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Linking up with Steph and Jana to talk about books today! I only have three to link up today. I had three books come in from the library at once, had to send two of them back because I knew I couldn’t get to them. It took me awhile to get through Crawdad. I looked at my Goodreads progress for the year, and I am thirteen books behind. I better get serious, right???

One Day in December by Josie Silver

I have been on the wait list for this one since last December. Totally worth it! I absolutely loved this one and thought it was so cute. I felt like the story had a lot of realistic aspects to it, the course of the relationships, the what ifs, missed opportunities, emotions, everything. My only complaint is that Oscar seemed a little underdeveloped compared to the rest of the characters in the book.

Bottom Line: Read it! It was a well written book.

Columbine by Dave Cullen

Columbine happened when I was in high school. It was the biggest event that I can remember following up to that time, besides OJ Simpson. The fear became real when there was a bomb threat and hit list going around my school shortly after. I just remember thinking, how can people my own age do this??? It was really interesting, heartbreaking, painful, etc. to hear the story unfold from this author. He goes through all the myths and things that were accepted as fact, and how the media handled this in a new age of cell phones and such. How different law enforcement agencies handled everything. It was hard to read at times due to the nature, but that should be a given.

Bottom Line: Definitely worth the read.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

This one started out just slow for me, but then I finally got into it. This is one of those books that is really hyped up, and I get all the hype now. It was a beautifully written book, and I felt the way the author combined the time lines together was perfect. I felt sad and lonely reading it, it is heartbreaking. But there was also beauty and kindness in the book. I liked all the poetry, the vivid descriptions, etc. And then the end!!!!

Bottom Line: Read it! Hang in there through the first half, it gets better!

Currently Reading

Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane

Long weekends are just the best! I feel like mine was extra long since I worked from home Friday. It started out as an expensive weekend, having to get my front rotors replaced Friday morning. Sitting in traffic too much has warped them. I am just thankful I work somewhere that lets me work from home so things like this can be taken care of, stress free! I also got to sit outside at Starbucks and enjoy the amazing weather. I never get to do that!

Saturday was the first game day of the season!!! Laura and her crew came over, we had all the football snacks, ordered delicious burgers from Landmark, and did some crafts with the kiddos while watching all the SEC games. It was so much fun! Zoe wasn’t a fan of watching her friend leave at the end of the day. We will just have to get them together more often.

Sunday, Zoe and I hit up Target early for some grocery shopping. The rest of the day we spent hanging around the house. We watched Secret Life of Pets 2, and played outside for a good while that evening. It actually felt pretty amazing in the shade after 5pm!!!

On Monday, we took Zoe to the Birmingham Zoo. She kept asking when we were going to be at the beach on the way there, so I got worried she would be disappointed. It took us a few minutes to get to an actual exhibit, but the first one we came to was the elephants. Girlfriend is a huge fan of elephants and she was totally mesmerized by them. If you ask what her favorite thing about the zoo is, she will tell you the elephants. Followed by the train, merry-go-round and rhinos. She has already asked multiple times to go back, and she is carrying around her giraffe and elephant from the gift shop everywhere and will tell anyone who will listen all about what she learned about them at the zoo.

After all that walking around at the zoo, we headed over to Twisted Root for some delicious burgers and fries!

I don’t know about you guys, but I need more three day weekends in my life!!!

You guys, this post has been in draft for a week now and I keep meaning to finish it, but life. You know? Anyways. With the three day weekend coming up, I am going to try to get my life together and get a few posts scheduled for next week, clean and organize around the house, and most importantly….watch a little football!!!!!! After my workout this morning, I looked at our weather station screen and it said it was 58 degrees, feels like 59. I totally had to go outside and see what 59 felt like. It has been forever. Man, did it feel goooooood!!!!! I know it is fake fall. I know for a fact it will be 90 again tomorrow. But let me have this.

It has been awhile since I shared some Amazon favorites. I love seeing what everyone else is getting. Sometimes it is overwhelming looking on that site, because you can find anything you want. I often go down rabbit holes and forget why I originally even opened the app!

Lodge Scraper – These things are genius!!! I am not sure why there isn’t an article about these in every home magazine ever. You know all that hard shit that sticks to the pan? Gone instantly!!! What about that random spot on the counter that you scrub and scrub and still there? Gone!!!! Sticky stuff on the floor? Bye bye! For $3 for a two pack, you cannot go wrong. I use one color for my pots and dishes, and one for other house areas to keep it sanitary.

Leap Frog Fridge Phonics – Biana posted this recently, and I ordered it immediately. We have been working on letters with Zoe. She has been able to spell her first name for quite a few months, but we need to work on the rest! She LOVES this so much! It keeps her busy when I am in the kitchen trying to throw dinner together. It even sings Wheels on the Bus, which is one of her favorite songs.

Mellanni Bed Sheets – Best deal ever. An entire set of sheets with pillowcases for a king size bed that actually feel amazing for $30??? Who knew?? I have had these for a month. They have been through the wash a few times, and we are quite enjoying them. I ordered the navy, but they have a million colors. I plan to order a second set for back up.

Leopard Watch Band – This is my absolute favorite watch band!!! It goes with so many things, I mean, leopard is a neutral after all. This is under $10 and a definite must have!

Air Pump – We have a lot of blow up things. Pool floats, lawn toys, beach balls, ball pit, etc. This works great and gets the job done a lot faster than physically blowing things up!! Who wants to put their mouth on that anyways??

Tea Tree Oil Foot Soak – I have been trying and failing to keep up with my feet this summer. They always get so dry, cracked, etc. On top of that, I am still dealing with plantar fasciitis off and on. It’s a real bitch. I like this foot soak because it has tee tree oil in it and the bag has lasted a good while. I think Steph originally recommended it.

Foot Soak Tub – To go with the soak, I grabbed this tub. I keep the soak and all my pedicure tools inside it in our linen closet. It is super easy to just rinse out when done. I like how deep it is.

What have you got from Amazon lately that you love?

Don’t you love when your birthday falls on a weekend?! My birthday celebrations started earlier in the week, when I received this sweet package from Andrea! She goes all out on the packaging, so cute. I have already put that beautiful mug to use!

Friday after work, we met up with Chris’s parents at Crazy Horse for some delicious steaks to kick off the weekend.

On Saturday (my actual birthday) my sister took Zoe for some fun at her house so that Chris and I could have a day date. We started out the day with some shopping at The Summit, followed by lunch at The Ridge. I got the Jamn Gouda Burger and OMG!!!! One of the best burgers I have had, ever! We also shared some sweet potato chips with blue cheese bacon dip. YUM! We will definitely be back there again!!!

After that, we headed to Woolworth for some frozen mules and bowling! We always have so much fun when we go there. We ended up with a tie score, and there was a 40 minute wait to play again, so I guess we will have to have our tie breaker another time.

To finish off our day, we went to Cookie Dough Magic where I got a triple mini scoop with birthday cake, peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie dough! SO GOOD!

That evening we hung out with Zoe, and just like that, my birthday had come and gone! Chris spoiled me with an apple watch 4 upgrade and a laptop bag and case from Michael Kors. My sister took Zoe shopping and let her pick out things to get me for my birthday. Zoe chose a mug, hair ties and some chocolate. The chocolate might have been self serving motivated, but still, does my girl know me or what??

36. Hopefully it will be a great year!

I started this post a few weeks ago, like I usually do, but it seems to be lost. Oh boy, let ‘s see what I can remember! Also, I know I read one more book than this, and for the life of me, I cannot remember!!! So clearly that one isn’t even worth mentioning. Linking up with Steph and Jana!

The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo

This was a beautiful love story. It was. It kept me interested the whole time and I wanted to see where things were going. I loved how the view is from the main character telling the story from the past. There was one thing that bothered me about Lucy though. She kept trying to sabotage her own happiness it seemed. I want to say a few other things that really bothered me about her, but I don’t want to give anything in the book away. Message me if you have read it!

Bottom Line: This was a beautiful love story, that will keep you interested the whole time.

Eversea by Natasha Boyd

When I started this book, I didn’t know that it was the first in a series. I am a little irritated with that, because the ending is sort of on a cliffhanger that I wasn’t expecting. That is my fault. I actually enjoyed the story itself though. It is about a star that fell on hard times and escapes to this little town where our lead female lives. They meet and he wants her to keep it a secret that he is there. What I don’t like is how rude Keri Ann is to him in the beginning for no reason other than he is a celebrity and she assumes she knows his type. The characters themselves are a little more under-developed than what I like in a book. But the story was so interesting and it had me wanting more. So I will have to get the next one to see what happens.

Bottom Line: I am only one book into this series, but I am definitely wanting the next to see where it goes!

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

I cant really review this book fairly, as my borrow from the library expired before I could finish. (A theme this month.) It took me a long time to get in to this book, but when I did…OMG!!! But then I realized it was going to expire and I had to skip to the end so I could hear what happened. I think some of the first half of the book could totally go away. It took too long to get to the good stuff! I am not entirely certain about all the ending things, so if you could clue me in on it….please do.

Bottom Line: Again, I cant rate this fairly. I really love Moriarty, but her last two books have left some to be desired for me. I enjoyed this a lot more than Truly Madly Guilty, I will say that. But I felt like some of the book could have been cut, because it dragged a little. And then I didn’t get to finish all of the ending, so I cant even be sure what happened. But still, it had my attention there once it started getting good!

It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way by Lisa Terkeurst

Full disclosure, I only got about 60% through this one before it was due back to the library. I hate when I get like three books at once. I know that there is no way that I can finish all of them in 14 days. But of the part I did read, I can say that this was a wonderful book about all the bad things that happen in your life that leave you questioning why. When you are down on your faith and out of fumes and don’t know how to push on. The author was raw and candid about sharing some her struggles in life, and how she got through them.

Bottom Line: I feel that this book is a great reminder of remaining hopeful through hard times, and remembering that everything is just a season. That you are not given more than you can handle. This is an excellent book for anyone that is going through anything. Or for those that have loved ones that are going through things. It is a Christian book. For some, that may not be your thing. I really liked the writing and how raw and honest the author was.

Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis

I think I liked this one a little better than Girl, Wash Your Face. It is basically about the lies and excuses we tell ourselves on why we aren’t pursuing our dreams and how to overcome those. I don’t really know much about the author outside of the two books I have read from her, I never knew of her before seeing her book on link ups. I find that I enjoy her writing and find her very motivational. Some of her advice is sort of obvious, like things I should know. But sometimes you need that reminder. You need to hear someone else telling you it.

Bottom line: I definitely think it is worth the read.

Currently Reading

One Day in December by Josie Silver

I have had this one hold since December. It better be epic. What are you reading??