My New Orleans Treasure :)

While one of my best friends, Caroline, and I went on our annual girls' trip to New Orleans, we were trying to think of different things to do, besides the typical Bourbon Street scene.  While googling for ideas, we came across Faulkner House Books. This amazing bookstore was tucked away on Pirate's Alley. It took us forever to find, I literally thought Caroline was going to kill me! haha. Its probably the smallest bookstore I've ever been in, but it had so much character and history. This is where Faulkner resided  while he wrote his very first novel, Soldiers' Pay. 

Of course, after learning all of this, I HAD to purchase my next novel from here! After being completely captivated by all of the antique (and VERY expensive) Faulkner novels, I opted for a cheaper, newer version of The Sound and the Fury. Here's to hoping this won't take me as long as Gone With the Wind! Cheers

Week 5 Blog Challenge: My Sibling...NATHAN!

Week 5 Blog Challenge: My Sibling

I have one sibling. A brother. An amazing brother. His name is Nathan. He's 28...almost 29...wow, where does the time go?? 

Nathan is probably the best brother that one could ask for.  He has been through SO much in his life and is an awesome man because of it. When he was in 8th grade, he gave us the scare of our lives. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor on his pituitary gland. This caused his growth to be stunted at the height he was at that age.  He had dreams of being in the NBA, and there's no doubt in my mind that he would have made it. Nathan is one of the best ball players I've seen (except when he's playing me, of course ;) )

 I don't know that I've ever actually told anyone this, but I was scared to death that I was going to lose him. To this day, I can picture him being hauled off to the surgery room and thinking that I may never see him again. 15 years later.....I still thank God that he is here. 

We have been through some rough times, but we wouldn't be where we are without those trials. I am so proud of what he was...who he is now...and who he will become.

I LOVE YOU NATHAN!!
P.S. If anyone ever makes fun of him for being short, I will kick your ASS! (sorry for the profanity Mom, but I know you would back me up:) )

Gone With the Wind: The 3 Month Marvel

Wow. So not only has it been 2 months since I last blogged (so much for my weekly blog challenge!), but it also took me WAY too long to read Gone With the Wind.  It was fairly simple reading, but I'm pretty sure my self-diagnosed ADD kicked in. BUT, three months later, I finally finished it! I'm not so sure I will complete all 100 novels this year, especially if I continue reading at a snail's pace....that being said, I LOVED the book!

This is such a great story about courage, surviving, and unrequitted love. While reading this novel, I couldn't help but feel that Scarlett was a feminist ahead of her time.  She never gave up and always fought for everything that she believed in. I'm sure much of it was attributed to the situations that she was put in, but nonetheless, she fought. And she won.

Two things I disliked about the book:
1/ It could have been a little shorter. I felt like there was a lot of filler
2/ Rhett said "My dear, I don't give a damn". I was waiting for "Frankly" but apparently that's only in the movie :/

Week 4 Blog Challenge: My Parents

My parents......hmmmm.....lets see...
 My Mom...
I have always looked up to my mom. I can remember the days when she was a single parent struggling to support two kids. And I'm sure we were a handful! I can recall years when she would work 3-4 jobs just to make ends meet, while she was attending college. She was finally accepted into nursing school when we discovered that Nathan had a brain tumor. She gave up EVERYTHING to get him the absolute best medical care at The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. What a sacrifice!
I remember leaving for college, very sad, but also very excited for the road trip because my mom had made me her special choclate chip cookies that all of my friends would beg her to make when they came over. Here I am, driving away in my Ford ZX2, filled with all of my boxes, TV in my passenger seat. Jami and Blanton (her boyfriend at the time) were following behind, their car also filled with all my crap! And Michael was in his truck behind them, ALSO filled with my crap :) We get about 2 hours into the trip, stopping for gas, and I realize that I left my container full of my mom's chocolate chip cookies at home. Never, ever, have I missed my mom more than that day. It still makes me cry just writing about it. I love you Mom!!!

Randy (My step-dad)....
If I would have written this blog a year ago, I would not have known where to start. No one can deny it, we had a rough start. But I have made that all a blur in my past. Today, Randy is an amazing individual and I am so thankful to have him in my life. He is the icebreaker of awkward situations, and is now always the one to make everyone crack a smile, even when they don't want to. He has become more involved in my life than he ever was before (I'm sure this has a lot to do with facebook! haha) but I couldn't be more grateful. I now can honestly say that I look up to him as a father.

Dad.....
My dear Dad. I love him so much. He has been through Hell and back, and he is still standing. I cannot put into words how proud I am of him. He never gives up. He never loses hope. He, honest to God, is probably the strongest man I know. And I probably don't tell him that enough. I know this paragraph about my Dad is short, but I can't think of any stronger words to describe him. I LOVE YOU DAD!

Goodbye 2010

Goodbye 2010 from Danielle Taylor on Vimeo.


My 2010, in 5 minutes and 18 seconds. It was a great year, and here's to an even more amazing 2011. Cheers

Week 3 blog challenge: My First Love

Let's see......my first love was in 8th grade. I remember sitting in science class with Mr. Middleton. And this super cute boy walked in. I knew, he had to be mine. After a few weeks, he asked me out. I think we only "dated" for a couple of months, but I fell head over heels. And then he moved. He left without any goodbyes.

When I saw the title of this blog, I was debating on whether or not an 8th grade love actually counted as a first love. It was puppy love. But it WAS love. Regardless of what kind, it was love. I realized this when I asked myself how I felt when he left. And i was completely heartbroken. You can only be heartbroken if you were, in fact, in love. I cried over him for a long time until I realized he was not coming back. No number to call, no email to write to. It took a while to grasp, but it was what it was. Thinking back on it, it was a great experience, and a great memory.

Week 2 blog challenge: meaning behind blog name

The meaning behind my blog name....hmmm....i have decided to take the challenge of reading the top 100 novels of all time. The blog name, cent livres, translates to "100 books" in french. which, if you know me, you know I'm obsessed with anything french :) This blog will be filled with my opinions of these novels while reading them, as well as some random blogs (such as this one), and possibly some personal blogs in between. Did that even make sense? ha. well, I'm slacking on reading Gone With the Wind due to way too much traveling! But i will get back to it asap. At the rate I'm going, I won't finish it until summer! ha. wish me luck, and feel free to add to my list :)