Top 5 books of 2013, so far....

Hello there!  Hope you're having a great day!
Since we're about halfway through the year, and I have already read 30 books (cray, I know), I thought I would list my top 5 books so far.  That way at the end of the year I can see if I still feel that way.  Genius, I know....LOL
Just to clarify, these are just books that I read this year.  They may have actually come out this year or a few years ago. 

5.  Out of My Mind   Sharon Draper

This is the story of a young girl who is limited by her physical disabilities and is written off as unable to learn, until she is given a speech device that proves that she is not mentally disabled at all.  This book is so heart wrenching because you are pulling for Melody to show everyone how intelligent she is and you want her to be heard.  Quite an eye opening book about people with disabilities.

4.  The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes   Diane Chamberlain

 

This book is about a woman who gets swept up into a crazy situation that leaves her raising a child that is not her own.  The woman changes her identity in an attempt to run from the truth of what happened to the child's mother and her part in it.

3.  Thirteen Reasons Why    Jay Asher

This book has a really interesting format, because it tells the story of why a young girl committed suicide, but it is told mostly in flashbacks, which are prompted by cassette tapes the girl made before she killed herself.  She sends the tapes to the people that she believes were involved in the situation leading up to her suicide, but the boy who is relating them to us doesn't understand his role.  It was interesting to see how unfold.

2.  The 5th Wave   Rick Yancey


This book was first "alien encounter" book.  I've never really been into the Sci-fi genre, but I heard such great things about this book, I decided to give it a go.  And I was not disappointed.  This book is about an alien invasion that takes out the majority of humanity.  We follow Cassie as she tries to survive and save her younger brother.  

And my number one book...

1.  Amy and Roger's Epic Detour     Morgan Matson

This book is amazing!  It is a great road trip story with a dash of past tragedy and romance.  Since it's a road trip, the character Roger creates a playlist of songs for each leg of the drive.  I thought this was so cool and then I checked Spotify just to see, and someone had actually recreated it.  It was so cool to read the book and listen to the music as I read along.

So that's it!  My top 5 so far this year.  What are you reading? And what have been your faves so far this year?

Birthday/Disney

Hello!  Happy Friday!
So I hate to sound like a broken record, but with our return trip to Disney this year, this summer is once again, (just about) all about getting ready for the trip and getting excited.  And also, every summer is special for us now, since we have a very special lady to celebrate!

Therefore, I present more talk about Maggie's 3rd birthday and DISNEY!!!!  LOL

So as I said on Wednesday we are doing a bunch of things for Mag's birthday, but we don't have super definite party plans and no real theme.  And honestly, I would be hard pressed to pick one thing that my girl is crazy about, because honestly, she gets excited about EVERYTHING.  Ever since she saw "Dumbo" she's had quite thing for elephants, and all "zoo" animals.  Then she started watching "Dinosaur Train" and that has turned into a growing interest in all things dinosaur.  She really loves the "How do Dinosaurs....?" series, I really recommend it if you have a dino fan.  And then there are the Disney princesses, who she has really gotten more interested in this year.  We will surely be meeting them this year!

I debated for awhile about what type of outfit I wanted for her birthday.  I decided that even though the birthday parties aren't solidified, I could get her something special to wear for her day.  This is something that I have done every year so far, and this is a tradition that I would like to continue for as long as she lets me....LOL

1st Birthday

2nd birthday

Like I said, I debated what to do this year....She likes the Disney princesses, but she already did the super girly, tutu getup her first year.  Elephants are cute, but she already has a couple elephant shirts.  With those eliminated, Dinosaurs it is!  I found a really cute shop on Etsy, and I love how her birthday shirt turned out!

Shirt from: Bowadacious Baby

To complete the outfit I'm thinking a cute skirt or some ruffle shorts.  I have a few options coming in the mail from Children's Place.  But man, did I struggle to find something that I liked!  I looked in all my normal stores that I love, Carter's, Old Navy, Kohl's and completely struck out.  Children's place actually had a few things, so we shall see.

Soon to the Disney.  Not too much to report on that front.  We have everything booked, including restaurant reservations and stroller rentals. Today, I'm sharing what I'm planning for our countdown. 

Last year I created a calendar to countdown the days.

It was fun to make and exciting to use, but this year I'm trying something different.

This year I'm going to make a chain garland, with black, red and yellow rings. Something like this...

More info here

I think this will be a little easier for Mags to understand than a calendar, and it will be fun to rip the links off everyday.  Since we are leaving on a Thursday, I decided to make it 35 day countdown and start it next Thursday (wow, I can't believe we're going so soon!!!).  I'll post a pic as soon as I put it together!

That's it for now.  Hope you have a great weekend!!

So What Wednesday!

Today I am saying So What....

-to the fact that tomorrow is the 4th of July, and we aren't doing a blessed thing!  Normally we head over to the in-laws for a cookout or head down to the beach.  But this year, we decided to have our beach weekend last weekend, and the in-laws actually head down to the beach tonight, so they won't be in town.  And Brian has to work on Friday, so it will be just a relaxing, low key day.  No parades or fireworks either, we don't want to deal with all the hassle, so family time it is!!

 

-to the fact that Maggie's birthday is 24 days away and there are no definite birthday party plans and therefore no theme.  For the past two years, I have started planning Magster's birthday about six months out, and I was all about the theme.  The 1st birthday was cupcake/princess.  The 2nd birthday was Mickey/Sesame Street.  This year I asked Mags what she wanted her birthday to be (hard to explain what a "theme" is) and she replied:  cake, balloons and birthday hats.  So that's what the girl's getting!!!

Next weekend we're heading down to Grammy and Poppy's for the weekend, and we're probably heading to the Baltimore Zoo, since Little Miss has quite a love for animals, especially elephants, and the Baltimore Zoo is the closest one with elephants.

Then for her actual birthday, which falls on a Saturday this year, we are heading down to Brigantine with Nana & PopPop.  Most that side of the family will be there for the weekend, and we will celebrate down there!

And with MeeMaw and PPaw, our plans are still up in the air, because Uncle Bray has a bunch of lacrosse tournaments and college visits this summer, but we'll do something maybe over labor day.

As for us, we have a few presents for Mags, but we're keeping it simple.  I took her out yesterday to a special kid's salon and she got a fun haircut in a Barbie jeep, with sparkly clips and her nails painted for the first time.

 

Then over the next two weeks, we have swim lessons every morning.  And let's not forget Disney in 43 days.... 

-to the fact that I didn't read my 100 pages for the #30dayread, yesterday, I only read 71 pages and could not stay up to read 29 more.  That's ok, because I am ahead in the challenge, and I am SUPER ahead in my yearly challenge.  I challenged myself to read 30 books this year, and as of Monday, I completed that challenge, so I've upped the challenge to 40 books.  If I keep up my current pace, I'm probably going to have to up that challenge too! 

From this past Saturday at the beach....Oh what I wouldn't give to be sitting on this porch right now.

Summer time

Hi there! So it's officially summer...

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a summer hater.  I enjoy the beach (duh), I like the warmer weather (NOT the humidity), I like the party atmosphere that accompanies it and of course, I have a summer girl for a daughter, so I have to embrace it (let's not discuss the fact that her 3rd birthday is less than a month away, I may cry).

So this year, no bucket list, but we have quite a bit on our plate.  There's the beach, community fairs, swim lessons, birthday parties for Mags...one of them AT the beach, a mini-vacay also at the beach and then Disney.

The trend there, if you didn't catch it, is...THE BEACH!  And this time last year I would have slightly cringed at all the beach time.  Not for me, but for the Magster.  This time last year, she was a staunch beach HATER.  She did not enjoy the sand and would not go anywhere near the ocean.  I have to say it broke my heart a little because I have always loved the beach and wanted to be able to share that with my children.  But I understood that some children are just sensitive to some things and basically, your child is an individual and may not like the same things you....shocking, I know.

Two weekends ago, we headed down to the beach at my mom's in OCMD.  Mags talked about walking on the sand and swimming, but I wasn't convinced that she really had any idea what she was talking about.  And then this happened....

 

Oh and then she did this.....

 

THAT my friends is official beach babe status.  We'll see if it was a one time deal as we head down to the beach this weekend.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my beach baby is here to stay!!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Oh and another thing.....

WE'RE HEADING BACK TO DISNEY IN 55 DAYS!!!!

Trust me, I am as shocked as you. Right after we got back last year, I have to admit we almost immediately started talking about when/if we would be able to go back.  We weren't sure what would happen, but after the New Year, Brian's grandmother started talking about going back in 2014.  We started looking at schedules and trying to decide which would be the best for us crowd wise and Vacation Club points-wise.  We considered January (but Brian couldn't take anymore time off), March (but the points were really high then) and finally decided that August would be our best bet again.  So it was in motion that we would heading down NEXT August.

 

Well then some family things transpired, that aren't really worth mentioning, Brian's grandmother (MomMom) got a bee in her bonnet, and a couple of Fridays ago I got a call from her at 10 am. 
"I just booked Disney for us this August." 
"Oh that's great, when are you guys going? (thinking she's referring to her and Pop)" 
"When does Brian have off between camp and school?" 
"UUUUUHHHHHHH, let me check".  I check his calendar and they work with the dates she's booked.

So it's official.  We're heading down in mid-August, staying at the Saratoga Springs Resort, and we're going to the parks for 5 days (one more day than last year).  It was all very sudden, but we couldn't be happier!  I feel so lucky and blessed! 

The countdown I started on my phone

Have a great weekend everyone!!
    

June Reading Challenge

Hello all!  Stopping in with some book news.  I've decided to attempt a reading challenge for the next thirty days.  The YouTube 30 day Reading challenge started yesterday, and the parameters are to read a BOOK a day.  Yea, that's not happening here.
Instead, I am going to challenge myself to read 100 pages a day/3,000 pages in 30 days.  I wouldn't say that I have an average page read count per day, normally.  Some days I read whole books, and other days I don't read at all.  But I almost always watch tv everyday (brain rot, I know). So the plan is to encourage me to replace some tube time with reading.

And here are the books I plan to accomplish this challenge with....

Vampire Academy   Richelle Mead (352 pages...300 pages to read)

I started this over the weekend, but I plan on finishing this up with this challenge.  And I'm not sure what page I am on, I can't figure it out on my Nook, but I think I have about 300 pages left....

Me Before You Jojo Moyes (339 pages)

Cinder  Marissa Meyers (280 pages)

Eleanor & Park   Rainbow Rowell (252 pages)

The Ocean at the End of the Lane  Neil Gaiman (143 pages)

The Selection   Kiera Cass (225 pages)

The 5th Wave  Rick Yancey (454 pages)

Catherine   April Lindner (320 pages)

Clockwork Angel  Cassandra Clare (512 pages)

The Edge of Never  J.A. Redmerski (353 pages)

So that's the plan.  It's a little over 3,000 pages, but I think I can do it....we shall see.
Anyone else want to join?  I think this will be fun!

 

Hi

Well hello there, loooooonnnnng time no talk.
So why the long absence?  Just the same old schtuff that I've been complaining about for about a year now.  Still can't find a job, feel like that's holding me back and not letting me reach my full life potential...blah, blah, blah.  Throw in a semi-resistant to potty training toddler, and you have one Mama that didn't feel like taking the time to blog.

So what brought me back?  I honestly thought that I was out of the blogging game for good, until I discovered the world of BookTube.  For those not in the know (like me about a month ago), BookTube is the universe's answer to a global sort of book club.  It's a bunch of bibliophiles who decided to share their love of books on the interwebs.  And for some reason, stumbling upon these YouTube posts rekindled my love of reading, (which was always there but hidden under a thick layer of depression and exhaustion) which has in turn sort of buoyed me a bit.  And in turn, I've decided to start blogging again.

The blog is still going to be about the fam, with a dash of book love mixed in.  Cause I don't think I have the cajones to start a BookTube (BT) channel, but I really love talking about books.  So I think I'm back and probably about once a week I'm going to pop in with what I'm reading, sharing some BT love and the like.

And if you're curious to see how rekindled my love of reading has gotten check out my Goodreads.  In January I set a goal of reading 30 books and as of today I have read 23...12 of those were just since May...

Gracias Mucho, BookTube!!   

And don't worry Maggie's doing great....






We're heading out to the beach this weekend, so I hope this finds you well and that you have a great weekend!!