It’s Wednesday which means I’m linking up with Michelle for another week of Pinterest fun!
Happy Wednesday!
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Enter these amazing giveaways!
Oh How Pinteresting (15)
Palmolive Fresh Infusions
My first impression of the Palmolive Fresh Infusions Voxbox was “WOW they sent me three bottles?” I was really excited to try them all. Of course, one of the tasks was to give one to a friend, but since my sister was over at our house at the time, I gave it to her to try out. She and my mom used it and loved it. We are typically a Dawn soap family, but my mom was very impressed with the lemon thyme scent and how this soap lathered.
I love this soap. The scents are amazing and different than your typical dish soap. The thing I love most is how well it lathered. I barely had to use any soap for my sink load of dishes which means this bottle will last a long time and save money. I also loved the packaging. It is pretty enough to leave out on your sink and not feel embarrassed when people come over. This soap left my dishes sparkling clean.
My favorite scent is the Ginger White Tea. I’m not a fan of lime-scented things, and I gave the lemon-thyme to my family to try out. I did get a sniff of it before I gave it away and it had a very clean smell to it.
Thank you, Influenster!
*Disclaimer: Influenster gave me this product to test and give an HONEST review.
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Paige’s Giveaway
Diana’s Giveaway
Bookworm Review: “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkein
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein
Mariner Books; Reprint edition
September, 2012
First Line: In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
Back Cover: Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum.
My Thoughts: I am a big fan of The Lord of the Rings movies, but have never read the books. Ryan is the opposite. He read all the books but refuses to see the movies because he is scared they may ruin the story for him. Because of this, I know the books must be pretty good. I figured I would start by reading The Hobbit since the movie came out last month and I really wanted to see it. Did that happen? No. I will definitely see it when it comes out in Redbox.
This story was very interesting to me. I loved reading about the times before The Lord of the Rings movies. I was able to get a better understanding of the background story. I do have to say that this book had a tendency to drag on at times, but even with the slowness, it was a pretty good read overall. It was full of adventure and you can’t help but fall in love with Bilbo. The climax of the book – when he fights the dragon, Smaug – is very exciting. After this battle, the book grew very slow through the end.
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Paige’s Giveaway
Diana’s Giveaway
Life Lately + Giveaway
Hello my lovelies!! First off I want to say welcome to all of my new followers! Thank you so much for taking the time to read my rambles!
Last weekend, our friends from Huntsville (north Alabama) came to town and we hung out with them, Shane and his wife Paige. Shane was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma over the summer and has since gone through several surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy. He completed his last chemo treatment Wednesday! YAY SHANE! It was so much fun hanging out with our old college crew. I love them and miss them terribly. Unfortunately I did not get any pics of us (bad blogger right here).
Remember in this post when I wrote that I need to catch up on some history? This week, Ryan and I started taking a FREE online history class through Coursera. If you ever want to take a class but don’t want to spend any money and don’t care about credit, you should definitely check them out! While I was perusing their site, I also signed up for a couple of health and nutrition classes as well as social psych to brush up on my psychology. So apparently I’ve decided to go back to school…ha! It’s funny that the whole time I was in college all I wanted was to graduate, and now I miss it so much (nerd alert).
Yesterday, my crazy dog decided to play with a hanger and ended up getting it all twisted up in her collar. She started whining and freaking out, so obviously I was in the floor laughing and taking tons of pics…
Today, I’m going to be organizing, cleaning and catching up on my favorite blogs! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
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Get Fit, Be Healthy + {Giveaway}
Get Fit, Be Healthy is a new series I am starting to hold myself accountable from week to week and hopefully motivate you along the way. I am not an expert in health or fitness, but I danced for 20 years of my life and cheered in high school. I have studied health and fitness, although I do not have a degree in either. My goal is NOT to LOSE weight but to get HEALTHY. According to this BMI chart, I am actually on the low end of the normal range for my height. I just want to get in the habit of living a healthier lifestyle and if I lose weight along the way, then great!
All through high school and my first year of college, I was a bit under weight. I blame it on dancing and cheering daily. I was constantly on the go and it didn’t catch up to me until sophomore year of college. I looked like I needed to eat a burger. Let’s be honest, I did gain some weight, but I was happy that I did because now I am at a healthier weight. Enough about that…
I’m going to be extremely honest with you. In the last couple of months (around Thanksgiving to be exact), I completely stopped working out. I have always really enjoyed working out and staying fit, but about once a year I go through a phase where I am tired of working out and I stop cold turkey. Well, enough is enough! This week, I started back and it was a bit tougher than I expected. I used to do the elliptical for an hour and felt great. Tuesday I completed 13 minutes on the elliptical and felt like I was going to pass out. NOT good. It was very humbling for sure.
I have always done better with a workout partner. It helps to have someone to that will keep me accountable and motivated. Lately, I haven’t found a good workout buddy because all of my friends are either pregnant, have moved, don’t have the time or just don’t want to. So it’s all up to me. That’s why I decided I would start this series so that you can help keep me accountable and maybe I can motivate you too!
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| Via |
If you are working out for the first time or for the first time in a while, it is important to start out slow. Do not over do it because you can get over-heated, pass out, injure yourself or damage your heart. Slowly work up to your goal. I have issues with this because I really enjoy pushing myself physically. I get really frustrated when I can’t do something, and so I keep going until I can. That’s not always a good thing and can be dangerous.
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| Via Because what’s a good fitness post without Paula and Mean Girls? |
Another important part of health is your diet. This is something I really struggle with. I love chocolate, Chinese food, Mexican food, and pizza. These are possibly the worst types of foods you can eat. They are packed with bad carbs, starches, grease, calories etc. The best foods you can eat are fruits and veggies in their most rare or pure form. I’ve made it a personal goal to eat at home more often this year and to eat healthier foods. I found a recipe for a Green Monster Smoothie by Neely at A Complete Waste of Make-up. I’ve made these for lunch every day this week because they are so filling and extremely healthy. The only thing I changed is that I do not add Truvia because the sugar in the fruit makes it plenty sweet for me.
Here are the workouts I completed this week:
Monday: 1.5 mile walk
Tuesday: 13 minutes elliptical, half mile walk, 10 push-ups, 50 crunches
Wednesday: 1.5 mile walk
Thursday: This yoga sequence by Mandy Ingber via Women’s Health
Goal for next week: To workout harder and longer than I did this week. Eat something green every day.
What are your goals this week?
I hope you find this new series motivating. Please let me know if you have any tips, advice, or questions (that I may or may not be able to answer). I’m very excited to get this started! Good luck to you on achieving your goals this week!
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Enter Paige’s giveaway in the rafflecopter below:
My Harry Potter Fix
Take Me Back to Jacksonville
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| Downtown Jacksonville on the river. |
My grandparents live in the best part of Jacksonville, FL.- Jax Beach. We try to go visit them about every other month or so because we love spending time with them and don’t get to see them as often as I would like. My grandmother and I have always been very close. We are very similar in a lot of ways and she is always making me laugh. I also love the city of Jacksonville. It is a big city with a lot of smaller suburbs and it has a beach and a river. Their food is wonderful, the atmosphere is extremely laid back and their stores are on steroids (at least compared to Montgomery’s). We love to go shopping while we are down there because you can always find the best deals.
I won’t get into all of the clothes that I bought because we will be here all day. I will however tell you about the books that I purchased. We stumbled upon a little used bookstore where I bought all of these for $8 + tax. No, I’m not kidding. Most of them were $0.50 a piece! How can you beat that? My mom was agitated surprised to hear that this Christmas entertaining book I found was only $1 when she paid $34.99 for the exact same one. Needless to say, I was pretty pumped about the purchase. They are all in very good condition and look like they’ve hardly been opened. I really wish we had a used book store in Montgomery. I buy most of my books on Amazon because I read too fast to justify spending full price. I recently bought a book that I paid $8.25 for after shipping. It was used on Amazon. When I received the book, I was a bit perturbed because it was in terrible condition and the seller had listed it as “good” condition. Then I flipped it to the back cover…the original cost of the book was $7.50. That’s right. I was not a happy camper, but that’s life. It happens. So having a used book store around would save me from paying too much for a sad looking book. If we stick around here much longer, I may just have to open one. 😉
Only a few hours left to enter to win a $50 Amazon gift card!!!
Oh, How Pinteresting! (14)
It’s Wednesday which means I’m linking up with Michelle for another week of Pinterest fun!
Click here to enter my giveaway to win a $50 Amazon gift card and ad space!!!
Literary Junkies (3)
Today I’m linking up with Taylor and Lesley for our 3rd month of Literary Junkies! If you are interested in joining this book club, either one of these girls can hook you up! Let’s get to it…
1. Which book could you read over and over? Why?
I could read any of Kate Morton’s books and Nora Robert’s Bride Quartet. I’ve also read the Hunger Games Trilogy and the Twilight Saga a few times. 😉
2. If you could be any character from any book you’ve read, who would you be?
Hmm…Katniss, because she is fearless and extremely brave, OR Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice.
3. Do you ever put a book down because you just can’t get into it? Or do you stick it out to the bitter end? Any examples?
I can’t not (like that double negative?) finish a book. Even if it is terrible, I feel really bad if I don’t finish. Example: Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier was terrible. It was boring and I couldn’t get into it at all, but I still finished it.
4. Show us your book shelves! Do you have one designated spot in your house for all your books? Do you scatter them around?
I keep the books that I’m reading on my night stand by the bed and the others I own are on book shelves throughout the house.
Click here to enter my giveaway to win a $50 Amazon gift card and ad space!!!
Bookworm Review: “The Distant Hours” by Kate Morton
The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
Washington Square Press
2010
Format: Paperback
First Line: Hush…Can you hear him?
From the back cover: It starts with a letter, lost for half a century and unexpectedly delivered to Edie’s mother on a Sunday afternoon. The letter leads Edie to Milderhurst Castle, where the eccentric Blythe spinsters live and where, she discovers, her mother was billeted during World War II. The elder Blythe sisters are twins and have spent most of their lives caring for their younger sister, Juniper, who hasn’t been the same since her fiancé jilted her in 1941.
Inside the decaying castle, Edie searches for her mother’s past but soon learns there are other secrets hidden in its walls. The truth of what happened in “the distant hours” has been waiting a long time for someone to find it. In this enthralling romantic thriller, Morton pays homage to the classics of Gothic fiction, spinning a rich and intricate web of mystery, suspense, and lost love.
My Thoughts: If you love mysteries and castles, you will love this book. Kate Morton is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I love her writing style and the Gothic mysteries she creates. These books have taken me back to my Nancy Drew days. Some mystery novels can be very predictable, but this was the opposite. It surprised me at every turn, and just when I thought I had it figured out, I didn’t. Nothing was ever what it seemed. This made the book very enjoyable.
The characters in this story are very eccentric. Edie was the most normal relatable character. I felt like she was someone I could have been friends with. Her passion is books. That passion mixed with a little family history takes her on a wild journey that leads her to the Blythe sisters. As she uncovers the sisters’ story and her mother’s history, she discovers deeply buried secrets that will shock you. The twins are very interesting. They were truly like two halves of a whole. Although twins, they shared opposite character traits. Juniper was mentally ill and was never given proper treatment because her sisters would not let her leave the castle. They didn’t want her taken away from them. They also suffered the consequences…
The story is captivating from the first page. I couldn’t get enough of the story and couldn’t put the book down. I highly recommend The Distant Hours and give it five stars.
(I purchased this book)
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