A Series of Fortunate Rides-- The Long Waits: My Horseback Riding Tales

Click Here for Part One

Click Here for Part Two

And that image, I think, basically sums up what I did during my months off horseback riding lessons.... Unfortunately due to my busy school schedule, I was unable to ride every week, and I would have a cooling off period every time my package of 10 lessons ended.

Then, one magical day, I would be right back at the stables, excitement boiling over, and itching to get back on a horse. And get back on a horse I did. I'd eagerly clamber back onto the saddle, ready for a another lesson. Reflecting on it now, I don't even really clearly remember the past lessons. I'm sure I enjoyed every single one of them thoroughly (although the amount of enjoyment I got from doing sitting trot is slightly debatable...) it's just that all of them kind of... mush together. I don't remember precisely down what on each day. In my mind, it's become organized into packages. The package of 10 I did in the summer with Izzy, the package of 10 I did with Julia, and the package of 10 I'm riding right now with Joe. Somewhere in the middle of all that, I did cantering, sitting trot, poles, jumps, grids, and all that. 

The one lesson I can remember clear as day is the day I fell of my horse. Three times. Well, the last time was more of an accidental dismount more than a fall so... I praise the stars that I had been riding Charm that day, rather than Teddy. Charm is a very sweet old mare that is much much much smaller than Teddy, and much slower than Teddy at that... Teddy has a real gas pedal when it comes to when he actually gets going, while Charm.... Not so much. I ended up not having enough pace with her, got a refusal from a fence, and fell off. Only to get back on, and fall off. Again. Welp. That's embarrassing. Thanks to my slightly scary enthusiastic riding teacher though, I managed to get back on, and by the end of the lesson, I had gotten the jumping course done. It was a necessary lesson though. Thanks to that lesson, I got the whole 'putting your heel down is a good thing in riding' lesson through my head..

Looking back at my riding lessons just a few months before, I note that I actually did get better. Slowly, without me really noticing it, I got to be better rider. I could jump higher, getting a smoother gallop, trot for longer, and my overall look on the horse got better. And with each lesson, each second, each tick tock of the clock, I fell more in love with horses. Yep, I know. Digging my own grave.

As I said before, horseback riding is a magical sport that allows you to form bonds that you would never have thought you could make, and opens you to a world that you would never have thought you could get to experience. Thrilling, exciting and exhausting all at once, it's a sport like no other. Honestly, what other sport can get you working with such empathetic creatures as horses? In fact to me, it was like a new style of life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*End of Part Three*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click Here for Part Four
Click Here for Part Five

A Series of Fortunate Rides-- My Stable: My Horseback Riding Tales

Click Here for Part One

Alright then.... Where did I leave off... Right. My first riding lesson!

My very first horseback riding lesson was on a big chestnut stallion by the name of Chester. He was well-groomed, fit, and every time he moved, you could see his muscles ripple under his skin. He was perfection in a horse. As a school horse, he knew his job, and he carried it out well. He was a confidence-booster, and the ideal horse to start out with-- dependable, sturdy and steady. Big, with a heart to match his size. His beautiful brown eyes stared straight into your soul, and he stretched out towards anyone with an open heart. He had a comfortable seat, and a great foundation to start off my riding.

I can't say that looking back on it, my first riding lesson was exceptionally memorable, other than that I learned how to post (which made trotting much more comfortable), as well as a grooming lesson. The first lesson I had was a private lesson with my teacher, so she could sort out my level of riding (which was zero...) and also get me to start tacking up my horse by myself in future lessons. It consisted of an hour lesson-- half an hour was dedicated to grooming and learning horse tack, and the other half was dedicated to actually riding. I loved the feeling of being so high off the ground and the whole viewpoint of being on a horse's back. For half an hour, the world took on a totally different perspective for me. No doubt it was hard work-- no, horseback riding does not mean you just sit on the horse and the horse powers through the course, but the rider actually has to work as well. By the end of my lesson when I got off my horse, I had wobbly legs, the biggest smile on Earth, and extremely high spirits.

I decided that I would not give up on this sport. Sure enough, the next week, I was right back. However, this time, I was introduced to a new horse: Teddy. Teddy was the horse. A gorgeous dark bay thoroughbred stallion by the show name of Air Time, he was even bigger than Chester. He had a sleek coat with innocent looking black almond-shaped eyes, and a compassionate air. Compared to Chester, he was much leaner, his muscles proving to be rather slim than bulky. He had a much more model-like figure, standing like a show horse all the time. Teddy's hair was silky and soft to the touch, his ears broad and always perked. He quickly stole my hear, and by the first lesson I had with him, it became evident that it would be hard to pull me off of him.

By the time I had my first lesson on Teddy, I was put into a group lesson, with a really nice girl that was one year older than me. Izzy was sweet, and really nice. She rode Chester when I rode Teddy, which was always interesting as they are like... best friends. When we would ride around the ring, they would always end up side by side, plodding alongside each other. Honestly, cutest thing ever, and the best thing about it? Our teacher didn't mind. We mostly did trotting-- trotting poles, walking, changing gait, etc. My 10 lessons flew by like a blur, and every day after riding I would fret over my remaining lessons. During the 45 minutes each week, I would be in paradise, just letting the familiar and soothing presence of Teddy wash over me. However, immediately after, I would count away in my head. ..5....4...3...2...1.... Too soon, my package of 10 riding lessons were over....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*End of Part Two*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click Here for Part Three

Click Here for Part Four

Click Here for Part Five

A Series of Fortunate Rides-- A Beginning: My Horseback Riding Tales

The joys of loving an extremely pricey sport.... You may or may not know that I am... fatally in love with horses. Ever since I started riding, I have been totally caught up with the sport, unable to let it go, even when it takes so much money out of my pocket. There's something about my heart and horses that just... clicks, I guess. For the longest time, my mother and my father have been trying to get me to stop being obsessed with horses. And to no avail. Believe me, I've tried. Once horse crazy, always horse crazy.

I guess I decided I owed all of you, dear readers, an explanation on how my whole horse thing started. Anyways, I was also kind of feeling like I was getting unoriginal with my book reviews. So.... Here it is: my history of horseback riding.

I wasn't born on a horse. Actually, quite the opposite-- I didn't know that I could horseback ride until the age of... I don't know.... A few years ago. During my younger years, I had absolutely no clue how horses would put as big an impact on me as they do now. Little did I know how much I would get to love these beautiful, faithful, and hardworking creatures.

It all started one day in Korea. I was on Vacation to Jeju Island ( bonus points to anyone who knows where that is! :D ) and my parents brought me to a ranch. Of course, I was like 'Huh? What am I doing here?'  But I went in, following my parents, and interested to see what I would do at a place with.... horses?! That was the very first time that I got on a real live horse, and for an hour, and I was absolutely in love. Already. I begged my mother to let me ride one more time in Vancouver. She agreed, and promised.

If it's one thing about my mom, it's that she keeps her promises. It was the summer after that I got to have my very first riding lesson at a stable in Langley. However, that place teaches in Korean, which got a bit difficult to understand at times. Anyhow, the horse I rode (I still remember her name) was an Arabian mare by the name of Matilda. She was absolutely adorable, and even though I only rode her once for an hour, I got pretty attached to her. Apparently I had a huge Totoro smile on my face during the whole riding lesson, and my mother looked kindly on me. After a few days of begging, I managed to convince my mother to let me ride again. However, due to the distance from Langley to my home, we decided that we would have to find somewhere else to ride.

For a while, I went around just testing out places to ride, from here and there. My weekends were pretty much devoted to trying to find a good stable where a.) the accommodations were good for the horses and b.) the teachers seemed very devoted. For a month, that dragged on. Finally, jackpot! I found my new riding stable.

Mind you , it was still a bit of a drive away from my home, but I really didn't care at that point-- it was perfect. The horses were gorgeous, the teacher strict but very enthusiastic and friendly, and there were lots of kids my age. I was so excited. My very first lesson was with a chestnut horse, Chester. He's the sweetest thing ever, I swear. He's the perfect school horse, calm, okay in pretty much everything, and gentle. He rarely complains, and he's a true sweetheart. After my private lesson, I decided that that was it. I was going to stay at this stable.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*End of Part One*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Click For Part Two
Click for Part Three
Click For Part Four
Click For Part Five

Sundancer by Shelley Peterson

"It's time to tell my story.

I am big and I am beautiful. When I run, I run like the wind, and when I jump, I jump like a deer. I am a winner."

Undoubtedly, I am a bit of a horse-a-holic. Even my riding teacher says so-- I'm down flat obsessed with horses, whether I'm riding them, or just standing next to them. However, you don't have to be a horse-a-holic to enjoy this amazing book. One of the Saddle Creek Books, its beautifully written, and personally, I loved this book sooo much. It's right up there along with Black Beauty. I think it would be safe to say that this book is one of my favourites. It's soooo good I cannot even begin to explain how good it is!! Highest praises to Shelley Peterson!!!

Many know of the classic Black Beauty-- the gorgeous black horse with a star on his forehead, perfect. And yes, another horse tale. Meet Sundancer and Bird, our main protagonists for the story. Sundancer is a sleek chestnut gelding with... problems. He's learnt not to trust, not to let anyone ride him, and not to get abused. He takes pride in everything he stands for, and will not approve of anyone changing that. Personally, Sundancer reminds of a certain horse I know by the name of Sebastian... They cause trouble, but in the right care, they are amazing horses that know how to strut their stuff. Sundancer is suspicious of everyone and everything, from a broomstick to trailers. He has a fear of surprises, and had a penchant for running away. Over all, he's just a really difficult horse. Along with him, meet Bird. Bird, otherwise known as Alberta, is a bit of an interesting girl. She's selectively mute, due to incidents when she was younger. Her mother, Eva, thinks of Bird as nothing other than a possession, and has sent her off for her aunt to take care of Bird. Hannah, Bird's aunt, loves Bird, but sometimes, it can be difficult to live with someone who's mute. Meanwhile, Bird is hurt by her mother's actions and coldness towards her, and misses her sister dearly. She cares for animals deeply, and has an incredibly special connection with them. Even though she doesn't speak to people, she can and does speak to animals. Inside her little world, Bird hides an incredibly witty, smart girl, who is compassionate and even has feelings. Little by little, this difficult horse and Bird make slight connections, helping each other, probing each other, and just being there for one another. The makings of a beautiful horse and rider relationship.

I think I really enjoyed this book especially because I could kind of relate Sundancer to a horse I personally know. At my stables, there are quite a few horses which started off being problematic them turned out to become fine school horses with a bit of spitfire... Although I have never in my life met a person who had become selectively mute, I do work as a volunteer for therapeutic riding every week, and so I know the feeling of feeling that I'm missing out on something in a different world. However, it is shown in the book how Bird has emotions as powerful as any other person, and you end up really connecting to her frustrations, difficulties, and her successes.

Telling about the bond between and a girl and her horse, this books reminds everyone that we all have our bad days sometimes, some more often than others. However, even if you're having a bad day, or your partner is, it's always nice to think about them as well as yourself. Shelley Peterson is really an amazing writer that will whisk you into the world of horses, and lead you through the beginning and the end of Sundancer and Bird's own stories. Each chapter starts off with Sundancer's words, which are impressive and touching. This story is filled with love, anger, resent, and forgiveness. Amazing book!

I recommend this book to everyone, especially horse lovers. It's amazingly written, and astoundingly touching! I love love love it!

***I give this book a 10000000000000 out of 10!!!!!!!!!***

Book One of the Atlanteans: The Lost Code by Kevin Emerson

Another day, another blurry picture of a shiny hardcover book... Yay... Anyways, I had my misgivings about this book when I first picked it up, (yes, I know, never judge a book by it's cover, but it's hard....) but I think it's safe to say that it's a pretty decent book. At the end, what got me to actually buy it was that Michael Grant had reviewed it. Michael Grant is the author of the Gone series, a series I started in England and thoroughly enjoyed. Yes, some people say that the reviews that authors do on books are actually written by authors who are paid to write them, who may or may not have even read the book.... But I decided to be positive and not look at it that way.

'What is oldest will be new, what was lost shall be found."

From the start, Owen Parker sets off onto a perilous adventure in a plausible dystopia where the ozone layer is nearly gone, ocean levels have gotten much higher, and the sun is always a dangerous enemy. It's Owen's time to make things right in his world that went wrong thousands of years ago. What would you do if you had the power to save humanity from its own self destruction?

Follow Owen as he goes throw high-stakes action, budding romance, and the chance to save the world.

I recommend this book to anyone who is really really really bored. While it isn't an especially note-worthily good book, it's entertaining to read. Although I personally didn't quite enjoy it, I'm sure there are a quite a few people who would enjoy it, but I didn't. Partially because it was slightly confusing and hard to stay with the action, and party because there are so many other books that are that much more well written.

*** I give this book a 7.4 out of 10***

Let the Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger

When I first picked up this book, I had two thoughts-- one was: wow that seems like a really uncomfortable way to hug someone... the other was: Let the Skyfall? Like Adele? Right. However, it turned out to be a good, fluffy read (like the clouds. Ha! Get my joke? Ehehheh.... ). Personally, I enjoyed the book, and this series by Shannon Messenger is bound to capture the attention of many teenage girls (not that it'll capture the attention of only teenage girls, but most teen girls will enjoy it) and keep them entertained.

Shannon Messenger writes a funny, thrilling and at the same time romantic novel that talks about all the hardships of being in love with a wind guardian. Meet vane Weston and Audra, our two main characters. They are caught up in a complicated and dangerous position with so much they have to do and yet so little time. Audra is a sylph, an air elemental who can walk on the wind, and even turn it into a weapon. She's also a guardian and so she has sworn an oath to protect Vane at all costs.

At their present place, it is vital not to make any mistakes and to treat carefully. If they are found out by their enemy, Vane's parents' murderers, it might just be the end.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading thrillers with romance, and any girls that are tweens and up. I don't even know why I've gotten so caught up with fluffy romance books these days, but bear with me. Besides, this book is actually pretty good! The only thing that I would say about it would be that it had its boring moments where I just wanted to skip ahead. That being said, all books have their faults!

***I give this book a 8.2 out of 10***

Trips to Portland June 29-July 1

June 29th, 2014
10:00 a.m.
Morning. Jisoo here. I didn’t get to put in an entry before I got to sleep, not that I would’ve had much to say. My mom and I slept on one queen bed while my cousin and aunt inhibited the other. My dad slept in between all of us, on his little roller bed that creaked like insanity. Actually, I have no clue if insanity creaks… Probably doesn’t. Anyhow, I didn’t especially love this particular hotel, and I’m hoping for better accommodations in the Great Wolf Lodge. I’m definitely going to enjoy the swimming part, that’s for sure.
Before going to sleep, we stayed up and watched a bit of tele. Shingeki no Kyojin dubbed and Bleach was on, which was entertaining, although I really do hate the dubs… The characters sound totally different and really bad… That’s why I make it a habit of mine to watch subs, unless it’s pokemon… After the subs I sometimes go ahead and watch the dubs— I did watch the dubbed version of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and Fullmetal Alchemist, so…
Our breakfast consisted of a Caesar salad along with bread, which we ate in our hotel room while watching the Matrix. Remind me that I need to watch Matrix again. 
I still need to buy souvenirs for my friends… That’s going to be a bit of a hassle. I wonder what I’l buy people.
We’re on our way to Wolf Lodge right now, so I’m looking forward to going for a dip in the pool ASAP.
We’re on our way to Washington Square to do our duty as visitors and be tourists. We’re around 5 minutes away. Yay…. Tourist activities….. My favourite…
I’ll be back soon,
Ivy

1:02 p.m.
Back from Washington Square. It was stupendously boring. I don’t see what people think is so great about Washington Square other than the fact that there’s an Abercrombie and a Hollister there. It’s seriously not worth it if you ask me. Sure, food court is nice and everything— there’s also a really clean washroom which is nice, but I didn’t really think much of it.
Finally, we are on our way to Wolf Lodge, which is awesome— I’m so looking forwards to getting into some water and finally getting some swimming done! Plus, it’s an indoor pool, so we don’t even have to put on sunscreen. Huzzah! Apparently there’s a bunch of water slides and a wave pool and stuff. Excited!
Putting to sleep,
Ivy

June 30th, 2014
10:03 p.m.
Alright sorry about that. I completely skipped out on my regular update yesterday, but to my defence, I was tired. Extremely so. The word ‘exhausted’ doesn’t do a full 6 hours of swimming justice. So picking up where I had left off…
After we checked in, we made our way straight to the swimming pool. It was more like a water park with swimming pools though… It was extremely… Interesting. There was a wave pool and a kiddies pool, and two pools for ride exit tunnels. Overall, a pretty big place. The actual water park was actually really cool, and I enjoyed playing with my family in there, squirting water at each other.
I gotta go to sleep now,
Ivy

July 1st, 2014
10:36 a.m.
Canada Day and I’m in the US. Classic… We’re on our way back, though. We’ll back back late evening, I bet. We won’t be doing much other than like shopping at Seattle outlets a bit and mostly just driving. I’ll have a bit of time to write and do some blog entries. I think that most of my time will be spent listening to music and pitter pattering at the keyboard.
Anyways, thinking back to the pool… There were four different slides you could ride on. Two of them you need to lug up a tube (single or double) to the top of the slide and go down again. Those were the dark green and light blue slides. They were on the lower floor than the top floor slides. On the top floor were the slides that you didn’t need to carry a tube up to, but rather you just needed to go up with at least two people. For the Howling Tornado, they put you in a yellow tube that fit 4 people. On the other ride which I forget the name of, but it was darker blue, they put you in a donut shaped grey tube thing. That one fits up to 5 people. Personally, I thought that the Howling Tornado was the most thrilling, and wished that the other one would spin a bit more… Still, it was pretty fun, although the line ups swelled a few times, and it was a bit of lining up. However, the single or duo tube slides were pretty free most of the time, and didn’t require a lot of waiting, which was nice.
The wave pol was extremely entertaining. There were two shifts— the boring straight soft waves which were just really good for bobbing, and the huge wonking swelly waves that were great for drinking lots of water. It was pretty awesome.
The wave pool, water park, and slides were pretty much the three apparatuses that I used the most, but there was also a jacuzzi that lead to the outdoors as well. the GWL water park things are pretty awesome, I think!
Outside of the GWL water park, there was also an arcade (which was expensive but awesome) and something called MQ. MQ is short for MagiQuest and it was quite interesting to see little kids running around the hotel waving small wands around.
Also, I’m off to dream land,
Ivy

8:24 p.m. 
Back at home. This will probably be my last entry about Portland. So after my last entry, we went to a mall (Westfield mall) and I bought the last of my friends’ things, a smoothie, a frappe, and left for Vancouver.

At the border, we encountered a heavenly surprise. Less than 5 minutes to go over the border. Wowzy. We got there at 7:00 and by 7:04 we were over on Canadian soil. There were exactly three cars ahead of us, and it was magical!!!
Now I’m back in my house, and my trip to Portland is all wrapped up. I’ll talk to you later,
Ivy

Trips to Portland June 27-28

June 27th, 2014
Hi. Ivy speaking. So… It’s one day before I get going on my trip to Portland… 10:03 p.m, to be exact. I’m not sure whether I’m more excited to be going to Portland, or more excited that my dad got a MacBook Pro. With retina display, may I add. It’s kinda amazing. Since when did my dad become the techie???
Still. Better one than no MacBook right? Well I’m going to save up and get a MacBook Air. Watch me. 
Anyways, I got to go now.
Shutting down,
Ivy

June 28th, 2014
6:40 a.m.
Okay so I’m back. In the USA now, just past the border. I really love this laptop… Doesn’t even heat up. A dream come true. Anyways, in a cramped car and writing, yenno. Cool stuff. We’re on our way to Portland, and I am going to enjoy this trip. Especially with this awesome laptop.
Passing through some nice trees and foliage and co. I find it kind of hilarious that it was a torrential downpour in Vancouver, but now that we’re in the US, it completely cleared up and I dare say that it seems like it’ll be a pretty day today. I guess that I’ll be keeping my journal on here instead of the normal pen and paper, since there is this handy dandy laptop. Sorry I just had to. Going on… I’ll be updating as the day goes on, but we probably will be stopping at outlets and stuff like that to shop and look at things. Placeholder, I know, but hang with me.
This is mostly for my blog since I kind of have a terrifyingly terrible memory, but I’m going to go with the flow and have some fun with it. You’re going to be my notebook for this trip, I guess!
To give you a little outlook on my surroundings… Well the sun’s on my left— you figure it out, seeing that according to the car, we’re moving Southeast. I was never good at compass work. North East South West blah blah blah. Also, there’s quite a few little houses on my left, really not worth commenting on though… Still on the highway— I imagine we’ll be on the highway for a while. I’ll come back if I have any updates!
Logging off,
Ivy

9:58 a.m.
Hi. Finished lunch, followed my mom, aunt, and cousin to get some bread and stuff. We ate lunch at someplace called Chowking. Some Chinese restaurant that had pork buns. It was kind of weird— my dad had beef wonton noodles. He had no comment, so it must not have been very good. He’s not one to comment if something is bad unless it’s really bad and he usually says its good if it’s alright so… Positive outlook on life, I guess?
We were at Westfield mall— that’s where Chowking was located. There’s free wifi there; that’s one of the reasons I love that place… But the MacBook refused to connect so bah… Back on the highway now though, with cars, trees and the hard pavement to enjoy. Huzzah. Only will be on the road for a little less than 3 hours now though so that’s cool— we’re on our way to Red Lion hotel. We’ll only be at the Red Lion for tonight though, so I don’t think I’ll get too attached. Our actual destination is Great Wolf Lodge. GWL (I think that’s what I’m going to call it from now on) has a huge swimming pool and park apparatus. I’m actually super excited. :3 Lots of swimming!
We’ll be visiting an outlet soon, to go shopping and all that jazz, so that’ll be some stretching space. I’ve also got to buy something (a birthday present) for my aunt, so I brought some money. We decided on going waiting out for the US because in Portland, there’s no tax. That’ll save us some money. The weather is a bit puzzling as we keep going in our car, because it’s raining, then super shiny, then raining again… Vancouver weather. To be fair, we are moving, so I guess it would feel like we are going through the weather phases faster than if we were standing still somewhere.
We’re on our way to Costco right now. Maybe there’ll be some books for me to buy. I doubt that I will, though, seeing that I brought a bucketload of books in my orange backpack… Teehee. I think I brought a few too many books, but don’t tell my parents that I admit it. :P
I’ll be back with updates soon!
Ciao for nao,
Ivy

12:11 p.m.
Mmm… It’s lunch time… Wonder if we’ll be stopping anywhere soon…. Kind of doubt it though. Got a good amount of sleep in, though…

2:49 p.m.
Just finished lunch. Wow today is going slow… Well, something exciting finally happened during dinner though! My dad’s cellphone got a shower. Just kidding— our waitress spilt water directly onto the phone. It was kind of hilarious. Luckily, his phone is alright and the watermark on his phone battery isn’t damaged. I think I heard at least 20 sorries. The silverware was so dirty that it was cancerous, but the food made up for it. They had some amazing food. We had calamari, my dad had a garden burger, my aunt and I each had a fish and chips dish, my mother took a burger as well, and my cousin took a sandwich from the kid’s menu. It was pretty good— I enjoyed it thoroughly, other than getting water spilt on me and the dirty silverware. I think the restaurant’s name was JanTzan Bar and Grill. Either way it was in the Red Lion where we were at. The restaurant also had a spectacular view of the Columbia River, and the _______ ( I don't really remember the name... )bridge. It was really nice, and I could have really enjoyed it if it weren’t for my damp clothes…
We also got to visit our hotel room, which was definitely large, but I don’t know… There were only two standard queen size beds in the room, so we had to order in another roller bed. 
I seem to be writing in the car a lot, not that I’m complaining, but it’s a new experience. I love that this laptop doesn’t heat up very fast. It’s kind of amazing… Anyhow, we’re on our way to Costco and to the outlets in order to buy some shoes. I’m going to pressure my aunt to buy something for her belated birthday present, so wish me luck I guess. I’ll check if there’s anything worthwhile in Costco!
Signing off,
Ivy

4:40 p.m.
So, back from Costco. I actually bought the whole series of Game of Thrones— looking forwards to reviewing them. Not much happened in Costco, except for the fact that I realized that laptops are a way cheaper in the US than in Canada… $500 for a touchscreen windows 8 laptop is super cheap!! #impressed. We bought like $500 worth of groceries anyways. Thought that was kind of hilarious… On our way towards the outlet now—kind of doubting if we will be able to put more stuff into our trunk… It’s pretty full already…
Alright ttyl,
Ivy

9:14 p.m.
Done shopping. We ended up eating lunch in the car which I thought was a little hilarious, but I’m content, seeing that I got to eat shrimp. I love shrimp. In another life, I’m sure I was born a blue whale or a cat, seeing how much I love fish… Anyways, after lunch, we went right back into the Outlet, and did some more shopping. The outlet closes at 9:00 but we ended up staying a bit later browsing for shoes and stuff. I’m ecstatic about these new boots I got— they’re exactly like Shingeki No Kyojin boots and it’s like AMAZINGU. At leasts the boots part of building up my Shingeki No Kyojin cosplay is done. Now we’re on our way back to our hotel, but we probably won’t get there until at least around 10:00. I hope to be able to log in one more time to update once more before going to sleep. My cousin bought a whole bunch of stuff too. It’s rather ironic because my mom was the only one who bought close to nothing, and she’s the one probably most into shopping.
My birthday present to my aunt ended up being a Coach purse. I think she was pretty happy about it, so it was worth it.
There was an American Eagle that wasn’t that amazing, and there wasn’t any Hollister or Abercrombie which was a bit disappointing, but that’s alright I guess.
Tomorrow we will be on our way to Great Wolf Lodge, and then all the swimming will start. I’m excited— I do love swimming!
Well, I’ll be back with a bit more updates…. Maybe? Hopefully?
Ciao,

Ivy

The Program by Suzanne Young

In a world where suicide is an international epidemic, there is one trusted cure-- the Program. Whenever symptoms of depression set into someone, they are taken to the Program to cure them. Depression and suicide go hand in hand in this world. Sloane knows this well. Sloane and her parents have already lost a member of their family to this epidemic: her brother, Brady. She also knows that the Program cures everyone of their depression-- when they come back, they are a blank slate. Their depression is gone. But so are their memories. They've been reset-- both emotionally and socially.

Sloane, James, and Miller must put on a brave front to keep life normal. They must stick together and keep strong for one another. Yet fighting something you can't even see, but something that is purely based on feelings is extremely difficult. It's basically war against yourself. Promises to yourself as well as to the ones you love get hard to keep.

This is an extremely suspenseful story full of love, promises, and yes, depression. However, I guarantee that you will enjoy it if you like problem stories with romance. I'm honestly not a huge huge fan of romance, but I really loved this book with all my heart. Suzanne Young wrote an incredibly enticing book. It's impossible not to fall in love with the characters, seeing how they suffer such humane feelings. And in a world where suffering is basically the equivalent to depression, it's hard. 

This touching tale of teenagers struggling to find a brave front and at the same time, be themselves, will grasp onto the hearts of every teen. I recommend this book to any teenager that wants a good read, or is interested in books that will make you really think. One thing-- once you pick this book up, you won't be able to put it down until the finish. 

*** I give this book a 9.68 out of 10!***