7 months down, 5 more to go....

Just poking right along with the book list....Next up is Flyboys!  My boss recommended it after hearing my affinity for WWII novels.  So we shall see how this goes, the reviews on Amazon are all over the place, so we will see if I love it or hate it!  Happy Reading :)

Thought you might enjoy seeing what a nerd looks like :)

List of books I have read in 2012

1. Five Love Languages

2. Sisterhood Everlasting

3. The Holocaust Diaries

4. Private #1 Suspect

5. The Fixer Upper

6. The Hunger Games

7. Catching Fire (book 2)

8. Mockingjay (book 3)

9. The Carrie Diaries

10. What Alice Forgot

11. The Purpose Driven Life

12. The Reservoir

13. Private Games

14. Mountain beyond Mountains

15. Hijacked: Responding to the Partisan Church Divide

16. Sarah's Key

17. I've Got Your Number

18. Private

19. There are No Children Here

20. Generous Justice

21. The Other Boleyn Girl

22. Kisses from Katie

23. Unbroken

24. A good and perfect Gift

25. Hope in a Jar (started 7/16/12)

26. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

27. Lexapros and Cons

 

 List of books I plan to read in 2012

28. Flyboys

29. The Girl who Played with Fire

30. The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

31. The 100 thing challenge

32. The Rape of Nanking

33. Intellectuals and Society

34. Wild

None update, Update!

This past weekend, I did nothing but clean, cook, run errands, and watch redbox movies.  Well that is not entirely true, I had lunch with my grandma and went to the gym too, but that is all besides the point.  I finally got new bedding, which is super fun--this is what I have decided upon:

http://www.target.com/p/room-essentials-duvet-set-yellow/-/A-13794877 (duvet cover and shams)

Pair with a white down comforter and grey bedskirt and grey sheets!

I also got two of these lamps to go with it:

http://www.target.com/p/stick-lamp-yellow/-/A-14014314#?lnk=sc_qi_detailbutton

The fun news is that my birthday is next month, so family members are contributing various parts of the bedding and I used coupons so the lamps were only $11 each and the bedding was like $80 total for all parts, but I get some of it for my birthday!  So I am getting excited about that!  I have needed a little change in bedding for awhile!

I saw this super cute pillow on etsy, so eventually I may add that to the mix :)  All in all, a fun new look for when I move :)

This weekend I took pictures of the last of the stuff I need to get rid of for my move, so hopefully if I get my act in order, all of that will be on craigslist or ebay before the end of the week...Just in time for my big cookout on Friday!

Hope everyone had a fun, and/or productive weekend!

Cupcake Fairies!

So this story starts months ago when my good friend, Anna, and I decided to make cupcakes and deliver them to friends around the greater Richmond area, because come on, who does not love a cupcake?  Well it was such a great time that CJ suggested another cupcake fairy visit.  We had to be super secretive because this time we wanted to surprise Anna with cupcakes!

So on Monday we made the cupcakes and put them in cups (a hint I found on pinterest) because last time the cupcakes were falling all over the place as we drove around town.  This worked out MUCH better!  So we started our journey in the west end, but with not much luck....of our 3 stops, only Kristi and Mike were actually at home and were in the middle of a LATE dinner....

Look at that excitement!

Then we were off to Kathryn's house (she did tell me she should be home by 8, but when we arrived at 8:01, they were not there, so we left a little surprise for when they got home:

Cupcakes on a pew!

Then it was off to Robert and Jessica's house, and they ALSO were not home (at this point, we were beginning to get a little worried)!

Wolfpack cupcakes!  Look at that Hokie Respect!

After that, it was downtown we went...for a quick stop on Hanover to drop off cupcakes for Patrick and Lila (who was out of town, but Patrick promised to give her one when she got back):

Not the best lighting :(

Then it was off for the best surprise yet!  Anna and CJ had just finished dinner before I got to CJ's house and CJ had told Anna she had plans for dessert with her cousin, little did Anna know that was just a lie so we could come surprise her!!!

Funfetti is my favorite!  Isn't she cute?

After we left Anna's we still had 3 more quick stops, but it was getting late.  We swung by 3 monkeys bar because one of the girls was out with friends and NOT home, so we made her come out of the bar to receive her cupcake :)

Just taking a drinking break for cupcakes!

Our second to last stop was at Aubrey's house, but she was not home nor were there any lights on so we had enough of a time getting up the stairs and leaving them there, a picture was just not going to happen.  Lastly we hit up CJ's neighbor, Elizabeth's house.  She did not answer the door, the cell phone, or her home line when we tried, so we went around back and saw her watching TV and scared her by knocking on the window.  Don't worry, she was happy to see us!  At this point, it was about 10:30, so we both went home, another cupcake delivery accomplished and a great way to put an end to this hump day!

Why yes, I guess I am a nerd...

So you may remember back in January where I wrote this blog post!  Well I am an over-achiever!  As of about 2 hours ago, I have completed my 26 books in 2012 and in way less time than I thought!  I just finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  I have already seen the movie, so I already knew I would be interested in the plot, which everyone says the book starts off slowly, and true, yes it does kinda.  I more thought it was a good place to lay out all the characters and plot, so I was able to hold attention and go on with the book.  Now I think I am going to take a quick break before moving onto the second book in the series.  Plus I have been dying to read Lexapros and Cons since I heard about it, and I just found it on amazon last week for super cheap, like $4.  I do not normally buy books, I normally pick ones that people let me borrow or the library lets me borrow.  But I was dying to read this and my library does not seem to want to carry it (I have literally checked like 10 times this year), so I bought it.  If anyone else is interested in reading it, feel free to let me know!


Anyway, I realize I never posted on some of my last books, so here is a recap:


Unbroken:  LOVED LOVED LOVED!  So sue me, I love non-fiction books and love WWII non-fiction books the best, so this was bound to be a favorite and guess what?  It did NOT disappoint.  It makes me so badly want to meet Louis Zamperini, I am not kidding you.  Everything he went through and to come out of those struggles how he did was an amazing store of human resilience AND yet another reminder that just cause I live in this super secure world, not everyone is able to say that, in the past and EVEN today around the world!  Read it, you will not be disappointed (well you might be if you are anything like my mom and think that books can only be read for pleasure if they are fictional).


A Good and Perfect Gift: Also a good read, this is going to be a lot more reader specific.  My friend, Kathryn suggest I read this.  It is about this family who had a strong faith and were expecting a baby and when the baby was born, she was born with down syndrome.  It just chronicles their journey coming to terms with this diagnosis and seeing how this "problem" became a true blessing in their life and EVERYTHING that she brings to their life.  It is VERY honest, which I loved about it!  I loved the book, but I am not sure it would be a fan favorite among all other audiences :)


Hope in a Jar: Pretty much a Sophie Kinsella book in disguise.  If you love her writing, you will love this; it is an easy read and very funny!  I love reading books like this between other books so I do not ever get stuck in a rut with my reading :)

A cuter Brutus....

Awwwwwwwww!!!!!

Guess who got a haircut?

Yeah, NOPE, not me!  Although I am desperately in  need of one....

BRUTUS DID!

I know, he looks all sad and pathetic, he did NOT want me to take the picture, he wanted to snuggle and have me pet him instead.  So maybe I will get a better picture tomorrow!  I think it is crazy that my dog gets his hair cut like twice as frequently as I do....the benefit (or curse?) of having long hair!

EAJ reunion

Well the lake weekend was a success!  A good time of fun, games, booze, and conversation.  I would say sun, but that is one thing we did not get, so much for that whole being by the water thing!  At any rate, it was a fun time to catch up with everyone and I think a good time was had by all!  Here are a few of the highlights of the weekend:

Katherine and Amanda (freshman year roomies)

Erica

The crazy amount of food/snacks that we had!

Sara being Sara :)

GAMES!  Since it was so icky outside....

Apples to Apples

Naptime for Matt

Naptime for Nathan

Ronny not napping

Other Sara being Sara

Group shot--11 years and still going strong!

Silly group shot :)

Until another year...

Hokie Reunion

So this weekend, I am headed back to Lake Anna for a very exciting reason!  For the first time in almost 4 years, the 7 of us EAJ girls are getting back together for a reunion.  This is a MONUMENTAL event and I am super excited!  Each year, the group of us plans a trip to Lake Anna, but I think at most, we have 5 of the 7 of us there at any one time.  So having all 7, plus spouses, plus little baby McHugh (currently in the womb), will be amazing!  This weekend promises to be a barrel of fun, with lots of drinking, lots of laughing, and lots of board games (since there is really nothing else to do at night time in Bumpass, VA)!


Here is a picture from the Lake Trip, two summers ago (I think):

Ahhhh, we were so young back then!

Here is the last time, we were all together (at least to the best of my knowledge):

This was August, 2008 when Sara and Nathan got married.  Yup, it has been too dang long!  So this weekend should be an awesome time to catch up and hopefully, I will remember to get pictures to document it, in case it is another 4 years before we do it again!

Re-useable Bags and Swedish Fish

So my dad got home from a short trip to Orlando last night and in true "dad" fashion, he came home bearing gifts. He was at a fishing expo to help market some fishing hook.  Well that is all well and food for him, but the best part (well aside from the fact that he made it back home safe and soundly) was that be brought me presents!!!  What type of presents you ask?  Well a re-useable grocery bag and a little thing of swedish fish.  It totally made my day!  If you know me at all, you know that one of my love languages is gifts so these little gestures just make me SMILE!


And how cool is this bag?  It is PINK and brown--one of my favorite color combos (well really anything with PINK in it works).

Notice the little bag of swedish fish :)

Mid July Book Update :)

List of books I have read in 2012

1. Five Love Languages

2. Sisterhood Everlasting

3. The Holocaust Diaries

4. Private #1 Suspect

5. The Fixer Upper

6. The Hunger Games

7. Catching Fire (book 2)

8. Mockingjay (book 3)

9. The Carrie Diaries

10. What Alice Forgot

11. The Purpose Driven Life

12. The Reservoir

13. Private Games

14. Mountain beyond Mountains\

15. Hijacked: Responding to the Partisan Church Divide

16. Sarah's Key

17. I've Got Your Number

18. Private

19. There are No Children Here

20. Generous Justice 

21. The Other Boleyn Girl 

22. Kisses from Katie

23. Unbroken

24. A good and perfect Gift

  

 List of books I plan to read in 2012

25. Hope in a Jar (started 7/16/12)

26. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

27. The Girl who Played with Fire

28. The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

29. Lexapros and Cons

30. The 100 thing challenge

31. The Rape of Nanking

32. Flyboys

33. Intellectuals and Society
34. Wild

Well that was quick!

This weekend literally FLEW by....It was Friday and now its Monday again....BOOOOO!


As promised, I went to Lake Anna this weekend to hang out with 3 of my favorite girls in the world!  Friday, it was only CJ and me, so we played Bananagrams...

Then Saturday, the rest of the girls arrived about noon.  Also, my friend, Erica's brother was in the area for the day with his girlfriend, so they came on over to hang out as well.  Plus Andy, my mom, and her friend were all down there too.  Talk about a good crowd!!!  Needless to say, I drank a little too much on Saturday, so for a good 3 hours or so, I was trying to hydrate and get back to a normal state of being.  Day drinking NEVER works for me!  We ended the day Saturday with just the girls, as Andy, Matthew, and Julie left, so we did what any group of girls would do---ate pizza and watched chick flicks!


Sunday was more of the same, relaxing in the sun and drinking until we all came up for a late lunch and a trip home.  It was nice to get home last night and not have ANYTHING to do.  Brutus and I just snuggled up and watched TV....while outside it looked like this:

I was totally thinking we would get a bad storm or tornado, but we barely got any rain and just some thunder.  Thus concludes another weekend!  In exciting news....I finished another book, so I will probably do a book update today too :)


Also....remember how I mentioned the book Kisses for Katie?  Well one of the ministries mentioned is jewelry making, it allows the women to make jewelry to support their family instead of prostitution and illegal alcohol brewing.  So this bracelet is made from paper scraps that they roll each individually into beads, I ordered one online and when I got home yesterday, it had arrived:

SO CUTE!

We now return to the regularly scheduled Travel Portion of this Blog...

So it seems I have taken quite the break from actually talking about any trips I have been going on and focusing more on my adorable nephew and books!  But have no fear, the next THREE, yup 3, weekends I will be out of town at Lake Anna.  This weekend for a girls weekend, next weekend for a college reunion trip, and the last weekend with that cute nephew of mine back in the picture!  Although Lake Anna is just over an hour from my house, I totally consider it a trip cause it is a totally different area---think COUNTRY!  Cell phones do not work great, high speed internet--what's that?, no fast food restaurants close by, and lots and lots of time to relax, drink, and be merry!


Here is hoping for beautiful days, and if it must rain, only at night!

Happy Hump Day Pictures

Yesterday, my boss was gracious enough to let me leave about an hour early so I could have some extra hang out time with my sister and nephew before they left this morning....

We went to the children's museum and here is a little of what we did...

Corbin found a HUGE dog and proceeded to carry it around the entire museum...

Corbin did not want to pose for this picture....

Or this one....

Or this one....

So I decided to resort to just getting a picture of him, face or not....

Awww cute boy with no face...

OW OW, Tiffany putting the fire out!  Surprisingly, she put all this on willingly!

Corbin putting the (potentially) lice-infested hat on grandma!

Then on himself!!!  Finally a picture of those cute cheeks!

Corbin Time!

So this weekend was filled with a few different things:


1. Trying two new places in Richmond--Stella's restaurant and Gelati Celesti--both pretty awesome, although if you know me, you know I love sweets so the ice cream place was the best!
2. Saw Magic Mike (eh, hot boys abound, but I could have probably waited to redbox it)
3. Spent some time with CJ and her nephew and brother who were in town from Seattle!
4. Best of all, CORBIN (and Tiffany) came into town!!!!  So to document the fun we had, here are pictures for your viewing pleasure....

Cloud Dough---Yup Auntie LaLa is the coolest!  (A pinterest recipe of baby oil and flour--he LOVED it)

He loved it so much he wanted to sit in it!  This is my favorite face he makes so he kept doing it for me! He would say   La la and then make the face!

Then he helped me make cookie dough (dough that he could eat)

And eat he did....apparently after about 3 handfuls back in, I figured we may need to use these cookies just for our family

Time to clean up!  Whoops Corbin, lets keep the water in the sink....

Corbin ready to retaliate!

July Book Update

As you can see, I am flying through my book list for the year and I keep finding books that I just may want to read to add.  This list started as 26 books and now I am at 31 and optimistic to have them all done by the end of 2012...only time will tell :)

A few things: After reading The Other Boleyn Girl, I have become obsessed with Henry VIII and the time period around there.  I have immersed myself in the Tutor series and find it very intriguing.  It is cool to see what strong women were like during that time period (Anne Boleyn and Mary Boleyn--I actually like Mary a lot better and I think she gets overlooked a LOT).  So if you liked the movie, the book is about 100000% times better, it is just LONG as mess!  But I watched the movie again after reading the book and I was like, it left out probably 92% of what was in the book, so you really are not getting the whole story.


Secondly, and more importantly, everyone go out and read, Kisses from Katie, it was AWESOME!  Another story of a strong women but in a totally different era and circumstances.  Katie Davis is a 24 year old woman living in Uganda and has felt called by the life there and what God has in store for her.  Her life is drastically different than an other 24 year old.  She has 14 children, yes 14!!!  She has adopted children with varying needs in the village she works in in Uganda.  She has started a non-profit, she provides food, medical care, and education to hundreds, maybe thousands of children in Uganda and she is very real in the book about her constant struggle with God's will for her life.  It is a truly inspirational story.  If you have no desire to read the book, but want to know more about her life, try following her blog here.  I would strongly encourage each person to check it out and consider donating to Amazima or you can request to get notified when they have more jewelry on sale (made from paper scraps from women in Masese).  This book has really made me re-think my lifestyle choices and makes you see the difference that ONE person can make!  


Lastly, next up is Unbroken, I am already hooked so I should not say next up as I have already started it and am on Chapter 9 (out of 39, I think).  While reading about the book, I learned about yet another piece of history, I had never heard about and that is The Rape of Nanking, or the Massacre of Nanking.  I was oblivious to this event, so as you may notice, I have added another book to my list that I can learn more about this historic event.  Just another reason I like to read, it opens my eyes to the world around me and what I may have missed!  Happy Reading

List of books I have read in 2012

1. Five Love Languages

2. Sisterhood Everlasting

3. The Holocaust Diaries

4. Private #1 Suspect

5. The Fixer Upper

6. The Hunger Games

7. Catching Fire (book 2)

8. Mockingjay (book 3)

9. The Carrie Diaries

10. What Alice Forgot

11. The Purpose Driven Life

12. The Reservoir

13. Private Games

14. Mountain beyond Mountains

15. Hijacked: Responding to the Partisan Church Divide

16. Sarah's Key

17. I've Got Your Number

18. Private

19. There Are No Children Here

20. Generous Justice

21. The Other Boleyn Girl 

22. Kisses from Katie

  

 List of books I plan to read in 2012

23. Unbroken (started July 4^th)

24. A good and perfect Gift

25. Hope in a Jar

26. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

27. The Girl who Played with Fire

28. The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

29. Lexapros and Cons

30. The 100 thing challenge

31. The Rape of Nanking
32. Flyboys
33. Intellectuals and Society

Independence...

I always love to celebrate Independence Day.  It is such a fantastic reminder of our freedoms and privileges in the United States, not to mention the fantastic time with friends and family, the cookouts, the fireworks, the SUMMER time :)  Plus who does not love to wear red, white, and blue?


This July 4th was no exception. I started the holiday actually painting my bathroom, hey don't judge, I have the freedom to do what I want with my day off work!  Well I actually woke up at 6:30 am (ON MY DAY OFF) so I figured I might as well make good use of my time.  Then I went with my friend Emily to watch the 4th of July Parade with her and her sister (and her sister's 4 kids).  It was awesome, we the kids got lots of candy and then we went to the picnic area where they had free hot dogs, sodas, face painting, etc.  It was awesome!

Me and Emily in our 4th of July outfits

The Color Guard kicks off the parade

Ummm awesome--a patriot tap shoe!

Emily with her sister and the kids!

I came back home and was quite tired so I read a little then took a short nap before heading out to my friend, Kristi's cookout.  It was a great time with friends and I made a super awesome cake for the occasion (thanks pinterest).  I even got to see some fireworks on my drive home....back to work today though...

Just seems like a normal cake....but wait til you cut into it....

a flag is in the inside (I told you it was awesome!)

Although Anna does not like cake, she was still excited about the creation--what a great friend!

While we are all out celebrating with cookouts and food and booze and friends, it is always important to remember those that are on the front lines serving our country, spending time away from their friends and family so that this Independence we hold so dear, is still ours to hold.  So thank you to all the service men and women and families for ALL of your hard work!

What's not to love?

So despite the outrageously HOT temperatures this weekend, I still thoroughly enjoyed it (well except for the  no electricity part, but that was only temporary!).


So Friday night, I got to leave work a little early and came home to relax for a bit, then I went out to dinner with my dear dear friends, Allison (and her hubby, Jason) and Anna!  We went out cause Allison was in town but also to celebrate her cousin, Marshall's 29th birthday...on the 29th!


We went to one of Anna and my's favorite restaurants, Plaza Azteca--love the margs!!!

Allison and I

Marshall and Anna

Marshall eating his Birthday Flan!

Well after we left there, we went back to Allison's to play a game before Anna and I headed out.  We were debating continuing the fun, but both decided it looked ominous outside and BOY were we right.  Anna did not even get home before she hit tornado like winds and my power was out not even 10 minutes after she left.  So I was at home with two dogs (my parents were out of town) with crazy storms and no power...IT WAS HOT!


Saturday morning, I got up, got ready and went over to Anna's cause she was going to check out the Forest Hill Farmer's Market with her friend, Caitlin.  It was pretty awesome, I will definitely have to go back sometime when I have power and can actually buy stuff to put in my fridge.  After that, we hung out at Anna's house for a bit soaking up the electricity and air conditioning.  We grabbed lunch then I headed home, praying for the power to be back on.  God was good to me and it was, so I soaked up the downtime with air conditioning, cable TV, and time with the dogs!

A picture right in front of my neighborhood on Saturday morning...crazy storm!

Sunday, I had volunteered to help out with set up for a cookout and outdoor service at our church's 2nd site, so I was up early to get over there at 9am to help set up, then we worshiped OUTDOORS followed by a cookout outside, it was HOT but it was a great community and nice to be in the Lord's creation while worshiping.  Sunday was much of the same, my grandmother was without power so she was over at my mom's as well, so we watched 21 Jump Street and then ordered pizza for dinner.  All in all, a fabulous weekend, despite the storms and such!  Now this week is BUSY at work, but I get a day and a half off for July 4th so it will be nice to break up the week for me!


What are your Independence Day plans?


P.S.--As far as the reading is concerned, I did not get through my book, but I did make it almost half way through, so that is good!