Guest Post: Book Recommendations

Continuing with my guest posts, we have Carly here today from her blog Carly Blogs Here with some book recommendations. As I've brought my kindle with me while I'm on vacation in New Hampshire I'm anxious to get started on some of her recommendations. Thanks so much Carly for guest posting. Take it away...

I'm so happy to be guest posting on Lauren's blog today! While I share a pretty wide variety of posts on my blog, some of my favorite posts revolve around books. I thought I would share a small selection of some favorites and recommendations.

 

 Me Before You is a recent read that I fell in love with from the very beginning. It's a story about friendship, love, and family. It will make you smile and make you cry and you'll be sad when it comes to an end. The Gifts of Imperfection is the perfect book if you need a little bit of encouragement or inspiration. It's one of those books that you want to highlight the entire thing because it's so relatable. Sloppy Firsts will forever be a favorite book of mine- I believe it's classified as new adult and is book one of a five part series. You can't help but love Jessica Darling and the rest of the very realistic set of characters. An Invisible Thread is the true story of an 11-year-old panhandler, a busy sales executive, and an unlikely meeting with destiny. I've been a huge fan of Sarah Dessen for years and recently read Along For the Ride and adored it! If you're a fan of young adult books it's one you don't want to miss! The Great Gatsby is the perfect classic to read or reread this summer. Fitzgerald makes us all wish we could attend a West Egg party! What are some of your all-time favorite books? Any recent reads that you've loved? A huge thank you to Lauren for letting me post today! Feel free to stop by Carly Blogs Here for more book recommendations!

Family rocks

It's been a great ten or so days with my sister and her husband here in town visiting. I'm sure it's been hard for them as they're transitioning back to the states from China but I really appreciate them taking the time to come hang out with us. Mom and I have had a blast having them here, showing them around our new town, and eating. We do a lot of eating all the time, but enjoy it more when we're all together. Even Dad and Dave were in town for part of their visit so we were ALL together again. It was wonderful.

I'm so lucky to have my mom here full time but it was fun to have a glimpse of what it might be like to have my sister here as well. I'm doing pretty good so far on getting people I love to move down, so I'll keep working on them!

4th with family and friends

This weekend was so.much.fun. It's just what I needed. There's something to be said about being around old friends and family. It's natural, you don't have to try. They can nap on the couch while you do laundry and watch an episode of a show they think is boring. My friend Nicole and her boyfriend flew down last week and stayed with us. It was tons of fun. We ate well, bowled, played tennis, the men folk golfed, and had a lot of pool time at my parents.

For the 4th of July, my parents hosted a pool party/cookout. Everything was delicious and it was a blast to be together. Everyone pitched in with making things and we were all super full by the end of the day.

{me and my momma}

{my sister put this as my iphone wallpaper....it's staying like that}

A lot of us spent most of our time in the pool. We played our own version of horse with the pool basketball hoop. We played USA because it's more patriotic and shorter. Everyone got really creative on how to make their shots. It makes it more difficult that the basketball hoop floats and can go anywhere in the pool.

We were home early enough to shower and relax and take care of Finley. Nicole bought some bottle rockets and sparklers and we had fun setting them off. We saw some fireworks that were set off around our neighborhood but not a massive show of them. It was a great weekend and I'm so thankful for the freedoms we have in our country because of the brave men and women that serve to protect them.

Flag Cake

My best friend Megan and I have a tradition on the 4th of July to always make a flag cake together. Usually it's a regular rectangular cake, iced, with strawberries and blueberries on the top to make the flag. But this year I decided to take it up a notch (or two).

As someone that hates to bake I was unusually excited about this long baking process. Maybe it was the fact that I had so many loved ones in town that made me willing to put in the work. I found a Betty Crocker Recipe online and was excited to start. However, after reading the instructions I was confused on how to put everything together. So in case you're more of a visual person, like I am, I found this Video for you to watch that will really help.
Nicole and I spent Friday afternoon baking, cooling, cutting, and placing the cake together. It was really fun and people were totally surprised when we cut into it.

How was your 4th?

7.4.14

Dear DAD, yay for you being in town!!!! Dear Nicole, I'm so glad you're here! Dear Spaz and Nate, So excited you guys are in town too. Can't wait to hug on ya! Dear Momma, thanks for sitting at our house multiple times this week. You're the best. Dear Best Friend Megan, I'm sad we won't be spending the fourth together this year but I hope you're ready for our tradition of a flag cake. I really brought it this year! Dear Aubrey, I'm so proud of you for starting your personal blog back up. You're amazing and funny and I can't wait to read every day. Dear Friends, you should check out my friend Aubrey's blog The Found Life. She's crazy funny, a talented photographer, and has such a big heart. You'll love her, I swear.Dear friends, I'm doing ok. I still really struggle with our miscarriage and sometimes it hurts so much I don't know what to do. But Dave and I are so strong and so good that I know I can get through this. Just an update that I'm doing much better and the sadness is kept at bay most of the time. I just don't like thinking that people think we're fine and healed, because it's far from the truth, but we're ok. Dear Nicole, I loved sitting in my closet among all my pretty clothes and talking till midnight the other night.

Random

Today was supposed to be a post about my summer reading list challenge, but since I haven't finished any more books it's kind of pointless to write about it. (I'm currently in the middle of The Memory Keeper's Daughter and am enjoying it.)

{he's the cutest!}

{too hot at the dog park}

My mind is kind of blown that it's JULY already. I don't know where the time has gone. One of my best friends flies in tomorrow and then my sister and her husband (still weird to say), and my dad fly in the following day. I'm excited for all the quality time with loved ones. June was a really good month. While Dave traveled for work my Momma and I got to spend a lot of fun time together-mostly over food, which I love. Dave and I love being back together and don't take those moments for granted. Finley, as usual, is the center of our lives but he's so stinkin cute it's ok.

 

6.27.14

 

Dear Dave, I love when you're home and we're back in our routine together. Although absence does make the heart grow fonder. And I'm more appreciative of all you do when you come back home, so that's the silver lining I guess. Dear work, thanks for being understanding about me taking my name out of consideration for the full-time job. I'm really excited to travel with Dave for his work and figure out this whole "what I want to do with my life" thing when we're done. Dear hair, I like my new cut. Perfect for summer and for a girl that hates spending any time on doing my hair.

Dear Nicole, we will be back together in just a few days! I'm really looking forward to your visit!!!! Dear Sister Friend, I can't wait for you to be back in the states, I miss you so much. Dear Dave, you work so hard and I'm so proud of you. Congrats on your promotion at work. You're an amazing provider and I feel so safe with you. Yesterday morning as I was pulling out of our driveway and you were getting settled in your car, I just looked at you and went, "God, I love that man, I'm so lucky." Dear Tera, thanks for your guest post. Can't wait for a follow up. I need to start meal prepping, so this is helpful advice. Dear Youtube, I'm ashamed to say I've been sucked down the rabbit hole a time or two. It stars with one funny video and before you know it it's midnight and I've watched hours of videos. But thanks for keeping me entertained when Dave was gone. Dear Finley, thanks for getting so much better about going into the crate. It's making life so much easier. Dear Friday, I woke up thinking you were Saturday. Fail. Thank Goodness Dave knows his days and made me get up for work. He's a keeper. Dear Friends, enjoy your weekend! See ya back here on Monday!

Summer Bucket List- LINK UP!

I wrote here about my summer bucket list and have crossed a few things off but haven't made as much headway as I would like. Dave was gone all last week so when he's not here I'm unmotivated to go out and have all this fun without him. I love that Florida is hot pretty much year round but the summers here can get really hot. I still enjoy being outside but would prefer to be by the water with the breeze when we do go out. I have things I keep adding to my summer list but with our big upcoming trip I would rather save money for that. So I may have to tweak my list here and there. Below is what we've crossed off the list so far.

Add your link below and I'll be checking in again at the end of July to see how you're doing on your list!

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Summer Bucket List- Link Up!!!

I wrote here about my summer bucket list and really want to start making headway with it. I have a tendency to put things off, so making a list really helps me when Dave asks what I want to do. I'll be checking back the last Thursday of every month (June-August) to see how you're doing with your lists. I found this awesome printable How To Summer list from You Are My Fave. 

  

Get your own here. 

 

I've added a few things to my list including: make homemade ice cream, go to a farmer's market, possibly visit a local nude beach, beat Dave at Scrabble, tea time with Momma, and make cards more. I'll hope you'll join me in keeping track of what we're up to this summer and sharing our fun with others!

 

 

 

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sandy paws

{me and dave and finley somewhere back there swimming}

This past weekend while Janet was in town, we took Finley to his first dog beach. I was a little hesitant because I'm a worrier and I didn't know how he would do. I worried for nothing, per usual, because Finley did AWESOME. He got right in the water, he retrieved tennis balls we threw, and he played well with all the other dogs. Finley swam so much and loved every minute. Dave made him take a couple breaks because he was breathing so hard after so much constant swimming. It made my heart so happy to see how much fun he was having. He was a good boy and listened when it was time to go and let Dave and I hose him off and dry him before we went back to the car. It was a really cool dog beach and I know that we'll be back, next time with shampoo for bathing with the hose afterwards. We're rookies.

 

I'm so glad we went but my car still smells like wet dog. blah.

grill out-cali pizza recipe



{cali pizza}

By no means are Dave and I grill masters (especially me as I get lost after turning on the propane) but we're definitely getting better. The thing I love about Florida is that it's pretty much grilling weather all.year.long. We haven't taken advantage of that as much as we should but going in to summer we're starting off with a bang. We've used our grill for chicken, steak, onions, green peppers, and corn on the cob.

My parents invited us over a couple nights a go for cali pizza on their grill. It's a summer staple with my family and when we all lived in DC, my girlfriends would come over and have so much fun creating our own pizzas and enjoying being together.

 

 

 CALIFORNIA PIZZA RECIPE by Ina Garten

For the dough:

 

1 1/4 cups warm (100 to 110 degrees F) water

2 packages dry yeast

1 tablespoon honey

3 tablespoons good olive oil

4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading

2 teaspoons kosher salt

 

After letting the dough rise, you place it on the grill, flip to the other side, drizzle it with olive oil and add your ingredients until they're melted and yummy. I'd suggest checking out the full recipe on the Food Network site here.

 

My favorite toppings:

 

mozzarella cheese

feta cheese

prosciutto

mushrooms

basil-lots of fresh basil

cherry tomatoes

red onion

 

I hope you'll try out this recipe at some point in the summer. It's an easy way to add a delicious meal to your cooking repertoire. And it's a crowd pleaser because everyone can customize their own. Even picky ol' Dave loves cali pizza nights.

Summer Book Challenge: Update 2

I'm loving this book challenge as the competitive side of me has kicked in and has gotten me to sit and read instead of zone out to TV. Most of the books have been good so that's been enjoyable, but it's when you get into a book you don't really like that you want to put down but can't because it's on your challenge list that's hard. I wish I had a personal librarian to know what I like and pick out books for me. Wait, I have an aunt that is a librarian, so I should make THAT her job. Awesome idea internet. While I go draft up an email for my aunt, you can enjoy my reviews and be in awe at the reading machine I am.

Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery
It was an OK read. I can understand why people want their children to read it though, as Anne is very driven and loves her studies and school work while still able to cultivate her imagination. However, as a 28 year old reader I was annoyed with her incessant talking and I didn't like the way her mother figure Marilla kept her true feelings for Anne hidden. There are a ton of books in this series, however after this one book I don't feel the need to read on.

The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
I liked this book, the characters were real and interesting. I started out the book with the knowledge that the main character would probably die while I was reading it because it's a book about a girl with cancer. I got my frame of mind to be ready for the sadness. It was a quick read and I enjoyed it.
My favorite quote is: "I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly and then all at once.

Keep Quiet, Lisa Scottoline
It was pretty good. I wasn't sure it was going to be that intriguing as you find out the secret they have to keep quiet right off the bat, but just when it got to be a little slow, it suddenly picked up with twists and turns.

Let's Pretend This Never Happened, Jenny Lawson
Laugh out loud funny. Seriously, read this book. I woke Dave up one night laughing so loudly much.

The Challenge:

5 points: Freebie! Read any book that is at least 200 pages long.
10 points: Read a book that was written before you were born.
10 points: Finish reading a book you couldn't finish the first time around.
10 points: Read a book from the children’s section of the library or bookstore.
15 points: Read a book that is on The New York Times' Best Sellers List when you begin reading it.
15 points: Read a historical fiction book that does not take place in Europe.
15 points: Read a book another blogger has already read for the challenge.
20 points: Read a book with “son(s),” “daughter(s)” or “child(ren)” in the title.
                                            20 points: Read a book that was/will be adapted to film in 2014.
                                            25 points: Read a book written by a blogger.
                                            25 points: Read a biography, autobiography or memoir.
                                            30 points: Read a pair of books with antonyms in the titles. book one/book two
 
                                                                                Total Points: 115

Beach Week: beach essentials

Sometimes I feel like it takes so much effort to get ready to go to the beach that by the time we get there I'm so tired that I just sit for a good long while. But the packing and hauling is always worth it because I'm never uncomfortable or wishing I had brought something. I made a beach essential checklist so you're always prepared too.

Beach Week: beach day

 

For Memorial Day weekend we of course went to the beach (it wouldn't be complete without a beach trip). We went to Longboat Key to our favorite beach-it's also the one Dave used to go to with his family when he was younger. This place holds a lot of memories for him and is starting to for me as well, since we've been going there ever since we moved here. This time though, we finally made it to the infamous (if only with his family) Omas Pizza. Dave has been talking about this place ever since I've known him, so I was excited to finally go there with him. After our bellies were satisfied we laid out and enjoyed being together in the sun. On the way home we stopped and I got my after the beach traditional Slurpee. I have the most patient husband, because I had to go to two 7 eleven's as the cherry Slurpee machine wasn't working at the first place. It was a great day and I'm looking forward to all the visitors that are coming to visit soon so that we can take them to our favorite beach and explore the town a little more.

Beach Week: snacks

I'm making it 

 here on Bound by Love. Yay!

 

Let's get a little sandy shall we*.

Dave and I have a pretty good system down by now when it comes to packing snacks or lunch for the beach. We usually bring the smaller cooler unless we have friends in town. The small cooler doesn't give us too much room for extras so we're careful about what we bring.

The most important thing to pack is water as it's easy to get dehydrated being in the sun all day. After water, I make us sandwiches: usually I have peanut butter and Dave has roast beef. In the cooler we add any other items that need to remain cold such as my cheese for my cheese and crackers snack. Usually by then our cooler is full and ready to close. With snacks like Doritos and Pringles I'm able to carry then in my regular beach back since they don't need to be cold to enjoy. I also always bring a plastic shopping bag or two for trash and if we find any shells on the beach. It's a good way to consolidate our trash without getting it everywhere or having birds bomb diving our beach bag. These are just the typical snacks we bring and I'm always happy and full!

*I actually hate being sandy aside from my toes in the sand. I hate the feeling of wet sand on my hands or when sand gets into your sun screen. Makes me want to scream. So YOU can get sandy and I'll sit on my beach chair with only my feet in the sand. ok?

Memorial Day

I hope you're enjoying your day off and spending time with friends and family doing fun things. But amidst all that, I hope you take a few moments to remember those that have sacrificed their lives for our freedom, so we can do the things we enjoy. I hope you realize what an amazing country we live in. We have so many freedoms we take for granted each and every day. Today I am thankful, so thankful for the sacrifices these men and women have made for our country. If we only stand united in one thing, I hope it's that these sacrifices are appreciated and will never be forgotten.

To the men and women of THE UNITED STATES MILITARY, thank you for giving your all. And to those families affected, your loss is not forgotten.

summer flex

I'm so excited for this weekend. It's the unofficial start of summer and with that it means beach trips, friend visits, and lots of Slurpees after a long day in the sun. My job has an awesome thing for summer-flex schedules. Basically I work 4 longer days and can have a day off, as long as there is coverage in the office. I'm starting my flex schedule today and will have tomorrow off so I can be home for the window repair guys. It give me a nice long 4 day weekend with Dave to play.

Don't you think ALL jobs should do this for summer?

Summer Reading Challenge: Update



I'm competitive (unless I know I can't win), it's annoying and I can't seem to stop. I race cars that don't know they're being raced, I beat Dave at stuff we're not even competing over at home (like cleaning bathrooms faster than he does), and so it's no surprise that I've already finished three books off my summer reading challenge list from Semi-Charmed Kind of Life blog.

Instead of waiting till the end of the challenge to do all the book reviews, which I probably won't remember by then anyway, I'm going to do them as I go.

1. No Man's Land, Cory Toth

As my freebie book I was pretty excited for it as the description sounded intriguing and mysterious. However, the book was lackluster, poorly written, and I was very disappointed. Honestly, I would have stopped reading this book if it hadn't been for the challenge.

2. The Husband's Secret, Liane Moriarty

This book was pretty good. I was intrigued throughout about what the husband' secret was, how all these different lives were going to intertwine, and what would happen in the end. I wasn't disappointed and if I book gets you to say "oh shit!" aloud at home while reading it, I think it's a good one.

3. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), Mindy Kaling

As someone that wasn't particularly keen on Mindy's character Kelly in The Office, but someone who loves her show the Mindy Project I wasn't sure how this book was going to go. But let me tell you that she is hilarious. I found myself giggling and laughing out loud (for real lol'ing) while reading her book. A fellow blogger just recently read her book as well and said that after reading it you'd want to  be Mindy's best friend. So true. I think we would be awesome and get a good natural ab workout from all the laughing we'd do.

The Challenge:

5 points: Freebie! Read any book that is at least 200 pages long.
10 points: Read a book that was written before you were born.
10 points: Finish reading a book you couldn't finish the first time around.
10 points: Read a book from the children’s section of the library or bookstore.
15 points: Read a book that is on The New York Times' Best Sellers List when you begin reading it.
15 points: Read a historical fiction book that does not take place in Europe.
15 points: Read a book another blogger has already read for the challenge.
20 points: Read a book with “son(s),” “daughter(s)” or “child(ren)” in the title.
20 points: Read a book that was/will be adapted to film in 2014.
25 points: Read a book written by a blogger.
25 points: Read a biography, autobiography or memoir.
30 points: Read a pair of books with antonyms in the titles.

Visiting

Paperless Post

I'm obsessed with Paperless Post (I'm waiting to be their official spokeswoman.....). I wrote a post  here a while ago and am still loving their cards/invitations etc. Having friends that live so far away sometimes you have to plan things way in advance. That's why I sent out and e-mail in April to see if anyone wanted to come and stay for the 4th of July weekend this summer. I'm excited at the thought of having a house full of friends- I love it just being me and Dave, but I also like having a house buzzing with close friends. Since sending out the invite to host everyone, only one friend has booked a flight! And since it's first come first serve at Homeward Bounds I decided to send the cute couple an official reservation. I'm hoping by then we'll have finished the second guest room and whoever else decides to come will be able to sleep comfortably in a bed. But now that we have our wrap around couch upstairs  there are 3 more spots for people to sleep, plus an air mattress. And if we need to my parents house a few miles away.

 I'm going to try to pack in all the friends we can for the weekend because we don't see them enough (especially Dave's best friends) and it'd be fun to be all together for a little while.

Summer Book Challenge-it's on!

My sister and I used to go to my grandparents library when we visited in the summer and pick out books to read. When we finished them we could add stickers to the wall and see who had the longest sticker line-I never won. I love to read now and though summer isn't work free it's still a good time to finally get around to some books I've been wanting to read. And now I have a challenge from Semi-Charmed Kind of Life to push me to get going.

Here are the challenge categories:

5 points: Freebie! Read any book that is at least 200 pages long.
-No Man's Land, Cory Toth (269 pages)

10 points: Read a book that was written before you were born.
-The Catcher in the Rye, J.D Salinger (a re-read from high school-277 pages)

10 points: Finish reading a book you couldn't finish the first time around.
-The Power of One, Bryce Courtenay (544 pages-have to start from the beginning again)-my husband's favorite book.

10 points: Read a book from the children’s section of the library or bookstore.
-A Wrinkle In Time, Madeleine L'Engle (211 pages) or Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery (320 pages)

15 points: Read a book that is on The New York Times' Best Sellers List when you begin reading it.
-The Husband's Secret, Liane Moriarty (394 pages)

 15 points: Read a historical fiction book that does not take place in Europe.
-Serena, Ron Rash (371 pages)

15 points: Read a book another blogger has already read for the challenge.

20 points: Read a book with “son(s),” “daughter(s)” or “child(ren)” in the title.
-The Storyteller's Daughter, Cameron Dokey (221 pages)

20 points: Read a book that was/will be adapted to film in 2014. (Here are 16 ideas to get you started, but I know there are plenty more options.)
-The Fault In Our Stars, John Green (318 pages)

25 points: Read a book written by a blogger.
-Let's Pretend This Never Happened, Jenny Lawson (318 pages)

25 points: Read a biography, autobiography or memoir.
-Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), Mindy Kaling (222 pages)

30 points: Read a pair of books with antonyms in the titles.
-Keep Quiet, Lisa Scottoline (352 pages) and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer (326 pages)


What books do you want to read this summer?

Happy reading!