book review. . .

i finished the good earth last week.

it was terrific!


it's the story of a man living in china.
the story basically centers around two things: his family & his land.
the book starts off on the day of his marriage, and ends when
he is an old man.
the book is great in how it describes man's connection to the land.
throughout the entire book, this man's poverty or wealth is
directly related to how well his land produces rice, wheat, vegetables, etc.
growing up as a poor farmer, he makes it his goal to own
lots of land and to have a great house for his family.
in the end, his land and his riches get the best of him and
his family sort of falls apart.
i would give this book a 5 on a 1-5 scale.
it provides an interesting insight into Chinese culture and it's just
and entertaining story!

logan & i are off to Seattle for the week :)
my cousin is getting married & i am so excited!
promise to take some good pics and throw them up here asap.
i needed to decide on a good book for the road trip up there
but i got busy packing & stuff at the last minute so i didn't have
time to hit up the library.
i scoured our shelf of books and decided to read. . .

(drum roll please)




i know i know- i have heard all the accusations about how greg mortenson
is a fake & he embellished his stories, etc.
but i have heard it's a good book and i have read basically
everything else on our little book shelf.
hopefully it will be a good read for the 14 hour road trip.
we are driving with my grandparents which should be fun.
logan is just excited to drive their car:


he is also secretly hoping that they will fall asleep early on so he
can drive as fast and as reckless as his little heart desires.
he has "joked" about giving them some sleeping pills in their sodas
at the first rest stop we pass.
speaking of logan- today is our 11 monthiversary!
one more month till our first anniversary!
i couldn't be more excited:)

have a good week!
we are off to seattle!

shoes. . .

yesterday logan & i went to salt lake for a concert

that we didn't end up going to.
long story.

we ended up wandering around the gateway mall & i am happy to say
that i scored the sweetest deal of all time at anthro.these frye's were on sale for %50.
that's right- 50.
they are literally the most comfortable thing i have ever had on my foot.
they are perfect for my trip to new york in a couple of weeks
where i will be walking everywhere.
thank you anthropologie for being amazing.
i love my new shoes :)

today i . . .

went to the gym.

played with alli and tanner.

helped grandma in her garden.

made dinner.

hung out with logan.

it's been a good monday.

world cup soccer. . .

i cannot believe what an incredible women's soccer team

USA has this year!

for those of you who have been following the world cup in germany- it has

been a pretty intense series of games!

the quarter-final game against brazil was insane.

let me just recap for anyone who hasn't been following.

the US scored within the first 70 seconds of the match.

later, our player got a red card and was sent off the field.

brazil got a PK and our keeper, hope solo, blocked the goal.

the ref called for a re-kick and said solo had moved before the

player kicked the ball.

lame.

marta scored the PK for brazil and tied the game.

the score was 1-1 in regulation play, and we went into overtime.

marta scored again with one of her players clearly offsides, but no

call was made.

lame.

as the overtime neared its final seconds, a brazilian player suddenly fell to the

ground holding her back.

she wasted about 3 minutes of time while they carried her off on a stretcher.

then she magically recovered and jumped off the stretcher and

came back into the game.

lame.

the ref gave her a yellow card for wasting time.

then, with about 2 minutes left in overtime, rapinoe made a beautiful cross

from left field and wambach headed it into the goal!

we went to PK's, and it was all tied up.

solo blocked one of brazil's shots and it was down to krieger

who made her goal!

USA won the game in PK shots after playing 55 minutes a man down!

USA played france today and won 3-1!

this will be the first time the team has made it to the

finals of the world cup since 1999!

they will either play japan or sweden in the final.

hope solo, our keeper is officially my new hero.

she is amazing.

i hope everyone watches the final on sunday.

it is going to be unreal.

i would give pretty much anything to be able to go to this game.

it's not too much to ask, right?

a trip to germany, world cup tickets, food, a hotel. . .

i guess a girl can dream.

go USA!!!