I absolutely loved it and told Royal so every 10 minutes. Time of my life kinda stuff. I have found my new hobby my friends. I would never get into competitions or anything, but I want to go out and ride all the time. Especially after my bottoms heals because man those saddles are HARD and we will leave it at that.

Have any of you ever been riding? "If you have the means....I highly recommend one." Anyone? {name that movie} Anyone??

Have a happy weekend my friends:)

xO-Etheline