May Report Card

All right! It's time for the May Report Card, where I tell y'all how well I kept up with my resolutions over the month! This entire blog series is inspired by Kellie over at She Learns as She Goes. Thanks to everyone for reading!

Save $400 towards BCT Graduation

I think I did really well with this one!

Paycheck #1: $104.73. Saved: $70.00. [April 31]
Paycheck #2: $94.58. Saved: $74.58. [May 7]
Paycheck #3: $160.76. Saved: $130.00. [May 14]

Paycheck #4: $86.92. Saved: $66.00. [May 21]

Paycheck #5: $155.83. Saved: $50.02. [May 28]

Total Earned: $602.82. Total Saved: $390.60.

Grade: A+

I'm not going to need this goal any more. Oh, well. But I saved a ton of money, right? I was only $10 short of my goal. If I had still needed this goal, the money I deposited on the 29th would have been about $100 instead of only $50, thus sealing the deal and leaving me with $440 or so in the bank. So, technically, I did finish this resolution. I just won't be spending it in the way I want to.

Read Four Books

I managed to read six books this month, meeting my quota and surpassing it by two. Still, it's nowhere NEAR what I used to be able to read in a month, but then again, I was working my tail off this month, both at TreeTop and at my house.

Nobody Noticed the Cat [Anne McCaffrey]
Inside the Magic Kingdom: Seven Keys to Disney's Success [Tom Connellan]
Inkheart [Cornelia Funke]
Inkspell [Cornelia Funke]
Inkdeath [Cornelia Funke]
So You Created a Wormhole: The Time Traveler's Guide to Time Traveling [Phil Hornshaw & Nick Hurwitch]

Grade: A+

The Tin Flute

Um... Can I say "guilty" on this one? Maybe I put up my expectations too high. Or maybe I didn't remember that I'd be getting my wisdom teeth removed halfway through the month, which means I can't play a wind instrument for quite a while, for fear of getting a dry socket. (Ouch!) Maybe I'll try this one again in July, because June'll be too busy for this, too!

Grade: F

Walking

Most of my walking, unfortunately, was done at work. But hey, when you're pacing back and forth in the café all day, running to get drinks; when you're dashing between prizes and children at the prize center; when you're pacing at Water Wars just so you'd have something to do; when you're roaming around as Utility... Those steps really add up quickly! (I guess I should start wearing my Pokéwalker more often, so I can keep track of all the steps I take!!)

However, my mom & I were supposed to go walking after supper every night. That hasn't happened yet, but hopefully I'll be able to do better next month.

Now if you'll excuse me, my feet are killing me.

Grade: C

Writing

Meh...Last month really was the better month for writing. I finished two short stories last month - one for my English class, and one for my own entertainment. They turned out much better than I expected.

As for my novels, however... I haven't gotten much farther than what I started with. Ugh. It's so difficult, figuring out ways to let things come together. It's like a completely-white jigsaw puzzle. I can see where the pieces are supposed to go, or at least where I think they're supposed to go, but I have absolutely no idea how to get them to fit into those positions. It's going to take a lot more writing on my part.

I did get the entirety of my first few chapters typed up, although I wrote those a few months ago. I think I'll have to go back and edit them before I can move along, though: just to make sure everything fits together properly and whatnot.

I've managed to get more than 5,000 words added to my original story, though (remember my Books & Their Titles post from a few days ago?), upping the word count from 10,588 to 15,096. I need to finish this story, print it out, and hand it to my sister to read. I think she'd enjoy reading it. Or maybe I could send it to Kellie. I read her book, after all, and made annotations about it (with sticky notes!). Maybe she'd be willing to do the same for me. I really need some help with this story. Of course, I need to finish it first, before I let anyone read it. It'll be a rough draft of a rough draft of a rough draft, but at least it'll be done. It's going to need a lot of help to get to where it needs to be.

Grade: B

Overall Grade: C+

I still think it's better than I thought I would do, to be honest. And hey, People of the Internet! You're supposed to be the ones encouraging me, too! (And I'll encourage y'all right back.) But seeing just how badly I failed this month makes me realize that I've got a long way to go. I'm still going to try to improve myself in any way I can before Sophomore Year starts in the fall. I've just got to keep trying harder.

I do believe these Monthly Resolutions posts will become a regular thing! (That adds three extra blog posts a month to my blog, and I need all the help that I can get at some points in time!)

How did y'all do on your resolutions? Did you pass? Did you fail? Did you 'derail,' like I did with a few things? Tell me about it in the comments! Discuss things with me! Let me know what you're going to do differently next month! And do you have any ideas as to how to keep myself on track? Thank you! Look forward to tomorrow's June Resolutions post!

Retail Therapy

I realize there are a lot of girls out there who are going through a breakup right now. And I'm not going to tell you how you should attempt to get over this breakup, and I'm not going to tell you why you should get over this breakup and move on. (I haven't figured that out for myself yet, to be perfectly honest.) 

What I am going to tell you is what I did today, while attempting to figure out why a certain someone chose to be a coward and break up with me in a letter instead of doing it face to face.

What did I do today, you ask?

Retail therapy.

I know, I know. "You're wasting money to get just a little bit of a high, just so you can *attempt* to get over this guy? That's so...petty." 

Please, hear me out.

I've been saving 99% of my paychecks for the past five weeks, so that I could afford to go to South Carolina. I've been living on $20 a week for five weeks. (At the end of the week, any money that I still had left over went into my bank.) Today, though, I finally got my chance to spend some of the money that I've been making, spend it on me. (Although that trip to SC was really more for me than it was for him...)

I received $155.83 in my last paycheck. After putting up $50.02 (I had to make it an even number in my savings account), I was left with $105.81 to spend at my leisure today. And I'll have to admit, it felt nice spending that money. I was spoiling me. And I realized something: Charlie never really spent any money on me. Sure, he bought me books for my birthday, and one for Christmas, but he didn't get me anything for Valentine's Day (his letter got "lost" in the mail; I wonder if he ever even sent one) or for our one-year anniversary (which was a really big deal, seriously). 

So I spent my money on myself today. Would you care to see what I bought? :)

Earrings from Claire's - $7.63.

Okamiden from GameStop - $19.61.

Pink(?) maxidress from Wet Seal - $16.58.

Blue maxidress from Wet Seal - $16.58.

Cat flats from Traffic - $21.80

I also got a pair of "seamless" undies from Victoria's Secret ($15.81), to wear under my new dresses. (No, you're not getting a picture of those. Pervert.)

So, what was the total amount I spent today? $98.01. And let me tell you, it felt good.

Later, I went to this HUGE used-stuff store, called 2nd & Charles. I wish we'd known how BIG it was beforehand, otherwise we would've been able to spend more time there. As it was, I only got to spend about 20 minutes looking around for stuff. I did manage to find ONE book that I wanted, though, which was better than nothing :) We're hoping to go back on Monday when we take my car to the shop.

So, while I'm saying it probably wasn't wise of me to blow nearly my entire paycheck in one go, I am saying that it helped a bit. Sure, these are hollow, material things, but for just a few moments, I was able to get my mind off of Charlie for a few short hours. It was nice just shopping with my mother whilst my sister wandered in another part of the mall with her friend. (She was spending her birthday money.) 

Now, I just need to find a denim vest to go with those maxi dresses.

Gosh, I love the smell of new clothes.

Books I've Read in May

I started reading again as part of my monthly resolution, and I've realized how much I've missed it. I used to be able to read one to two books a day, if I worked hard at it, but lately it's been taking me up to a month to finish a book. (Boo!) I figure if I work on my "set" number of books, I'll be more likely to read! And, of course, I'll have these wrap-up blog posts at the end of the month to display what I've read. I hope y'all enjoy! (And who knows? Maybe you'll find a new book!)

Nobody Noticed the Cat, by Anne McCaffrey. This was a really interesting book, actually, and it's by an author that I really like. (She's not one of my favorites, but she's really good. She wrote the Dragonriders of Pern series.) This book is about a cat that appears to be manipulating the country's politics through the new King. It's an amazing read, and it's short, too! If you love cats, you'll enjoy this book :) I picked it up at the Dollar Tree, too! It was much better than expected. It's just the thing to take on a short road trip, or to leave beside your bed so that you can read a little each night. Certainly worth the $1 that I spent on it, too!

Inside the Magic Kingdom: Seven Keys to Disney's Success, by Tom Connellan. Now, this book is one of the more interesting ones that I've read. It's not exactly a fiction book, but it's not exactly a non-fiction book, either. It has a fictional story set within it, that actually turns out differently than I thought it would, but the "keys to success" are very real. It's more of a "how to be a leader in your company" type book, and I picked it up because I was bored one day. I'm glad I picked it up now, because some of the things in the book are simple but effective. If you're in any sort of leadership position, you owe it to yourself to at least glance at this book. It'll change the way you look at things.

My copy of Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke, has a shiny cover. It's awesome. Now, moving on. This is one of my favorite books. If you've ever wished that you could slip inside your favorite book, or that your favorite characters could slip out to meet you, then you need to read this book. That's exactly what happens to the Folcharts one dark night. Meggie lost her mother to the book, and she and her father are now on the run from the villain who slipped out, Capricorn. This was turned into a movie starring Brendan Fraser, but it's nothing like the book.

This is the sequel to Inkheart, titled Inkspell. It continues Meggie's adventures, as [SPOILERS!] she is now sucked into the book that swallowed her mother. However, the story's gone haywire, and it's not obeying it's author any more. It's up to Meggie to attempt to set things right, before things get any crazier. It's a tale of loss and love, and triumph. Although only two of the villains get their just rewards in this tale, this book sets the stage for the sequel, and the conclusion to the trilogy. While I don't like this book as much as I love Inkheart, it's worth reading so that you can find out what happens to the characters in the first book.

Now we come to the conclusion of the Inkheart Trilogy, Inkdeath. (You'll soon figure out why the books are titled this way; it has to do with a key plot point. How cool is that?) While I don't think the conclusion is as awesome as I had originally thought it would be, that doesn't make it any less satisfying. Well, partially satisfying, at least. There are things that I still want to know, and the book ends on a sort of cliffhanger. [SPOILER?] It's almost up to the reader to decide what happens "later," after the events in this book are over with. It's certainly worth finishing out the trilogy!

This is a book I bought the day I needed something to distract me. It just so happens that I'd been eyeing this book for some time, but I'd never had the money to actually buy it before. Now that I don't have to save for BCT graduation, I can pretty much buy anything I want. This is a very humorous book, and while it can get confusing sometimes, it's worth a look, at least :) It's going on my shelf next to my Zombie Survival Guide book. I read nearly the whole thing in one day at TreeTop while working the Clubhouse shift. Seriously. I read at least 160 pages, in about six hours. (I did do some actual work, too, which is why it took me so long to read it.)

I managed to complete six books this month, which surpasses my goal of four books previously created at the beginning of May. And these aren't your little teeny-tiny books, either; these are hundreds of pages long. (The Inkheart books, for example, are all over 500 pages long.) I probably read around 2,000 pages this month, but I'm not going to take the time to calculate everything. For one, most of the books are upstairs, and I'm currently downstairs eating breakfast, and I don't want to move. For two, I don't want to do math this early in the morning.

What books have you read this month? Is there a book on this list that you'd like to know more about? Tell me in the comments! I love talking about books, and once you get me started, you may never get me to stop!

Happy Fifteenth Birthday, Sarah!

Today is my little sister's birthday. She's fifteen years old. It's terrifying to think that she's of legal age to be driving a car (WITH a licensed driver with her at all times, of course)! Much more terrifying is the fact that it's been almost four years since I've gotten my driver's permit. 

I feel so old.

Sarah was born in Kentucky, when we were living just off Fort Knox. Charlie's family now lives on that same street, nearly fourteen years later. They're on the other end of the street, though.

Isn't that crazy?

I don't remember much about Sarah being a baby, but I do remember her toddler years. She was quite prone to tantrums. Eventually everyone ignored her, and she stopped throwing them. (Good parenting? Bad parenting? "It'll do" parenting? o.o)

It's funny; whenever we go out, people either assume we're friends, or they assume she's the older sister. We look nothing alike, and she sometimes wears a lot of eye makeup, and that makes her look older. (Also, she's about half an inch taller than me...which is why I wear my ankle boots as much as humanly possible.)

This is the most recent picture Sarah & I took together.

The past few years, she hasn't really known what she wants for her birthday, and this year is no exception. However, she finally did decide that she'd like to go to the Galleria for a birthday shopping trip, along with one of her friends. We're also going out to Red Lobster for dinner tonight.

But one thing's for sure: If you ever mess with my little sister, and I don't care WHO you are or HOW big you are, I will find you, and I will kill you. That is a promise that I will keep, no matter the cost to me. So beware, evil-doers. I will have my vengeance. 

Introduction

Hi, there.

Y'all might recognize me from the blog, The Life of an Army Band Girlfriend. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control, at least for now, that blog has been suspended indefinitely.

However, my short foray into the blogosphere has taught me something: I absolutely love blogging. I'm not going to give it up just because one of my blogs happens to have crashed and burned. (At least for now.)

If you don't know me, my name is Lauren. I'm a former military brat who's now making her way into college, hoping to become an English major one day (with a minor in Creative Writing) and teach at a high-school level. I'll be a sophomore in the fall. I love cats, books, and writing.

It's going to take a while to get this blog up to the standards of my old one, but I hope y'all will bear with me as I work on it. I have so many unpublished posts from my other blog that I would love to use here, and since they're not at all related to the military, I suppose that I'd rather have them published here than see them wither into the nether that is now the UNPUBLISHED POSTS section of LoaABGF.

Sorry, rambling.

Anyway. You're probably wondering about the title of this blog. "Not in Nottingham?" you ask. "What's that about?" ...Well, have you ever seen the Disney version of Robin Hood, with the animals?

Sometimes ups outnumber the downs...but not in Nottingham.

And at the moment, my life is a Nottingham. I'm hoping to power through that and come out even stronger than before.

Thank you for continuing this journey with me. I owe everyone here so much.

~Lauren