Snape, Snape, Severus Snape



 For Christmas my family got a set of Hogwarts building blocks.  So tonight we cracked open the set, and after a lot of hard work, experimentation, and creativity, this was born...

I'm awfully proud of it, to be honest with you.  I think it looks quite genuine and I am rather enamored of the little Harry Potter figurine that came with the kit.

I also spent a little time today refreshing my study of the literary masterpieces under the genre of Harry Potter fanfiction.  Or really, just one.  It's called An Unseemly Proposal, by sparx, and I love it.  I really do.  As cheesy and ridiculous as the very idea of fanfiction is, this piece is a rarity.  It is hilarious, with a well-crafted plot and fantastic characters, and I really can't get over it.  Sadly, it is unfinished, and I longingly await the day when there will appear before my eyes a chapter 39.  Of course, it's been something like 4 years since she updated, so it's a foolish hope.  That doesn't mean I even for one second stop hoping it, though.

So maybe I am crazy, but Harry Potter is really, truly wonderful.

Sunday Message!

"Our Savior is the Prince of Peace, the Great Healer, the only One who can truly cleanse us from the sting of sin and the poison of pride and change our rebellious hearts into converted, covenant hearts. His Atonement is infinite and embraces us all.
The invitation given to the Nephites, when He ministered to them as the resurrected Christ, is still in force for you and for me: 'Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them.'
Not one of you has thrown away your last chance. You can change, you can come back, you can claim mercy. Come unto the only One who can heal, and you will find peace."
-Elder Patrick Kearon

The Pinnacle(s) to Which All Other Authors Should Aspire

I feel like a traitor-- I have had a blog for almost a week and STILL I have not dedicated a post to praise of the most wonderful authors in the world. Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, and Charles Dickens.
My love for these authors was established when I was eight or nine years old and watched the BBC miniseries Pride & Prejudice. Ever since then, I have been the official NUMBER ONE FAN of all BBC miniseries. I watch a new one, then I read the book. And as ridiculously good as all these movies are, the books are that much better. I have read Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre more times than I can count and they never cease to amaze me. And I laugh out loud at every Dickens novel because, hidden carefully in a wordy description, lies some hilarious jab at British society or government.
Every sentence each of the authors wrote is masterfully crafted and absolutely beautiful. Each of the stories they wove is timeless, magical and impossible to hate.

I can't get enough of Mr. Collins, especially in this version. He is HILARIOUS!
BBC miniseries and books you NEED to see/read if you haven't already.
Pride & Prejudice
Emma
Sense & Sensibility
Mansfield Park
Persuasion
Little Dorrit
Bleak House
Our Mutual Friend
A Tale of Two Cities (I haven't seen a movie of it yet...)
Wives & Daughters
North & South
Middlemarch
Daniel Deronda
Lark Rise to Candleford

The True Christmas Spirit

Isn't this adorable?  The little girl reminds me of my little sister.

Isn't it a beautiful world?

There's something remarkably refreshing about staying up late and then waking up AFTER the sun.  I opened my window and was greeted with the beautiful white sparkle of a blanket of snow that's still covering everything in sight.  The world looks so much prettier when everything is a pure, perfect white.
And it's even better to think that I only have to go to school for an hour, then I get to go out to lunch with my best friend for her birthday!  I love being exempt, and I can't wait for Christmas.
On Sunday I got to watch my favorite Christmas movie, It's a Wonderful Life, and I cried through the end of it, as I always do.  There is something amazing about that movie and the thought that during your relatively short life, you have the power to touch so many people for good.  I love the reminder that even the least of us is infinitely important to our Father in Heaven.
Today is a lovely day, and I am living in a lovely world.  Thank you, Heavenly Father, for creating this beautiful place for us to live.  Thank you for the sunshine and the snow, and exam exemptions, and best friends, and Christmas and the sweet spirit it brings to all our hearts.

Hi, everyone!

So...I finally did it!  I got a blog!  And I'm trying to put a beautiful Christmas background on it, but it's not really working out for me right now.
But hello anyway. 
And look what I found today!  My mom showed me this website that sells geeky science and math T-shirts (aka my paradise) and I found this.

Here's a zoomed in picture so you can see it better...

For those of you who aren't chemistry nerds (or have never taken chemistry,) that number is Avagadro's number, or the number of molecules in one mole of a substance.

I really want this shirt now.