Author: themaritimereader

5 on Friday

Happy Friday!!!

I decided to post in bullet point/list form today with a few favourites for Friday. We are taking the girls camping for the first time this weekend tomorrow night – and SO excited! We’re going with some friends to a very kid-friendly campground, so I think it will be fun. I haven’t slept in a tent myself since before they were born, so I’m looking forward to it! Reading Lisa’s post earlier this week helped me realize that I’m going to have to be a bit more relaxed when camping than I usually am – but I’m hoping the wine and the outdoors help with that! haha.
I’m also planning to spend some time tonight and tomorrow cleaning up around the house (fun, right?) after a VERY busy past few weeks!!
1) My 5 favourite books so far this year:
A Man Called Ove by Frederick Backman (this was an amazing audiobook)
Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (I still feel like crying every time I think of this book)
Glass Houses by Louise Penny (released at the end of August, absloutely one of the best in the series and #13)
I have a post coming next week with a few analytic details about my reading life so far in 2017 – I decided to do up the stats for the first 6 months and then look at the latter 6 months of 2017 in September. That being said, I highly recommend any of the books listed above. They all blew me away.
2) 5 things I’ve eaten lately and loved:
  • Broccoli stem salad: a delicious way to eat the neglected part of the broccoli
  • Inside-out egg rolls
  • Homemade greek yogurt (post also coming next week) with strawberries, hemp hearts, and walnuts <– I’ve had this for breakfast every day this week
  • Zoodles with pasta sauce, chicken, parmesan, and mozzarella cheese
  • Bacon-wrapped eggs: We love these for breakfast but I cook them a bit longer because I don’t like my eggs runny (I also add a bit of grated parmesan on top) GREAT to make ahead of time.
3) 5 posts of interest around the web:
4) 5 funny things:
5) 5 books I plan to finish this month:
North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell (Erin’s challenge – audiobook)
The Sisters Chase  by Sarah Healy
What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum (I loved Tell Me Three Things so I am hoping this one is just as good)
The Good Widow by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!! Linking up with Christina and Amanda today. 

What I’ve Been Reading Lately

Time to chat about books…YAY!!!

This was a busy month and I had a few books that I didn’t finish. I also had that problem of 20 library books coming in on the same day so I had to return a few either unread or partially read. Oh well!! Linking up today with Steph and Jana to chat all things books!!!

Here are the books I absolutely loved this month:

Glass Houses (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #13)Glass Houses by Louise Penny
My rating: A MILLION out of 5 stars

Anyone who has talked to me in the past year and a half knows how much I love this series, so I had high hopes for this book and it exceeded my expectations. Like many others, I feel that this series is best read in order and I feel that the books improve quite a bit as they go along. In fact, some of my favourites of the series so far were The Nature of the Beast and A Great Reckoning. Glass Houses took the series in yet another direction and it was amazingly well done. Beloved characters faced some tough decisions in this book and it was so intriguing to read.

The way that Louise Penny was able to connect various plots and storylines in this book was impeccable and I couldn’t believe it when I got to the end and figured it all out. I am also hopeful for the next book (already – and this one hasn’t even been released yet! haha!) and concerned for some of the uncertainty at the end of this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy of this absolutely phenomenal book.

MaudMaud by Melanie J. Fishbane
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fishbane did something wonderful in this book; it is a fictional account with a lot of true history about L. M. Montgomery’s adolescence. She wrote it almost as an Anne of Green Gables type story, and it was so fun. I knew next to nothing about her family life and upbringing and definitely did not know that she spent part of her youth out in Prince Albert. This partially biographical fictional novel was fascinating, fun, and enjoyable. I would highly recommend it if you are a fan of the author or interested in her life. Many of the characters were actual people in L. M. Montgomery’s childhood and inspired some of her beloved characters in Anne of Green Gables & Emily of New Moon etc.

A Man Called OveA Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It seems like a lot of people either absolutely loved this book or couldn’t finish it. I can see both sides of that, but I loved it. The audio was especially fantastic – I’m not sure if I would have enjoyed it as much in print. The narrator was wonderful. It was so funny at times, so heartbreaking at times, and absolutely moving. I already knew I adored Backman’s writing (thank you, Beartown), but now I know I need to read all of his books. In this one, all of the supporting characters were fun and I can definitely appreciate Ove’s views on life: simple and profound at the same time. I can’t recommend this book highly enough. If you try it and can’t get into it, do the audiobook for sure!!

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn HugoThe Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

I was anticipating this book for months and though it was quite different from some of her others, I was not even a little bit disappointed. I finished it in about a day and loved every word of it. Evelyn Hugo’s character and life story were so fascinating and also felt so emotionally charged. I was completely immersed in the entire story. This was the perfect summer read with substance. Her writing blows me away.

And a few other books that were solid:

I Found YouI Found You by Lisa Jewell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book definitely kept me guessing and it was a solid page-turner. It wasn’t the best I’ve ever read, and parts of it were extremely sad, but it was a quick and enjoyable read.

The Dry (Aaron Falk, #1)The Dry by Jane Harper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book definitely held my interest with the dual mysteries going on. It kind of reminded me of Into the Water but that’s probably just because I just read that one (and there were a few sort of similarities)…it was pretty suspenseful and I finished it quickly because I was anxious to see the story unfold.
This book also made me sort of appreciate the 100% humidity we’re currently experiencing.

When Dimple Met RishiWhen Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was one of the cuter YA books I’ve read in awhile. Definitely predictable at times, but the cultural aspects and general premise for the story were really fun and humorous. The characters also juxtaposed each other nicely. I liked that they were set on unique career paths and this whole book felt very modern and contemporary, so that was fun too. Plus, yum, iced coffee! 🙂

He Said/She SaidHe Said/She Said by Erin Kelly
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book wasn’t too bad. Parts of it were definitely intriguing, but a thriller shouldn’t take me over a month to finish. 😛 It wasn’t even that it was boring or anything, just that I couldn’t really figure out the point until the end. Once I got to about 60%, it picked up significantly and I finished it in a day or so. It was definitely unique and there were a few little twists (particularly near the end) that redeemed it a bit.

A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’d say this is about a 3.5 stars for me. Not that I didn’t like it – I really did quite like the characters but I found myself skimming over parts of the world-building because my brain just wasn’t in the mood for fantasy. Totally my fault because the world that is built here is pretty cool. It felt a bit more like a new adult or adult book than YA and I’m not sure if I quite like where the series is going but I will probably pick up the next book sometime later this year.

The Royal Treatment (A Crown Jewels Romance, #1)The Royal Treatment by M.J. Summers
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a fun book that I finished in a day. Cute characters, predictable, but fun. If you liked The Royal We, this is similar in some ways and a bit shorter 🙂 Kristen, you would like this!!!

Currently reading: Dark Matter (only about 10 pages in), Flowers for Algernon, North & South on audio. <– All three of these are for Erin’s book challenge 🙂

What have you been reading lately? Are you all about the thrillers this year too? It’s just such a popular genre!!!

What’s New: Summer time :)

It’s time to recap the month of June here on the blog. Linking up today with the lovely Kristen & Gretch for What’s New With You?

{bonfire on the beach}

Things have been a bit quiet here for a bit – life has been busy and we’ve been soaking up the summer!!! I have about 10 posts half drafted that I want to share soon though 🙂

In June, Brian and I enjoyed a wonderful weekend away to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. It was relaxing, quiet, and fun too. I think it was the longest we have both left the kids but they were obviously fine and spent one night with my parents and one night with Brian’s mom at our house. It was perfect. 🙂 We are thinking of doing it once a year because it was really a great chance to reconnect and recharge.

We also celebrated Brian’s birthday and Father’s Day, spent a bunch of time with my family, and work was insane for me. I didn’t get through nearly as many books as I would’ve liked and I am still feeling super overtired, but it is getting better now that things have slowed down.

The girls started soccer (Lucy’s first year playing!!). Molly plays U6 Monday and Wednesday nights and this is her first year in which parent participation isn’t called for – although we do have to be present (obviously). Lucy is in U3 and parent involvement is pretty intense, especially if you are a helicopter parent like Brian thinks I am. Oops. Haha.

Brian had to take a work trip the last week of June, which was exhausting, and he’s away again this week but coming home tonight (thank goodness). Solo parenting is not easy (not that I ever thought it was, haha).

Other than that, we’ve just been spending time outside, organizing the house, and barbecuing!! Loving the summer. July is going to be a great month – my brother is visiting from Calgary with his girlfriend, we’re having a huge party for my mom’s birthday, and we have some fun weekends planned!! Can’t wait.

What’s new with you lately?!

A few Summer Goals & Plans

Life has been BUSY lately. I’m not entirely sure why – but I know it has to do with the end of the school year, a change in our routine due to my husband’s work schedule, and preparing for him to travel a bit for work in the coming weeks. We also have summer soccer two nights a week and birthday parties and family coming to town, etc. However…we’ve had gorgeous weather, we’ve already been to the beach once (it was cold but the girls didn’t care!), and my summer reading is at an all-time high. So life is good!!!

Since our girls are at amazing ages right now (no one naps anymore so our weekends are pretty free), we have a lot of fun plans for the summer. Here are a few of our family plans/goals/ideas:

1) Go on a few weekend camping trips. We were supposed to go over the long weekend but with work travel, that got postponed a bit. We have most of the equipment though and we are so excited to give this a go this year!

2) Discover 3 new beaches. I’m not exaggerating when I say that we live 10 minutes away from the Atlantic ocean. You can see the beach from our deck. I think we went maybe (MAYBE) 5 times last summer. This summer, I want to do a few beach road trips and discover some of the additional beautiful coastline this province has to offer.

3) Tone down the competition between siblings. I re-skimmed Siblings without Rivalry a few weeks ago because the rivalry between our girls is UNBELIEVABLE. We’re talking fighting over who gets to open the front door when we get home, fighting over who washes their hands first before dinner, fighting over who gets out of the bath first, etc. etc. etc. I am continually telling them that life is *not* a race to be first. To be fair, my husband and I are both competitive people but I don’t think we really introduce that a lot into our everyday activities so I’m not sure where this is coming from but I want everyone to feel validated for doing things PERIOD and not doing it first or fastest.

4) Help the girls with their summer reading club. Our library, like many, hosts a kid’s summer reading club (they also just started hosting an ADULT reading club with prizes so of COURSE I signed up for that :D). Molly set a goal of reading 50 books this summer. We’re going to make our way through a few chapter books and audiobooks and she’ll read a lot on her own too. We have plans to do at least a few French books a week since she’s come so far in Immersion and we want to keep that up over the summer. Lucy is starting to “read” a bit on her own so I want to get her a few books to encourage that even more. I’ll share some books on our list next week!!

5) Prepare to transition to part-time work in September. I am so looking forward to what will be our new normal in September: I’ll be working 3 days a week and Lucy will be starting preschool 2 days a week. I just need to sort out a few of the logistics but the position is already all settled. So excited for some extra time with my girls.

6) Have 2 date nights with Brian. We really need to make this more of a priority and we both agreed to do so after having an amazing weekend away for our anniversary

7) Participate in the Wizarding World Book Club. Talk about Harry Potter all summer long on Twitter and Pottermore? SIGN ME UP. Today is the day it’s launching!!!

8) Go to the farmer’s market, the museum of natural history, and some summer festivals. Because there’s no reason not to! The kids love this kind of thing these days.

9) Run my next 10K race in under an hour. I used to be able to do this, but I haven’t broken an hour since having the girls. I really need to train harder this summer in order to succeed at this in September.

10) Complete 30 days of yoga. I take an amazing yoga class with my wonderful teacher every Monday September-June but she doesn’t teach at the same location in the summer months so I often let it go a bit. Not this year!!!

What are your plans for the summer? Linking up with Steph and Sara for their final seasonal goals!

Life According to Steph

Recent Reads – June 2017 Show us Your Books

I’ve been looking forward to this day for MONTHS – the release date of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo! Oh, and Show us your Books too! 😉 I can’t wait to read this book and share my thoughts on it soon. For today, I’m linking up with Steph & Jana to talk about the books I’ve read in the last month or so since the last link up. Head over to the link up here to check out some other recommendations too!!

This was another pretty decent reading month overall. Even though I got through quite a few books there were plenty of evenings that I was just WAY too tired to even crack a book open. I also had 5 books on the go at once at one time and then finally just decided to return a couple of them to the library. Reading should never be overwhelming, but I went a bit crazy requesting holds from the library when some summer reading guides came out and to plan ahead with Erin’s Book Challenge, so I had about 20 books out at once and not enough time to read them!! I’ll get to them eventually 😉

Here are some books I’ve read recently, in no order besides when I read them:

FOX (Jessica James Mysteries)FOX by Kelly Oliver
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book reminded me a bit of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series even though the characters come from a slightly different background. I definitely saw a lot of it coming, but it was still fast-paced enough to hold my interest. I didn’t realize before reading it that it is the third in a series, and I am guessing that there will be more in the series moving forward. Overall, this book passed the time nicely and added a bit of a different element to the genre. I will likely pick up the next in the series just to find out what happens to all of the characters because I felt like this one ended a bit abruptly.

Thank you to Netgalley & KAOS Press for the advanced copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

84, Charing Cross Road84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a quick but charming little book (Seriously, it’s just over 100 pages long and I read it in one sitting). It is written in letter format and it was nice to read. It took place shortly after the second world war and the bookishness of it was so charming and cute.

Toward a Secret SkyToward a Secret Sky by Heather Maclean
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

This book was a bit different than anything I’d read recently. The fantasy element of it was quite interesting and I enjoyed it. It had a pretty quick pace, and a few twists (though I definitely anticipated one of them). The setting was fun and the characters were good. It ended on what seemed like a bit of a cliffhanger or a to-be-continued arc so I will probably try to pick up its sequel someday. Also, I hate to always be pointing this out but what a GORGEOUS cover, right??? Thank you to Netgalley & Blink for the advanced copy of this in exchange for an honest review. 


The BreakdownThe Breakdown by B.A. Paris
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I think I liked this better than her debut, Behind Closed Doors which was one that I tore through in a day, so that’s saying something. This one was a bit less *terrifying* for some reason, even though the idea behind it was quite a scary one. I definitely did not anticipate what was going on for quite awhile and it was hard to know who to trust, which is what I like in a book like this. This was the first book I won through a Goodreads giveaway, which was super exciting!!! Thank you, Goodreads and St. Martin’s Press for the advanced copy of this book which comes out July 18, 2017.

Scrappy Little NobodyScrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I had high hopes for this book, and while it was definitely entertaining and fun, it wasn’t QUITE as funny as I expected. It was entertaining though, and I really enjoyed listening to a lot of her stories, particularly about awards shows and being on set and life in L.A. I also realized that she has been in a few movies I have yet to see – so I want to get on that! I also have to say that I really enjoyed the narration which was done by the author.

A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic, #2)A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oh man…this book was slow-going for awhile there, much like the first one in this series, but I got hooked partway through it and finished the rest up pretty quickly. I think one of the things that made me want to put this book down is the world-jumping. Although I do appreciate that and it is a major element to the series, I felt like sometimes I just wanted to continue to find out what happened in one world or with one character. This is likely a timing thing for me because I have enjoyed plenty of books in the past that jumped around but my attention span wasn’t great these past few weeks so it was harder to follow.
The world that is created in these books is SO good.The characters are spunky, quirky, fun, and complicated all at once. This book was a great addition to the series and I feel unbelievably happy that I waited until the 3rd book was out to begin this series because AHH cliffhanger ending. I will absolutely be starting book 3 ASAP from the library.
I also wanted to point out that I really enjoyed the new characters introduced in this book – Alucard in particular. The big event was fun. Learning more about Rhy was fun. Looking forward to the adventures that will happen in the third and final book.

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African ChildhoodBorn a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was so, so good. I loved the audiobook. There were truly so many great stories about life in South Africa and the storytelling technique in this book is phenomenal and SO interesting. Trevor Noah makes his childhood humorous even though there are quite a few sad moments or moments that give you pause as well. I would highly recommend this book if you are looking to just get a different point of view on what it might have been like to grow up in a country very different from ours in North America. I’d highly, highly recommend the audio version of this one because Trevor Noah’s narration is perfect.

Into the WaterInto the Water by Paula Hawkins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Due to the success of The Girl on the Train (which I actually enjoyed because I did NOT see any of it coming), this book had a lot of hype but I heard mixed things about it too. It sounded intriguing enough so I was still really looking forward to reading it and it did NOT disappoint me in the least. I found it to be quite intense and the pace was pretty quick too. I finished it in 2 days. It was a pretty sad story with a few triggers but I really rooted for the characters more in this book than I did for The Girl on the Train and this one had a more consistent feel overall. I definitely recommend it if this is your genre of choice (which it is for me, apparently, this year).

Currently reading: He Said/She Said (this one is good so far and I would have normally finished a book like this but I just needed a bit of a break), Glass Houses (SO happy to be back with Gamache et al and thank you SO MUCH Netgalley), and A Man Called Ove on audio. I also started a few books and returned them to the library to try out another time instead. So basically, summer socializing and soccer season and working has fried my brain for sustaining reading. I’m looking forward to some amazing books to come this month though!!

Here’s something I found online yesterday, too. What do you think?!

I think I would go with the aqua pill but the blue pill sounds so tempting too!!!

What have you been reading lately? I’d love to add it to my ever-growing TBR!!!

5 Thoughts on 5 Years of Marriage

Today marks our 5th wedding anniversary. On one hand, I feel like it has really flown by. On the other hand, a lot has happened since that day, and I feel that too. The thing that I know for sure is that I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world.

Here are a few reflections on our first 5 years as a married couple. A lot of these pertain to our own relationship with two young children. We had Molly before we were married so we don’t know any differently, but a lot of these have a slight undertone about children 🙂

1) Your relationship is yours, and yours alone. 

I know all about the saying Comparison is the thief of joy and I absolutely try to put this into practice in my own life, but I definitely fail sometimes. I have met couples over my lifetime and thought, “wow, why isn’t that me and Brian? They always seem so happy and we were just arguing on the way over here!” I’ve also spent plenty of time thinking that all happy couples go to bed at the same time every night (we often don’t) and have a date night once a week (we should try to do this more) or do everything together (this just isn’t us). When it comes down to it, we are happy doing what we’re doing. We strive to be partners in parenting. We involve each other in all of our exciting, mundane, interesting, silly moments and big life decisions. Just because one thing makes someone else happy doesn’t mean that it’s what we need to be doing. I’ve realized this a lot over the past year or so and it has improved our lives considerably (Brian is very much a “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it” kind of person).

2) Learning more about your partner’s love language, personality, and life goals can be quite eye-opening. 

I love learning about stuff like this because my background is in psychology and I enjoy self-help type books. Brian is an engineer and couldn’t care less about this stuff, but he does answer my questionnaires and I share things with him. We recently came across a house listing (even though we’re not planning to move anytime soon) that Brian told me was his DREAM HOME. Problem: It was not even CLOSE to being my dream home. This was hilarious because we are both going to have to make some compromises down the road, but it just taught me that there is something new for me to learn about my husband all the time. Even though we have very different personalities, learning a bit more about this stuff has helped us to understand each other a little bit better, and isn’t that the point?

3) Even though Brian is a top priority in my life, he may not always be the most immediate priority. 

If I ever have any news to share or need advice, Brian is the person I turn to first (my parents are a close second :P). He is absolutely the most important person in my life aside from myself (because if you don’t look out for yourself, who’s going to?!). However, on the many nights of feeding and rocking a new baby over the past 5ish years, there were other things that I needed to do. Likewise, there were times when I could have spent extra time with him after the kids went to bed but I needed alone time to recharge and relax. We spent ~40 minutes of quality time in the car everyday talking about anything under the sun, so sometimes I feel okay if we do our own thing in the evenings. However, he does need to be made a priority sometimes, obviously, and that’s what this weekend is about 🙂

4) When things get too busy, it’s important to take some time together. 

We are going away this weekend for this first time in a LONG time and I can’t wait. We need this time alone together to just relax and enjoy each other’s company during the time of day when we are not exhausted (i.e. evenings). We are blessed to have both of our parents nearby who are happy to watch our children on a regular basis so we do date nights about once a month, but it’s very easy to do date nights at home too and sometimes we just relax with a few board games and a glass of wine and that’s enough.

5) Having close friendships with other couples is wonderful. 

Growing up, my parents had quite a few wonderful couple friends, most of whom we knew quite well and whose children I am still close with. I can’t speak for my parents, but I know that in my own life, it is AMAZING for us to have couple friends who we can turn to and lean on and learn from. I remember something the priest mentioned on our wedding day about all of the people who were present to support us in our marriage, and we have been abundantly blessed with fantastic role models and other couples who are a testament to the love that surrounds us.

What do you think? Do any of these ring true in your own marriage? I’m always interested to hear other’s thoughts on these things because I definitely know I am NOT an expert at any of this!!!

Happy anniversary Brian! Can’t wait to relax and celebrate this weekend.

Book Challenge by Erin 7.0

Over the weekend, I picked my choices for Erin’s next book challenge which runs from July 1-October 31. Can’t wait to get into some of these books! Usually it takes me ages to narrow down my choices but I picked almost all of these from my “check out soon” shelf on Goodreads meaning that they were already on my 2017 radar. 
What do you think of my picks? Any thoughts on any of these books? I’ll share all of my thoughts on them when I get through them!! 
5 points:  Freebie – Read a book that is at least 200 pages
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (Thank you, Erin for mailing this to me!!!!) I have heard numerous fantastic reviews of this book, and apparently it is a rapid read so I look forward to getting into it!! 

 10 points:  Read a book that starts with the letter “B”
Beach Music by Pat Conroy (comes highly recommended by Steph) OR Blackberry Winter by Sarah Jio (have heard good things and I am anxious to try one of her books!) 

10 points:  Read a book that has a (mostly) yellow cover
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (thinking of doing this one on audio; it has been on my radar for awhile and was discussed several times on the WSIRN podcast)

15 points:  Read a book that has a picture of an animal on the cover (submitted by Mattie)

The One & Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (my most trusted book recommender Kristen’s review of this one pushed this close to the top of my list for this year) 
20 points:  Read a book that was published in 2017 (submitted by Olya)
The Other Girl – Erica Spindler (A publicity agent at Netgalley sent this to me without me requesting it, and it looks quite good and fits with my reading mood for 2017 so I’m looking forward to it)
20 points:  Read a book with a compass or cardinal direction in the title (submitted by Mary)
North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell (This is highly recommended for fans of Jane Austen, plus, I am DYING to watch the mini series on Netflix but I’ve promised myself that I’d read the book first…I already have it on Audible but I have the whispersync so might switch back and forth a bit)
25 points:  The ALA’s “Banned Books Week” occurs while our challenge is happening.  Read a book from this list of the most commonly banned books in America: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_commonly_challenged_books_in_the_United_States (submitted by Christina)
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (This book has been on my TBR for years and it popped up in Everything Everything so I made a mental note to just get to it already! Side note – can you believe some of the books that have been banned?!?!) 
Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella (This will be my first Sophie Kinsella book ever and deals more with mental health – but I felt like it fit the category enough?) 

A Court of Thorns & Roses by Sarah J. Maas (This might change…I have a few other books on my list that would fit this category but I want to see what all the fuss about Sarah J Maas for myself) 
35 points:  Read a book a Disney movie was based on OR a book based on a Disney movie (submitted by Kirsten); Don’t forget to check that the book is at least 200 pages: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Novels_first_published_in_serial_form&pageuntil=Dune+Messiah#mw-pages; https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/11716.Books_Turned_Into_Disney_Movies
Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers (I haven’t seen the Disney movie since I was a kid, but I think this will be a good read!) 

Can’t wait to get reading!! I have a huge stack of library holds, Netgalley books on my shelf, and other assorted reading goals for the summer, but I’m excited for all of these book choices too.

May Recap – what’s new!!!

May fleeeewww right by and now it’s time to recap the month & link up with the wonderful Kristen & Gretch for their What’s New with You post!! 

I knew May was going to be a busy month; we had Mother’s Day, a lot of plans with friends, and my sister-in-law’s wedding. It was also a bit of a busier month at work because my (awesome) co-worker reduced her hours, and then finished up and moved on to a new job yesterday (sob!!).

This month, I tried something new in my bullet journal. I wrote a “line a day” every day. Sometimes, it was hard to think of what to write if my day was pretty standard, but I tried to write what book I was reading, whether I exercised, and if anything interesting happened. I’m going to share some of those lines here & also share some photos of our month.

In May, I:

  • tried curlformers. I still haven’t had great success with them, but I think I need to try them with a bit more product. There is also NO WAY I can ever sleep in those!!
  • Fell in love with Beartown (I promise I will stop talking about it soon #sorrynotsorry ;)) Also read Lucy the book Little Red Riding Hood about 50,000 times. 
  • Sent in our taxes & got our refund!
  • Met our friends’ brand new baby daughter on the day she was born (so tiny! so beautiful!) 
  • Celebrated mother’s day with my lovely children. They showered me with wonderful gifts (thank you, daddy ;)) and I got to sleep in, which was so nice after being up late the night before!! 
  • Spent time with some of our good friends who live about an hour away
  • Saw Everything Everything in an advanced screening – cute movie but I would have enjoyed it infinitely more as a teenager. For some reason, I don’t mind reading YA occasionally, but seeing YA on the big screen feels kind of…embarrassing?! haha. 
  • Saw Jenn Grant in concert with my friend – it was SUCH a good show
  • Applied for a permanent part-time position doing my current job (the silver lining to my co-worker leaving)
  • Celebrated my sister-in-law’s bachelorette at which I ate a delicious salad that had deep fried deviled eggs in it (so weird but so good) and came on a slate slab (yes, the dressing went everywhere, it was super weird but the food was delicious)

  • Celebrated my sister-in-law and brother-in-law’s wedding at Hatfield Farms (more to come on this someday, I hope!) It was a wonderful, beautiful weekend with family and friends and our girls rocked their flower girl roles!!

(as you can see, Brian took advantage of the BYOB situation at the wedding)
  • Bought a new tent at Costco
  • Said goodbye to my sister-in-law and her new hubby as they flew back to Ontario. 
  • Read a lot of amazing books & got in some running and yoga as well as some walks outside!!! 
June is another busy month: Brian’s birthday, our anniversary (5 years = weekend getaway this year!! :D), two other birthdays, father’s day, and my sister, brother in law and niece move closer!!!! We are also going to try to get out camping at least one weekend if it warms up a bit!! The girls start soccer next week so that will keep us busy during the week…they are SO excited. 
So, what’s new with you!?!

Some recommendations

I’ve enjoyed reading posts from Lauren & Bre’s Add it to my List link up and gotten some great ideas from the posts too, so today I’m sharing a few of my own recommendations. There is really no rhyme or reason to these, but give some of them a try if you’re feeling inclined 🙂

To read:

I’ve already spewed about my love for Beartown exhaustively (but seriously, read it, I’m not alone in my love for it!!) but a book I just started and I’m loving so far: He Said/She Said. WOW what a thriller so far.

To read with children:

Snappsy the Alligator – this book is hilarious. I love books that talk about the narrator. To be fair, I think I enjoyed this more than my kids, but they might have been just a bit too young to “get” it, and they still liked it, but my husband and I laughed out loud.

To Watch:

Life in Pieces on Netflix. A bit like Modern Family. I like it. Also on my list of shows to try is Master of None – anyone like it?!

To Eat:

Enchilada Chicken Roll Ups via SkinnyTaste – I love this website and this recipe was SO good.

Also: kale caesar salad. Recipe coming soon. We eat this almost daily in the summer and it is SO, SO, SO good.

To Drink:

Bulletproof Coffee – I am enjoying this lately minus the butter because I can’t find the organic kind I want. I just use coconut oil and it makes it very creamy and delicious-tasting.

To Wear:

I have pretty much exclusively switched to wearing dresses with dressy leggings or tights to work. I just got this one last week and I’m loving it with tights 🙂

To Entertain Your Children:

My go-to for this is a cardboard box. Seriously, if I bring home two cardboard boxes full of food from Costco, my kids will happily colour/create/play with those boxes for a week. A close second is to blow up some air mattresses in the basement (we were testing them out for camping) and let them play on those for hours. Done.

To Do: 

If you live in Nova Scotia, today is election day. We voted ahead of time on Saturday, but seriously, this is important and it only takes a few minutes. We need to see some change somehow in this province.

To Put Things in Perspective:

This post about being enough.

What’s on your list these days?! 


5 on Friday

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, but I am looking forward to some down time this weekend. I think my kids just need some time to explore their toys again, although we will probably venture out a bit if it ever stops raining 🙂 Rain makes great reading weather though, so we will probably curl up with some books and we might even watch Trolls for the 50th time or something…who knows??

Here are 5 very random thoughts on my mind this week!

ONE
My sister-in-law’s wedding last weekend was WONDERFUL and we had such a great time. I hope to be able to share more of it soon. The girls did really well, especially staying up so late and being well behaved during the ceremony/speeches. It really helped that they were bribed with a trip to the playground (at the wedding venue!) between ceremony and dinner and it was also nice that some of their cousins were around to play with 🙂 I will say that it took us a few days to recover from being tired, but it’s all good!!!
TWO
Over the long weekend, we got to see SO many different groups of friends (and family at the wedding, of course), and my heart felt so full. Many of these people were friends we don’t see nearly often enough and it reminded me to really make the effort, especially now that our girls are older and more flexible during the day (i.e., no naps). It was also great that one of the people we saw was our friends’ new baby girl (SO ADORABLE and special!!!). 
THREE
We are SO stoked for summer in our house. We bought a new tent this week and this will be our first summer camping with the girls. Can’t wait. Side note – is camping one of those things that sounds super fun but then is actually a lot of work? Yes, yes, it is, but we still can’t wait. We have a few weekends planned already, and Brian asked me this morning if we can go sooner rather than later so we might end up in a campground (or the backyard) in the next week or two! haha.
FOUR
A few links:
FIVE
My next 10K is in a month! I’ve really started to get back to running and yoga more consistently, but I need to put a bigger push on. I had a terrible race at this event last year due to lack of training, extreme heat, and a wedding the night before the race…I am determined to do better at it this year!!!
What are you up to this weekend?!