Apparently I'm late to the party - Divergent Series

I was told to read a book months ago by my Mom.  She's an avid reader (like 6 books a week) but I just didn't find the time until about a week ago.  

She told me that since I liked the Hunger Games, I should like this movie.  (Who didn't like the hunger games?!) But when you compare a book to one of those BIG books then I'm always a little wary.  "Oh you'll love this book, it's like Twilight, except..."  Alright, look - it'll never be like Twilight.  It'll never be just like Harry Potter and it'll never be just like the Hunger Games, ok?  So don't compare them - they're not the same as any other books and they're near and dear to my heart for very different reasons.

But the "Divergent Series" by Veronica Roth...is different.

Again we have a dystopian futuristic society thing going on, but its different enough than the Hunger Games that you keep reading.  And then you find that they're pretty well written, that you find yourself pulling for the characters and then you find that all of your spare time is spent with your nook because DUDE you can't put it down now - it just got crazy again!!!

The second book is harder to put down than the first, in that more is starting to happen, relationships are deepening, you're finding out more, there is more action.

I finished the book tonight and I just kept thinking, "I hope they make it into a movie, because I would totally see it."  And when I googled when they're releasing the third book I found out - they're making a movie!

They're still casting but the big names attached are Aaron Eckert and Kate Winslet.  For the main characters, Tris and Four (nicknames...it's not a silly book -  I promise!):

Shailene Woodley will be playing the main character: Tris (Beatrice)

Theo James will be playing another big character: Four (Tobias)

I guess it's still uncertain who Aaron Eckert and Kate Winslet will be playing right now, but it should tell you that if big names are attaching themselves to the movie - the books are worth reading.

So I'm telling you, as a person who is wary of all book reviews - if you liked Hunger Games, you'll probably enjoy these books.  Let me be clear: these are not JUST LIKE Hunger Games, these are similar in that it's a broken society in the future, and the main character is a fighter, but that's where the similarities end.

So if you haven't already read them (which I'm sure most of you have) you need to.

I'm already impatient for October when the third book will be released.

Hey - she crafted! Spring Yarn Wreath

I don't know what it was, but I actually decided to do something crafty.  It's the first time in about six months that I've felt the urge to do anything creative.  It must have been the weather.  I decided to make a very springy wreath so I went to Pinterest and found a few tutorials, went to Hobby Lobby and got to work:

What I bought:

Felt in colors of my choosing

Yarn in colors of my choosing

A styrofoam wreath in a size of my choosing

And some ribbon that would match it all.

I already had the glue gun and glue sticks - note: you'll need a lot of glue sticks.

As you can see - I went for the 4-for-a-dollar felt - it's much cheaper this way, especially if you're just making a few felt flowers.  

The nice thing about yarn wreaths is that they're pretty simple.  The idea is to secure a piece of yarn to the back and just start wrapping, over, and over, and over again.  I did two colors but doing just one would be just as simple as well.

Another thing to note: if you're a perfectionist, this may not be the craft for you.  When you're working with a circular surface, there's no way the yarn will lay flat all the way around...it's just not going to happen.

Once you're all wrapped up, it's time to start on the flowers:

Now, I used your run of the mill twisted felt flower that you can find no less than 1200 tutorials on, so I won't bore you with mine, other than to tell you that I did the scallop cut kind as you can see above.

I made some of all sizes and used my green to cut out simple leaf shapes.  I could have gone into more detail on the leaves, I'm sure, but at this point I didn't care.  Also you've got to stop the madness somewhere, folks.

After that I attached the ribbon and decided to hang it in my window:

And done!

This is the easiest of all the crafts I've decided to take on, but not the shortest, the yarn wrapping is a little mind numbing, so maybe pop in a movie and get comfortable - but after that you'll have a fun little wreath - easy to put just about anywhere!