So Many Books, So Little Time

 Hey!  It's been a ridiculous summer and I haven't been around much.  Since I've been kind of MIA lately, I thought I should update y'all on where I've been. We celebrated Julia's birthday at the end of June.  She was so excited to turn 4! We celebrated with family and then had a small party with her friends.  This year I made her a Moana cake and am pretty happy with how it turned out. Right after Julia's birthday party, we had to drive down to Arkansas to see my family.  My step-dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December and had been going through chemo and had multiple surgeries and procedures.  They told us on June 29 that the cancer was everywhere and that he did have much longer to live.  He passed on July 5 but I'm so glad that we got to see him, talk to him and say good-bye.  It was so fast and difficult to process for a bit. We had a lovely memorial to him a week later and while I miss him a lot, I'm really glad ...

So I have to be honest, we completely bombed the reintroduction period.  I really don't want to post about my epic fail but I figure it's best to be honest.  We started reintroducing legumes and it went okay though they gave me a stomachache and I thought the peanut butter was bland.  Then we went on to non-gluten grains and that's where things went wrong.  We went to Chipotle for dinner that night and were able to add in rice and tortilla chips. Bad move.  I think tortilla chips are a gateway drug for me.  I ate so many chips and then I couldn't stop craving ice cream...so we went to Dairy Queen.  And then it was all down hill from there.  I'm bummed about this up because now I don't have a good handle on what upsets my stomach.  My husband has been having a really hard time since we've stopped doing Whole30 a hundred percent of the time and it would be nice to know what his problem foods are (we think gluten but we can't be sure)....

That's a wrap folks! I survived week 4!  It was spring break so I was home most of the time and it was a challenge not to want to eat my way through the week.  We also started house hunting so that created challenges with late dinners and such.  I was glad that I had done some meal prep or we would have been in a real bind.  This past Monday, the hubs and I finished our first Whole30.  I'm so incredibly glad I did it.  It was difficult at times but so worth it.  I ended up losing a total of 11.2 pounds and I feel great.  My clothes fit better, I feel more awake and I'm not dealing with constant bloat which is awesome. Now that it's over, I'm a little apprehensive.  I started the 10 day reintroduction plan just so I know how things like dairy and gluten affect me but overall, I plan to stick with eating Whole30 most of the time.  (I'll post more about the reintro next week when I'm done).  I liked that I didn't constantly feel...

Just finished week 3 of the Whole30!  I can't believe I only half one week left.  I'm really looking forward to being done but I'm also super nervous about it. The Good: I know you aren't supposed to weigh yourself but I have been doing it anyway.  I've lost 8 pounds!  My clothes fit so much better and I have so much less bloating.  Yesterday I wore an outfit that had been snug for a while and it was nice to be comfortable in it and not feel like a stuffed sausage!  Also, I found a Lara bar that doesn't taste like dirt.  Score!  (Coconut Cream Pie - winner winner,chicken dinner!) The Bad: There was a ton of temptation at work this week. My office had a pie day celebration on March 14 and there was a going away potluck for a colleague.  There was so much yummy food that I had to ignore.  It wasn't as hard to say no to it but it still sucked to have to eat my healthy apple instead of big piece of pie. The Ugly: I'm very nerv...

Today is day 15 so when I go to bed tonight, I will be half way done with the Whole 30! So in week 1, I felt really good.  Week 2, not so much.  Week 2 was really hard and I'm not sure why.  The calendar I have does say that days 9-11 are the worst and I would agree.  I just felt sluggish all week and had some mild stomach issues.  Also, the recipes I picked for the week didn't turn out as good as I expected.  There were some winners but some duds too.  It's bad enough not being able to have a cookie but then eating bad food just makes it worse. That being said, I felt better by Saturday and the scale is still saying nice things to me.  My clothes seem to fit a bit better and I really love that I don't have a constant bloated feeling.  I know you're not supposed to weigh yourself for the entire 30 days but I really need the motivation that the scale provides to keep me going.  Also, this week I started to not need to snack so much...

I really want to start posting on this blog more.  I promise to keep it mostly about books but I want to include some posts about what's happening in my life too. Last Sunday, I started the Whole30 program and have am now on my 8th day of following the program.  If you haven't heard of it yet, you basically give up dairy, gluten, legumes, sugar, alcohol and processed foods for 30 days.  There are a lot of reasons that I've been wanting to do this program but I would be lying if I wasn't hoping to lose some pounds along the way.  The main reason I'm doing this is because my diet is terrible!  Even when 'dieting' I mostly just eat low calorie processed foods and very few (if any) fruits and veggies.  I'm hoping this will give me a kick in the pants to start eating better food. How was the first week? Not nearly as bad as I thought.  I did have a headache for the first couple of days but otherwise, I've felt fine.  I feel a ton less bloated an...

I know it isn't book related but I have to post about it anyway.  We celebrated my sweet baby Julia's 3rd birthday last week and it was so much fun.  I can't believe that she is three already, time has flown by! Over the weekend, we had a huge family party; it was really hot so we had all kinds of water fun for the kids and they had a blast.  Her actual birthday was last Tuesday and we had a nice quiet family evening with her. I know soon she's going to be too old for birthday shirts but I couldn't stop myself from getting her one this year.  I found this glittery iron on 'three' on Etsy and it turned out so cute. We did kind of a sprinkle theme for her party because it was nice and simple so I decided to make her a sprinkle cake.  It was super easy!  I used a tutorial I found on pinterest and basically just rolled the frosted cake in the sprinkles. I had sprinkles all over my kitchen but the cake was a huge hit. For her big gift we got her t...

Sorry for so many non-bookish posts but I have to talk about my sweet Julia's birthday.  She turned two on June 28!!! I can't believe she's two already!  Julia loves the movie Frozen so her birthday party was Frozen themed. I made her Anna and Elsa cakes and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.  I don't love Elsa (I had lots of problems with her) but I think Anna turned out pretty good! I also ordered some really cool Frozen themed cookies from a local bakery.  They turned out great!! We had about 10-15 kids under the age of five so I had to come up with some fun activities for them.  We had a water table and some other outside toys and I made 'snow' and homemade sidewalk paint.  They were a HUGE hit.  The kids had such a blast.  The snow was messy to make but the kids loved it!  I don't have any pictures that I can post but here is a link to the recipe I used.  I wasn't a huge fan of the sidew...

One of the reasons I have been MIA lately is because I was busy getting ready to make a wedding cake for a friend's wedding.  It was a long, stressful process that I'm so glad is over.  Almost every month in May was devoted to prepping for it and I'd been testing cake and frosting recipes for 6-8  months prior.   I baked all the cakes the weekend before the wedding and froze them.  I baked every day for four days (it was Memorial Day weekend).  I had no idea how long it would take to bake all the layers and I baked extras just in case. Baking Day The wedding cake was three layers and square.  There was a 6", 10" and 14" layer.  Square cakes suck.  I don't ever want to do one again. When I signed up for this gig, the original plan was for a round cake but the changed their minds. Practice layer I made the weekend before the wedding. I took the day off before the wedding because I wanted to get most everything done t...

I know I have been MIA lately and probably will be for a little while longer.  Not only have I been buried at work but there has also been a ridiculous amount of drama going on in my office.  I believe that it has all been resolved but I'm still coming down from it.  There were also several weeks where Julia would not go to sleep so there has just been no time to post. I have most of next week off for Spring Break and plan to use that time to decompress.  I promise I will be back soon, I just need to feel like things are 'normal' again.  I am participating in several blog tours in early April and have some other posts coming up at the end of March.  Thank you for your patience!

 I've been a little MIA lately and I thought I would let you know why, I FINALLY had my baby!! She was 5 days late so I was pretty excited when I finally went into labor. This was taken the day before my water broke.  I was pretty uncomfortable!! I won't bore you with all the gory details but I was reading A Feast for Crows and had just gotten to a really good part when my water broke!  After about 20-21 hours of active labor, she finally arrived!   Julia Elise was born on 6/28/13 at 6:05 pm and weighed 8 lbs, 4 oz and measured 21 in long.  She is such a great baby!  I am still trying to adjust to her schedule (or lack thereof) but things are going pretty well.    Doing a little tummy time yesterday! I have been trying to get some reading done (the nook app on my phone is my new bff) and will continue to keep the blog up, things just may be slower around here for a while.  I am participating in a couple...

Guess what? I got a new blog design!  My two year blogoversary is coming up and I have been thinking about making some changes because my design was just not working for me anymore.  Thanks to Lori at Imagination Designs , I have an awesome new look for my blog!  If your thinking about a new design for your blog you should check out her site.  She is running a special on her premade sites (see here ).  I submitted my order for the premade site last night and by 9 am this morning, my new design was up and loaded.  It was so easy! Anyway, enough of my rambling. What do you think of the new look?

Hi All!  As you may have noticed, I have been kind of MIA lately.  I have been kind of a reading/blogging rut for a while which hasn't helped but the main cause has been the awesomeness that is first trimester.  That's right, the hubs and I are expecting a little bookworm in June!  We are super excited but I had no idea how badly first tri would affect my reading.  I had no desire to even look at a book!  That has now passed and I am ready to jump back in!  I won't be signing up for any challenges next year because I really just want the freedom to read what I want.  I put a lot of pressure on myself when I sign up for reading challenges and I just don't want to deal with that next year.  I am going to try to be around more (I have a ton of review books to read!) but I may be in and out at times depending on what's going on in my life. Thanks for sticking around even though things have been slow!  I have some fantastic...

I did it!  I can't believe it but I managed to complete a Half Marathon and I didn't do too bad.  2:04:20 was my chip time and 2:05:28 was my gun time which averages out at 9.5 ish minutes per mile (I was so glad to get across the finish line that I didn't pay that close attention).  My goal was to stay under 2:10 so I am pretty okay with how I did.  I wish I could have done better but I really hit a wall between mile 11 and 12 and was just ready to be done.  I was so nervous before the race; I was worried I was going to get there and throw up because I was nervous.  It was chilly morning and a lot windier than I expected but I was glad that I still wore shorts and a t-shirt because there were spots where it was pretty warm.  The wind sucked (!) especially on the last big hill we were running and on the last mile.  I hate running into the wind.  Otherwise the course wasn't bad and I have run most of it at various times since I have liv...

I know I have been gone for a few days (and probably will be for a few more) so I just wanted to give you a heads up.  Work has been insane and I have barely had time to breath so I am behind on reading and reviews.  I hope to have something up in by the end of the week.

Oh my goodness....I am so sick of thinking about running shoes.  I have been having problems with my feet from running lately (after 6-8 miles, the balls of my feet start to feel not so hot) and decided to buy new running shoes a few weeks back.   They were supposed to be top of the line and they were really expensive so I figured they would be okay.  I ran 3 miles in them and then 6 miles, noticing that they didn't have enough arch support but my feet didn't hurt any more or less than normal.  Then I tried 10 miles in the fancy shoes....holy mother, what a mistake!  I was almost in tears throughout the whole run and halfway through I almost had to call the hubs to come get me.  I made the full 10 miles but went back to my old shoes and luckily was able to return the sucky fancy shoes. I rested my feet a few days thinking 'hey, maybe I'm overtraining' and then went back to my oldies.  The old shoes were fine but my feet still hurt...

Last night was insane!! KU beat Ohio State to make it to the NCAA title game and town erupted!  We live pretty close to the heart of town so the hubs and I put on our walking shoes and headed downtown to celebrate. This is the view behind us as we headed up the road. About 7 blocks were closed off so people had to head in on foot. There was a sea of people and it took a lot of pushing to get through but this is what the main drag looked like for several blocks.  People were dancing in the street, playing drums, waving flags, hollering, etc.  It was really cool! Another picture of people in the streets.  The atmosphere was completely electric and there were a ton of drunk people downtown.  If we manage to win the National title town will be even crazier than last night!

Sooo, I finally broke down and got a Twitter account.  I am still not really sure how it works but I am mainly going to try to use it for the blog.  Any tips or tricks I should know?

I am super excited for 2012!  2011 was kind of a sucky year so I am looking forward to good things this year.  I have lots of goals for the blog and for books I plan to read.  I also have some personal goals for the year that I hope I will be able to achieve. Goals for the Blog: - Comment more -I get lazy and don't always comment on reviews I read nor do I usually reply to comments on my blog.  I feel really bad about this and want to try to comment more. - Work on layout - Technical Stuff -I really need to figure out how to create a button!  I also need to get some working knowledge of html and need to learn how reconfigure things so that when GFC goes away there won't be too many issues. - Better Reviews -As I said on Friday, my reviews have been pretty crappy lately.  I plan to work on that this year. - Hosting a giveaway -I have great followers and I really want to host a giveaway to show my appreciation. - Get more comfortable with s...

The past week has been super busy with the holidays and what not so I thought I would share some pictures of what I have been up to.  We had a great Christmas and Turbo had a lot of fun with all of his new toys!  Dec. 26 was Turbo's 1st birthday and since 5 of his 9 siblings are owned by friends of ours, we decided to have a puppy party.  I made 'pupcakes' and we took the dogs out to the country so they could run around.  Turbo loved his treat, he practically swalowed it whole! Hope you all are having a great week!!