currently / autumn

didn't get a chance to write an October or November wrap-up post, so this is kinda a summary of what i've been doing lately. ;) very random. 

R E A D I N G

a lot, xd. 

seriously, i'm in that phase where i'm reading about ten books at a time + not finishing any of them. ;P

i'm reading: 

• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (for the second time in five months, xD)
• Muse of Nightmares (ok the first one was WAY BETTER)
• Frankenstein
• The Children's Homer (ugh)
• Quo Vadis
• Blue Lily, Lily Blue (haha, again....)
• The Lie: Evolution / Millions of Years

yup. 

had a mini binge session one week (recovering from stress of midterms x_x) + finished The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, House, and Trusting God (wow, what a combination, xD). Trusting God is amazing + changed how I think about God's sovereignty. definitely recommend.

The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein was really good -- especially as I'm not a fan of the horror genre, but it was more of a psychological thriller. definitely recommend. 

House (Peretti + Dekker).....was interesting. It unsettled and disturbed me, mainly bc I'm not a horror / supernatural fan. I definitely skim-read it, and finished it feeling very unsettled. so, not sure if I would recommend. ;)

W A T C H I N G

a medley of things. "The Crimes of Grindelwald" was AMAZING. and i need to see it again. 

• The Office
• 24 
• Studio C + JK Studios
• booktube (Cherry Wallis, jessethereader, etc.)
• holiday cooking shows
• CHRISTMAS MOVIES (we have this tradition where we only watch Christmas movies during December. so far, we've seen "Elf", and are going to watch "White Christmas", "Home Alone", "It's A Wonderful Life", and "The Griswald's Christmas Vacation")

per usual, the Office (amazing + hilarious). also, we started watching 24 with my parents, and it's really good! there's definitely parts we skip (violence, mostly), but the concept is so cool + intriguing! each season is set during one, twenty four hour day. so each episode is one hour, in real time.

L I S T E N I N G

compiling playlists for my WIPs is so much fun, xD. also went to a for KING & COUNTRY concert the other day, and it was utterly amazing. it was a Christmas concert, but they also played all of my favorites, "joy", "burn the ships", "amen", etc. SO GOOD. 

• Hamilton soundtrack
• Owl City
• Mumford and Sons
• for KING & COUNTRY
• Adventures in Odyssey (#noshame xD)
• CHRISTMAS MUSIC (y'all, i have a five hour playlist. with michael buble, pentatonix, bing crosby, nat king cole, etc.)

R A N D O M

cherry vanilla bagels are the best. also, my bagel shop just started selling gingerbread bagels. <3

ALSO, i'm officially in love with the starbucks toasted white chocolate mocha. it's amazing. also the peppermint mocha is amazing. it literally tastes like christmas. ;)

i preordered the Bucky funko pop (from infinity war) and i cannot wait till it comes! story: when my dad took my brother and i to comic con a couple months ago, my brother and i scoured all the booths for a Bucky funko pop (seriously, every single booth, my brother would look at every one <3 <3). apparently, they're really rare, so we didn't find any. oh well, xD. update: it's not coming until the day after Christmas *sobs*. apparently there were production issues. x_x

i had senior pictures taken a couple weeks ago. it was interesting, as i've never really had professional photos taken of me before. 

had a college interview the last week of october. it went really well! the guy who interviewed me was super nice + loved Narnia, so we had a brief geek out session, talking about our favorite books. xD

y'all, Christmas is less three weeks away.

also, finals are next week. please send help. also i had a spanish oral presentation on thursday. x_x but it was about lin-manuel miranda, so that was really fun! ;)

also, just wanted to say thank you for putting up with my very random posting schedule recently. for awhile, blogger wouldn't let me schedule posts, so i was just posting whenever i had a chance. i think i figured it out, so hopefully i'll be posting regularly on saturdays and occasionally on wednesdays. ;)

also, nothing to do with this post, but HAVE YOU SEEN THE AVENGERS 4 TRAILER? cuz i'm still freaking out over it. literally, i almost cried when i saw it for the first time. 

what's up with y'all?

favorite for KING & COUNTRY

song?

also, what are some of your

favorite christmas traditions?

merry christmas,

allison

september highlights

so this is late. *facepalm* so sorry, i had a busy week and an even busier friday: physics class + work + babysitting till ten pm. i tried to finish it last night to have it ready this morning....but it didn't happen. ;)

september was a busy month, full of school, starbucks iced coffee, and bagels. lots of comfort reading and knitting.

... i started senior year. yup. ;) so far, it's been good. busy and crazy at times, but good. i'm trying to make the most of every moment, to treasure the small things and not just look forward to the weekends + special occasions.


... started rereading harry potter + the raven cycle. realizing how magical + adorable the first two hp books are, and how much i love this series. and also realizing how much i adore the raven cycle characters. i'll write a post on the series soon ;).


... lots of movie nights with my friends, staying up way too late talking about infinity war theories + our undying love for bucky barnes.


... making a conscious effort to spend more quiet time. calligraphy. watercolors. knitting. listening to calming music + drinking tea + lighting my favorite candle ;).


... making a winter soldier sweatshirt! and i'm going to comic con tomorrow, so i'm so excited to wear it with my cap shirt ;)

p h o t o s 

it's felt bucky!! 

FIVE STARS // dark and creepy but amazing // finished it in 24 hours

FIVE STARS // adorable and cute 

ALL THE STARS // utterly amazing + magical // lavendar ;P

four stars // intriguing premise // writing not the greatest

FIVE STARS // amazing + intriguing // dark // that ending! 

dnf // interesting but dry 

focus on the family radio drama // sixth or seventh re-listen // magical + amazing

""

""

3.75 stars // cute // love all the food + baking 

no pics bc i'm lazy, xD.

miss peregrine's home for peculiar children

the 5th wave

the raven king

love and gelato

scythe 

r a n d o m 

my friends and i were cooking dinner last night, and we had to open a bottle of red wine for the brisket marinade. it took us almost twenty minutes to open the bottle. also, i have cuts all over my hands from trying to use scissors to help pull the cork out. xD

had the best babysitting job: kids were literally angels + i got to read for nearly two hours. and i got paid. xD

binging "the office". absolutely hilarious. 

watching "justice league" with my friends, all on our basement couch + sharing a blanket, and laughing + criticizing the movie. 

touring a college with my friends + my mom + their mom, and having so much fun. standing in a huge line for chik fil a. laughing way too loudly in the hallways. jamming to "hamilton" in the car. stopping to get boba tea on the way back. falling asleep in the car + waking up with stiff necks. 

well, that's how my september went ;)  it went by way too fast, and i'm not sure if i'm ready for october. although i'm very ready for autumn. and cold weather. and fires. and hot apple cider. 

how was your september? any memorable moments 

or events? 

what are you looking forward to 

in october? 

<3 <3, 

allison riera

summer '18 highlights

inspired by Mary + Mira's posts, I decided to do a summer '18 recap instead of just August. so, expect lots of pictures + random stuff :))

j u n e 

a month of vacations, taking way too many pictures of everything, finally relaxing, realizing how amazing dunkin' donuts is (seriously, y'all, their hashbrowns :P)

road trip  // polaroid pictures // listening to "hamilton" + "the greatest showman" // just had my wisdom teeth taken out so i could barely smile or talk, xD

lots and lots of canoeing + kayaking // sticky s'mores and glowsticks // playing chubby bunny until late at night // laughing till you nearly cry // sunset over the water

j u l y 

a month of swim team, waking up way too early on saturdays to drive to swim meets, lots of iced coffee + bagels, realizing how much I love fresh flowers,  and reading way too many books

a u g u s t

a month of snow balls (ice cream + sno cone = amazingness), movies, binge watching The Office, reading like crazy before school starts, comfort books (harry potter), coffee, nails done, finished my novel, college essays 

flying with one of my best friends for a week-long vacation // tubing on a river // staying up till midnight watching The Office + Bones // eating ice cream from the carton // drinking coffee at eleven at night and laughing bc we're still so tired // way too many pics + videos // finished my novel!!

r a n d o m 

so tired  one night + loopy that i was seriously considering writing a blog post about why i love bagels so much #truth 

little brother: "wow i have lots of muscles!"

mom: "uh huh really?"

little brother: "yea like ten!"

oh i got a succulent plant! it's so tiny and cute + also i named him jim xD. now i need to get another one and name it pam :D

discovered caffeinated chocolate (i literally typed that as coffee first, and didn't realize until i came back to proof read xDDD) at my community college's bookstore << it's amazing 

realized how i much i love fall bc #sweaters and hot drinks and flannels *heart eyes*. also, this is the year i will FINALLY try a pumpkin spice latte. 

the office. just, the office. absolutely hilarious. 

how was your summer? 

 and are you excited for fall? 
I AM!!!! 

<3 <3, 

allison riera