I have to say that I am really pleasantly surprised. The cover on the book is a little cheesy and I was concerned that the story might not be all that great but I must say that I am really digging this story. I first and foremost really like the main character Stephenie. She is a tough cookie and in the first half of the book she has made her way out of the castle and found a deserted city.
The character development in this story is great and I like how quickly I become attached to them. Sargent Henton and Kas have quickly become favorites and I am very excited to see what happens to Stephenie as she is sent on her way out of the underground city.
To see more and know exactly how I felt about the book please check out my video!!
So if you haven't seen the video please check that out to see what all the prizes will be and what you will receive!!
Collaborating with my very special ladies, Rhomany and Carie we decided to challenge ourselves and find some goodies , show all of you how we use them and then do a give away!! How fun is that!?!?
So here are the goodies that I found!
These little stamps are from Studio G!! Aren't they just adorable!! They are the perfect sized little letters to fit into your planner or journal! Just adore these and the best part is that they are only $1.50!! Check Micheals Craft store in the little bins that have other little stamps and ink pads.
There is nothing better than stickers!! I love stickers and I love seasonal ones especially!! I love using these to decorate my planners and journals. The best part is finding them for $1.00!
I love these adorable little witches! If one of them had red hair they could be the girls from Hocus Pocus, which is my favorite Halloween movie!!
Washi tape is something that I just love to have on hand. It helps to decorate any page. I love this super duper thin washi because it works perfectly in the Hobonichi. The Hobonichi is very sleek and this super thin washi works perfectly as well as working perfectly to block off dates in your planner!
Notesbooks are just essential for me! I always need notebooks that I use for brain dumps and lists and everything in between! Can't get enough of them and these are just adorable!!
If you would like to see everything that you can win in the giveaway be sure to check out my video!! Good Luck and I hope you win!!
xoxo
As I'm reading along this past week all I can think about is is Stephenie going to stay and get Sarge to help her out or is she going to make her escape. Quickly I find out that she is going to make her escape in the night through the floor boards. The hardest part for me during this is trying to envision it. What do these floor boards look like and how small is she?? How many boards does she need to take apart in order to get down there?
Ok, moving on from that she makes it down into complete darkness! This did keep me on edge and nervous for her. I do keep reminding myself that she is a witch and can probably take care of herself or more than your average teenage girl. So we are suspended in this darkness for what seems like forever and I'm just waiting for something to pop out at her! Stephenie seems to find lots of rubble and hears water which could be good or bad not certain which. It seems as though this is a passage that perhaps has not been used in a very long time. At the end of the tunnel she may find the edge of a cliff as well. This has kept my attention and kept me on the edge of my seat. Pretty fun to anticipate something.
Finally we make it out of this rubble filled passage and she almost seems like she may get stuck and may need to find another route or another way out but is able to make it through.
During all of this for some reason I'm trying to visualize what she looks like. Is her hair long? Dark? Did I miss this in the book or was I zoned out? Not sure but for some reason I am having a hard time with my imagination in this book.
We make it out and see that there is a town, or something that looks like a town. It seems abandoned and Stephenie begins to peak into windows and sees that most people's belongings are still there. Can't seem to figure out why people would leave in such a rush without there belongings. Then we peak into another and see a skull. Now some fear is settling in was this town struck with illness and people in fact could not escape. As she is walking through all I can think is that something has to come out and either attack her or scare her! Something is coming right??
Well she makes it to a library and thinks that there is some apparition or ghost in front of her. He comes straight for her and she feels a sharp pain! Yikes!! Spooky! What the hell was that!? Just as a suspected something just came out of nowhere!!
She quickly undresses and looks at her chest and sees black reptile like skin. I love in fantasy books how we aren't completely shocked by ghosts and reptile like skin showing up on our bodies! Hahah
Well the ghost/apparition begins to speak to her and tells her that she can heal herself. She quickly realizes that maybe he isn't an enemy but not completely sure. As she speaks to him he tells her that she seems to be slow for a person her age and with her abilities. She has no clue how to heal herself or what he is referring to her about. She explains little to him about her mother and her situation but he tells her that she can not leave this town. Her presence has awakened him and that her presence may have done the same for the rest of the town!
This is where I ended last night and I can't wait to see what happens!!
What do you guys think so far?? Are you enjoying it and are you on the edge of your seat as well?
Please leave comments down below!
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. All I can say right off the bat is that I'm so sorry that I waited this long to read the book!! I loved this book and felt like this was something new and refreshing!
I will not be giving away any spoilers in this review. The story is about a teenage boy named Jacob who is kind of a spoiled rich kid and his grandfather is an orphaned WWII survivor. His grandfather shares stories and pictures with him about peculiar children and how they were his friends. As a young child he believes the stories but as he grows older he starts to not believe any of them.
Things happen and Jacob sets out to find some answers that he has about these peculiar children. He and his father set out to the island that the grandfather claims was where the peculiar children reside. Once Jacob arrives he is very disappointed that nothing remains or so he thought!
Jacobs doubts are quickly turned around and he begins on a very exciting journey with the peculiar children.
I have to stop here or else I will give away too much and this book is most definitely a great read!!
First and foremost with Halloween around the corner this story has some spooky moments and since I do most of my reading at night I was very thankful that my hubby was sleeping right next to me!!
The story line is constantly moving and keeps you engaged the entire time. The character development is fantastic and you feel like you are there right along with Jacob. I love all the peculiar children and there little 'tricks'. Just a fantastic read!!
If you are concerned that this is too 'young', nonsense! It's a great story and the author writes in a mature fashion that most adults will really enjoy! It has a beautiful story along with the adventure and lessons to be learned!
Have you read this book? If so please let me know your thoughts!!
I know I didn't get this up on time but the reality is that life does get in the way sometimes!! LOL that is exactly why I decided to do this book club over a 2 month period of time. For the quick readers it works out because they can continue to read other books and for the slower or ones who have a harder time to find to read are able to keep up!
So for the second week I only read up to Chapter5. I am reading Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children and that book is excellent and has been keeping my attention as well as I have been doing some research for upcoming videos so to be honest I haven't been giving Mother's Curse my full attention. I'm almost done with Miss Peregrine so then Mother's Curse will be my first priority.
So far.... at the end of chapter 2 Stephenie makes it to her mothers chambers which sound like they are on the other side of the planet. I just love all these old castles and the many many guards and all the obstacles that she had to go through to make it. I even got lost trying to imagine what it looked like. Her mother sounds like a peach and is definitely up to something no good. We know she was probably behind Stephenie's guards missing and the fact that her mother's guards are so disrespectful to her is unreal!
In Chapter 3, we meet Sergeant Henton. He sounds like he is a stand up kind of rugged handsome man. We assume Stephenie was running off to see if she can find her father and brothers. We know that she is freakishly strong because she took a punch from the Sarge and I'm guessing he has a pretty mean punch!! I like that Stephenie is feisty and she can fend for herself. She is rude and crude to the Sarge even though he is quite nice to her. I can't believe how she gets beaten up by the guards. If she didn't have some super natural healing powers she would be hospitalized!!
In Chapter 4 we see that Stephanie starts to maybe let her guard down a little towards Henton. I'm guessing that she is desperate to have somebody that she can trust. I think she just wants someone to be on her side and that's probably why she might be letting her guard down a little. She seems to be staying in her chambers but also planning of getting out. She is torn because she does realize that if she does run then peoples lives won't be protected.
I'm enjoying the book so far. I like that Stephenie is a strong female character. I like that she is meeting with the Sarge because I feel like this could be a great friendship. I do feel like there is some adventure coming our way soon!!
What are your thoughts so far? Are we going to slow for you? Please share your thoughts!!
So I have to admit first and foremost that I have only read the first two chapters but I really really like the book so far!! How is everyone doing so far?? We had two weddings this weekend and my daughter started gymnastics and swimming and I have been doing some research so I have not been able to read as much and this is EXACTLY why I thought it would be great to give ourselves more time to read. I hate being rushed to read something! I really love to enjoy my books and learn the characters.
Ok enough rambling and onto the book. We are getting to know Stephenie our main character. She seems like a girl that I could like. She seems strong willed, smart and very courageous. We know that she likes to read which I always catch this as many main characters in books are big book worms!! It's so funny but I love to catch that in books! We know that Stephanie's brothers are a big part of her life and they are not with her right now and she misses them terribly. I can't wait to meet her mother! From what I have read so far I know I'm definitely not going to like her, she is someone who is trying to hide that Stephenie is a witch and finds this to be something negative. We know of one ally hopefully, Doug who was in her chambers when she came down the tower.
As Stephenie creeps through the spooky castle she makes her way to the cook and asks how many prisoners he is cooking for. That's all I've gotten through so far and I have to say that I am hooked. The images I have of this remind me alot of the show Reign on the CW. The main character beautiful and smart. The evil mother also beautiful but evil.
Can't wait to see how the story continues and I hope to get more reading done this week!!
How are all of you liking it so far? I know that some of you have finished it which is amazing and I know some of you are much further along than I am. Let me know how it's going!!
Have a great week and I will be back next Sunday with another update!!
Ok so as soon as I saw these beautiful planners online I was intrigued. Both planners from Emily Ley and Whitney English are gorgeous. I love the simple yet elegant design as well as it being a daily planner. I don't think that I have every used a daily planner and I read and watched as many videos as I could on these two planners. The more I read about them the more I wanted them but the problem I was running into was that I could not find this planner anywhere!! I could not find it anywhere and believe me I searched high and low!!
Soooooo.....being that I am someone that has to have it right away. I get an idea in my head and I have to have it right away. I know I know the 2015 ones from both of these ladies comes out soon but I want to start using one now!!
I made my own of course!! Here is what I did!
I started off by looking for the right notebook. I went to Target and found this gorgeous hard cover notebook and I loved the size. I found 2 at Micheals that were also great and $1.98. They are a bit smaller and I gravitated more to this one.
Inside I tried to look for as many photos as I could find to look for similar templates of the Ley/English planners.
I found a pretty google image and made a title page. I am still working on the tabs but these are what I am using for now.
The Year at a glance and title page for the month of September. I love making planners beautiful because i'm drawn to them and want to use them more!
I just google or go onto pinterest and look for pictures of things that are inspiring and then copy and paste them into a word document.
The month spread I had purchased from someone on etsy and I have used these over and over again. I love the really pretty design and it's colorful yet clean looking!
As for the daily pages, again I modeled from the Ley/English pages that I could find pictures of online. I have a section that is timed and I changed the times to work for me. I left the space blank for quotes because I like to look one up each day.
I have a section for monitoring water, fitness and then a space for gratitude for each day! Notes as well as a to do section are also in place.
Using this daily lay out helps me to really get things done. It's broken down so nicely and effectively for me. I just have been noticing that so much more is getting done.
Getting monthly goals written down really helps me to achieve them. Even if it's something like blogging twice a week or getting a run in 3 times a week it really keeps me motivated to have them written down and looking at them each day!
I'm just so happy and excited about this planner. If you would like to know how I printed and got the pages to stay in this notebook please check out my video!!
So I had a very sweet subscriber reach out to me and ask if I would be interested in reading the books that her husband had written. First of all I LOVE all my subscribers and secondly I LOVE promoting and supporting people who are following their dreams!
So I decided to of course do a virtual book club with all of you. I would love to hang out with all of you and have a glass of whine and talk about books but we can't do that, well we can virtually!!! Hahha!!
I love the idea that Oprah had when she did her book club. She would read up to certain points in a book and then discuss those sections, so I will be doing the same!
Here is a break down of what I will be doing:
Book announcement September 1st, each Sunday until September 28th I will be posting on my blog about the book and what I think so far. My thoughts and comments and I encourage you to come here and post your comments and thoughts as well!
On October 1st I will be posting another video discussing the first part of the book overall and announcing the reading of the second half. Every sunday for the month of October I will be posting about the book and then on November 2nd I will post a video talking about this book in it's entirety and what we will be reading next!!
Here is a synopsis of the book:
Heirs of Cothel Series, Book 1 Sword Woman, Princess, ... Cursed Witch Tradition holds that a mother who commits a mortal sin against the gods will be cursed with a daughter born a witch. Stephenie, the youngest princess of Cothel is just such a curse. Hostage to her mother's will while her father and older brother fight a war two countries away, Stephenie must overcome her mother's plots if she is to save her father, brother, and the many soldiers she trained with. Fearful of her mother's growing traitorous behavior, Stephenie must escape Antar Castle. But to do so, she might have to rely upon her hidden powers, risking others discovering she is a witch...a risk that would most certainly result in her death by burning. With the help of a select group of soldiers and an unexpected ally, she just might survive. If you would like to see this book on goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20888218-mother-s-curse
Where to buy the book:
On Amazon both hard copy and ebook!
http://www.amazon.com/Mothers-Curse-Heirs-Cothel-Book-ebook/dp/B00775GMYO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1409436914&sr=8-2&keywords=thaddeus+nowak
Just finished reading this book today. I like to write my reviews right after completing books because my emotions are high and I definitely feel passionate about the book and still very much connected to the characters.
I do not have spoilers in this review just some highlights that I enjoy or dislike about the book. I have been craving murder/mystery novels because I have been reading post apocalyptic books for the past 4 years and wanted a break. I also have been watching Sherlock which is an incredible show if you haven't watched it. I have been enjoying it so so much. I also love forensics and mystery , it's simply fascinating.
I must say it's quite hard to find a murder/mystery book that keeps you on the edge of your seat. With that said I will be honest right off the bat and say that this did not have my biting my nails and on the edge of my seat. Perhaps I'm setting my sights too high but this book lacked a bit of that suspense. If you have watched True Detectives on HBO you know what I mean about nail biting suspense. I want a book that makes me want to stay up late at night trying to figure out what the killer did to the body, what where the motives??
In this book, character development is great. I really feel like I get to know the characters and feel certain emotions toward them. Relationships develop in a way that you are involved as a reader emotional. Leading up to clues is somewhat exciting but then quickly it kind of just plops. There isn't an incredible amount of excitement when it comes to clues int he case. Once the killer is identified you once again that so much of the story will develop but no there are no surprises, no "oh my gosh" moments.
It's overall a decent read and moves fairly quickly but I would not say that it's very suspenseful. It does get somewhat predictable at some points. The characters are developed well and the idea is very intriguing but in this book they fall flat. Perhaps the author captures more excitement in the next two books but I will admit that it will be difficult for me to want to pick up the next two.
Another book club book choice. I'm always hesitant about my book club books if you have read any of my previous posts but this time I was somewhat intrigued.
Reading the back cover I enjoyed reading about coming to appreciate your mom. The author does a great job in this book of making you stop to appreciate your mom no matter what type of mom she was to you!
I will not be giving away any spoiler during this book review just highlights some parts of the book that I really liked. The story is very easy moving and you could get this read in a day. A good beach read because it's something that you don't really need to think too much about so if your spending the day at the pool and you get distracted it's easy to get right back into the book.
The author shares that like most young adults we graduate college and now what?? Where is that great adventure in life? Something that we can tell our grandkids about! That most wonderful adventure and so Kelly (the main character) sets off on her great adventure to Australia. After running out of money she needs to find a job and so finds a temp position as a nanny for a family who recently lost their mom to cancer.
Before you feel as though this book is too sad it's not and there isn't too much sadness about cancer. It's not like a Fault in Our Stars at all in fact it's the family moving forward in their lives. As Kelly spends her days as a nanny to these children she begins to have experiences about her mom and what her mom meant when she did these things as Kelly was a child. We sometimes don't understand why our parents do what they do when we are kids but as we grow older and become parents we better understand.
I never understood what my mom meant when she use to tell me "you'll understand when you have your own daughter, " or my favorite " just wait til you have your own daughter if you will let her ....". Well the day has come that I do have my own daughter and I COMPLETELY understand what my mom meant.
As the book moves along the author has many cute realizations and shares many moments about her mom that she now loves and appreciates. She brings up the most obvious that we don't always appreciate and love our mother. We always think that someone else's mom did it better but as adults we realize that wow she did do a great job!
Overall my thoughts on this book are that it's an easy read. A feel good book that is perfect for the beach or the pool. If you love your mom or you struggle with your mom I think you will enjoy the book!
I was still trying to perfect the Erin Condren Life Planner. I love it and I love the paper but I had to still make it so that it would give me planner peace!
What was my thought process.....well.....I like a spiral actually because you can fold it over and more portable in my opinion. The problem is that it's not customizable or so I thought. I was at Staples and remembered the Arc disc bound system. I stood in the aisle for a long time staring at the system trying to decide if this was something that I wanted to commit to. I finally decided yes I think so and I can't even tell you how incredibly happy I am with it!!
You do need to invest in a hole punch but to be honest I started turning everything into a disc bound system, including a cook book. All the recipes I find in magazines etc I can just punch it and put it into the book!!
The system can really work with any cover and all you need are the discs and the hole punch. I opted to purchase the larger discs so that they can accommodate up to 250 pages.
I also loved putting my Erin Condren in this system because I recently stumbled upon Leonie Dawson and her life workbook. I wanted to print this workbook out and put it in with my daily book as well. I wanted to stuff what I wanted with me at all times as well as flip it over on itself so that it doesn't take up as much space as a filofax!
If your someone that likes to put in your accessories such as a folder and plastic pocket you can surely do that as well!
It's been a great and exciting adventure and so far I love my creation. If you would like to see more...Here you go!!
Being a stay at home mom now is hard for me to look back at the day and see where my time went! I went from working in an office and had about 50-60 hours that were full of meetings and all managed by my online calendar! Now being at home my life has done a 180. I find myself looking back and trying to figure out what did I do today? Did I really get alot accomplished?
So after doing some research and watching tons of videos on Youtube about people getting organized and managing time I found something called a Chronodex. It's absolutely genius and I'm always amazed with how brilliant people are. The creator is Patrick Ng and he has a great blog and Facebook page that shows the many uses for it and it's honestly just awesome!!
So I printed one off and tried to manage my time but got stuck. It was hard to understand how to manage time when I am no longer someone who has a "9-5 job". I'm a mom now I get up at 3 am. I also stay up til 2am or 3am sometimes in order to get things done. So I searched of course for more and found a video by Kent from Oz and his spiraled.
Ahhhh.....what a beautiful concept. Very easy to follow and it's something I could follow for 24 hours!!
How does it look and how am I using it?
This is a blown up version of the one I am using. I am using a much smaller version to fit in my Molang Diary. I put in all the times and start in the inner circle with 12 am and go all the way around until I get to 12 am again. I have 5 colors and they are all designated for different categories during the day. Then at the end of the day it looks something like this.
You may notice some writing around the spiraldex. I right tasks around it for the week, kind of like a bullet journal system of my own as well as lines that pull out of the spiraldex that explain what the gaps of the time mean.
Pictured above is what an uncompleted week looks like as well as a week that is completed.
Now it's a great system but I am still working on it to tweak it and allow for more multitasking. Alot of times I'm doing two things at once and I would love to be able to capture that somehow so I guess it's a work in progress.
So I would call what I have is a mild addiction to asian stationary!! It started with the Hobonichi and well...it's just been down hill since then!! I love how a.) cute it is b.) how the books lie flat c.) the size and the list goes on. I just can't get enough. I love the little diary stickers, pens it's just so adorable. So during my searching I found a Molang Diary. Anytime I find something I want to see the inside of I search on Instagram and Pinterest. I was just flooded with adorable pictures of peoples diaries. The first thing I noticed was that it was undated!! I LOVE that!! No pressure I can fill it in as I please!!
The little diary from what I found on Ebay came in like an ivory, fuchsia pink and robin egg blue colors. The seller that I purchased from asked $9.95 and they came in about a week from Korea to the U.S. They also came with a few diary stickers that are just adorable!!
Here is a month spread and as you can see you date it as you please!! I just love that and I went out and purchased some really cute date stamps from Target and the smash book section at Michaels!
I just can't get over all the adorable pictures inside of the diary!! They are just too cute!!
And I love the detail because I think alot of us stationary nuts love these cute little details!
The week at a glance starts on a monday and ends on a Sunday which I love. I like to have my weekends together because I usually plan for the weekend and don't love it when Sunday is on the next page.
There is also a to do list at the beginning of every month, I like to use this as an index as well as highlights of events to make it easier to reference later!
Just love the little details. There is a pen loop hidden in the back!!
Just love this little guy! Bought myself another one and also one to giveaway to one of you!!
Giveaway Rules!!!
1.) Open for two weeks August 9-23, 2014
2.) Must be a YouTube subscriber
3.) Must follow this blog
4.) What will you use this diary for?? Leave it in the comments!
5.) Winner will be emailed so be sure to leave your email with your comment so I can get in touch with you!!
The character development in this story is great and I like how quickly I become attached to them. Sargent Henton and Kas have quickly become favorites and I am very excited to see what happens to Stephenie as she is sent on her way out of the underground city.
