Wow...

...I can't believe this is my one-hundredth post. I know I said I would be posting everyday after my absence, but I was house-sitting from Thursday to Saturday and their internet sucked. I would try to go online and it would loose the connection. Why didn't I use my laptop and wireless, you ask. They didn't have wireless. I was so very not amused.

To top things off my mom decided that we were going to walk two times a day. An hour in the morning and forty minutes at the least in the evening. Now here is the thing about the Wenatchee Valley in the summer. It sucks. The temperature reaches ninety degrees by nine in the morning and doesn't cool off until about eight in the evening and then you don't want to go out because it is still warm. So in other words, my mom is trying to kill me with heat (and to a lesser extent exercise by walking me to death).

And today my mom and I went on a really long walk before we had to come home and make things for dinner tonight. Dinner will be taking place at my grandparent's house (the good ones) and my aunt and uncle (again, the good ones) will be there. My mom and I made pasta salad, chocolate zucchini cake (with chocolate frosting, yum!), and zucchini bread. It looks like this is going to be a long day. At least I'm catching up on my blog and reading. That is happy making.

Have you ever...

felt so excited for something that you couldn't possibly wait for it to come, but when it finally arrived you began to dread what would happen? What if things weren't going to be as awesome as you thought they were? What were you going to do now that it was over?

I suppose the best way to word this comes from Rapunzel and Flynn Rider in the Disney animated film Tangled. Rapunzel begins by saying, "I've been looking out a window for eighteen years, dreaming about what I might feel like when those lights rise in the sky. What if it's not every thing I dreamed it would be?"

"It will be." Flynn tells her.

"And what if it is? What do I do then?"

"Well, that's the good part I guess. You get to find a new dream."

I feel this way about a couple of things that will be happening this summer. One of them is I'm going to see the musical Wicked next week. I've been looking forward to seeing Wicked since my sophomore year of high school. That has been a pretty long time seeing as I'm about to become a senior in college.

The other is the final Harry Potter film. I have been waiting for this movie since 2001 when they first started making the films, but in all honesty, I don't want it to end. I started reading the books when I was in fourth grade and the seventh book came out the summer before my senior year of high school. Harry Potter has been in my life for 12 - almost 13 - years. Just over a decade of my life has been devoted to reading Harry Potter and watching Harry Potter and hoping that J.K. Rowling decides to write something else (according to her Twitter, she is busy writing).

I guess it is just a feeling of not wanting things to end. Yeah, I could always read the book Wicked and continue listening to the soundtrack a hundred more times. And, yeah, I could re-read the Harry Potter books and re-watch all of the movies, but it won't be the same as reading or watching it for the very first time. That feeling of awe and amazement and sadness that you have finally ended a chapter of your life.

Books, Books, Books

I don't know about you, but I have a rather large book collection. I own 486 books and counting. Most of them are fantasy books and I own at least two copies of each Harry Potter book. I guess what I'm trying to say, is that I have a lot of books. So many books in fact, that I haven't been able to read all of them. I got books at Christmas time that I haven't been able to read and I'm hoping to get through them this summer (yay!! Summer!! *breaks out into the song "Days of Summer" from AVPS*).

First though, I have to finish re-reading the Harry Potter series...I'm in the middle of Chamber of Secrets now (good grief, I hate Lockheart) and I should have it finished by the end of the week. Then I can start Prisoner of Azkaban. I can't wait to read that one, it is one of my favorite books. Not just of the series, but of all time.

In case you are bored and are looking for books to read, here is a nice list for you. Enjoy!

Alyssa's Favorite Books:
1. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
2. Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
3. The Immortal Series by Tamora Pierce
4. The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling (shocker, I know)
5. The Heir Series by Cinda Williams Chima
6. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
7. The Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan
8. The Dark-Hunter Series by Sherrilyn Kenyon
9. The Chronicles of Nick by Sherrilyn Kenyon
10. The Bran Hambric Series by Kaleb Nation