Friday, September 6, 2013

Senior Year Dorm!

Many of my family friends have asked me how I manage to stay away from my home for so many months, and I will admit, it's incredibly hard. A lot of things that really bothered me my first year here really had to deal with how my environment wasn't really as warm as it could have been. While it's still difficult to spend so many months away from home at school, I've found my dorm to be a little spot of my own in this giant campus.

I've lived in my dorm suite for three years, going on my fourth. The last two years, I've been in the same room, lovingly referred to as the Annex by my roommate and I. My room is separated from the other rooms in our suite because we're right next to the elevator. It has its perks... kind of.

This year, the room is wonderfully decorated-- at least by my standards. It's been a cross between how I had it the last few years, and something completely new.

So to start with the bed:
Every room in Stony Brook comes with a desk, a bed, a small drawer set, and a big one. This is the first year where I didn't have a drawer thing in the closet, but we'll get to that later. 
Unfortunately my room doesn't have an AC, so I can't really keep a comfy big comforter on my bed because I can never use it. (Because even during the winter, the heat is turned up so much, that it's still too hot!) So I opted for a light quilt for the past two years. I sleep in a pillow fort so I have a bunch of pillows near the head of my bed. 
The main wall has 58 pictures of myself with my friends who I love the most. It's so eye-catching because it's the first thing you see when you come into the room. The pictures were put up using poster putty, and I highly recommend using that! Sometimes the pictures will come up if you didn't use enough of the putty, but none of them have fallen down. My whiteboard is also there on the side so I can work out my mechanical engineering class homework and calculus problems. 
Next is the desk: 
I upgraded to the big tv that I had in my bedroom at home. It's definitely better than my old tv from last year because now we can utilize the whole room! I have my desk supplies and books on the side, and my schedule pinned up. I obviously have a dalek, a stem cell, and an AIDS microbe chilling near my fan for fun and my arsenal of body scents and perfume for fun? I find keeping my desk with minimal stuff on it really helps keep it clean, but we'll see if it'll last! 
This is the side view of the desk. As you notice the drawer set is below my desk, which has cleared up so much space in the closet! The best thing is the drawers open so nicely there, and it keeps things so much more organized. I have all my school supplies in my drawers so I don't have to have it stored anywhere else. There's also my emergency flannel for late night fire alarms, which are sadly very common. 
One of my favorite things is I have my fridge out in a more prominent location. Instead of leaving it empty, I filled it up with more photos, and fun magnets. The letter magnets are actually elements from the periodic table, which definitely fit in my alley of science-y geek. 
Closets are always the hardest part of the room to keep clean. This year I have so much space in there, it's going to be tough to just throw a million things in there and keep the door closed. I invested in some hanging closet shelves for my shoes and clothes and extra bed sheets.

And there it is, that's my side of the Annex. 

If you're a college student reading this, here's some things that I definitely recommend. 
  1. If you're living in a dorm without an air conditioner, make sure you get a box fan! Since the Annex is in this weird alcove where the there are two walls blocking air flow, my room gets incredibly hot. Having a box fan helped so much to keep the air circulating and room feeling immensely cooler. Box fans are not too expensive, and it's definitely something you will be using year round. 
  2. For laundry, I really recommend Tide pods. They don't take up too much space, and they work amazingly. 
  3. Regardless of whether you live in a room with access to a kitchen or not, a water filter is a must. While it's easy to buy water bottles, a water filter is going so much better. If you ever feel like making ramen, you won't have to use sketchy dorm water to make it if you have filtered water instead!
  4. Lighting in dorms are horrible. I hardly use the dorm lights because the florescent light often gives me a headache. For lighting, I've used a desk lamp and tilted the head back so it illuminates the whole room. It gives the room an ambience that is perfect for watching some tv and relaxing. 
  5. Play around with your furniture. You might be surprised with how you can make things work!
  6. You can use over the door hooks for other things in your room. I used one in my closet for my towel, and another is hanging off of my desk for my bag. They're pretty sturdy for things that a command hook can't handle. 
Best of luck to any people in college this semester! 






Blogging Senior Year

This year is my final year of college (yikes!) and while it's just the beginning, I already have done a couple of my 'lasts'. (Like my 'last' Labor Day weekend, 'last' first day of classes, 'last' move in day.) It's been fun, because I've been trying my best to keep positive by not dwelling on how things will be drastically different next year. It does help that classes have resumed in full swing!

I've got a couple of fun things planned for this year including Friendsgiving, Oscar night, and a couple of small little get togethers with friends from here. (like Disney movie night, and watching the Breaking Bad finale). I still have the same roommate as last year, and am living in the same room as well so there haven't been too many changes! Classes are a lot more different and juggling what I need to do class wise and future wise has been a challenge. Oh well.

Some things I'm hoping to do with this blog for this year:

  • New design. 
  • More posts!
  • Write more about my classes, and Stony Brook in general. 
  • Have more fun with it!
So readers, that's where I am mentally at the moment. So we'll talk again soon/ I'll write some more soon?



Sunday, September 1, 2013

The Silver Linings Playbook


I have a love-hate relationship with first person narratives. I first realized this when I read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I loved the premise and the characters but the way it was written detracted from the story. Instead of being able to see the various ways the districts were revolting or even how the 'game' worked and what President Snow was up to, you only got to see and hear Katniss's story. While she's an amazing character, I can't say that it helped the book. Instead the movie flushed out those details.
Back to the point,  I don't think writing in first person is the easy or lazy way out. I find it limits the way a story is being told, and it keeps facts and other events away from the reader. Some stories require the first person, because it's a personal story. But I firmly believe not every story should be written in this format.
I mean... Can you imagine reading Harry Potter as a first person narrative?
This is not to say a first person narrative severely injures a good story either, simply by the way it is written. It can be a major pitfall, but it can be made up in other ways. Incorporating letters, having an interesting narrator, or even just creating an interesting atmosphere adds to the book, which is why I loved The Great Gatsby and The Catcher in the Rye. The voices within those books are so unique and the stories they told were their own. I'd like to believe that's why their considered classics, and every 11th grader has to read these book in the English classes. The Silver Linings Playbook does exactly what The Great Gatsby did and The Catcher in the Rye.
At this point I'm assuming everyone knows the general idea of this story, due to its movie adaptation being nominated for several awards and winning many, but either way...
The main character, Pat Peoples, believes his life is a movie created by God. He believes that his life's silver lining is to be reunited with his wife, who has left him. After coming back from his stay at a mental institution and he is forced to move back in with his parents. Since coming back, he has no memories of why he was at the institution and for what reason. To win his wife, Nikki, back, Pat decides to become a better person by practicing being kind instead of right. This includes all facets of his life including his physical appearance and his knowledge of literature. Pat strikes up a deal with a woman named Tiffany, in which he would be her dance partner for a competition in order to reconnect with his wife.
This is the plot of the movie and the book, but the book explores the confusion of a mental disorder. This is what I really enjoyed about the story. I loved the way it was told, and it flowed really well. It was written in a way that seemed very natural and understandable. It wasn't heavily descriptive but it definitely wasn't the case of a self-insert story. The characters are incredibly believable, as our their motivations and desires. The book does portray some characters not as likable as some others, unlike the movie.
Some of the themes that are present in the book are not in the movie either, but I believe it would have been hard to portray that. The Peoples' family ties are definitely more intriguing, and the dynamic is brilliant. There's a lot of secrets and hidden stuff going on that Quick was able to reveal in the end. Unlike most stories where there is a major twist in the story, you can kind of see what is going to happen. (If you've seen the movie, the twist is the memory Pat describes within the first 30 minutes of it.) But reading it in Pat's voice and just understanding his train of thought will make you as anxious while reading it.
I can definitely say this is one of my favorite books I've read. It's different and funny but not overwhelmingly so. I love the positive message of the story even if not everyone got their happily ever after.
One favorite passage:
“Why is this dance competition so important to you?” Cliff asks me. I look up at the sun painted on the ceiling of his office and smile.
“What?” he says.
“The dancing lets me be that,” I say, and point up. Cliff’s eyes follow my finger. “It lets you be the sun?”  
“Yes,” I say, and smile again at Cliff, because I really like being the sun, exactly what allows clouds to have a silver lining.

Monday, July 8, 2013

RED

One of things I find really inspiring is color palettes and how people play off of it. So I decided I wanted to try and find pictures where one color pops. I'm starting with red.


 



Sunday, July 7, 2013

Bossypants




Disclaimer: I completely love everything Tina Fey has done and love it blindly. So rather than this being a "What a great book!" and thoughtful this will unfortunately sound like a fangirl love letter to Tina Fey. I'm not sorry.

After reading The Fault in our Stars, I needed something that was hilarious because that book broke my feelings. (If you're interested in how it broke my feelings, read here!) I found that Bossypants became more than just a memoir and was inspirational, silly, incredibly quotable, and very relatable.

"To say I’m a troll, when you have never even seen me guard a bridge, is patently unfair."
I've always been told that someone's a great writer if you can hear their voice through their writing.   Reading her book, you can definitely hear Tina Fey in it. Best example? Read the chapter "The Secrets of Mommy's Beauty" and tell me you don't hear Tina Fey reading it in your head. The most prevalent theme in her book is about her job as a writer. She starts from how she worked at a desk job and poured all her money into improv classes, and builds upon that. But not linearly, she breaks it up between her home life, stories about her family, and random Q&A's with the internet. It's the way she can change the topic is great, and something I've always admired in watching 30 Rock.
"‘The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready; it goes on because it’s 11:30.’ This is something Lorne has said often about Saturday Night Live, but I think it’s a great lesson about not being too precious about your writing. You have to try your hardest to be at the top of your game and improve every joke you can until the last possible second, and then you have to let it go."
Speaking of 30 Rock, her chapter about the show will make you love it even more. She introduces the writers of 30 Rock and a little bit of their background, and you can see some of the similarities with the ones shown in the show. After reading Bossypants, I've noticed that 30 Rock has a very improv-y feeling. The jokes per scene, sight gags, and how the characters play off of each other does seem very SNL-ish, but not overtly so.
“One afternoon a girl walked by in a bikini and my cousin Janet scoffed, “Look at the hips on her.” I panicked. What about the hips? Were they too big? Too small? What were my hips? I didn’t know hips could be a problem. I thought there was just fat or skinny. This was how I found out that there are an infinite number of things that can be “incorrect” on a woman’s body.”
And like a lot of Tina Fey's works, there's a lot about being a feminist and views on women. Throughout her chapters dedicated to improve, her stint on SNL, and working on 30 Rock, she talks about women and their role in the media. How women aren't seen as funny, getting women to turn on each other, etc. We've all seen this, especially if you've seen Mean Girls. (Which surprisingly was not mentioned at all during this book. Please for book 2?) But some of the most inspirational bits about her view of women was that it's all encompassing. It's okay to be progressive and work 70+ hours per week. She wrote some real truths about how it's okay to cry, how you shouldn't be mean to people to get things to happen your way, among other things. As someone who likes to be nice to people and cheery, that was so good to read because so often I come across people who seem to just want to ruin my mood. 

Anyway, other little tidbits I noticed/want to mention:



  • The fact that Tina Fey seems to swear in every other sentence was actually great. She used it in a way to be funny, and not annoying. Although, I can see that putting some people off. 
  • As I mentioned before, Fey didn't mention Mean Girls. Which is strange because that's what made me hear of her first. I mean I don't know what she could have written about, but I'd love to hear what she thought about writing that movie and how big of an influence it's had on us. 
  • "Don’t concern yourself with fashion; stick to simple pieces that flatter your body type. By nineteen, I had found my look. Oversize T-shirts, bike shorts, and wrestling shoes. To prevent the silhouette from being too baggy, I would cinch it at the waist with my fanny pack. I was pretty sure I would wear this look forever. The shirts allowed me to express myself with cool sayings like “There’s No Crying in Baseball” and “Universität Heidelberg,” the bike shorts showed off my muscular legs, and the fanny pack held all my trolley tokens. I was nailing it on a daily basis. Find something like this for yourself as soon as possible.” -- One of my favorite passages ever actually.
  • Tina Fey can't drive and that makes me feel okay. She went out of her way to mention this, and I figure if she's successful in life without a driver's license, than so can I. (Who's thinking bad logic? Anyone?)

Anyway that's just about it. Sorry for the word vomit. (This might be my longest entry yet? Oh man) The next book I'll probably talk about is going to be The Silver Linings Playbook. I'm almost done with it actually. (On the last 100 pages.) So yay! :)

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Girls in Science

Targeted as a way to get girls interested in science, the European Commission decided to create a commercial to inspire women to get careers in science. It got pulled shortly after it was released and the European Commission has received a great deal of criticism about it.

I recently stumbled across this, and felt very disappointed. As a women currently studying Bioengineering, and looking forward in studying it more, this seems like a very strange way to encourage women into science. For me, personally, I just always enjoyed science more so than any other subject in school. Science feels so optimistic all the time, and I wish the European Commission had tapped into that.

A couple of blogs and news sources explored the commercial in detail:

What are your thoughts on this commercial?

Friday, July 5, 2013

Favorite Tumblrs

I, like many other college students, use tumblr to procrastinate as much as possible. I've enabled endless scrolling. I've changed my layout four times in a day. And most of all, I've gained a weird group of followers on my account, and wondered why they're following me. (Most of them are high school friends though.)

c'est positif (optimistes.tumblr.com)
Possibly one of the happiest tumblrs I've found ever. I love it!
Humans of New York (humansofnewyork.com)
I know it's own thing, but you can follow it on Tumblr! I love seeing the pictures, and some of the stories are so inspiring. Definitely one of my favorite websites. 
Doctor Who (doctorwho.tumblr.com)
Doctor Who is one of my favorite shows, and keeping up with it on tumblr is great as well. They do respond to all asks, and they also combine both fan stuff and real stuff so well. 
The Mindy Project Style (http://themindyprojectstyle.com/)
Not run by Mindy Kaling or her production crew, but these guys go out and find whatever Mindy's wearing and either link it directly or find similar alternatives. There's also a couple for Zooey Deschanel and Zooey's show New Girl as well which are all great. 
We Love Canines (fyeahcanines.tumblr.com)
Because dogs are awesome, and I love finding dog pictures. 
The Daily Bunny (http://dailybunny.org/)
Similar to We Love Canines, but these guys post daily. Not to mention, I love bunnies more than everything else in the world. 

If you're interested in following me on Tumblr, I'm at icedpeppermintmocha.tumblr.com. :)


Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Voldemort Appeared in my Cheesecake and other things....

This summer has been a conglomeration of trying to figure out what I'm going to do after I graduate college, working out, reading a ton, and occasionally visiting a couple of friends here and there. What I love about the summer is that it is continuous stretch of relaxation and peace, but sometimes it does feel a bit too long. Blogging seems a bit redundant at that point because I'm not doing much of anything.

College me is a lot more exciting than summer me.

Regardless, I'll keep updating with books I've read this summer. (I'm working my way through Bossypants by Tina Fey, and picked up a couple of plays that I've been meaning to read for a while.) And some other silly stuff.

As for the most exciting and possibly downright disturbing event of the summer so far:

Voldemort appeared in my cheesecake.


Creepy right? Well, I've got a glorified stick that I've fashioned into a wand. If Voldemort shows up, I can just stab him with that I guess. 

That's it for now!








Thursday, May 23, 2013

The Fault in Our Stars


So I'm starting the summer strong-- got one of my books I wanted to read for a long time off my list. I started with The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

Usually I don't go for the romance genre-- at least not after I read The Twilight Saga and felt my brain turn into mush. I just found written romances a bit too stereotypical, and often failing to deliver the emotions that I really look forward to when I think of a love story.
In the past, I've always gone for the mystery of the fantasy world, or delving into fictions about a dystopian future. Usually romances written in these stories are not completely forced upon the reader, and they seem to come off a little more naturally. (And if I don't care about it, it's not what I have to focus on.)  I'm also quite obsessed with classic books like The Great Gatsby and The Catcher in the Rye because I absolutely adore the hidden meanings the authors snuck into their books. When I heard of The Fault in Our Stars, I really thought it was just going to be another YA novel. I was pleasantly surprised.
Going into The Fault in Our Stars, I found the beginning a bit dull. Typical girl who can't see how beautiful she is, and her cancer is the backdrop of the story. Enter cute boy with a flaw, and off we go. There's the rejection, the "I love you's" and the inevitable relationship.
Once you realize you've reached a happy conclusive ending, you still realize there's 100 pages left. And within those last 100 pages, John Green takes the story and creates something wonderful. There's little lines, and moments in the story that I didn't pay attention to much when I started it. But the little lines and the moments, they build up. There's foreshadowings, hidden meanings, little throwaways that give you a satisfying story.
Well done, John Green.

Little things I noticed/want to mention:

  • Amsterdam and the way John Green describes it makes me want to go there. There's a lot of meaning behind the place, and that I thought was incredibly clever. 
  • I was slightly annoyed by the "Okay?" "Okay." bit throughout the book. Guess I'm not too much of a mushy romance person. 
  • I'm glad Green acknowledges the promise made between the writer and the reader. So many authors these days refuse to acknowledge that pact.
  • If you end up reading the book, and you're still feeling a bit underwhelmed, I would suggest reading John Green's FAQ about the book. You'll see some genius things that John Green snuck into the book, and you'll appreciate it more. 



Friday, April 5, 2013

Updates!

Hello all!

This semester has been hectic with quite a few ups and downs. Similar to a sine curve, like my dad always says. (We're just a big family of nerds, alright?)

So what's new with Iced Peppermint Mocha?

Here are a list of TINY changes:

  • Rearranged the site. I put links on the left, the logo is huge now, and there's a new picture of me! 
  • Got rid of some things that didn't work. This blog was an experiment, and some things were bound to fail while other things didn't really click. I'm excited to see what new things will pop out now!
  • I got bloglovin' all set up. So if you have one, please follow me here! If you've got a blog and you want me to follow, please leave your link in the comments! I'll definitely follow back. :) 
  • I was also able to score the tumblr site icedpeppermintmocha.tumblr.com! This is exciting, and I'm following a bunch of people. I've used the site before, but I'm planning on posting things similar to what I would post here. And also funny things. A lot of funny things. :) 
  • I'm still working on cookie recipes, especially with different flavors and what not. I had to write up my favorite cookie recipe in german the other day, and it was still good! So, expect cookie week in the near future. 
  • I'm also revamping the way posting is going to work out. Minor details, but more posts. Be excited. :) 
I'm heading off to NYC for the weekend. I'll be back soon. (Probably Monday!) 

Have a nice weekend :)

Thursday, March 21, 2013

JT!

My laptop, the Glitterati for those of you who've seen it, is now dead. Which isn't exactly why I'm posting this song by JT... I got a new MacBook (Bonafide Apple snob here!) It's exciting cause I'm learning how to use it, and I paid for it with my own money but it's a bit strange because I don't really have any money now.

Oh well... this song's been stuck in my head all day, and it sounds marvelous on my new speakers! I can't wait for my music to transfer over, maybe I'll listen to some Decemberists or Muse... or more Justin Timberlake.

I can't handle his music right now. It's too perfect.

Best,
Sheillster (haha I haven't signed off like that in ages!)

Monday, March 11, 2013

Happy Daylight Savings Monday!

Happy Daylight Savings Monday! Hopefully y'all are not as confused as I am. And yes, that really is my alarm clock.

No I don't remember how to actually change it.
--Sheilly

Saturday, March 9, 2013

What I've Been Up To...

This semester needed a bit of getting used to. While I complained about taking six classes last semester and the amount of stress I subjected myself to, this semester has been just as rough. Here's a small conglomeration of (mostly instagram-ed) pictures.
Orgo Studying
German Studying
Starbucks addiction drinking
Biology Lab...ing? 
Luckily, some things are looking up! Spring break is in... a week? (YAY!) Although I still have to get through this week, which includes group projects for BME, a town hall meeting in the works at work, and more studying as always. (Which means a lot of Starbucks in the near future as well!) 
Hope your March has been going well! 
-Sheilly

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Valentine's Day Fun!


I think Valentine's Day gets a bad rap. I think it's one of the sweeter holidays. Although I do understand the anger geared toward the holiday (How to perfect the VA-VA-VOOM hair, for example...) Despite that, there's some cute features from Yahoo, Tumblr, and Facebook that I found really cute... so I'm going to share those. :)

Enjoy Valentine's Day everyone! I know I'll enjoy it! (at work. hahahaha)
-Sheilly

Monday, February 11, 2013

The Best of: 365 Challenge Part 1

Remember I mentioned how I wanted to do the 365 photo challenge? At first I thought of posting a picture a day here on this blog, but sometimes I felt like I didn't have anything to share with that image, and it seemed like a waste of space. But then there were a couple of pictures that I just wanted to share so badly, but I felt that they needed a bit more form than just "Here's a cool picture I took! Toodle--loo!" Thus, this post was born. I'll try to make a "Best of" post for my favorite 365 pictures and post them here together. It'll be fun, and my photos won't feel as lonely. (Do photos feel lonely?)

More to come soon, I'm sure! 
--Sheilly

Saturday, February 9, 2013

My Parents are literally the Best.

I took a small hiatus from blogging these past two weeks mainly because I'm getting adjusted to campus life again! A lot of it was getting used to my schedule and my classes, but this semester I've also started a job, which has been hard to get used to.
Currently my schedule looks like this:
It doesn't look horrific right?
The funny story about this picture is that my schedule is so big that it can't actually fit in the screen shot. Hah.
But I am not here to complain about that!
Last week, I just had a bunch of series of misfortunes starting from forgetting my lab notebook at home for my biology lab to ending with my beloved bag from freshmen year breaking. The first things didn't phase me, but towards the end of the week, after misfortune after misfortune started piling up, I started getting annoyed and a bit down.
But I am not here to complain about that either!
My mom and dad have always been super supportive of me, from every decision I've ever made to just listening as I ranted about a really tough orgo question on my homework. They're level headed and calm, and I appreciate everything they do so much.
This week, after I mentioned my beloved bags unfortunate demise, my dad forwarded me a receipt of a replacement bag that my mom chose out. It's perfect, and basically everything I needed in a bag. Here's a picture:

The craziest thing about it is that I didn't even ask about getting a replacement bag, they just went ahead and ordered me one.
I usually gush about my parents all the time to my friends, but I think it's not enough.
My parents are literally the best. <3
--Sheilly

February 2013

Friday, February 8, 2013

Friday Lists

My window currently looks like... well, I guess the best way to describe it is by showing a picture of it.
As you may have guessed, I'm currently in the middle of battling "Superstorm Nemo." Not to fret, as a true New Englander, and former Midwester (Grew up in Nebraska, holla... yeah that felt weird, and I will never do that again!), I'm quite used to intense snow storms and somewhat enjoy them.
To combat being snowed into my dorm room, quite literally, I've found a couple of ways to stay sane these past few years, and this Friday list is all about that.
Because I love sharing that kind of stuff.
Also because I really need to stop going online shopping. Like really.


  1. Edward Scissorhands is a must for a snow day. Why? The ending of the movie. That's really it. I realize that it could be a Christmas movie too, but I think it's a snowy day movie. 
  2. Fuzzy blankets are also necessary. Just wrap it around you like a cloak, and wear it all day long, it's the best. 
  3. Hot chocolate is everyone's go to on a snow day. If you're over 21, might I suggest a shot of Bailey's in it?  Makes it taste even better. :) 
  4. Cupcakes, cookies, whatever you can find that's sugary goodness. Personally I love baking my own, but if it's store bought, that's okay too. 
  5. Flannel pajamas and fuzzy boots are the best for keeping warm and cozy. I think being surrounded by the coldness makes us want to turn to something like flannel.. or maybe that's just me. 
  6. Yarn or crafting stuff, because being left indoors for hours does get boring at times. Might as well do something somewhat creative right? 
  7. Textbooks, books, etc. You might as well be somewhat productive as well right? 
  8. Painting your nails is always an option all the time. (Also, the color shown there is Snow Globe by China Glaze. If you love glitters, I would highly suggest it because it makes your nails look like snow globes! It really does!) 
  9. Always go sledding on snow days, but make sure you have your winter gear! 
  10. And by winter gear, I am including lip balm. Because as much as I love the snow and cold, I hate the dryness of the air, and eventual chapped lips. I love the Badger Balm company quite a bit, because they smell good, and they don't have harsh chemicals like some other chapsticks. If you're going for long lasting power, go with the cocoa butter lip balm because it's amazing! 
If you're dealing with Nemo, stay safe out there! 
-- Sheilly

Friday, January 25, 2013

Friday Lists: Books!

When I was in middle school, I used to attend all of my mom and dad's Indian community get-togethers. They usually comprised of pujas, housewarmings, birthday parties, dinner parties, music parties, etc. At every get together, I never had any people in my own age group to talk to, because either everyone was much older, or significantly younger. So these parties weren't necessarily too much fun for me.  
So I took books everywhere with me. My parents spoiled me, and got me as many books as I so wished, and I cannot be more grateful for this fact. While I had an iPod, my own laptop, and later a fancy new phone, my mom and dad spoiled me more with books than with anything else. (Well, maybe with clothes too, but that's something entirely different...) The one thing that I've learned to do now is to always keep a book on me, in case I'm in a position where I can get easily bored. 
However, since college started, my reading list has grown larger and has not diminished. For every one book I read, I add three books to the list. It's absolutely ridiculous! And I find I often don't read as often as I used to simply because of my brain getting over worked during the semester with studying. (I swear, this totally happens. This winter break, I didn't write as much I as usually do, only because I had to do a 25 page behemoth essay, and the sight of my keyboard made me want to gag... well maybe not, but it felt like it!) However, my new year's aspiration this year was to read more, and I am sticking to it! I just finished reading some more Camus (The Fall) this week, as well as reading my Genetics textbook for fun. 
Anyway, for this Friday list, I'll share with you some books that I currently have on my "WANT TO READ" pile, and as always, please do share if you have any books you would think would be fantastic for me to read as well! 
This section's the fun list, because it's mainly light-hearted, fictional, not too serious stuff.


This is a group of biology/scientific books that I'm waiting to get my hands on. Some of these books are some that I've wanted to read for a while, and others are some that I've heard about in passing and really want to know more about! :)
--Sheilly

Friday, January 18, 2013

3 Things

I usually do pictures for these posts, but I just needed to have this song here. I don't know why, but this whole week I've been going on YouTube to hear this song far too often. It may be because I saw the episode of How I Met Your Mother with this song just the other day, and it's reminded me of the sheer catchy-ness of this song.
I finally finished my Christmas shopping! And by that I mean, I finished it for my college friends! I've decided to make some cookies and give them in tiny boxes to some people, some bracelets and earrings I've made, and my roommate gets some rather silly things I've found! The bag up there just screamed to me, despite it being a Valentine's Day bag, I thought it was perfect for her!!!
I got my Genetic Engineering book! I got my Genetic Engineering book! I got my Genetic Engineering book!
Sorry, I'm really excited for this class, and looking through the textbook is even more exciting. I had it shipped to my house, and when I opened it, my dad said I looked like a kid at Christmas. I'm already on chapter two... :) 
-- Sheilly

Friday, January 11, 2013

Three Things: Being Home

I've found it difficult in the past, to really get into different forms of projects around the house. Usually, when I'm home, I go on cleaning sprees and reorganize everything in my mom's kitchen... which drives her nuts when she's looking for something. This year, I've hit a road block in the cleaning/organizing because I can't get my hands on an over the door spice rack. 
I can't find them anywhere
So, in order to circumvent going stir crazy looking for this spice rack, I've decided to do some other house projects like painting some terracotta things my mom bought in India. This picture was from when I was still in the middle of of painting it, but it's done now!
I've also taken a new fancy to taking a lot of outdoor shots of New Hampshire as well. This one was taken as I was going into the Michael's near my house. 
I've also been baking a lot! I keep finding myself in baking aisles at Grocery stores and picking up random things, without any idea how to use them! However, I've experimented a lot, and cookies are definitely something that I've really enjoyed playing around with. So far I've made some cinnamon chip cookies, nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies, and a pomegranate dark chocolate chunk cookie! Playing around with ingredients is definitely a lot of fun, and I love playing around with new flavors and foods. I'm going to make a peppermint mocha cookie this weekend, and if all goes well, I think I'll do a week of delicious cookie recipes for you all! 

I hope everyone's been having a great January so far!-- Sheilly

Monday, January 7, 2013

Pomegranate Limeade

If you haven't noticed, I'm a bit obsessed with pomegranate. Last year I found some interesting ways to utilize the fruit after putting them in a salad for Friendsgiving. While some didn't go as well (pomegranate salsa...), I still haven't given up! Today I tried making pomegranate limeade, and it was so good!

Now every recipe I've seen for this limeade has always utilized the pomegranate in juice form. And while I love pomegranate juice, I find it too sweet at times and I just love pomegranate arils and how juicy they are!


Needed: Pomegranate arils, one lime, sugar, and ice.

Start by getting the juice from your lime. I found cutting it in fours and squeezing them out worked better than any other way. After that add sugar and water, to your liking.

For the pomegranate portion, I took a couple of the arils out, and put them in a little cup of water with sugar to create a syrup. I let that sit for a couple of minutes before combining it with the limeade. Once I stirred the syrup and limeade together, I served it with ice and pomegranate arils.

Some fun things you can try with this recipe is to freeze the arils just a bit before serving. Put them on a tray and stick them in your freezer for like 10 minutes. It makes this drink so much more refreshing.

--Sheilly