A is for Ariel and Aurora

I couldn't pick one single character for A, so I had to choose two!

                                         A is for Ariel


I am really similiar to Ariel. Not because I have red hair (mine is brown), but because I can be stubborn and am always determined to do things my way. I'm also similiar to Ariel because I can be reluctant and have a really strong conscience. Ariel's reluctant to go with Flotsam and Jetsam to Ursula's cave, and again when Ursula is trying to get her to sign the contract. I love Ariel because we have a lot of the same personality traits, and I also love belting out the lyrics to "Part of Your World" in the shower (in private, of course!)!

A is for Aurora

A is for Aurora. An interesting fact about 'Sleeping Beauty' is that it's my all-time favorite Disney Movie! Also, did you know that Aurora only has 18 lines of spoken dialogue in the entire film? Also interesting are the facts that Aurora is one of the only princesses with both parents alive, and that Aurora never really meets Maleficient. All the other princesses know their villains. I love Aurora because of her kindness and compassion towards others. 

A-Z Challenge Theme Reveal!!!!

The moment you've all been waiting for has come, folks! It's time to reveal my theme for this year's challenge! I am so excited for this theme because I have always LOVED everything about this theme! I hope you all enjoy reading my posts and follow me! I look forward to reading everyone else's posts! If you are a new follower, please let me know so that I can give you a proper welcome!


So, this year's theme is....

(Sound effects help everything, right?)

This year's theme is Disney charachters! I will be posting about one or more charachters every day according to the letter of the day. 

Please accept this video as a welcome gift! Be my guest for the next month! 

Feature and Follow Friday!

Have you ever been inspired by a book character to do something? Who was the character and what was it? 

One of my favorite books of all time is Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. It's so inspirational and life-changing. If you haven't read it, you should! It deals with a young man (Mitch) who has a relationship with his former teacher, Morrie, who has ALS. For those of you who don't know, ALS is a terminal disease in which the muscles are gradually paralized. 

It just so happens that I have a former substitute teacher from high school who has been diagnosed with ALS. She's not doing so well right now. Because of Mitch, I too have been visiting her at home and keeping in touch with her. It's been really hard to watch her body decline while her mind remains intact.

Please check back on Monday for my A-Z challenge theme reveal!!

You have been WARNED!

It's almost April 1st, which means it's almost time for the A-Z challenge! I'm super excited because I have an all new theme for this year. It's so great that I will be sharing it on March 23. I will say this though: It involves Disney. In the mean time, enjoy this picture of Me and Mickey Mouse!

Feature and Follow Friday!

Question of the Week: Do you have any furry friends? Share a picture! 

Unfortunately, no. I had an amazing cat named Winnie who died when I was 12. Unfortunately, for right now, I have to stick with stuffed animals as pets...but real ones are much more fun!

Side note: I am getting ready for the A-Z challenge, which will begin April 1. Please check back to see what my theme is! 

Feature and Follow Friday!

Question of the Week: Hard print (real thing) or Kindle/Nook, which is your favorite?

Hard print for sure. I need to have something tangible in my hands when I read!

Feature and Follow Friday!

Question of the Week: Do you have any fun collections (other than books)?

Yes. I have a collection of Vera Bradley items and a collection of Disney mugs.

I am hopelessly obsessed with Vera. I usually only shop there when there's a sale, but nonetheless I have accumulated a lot of stuff! I use it every day. My favorite patterns have pinks and purples in them

As for Disney, my collection is small- only two mugs! I hope to grow it little by little. My oldest mug is a minnie mouse mug. It's black with white polka dots and has a big red bow in the center with white polka dots on it. It's absolutely adorable! My other one that I just purchased at Disney World is a real-life version of Chip from Beauty and the Beast! The mug looks exactly like him, except it doesn't talk. :( I think talking objects are more fun...

Feature and Follow Friday!

Question of the Week: Create a playlist for a book - or a single song if you don't want to do an entire playlist

I have always LOVED the book My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Piccoult.

1. 'The Heart of Life'-John Mayer 

2. 'Firework'- Katy Perry 

3. 'Stronger'-Kelly Clarkson 

4. 'Keep Holding On'-Avril Lavigne 

IWSG: Feedback

I thought this would be the perfect time to bring up my problem with feedback. I recently had two incidences with this that contradicted each other.

Let's start with the bad one first. I was writing a speech, and one of the older students ripped RIPPED apart. Things that I thought were fine were terrible to her. Furthermore, she had me practice it in front of other people, and then they wrote down strengths and weaknesses in my speech. The weaknesses were all different, and they were also things that I'd worked on. It was infuriating!

On the bright side, I got a paper back today in English. The grade was good, but the teacher wrote "You are a talented writer." I ask you, who should I believe: some girl, or a teacher?!

Survive and Thrive Bloghop

Today I am participating in the Survive and Thrive blog hop hosted by the wonderful Alex J Cavanaugh!  The hop is not until 10/20, but being the busy college student that I am, this is the only time I could post. I have posted this story before, but thought I'd post it again for my new followers.

Warning: this post is depressing and slightly graphic. You have been warned.


I'm going to just get straight to the facts- no beating around the bush here. I am a freshman at Loyola University Chicago studying social work. When I was a 15-year-old sophomore, I heard the three words that nobody EVER wants to hear: you have cancer.

As Anthony Delmonte once said, “Cancer is never a face until it affects you or someone you know”. Cancer became a face to me on November 15, 2011-- a day I will never forget. On that day, I was diagnosed with a rare type of sarcoma on my The whole thing started on 
October 5, 2011. I had an appointment with the dermatologist. I had been noticing a bump on my scalp that had been there for about 5 years. During the appointment, she gave me the option of having it biopsied because it looked red, which concerned her. I thought about it for a few minutes and then reluctantly agreed to the procedure. 

The biopsy was terrible. I had to receive shots of local anesthesia in my head. On top of that, I had to deal with worrying about bad test results- something that I never thought would even be a remote possibility. 

The next day, on 11/15/11, we got the phone call from the dermatologist that simply said, “You have cancer. You’re going to need more surgery. I’m sorry”. Naturally, I broke down in tears. I didn’t even know what the true definition of cancer was, but nonetheless, it was staring me in the face. I could run from it, but I couldn’t hide from it. The only thing I could do was hope that everything would eventually be ok.

The next few weeks were a huge blur. We must have seen three or four doctors. During that time, I had to get an MRI of my head to see how big the cancer was. Luckily, it was only the size of an eraser. When I heard that, a wave of relief washed over me. The thoughts of what chemotherapy and radiation left my mind, because it was now definite that I would not be needing them now. Eventually, we

decided on what hospital I’d have the surgery at, and that’s when things started moving really quickly. 

I ended up having two surgeries- one to take out the cancer and a skin graft operation to close the huge wound from the first surgery. The wound would never close by itself due to how big it was, so the doctors took a piece of skin from my leg and put it on my scalp in a second surgery. 
  
 I was awake and numb for the first surgery in the doctor’s office, which lasted for about 5 hours and got all of the cancer out.I was trembling the entire time. I’d never had any sort of surgery before, and this was a rude awakening for me. I’d had a few months to get ready for surgery, but honestly, you can never truly be prepared for anything until it’s actually happening to you right then and there.  
   
About 2 weeks after the initial surgery, I went in for a second operation that I described above. The pain was excruciating, and the whole ordeal was infinitely scarier than the first surgery because it was in an operating room rather than a doctor’s office. It also involved general anesthesia, which was the scariest part of all, I think, because I would be completely unaware of everything that was happening. When I first entered the operating room right before my surgery, I felt like I’d entered a whole new world full of white walls and people doing things to me that were beyond my control. 

  This past summer, I underwent a series of two operations to reconstruct my scalp. The skin graft from my leg obviously doesn’t grow hair, so it left me with a bald spot. The doctor inserted a balloon into my head and gradually filled it with saline solution to expand the amount of skin that can grow hair.The new skin was put over the bald spot, resulting in more hair growth. I was terrified for both surgeries, but I trusted the hospital, and more importantly the doctor, tremendously, and everything turned out better than I could have ever imagined! I do not regret going through with this surgery in the slightest. 
  
One funny thing about this whole ordeal is that now, I am actually fascinated by operating rooms! For my most recent surgery, I was actually looking around the room and trying to figure out what sort of equipment was there and why. I'm no doctor (my dad is), but I still am fascinated by all of this! I recognized the anesthesia machine and was relieved that it was not going to be used on me (I only had sedation).

   
Cancer is awful, but the most important lesson I learned is to be grateful for what I have. I could have been really ill, and I am thankful every single day that the cancer was removed by surgery alone. 

Feature and Follow Friday

Question of the Week: Book looks - Your favorite fashions from the books you've read 

The only good example I have is from My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Piccoult. There's a line that describes Sara, Anna's mom, trying on a sunset-pink dress that sounds gorgeous! I want that dress! 

IWSG: Finding Time

It's been forever- I know. Every month since my last IWSG post, I swore to myself that I'd resurface in the blogging world, but then I got caught up in other things, so I didn't post. Then college started, and I got even busier.

So what I am insecure about now is finding time to write. I keep thinking that I'll have a few minutes, but then, once again, I inevitably get caught up in something else. It's very annoying! Anybody else have this issue? What do you do about it?

Feature and Follow Friday!

Question of the Week: Tell us about a book character you’d trade places with.

I would love to trade with Harry Potter!!I love the whole wizardry theme going on.

Feature and Follow Friday

Question of the Week: Social Share! What is your favorite social network and leave us a link so we can join you!

I love Facebook way too much! Please feel free to send me a friend request!

My page: https://www.facebook.com/morgankatz505

Feature and Follow Friday

Question of the Week: What is the biggest city you live near (or interesting landmark)? Show us a postcard picture.

I'm living in a suburb of Chicago! Here are a couple of pics showcasing the good and the bad parts of our city. 

The bad: Gov. Rod Blagojevich was put in jail for 14 years for corruption charges

The good: The beautiful Chicago Skyline!! 

Feature and Follow Friday

Question of the Week: Post a funny Youtube video (doesn’t have to be book related).

I know you have probably seen this before, but it's a classic! It's gone viral all over youtube. I also posted another hilarious one below!! Enjoy!

Feature and Follow Friday!

Question of the Week: If you had a time machine (i.e. a TARDIS), where would you go?

Hmmm.. this is a toughie! I'd wanna go so many places: George Washington, Jamestown, Abe Lincoln, meet the founding fathers of our country (I like US History if you can't tell) ... Although the places I would NOT want to go include the dinosaur era, the Holocaust/WWII era, me being born at 35 weeks gestation and being in the hospital, and being diagnosed with cancer in 2011(cured now). Thanks but no thanks on those!

Feature and Follow Friday!

Question of the Week: What are some of your favorite picture books - either current ones or ones from your childhood?

1. I used to be obsessed with Jenny's in the Hospital. Not sure who wrote it, but it was good!

2. The Rosemary Wells books

3. Wacky Wednesday by Dr. Seuss

4. The Berenstain Bears books

5. All of the Disney Princess books when they had them in print. I had a big book with all of the fairy tales in one. I was obsessed!

IWSG: Book Rant

Ok, so I have to warn you that my IWSG post today is a rant post. I am an incoming freshman


at Loyola University Chicago. For our English class this upcoming year, we have to read a 


novel called 'Tattoos on the Heart'. It's all about God and how people relate to him. I don't 


have anything against God, but I'm honestly not religious at all, and this is boring me to tears.


I literally have to force myself to read 10 pages a day! Why are all the books schools assign 


students to read so boring and dull? Again, I'm not trying to offend anybody, just stating my 


opinion.  

Feature and Follow Friday!!!!

This week's question is: Post a picture of your favorite mug. I am absolutely in love with my Minnie Mouse mug! The pic isn't of mine, but it's the picture of exactly what it looks like. Mine is currently in the dishwasher, so it was unable to join us today :( .