The cover for Breaking Dawn was released with the Eclipse Special Edition today.

The preface and first chapter were also released. Unfortunately, Stephenie doesn’t have permission from the publisher to put them on her website yet. There are links to them on the Internet, but I don’t want to violate any copyright laws by linking to them. If you want to read the preface and first chapter, either do a search for them on the Internet or go to your local Borders and read them in the back of the Eclipse Special Edition. It’s really exciting and I want August 2 to be here sooner than ever now!

I finished reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austen last night. It’s the first Jane Austen novel I’ve ever read. It was difficult to get into at first, but I ended up enjoying it quite a bit.

Erin, Becky, and I were going to read Mansfield Park as our March book for our book club. But, everything got really crazy with work, so we abandoned it. By the time we decided to abandon it, Becky had read the first chapter, Erin had read 11 chapters, and I had read part of the first paragraph.

Once work slowed down a bit, Becky and Erin decided they didn’t want to finish reading Mansfield Park. (Becky was too interested in other books and Erin despised Fanny, the main character, so she didn’t want to continue to read it. )

I started to read Mansfield Park in mid-April. Even though I didn’t quite get into it at first, I forced myself to read until I did. I wanted to read a classic since I’ve only read one–The Scarlet Letter. I don’t think I would’ve been able to get through the first few chapters without the help of Spark Notes, not because I didn’t understand what was going on (except for the first chapter), but because it helped me see the end goal of the book.

I’m very glad I did force myself to read until I got into the book because I ended up enjoying the story quite a bit. It was very interesting to read about the focus placed on one’s “place” in society, the importance of marrying well, and the social implications that occurred during the 1800s.

The story’s about a girl, Fanny, sent to live with her rich uncle and aunt, Sir Thomas Bertram and Lady Bertram, in Mansfield Park. She grows up with Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram’s four children, Tom, Edmund, Maria, and Julia. Almost everyone in the household, including another aunt, Mrs. Norris, treats her as an inferior. The only reprieve she gets is from Edmund, who becomes her only friend. (As a little tidbit of trivia, the cat Mrs. Norris from Harry Potter was named after Fanny’s aunt Mrs. Norris.)

My rating:

As I stated in a previous post, I learned quite a few words while reading Mansfield Park. Here are the rest of the words I learned:

1. À la mortal: Of great intensity or severity.
2. Accede: to give consent, approval, or adherence; agree; assent; to accede to a request; to accede to the terms of a contract.
3. Affable: pleasantly easy to approach and to talk to; friendly; cordial; warmly polite.
4. Ardour: (British form of ardor) great warmth of feeling; fervor; passion.
5. Assiduous: constant in application or effort; working diligently at a task; persevering; industrious; attentive.
6. Augur: soothsayer; prophet.
7. Austerity: austere quality; severity of manner, life, etc.
8. Avarice: insatiable greed for riches; inordinate, miserly desire to gain and hoard wealth.
9. Belie: to act unworthily according to the standards of (a tradition, one’s ancestry, one’s faith, etc.).
10. Boatswain: a warrant officer on a warship, or a petty officer on a merchant vessel, in charge of rigging, anchors, cables, etc.
11. Canopus: a first-magnitude star in the constellation Carina; the second brightest star in the heavens.
12. Cant: insincere, esp. conventional expressions of enthusiasm for high ideals, goodness, or piety.
13. Capricious: fanciful or witty.
14. Constitution: the physical character of the body as to strength, health, etc.
15. Coze: a friendly talk; a chat.
16. Deprecate: to urge reasons against; protest against (a scheme, purpose, etc.).
17. Dint: force; power.
18. Elucidation: to make lucid or clear; throw light upon; explain.
19. Encumber: to impede or hinder; hamper; retard.
20. Epicurism: The beliefs, tastes, or lifestyle of an connoisseur.
21. Étourderie: thoughtlessness; blunder; careless mistake.
22. Eulogium: a eulogy.
23. Exigeant: (British form of exigent) requiring immediate action or aid; urgent; pressing.
24. Fag: to tire or weary by labor; exhaust (often fol. by out).
25. Fracas: a noisy, disorderly disturbance or fight; riotous brawl; uproar.
26. Grog: a mixture of rum and water, often flavored with lemon, sugar, and spices and sometimes served hot.
27. Halloo: used to catch someone’s attention.
28. Holla: a very loud utterance (like the sound of an animal).
29. Imbibe: to consume (liquids) by drinking; drink.
30. Insidious: intended to entrap or beguile.
31. Insuperable: incapable of being passed over, overcome, or surmounted.
32. Inure: to accustom to hardship, difficulty, pain, etc.; toughen or harden; habituate.
33. Knave: In cards, a Jack.
34. Liturgy: a form of public worship; ritual.
35. Minutiæ: precise details; small or trifling matters.
36. Palpably: readily or plainly seen, heard, perceived, etc.; obvious; evident.
37. Pelisses: a long cloak or outer robe, usually of fur or with a fur lining.
38. Portmanteau: a case or bag to carry clothing in while traveling, esp. a leather trunk or suitcase that opens into two halves.
39. Propitious: presenting favorable conditions; favorable.
40. Purport: the meaning, import, or sense.
41. Quiescent: being at rest; quiet; still; inactive or motionless.
42. Riband: a decorative ribbon.
43. Sagacity: acuteness of mental discernment and soundness of judgment.
44. Sallyport: a small, easily secured door in a castle wall or other fortification.
45. Scruple: a moral or ethical consideration or standard that acts as a restraining force or inhibits certain actions.
46. Slatternly: slovenly and untidy.
47. Sloop: a single-masted, fore-and-aft-rigged sailing vessel, with or without a bowsprit, having a jib-headed or gaff mainsail, the latter sometimes with a gaff topsail, and one or more headsails.
48. Spurn: to reject disdainfully or contemptuously; scorn.
49. Tout ensemble: the assemblage of parts or details, as in a work of art, considered as forming a whole; the ensemble.
50. Vicissitude: a change or variation occurring in the course of something.
51. Wont: custom; habit; practice.

Read at your own risk as this post contains spoilers. However, the post’s basic gist is that I loved the movie and can’t wait to add it to the collection.

I just got back from seeing Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I saw it with Corey and some of my co-workers–Erin, Jeff, and Becky–and Becky’s husband, Matt.

Erin and Jeff didn’t hate the film, but they didn’t like the alien themes because it seemed too far from the original three movies. At first, I sort of agreed, even though I liked the film overall. However, after I thought about it, I decided I actually liked the alien themes. It was different from the original three movies, but the movie does take place 20 years after Crusade. And, if you think about it, Raiders and Crusade dealt with the Nazis because Hitler was a nut about collecting religious relics. Of course, those two movies are going to deal with religious themes. Isn’t it safe to assume that since Crystal Skull is set in the late 50s, the movie’s going to have an extraterrestrial theme?  I think so.

I didn’t necessarily like all the CGI because it separated this one from the original three movies. However, in my opinion, it didn’t detract too much from the film.

I loved that Speilberg and Lucas kept with the theme of having a mountain at the beginning of the film, even if it was a prairie dog hill. I also loved that Indy went home empty handed as he did in the others. (I was worried the movie wasn’t going to stay consistent with the others in those two respects.) I also loved seeing the ark! I enjoyed the story, I enjoyed seeing old friends (Marion Ravenwood from Raiders), I enjoyed how Marcus Brody’s and Henry Jones’s characters were put in the movie, and I especially enjoyed realizing that my prediction of Mutt being Indy’s son came true. All in all, I really liked the movie and I’ll watch it just as much as I have watched the original three.

I can’t wait for the fifth one! Yes, they’re making another one. The Indiana Jones movies were always meant to be a five-movie set; it just took a little longer than they hoped to get the fourth one out. (Now if Lucas will just make the last three Star Wars movies, my life would be complete. ) Who knows? Maybe, they’ll make more Indiana Jones movies and keep passing the character down to new actors.

Saturday’s signing for The Host was at Highland High in Salt Lake and it started at 11:30 am. We had been waiting in line for about an hour to an hour and a half when the doors opened at 10:30. We got seats about ten rows back, but it was a perfect view.

Like we did at Friday’s signing, once we got settled in our seats, we started to have fun by talking to other people at the signing and taking pictures of us everywhere. We even had our picture taken by the Desert News, but it didn’t end up in the paper. However, Danylle and Lori did end up in the paper!

Just like Friday’s signing, Stephenie Meyer came out to a standing ovation and lots and lots of enthusiastic screams! Before she started to sign the books, she answered a few pre-submitted questions, dealing mostly with The Host. She answered most of the same questions on Saturday as she did on Friday, but she did answer a few more as well. It was pretty cool!

Once she was done answering questions, she started to sign books. I only said, “Hi,” and “Thank you,” to Stephenie when I had her sign my books this time around because they were making an announcement just as it was my turn. I was disappointed at first. But, I realized it was okay because I already had a great interaction with her and I had my book signed by her. Since I already had The Host personalized, I had her personalize one for my friend Ali too. I also had her sign my New Moon book and Ali’s Twilight book.

After the signing, we had our closing social. We ate taco salads, played games, said good-bye to Lori and Laura, and watched Lori on the news.

All in all, it was a great three days! I’m sad that it’s over.

Friday’s signing for The Host was at Thanksgiving Point and started at 7:00 pm. Our group met at the dinosaur museum around 4:00 pm to get ready to be let into the Show Barn at 4:30 pm. While we were waiting, Kayla painted “souls” on our necks for the signing.

We were going to start camping out around 8:30 am. However, thanks to Nancy, we didn’t have to camp out to get good seats. We were let in the Show Barn around 4:30 pm, even though the doors didn’t open until 5:00 pm. Because the staff wanted to give the people who’d camped out in the sun all day the front few rows, we ended up in the fourth and fifth rows. We were so stoked! Thank you, Nancy!

Once we got settled in our seats, we started to have fun by talking to other people at the signing, taking pictures of us everywhere (one of them was even with Stephenie Meyer‘s camera ), and meeting and talking to Stephenie’s older sister Emily.

Lori was interviewed by Fox 13 News and made it on the 5:00 news. Some of the rest of our group even made it on the 9:00 news. (Too bad they didn’t pan up just a tad, so I could’ve made the news too. )

Stephenie Meyer came out to a standing ovation and lots and lots of enthusiastic screams. Before she started to sign books, she answered a few pre-submitted questions, dealing mostly with The Host, although she did talk about the Twilight movie as well. She said she’s excited for the movie and thinks the cast and crew are doing a great job. She really likes Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.

Once she was done answering questions, she started to sign books. Because there were so many fans, we weren’t allowed to take pictures with Stephenie. (She would’ve been there until next week.) Our group took pictures of each other getting our books signed, so we could “sort of” have a picture with Stephenie.

Our names were written on a Post-It note and put on the page opposite of where she would sign The Host, so Stephenie could personalize it. When it was my turn, she said, “Hello Jennifer,” and smiled at me. I almost died right there! But, after I said hi back, I was able to tell her she was the reason I read. She was really excited about that and told me not to stop. I also told her I was almost done with my first Jane Austen novel, Mansfield Park. She answered, “That’s one of my favorites!” I was very excited about that and told her thank you for signing my books, so I could moved on.

I didn’t freak out while I was on stage with her, which is a miracle. However, because I had so much pent up adrenaline, I screamed at the top of my lungs as soon as I was out of the Show Barn.

After the signing, we had an after party. We ate ice cream, talked about the signing, and made a game plan for the next day. We also gave Lori and Laura a bag full of things from Utah to thank them for coming out and going to the signings with us. Some of the things in the bag, included a bottle of fry sauce and honey, a bag of salt water taffy, a package of green Jell-o, a Utah quarter, a BYU baseball cap, a Book of Mormon, and some other things too. Laura was a good sport when she pulled out the BYU cap and Book of Mormon since she isn’t LDS. Lori’s LDS, so Laura has been around her enough to know we were joking with her. They both laughed a lot.

Stephenie’s older sister and cousin Melanie–the name sake of Melanie in The Host–came to our party for a little bit. Emily told us she may want to join our group because of the opportunity to have a girl’s night out once a month. Danylle gave Emily her e-mail address and phone number. We’re all very excited and hope she does decide to join.

Happy birthday, Brittany!

On Thursday, my Twilight friends and I welcomed Lori Joffs and Laura Cristiano to Utah for the two Stephenie Meyer signings over the weekend. (Lori’s from Tennessee and Laura’s from New Jersey.) Lori/Alphie and Laura/Pel co-founded the Twilight Lexicon, or Lex, when Twilight was first published and have had the chance to watch Stephenie’s fandom grow to what it is today.

While I was working, a lot of the group took Lori and Laura around Salt Lake to see the sights. They went to Temple Square, Gardener Village, and other places. I was finally able to join the group after work for our Thursday night get-together.

We had Hawaiian haystacks for dinner and a chocolate fountain for dessert. During the party, we got to know Lori and Laura better. We listened to Lori’s and Laura’s funny stories about being the administrators of the Lex. Lori and Laura gave away prizes for asking them the best questions.

We made sashes with our soul names on them and pins for the signings. (My soul name is Many Shades of Crimson because I have a multi-colored blush when I get embarrassed or think something’s really funny.) Lori and Laura gave everyone an autographed postcard from the Lex store as well as an “I love Jared” or “I love Ian” pin to wear at the signings. I chose the “I love Ian” pin.

A couple of days ago, my co-worker Ryan said farewell. He’s been accepted into the University of Georgia’s MBA program.  I’m excited for him, but I’m also sad to see him go.

Anyway, before he left, he wanted to get a picture of the entire team.  I thought I’d post the pictures on my blog, so you can see my co-workers.

PS–I added more pictures of Jared. Go check them out.  He’s really cute.