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Ask Mandi Jo

~ Faith, Love, Life's Journey…

Ask Mandi Jo

Tag Archives: Dracula

The Books On My Shelf…

16 Saturday Feb 2013

Posted by askmandijo in Daily Life

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Tags

13 Reasons Why, 2013, A Tale of Two Cities, A Week In The Woods, Almost Perfect, Andrew Clements, books, Bram Stoker, Brian Jacques, Brian Katcher, Busy, By The Time You Read This I'll Be Dead, C.S. Lewis, Carolyn Mackler, Catherine Jinks, Charles Dickens, Chasing Redbird, China Mieville, Chris Crutcher, Cooking for Comfort, Crank, Daniel Defoe, Divergent, Dracula, Eat Pray Love, Eggs, Elizabeth Gilbert, Ellen Hopkins, Ender's Game, Evil Genius, Fallen, Gary Paulsen, Gary Schmidt, Glass, Great Expectation, Hatchet, if you come softly, Jacqueline Woodson, Janet Tashijan, Jay Asher, Jerry Spinelli, Julie Anne Peters, Lauren Kate, Lurlene McDaniel, Marian Burros, Markus Zusak, Martin the Warrior, Miracle's Boys, Orson Scott Card, Philip Pullman, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robinson Crusoe, Rumi: Gardens of the Beloved, Sharon Creech, She Loves You She Loves You Not, Sherman Alexie, Stargirl, Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes, Stephanie Meyer, stories, Stotan!, Tamora Pierce, The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian, The Bellmaker, The Book Thief, The Four Loves, The Future of Us, The Girl Death Left Behind, The Golden Compass, The Gospel According to Larry, The Host, The Ruby in the Smoke, The Song of The Lioness Quartet, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Trouble, Un Lun Dun, Veronica Roth, Walk Two Moons, Walter Dean Myers, What They Found, Young Adult Literature

Dear Friend,

Since this semester began, and I decided to take Young Adult Literature, the number of books on my desk has…well, I think the word “Exploded” fits… You see when the semester began I had these books in my suite:

  • The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
  • Rumi: Gardens of the Beloved by Rumi, Translated by Maryam Mafi & Azina Melita Kolin
  • 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher
  • Dracula by Bram Stoker
  • Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
  • Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
  • A Tale of Two Cities also by Charles Dickens
  • The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
  • Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
  • The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis
  • and more Digital Copies of books than I have time to list…

Since class began I have also added this tremendous list of books which has now filled up my only book shelf and is beginning to become unruly stacks of books all over the place. That being said, I’m still looking for books, because I think it’s the greatest thing ever…

From Home:

  • Un Lun Dun by China Mieville 
  • Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
  • Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
  • Chasing Redbird by Sharon Creech
  • Fallen by Lauren Kate (My mom’s book, but still from home)

From the Library (up until now):

  • The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  • Divergent by Veronica Roth
  • Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
  • What They Found by Walter Dean Myers
  • She Loves You, She Loves You Not by Julie Anne Peters

From various stores (Including Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Gift and Thrift):

  • Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher
  • Stotan! by Chris Crutcher
  • Eggs by Jerry Spinelli
  • A Week In The Woods by Andrew Clements
  • if you come softly by Jacqueline Woodson (Blog Review Here)
  • Miracle’s Boys by Jacqueline Woodson
  • The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
  • The Ruby In The Smoke by Philip Pullman
  • Crank by Ellen Hopkins
  • Glass (Sequel to Crank) by Ellen Hopkins
  • Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (Blog Review Here)
  • The Host by Stephanie Meyer (Blog Review Here)
  • The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler (Blog Review Here)
  • The Girl Death Left Behind by Lurlene McDaniel (Blog Review Here)
  • By The Time You Read This, I’ll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters (Blog Review Here)
  • The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Blog Review Here)
  • The Gospel According to Larry by Janet Tashijan
  • Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks
  • Trouble by Gary Schmidt
  • Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher
  • The Bellmaker by Brian Jacques
  • Martin the Warrior by Brian Jacques

And a cookbook by Marian Burros, but that is a bit different…

What are you reading???

Love, Mandi Jo

P.S. The links lead to Amazon…

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It’s Coming to An End

30 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by askmandijo in Daily Life

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Tags

2012, 2012 Election, Appendix, Babysitting, Bachlorette, Batman, Book Club, books, bucket list, Busy, College, Cupcakes, Dracula, EMU, Faith, family, Fasting, Food, friend, God, holidays, hope, Ice skating, love, Math, Middle East, Musicals, social work, stories, Thanksgiving, Topsail Island, Tour de France, Travel, Writing

Dear  Friend,

New Year’s Eve is almost here!  I told you there would be lists… and here is a long one!

Lots of Love, Mandi Jo

50 Things I did in 2012 (in no particular order)

—although the first thing really was first, and the last thing, really was last… —

  1. Choreographed a dance for a EMU student written, directed, produced, performed, etc musical!
  2. Took a day trip to Charlottesville for ice skating, cupcakes, and general merry-making with Megan, Kelsey, Everett, Jia, and Malinda over Thanksgiving break.
  3. Spent the summer babysitting two fun and adorable girls Claire and Evelyn.
  4. Had my appendix removed.
  5. Finished my first year of college!
  6. Moved into a suite with three awesome people: Morgan, Lenore, and Alyssa!
  7. Celebrated Christmas with Morgan’s family.
  8. Started my second year at EMU.
  9. Finished my third semester of college with an improved GPA!
  10. Got accepted into the Middle East Cross-Cultural for Spring of 2014!
  11. Participated in a book club, reading Gary Thomas’ “Sacred Marriage.”
  12. Spent the summer buying groceries and making dinner for my family.
  13. Went to see the Dark Knight Rises with Christophe.
  14. Took a trip to the Topsail Island with my family for the week over my birthday.
  15. Voted in my first Presidential Election.
  16. Learned how to drive manual.
  17. Officially Applied to EMU’s Social Work Program.
  18. Put together a book list, and actually started reading books off of it.
  19. Started working out with Jia (and sometimes others) on a regular basis.
  20. Made a Christmas dinner for my suite.
  21. Took a quick trip back to Kettle for the wedding of my dear friend Heidi!
  22. While in WA, saw and visited with people who will always be my non-biological family…
  23. Had dinner with my friend, Ethan Zook, at the Bowl of Good.
  24. Got baptized! So did my phone, but unfortunately for it, this did not bring everlasting life…quite the opposite in fact, immediate death.
  25. Watched the Bachlorette with my friends… every week. I’m not sure why, but it was a great way for us to get together regularly.
  26. Watched Bradley Wiggins win the Tour de France! Well, we watched the whole thing, not just the last little bit.
  27. Surprised my sister, Lydia by convincing my dad to renovate her room and then painted it a bright (but rather dark) red… it looks awesome! And her new closet is pretty sweet.
  28. Started a bucket list!
  29. Said goodbye to an adored family menace, Aang, the adorably psychotic dog.
  30. Said hello to the adorable Shih Tzu that now sprints around our home, Po.
  31. Took picture’s for EMHS’ Jr.-Sr. Banquet.
  32. Traveled to Roanoke with my dad to take pictures of some potential work sites, stopping by Staunton on the way home for some Gelato at the Split Banana…
  33. Took a quick trip with Megan and Kelsey to visit Melinda! We at Chinese, got coffee at Starbucks, fed baby swans, and even saw Christophe for a little bit!
  34. Fasted for a week! Except for juice…
  35. Participated in a faith discussion with people who attend my church.
  36. I visited my friends Gennie and Carissa for an afternoon on JMU’s campus.
  37. Took a spontaneous trip with Christophe and one of his friends, Erwin, to go Bowling!
  38. Changed my program from Social Work with minors in Art and Peacebuilding to Social Work with a minor in Math.
  39. Went to the Annual Relief sale!
  40. Went hiking on Massanutten Ridge with Lenore, Morgan, and Ryan.
  41. Had brunch with Christophe over at JMU.
  42. Went to Rally in the Valley… a conference for Social Work majors at Virginia Universities.
  43. Worked at the Fair handing out T-Shirts for the Shout Out project
  44. Was a “rock” for Halloween… which would have been weird except that it was in conjunction with my suite mate’s “paper, scissors, and shoot”
  45. Went to Rehoboth, Delaware for spring break with the girls on my hall… In an attempt to find live music, we may have unknowingly found ourselves in a Lesbian bar…
  46. Was hired for the first time!, but then never actually started working because I had appendicitis and there was a lack of good communication (admittedly,from both ends… but mostly theirs)
  47. Read Dracula cover to cover… this makes the list because it literally took me half the year to do it, I don’t know why but I couldn’t ever be reading, JUST THIS BOOK… so I was always reading Dracula AND something else.
  48. I celebrated my 20th birthday… two decades down… hopefully, many more to come.
  49. Decided I want to become fluent in ASL
  50. Watched the Pickle drop in Dillsburg, PA with Lenore… technically, I’ll be doing this tomorrow night, but I wanted to include it.

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A Week In The Unknown

24 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by askmandijo in Daily Life

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2012, A Week in the Unknown, books, Christmas Eve, Dracula, Eat Pray Love, family, friend, Goodread, holidays, India, Indonesia, Italy, Knitting, NCIS, Robinson Crusoe, Sandy Hook

Dear Friend,

It’s been a week since I left home and headed to Morgan’s for Christmas Break. Ok, maybe a little more than a week, but close enough. It’s been weird being in a place where people actually call me Mandi Jo… I like it, but that doesn’t make it any less odd. Sometime’s I feel like I’m in the process of meeting every single person Morgan has ever met, but that’s a slight exaggeration. I have, however met former teachers, pastors, church members, mentors, high school friends, and a variety of family members and young children. perhaps even people that aren’t on that list. We’ve gone caroling in nursing homes and at the mall, watched hours of NCIS, I’ve almost completed my first knitted creation (a scarf), slept over at a friends home, made snowflakes with a different friend for the Sandy Hook school, and I finally finished reading Dracula. Yesterday, Morgan’s extended family (on the maternal side) descended upon the house for dinner and gift giving. I’ve also started reading two books ( yeah, I know I should probably stick to one, but I’m about to finish one though, so soon I’ll be back to a normal number of books.) The first, and most read one is “Eat Pray Love” which I had been meaning to read for a while now, but just got around to it. I’ve read about Italy and India and am now finishing up in Indonesia. It’s been really interesting to read about Liz’s year of transformation and to see just how far a person and go (metaphorically, and literally) in one year. The second book I’m reading is Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. If you haven’t looked over my booklist (check out the Goodreads thing on the side bar -> ) you may not have realized just how many types of books I have there… You see at some point I just realized that I miss reading, so I’ve incorporated that into my plan to become a genius… in a major way too.

I plan on checking back in with you tomorrow sometime (Christmas!!!) Have a great Christmas Eve!

Lots of Love, Mandi Jo

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