If you’re anything like me, you love a good deal! I love going thrift shopping (que Macklemore’s song) and finding great treasures. When my family was on vacation recently, we spent a lot of time going to different thrift stores and consignment stores. You never know what you’re going to find!
In this video, I show you all the different clothes and shoes I got. Let me know what you’ve gotten in recent thrift shop hauls!
Wow, I read a lot this month! My family and I were on vacation in Florida for almost 2 weeks and they have an AMAZING library there. Of course, we took full advantage of it and took out lots of books and movies, some of which were even read or watched! Here’s what I read last month (in the order that I read them).
I picked this book up from a “summer reads” section at my library. I actually had a little trouble getting through this book because it was so summery and cheesy. However, I persisted, but it was my least favorite book I read this month.
Need I say more? I re-read these every summer and it’s something that I really look forward to. I know everything about the books, but they are so comfortable for me and remind me of reading them for the first time when I was a kid. Forever my favorites!
Why has it taken me so long to get around to reading this!? I honestly had no idea what it was about and it is such an interesting read! It’s definitely one of those books that you can’t put down! I don’t want to give too much away, but it is basically a cast of strong female characters and it involves a murder. Love this!
Hardly a month goes by that I don’t read a book by Sophie Kinsella, so I’m sure you already know about my love for her. I think is the third (maybe fourth?) book in the “Shopaholic” series. These are just easy, fun reads if you like some good chick-lit.
In continuance of my obsession with Harry Potter, I read this “not authorized by J.K. Rowling” book. Basically, this book just talks about the backgrounds of various creatures and characters/names that Rowling uses in her books. I thought this book would be a lot more exciting that it actually was, but it was interesting.
I’ve only recently started watching “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” within the past few years, but like everyone else, I am obsessed and appalled by the show. This book is an expose of what really happens on the show, behind the cameras and lights. Basically, there is a lot of alcohol and manipulation. This was definitely an interesting read if you watch the show!
This is a graphic novel that was recommended to me by my Mom. I really didn’t know much about Dahmer, as it happened either before I was born of when I was a baby. Of course, I’ve heard of him and what he had done, but this book is so interesting as it details his life before. It seems like a cartoon since it is a graphic novel, but in the back of the book are sources from every single event that was talked about in the book. Disturbing, but a great read.
I’ll admit that I was a pretty big “Twilight” fan back in the day. I also really enjoyed her other book “The Host.” I’m sure a lot of people wouldn’t read this book or laugh at it because of the author but I loved this book! It has love, murder, and a brilliant female lead character. I highly recommend giving this book a fair chance!
This book is a collection of Peanuts cartoons! I love reading books like this while I’m eating breakfast, because I don’t have to concentrate as hard and I can eat and read at the same time. And the Peanuts cartoons are so heartwarming and familiar to everyone!
Whew, that was quite the list! What did you read this month?
The last time I gave you an update on my doggie Mila was December of last year! Boy have we missed a lot!
Mila’s birthday was predicted to be in March. We aren’t totally sure because we got her for free and she didn’t come with any papers. So she is now 1 year and 4 months old. I don’t know if you can consider that to even be a puppy anymore! Of course, in our hearts she’ll always be our puppy/baby.
Mila is still the same crazy pup you know and love. She is at her highest energy right when we get home or when ever anyone comes to visit. She seems to be super smart, but one time I went to the bathroom and came out acting like I hadn’t seen her all day and she got just as excited as if I had been gone all day. Other than those times, she is pretty low-maintenance and calm. She gets herself in “moods” sometimes and will try to tear apart her bed or throw some toys around the room.
Now that I am home all day with her, I’ve noticed that she pretty much just lays around being lazy all day. We go for a few walks a day, but otherwise she just finds a spot in the same room as me and curls up. She loves laying on the bed and watching everything out the window. However, if she sees a dog outside, she will go nuts. She has ripped sheets with her nails because she gets herself so worked up when she sees a dog.
Speaking of ripping sheets, we still have not been successful at cutting her nails. Everyone has tried, but no one can do it. We took her to PetsMart and they couldn’t do it because she was flailing around too much. I took her to the vet and even two techs could only cut 3 nails. We’ve mostly given up because her nails stay relatively short since we take walks on pavement.
Mila is still eating one cup of I and Love and You dog food twice a day (find it here). We’ve tried different flavors, but they seem to upset her stomach so we have been sticking with the Red Meat Medley lately.
Basically, we’re still very much in love with our Mila and she is the perfect dog for us right now!
This month was CRAZY. Mostly I was just trying to survive until the end of the school year, so I didn’t get a whole lot of reading done. However, one of these books I read in two days (yay summer vacation) so I’m pretty impressed with myself for that.
Susan Branch is one of my favorite authors. She writes mostly lifestyle and cookbooks, but she has also written three books about her life. These are my favorite, and I read two of them this month. The Fairy Tale Girl is the first book which details her 20s into her 30s when she lived in California, got married, and then divorced. Her books are homemade – they are written in her own handwriting and she has painted illustrations as well. I think her books are just beautiful!
This is Susan’s second book about her life in which she up and moves from California to Martha’s Vineyard and buys a house by herself. It also follows her as she writes her first book and has it published. Susan Branch also writes a wonderful blog that you can find here if you are interested!
This was a book that I randomly picked out at the library because I thought the cover was cute. Then I ended up reading it in just two days! This was mostly because I started it on June 29 and had to finish it by June 30 for it to count for my June books. But I did it! This book is about sisters living in opposite ends of the world who decide to start writing letters and mailing them back and forth talking about their respective lives. Then, the letters accidentally get published and the whole world knows about their secrets! A fun and easy read!
What books did you read this month?
Another month, another book post! I might not have posted anything since my last book post, but at least I get this post up every month.
This was a book that I’ve had on my shelf for a few months but didn’t get around to reading it until now. I’ve read quite a few Picoult books, but I think this one might be my favorite that I’ve read so far. This book had 3 different story lines going at the same time – the story that’s happening in the present, her grandmother re-living her life in a Nazi concentration camp, and a fiction story that her grandmother wrote. I love reading fiction from World War 2 and this story was told so beautifully!
This book has been on my “To be read” list for years. I never read it in school, but I always hear that it was one of the good ones that people had to read in high school. This month’s theme for the Buzzfeed book club was dystopian novels. Basically my favorite genre. This was the book I picked first to read since I had read so many of the other dystopian books that were suggested. It was just okay. it is kind of a cool concept for a dystopian story, but I just really didn’t end up loving this book.
This dystopian book, on the other hand, I loved! If you like video games at all, I feel like you have to read this book! Most of the story takes place in an immersive video game. Video games are not my thing at all, but I thought this story was awesome. it had it all- a dystopian society, romance, friendship, and so many other great things. Highly recommend!
I read Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children a few years ago, before this second book had come out. I liked that book, but I think I liked this second one even better! It was a pretty fast paced story. This was a book that I listened to on the way to work, and it’s a story that is great for listening to!
This book was meh at best. It’s written by the mom in Gilmore Girls and it’s actually been on my TBR list for years. It’s just a typical chick-lit book, which I usually like, but this one just seemed a little too dated for me to relate to. I mean, she carried her filofax around with her. What even is that? Not a fabulous book.
And those are the books that I read this month! What did you read this month?
This month, I got quite a lot of reading done! As the month ended it finally started to get warm and I love reading outside on my porch.
Buzzfeed’s Pageturner book club’s theme this month was “memoirs.” I love reading memoirs of comedians I love like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. This book is relatively new and it was awesome! Although his life wasn’t easy, they way he writes is still funny at times. Definitely recommend!
I’ve already read this book before, but I love how relaxing it is to read and what a beautiful book it is. It just makes me want to go to the English countryside and sit somewhere with a cup of tea. She does beautiful watercolor paintings in the book, as well as writes the words in her own handwriting.
My mom recommended this book for me to read and I was not disappointed! My friend and I always wanted to be spies growing up and we would try to secretly pass notes to each other in the halls at school. We definitely glorified what it would actually be like to be a spy.
I am obsessed with my pet snails, as you probably already know so reading a whole book about a snail is pretty much my dream come true. This book made me appreciate my snails even more, if that’s possible. If you love small creatures such as snails, you will find this book adorable!
I mostly picked this book on CD out because I liked the color of it. It’s a nice, peaceful read that makes you appreciate living in a small town like the one in the story. Not to give too much away, it’s also a bit of a love story.
I feel like I read very peaceful books this month. What did you read this month?
I woke up pretttty late this Sunday, but hey, it’s my weekend!
10:00 am (okay it was really more like 11:00) – Breakfast
For breakfast I made some delicious cinnamon rolls. These are the kind that come in the little tube and you just have to separate, bake, and ice them. I also needed some fresh coffee beans ground up. I usually do this once a week so the beans are mostly fresh, but I don’t have to get out the grinder every day. This particular bag from Starbucks is so good!
12:00 – General Clean Up
Sundays are my cleaning days (see my blog post on that here) but since I’ve been home all week and keeping up with the chores for once, there wasn’t a whole lot of cleaning to do. I did, however, finally get around to cleaning out the snail home. It looks so much better! Mostly I just tidied up and then took a shower myself.
1:00 – Lunch
My boyfriend is obsessed with cast iron pans. Like truly obsessed. Everything he makes, he makes in it. For lunch, he made a homemade pizza in it and it turned out delicious! We just bought the dough from the grocery store so it didn’t take much time at all to make.
2:00 – Laze around
For most of the rest of the day I just laid around reading and watching tv. I also took some adorable photos of my dog (see above).
My boyfriend and I also re-potted some house plants that have been growing!
And that’s pretty much my exciting day! What did you do this weekend?
Considering what a long month March is, I really didn’t read as many books as I wanted to. Oh well, there’s always April!
“The Shining” is one of my favorite movies of all time so I was excited to FINALLY read the book. It was different from the movie, but not extremely different as I thought it was going to be. Obviously, this is a scary book at times so I wouldn’t recommend reading it at night along. Just some advice.
For March, the Buzzfeed bookclub theme was to read immigrant fiction. I’ll admit, I was not too excited by the theme this month, but I ended up loving this book! I literally just googled “good immigrant fiction” and this was one of the first books that popped up. I guess other people must like it as well!
This was a book that I listened to on my ride to work and home. I love Chelsea Handler’s other books and this was no exception! Each chapter was written by one of her friends and they were also the ones to read the story for the audiobook. Very funny!
Another audiobook that I listened to in the car. I love Sophie Kinsella and her chick-lit stories. If that seems like your type of book I would recommend checking out all of her books!
What did you read in March?
I love watching other people’s vlogs. There’s just something about seeing what other people do in their day-to-day lives that intrigues me. With that being said, I’m trying to get into vlogging more (or at least doing more “My Day” type blog posts). This post and video was a way to get my toes wet. I filmed it while no one else was around and I only did it for a short amount of time. Still, I did it! Hopefully there will be more to come!
In the video, I am making dinner which I mention is a blog post already. You can find my sausage and veggies recipe here.
If you’d like to see what I get up to in the evenings after work, check out my video here!
What does your evening routine look like?
Back again today with March’s kindergarten crate! Instead of a video on my YouTube channel, I thought I would just do a blog post – since my channel is lifestyle and beauty focused. Not kid focused. Anyway, here it is!
I’ll start with the obvious…I love that there is something Pete the Cat themed!! My kids are just starting to get into word families too so it’s perfect timing! The activity for the month is also related to word families and CVC words. It’s based off the book “Splat the Cat.” There were also some Dr. Seuss stickies, number word dice, pointers, googlie eyes for reading, and some sea salt caramel popcorn!
I already have plans for the number word dice, stickies, and pointers so I’m excited to bring this box into school!
If you want to check out Kindergarten Crate for yourself, you can find it here!
