Delayed - Days 4, 5 & 6

Day 4 – Your Parents

I absolutely adore my parents. They are the most supportive people that anyone could ever ask to be their parents. The past 2 years have been very rough, and I firmly believe that had I not had the support of my parents then I would never have gotten out of it alive. They seriously have no idea how much respect, admiration, and love I have for them. They are my entire world.

Day 5 – Your Siblings

I am a middle child. I have an older sister and a younger sister. We definitely all have very different personalities and ways of doing things, but in the end I know that they are definitely the people I can always go to for support.



Jordan, Aurora, Me (L - R)

My older sister, Jordan, is awesome. She is recently married to a great guy, Adam (I’ve always wanted an older brother!). I remember when we were both in high school together (me a freshman, her a senior) we had our scuffles. She always wanted to listen to NPR in the morning on the drive to school, I always wanted to listen to hard rock. But once college came around we were completely different. Her freshman year she rushed Kappa Kappa Gamma…my freshman I rushed Kappa Kappa Gamma and we had that instant bond that pulled us together. Since then not only have we been sisters by chance, but sisters by choice as well. Even now, 3 years after her graduation from University of Central Florida I still think about our weekly sushi lunches in the Student Union that we had, every time I walk through the building.

Aurora, my younger sister, is the wild child. But she is so inspiring at the same time. She has such an outgoing personality and makes friends easily to matter where she goes. She is an amazing artist. She is kind of like my in the fact that she has no idea what she wants to do with her life but both her and I realize that it’s a perfectly acceptable thing.

Day 6 – A Picture Of Something That Makes You Happy

Obviously, I could go on and on gushing in yet another post about how much I love my family and about how they make me so happy, and about how they are my entire world, but alas, I shall not.

One of the other things that make me so happy is being outdoors, at the beach, on the water. I love it. It is so peaceful and serene I just wish that I had more time available to do such things.

Photo I took from outside of my parents house in Crisfield, Maryland

Okay, so I'm going to cheat a little a put two pictures. I also like to draw.

The Botticelli Secret

I am definitly a HUGE bookworm. I like buying books, I like reading books, I like collecting books. My favorite Disney movie is Beauty & The Beast purely for the fact that I love the library the Beast shows Belle. I know...soooo weird. Plus, I love the fact that she is always twirling around and singing with a book in her hand.

I'll be spending a lot of time reading this summer since I'm not taking classes until August and all I'll be doing is work. My first book review will be on The Botticelli Secret...I finished it a few days ago.

The Botticelli Secret by Marina Fiorato. US release March 30, 2010. In this exhilarating cross between The Da Vinci Code and The Birth of Venus, an irrepressible young woman in 15th-century Italy must flee for her life after stumbling upon a deadly secret when she serves as a model for Botticelli... When part-time model and full-time prostitute Luciana Vetra is asked by one of her most exalted clients to pose for a painter friend, she doesn't mind serving as the model for the central figure of Flora in Sandro Botticelli's masterpiece "Primavera." But when the artist dismisses her without payment, Luciana impulsively steals an unfinished version of the painting--only to find that somone is ready to kill her to get it back. What could possibly be so valuable about the picture? As friends and clients are slaughtered around her, Luciana turns to the one man who has never desired her beauty, novice librarian Brother Guido. Fleeing Venice together, Luciana and Guido race through the nine cities of Renaissance Italy, pursued by ruthless foes who are determined to keep them from decoding the painting's secrets. Gloriously fresh and vivid, with a deliciously irreverent heroine, The Botticelli Secret is an irresistible blend of history, wit, and suspense.

La Primavera, Sandro Botticelli

I picked this book out from Target because I needed a seemingly easy read on the plane to Philly anything involving art and Italian history is an easy read because I love it all so much, plus I'm a huge fan of Botticelli.

All of that being said, I did not like this book at all. The characters were well put together and they were very interesting but that was about it - while they were a random group (a monk and a whore). It was very much an attempt at riding the Da Vinci Code wave of popularity but I don't think it really hit the spot. Without giving to much away, the way Brother Guido and Luciana went about discovering the clues was just lame. They would kind of pick out a random figure in the painting and find some type of clue in it to lead them to a city. Through half the book I just sat there and was kind of like "where the heck did THAT come from!?!"

The ending was entirely to predictable. I won't give it away, but I could have told you the entire ending before I even got halfway through the book. Basically, I don't recommend it to anyone, and it will definitly be one of the books I am adding to my stack to go in my next yard sale.

Currently Reading:

...The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini

On My List:

...Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert

...Sweet Tea At Sunrise, by Sherryl Woods.

...I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell, by Tucker Max

...The Lucky One, by Nicholas Sparks

...How the Other Half Hamptons, by Jasmin Rosemberg

...The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein

Anyone have any other suggestions for good summer reading?

Let me introduce myself...

I like to consider myself a regular when it comes to blogging. Blogger, LiveJournal, Teen Open Diary (yeah, way old school…seriously if you remember it mad props to you), you name it, I’ve had one. I’ve grown up and always had a passion for writing, why I never thought about making it some type of career, I have no idea. My most recent excursion into the blogging world didn’t necessarily fail, but I got tired of getting so much flack from people about what I wrote (typically personal things) that I just ended up blocking it from everyone. I still keep up my personal blog for myself – you know, diary style – but I am the only person who will ever see it. That being said, I have missed writing for an audience to see, read, and relate to my emotions and opinions, so I’m venturing back into the public world of blogging with Southern Belle With A Jersey Girl Attitude, in hopes that it will satisfy my love of writing for an audience.


Now, what better way to start off the beginning of a new blog with a proper introduction…

I’m not your typical 22 year old, I have had many ups and downs in my life that not many people have had to experience, and I am happy to say that I am finally finding the path that I am meant to be traveling in this life. Born just outside of Atlantic City, NJ, and moved to Fort Lauderdale, FL when I was 4 years old, I currently reside in Orlando, FL for college but hope to be moving back up north within the next 3 years.

I simply love the fact that I am from New Jersey, I’ve loved ‘the Jersey Shore’ long before there was ever a Guido filled MTV show about it. I have spent many a vacations down at the shore with family, walking the boardwalk with my sisters as my parents and grandparents played in the casinos, laying out on the beaches, but never going into the water because it was way too cold for us Florida gals. I know I can’t consider myself a true Jersey girl, because the minute I moved down south I was listening to country music and talking with a slight southern twang like the best of them, but I do believe that the Jersey in me definitely comes off in my attitude. I ain’t no quite, demure southern belle, I’ll be the first to call people on their bullshit, especially in the workplace, yeah, ask anyone I work with on that one.

There are a few things that I am very passionate about, God, my family, my friends, traveling, art, and the ocean. Specifically, in that order. The first three are pretty self explanatory; I am very loyal to my faith, family, and friends. I am currently an Art History major and looking to graduate with my Bachelor’s degree in December of 2012. On completion of my Bachelor’s I plan on studying Architecture for my Master’s degree. If there is one thing I could pick to do for the rest of my life it would be studying and restoring historic architecture and art (leaning mostly towards architecture) all around the world. Now, the ocean, random I know. I have grown up always being by the water. My dad loves boats, and naturally that has rubbed off on me – after all, when I was born I was brought home from the hospital to a sailboat – it’s only fitting that I love anything involving the ocean.