Monthly Archives: July 2023

Everything I Know About Love Album Review

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On August 26, 2022, Laufey, a singer-songwriter from Iceland, released her first full lengthened album, Everything I Know About Love. The album consists of many songs that have different meanings varying from growing up and being a hopeless romantic. The album consists of her most popular songs such as Valentine and Fragile.

I personally love all of the songs but my favorite song in this album for now would be Slow Down and Everything I Know About Love. One of my favorites is Slow Down because the song sounds really calming to me but I especially love the whole message of the song, which is to enjoy the present and cherish it and slow down. I love the message of Slow Down because I spend most of my days doing the same things over and over again and I always wait for things to end and never really cherish the present and my moments. My other favorite song is Everything I Know About Love because the song sounds more upbeat than the other songs and I just love how the song sounds. 

Overall I really loved the album Everything I Know About Love by Laufey and it’s definitely one of my favorite albums. Although it may not be the style of music most people would like, I definitely recommend at least trying to listen to the album or one of Laufey’s songs at least once.

5 Reasons To Join MVAC [Mission Viejo Activities Committee]

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  1. It’s Fun!

The events MVAC hosts not only bring joy to the community, but also create lasting memories for you! Each meeting, every event has left me joyous and I have walked out with a smile on my face. It is so cool seeing the behind the scenes of the events that this city has and is a great way to get involved, no matter the age! There is something for everyone! Everyone who helps out enjoys being there, you will enjoy being there. The welcoming atmosphere, the supportive members, and everyone’s eagerness to get involved feels like a reward every time. I can assure you that there is not a single moment where I have not enjoyed being there, participating, and helping out. 

  1. You gain such valuable experiences!

As a MVAC member, there are endless opportunities for event-planning, volunteering, communication, and leadership that you are able to learn from. The hands-on involvement has improved my organizational skills and communication, all while getting the opportunity to give back to the community. The experiences you gain here empower you to excel in any future endeavors. You truly learn so much from each event, whether it’s seeing all the behind-the-scenes planning or seeing the importance of communication. The effort that goes on behind each event gave me true appreciation for all the events we host and I’m confident that you will see it too! From all the events I have volunteered at, MVAC is truly like no other.

  1. You have an influence in decision making.

Whether you are a new or returning member, MVAC has always valued the opinions and suggestions of its members. Each monthly meeting is collaborative and engaging as they ask for feedback and opinions of each event. If you are looking to get involved, this is the place for you! I remember being mind-blown at my first meeting about how engaging the members are. You truly can make an impact here. It’s not a place you go and volunteer once at. There will always be more opportunities going on all year round. 

  1. MVAC has an incredibly supportive environment!

MVAC is full of exceptional people with all sorts of different experiences. When you walk into a meeting, you can immediately feel the warmth and welcoming energy that radiates from the room. Whether you are a new or returning member, you will feel the appreciation they have for all of their members. Each and every member cares about each other and by being in a room with like-minded individuals, you are bound to grow! When I first joined MVAC, I remember volunteering for the 4th of July Event where I met countless people, and the connections that I made was a driving factor in my decision to be so involved. Everyone wants you to be your best, everyone wants you to feel welcome. It is the perfect place to volunteer and meet new people.

  1. You can give back to the community.

Like I mentioned previously, MVAC allows you to truly make an impact. Immediately, you have the opportunity to become an active participant in the community. Whether it’s helping organize or participate in various events and programs, you feel the impact you make. You feel the appreciation. The gratitude you get from volunteering is truly like no other. Out of every event I have volunteered at, MVAC Events have always left me with a warm feeling in my heart. The opportunities are endless. Once you start, you won’t ever look back. Whether it’s the Spring Boutique, 4th of July Street Faire, Santa’s Arrival, or other event, there is nothing more rewarding than helping your community. 

Now that you’ve heard a little about my experience in MVAC, I truly hope you consider joining MVAC and hope to see you there!
Here is the link to join! https://mvactivities.com/join-mvac

Murder Your Employer – Book Review

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Murder Your Employer is a great read that I would definitely recommend. Rupert Holmes uses brilliant twists and clever wordplay to keep you turning pages as you follow the suspenseful tales of three aspiring deletists (the McMasters preferred term for murderers).

Cliff, Gemma, and Doria (also known as Dulcie) receive a very unique education at the McMasters Conservatory for the Applied Arts, which is kept a secret from the rest of the world. At McMasters, the three soon-to-be deletists study the art of murder and how to properly execute (pun intended) their plans to delete a special person in their lives.

For Cliff Iverson, that person is his despicable employer, Merrill Fielder. Fielder, the senior executive of Woltan Industries, an aircraft manufacturer, changed Cliff’s plans for the W-10, a change that could result in the plane crashing and ending hundreds of lives, should it ever fly. For this reason and many others, Cliff needs to end him. After botching his first attempt to end Fielder, Cliff is taken to McMasters with the support of an unknown sponsor to learn how to properly take lives.

Gemma Lindley enlists at McMasters to end her blackmailer, Adele Underton, who is also her superior at work. However, Gemma doesn’t seem to have it in her to kill, although perhaps McMasters will be able to change that.

Hollywood star Doria Maye, under the false name of Dulcie Mown, enlists at McMasters to delete her employer, Leonid Kosta. Kosta is trying to force Doria to voice a cartoon pig on television, which would turn her from a serious actress into a joke. But Doria is a professional; she knows it’s not curtains for her yet, and she’ll make sure of it.

Murder Your Employer is an excellent book with a fantastic ending that left me completely shocked. However, before you pick up this book, I would recommend checking the lock on your door.

Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.

Bookmarks Mark the Spot

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A bookmark is defined as: a strip of leather, cardboard, or other material used to mark one’s place in a book. Habitually, I blindly grab the item nearest to me to use as a bookmark. I mainly utilize hair holders, blankets, and even other books. I quickly realized this method causes me to often lose my page and items that I need. Paper, magnetic, and sticky-note bookmarks are some fun types of bookmarks that I learned about and wanted to share with people.


The type of bookmark that most people are familiar with is the simple rectangular paper bookmark. You just slide it in the inside corner of the page you are reading and then you can close the book. Sometimes, there may be a string connected to the top. While this type of bookmark is very easy to come by sometimes it may fall out of the book.

Magnetic bookmarks are a more secure way to mark a page. It is made by two pieces of magnets and a material that goes on the sides and holds them together by the top. The two magnets slide onto each side of your page, so you can easily find your spot. However, these bookmarks tend to be more expensive than paper bookmarks.

Sticky-notes also make great bookmarks, because they never fall out and you may already use them but there are many other ways to fold and bend them into a fun shape. For example, you can make a cute heart or a fun animal.

Personally, I like using the rectangular paper bookmarks, because they are easy to make and use, but I’ve tried out all of these and they are all really fun. I hope you consider making use of these ideas, because bookmarks are really helpful.

Movie Review: Missing (2023)

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*this review will contain spoilers***

I was on Netflix and saw this new movie and felt the need to watch it and let me say, best decision I could of made. I feel really enticed my projects that feature like a “crime/mystery”, it makes everything more exhilarating for the audience.

The movie is essentially a teenager, June who is home alone due to her mom and mother’s boyfriend leaving to go on vacation. When June goes to pick them up at the airport, there is no one there for her to pick-up and this is when she gets suspicious of things and starts investigating where her mom could be.

What made this movie so incredible is the organizational aspect and format it was presented in. The audience is taking this all from June’s perspective, more specifically, her MacBook. The movie is essentially a “screen recording” of what June is doing on her computer whether it be facetiming, texting, researching, etc. There isn’t anyone actually filming the actors but rather just the use of cameras from technological devices in how this movie is compiled.

I think what made this movie interesting for me is that there were plot twists every step of the way. I kept getting shocked from the amount of layers this movie had. I would recommend this movie to anyone but if you get scared of these “mystery” genre movies, I would stray away from watching.

-Madison C.

Book Review: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

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Sixteen-year-old Aza Holmes wasn’t expecting to be investigating the disappearance of billionaire Russell Pickett, but a hundred thousand dollar reward is looming and her best friend Daisy is ready to solve the mystery. Aza and Daisy become acquainted with Russell’s son Davis, and together, they collect evidence and gather information to figure out what truly happened to Russell Pickett.

But within this external conflict lies Aza’s true endeavor as she struggles as a student, friend, and daughter. Aza struggles with OCD and anxiety, causing her to get lost in what she calls her thought spiral. She is consumed by paranoia of death by bacterial infection and is unable to live in the present and form real relationships with her loved ones.

Throughout the story, Aza struggles in finding herself and getting better, even when it seems impossible. As her world spins out of control, Aza loses her grip and regains it, learning how to cope with the uncontrollable storms of mental illness.

Turtles All the Way Down is an absolutely heart wrenching, raw, real, and painful story that accurately portrays mental illness. As Aza strives to separate from her intrusive thoughts, readers find that healing from mental illness isn’t a linear journey where one can simply choose to get better. The novel is realistic in its portrayal of life, love, friendship, illness, and healing. Overall, I loved Turtles All the Way Down, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes to read thought-provoking realistic fiction stories that allow them to look at life with a different lens.

-Lam T.

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.

Book Review: Cinder

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You’ve probably heard of the Cinderella fairy tale before.

But you probably haven’t heard of the story becoming a sci-fi dystopian romance series, have you?

Marissa Meyer’s series The Lunar Chronicles is amazing. Today, we’ll just be reviewing the first book, called Cinder.

Book Blurb

In this novel, Linh Cinder is a talented mechanic and cyborg, living many years after the Fourth World War in New Beijing.

There are laws that demolish cyborg rights to nothing, and her stepmother treats her like trash, calling her junk. Her only friend is an android named Iko, who Cinder built out of spare parts.

A plague by the name of letumosis is raging through the world, killing countless people.

Cinder’s life is routine and repetitive, until Prince Kaito shows up at her mechanic stand with a repair request for a damaged android. Romance, death, adventure, and more await…

This book does contain dark themes, and the series as a whole touches on gore, death, etc. Just a friendly disclaimer!

This book absolutely hooked me right into the rest of the series: which I love to death. But let’s hop into the actual review to see if this book is right for you!

Let’s start with the pros.

Marissa Meyer does an AMAZING job of executing the plot twists, and I just love the dialogue between characters. It flows so naturally.

This story pulls you in with an engaging hook, setting up the absolute masterpieces that are the rest of the series.

The world is so immersive – the book doesn’t throw a ton of exposition at you for you to understand certain parts of the culture, world, etc.

The morality of mind control and influencing others emotions, what makes someone human, and more is tackled in this book and the rest of the series. It’s beautiful to read.

I could not recommend this book more. The series is close to my heart, and Cinder is a stellar hook to pull you in.

You might be wondering – where are the cons?

Books are subjective. Since I love this novel a TON, it was hard for me to find things I didn’t like.

It is pretty lengthy, standing at 387 pages. Cinder is also more tame compared to the rest of the series – and if you read this you’ll want to read the rest, so be wary!

If you’re looking for a dark, yet thrilling sci-fi adventure with a creative world, sparks of romance, and a wealth of references to fairy tales? This one’s for you.

(not sure if there’s anybody specifically looking for that last part, but regardless :p )

Cinder by Marissa Meyer is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.

Book Review – The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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Avery Kylie Graham’s life gets flipped around when she unexpectedly inherits billions of dollars from Tobias Hawthorne and moves into the massive Hawthorne mansion. The only catch is she must stay in the home for a year to inherit the money. The Inheritance Games, a three book series, captured my attention from the first chapter and were impossible to put down. The cinematic descriptions of the house, the school Avery attends, and the places they vacation were absolutely gorgeous. But more importantly, the complex characters were each so unique and compelling.

When Avery first enters the Hawthorne Mansion she doesn’t realize what she’s going to have to endure to be able to take the money and live her life. Puzzles left by Tobias Hawthorne lie around every corner. I was on the edge of my seat each chapter, wondering what would happen next. Nothing about the plot was predictable at all. Usually, the second book in the series is inferior to the first, but I didn’t find it that way with this series. I was never bored reading The Inheritance Games.

The Hawthorne family was very messy, and Avery was just thrown into it. Besides the feuding aunts and the missing uncle, there are four sons who she becomes close with. There’s a sprinkling of romance with one of them, but it never overshadows the impeccable plot. Besides the family, Avery’s friends from her new private school are heavily involved. You may be thinking, with so many characters it might get confusing at times. But each character is so unique its impossible to lose your place.

I highly recommend checking out this series!

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.

The Bad Beginning

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Written by Daniel Handler under the pen name of Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events is an iconic book series following the miserable lives of the Baudelaire children after the untimely death of their parents.

The series starts with The Bad Beginning, which takes place immediately as Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are informed of their parent’s deaths. They are sent to live with their “closest living” relative, Count Olaf. He is a terrible caregiver, forcing the children to work and work and work all day, cook full meals for him and his acting troop, and even going as far as to slap them when they disobey. It becomes clear quite quickly that he is after their large fortune left behind by their parents, which is to be locked away until Violet is of age.

The book culminates with the performance of The Marvelous Marriage, a play secretly written by Count Olaf himself in order to trick 14-year-old Violet into marrying him, in order to gain access to her family fortune. However, the siblings trick him back by writing her name on the certificate with her left hand and not her right, leading to it not being written in “her own hand”. Count Olaf evades the police (because most all adults are incompetent in this series), which leads to the next book, titled The Reptile Room.

I remember reading this book for the first time when I was about 8 years old, and having to put it down because it was “too scary”. I don’t know quite what I found scary about it, looking back. I only picked it up again a few years later because I was a big girl at that point. I wasn’t scared of the monster under my bed anymore or anything. I actually really enjoyed it. Though, unfortunately, I have not technically read all of them. I (up to this point) have been unable to get my grubby little hands on a copy of every book, and thus far my knowledge is limited to the first book, the Netflix TV series, and many reads of the Wiki Fandom.

The Bed Beginning by Lemony Snicket is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library. It is also available to download for free from Libby.

Does A Perfect Day Really Exist?

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This is just a short little post of me thinking about life, but a question that has been on my mind lately is “does a perfect day really exist?” What even is perfect?

Some sources on the internet say that a perfect day happens when ‘everything goes just the way you’ve planned it to be’, and I guess that is possible- to an extent. Can every little detail really go the way you’ve planned it to be? I don’t believe in perfect days, but I do believe that some people who consider themselves to have perfect days don’t really have perfect days, but rather happier and more positive mindsets. Though on that note, I think that if you want to at least have an okay day, you need to have some general conditions/expectations set in place that you want to be vaguely fulfilled. Those expectations also need to be reasonable because you can’t just claim that you need the atmosphere to be 62 degrees Fahrenheit at 10:31 AM to have a perfect day (even though nobody would probably do that). The weather has its own agenda going on for itself.

I have tried to have perfect days on purpose, and it never works, at least in my experience. In fact, things seem to go even more wrong when I’m consciously focused on doing them right. In the rare occasion in which things do spontaneously go according to plan, I’m always interrupted by some thought or event that doesn’t exactly ruin my day, but ruins my ‘rhythm’ (not my mood, they’re kind of different, I can’t really explain it!). The event wouldn’t even necessarily have to be bad, but more of something I wouldn’t have been expecting/wanting at that moment.

But I guess these average days are always just a reminder for me that life is real. Everyone and everything around us has its own plan, and the Earth doesn’t adapt to us- we need to adapt to it. So I think the key to having an above-average or at least a pretty good day is to try your best, surround yourself with everything that makes you happy, and live and love the mundane 🙂