Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Delirium

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Recently, I finished the novel Delirium by Lauren Oliver and I can honestly say that it is the best book I have read in a long time. 

Delirium is a dystopian novel, based in current day- alternate time United States. The U.S. is completely cut off from other countries of the world because of a disease called amor deliria nervosa, which is despite its fancy term, just the disease of love. In this society when you are about 18 years old you have a procedure done that makes you unable to love. You are then matched with another person in the society who has similar interests to yours and you are told how many children you will have. Life is supposedly perfect....

This novel follows Lena who cannot wait to have her procedure. She has lost both of her parents and was told that once she has her procedure all her old memories would simply fade away. She would still remember them of course, but would no longer be hurt by the idea of missing them, especially her mother. 

As the novel progresses, Lena spends time with her friend Hanna and eventually meets a boy named Alex, who is an Invalid (someone not part of the society but is actually from the Wilds). She starts to fall in love with him and cannot imagine getting her procedure done and losing that feeling.

SPOILERS AHEAD.....

Lena begins sneaking around with Alex and eventually is caught. Alex manages to escape, but Lena is locked in her room and her procedure is moved up. Her family takes turns guarding her door and there are people also watching the house. Lena manages to escape the night before her procedure on the back of Alex's motorcycle. They make it to the border and Lena manages to get over the fence just in time to turn around see Alex getting arrested. 

The end of this novel was the biggest cliff hanger in the entire reading world. I was so happy that I didn't read this novel when it first came out. I was able to move right into the next novel, which didn't take me more than five minutes to buy on my Kindle. =)

I had never read anything else by Lauren Oliver before this novel but this story was so great that I would be willing to give anything else by her a try as well! She weaves a story in a way that makes you feel like you are actually in the world she has created. I felt like I was right there with Lena, falling in love with Alex while she did and worrying about the procedure. I couldn't stand the idea of Lena without Alex and then I wasn't sure what to feel when she was finally free in the Wilds and Alex was getting arrested. At least Lena is safe, but I wasn't sure how she would be able to handle it without Alex.

Over the next two weeks I will be reviewing the next books in this trilogy, each Wednesday. So stay tuned for those book reviews, and if you haven't already go buy this book!

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Last nights Bachelorette and some Roxy Love!

Hey everyone, just thought I would pop in for an extra blog post today, SURPRISE!

I couldn't ignore last nights Bachelorette episode and not say anything about it because boy I was SHOCKED. I had no idea that was going to happen!

If you haven't seen last nights Bachelorette episode then you probably don't want to read on, or just skip over until you see the pictures of Roxy and then you'll know it's safe =)

When I saw the previews leading up to this past episode, I assumed that one of the boys did something stupid, or that Des was having trouble choosing, or maybe her brother butted in on her relationships again. I was so shocked to see that Brooks was the cause of her breakdown. I thought that if anything Desiree wasn't in to him as much as he was in to her, I couldn't believe that she came out and said that she was going to pick him and it was basically over for her at this point.

To me it seems that she was pretty much stringing along the other guys, knowing that she wasn't planning on picking them because she didn't like them as much as she liked Brooks. Now that Des says it's over, we're all left to wonder what will happen next week.

In my opinion, there's not a chance in hell she will pick either Drew or Chris. How could she ever pick one of them after saying over and over again that she loved Brooks and the other guys couldn't compare. What guy would want to be second choice? No man would. At this point I'm thinking that either Brooks will change his mind, come back and compete for Des's heart OR Des will not pick anyone. I don't think she will choose anyone but Brooks, but I'm thinking he might come back and try it again, I just have this feeling! =)

Anyways, that's just my two cents! Now for some pictures of Roxy. The two of us had a photoshoot this afternoon before I left for work. This is just to show you how much of a baby she is and how much she loves being snuggled...







what a goober. Awful pictures of me, but I just had to capture pictures of how she acts when she is in my lap! 

Anyways, I'll see you all for my normal morning post tomorrow! Have a great night!



A small organization project

One of my favorite organization projects to complete is a small one that I use on a daily basis.

There is a basket in my room where I toss items as I come in or when I clean out my purse. A lot of times I don't have the time to sort out pamphlets, mail, magazines, etc and just need somewhere to put them until I have a chance to deal with them later.

Sometimes, later tends to be a lot later than I originally planned on it being when I actually get around to sorting out these items....


This basket was out of control. I had months worth of magazines, my new camera box, all the letters and other mail I had received lately along with papers from work. There was just a ton of things in there that needed to be tossed, recycled or placed somewhere they belong permanently.


So I sorted, and I sorted until everything was piled the way that I wanted it. I made a pile of magazines, a pile of all the notebooks I had collected for different purposes, a pile of mail, and a pile of papers to file away.


The only things that went back in the basket were my unread magazines and a few notebooks I use for different purposes. One of the notebooks holds my gift log, which I use to keep track of the gifts I give other people and also what is given to me. It comes in quite handy when I can't remember how I spend on certain people during holidays. I am able to look up what I purchased last year and what they bought for me as well. Another of the notebooks holds my food and exercise log which I have been awful at keeping up with. I also use another to keep track of the beauty products I try.

Other than having a ton of magazines to read, I think this basket looks so much better and I am proud to say that so far it has stayed that way. I'm sure sooner or later this basket will be filled again, and I will be cleaning it out once more...but for now I can enjoy how clean it is.


What little organizing projects have you been doing lately?

Stay tuned for a HUGE organization project happening around here...

Monday, July 29, 2013

A Happy 79th Birthday!

This was pretty much a lazy weekend all around. I spent Saturday working on an organization project and watching Harry Potter weekend on ABC Family. I am still, after all of these years obsessed with the Harry Potter movies and books...I know so lame, but I'm sure there are plenty of us out there!

Sunday morning was spent surfing blogs and watching the last two Harry Potter movies to round out the weekend. Then it was party time....




For my Papa's 79th Birthday we invited the whole family over for a little party. Annabel and Uncle Craig enjoyed swimming in the pool, but since it was so cloudy no one else opted to jump in. Cailean probably would have gone in as well, but he is currently visiting his other set of grandparents right now.





Dan and his girlfriend Nikki even hung around with us which was nice.



My Papa, his girlfriend Vivian, my Uncle Dave and his girlfriend Jana also joined us for our party. It was great to see everyone but especially nice to catch up with Jana, we haven't seen her in years and she keeps my Uncle Dave on his toes!


For dinner we had spinach lasagna, bakery pizza, barbeque chicken, corn on the cob, and pasta salad. I took a little bit of everything and my eyes were WAY bigger then my stomach. I was glad I didn't also take the salad and beans that were also out.











Annabel picked out my Papa's cake, but I was so full by the time dessert came around that I didn't even have a slice. We also had mini Friendlys ice cream sundaes and also brownies which I'm sure I will be snacking on for the coming days.

It was a great party and I was so happy to be able to spend time with some of our closest family members. My mom, Vivian, Papa and I had a great time talking about our upcoming trip to France! We will be going in September so it is just over a month away! =)

Well I'm off to start my week! I hope everyone else had a fantastic weekend, whether it was resting or busy!

Friday, July 26, 2013

Weekly Couponing Wrapup

My couponing this week occurred at Walmart, which I was weirdly excited about after reading a blog post on TheKrazyCouponLady.com. They had a huge list of freebies, cheapies and moneymakers on their site and since my mom was heading to Walmart to go grocery shopping I figured I would tag along and get some freebies and other things I also needed.


Here is how this transaction went down:

1 pack of socks @ $6.77

Cotton Rounds @ $2.04

2 Sensodyne Toothpastes (travel size) @ $1.07
used (2) $1/1 coupons
= 7 cents each, 14 cents total

2 Burts Bees @ $2.97 each

Always Liner 20 ct @ 93 cents
used $1/1 coupon
= 7 cent money maker!

2 Reynolds Bake Cup Packs @ 92 cents each
used (2) $1/1 coupons
= 8 cent money maker each! 16 cent money maker total!

1 Loofa @ $1

My total for this order was $16.63, which I don't think was bad considering I got a few things I needed that weren't on sale. I really needed socks because since I have a tattoo on my foot I am required to cover my feet at work. I wear socks there constantly and since I am dancing around and sliding in them constantly, I am always ripping my socks and having to throw them away. New socks was completely necessary. I also needed Burts Bees, since you know I'm addicted. I also picked up cotton rounds since I was out and a loofa for when mine needs replacing. 

I would have purchased more Sensodyne travel size toothpastes because I have so many $1 off coupons that expire on the 31st, but they only had two left!. I was also happy to pick up the baking cups and the panyliners and make a bit of money off of them. 

I wanted to find infant Beechnut cereal since it was a moneymaker and I could give it to Kayla and her new baby Brayden, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I also looked around for a Neutrogena sunscreen deal, but couldn't find that either.

It was definitely nice to get back in the couponing game with this transaction and pick up some things that I will definitely use and some things that I needed. 


How did your couponing go this week?

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Bossypants

Recently, I decided to order Bossypants by Tina Fey on my kindle. I was undecided about Tina Fey. I really did not care for the tv show 30 Rock but in general thought Tina was an interesting person so I decided to give it a read. Man, Tina Fey is funny!

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The stories in this book are not in chronological order by any means but they do follow a trend that makes them all blend together. Tina has a ton of funny stories about her childhood as well as throughout adult-hood. One of my favorite stories she told was about her honeymoon with her husband. They went on a cruise and ended up having a scary time on board where they thought they might have to be separated. Afterwards, Tina's husband says it must have been hard for Tina to think she would have needed to refused a lifeboat in order to stay with him and she says that she thought how hard it was going to be for him when she got on a lifeboat and left him behind. I found that extremely amusing. Tina goes on to explain that if in Titanic Rose had gotten on a lifeboat, Jack would've been able to survive on that piece of wood and she would not do the same thing to her husband.

There are a ton of amusing anecdotes from her life and Tina writes them very well. I was on the fence deciding whether or not to read this book but I'm definitely glad I did. It is not as funny as Ellen DeGeneres books are but it is definitely worth the read! There are even some funny tales from when she pretended to be Sarah Palin on SNL- which I greatly enjoyed.

Overall, I would recommend this as a great summer read. You can easily stop and start this book since there is no intense plotline. It is easy to read whenever you have an opportunity and not have to read straight through. If you have a Kindle, Bossypants is only $4.99 on Amazon which is not a bad price.

I have read a few other books throughout the summer so I will be posting reviews on those over the next few weeks as well!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

July Birchbox!

My July Birchbox arrived while I was in Disney World so I was a little delayed in opening it. When I did manage to get my hands on it however, I opened it almost immediately. I managed to take a look at all my new products, but didn't get to really explore them and take photos till this past weekend. So without futher ado, my July Birchbox....



The first item I noticed in my box was a huge sample of Klorane Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk. I have used a few dry shampoos thanks to Birchbox, but I don't really use them all that often. I like getting dry shampoos however because it is something that I would never buy for myself and is something I get really excited to try.


The next product in my box is a Benta Berry G-1 Moisturizing Face Cream. All I can think when I look at this moisturizer is the song "Like a G-6, like a G-6". The moisturizer looks like it might be a good fit for my skin. It says that it hydrates and has blueberries and dead nettle in its ingredients. I hope that it will be moisturizing enough for my dry skin while also being gentle enough for my sensitive skin.


The next product is Purminerals CC Cream Broad Spectrum SPF 40. I received the light formula which fits my skin tone perfectly so I am very excited to try this. This product feels very light as well which is great for summer. I don't want to have my skin plastered with heavy foundation and my usual foundation has been too heavy lately. I can't wait to try this one.


My Beauty Extra this month was some Birchbox bobbypins. I received green and white patterned pins which are very cute. I'm not sure if I will use them anytime soon but they are definitely cute.


My last product this month is Juicy Couture perfume. I haven't even taken a sniff of this perfume yet, but I tend to like Juicy Couture perfumes more than the other perfumes I often received in Birchboxes. I will try this for sure.


That's all for now, I will be back in a few weeks with my review on this box!

What did you receive in your Birchbox this month? If you receive another Beauty Box what did you receive in that one?

Monday, July 22, 2013

The Little Mermaid JR

On Saturday I went to see my cousins perform in their local camp play which to my delight was The Little Mermaid!







It was a terrific show, very well done especially for only 2 weeks of rehearsal! Cailean was one of the sailors on Prince Erics boat and Annabel was part of the chorus. They did a fantastic job as part of the play and all the other kids were great as well. 

The little girl who played Flounder was absolutely adorable and by the reactions of the entire audience, everyone else thought so as well. She was a tiny little girl and had the cutest voice. The way she delivered her lines reminded me a lot of the way Lily from Modern Family does. It was in almost a dead-pan but sweet voice. Such a cutie!

Afterwards we (my mom and I) met up with Cailean, Annabel, my Uncle Craig and my Papa to get some pictures. Then we headed home since we were both so exhausted. 

I basically wanted to organize my life this weekend with everything I've been putting off. I have been cleaning up and getting all my stuff organized again. 

Hopefully that will lead to a nice organized week! =)

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Friday, July 19, 2013

Post Disney Life!

Well, I have to say life after Disney World is FAR less exciting! On Sunday I spent most of the day unpacking and napping. I was so thankful to be back in my own bed that I couldn't deal with staying awake the whole day =)

I did manage to make it out of my room on Sunday night to attend a surprise birthday dinner for my friend Kristin.





We went to Buon Appetitio in North Stonington CT.

I have been there before for drinks but I have never eaten an entire dinner there. I chose to have the Ricotta Ravioli which was decent. It wasn't the best thing I've ever eaten but I was able to eat quite a bit of it. We did have a cake which of course was my favorite part of the meal! =)

I ended up going back to Kristin's house for about a half hour and then she was going out with her friend Megan, and I decided not to go with them- I was just far too tired.

The rest of my week has consisted of work, work, and more work. Tonight at 5 I will be done for the weekend and I can't wait!

I will be attending my cousins play they are going to be in tomorrow so I will be back talking about the weekend on Monday, I also will be talking about my July Birchbox next week and I have a few book reviews I want to do as well so those will be coming up soon!

Have a great weekend everybody!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Disney- Day 4, and Disney Haul!

Saturday was our last day in Disney, and we decided to spend it in Downtown Disney shopping! Doreen and Jess had been telling me about an amazing store in the Marketplace called Basin and I was super excited to check it out- along with the usual Disney Stores on property.









I ended up purchasing a ton of items and receiving a few things during the trip as well!


One of my students bought Doreen and I mugs so we could refill and get free drinks every day. We also received the Disney performing arts bag after our students performance. I ended up purchasing a scrapbook kit, 2 postcards and a nail polish set for myself. I purchased a stuffed animal Sully (from Monsters Inc) for my friend Kristin as a birthday present and also purchased two mugs for my parents that I will be giving them for Christmas- all of which are un-pictured.

In Basin, I purchased a Pink Sugar bath bomb, a Pink Sugar moisturizing stick, and Mosquito Repellant Soap...I wanted to purchase a Pink Sugar Body Butter but it was too large to be allowed on the plane since it would be considered a liquid. I think I may place an order on Basin in the near future =)

After shopping, we headed to the airport and then back home to Rhode Island. It was a great trip with some amazing students and I am so proud of them! =)