Feedback Strategies: Feed-forward and Praise vs. Feedback

Feedback vs Feed-forward.
Source: Linkedin

For this assignment I read Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback by Marshall Goldsmith and The Difference Between Praise and Feedback by Anya Kamenetz. Both articles were good, and had excellent information about the two subjects. I really like the idea of feedforward. I would much rather listen to what I should do to improve in the future insteading of dwelling on what I did wrong in the past. I can see why this concept has such positive reviews. Like the article by Kamenetz stated, praise is a touchy subject. Her article was more geared toward parents, but what I got out of the article is to praise the process instead of the accomplishment. This is really useful for feedback because you can focus on what was done right, praise the person for it, but then you can also give the feedback stating the problem but it set a positive tone in the beginning, so the feedback is more likely to be taken in a positive manner. 
Throughout my life I have always struggled to give feedback. I never want to hurt anyone's feeling or tell them something that is completely wrong. Last semester really helped me in the feedback department, but I also did not feel like I had to give much as everything was really good. I like both of the strategies that I learned from the articles. Feedback is meant to better a person and help them learn what not to do in the future. My main goal is to give positive, helpful feedback that will help the person when writing. I am not sure what strategy I will use yet, but I really like the idea of feedforward.

Week 3 Story: Rama's Diary

January 31, 2018:

Dear diary, it is me again, the great hero Rama. Who would have ever thought that a manly hero/prince such as myself would keep a diary? Oh well, it can be our secret. Anyway, today was the best day of my life. Today, I saw the woman whom my soul longs for and I know I will marry her. How did we meet you ask? Well, it all started like this. My brother, Laks and I had been staying with a hermit, when Laks told me he wanted to go into the city. Feeling up for an adventure, I agreed. We made our way through the marvelous city, which I might add was a little awkward because people kept staring at us. I mean I know I am good looking and all, but crowds of people staring at us was definitely odd. Anyway, we kept going through the city, from street to street just admiring the views. Finally, we arrived at a large arena that they called the Place of Ladies, which was just a meadow of

Picture of Rama and Sita.
Source: Amory Saber

sports. We took in the view of our adventure and decided to head back for the night. 
The next morning when Laks and I were bathing in the stream, we saw some flowers on the bank unlike an other flower we had ever seen. We decided to pick the flower, but upon investigating the flower, we noticed that the flowers actually formed a sort of path, so we followed it.  The flower path just so happened to lead into the garden of the king. It was splendid, from the bountiful fruit trees, the marvelous peacocks, the beautiful lake in the center, to the astonishing lotus flowers spread out across the lake, the place was truly fit for a king, no pun intended. We asked the gardener for permission to pick some of the flowers we had seen and he said it was fine so we went about our adventure. While picking flowers, all of the sudden I heard the jingling sound of bangles around a woman's ankle, and I knew then, without even looking, that the woman who was approaching was the woman who I would love for all of eternity. I turned to look and saw the King's daughter Sita, I was breathless. 
Sita had beautiful dark hair, soft eyes and a warm smile that would make any man fall for her. We made eye contact and my heart skipped a beat. I could tell she felt the same way by just looking into her eyes. Not a word was spoken between us, but I knew in that moment I would love her for the rest of my life. I turned to my brother and told him that I was in love with that woman and was going to marry her. He looked at me like I was crazy, but he swears, that he saw a look in my eyes and he knew that what I had just said was true. I knew that she would be hard to get, but eternal love is worth it. One day, I will marry Sita. Now looking back on the day, I see that we were clearly meant to follow the path so I could find my true love.

Authors note: I kept the story line the same as the original story, but instead of letting someone else tell the story, I put it in Rama's perspective. I left out the parts from the original story that were about Sita. In the original story, Sita and her maidens were walking in the garden and one of her maidens that was walking ahead, saw Laks and Rama and pointed them out to the group. From the story I can infer that Sita felt the same way about Rama, because on her way back to the palace, she stopped at the temple to pray. At the end of her prayer, flowers fell and she knew then that her prayer was answered. I liked the idea of a diary because who would think that Rama would have a diary, so I thought it would add a sense of humor. I also added the part about the flower path. In the original story, Rama and his brother just go to pick flowers and end up in the king's garden. I found it a little off how two men randomly wanted to pick flowers, so I made the flowers turn into a path that would lead Rama to his true love.

Bibliography:  "Sita" from The Divine Archerer by F.J. Gould. Web Source. 

Reading Notes: Ramayana Reading B- Bharata Returns

Bharata Returns: 

Bharata goes to find Rama.
Source: Wikimedia Commons

• I like this story and how Bharata refuses to take the throne, because it is rightfully Rama's. I also like how he has such respect for his elder brother. This story could be easily manipulated to were Bharata is filled with greed and immediately takes the throne and allows the woman to be killed, then Rama would hate him. This was the first story of reading B, and I thought that throughout the reading, Bharata would betray Rama, but he did not. This story is really good and I like  how the brotherly love and respect is kept through the story. I would like to change this story and make it a diary of Bharata. I want to feel what he felt when he returned home and learned of his father's death and his brother's exile. A diary is probably the best way to convey this, but just putting the story in Bharata's perspective would probably do the trick. Throughout this Reading assignment, there were a couple of different stories on Bharata and Rama, but in my opinion, Bharata plays the biggest role in this story and we truly learn about his character the most. I honestly though while reading this story that Bharata might have taken his brother's throne, but I found it interesting that he chose to uphold his respect for his brother. That is that part that really stuck out to me. I thought about changing the story and making Bharata bad, but honestly, I like the idea of just telling the story from his perspective better than changing his character altogether, because as far as I know, he seems to be a good character.
• This story would also be a good story to incorporate into a storybook or portfolio if I choose the theme of Dharma. In this story, Bharata shows justice, custom, and duty in the fact of not wanting to take what was his brothers, but he also shows order and model in not allowing his mother to be killed for her wrong doings. Overall this was my favorite story that I read out of Reading B.
• Bibliography: "Bharata Returns" from "Indian Myth and Legend" by Donald A. Mackenzie.

Reading Notes: Ramayana Reading A- Sita

Sita:

• Summary:  Rama and his brother Laks (lakshamana) were marveling at the city's wonders, and asked Vish is they could go out, and with his permission, that is what the brother's did. As soon as the two princes stepped out onto the street, people stared at them in awe of their good looks. The two wandered around until they came upon a meadow of sportsand after taking in the view, they went back to their loding place and went to sleep. The next morning, the brothers were bathing in the stream and they asked the hermit if they could pick flowers, he agreed. The two princes came across the garden of the king, were the gardeners

  

  A Puppet of Sita.
  Source: Wikimedia Commons

  allowed the boys to pick flowers. At this time, it just so happened that Sita, the King's daughter was walking in the garden and one of her maiden saw the boys and pointed them out. At the same time, Rama heard the jingle of Sita's bangles on her feet and said, "I know of a surety that there comes hither a lady whom I shall love beyond all things else in the world." He then looked up and saw Sita for the first time and from that moment on, they loved each other. One of Sita's maidens said it was time to go back and they agreed, but on the way back to the palace, Sita stopped at the house of the goddess Bhavani and prayed, "Great Mother, bright as the lightning, and giver of gifts to gods and men, thou knowest, as I bend before thy lotus feet, what is the wish of my heart." Then garland of flowers drop from above and Sita knew that this was a sign her prayer was heard. The princes left the garden and returned to the guru and told him of the meeting in the garden. 
• I would like to change this and maybe set it in a modern time setting. You could easily turn this into a modern day love story. I really like the idea of love at first sight. This story was a very intense version of this, as there were not even words spoken between the couple. Maybe I could turn this story into a diary by Sita or even Rama. This would allow for the feelings to be shown more and the reader to get a better sense of this great love story. The notes before the story said that Sita and Rama's love is a heavenly and eternal love, so I feel like a diary post would bring this out better. 
• Bibliography:  "Sita" from The Divine Archerer by F.J. Gould. Web Source. 

Feedback Thoughts

14 Signs Your Perfectionism Has Gotten Out Of Control by Caroline Gregoire, was the first article I read. I have always known I was a perfectionist, but this just went to further confirm what I already knew. I really liked how the article was related and did a really good job of writing down everything a perfectionist feels. As stated, I do have difficult with criticism. It is not that I do not like, or do not want it, but when given criticism I feel like I have failed and that what I did was not right. I am sure everyone who is a perfectionist has faced this. I have gotten over my struggle with criticism and feedback and now openly accept it. I know I am human, so I will make mistakes, and I have realized that I can further learn from my mistakes, which gave me a new outlook on feedback and criticism. I now use it as a source of learning.

The second article I read was Recalibrating the Perfectionist Mind by Dr. Jay-Lee Nair. I really liked this article. It gave a lot of coping strategies and a some useful tips on how to beat that negative mentality that being a perfectionist gives you. My favorite part was giving yourself a list of positive things about you before an exam or somewhere you have to perform. This makes perfect sense. Make yourself feel good about something before you do it, and you are more likely to perform better. Overall, feedback has been something I have struggled with in the past, but last semester, I felt the feedback went very well. Everyone was always very nice and helpful and I appreciated that. This semester, I am working on being more confident when giving others feedback. Something I personally struggled with was giving other's feedback and worrying that I was wrong,but I plan to take a new mindset into feedback this semester.

The most useful feedback I have received is when the feedback is in depth and gives suggestion about what I should do differently versus just stating that I need to fix it. This goes in hand with the worst feedback I have received, which was just a paper showing my errors, with no suggestion on how to fix them. When it comes to feedback in learning tasks, I like to be shown what I am doing wrong and how I can fix it, so it is very similar to on paper.

Funny feedback meme. Source: Create Meme

Topic Brainstorm

• Dharma: 
• I really like the idea of have a really broad theme. Last semester, I did a storybook over the women of Camelot, which was really specific. Originally, I found this topic while looking at Karam, which again, is another broad theme. I like how Dharma has multiple meanings and not a set meaning in the english language, this will really allow for creativity. To retell the stories, maybe I could take a story that does not have Dharma in it and create some, for example, if there is a crime in a story that is unresolved, I could resolve with Dharma.My idea for a storybook with this, would be to create a storybook with each story hitting one of the meanings of the word Dharma. This would also be a good topic for a portfolio project, especially if I decide to explore the different meanings of the word.  A title could be Dharma in the Epics or something indicating that the word has more than one meaning and that each story is about one of the meaning or follows one of the meaning. I think this would be a great topic to explore and would really make me think about the stories I am reading and their messages.
• Lesson on Dharma
• This source had several different "lessons" about the word Dharma and how it related to the Ramayana.
• Love Stories:
• This topic attracted me because what female doesn't like a good love story? For my story book last semester, I used a talk-show theme, interviewing different "women" to create my story book project. There are endless possibilities when it comes to creating a love story book. For this one, I could incorporate the the God of love, and maybe modernize her character and make her a modern day match maker. Another idea is creating a "Bachelor/Bachelor in Paradise" type story and make these love stories a type of competition. I loved seeing stories from last semester that were set in modern time and used a well-known TV show or movies as a theme. I think this topic would be a great one to do  that with. As of right now, I have yet to read any of the stories, so I do not have any specific love stories in mind. I would probably keep the stories the same and just change the setting and theme. 
• ThoughtCo.
• This site gave a list of specific love stories from Hindu Legends
• Sita:



Picture of Sita. Source: ILoveIndia

• I love a story with a strong female character, so when I read a little about Sita, I knew she would be a great character to write about. I feel like this topic is definitely more specific and would make for a better storybook versus a portfolio. Since this story is structured, I could really zoom in on detail and just tell different stories about Sita, instead of jumping around between stories or characters. Again, I am not really familiar with Sita or even what her stories will be like, but I imagine it will be an epic journey. A good idea to retell her stories could be in the form of a journal, diary, or even a blog.  The goal of this project would be just to learn all I can about Sita. 
• Ninapaley.com
• This site gives an introduction and some background on Sita
• Dasharatha and his Family:
• I chose this based on the random generator and it just sounded interesting. This would be a great story to use an interview style, since their are so many people involved, this would be if I wanted to include them all. Another idea with this topic would be to have each of his children tell a story or interview them about their father. I am unfamiliar with the characters, so I do not know a lot about them. If I decided to do this topic, it will be interesting to learn about each of these characters in the book. Hopefully the stories are dramatic. I would really like to learn more about the character before I make any decision on a project or how I would retell their stories. The link I found mentions a curse, and that is what really intrigues me. I really like stories with curse, and you can always retell the story of the curse and make it worse.
• Bold Sky
• This might even be a story I could use. I clicked this link because it was titled The Curse on King Dasharatha. This would be really interesting to explore and would be a great idea for a story.

Week 2 Story: The Story of How a Fairy Defeated the Goblins

Hi, I'm Lily the fairy and I am the ruler around these parts. I live in a forest on the coast of what used to be Goblin City. My castel is huge. I made it in the trunk of an old tree, so it definitely has a vintage vibe to it. Things used to be so lonely around here until I made the goblins disappear. Now, it is the picture perfect forest with all sorts of magic critters just running around. Now, about the Goblins "going away", it is a long story, but today, I am going to expose the truth behind the defeat of the goblins.

The goblins have always eaten people, but the people outside of Goblin City had no idea. Every time the she-goblin's husbands went missing, they would tell an elaborate story about how their husband's ships were lost at sea. Unfortunately, the people could not see through their lies, but I did. It took years for the people to finally realize what was happening, and when they did panic struck. This is when the humans broke the treaty. Ever since then, the forest has been a mess. The humans became fearful of all magic creatures, creating fear and distrust on both sides. I have lived in hiding for awhile now, and I am the only fairy left in the forest, but don't worry. I have devised a plan to demolish the goblins and restore peace with the humans.

My plan started by making a ship crash into the coast just outside of Goblin City. You see, since most of the humans have been devoured or are hidden away from the goblins, the only way for them to hunt is to bring people in, but what they do not know is I am going to create a great army to rise against them. The ship contained a crew of five hundred men and I knew that I was going to win them over. The first night that the ship crashed, the she-goblins took their old husbands to prison, so they could eat them later. The next day, all the she-goblins took clothing and meals to the men and sure enough, they fooled the men and invited the men back to their city. A week passed, and the men began to wonder why there were not other  men in the town. This is when the she-goblins again told their tragic stories of their husbands and once again, the humans fell for their lies. The sailors then decided to marry the she-goblins, not knowing their true identities. 

One night, the she-goblins decided to feast. They eagerly waited for their husbands to fall asleep, and then they snuck to the prison to have a meal. This is when I made my first move. I decided to start with the captain, since he was the most respected man. I woke him frantically, trying to hurry before the goblins came back. The captain woke up confused and startled. I immediately began telling him about his wife's identity and that all the women in the town. At first he did not believe me so I told him to wait and watch his wife. That very night, when his wife finally returned, he heard her singing, "Man's meat, man's meat. That is all Goblin's eat," as she was munching on an arm. The captain, now knowing that what I said was true, alerted his crew the next morning on their daily walk. Some believed him, and to their disfortune some didn't.

 The next day, not wanting to spare any time, I decided to stop the sailors while they were on their walk. This is when I told them the whole story, and to my surprise, the men believed me right away, saying that they had their suspicions all along. Right then and there, we decided to come up with a plan to eliminate the goblins. We decided to make our move quickly, so that the goblins would not expect it. Right on time, the men filed into the forest looking ready for battle. Equipped with some powers I gave them, and beautiful winged horses, we carried out our plan was to capture the goblins, put them in the prison where they stored their prey, and finally give them to the humans to restore the treaty and trust. Our plan proceeded without flaw. Once we had all the she-goblins trapped, we ran into the forest alerting every creature of our victory. Finally, the news reached the humans. The King came to us, took away the evil goblins, restored our treaty, and made me, Lily, the ruler over the whole magic forest. He even threw in some gold and a new ship for my new sailor friends. Now, with the goblins gone and the peace restored, everyone in the forest and I will live happily ever after.

The Sailors on their horse riding to capture the goblins. 
Source: W. Robinson.

Author's Note: 

The original story is, Goblin City. I found it a little odd how the fairy was just mentioned at the end of the story and instantly became the hero, so that is where my idea began. I wanted to make the fairy have a larger role in the story, but she ended up becoming the main character. To start my story, I just asked myself all of the questions I had while I read the story. The main one was why the fairy hated the goblins, so I decided to take an idea from Disney's Maleficent, with a magic forest and the humans not trusting the creatures in it. I then took the originally story line of the sailors crashing on the coast and made it seem like the fairy had devised a plan to bring men to the city. I then decided to make her in control and reach out to these men, essentially making them her army, to create her revenge and restore peace with the humans, which was her plan all along.

Bibliography:

 "Goblin City" from The Giant Crab and Other Tales from Old India by W.H.D Rouse. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Jataka Anthology-Goblins, Reading B

The men riding away on the Fairy's horse. Source: W. Robinson

Goblin City:

• Summary: 
• This story is about a town full of goblins who eat people. The she-goblins catch their prey by marriage. They will marry a man and when they eventually tire of him, they eat them and the process starts over. In the story, a ship crashes near the coast of Goblin City, and all the she-goblins went and tended to the men. To keep the men's suspicion at bay, using their magic, the she-goblins made shapes of men and women in various location and performing multiple tasks to make the city look normal. the sailors bought this scam and felt secure in the city. The she-goblins then persuaded the sailors to marry them, telling them that their own husband had been gone at sea for three years, and that they must be drown or lost. The sailors fell for this. All this time the she-goblins husband has been held in a prison, waiting to be eaten. One night, once all their husbands were asleep, the she-goblins went to the prison to feast. The wife of the captain of the ship, had woken up while his wife was gone and when she returned, he saw her munching away and saying, "Man's meat, man's meat. That's what goblin's like to eat." The captain was terrified, but pretended to be asleep. The next morning he tried to tell he crew about what he saw, but only some believed him, while other said he was dreaming. The captain and the other tried to plot an escape but it seemed impossible as their ship was gone. All this time, there was a fairy who despised the goblins and she was determined to help these men. One day, while the men were out for a walk, the fairy sent a beautiful winged horse to rescue the men and take them home. Some of the men came and the other stayed behind where they were devoured by the she-goblins that very night.
• My Ideas: 
• My idea for this story is to retell it in the captain's perspective and add dialogue. While reading the story, I asked myself why the sailors decided to stay in Goblin City. Was there a curse that the goblin's put over them or were the goblin's just that cunning? Maybe the clothes they gave the men were charmed or maybe the whole town was a charm. With this version, maybe I could change the ending, what if the captain and the she-goblin fell in love and maybe she helped the men to escape and went with them. Also, maybe the she-goblin could go to the fairy and have her change her into a human so she could be with the captain. 
• I could also retell the story in the perspective of the fairy. I thought it was odd that right at the end, the fairy just swooped in and saved the day. I could possibly include some background to why the fairy hates the goblins, maybe they ate her husband. There are really endless ways to change this story. We could also have the fairy team up with the sailor and capture all the she-goblins so they could never do this again.
• Bibliography:  Rouse,W.H.D. The Giant Crab and Other Tales from Old India. Goblin City.

Reading Options

• Reading Guide: 17 Fascinating Women from the Mahabharata
• This reading guide did not have a detailed overview. What drew me to this book was the title. I love reading about women in different eras. I am not really sure why, but I am always drawn to read about them. Last semester I did my storybook project over the women of Camelot, so I thought that this book would be a good choice for me.
• Reading Guide: The Panchatantra
• Last semester, I did not read a lot of stories with animal themes, but I really like animals, so I thought that it would be a good mix up from last semester to try a book with animals in it. Again, this book did not have a detailed overview, but from looking a the titles of the chapters I feel like I have a good sense of what the book will be like.
• Reading Guide: The Missing Queen
• I also really enjoy reading about royalty, so the title is what originally attracted me to this book. After reading the overview, I learned that this story is a modern retelling. This is the other aspect that drew me to the book. I thought it would be a nice mix up.

For this I chose reading guides, because I am more of a traditional book person. When it comes to choosing books to read, I can be quite picky. If it does not catch my attention early on, I tend to loose interest. Honestly, I am not familiar with any of these topics, but I am eager to learn more about the Indian culture and their literature. I chose the image of the book cover from the book The Missing Queen, because I really like the modern feel. 

The Missing Queen Book Cover. Source: WordPress

Time Strategies

This semester I have a pretty busy schedule, so I know that time management will play a huge role in my success in all of my classes. I am not necessarily bad about managing my time but I am a huge procrastinator. Sometimes it is because I am really busy and just push the little things aside and other times it is because I'm not busy and just don't want to do the work until I have to. I know cutting out my procrastination would allows me to be more efficient, but it is just a hard habit to break. Another goal for this semester is to be better about my procrastination.  For this assignment I read, 3 Steps to Recapture Time by Joynicole Martinez and 4 Questions to Help You Overcome Procrastination by Peter Banerjea. Both articles were very good and gave a lot of tips. From the article by Peter Banejea, I really like the idea of having question to ask myself to help me avoid/overcome procrastination. I also like how it gives the advice to focus only on three or four tasks for the day and not moving on until the task is complete. For me a big part of my procrastination is being overwhelmed by the things I have to do, but if I broke them down and only focused on a few at a time, I feel like it would really help me to overcome it. From the article by Joynicole Martinez, I think the idea of taking the first 15 minutes of my day to reflect on what I want to get done and what I need to do would be a great way to help keep stress, my time, and my procrastination under control. Honestly, I have never really had a time management strategy, but I will definitely be creating one this semester.

Procrastination Meme. Source: Meme Center

Technology Tools Thoughts

This is only my third online class, ever. Last semester it was a struggling getting used to everything at first, but this semester, having some background and insight to the tools that will be used in this class, I feel a lot more confident starting off. Last semester, I did not do that many "tech tips" but this semester I plan to do more so I can learn a little more about the technology that can be used in this class. From last semester, I learned about two different tools, that I will definitely be using this semester. The first is a word count tool. This allows for me to type my work in blogger and then just select my text and it will tell me my word count. This was a lot more convenient then typing in word and transferring the data. The next tool I learned about was a read aloud tool. This was very useful when checking my work for grammar, and made it a lot easier to read the stories.

Funny Technology Meme. Source: Pintrest

Assignment Thoughts

Since I was in Myth/Folk last semester, I already have a good idea of what the assignments and this class will be like. Honestly, my favorite assignments last semester were the reading assignments. I have always loved reading and the class really pushed me outside of what I was used to reading and gave me a broader spectrum of genres. I imagine that this semester, that will also be the case. Another assignment that I really liked, despite what I originally thought, was the storytelling. I have never really been much of a writer, but last semester really pushed me out of my comfort zone and now, writing really doesn't bother me. Last semester, I feel like I did really well keeping up will all the assignments, and even getting ahead, but toward the end of the semester, I found myself slacking a little as other classes got busy. My goal this semester is to work ahead on week I am not as busy to avoid extra stress during exam weeks. At the end of last semester, I learned about a read aloud tool. I will definitely be using it a lot more this semester for the reading and writing assignments. This class, once again, is very different than the typical science classes I have taken at OU, but it really is a nice topic break.

Funny Meme about assignment procrastination. Source: Pintrest

Growth Mindset

Funny Dog Mindset meme. Source: Doug Barton Youtube

The first time I ever heard the concept of growth mindset was last semester, and to this day, I wonder why I had never heard of it before. Personally, since learning about growth mindset last semester, I have really tried to shift myself into that mindset. Unfortunately, I still find myself having a "fixed" mindset. Since coming to OU, I have learned so much about the way I learn. I started at OU straight out of a tiny high school and had no idea what a big university would entail and the way it would challenge me, both academically and non-academically. During my first few semesters at OU, I honestly struggled and in my opinion if I would have known about growth mindset before entering college it truly would have helped me in my transition. Even after learning some about growth mindset last semester, I still look forward to learning more.

An Introduction to the Life of Aubryelle Sebo

Introducing Aubryelle Sebo

Hi! My name is Aubryelle Sebo and I am from Spiro, OK, which is a tiny town about three hours east of Norman, famous for the Spiro Mounds.I am a junior, Biology (Pre-PA) major. One day, I hope to open a free medical clinic in my hometown. To open a clinic and serve my community has always been a dream of mine. Last semester was by far the best semester I have had at OU. My favorite class I took/have ever taken at OU was last semester, and it just so happened to be organic chemistry. This was very unexpected for me. I always knew I liked chemistry, but had always heard scary things about OChem, however, the class ended up being awesome and I did very well. Over break, I had the opportunity to job shadow a PA, which made for a very exciting week of my break. Other than job shadowing, I most hung out with my family and binged watched Netflix.

The most important thing to me is my family. I have two siblings, a brother and a sister. My brother, Bryten, is 15 and is a freshman in high school, and loves to play football. My sister, Madelyn, is 19 and is a freshman at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK. I also have an English Bulldog named Lucy, who is my favorite person on this earth (yes, I treat my dog like a person). Besides Lucy, at home I have six other dogs (that's a lot, I know). Needless to say, my family loves animals and they play a huge role in our lives. I grew up on a family farm that has been in the family for five generations! Growing up on a farm has taught me so many valuable lessons that I will use throughout my life. 

(One of my favorite pictures of Lucy: Photo by Aubryelle Sebo)

Another thing about me is, I love to watch Netflix. My current obsession on Netflix is Dexter. It is a weird show and a little unconventional, but it is very good. I also love movies. I do not have a favorite genre and typically watch just about any type. My all time favorite movies are  White Chicks and The Other Woman.

White Chicks Movie Cover: IMDB

The Other Woman Movie Cover: IMDB

Storybook Favorites

• Indian Horror:
• The introduction to this storybook is very good. As one of the first things that readers will read in the storybook, it did a fantastic job of capturing my attention. What originally drew me to this story book was the title. I pictured it being a ghost story. I really liked how the author decided to use journal entries as their method of storytelling. In my opinion, journal entries are the best way to retell horror stories. This really allowed the story to become the author's own and tell it in a new perspective. This was a new topic for me but I really liked seeing how the author transformed these stories into something new. The author's notes were very well written and gave me a little insight into the original story.
• Hello, when am I?
• Again, what drew me to this storybook was the title. The title of this storybook stood out the most to me. The introduction did a really good job of setting the scene for the stories to come. The only thing I would have added would be to give a little background information on the characters. From the title, I would have never guessed that this would be a time travel story, but after reading it, it definitely makes sense. I really like the idea. It kept things interesting and kept me guessing where the pair would land next. I also really like the design of this storybook, it was very dream like, which fit the overall theme perfectly. Overall this storybook was excellent.
• Stories of the Wild West:
• The introduction to this storybook was great. It gave background on the characters and really helped prepare you for the stories to come. In the stories I really liked the dialogue. It made the story feel more like an actual story versus just everything being in "he said/she said". The design of this storybook went very well with the topic and was exactly what I expected. That is why I chose the image from this storybook. I did not see too many story books with a title over the wild west, so that is why this particular storybook stood out to me. 

 

Photo of a Bathhouse from the Stories of the Wild West Introduction Image Source: Pixabay

Favorite place: Maui, HI

Maui, Hawaii. In the winter of 2012, my family and I took a vacation to Maui. Ever since that trip, Maui has been one of my favorite places. From the vast mountains with tight winding roads, to the beautiful sandy beaches, a diverse community of sea creatures, and even an old volcano, Maui does not disappoint. If you have never been, you should definitely add it to your bucket list of vacation destinations.

While visiting Maui, we visited many of the beautiful beaches that Maui has to offer but without a doubt, my favorite beach was the red sand beach. It was absolutely stunning. Pictures offer no justice to this magnificent spot, with clear, kool-aid blue water contrasting against the deep red sand. The true beauty of this place cannot be captured by words or pictures. The red sand beach was a spot that I can truly say left me speechless. Another perk of this beach was that it was pretty secluded, due to having to hike down to get to it, which meant that it had an abundance of sea-glass.

(Red Sand Beach Maui, HI: Hawaii-Guide )

The journey to the red sand beach offered to be worrisome. To reach the red sand beach, we first had to climb the mountains on a road called Hana Highway. The roads were narrow, steep, and at times seemed impossible to get through, but the wonders that played alongside the journey through Hana highway made the treacherous road worth it. While the highway itself was rough, the scenery along the way was truly worth it. We were able to see countless waterfalls and swimming holes to the unbelievable rainbow eucalyptus trees. I can say that the narrow roads and cliffs were well worth the journey.

(The winding roads of Hana Highway Maui, HI: Traveling Boy)

The beautiful rainbow eucalyptus trees on Hana Highway.

( Rainbow Eucalyptus Trees of Maui, Photo by Valley Isle: Tour Maui)

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