The PR Report: May 2015

Hey y'all, LA here! It's been a while, hasn't it? After more than three months away, I finally feel ready to write again, and that's a GOOD feeling! I've missed this space so much. A lot has happened during my hiatus, and I'm not sure how to put it all into words (and for y'all's sake, I won't put it ALL into words, hahaha). The Lord has definitely been stretching and growing me in ways I never expected this year, and I'm learning to be content with where He has me right now.

May in particular was a pretty incredible month. I don't even know where to start! I got to meet one of my all-time favorite authors, I traveled to Hawaii with my husband to celebrate five years of marriage, and best of all, I became an AUNT to the cutest baby girl around. Bless my socks off! The rest of the year certainly has its work cut out for it. Here are just a few of the moments I captured from last month:

May In Pictures

Sarah J. Maas and Susan Dennard book signing! | Layover in Seattle | Waikiki Beach | The Road to Hana | Volcanoes National Park | Akaka Falls | Anaeho'omalu Beach | Kayaking the Wailua River | Swimming in Secret Falls

Kalalau Lookout | Waimea Canyon | Na Pali Coast | The best day in May--my niece, Lillianne Rose, was born on May 26! | Baby shower for my sweet friend Liz | My niece looking PRECIOUS at her newborn session

Favorite Book Read in May

Miraculous Movements: How Hundreds of Thousands of Muslims are Falling in Love With Jesus by Jerry Trousdale. This book was a gamechanger for me and couldn't have been more timely. It challenged me in the way I think about discipleship, prayer, and the power of God to draw people to himself through his Word. An awesome read for any believer, especially those who work in or are considering the mission field!

On My Shelves So Far In 2015 

 

Jane Austen Vintage Classics Collection
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen | Emma by Jane Austen | Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Sarah J. Maas Love
The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas | Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas | A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Nostalgic Book Buying Binge - Christy Miller Series 
The Christy Miller Collection, Vol. 1 by Robin Jones Gunn | The Christy Miller Collection, Vol. 2 by Robin Jones Gunn | The Christy Miller Collection, Vol. 3 by Robin Jones Gunn | The Christy Miller Collection, Vol. 4 by Robin Jones Gunn

Gifted
A Pocket Guide to the Hawaiian Language by Albert J. Schütz

Bought on Sale for Nook
Cinder by Marissa Meyer | Scarlet by Marissa Meyer | Cress by Marissa Meyer

Bought for Book Club
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

A Bookish Place: Bookstory | Cluj, Romania

Not sure if y'all have noticed or not (I hope you have!), but Lesley Anne and I have been seriously MIA this past month. Okay, more like past 6 weeks, but who's counting? We have not forgotten about the blog but it has not been a priority due to other, overwhelming projects, a.k.a my thesis. Y'all. It is so hard to write a thesis. I finally had to knuckle down and write or it was never going to get done. Research is much more fun than actually writing. Anyways, my rough draft is with my committee at the moment so I am (kind of) free to catch up on life.

I have been in Oradea, Romania these past 2 weeks visiting my best friend and her sweet family. Actually, the only sweet people in her family are her children. The rest are very sarcastic and like to make fun of people, but they kind of grow on you. Anyways, it was the best trip. I happened to be over there on Women's Day, which pretty much everywhere else in the world celebrates except America. I have never been given so many flowers in my life. It was great. True story - we were pulled over in downtown Cluj by police officers so that they could give us flowers and our picture was taken for the paper. They also gave us a voucher for a defensive driving course which we pretended was not sexist at all. You win some, you lose some.

(Geez, sorry I'm so chatty. Apparently I missed blogging.)

Ashley and I left the kids with Kalep (thanks, Kalep!) and drove to Cluj, a city that is about 2.5 hours east of Oradea and it is seriously beautiful. It is exactly what you picture when you think of a European city.

Ash and I were walking along one of the streets and came across a book store. Of course I made her go in. She is not really a reader but she is a great friend, so she humored me. Turns out the bookstore was a hidden gem. The English section was small, but I was not even expecting them to have an English section so it was a nice surprise. In addition to Romanian and English, they also had books in Hungarian and German. As you can see, it was really cute on the inside.

Ash and I spent the most time in the children's section because her family runs an after-school program for the kids in the village they live in. The education system in Romania is not the best, and the farther you are from the city the worse it gets. In addition, they work with Roma (gypsy) children, too, who are severely marginalized. Education is the key to changing not only these kids' lives, but their communities, society, and country.

Ash was telling me how they have not been able to find a lot of good books for the kids when we went downstairs (yes, it was a two-story bookstore!) and found two walls, covered floor to ceiling in kids and teen books. We literally spent 45 minutes down there just going through books. I have never had as much fun picking out books as I did in that store. Ashley wants to build a library for the kids but has had trouble finding good books that the kids could actually read. This bookstore was, literally, filled with books for these kids and I got help pick some out. Going through the books and helping to decide which stories these kids should hear, should read was the best.

Of course, I had to go with the fantasy classics. Ashley was telling me that these kids do not have much imagination because it has never been taught to them. I was floored. Most of their parents can't read, and if they can, they do not have the money for books and it is not cheap to travel to the city where they library is (and some of them probably would not even be allowed in). The majority of them never leave the area surrounding their village so they do not know how big the world is. This is unacceptable. To help start the library I chose The Little Prince, Prince Caspian, and The Hobbit. I was especially excited about The Hobbit because it is the same edition I got for my niece and nephews.

I can honestly say it was the best time I have ever spent in a bookstore. There were tons of books I wanted to get for the kids but did not have the money on me to do so. I will be talking with our book club about how we can help build their library and if you, too, want to help let me know in the comment section and I will tell you how. I could write post after post about my trip, but this was definitely one of the highlights. If you would like more information about the after-school program and other programs my friend and her family run, please check out their website here.

I hope this post made you want to travel, buy books, and help out kids. I mean, how much more perfect could life get?

Mini Review: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

Release Date: January 2, 2012
Pages: 236
Genre: Contemporary
Target Audience: Young Adult
Series: No
Source and Format: Bought; Nook eBook

Summary (From Goodreads)
Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. Having missed her flight, she's stuck at JFK airport and late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's sitting in her row.

A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more?

Quirks of timing play out in this romantic and cinematic novel about family connections, second chances, and first loves. Set over a twenty-four-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

Thoughts on The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
This book has so many fun things going for it -- an adorable cover, a quirky title, a meet-cute romance, and the perfect mixture of fluff and substance. It was a great choice as my first read for 2013, and at 236 pages, it was a quick read too. 

With the phrase "love at first sight" in the title, you'd think that insta-love would be all over this book, which is one of my biggest pet peeves with young adult novels (or any novel, really). But let me assure you, that is not the case with The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. I am even a little bit of a believer in love at first sight myself, since the husband likes to say he knew I would be someone special when he first saw me. He ended up being right about that one, y'all! ;)

Another thing I particularly loved about this book was how Hadley's love for reading played into the story, especially in her relationship with her father. I really connected to this element of Hadley's character, and some of my favorite quotes from the book came from this aspect of the novel (one is included below).

This book wasn't anything groundbreaking, but if you find yourself facing a long flight coming up soon, or have a free afternoon to curl up with a short novel, this one might be the perfect light read for you. I'd recommend it!

Memorable Quotes

“It's not the changes that will break your heart; it's that tug of familiarity.”

“Even when she was old enough to read herself, they still tackled the classics together, moving from Anna Karenina to Pride and Prejudice to The Grapes of Wrath as if traveling across the globe itself, leaving holes in the bookshelves like missing teeth. And later, when it started to become clear that she cared more about soccer practice and phone privileges than Jane Austen or Walt Whitman, when the hour turned into a half hour and every night turned into every other, it no longer mattered. The stories had become a part of her by then; they stuck to her bones like a good meal, bloomed inside of her like a garden. They were as deep and meaningful as any other trait Dad had passed along to her: her blue eyes, her straw-colored hair, the sprinkling of freckles across her nose.”

Disclosure: This review was originally posted on my lifestyle blog on January 29, 2013.