Musings

August 13, 2016

Italian Lessons

Okay, so the title of this post is a bit misleading. To clarify, I have not taken lessons in speaking Italian and, if I’m being completely honest, my Italian speaking abilities consists of basic greetings, “grazie”, and apologetically smiling and batting my eyes. Oh, and I got pretty good at ordering coffee and gelato. But Continue reading

literary living, Musings

adventure, Book, cafe freddo, coffee, composing, cremona, espresso, explore, food, italian, italy, lessons, life lessons, musician, pasta, piano, tourist, travel, writer, writing
July 8, 2016

Affirming Ourselves to Death

Selfishness is nothing new, but it has grown to such enormous proportions that this generation is actually known as the “Entitlement Generation.” The saddest part is that we, the members of this generation, have been deceived into believing that there is nothing wrong with this and even seem to have redefined morality as personal happiness. From birth, we have been spoon-fed on praise, Continue reading

Faith, Musings

affirmation, Aristotle, Aristotle friendship, Augustine, Christian love, Christlike love, City of God, complete affirmation, complete friendship, genuine love, love
June 23, 2016

Miss Darcy

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single woman having read or seen Pride and Prejudice, must be in want of a Mr. Darcy.” – Jane Austen and Ryanne McLaren* *Note: The above quote does not actually represent the entirety of this post, but I did think it rather apt in capturing the feelings of Austenites Continue reading

Literature, Musings

AP Literature, author, authors, blog, blogger, Book, books, bookworm, character analysis, characters, classic literature, darcy, elizabeth bennet, great books, inspiration, INTJ, Jane Austen, literature, meyers briggs, mr. darcy, novel, pride and prejudice, reader, Reading, romance, torrey honors institute, writer, writing
May 23, 2016

11 Writers’ Paradises

I use “I’m a writer!” to justify haunting many eclectic and sometimes downright strange locations. I visited four of the below Eleven Writers’ Paradises today, so I guess you could say it was a successful Sunday! (And yes, I know 11 is a weird number for a list, but it is my favorite number so sorry not sorry.) Continue reading

Musings

antique, author, authors, Book, books, bookworm, cemetery, church, coffee shop, hipster, inspiration, inspiring, library, novel, paradise, poem, short story, used bookstore, writer, writing
May 5, 2016

“Good Boy”

When I was in second grade, a dream came true: we got a dog. It was rather unexpected, but it was probably one of the happiest days of my life, never mind the fact that our new puppy was sent to live at Grandma and Grandpa’s house a month later (on my birthday no less…worst Continue reading

Musings, Poetry

dead pet, death, dog, good boy, grief, lost pet, pet, poetry, puppy, sad
April 17, 2016

Lessons

College. It’s a place where you learn. It’s also a place where you live. (Or survive on chocolate and minimal hours of sleep…but that’s the same thing.) In my first year of college, I have learned many things. However, most of them don’t relate to academics. Sure, I know more words than when I started Continue reading

Musings
March 9, 2016

Jill of all Trades or Renaissance Woman?

I am what one might call a “Jill of All Trades,” the female counterpart of a “Jack of All Trades.” I quite liked this phrase until I saw a quote on Pinterest (seriously, Pinterest? You’re supposed to be my social media happy place!) that reads: “Jack of all trades, but a master of none.” Well stink. Continue reading

literary living, Musings

blog, books, classic literature, composing, da vinci, inspiration, jack of all trades, jill of all trades, Music, novel, organ, piano, Reading, renaissance man, renaissance woman, short story, writing
January 20, 2016

Everythingism

I promise I’ll explain the cat sandwich in space picture in the end, so just bear with me for a few paragraphs, okay? Thanks. I am what most would consider a perfectionist, which is in itself both a blessing and a curse. On the positive side, it leads me to, more often than not, accomplish Continue reading

Musings

books, cat sandwich, diligence, do all the things, do everything, everything, excellence, hard work, literature, Music, music major, perfect, perfectionism, perfectionist, pressure, trying too hard, writer
January 10, 2016

Literary Tourism

Don’t be a tourist. I don’t mean don’t travel; by all means, see the world and explore new places! But don’t be a tourist, defined as “a person who travels for pleasure, especially sight-seeing and staying in hotels.” That doesn’t sound so bad, but can one really experience a place through simply seeing sights and Continue reading

literary living, Literature, Musings

Anna Karenina, author, Book, books, bookworm, classic literature, explorer, exploring, great books, literary, literature, london, masterpiece, novel, paris, Reading, tolstoy, tourism, travel, traveller, writer, writing
December 9, 2015

Another Open Letter from an INTJ

Hello again! A while ago I posted “a Rare Open Letter from an INTJ” and feel inclined to continue this one-sided correspondence with another. A word that is not commonly associated with the INTJ personality combination is “emotional.” Another such word might be “caring” or “friendly.” Well, to quote a wise television character: FALSE. INTJs Continue reading

Musings

INTJ, Myers-Briggs, personality
November 1, 2015

What’s your Coffee PersonaLatte?

In the midst of the craziness of the past few months, I have observed that college changes people. For some, they might challenge their former political ideologies or decide to go by their middle name or cut off their hair or switch majors a record number of times. However, the most common change seems to be that Continue reading

Musings

americano, cafe, caffe, caffeine, cappuccino, coffee, coffee drinkers, espresso, frappuccino, hipster, latte, macchiato, mocha, personality, starbucks
October 20, 2015

Reading Rainbow: College Edition

Sometimes my color-coded annotation system gets a little out of hand, but it sure is pretty. In the wise words of Buddy the Elf, “It’s like a Christmas tree!” This rainbow artwork of a first page gives me hope as I push through “ye olde English”. But then again, maybe old English isn’t so Continue reading

Musings

annotations, faerie queene, literature, Reading, spenser, torrey, twilight