The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Alright, let's get to it. 

Question number one: What did I think about the Quarter Quell itself?

The Quarter Quell was an extremely smart decision from Snow. I'm not gonna lie, that shook them to their core, and I was like, you know what, Snow? Applause for the theatrics, because that was smart. That was something. That's a smart man right there, because that girl put your country in a rivalry. Like, she stirred it up, and you were like, you know what? I'm about to rock this little girl's world, because she played in my face, and I just don't appreciate it. And, like, I really didn't want to have to deal with this inconvenience at all. He was like, I'm about to put you right back where you started. I'm about to put you right back where I know you don't want to go. Matter of fact, I'm about to traumatize all of y'all, because y'all all seem to have gotten too much dip on ya chip. And so now I'm about to remind you and everyone up in this piece that I run this town and that what I say goes. And if I want you back in that arena, you're gonna go back in the arena, and there's nothing you can do about it. Point blank, period. 

So I thought the Quarter Quell itself was very interesting and very smart on Snow's part. And I also really liked, like, you know, the design of the arena. I just think the whole thing was really smart. It was very clever. 

Question number two: How did you feel about the reveal at the end?

There were a lot of reveals, so maybe the plan was revealed. The plan being revealed, it honestly made a lot of sense, and all the clues came together. I think it was also really smart. I just feel bad for Katniss and Peeta. Also Finnick my poor baby is so much deeper than what's originally revealed and I love Johanna’s character. It definitely wasn't predictable if you never saw the movies, I definitely would have been more shocked. I don't know how to put it but I just also feel like Haymitch and his whole secretive situation is something else. The thing is, Peeta and Katniss both peeped it. Like when they were talking to each other like, “okay, I think we can be honest with each other by now, and neither one of us is planning on coming out of this alive because we’re trying to save the other.” And so they revealed that, you know, Haymitch had promised them both to save the other, and then Katniss was like, “then which one is true? Which promise is real to Haymitch. Only he knows.” Like, this man is always lying. Like, really, how can I trust what he's saying at all right now? And in the end, she felt like she couldn't. And I honestly don't blame her, especially because he specifically promised her to try her best with Peeta. And we all know that Haymitch cares for Peeta, he likes Peeta, but he sees Katniss as an asset. They all do. And so he 100% is always gonna try to save Katniss over Peeta. So I feel like she does have a right to feel betrayed by Haymitch because, like, I asked you to do one thing, and that's to keep Peeta safe for me, and you, your excuse is that you couldn't go back, but, it was just the one thing I asked of you. It was literally my dying wish, I don't know, you couldn't be my friend first? I see how that's betraying, and I know that there's a bigger thing behind all the emotions. This is the weight of the world right now, like, the world's at stake that's probably how Haymitchs sees it and he’s not wrong but, you know, when you're in a traumatizing situation like Katniss was, you don't really think about that. So I get how Katniss is feeling. I think her feelings are pretty valid, honestly. 

Question number three: How do you feel about Peeta now? 

I love Peeta. I always loved Peeta from the very beginning. I love his character. He's probably my favorite character, to be honest. I think he's incredibly sweet and incredibly smart. And I know a lot of people think that, like, all the characters are clever, but one of my favorite things about Peeta is that man can lie. He can lie his tail off. He is so smart, and he can talk. Like, he's so charismatic, and I love that. He can literally smooth-talk the mess out of anybody. I am also scared for him. When I read Mockingjay, whenever that will be, I am going to be so sad to read about how they tortured and traumatized him and stuff. Like, it's like, Peeta you know. He’s the least deserving of it. And it's just hurtful because he's just so incredibly sweet and so interesting. I love Peeta as a character. He’s so complex because he’s a boy with such a big heart YET he is so manipulative but not in a way to hurt people. He uses his manipulative charisma to help Katniss so many times. 

Question number four: Did Gale become even more intolerable, or did anything change your opinion of him?

No. Gale is still exactly the same, and nothing will ever change my opinion about him. Love that he has no clue that Peeta didn't actually tap that though. Moving on. 

Number five: What do you think Katniss actually feels for Peeta versus Gale now? 

Yeah, her feelings for Peeta are much deeper than her feelings for Gale, because especially when they kissed, she described their kiss differently. This is what I'm, like, noticing between Gale and Peeta, is that with Gale, it's, like, sweet. It's something I was longing for, something I never felt like, something expected and anticipated. She’s like I do love Gale, but she always circles back to the same thing. “I never ever have intended to marry him, and I still don't see myself doing that. Never has it ever been my intention to marry Gale. Not once.” She always circles back to that point. 

When it comes to Peeta, for one, I want to say she describes her kisses with completely different types of feelings. Completely. She describes Gale's kiss as sweet, basically. She says with Peeta that that kiss had her hungry. Hungry. Hungry. As in intense. As in longing. As in yearning. As in, I don't even know how to explain it to you, but hungry, babe. Hungry. She said, “a different kind of hunger I've never felt.” This is coming from a girl who has literally about starved to death multiple times in her life. So take that into account. 

I feel like they are going through the Quarter Quell and have gone through the Hunger Games together. This is a life-death experience twice now that they’ve gone through. These experiences are going to keep fueling them to just grow deeper and her once again feeling this need to sacrifice her life for him and vice versa. Katniss's feelings have grown deeper for Peeta in a way that they probably will never be able to get deeper with Gale because of the positions they're in and with the war. There are so many things that apply, and there's so many ways for her relationship with Peeta to continue to get deeper and growing, whereas Gale, there just isn't as many opportunities, and it's probably never gonna happen for him. She may not recognize it right away, or even acknowledge it, but she is in love with Peeta. Whereas Gale, she has a strong love for him, but she's not in love with him. Does that make sense? But yeah, I can keep going on about that forever, anyway…

Question number six: What do you think of Haymitch after learning what he was actually doing? 

Once again, I will say this: Haymitch is extremely smart, and I see why he does what he does, but I think his whole secretive thing he always does, and not telling anyone stuff, he has to also take into account people's feelings. Y'all are a family, and you doing things like that, it hurts people, and I get his intentions, and they may not have been bad, but I just think he doesn't do a very well at taking people's feelings into account, and it's just not fair, especially to Katniss, because of what all she's going through. I feel like his decisions were just a little bit irresponsible. At least not on the part of, not letting her know anything. Also I just feel him making the decision to not go after Peeta, I feel like it was more or less that we couldn't get Peeta, and more so “it's not as important to get Peeta for me because we are in the middle of a revolution. I'm not willing to risk anything to get Peeta”, and this is because he cares more about the success of the rebellion and making sure Katniss can be the Mockingjay than anything else. And I just feel it is a little selfish. I see it, and I understand why he's doing it, but that doesn't make it any less selfish. 

Question number seven: What was your reaction to the last few chapters? 

Okay, in the last few chapters, I was a little irritated with Katniss, because I was like, “girl, how can you not see what these people are doing?” But then again, I get it. It's a high-stakes situation. Yes, girl, I understand you. And honestly, the last chapter was really well written and will keep you on your toes. I specifically love the description of Johanna cutting the tracker out of Katniss' arm. It shows how Katniss really continues to be an unreliable narrator partly because she’s in constant survival mode but also because she doesn’t understand herself. 

This series is so incredibly detailed, and it is so intelligent, and it is just insane to me how someone could have a mind like Collins. You know what kind of thinking you'd have to have to put something like this together? I completely understand why some people are like, The Hunger Games is literally one of the best series to have touched the face of Earth. I get that. I understand that, because it's literally so intellectual. I love it so much. And personally, in my personal opinion, I really do think that The Hunger Games deserves the same recognition that Harry Potter got. Sue me, I'm sorry. Die hard Slytherin though. 

The point is, though, these books are so incredibly intellectual, and to think that there are more book connected to the trilogy, I think that goes back in time to Snow and his storyline. There's also another movie coming out about Haymitch and that whole situation, based on his book. I'm not caught up. I've got literally another three books to go in this series before I'm, like, completely caught up with the fandom.

So anyway that's my thought of book two of The Hunger Games Trilogy, Catching Fire. I hope you enjoyed it and feel free to share as well! 

The next book we’ll be getting to is…(drumroll please and thank you): AGNES AUBERT'S MYSTICAL CAT SHELTER!! A 1920’s period based, fantasy, romance, grump x sunshine sitch. Stay tuned. 

Thanks for reading, until next time!🌸

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Trusting God's Plan and Timing.

Happy Saturday everyone, I hope you all are doing great. This week's topic we will be discussing Trusting God's Plan and Timing. As you can see by the title. So as a believer this topic is very important because we as humans naturally have a struggle with handing things over especially when it comes to our lives and we want to be in control of everything. 

If it was up to us we wouldn't go through any struggles, any hardships, or any hard lessons at all. Life would probably be on easy mode but that's not how it's supposed to work because if it was then it's how it would go and that's part of why trusting God's Will and plan for your life is so difficult because we don’t want to go through the hard parts. 

I struggled with this for a very long time because I'm the kind of person who likes to plan my life. I live for a to do list. I LOVE a Pinterest board. I’m not new to this, I'm true to this. I had to learn the hard way that it just simply isn't possible to know every single thing that's going to happen. You cannot control everything around you, especially because you cannot control other people. You can try your best to plan and organize, write everything down and for a while you may think you have it all together but in reality there's no way for you to know that any of what you have planned is going to go your way. And the craziest part is 90% of the time it's not. Sucks but it’s true. 

My entire life I had a vision for how I wanted my life to go, who I want it to be and how things are going to plan out for me and when they didn't go my way I would honestly freak out and think the worst of the worst. I'm sure you can imagine that it can be pretty stressful and hard to go through that three times a week. Imagine how frequently I would get worked up behind even the smallest of things. Why was I panicking in a corner every time time something didn’t go right? Hardships and inconveniences are a part of life and things are not going to work out exactly how you want. That is such a high stress way to live your life and over time it starts to wear you out mentally and physically and emotionally and in a lot of cases becomes dangerous for a person's health. I literally thought I was going insane at times but no ya girl just didn’t get her way. 

When I first gave my life over to the Lord I struggled with this so incredibly bad. It was something I had to learn to surrender to Him or else I was never going to have a true relationship with Him. Until I learned that He is God, and He is in control of everything a lot of things were going to continue to be difficult. At first I saw it as something that I had to prevent or Him being in control was a bad thing. I was frustrated that I didn't get to be in control of my life in every way that I wanted to be but as I grew closer to Him and I learned that He knows so much better than I do. His plan for my life is much better than my own and in reality all the struggles that I’ve gone through probably wouldn’t have happened or been nearly as bad had I had Him in my life sooner. A large amount of what we go through is because of our actions and the actions of the people around us. All of that changed for me when I gave my life to God because I no longer made such stupid decisions and I no longer had people around me that were hurting me. 

Now when it comes to His timing that can be a completely different ball game. It was one thing for me to learn that He knows better than I do and that my life is in better hands with Him. I also had to learn that when it comes to things that He promises me I have to be patient. (still learning :))

At first you start to think that God isn't doing something when you want to do it because He's against you or because He thinks you're not ready and you may think you are ready but you will never know because you're not Him and once again He knows better than you do. 

Trusting God’s timing and the difficulty that comes with it once again plays into wanting to control the many aspects of your life. I had to realize that sometimes things don't happen when I want them to for a reason and I cannot tell you how many times I look back and see that I'm grateful it didn't happen when I wanted. 

One of my biggest flaws is that I worry a lot and I want to know not only what's going to happen but I want to know when and how. I need all the details because I am a very detail oriented person. It was difficult to not worry about the details and just trust that things were going to go the way they needed to. I am an excited kind of person. I anticipate things really strongly and when I'm excited about something it's on my mind 24/7. 

That is something that's really hard to go through because when you're constantly thinking about one thing, it makes the anticipation so worsening that you start to become uncertain about the very thing that God promised you. You begin to wonder why it hasn't happened. Then when you realize okay, maybe it's not time yet, you start to think, “when will it be time?, why isn't it time? I feel ready. Why doesn't God think I'm ready?” IT GETS ANNOYING AFTER A WHILE OKAY?! 

Being in your own head all the time is not good for you and it put me in a spot I didn't even realize I was in. When God promises you something one of the main things you need to do is humble yourself. Yes there needs to be trust, yes there needs to be confidence in who He is and how much He loves you but you also need to take the time to remember that constantly worrying about how things are going to go and asking Him why things haven't happened the way you want them to is not being humble and it will bite you in the butt. 

We have no business questioning God and anything that He does in general so constantly wondering in your head how and when things are going to happen is a recipe for disaster. It's easier said than done, don't ever mistake that but it needs to happen or else you're never going to find peace and God is going to continue to see that you're not ready because you can't do something as simple as humble yourself before His plan and timing. If you can't do that, why in the world would He give you what you're asking for. 

It is so important to realize and recognize that God wants to bless you just as badly as you want the blessing if not more but He isn't going to just do it because He wants to or because He sees that you want it. If He did that then you wouldn't be able to handle it the way you need to because you weren't ready and He loves you more than to allow you to mess things up for yourself. That is part of the many reasons why he knows better than you do. 

I can't sit here and act like I know the true secret behind not worrying about how things are going to play out because if I'm being honest with you I haven't gotten it down 100%. Nobody really does that, it's the hard honest truth but the important part is trying your best and knowing when the struggle is getting in the way of your relationship with God and the things He wants to do for you. 

My best advice is obviously to continue to pray and continue to rebuke and to stay in The Word.  If it is truly something that you're struggling with, talk to God and be honest with Him about it because He can see how you're feeling and what you're thinking anyway so the best thing you can do is just say it out loud to Him and be honest with how you're feeling and what you're thinking and I guarantee you He can help you find peace of mind because He loves you and He wants you to be okay. You could never ask for His help too much. He will always be there for you and all you have to do is spend time with him and get to know Him because that's truly all He wants in the end. 

That's all I have to say about this for now. I really hope that this helps someone who may be struggling with this because I know what it's like and it is something that is extremely difficult to go through. It's not fun at all and if I'm able to help someone in any way then I'm more than happy. 

I hope you all continue to have a lovely Saturday and I love you all so much. 

Smooches and thanks for reading! 🌸

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Howls Moving Castle

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Okay so I read this book it's called Howl's Moving Castle there is a movie a based off of the book but apparently is a far off retelling of the book so I'm not going to recommend watching the movie before the book at all if you just want to skip the book all together because they're nothing alike. 

Anyway, as far as the book, I absolutely loved it. It was one of those books that are a little off and a little weird and personally I love that in a book it makes me feel as if you get the best of both words because they can be light-hearted and fun but also deep underneath and I appreciate that and a good book. 

So how's Moving Castle is about a girl named Sophie who is an oldest daughter and she initially believes that that settles her fate and she's the oldest daughter of two younger sisters and so she being the oldest means that she will not have a good life that it's just meant to be boring and things like that because that's the fate of the oldest according to Sophie. 

So one day as you know things move along in the book she gets cursed by a witch that is known for her wickedness and she is turned into an old lady and Sophie is so shocked by this that she doesn't initially react she actually flips upside down and walks out of her home and never turns back and she's like well I'm an old lady my life has changed and I get to go do whatever I want because at this point what else am I going to do. 

So she ends up going to house Castle who is a known Wizard and he is known for stealing and
kidnapping girls so she goes up there she basically forces herself into his home where she meets his little Apprentice Michael and his magical fire demon who lives in the fireplace named Calicifer. 

So it is like a found family I love the fact that this book. Found family isn’t my favorite all the time but it's extremely comforting that we get to see an extremely flawed but kind character go through these things that Sophie goes through. 

One of her flaws is that she's extremely nosy and me personally I cannot stand nosiness but it like I said made me appreciate the flaws within a character because it makes it more realistic and human but one of my favorite dynamics of the book is the growing relationship of Sophie with herself and with her fate and with her power and she starts to realize that she isn't who she initially believed herself to be and she grows this understanding of herself that I can really appreciate. 

I also love Howl as a character because he is something much deeper underneath the surface of what the book initially gives us and what Sophie's interpretation of him is at first and we get to know him throughout the book and he is an extremely interesting character that I think a lot of people will love because to me he's extremely funny but he's also much deeper than what meets the eye and I love that in a character. 

All the other characters I also learned to love and appreciate because they add to the story, the plot of this book is actually extremely good and I just enjoyed the fact that it was a little odd the descriptions were interesting and there was a plot twist that I did not expect to be honest and also one of my favorite things about this book is that you get to hear Sophie's thoughts but she isn't necessarily and unreliable narrator but when you actually pay attention to the things that are going around her versus what she's thinking you can see the difference between how she feels and what's actually going on and I appreciate that. 

I really like this book. I 100% recommend that anyone could like it for real especially if you love something that is fantasy romance and light-hearted but deep within and it shows you something within characters that you can learn from then you can appreciate this book. I left out A LOT of details so this barely touches the surface trust me if you think this spoils it pls go read it for yourself. 

Let me know if any of you have or will read it. I'll be more than happy to discuss it with you because I love a good discussion. 

Thanks for reading! 🌸

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Fashion Magazine

🍂 ✦ 🍁 ✦ 🍂

SWEET SIDE QUEST PRESENTS

THE FALL
FASHION ISSUE

07 outfits for your autumn wardrobe

FALL 2026

01 — THE CLASSIC FALL GIRL 🍂

Sweater + Jeans + Boots

THE CLASSIC FALL GIRL

There is something about a cozy sweater, a good pair of jeans, and boots that will never stop feeling like fall to me. It's simple, effortless, and somehow always looks put together.

🍁 THE VIBE: cozy • classic • effortless

02 — THE SKIRT MOMENT 🎀

Sweater + Skirt + Tights + Boots

THE SKIRT MOMENT

A mini skirt with tights and a cozy sweater is one of my favorite ways to make an outfit feel a little more feminine while still keeping that cozy autumn feeling.

🎀 THE VIBE: girly • playful • autumn chic

03 — THE CAMPUS GIRL ☕

Cute but Comfortable

THE CAMPUS GIRL

Because sometimes you want to look cute for class without feeling like you spent two hours getting dressed. This is the outfit for coffee runs, lectures, library days, and pretending you have your life together.

☕ THE VIBE: casual • cute • effortless

04 — THE IT-GIRL 👜

Statement Coat + Heels + Handbag

THE IT-GIRL

Sometimes the outfit needs to be dramatic. A statement coat, a gorgeous pair of heels, and a handbag that makes you feel like the main character can completely transform a simple fall day.

👜 THE VIBE: glamorous • confident • dramatic

05 — THE COZY WEEKEND 🧸

Oversized Sweater + Leggings + Boots

THE COZY WEEKEND

For the days when you want to be comfortable but still feel like you actually got dressed. Add your favorite boots, grab a coffee, and you're ready for a cozy Saturday.

🧸 THE VIBE: cozy • relaxed • warm

06 — THE 2000s GIRL 💿

Statement Pieces + Fun Accessories

THE 2000s GIRL

Give me the slightly tacky accessories, the fun colors, the statement pieces, and all the little details that make an outfit feel like it came straight out of a Y2K movie.

💿 THE VIBE: playful • nostalgic • fun

07 — THE MAIN CHARACTER 🍁

My Ultimate Fall Look

THE MAIN CHARACTER

Of course some shoes had to be included because it wouldn't be me otherwise. A good shoe makes the outfit.

🍁 THE VIBE: main character • dreamy • autumn

My sucky monday

 

The way my day went today was just so annoying. I'm fine for the most part. I just want to say I think it's important to allow yourself to have one of those days. I woke up and I already knew it was coming but I started my period and usually how mine goes I'm fine until I start doing activity or a couple hours in I start feeling as if my body is slowly trying to take me out. I had three classes to go to today so I usually get up early in the mornings so that I have time to spend with God and myself before I go to class because it helps me feel grounded. 

So I did my usual, I got up washed my face, brushed my teeth and ate my breakfast while doing my Bible study and you know just spending time with the Lord as I usually do and then I hopped back in bed because I usually have about an hour to myself and I was so tired I ended up just going back to sleep until it was time for me to start getting ready to go to class and I did exactly that. I got up, got dressed and everything and then went to class. 

 I don't know where y'all live but where I live it is so freaking hot and right now we're in this heat wave where even when it rains the rain is hot. It's really annoying and everyone is pretty miserable. Having to go to class and walk around in this heat is frustrating especially because my campus is all over the city so we just have to walk up all types of hills and everything and it's just annoying. Me personally? I'm not sure if anyone can relate to this but turning 20 has made me feel like I've hit puberty all over again because my body reacts to things completely differently now. I never sweat in my life like the way I do now and I don't know if it’s because climate change has it hot as crap or because I've gotten older but I literally feel like I'm drenched in sweat five seconds into stepping outside and it's the most annoying thing ever because I am very conscious about smells I do not play about smelling decent so it's I’m uncomfortable and obviously you do the natural things like take baths, put on deodorant but like sweat is sweat and it just bothers me because I feel like I can smell my sweat mixed with my lotions and perfumes and deodorants and it’s gross. 

I know other people must not think that because no one avoids me or has said anything and people sit beside me constantly so I'll say I must not stink but they say that you no one smells you like you smell yourself so honestly it's not surprising but like I don't the smell of sweat and it's just grossing me out and I be ready to cry walking around campus feeling like a sweaty dude. 

But anyways I'm already sweating a whole bunch and I started my period so by the time I was in my third class of the day I started cramping and I was really sleepy and I was getting a headache. I was irritated and I had a shin splint walking to class because I usually am in the same buildings on campus since my freshman year I've always been in the same areas but with my school they put the smallest majors on the outskirts of the campus so the art school is literally so far and I have 15 minutes to walk from the main part of campus all the way to the art school and it's the most annoying thing ever because like I said my school is pretty much around the city so I had to Dodge cars and everything else on top of it being hot and my stomach was cramping. 

So I had to endure sitting in an art class which I'm sure is a very fascinating thing and I personally love art as a hobby but I have no passion for it and I could not care so I was pretty much miserable and counting down the time it was time to leave not to mention despite me basically running to class i was still almost late and there was barely any seats so had to sit right in front the professor, fighting not to fall asleep. When it was finally time to leave I felt a little bit better but then I realized that I didn't drive to campus today so I had to wait an hour for the bus. In the heat. With my stomach cramping. And a headache. No food. 

By the time I got home the first thing I did was get in the shower because my stomach was hurting so bad and when I got out I took pain medicine, fixed a bowl of cereal for dinner because cooking wasn’t an option and I got in the bed and I haven't moved since. I also ate pretzels. I did  my homework and I'm not going to lie, I half did it. I really didn't care, I was frustrated.

 

Anyway I don't know what my point of this is I just wanted to say something about my day because I was irritated and hot and I guess the whole of what I want to leave you with is just it's okay to have those days especially when you're sitting there in pain and not every day is going to go perfectly. I was frustrated but I made myself feel better because I just allowed myself to feel my pain and be a little bit of a slob in the bed because I wasn't in the mood even though it's a Monday and I could be getting stuff done I probably should be studying I just couldn't because all I wanted to do was sit in the bed. Thankfully tomorrow I only have one class and it's not till 1:00 p.m. so I can try to get things done tomorrow but I only goal for today was to do the homework for tonight and call it a day and that's exactly what I did I'm writing this block and I'm probably going to start getting ready for bed even though it's 7:00 p.m.

Thanks for reading! 🌸

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