Mid-week Happies and Finding the Next Big One

EEEE!!! This girl is SO excited that tomorrow is Friday already! As I mentioned earlier this week, it is my first full week back at work since the holidays and I have been dreading it.  only because I have been worried that the week was going to creepy-crawl by and take FOREVER.  Thankfully that has NOT been the case so far!!

A happy mid-week treat for me was getting my hairs cut! I LOVE that feeling! I always feel so refreshed after getting my hair washed, cut, and styled! I absolutely adore my stylist - I have been going to her for about 5 years.  I send everyone to her because she is awesome and so affordable.  So I went and had my hair done at lunch yesterday...did I mention she is pretty quick too??  Oh and I know it is just a hair cut and trust me I would really like to highlight my hair again but that would require me to go more often AND it would cost more money! So I'll just stick with what I have and since The Husband loves it and I don't dislike it =) picture from RIGHT after the cut yesterday

So I am constantly looking for new books to read.  I get a lot of recommendations from my mom.  We have always always swapped books with one another.  Someone on a blog yesterday was posting about a book - I'm sorry I can't remember who - and it got me thinking about all the reading I have done since elementary.  In Elementary, I read the Babysitters Club and then Goosebumps when I was in 5th grade.  I upgraded in Jr. high to R.L. Stine's Fear Street series.  I  am sure they were pretty corny but I LOVED them.  One of my favorites was probably The Perfect Date, The Fear Street Saga, and The Catalina Chronicles. Did anyone else read these???

I have graduated to other scarier/thrilling books.  I read romances here and there and was sucked into Harry Potter and Twilight. I even read Fifty Shades of Grey but mostly I stick to thrillers. Right now, my imagination is in full force, which means thrillers are kind of out of the lineup for now.  

I'm looking for new reads and something that isn't boring.  I am the type of reader that if I'm not interested in the first 30 pages, I put it down. I read for pure enjoyment so, obviously, if I am not enjoying the book, why use that time on something I'm not enjoying?  My point exactly! soooo this is where you lovelies come into the story! =) 

Where do you find your next book?!

 I know there are websites out there that are suggestion sites; you type in a title or author and the site pulls up similar content.  I don't like doing that.  I want suggestions from real people!! Truth be told, the way I use to pick out new books at the book store was based on the spine or cover catching my eye.  Then I would read the summary on the back or inside the jacket....if I am thinking I'm pretty interested, I will read the first couple pages.  I know I know you are probably shaking my head at this method but books can get expensive! I should probably start going to the library but that place can be SO overwhelming! And in this digital age of E-Readers, I don't know how to find books to read any more, because the old method doesn't really work!! Someone help me =) 

Happy almost Weekend pretty people!!!

After a Relaxing Weekend, Let the Stress Begin

Good Monday to y'all! 

I spent Saturday on the lake. It was amazing! The Husband and one of his friends fished the entire time while I lounged around, catchin' some sun and reading Catching Fire. I LOVED it! I was so excited to start Mockingjay that as soon as we got home, I downloaded it to my Nook and started reading! 

I watched the sunrise - and believe it or not, I was in jeans and a sweatshirt.  It was CHILLY out there that morning and a bit breezy. AND I had gotten soaked from the ride out there.  The Husband thought it would be fun to race/outrun the bass boats. yeah - that's how he flexes his muscle sometimes lol. Nevertheless - it was still beautiful

During one of our stops, we saw two very small gators swimming together. Apparently, when they are young, they are insanely curious. Drew kept flipping his plastic bait towards them and they would swim to it. He got one of them to bite down on the bait and he lifted the gator out of the water. The Husband grabbed a hold and let me touch him!!!

I was a bit intimidated but it was SO cool to touch it!! We saw some other much larger gators but we didn't mess with them....one was REALLY big - so I tucked my toes into the boat, instead of hanging over the edge like I started lol! 

Yesterday we went to a Mexican restaurant and it was delicious!! So so good =) The people working there weren't great =/ We went to check out and they kept telling me my card wasn't going through because their system wasn't working...apparently they ran my card FOUR. TIMES. I paid cash and we left...yeah ALL. FOUR. CHARGES. showed up on our bank account by the time I got home. I called and spoke with a manager and today I am going to the bank to talk with them about canceling the charges. Ugh! So frustrating! 

We had a REALLY busy weekend - I was able to watch the Final Four games on Saturday night! So so fun! I found a beautiful Royal Blue nail polish on pinterest by Revlon so guess what THIS girl did after work on Friday - yep, I found the nail polish! I didn't take a picture of what I was wearing on Saturday but it was white and royal blue! I was cheering for KY and KS! 

I had so much fun watching the final four this weekend and tonight it will be a battle of the blues! can't wait to watch!! .... that is if I can stay awake haha! 

My week is already off to a rough start. We are supposed to be kicking off this new program that I have been up to my eyes in since the beginning of December. Today is Day 1 of implementing. At 7:30 when I got in this morning, it was already NOT working. Something about the update they ran this weekend...ugh! I don't know. I just know that I am stressed ALREADY and I can't do anything to help with the problem, I have to wait for SOMEONE ELSE to get up and fix it because I am not the I.T. specialist. 

I was also supposed to be sending out invitations to my birthday party BUT on Saturday I realized that I had my AGE wrong - yeah, that was awkward ESPECIALLY because I didn't notice, my sister did. Ugh so I have to remake them which is whatever but it is just one. more. thing. and they'll get out and most people know by word of mouth anyway but what GIRL doesn't LOVE getting happies in the mail?! I know I LOVE LOVE LOVE getting mail...well HAPPY mail - bills are lame =)

Needless to say I will be getting in a couple miles after work.

How was your weekend??

I Like Big Books And I Can Not Lie

Happy Leap Year .... Day...Awkward lol...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE to read! I have read for entertainment purposes for as long as I can remember. When I was in grade school, my friend Megan and I use to swap The Baby Sitters Club books. Then I got into Goosebumps which led me to the Fear Street series. Once I entered high school, my mom started letting me read 'adult' books and since then, we have always swapped books.  I am so obsessed with reading that one time in college, I bought my mom a book for her birthday but I read it before I gave it to her. She would have never known except I thought it was a little funny so I told her. Note: it takes me about 2 days to read a book when I had lots of time between classes and was on duty as an RA.

I have been following a series since my sophomore year of high school by author Iris Johansen. It is the Eve Duncan series. Her first book in the series was written in 1998 - I didn't get my hands on it until probably 2000/2001 - ish. My mom and I have been borderline obsessed with this series since then. Every time the next book in the series comes out, we buy it and then one of us reads it and passes it to the other. She FINALLY wrote the last book in the series and I just started it yesterday on my lunch break. I am about half way through already. I can hardly put it down. This month I read the previous two books in the series: Eve and Joe.  I am glad the story will finally be resolved but I am sad that the series is ending - it is definitely bittersweet!

If you want something a little more light-hearted, I definitely recommend The Little Lady Agency series by Hester Brown. I love her style of writing - I would love for her to write something new (btw after that series she wrote Finishing Touches which I also recommend =) ).

My next reading on my list is The Hunger Games. I didn't know much about them but I knew a lot of people who really enjoyed the books. well I hate to even say what has spurred me to rad them....I saw a movie trailer and thought it looked different from a lot of other things I have read.

Where do you get your book recommendations?
What are you currently reading?

I would LOVE to get your recommendations for a book =) I'm open to all sorts of genres!

The Time I Was Up All Night

Last night I couldn't sleep. I don't know if it was the caffeine I consumed or what. I tossed and turned. I tried watching TV, but I was so dang interested in ANYTHING that came on that I knew I would never get any sleep. I lay in bed with my eyes closed, trying not to listen to the sounds outside. Yeah right -- ever try to NOT hear noise?! That only magnifies any noise going on. I wanted to be in my husbands arms, listening to his slow, peaceful breaths. BUT, alas, the tossing and turning forced me out of bed. That and I could not get comfortable. I tried more pillows. I tried less pillows. I tried being in a sitting position. I tried laying completely flat; curled in a ball, on my side; on my stomach; nothing worked. Finally I got up out of bed. I did learn something -- I can catch up on all the blogs I didn't get to read during the day haha!

So it is 2:30AM and I have commented on all of your lovely blogs and am now creating a post.

I tried reading Something Blue. I am about 75% finished with it. I'm still not sold on Darcy. I don't know -- she is just so self-centered and shallow. I guess I was hoping to like her more at this point in the book. I have considered putting the book down several times but haven't. I keep telling myself it HAS to get better. So far I like ALL the characters EXCEPT the main character.

I don't know what is going on with me; why I can't sleep. Maybe I am just so excited to get through the next couple days so I can start my four day weekend. Maybe it is because I am just thrilled beyond belief that my baby sister is getting married on Saturday?

I have been practicing my toast for the reception. It is really good, if I may say so myself. =) It is sweet and funny. I just hope I can make it through the speech without blubbering! I have read it at least once a day for about two months. I was finally able to get through it with barely getting tears in my eyes. Then on Sunday, I was practicing it in front of Ruger. I could NOT keep it together. I was slightly embarrassed and no one was around to witness haha! I have decided that in the event that I get too choked up to get through the entire speech, I will have to just skip to the end and give Jess a copy of the toast lol. I refuse to be a blubbering ball of non-sense, even in the presence of close friends and family.  That is one thing that annoys me at weddings -- if you can't make it through a speech, I don't really want to hear your incoherent babbling, no matter how sweet the intention is. Call me crazy or mean, but let's be real -- no one wants to hear someone crying for 3 minutes and not know what the heck is going on!

In other exciting news, the NFL lockout is over...for the moment. The players have until August 4th to get it all together and get back in with The Union, otherwise, the latest agreement is void. Hopefully they get it together. I look forward to the NFL season from February until pre-season. In all honesty, I would have been very surprised if they wouldn't have reached an agreement. I mean seriously, the NFL fan base is HUGH and I feel that if there would NOT have been a 2011/2012 season, the NFL would have lost a good portion of that fan base. I probably would have stopped watching, at least for a bit. =/ Thankfully it hasn't come to that!

With the start of the NFL season, comes the Fall show lineup. I can't wait for our shows to start again. I'm tired of not having anything to watch and recently my attention span can't be held for the length of a movie!

I am so ready to get back into a workout routine. I have taken a little time off - I don't have an excuse, I just have. I am very ready to start back at it again BUT I have to wait until after Sissy's wedding. I have had the bridesmaid dress taken in twice now, I pick it up tomorrow and it needs to fit Saturday. I know as soon as I get back into my routine, I will drop a little weight before gaining a lot of muscle back which means my dress may not fit. SO I have to hold off.

Along with being ecstatic about Sissy's wedding, I will get to see a lot of my family and our friends. We have been pretty anti-social here lately, J has worked a lot and hasn't really been up for interaction, so we lay low and have well-deserved, relaxing weekends. It will be nice to see our friends though --  I miss them!

Alright, well I think that covers my middle of the night randoms. I hope y'all got more sleep than I did! Today is my Thursday as far as work is concerned and I'm pretty excited about that! =)

What do you do when you can't sleep at night?

Water for Elephants

While traveling to and from Texas this weekend, I read Water for Elephants.

People have been raving about this book and I became very intrigued.  I could not put it down. The more I read it, the more I agreed with the casting for the movie.  They are who I would have cast for the main roles of Marlena (Witherspoon), Jacob (Pattinson <-- I am surprised that I agree with this lol) and August (Waltz).

  

And really, could she be any more beautiful?! I can't wait to go see this movie! I really hope it is as good as the book.  I normally do not have any sort of positive expectations for movie interpretations of books but this one, it has potential to be just as great!

Did any of you read it?

What did you think?

Did you see the movie?

*All images found through goole