The Casual Vacancy



I did it.  I made it through The Casual Vacancy.  For those who don't know, The Casual Vacancy is the newest book by J.K. Rowling, the author of Harry Potter.  This was her first book for adults.  The first mistake I made (and I'm sure that many others made), was thinking that this book would be like Harry Potter.  It wasn't, in any way. 

There were a lot of characters in the book.  I don't watch Corination Street, but I imagine it's something like this book.  A lot of British people living in the same town, with a lot of drama.  It's hard to keep track of all of them.  As time went on though, I figured out the characters and how they were all connected.  Once you know the characters, it becomes easier to get into the book.  I was probably about halfway through the book before I got to this point.  By the end of the book, of course I couldn't put it down. 

I don't know if I would recommend this book.  It is 500 pages long and isn't an easy read.  But if you want to read it for the sake of reading J.K. Rowling's latest book, I urge you to keep reading.  You might need to stop and come back to it.  Or you might just want to take your time.  It took me a month to read because I never read a lot of it in a day.

Like any book though, it would have been better if the characters had magic wands...Now Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is calling my name.

What to do when your husband is away

Ryan was away at a bachelor party all weekend doing whatever guys do at bachelor parties. So that meant a very exciting weekend of doing whatever I wanted. I had the best Saturday! 

I woke up to the kitten nibbling on my feet. I guess she didn't think that I should be sleeping in. I made french toast and a lot of coffee for breakfast and settled in to get caught up on TV. I was behind on Grey's, Glee, The Vampire Diaries and The Real Housewives of New York.  I know this is a lot, but when Ryan is away I'm not accountable to anyone. Of course I also got caught up on reading blogs while watching.

Then I got a text from my sister to let me know that they had 2 pedicure cancellations at the spa she works at. So I hurried and did my yoga meltdown DVD so that I could shower and get ready to go. I went with my mom to get it done. It was pretty nice and I don't usually treat myself to things like that. 

What's that? You didn't want a picture of my feet? Too bad.

When I got home I made some banana bread. It didn't turn out. What's with that!  My banana bread always turns out.  Then I went to my friend's house and we had quesadillas, greek salad, wine and some girl talk.  

As much as I miss Ryan when he's gone, it's really nice to just do my own thing once in awhile. Don't worry, I did do some cleaning on Sunday, so I wasn't a total lazy bum!

Zumba!

Source: Uploaded by user via Lorraine on Pinterest

I just realized that it's Fitness Friday.  I had no post planned for today, so lets see what I can pull out in 10 minutes.  (Really I have less than that, because I have to leave in 10 minutes, I'm in my housecoat, and I need to get my lunch packed up and my boots tied tight, 10 points if you know what I'm talking about there....)

ZUMBA.  I feel slightly bad talking about this, because Zumba class hasn't seen me in quite awhile.  You see, I have an hour commute, and usually on Wednesday evenings I stay in the city late and go to hot yoga, so staying late another night to go to Zumba just isn't something I want to be doing.  But, I used to go to Zumba every week. 

The key to Zumba is having a good instructor.  I have tried out numerous instructors, and some just don't get you moving enough.  If I'm not sweating at the end of a Zumba class, something is wrong.  Sure, there are always people in the class who can't handle big movements, but that's why the move should be shown at different levels of difficulty.  If you have a good instructor though, Zumba is an awesome workout.  Plus it's fun.  It doesn't matter that you look like an idiot who can't dance while doing it.  We all look like idiots who can't dance. 

I also have the Zumba game for my playstation.  It's not bad.  It has a bunch of different 20 minute or 45 minute workouts.  When I'm at home, I prefer the 20 minute workout, because I get bored of dancing in my basement after that.  And if Ryan comes downstairs I always stop because I'm pretty sure I'm embarrassing myself. 

So there is my fitness suggestion for today!.  This link up has been brought to you by Going With The Flow.

If I Were a Boy

Today Erin is doing a link up called "If I Were a Boy" and I just couldn't resist.  What girl doesn't dream about certain things they would do if they were a boy!

If I were a boy....
-I would sleep in until 10 minutes before I had to leave but it would be ok because I still wouldn't be late for work
-I would shower more often because it wouldn't mess up my hair
-I would eat more without worrying about the calories, because I probably wouldn't gain weight
-Maybe I would like activities like cutting the lawn... Or maybe not
-I would be more daring and not so concerned with consequences
-I would definitely take advantage of being able to pee anywhere

Really though I kind of like that I'm a girl. 
(Excuse the lack of pictures, I tried to find a picture of me looking like a boy, but luckily, I don't seem to have any.)

In other news, it's crazy cold outside.  With wind chill, it has been -20 or something crazy like that.  When I got home today I immediately put on my extra warm socks and I really just want to crawl into my bed and turn the heated mattress pad on high.  I'm so over January.  

The Facts of Me

Today I'm linking up with Whitney at I Work Yoga Pants to Work to talk about The Facts of Me.  So here are some fun facts!

• I would wear yoga clothes all the time if I could
• I think about food constantly, fat kid in a skinny kids body I think
• I would rather stay in and watch a real housewives marathon than do anything else
• I overanalyze everything
• I google everything
• I love penguins 

• I'm known to my family as bag girl - I have tons of bags and every time I leave the house I usually seem to have at least 3.  When going on a trip somewhere I will just keep carrying bags out to the car (Ryan says this isn't a fun fact, it's an annoying fact)
• My sister and her friends call me Mama Bear because I'm always watching out for them and driving their drunk bums to the bar (actually I don't do that anymore, I go to bed at 10 now, before they have even left for the bar)

I drive - They snap a million pics in the back

• This list makes me feel like I'm no fun
• My sister and I used to teach my little brother how to dance like The Backstreet Boys - HILARIOUS, he doesn't find it amusing
• I put cheese wizz on my french toast instead of maple syrup
• I have a really hard time coming up with facts, probably because I think that everything I do is completely normal, when in reality it's completely weird

On that note, I better wrap up this post up and get moving. 

Working on My Fitness

Source: Uploaded by user via Nikki on Pinterest

I was going to post this tomorrow, but today is Tara's This Week In Workouts linkup, and it ties into that, so I thought, I might as well join in!

I'm actually going to share my past 2 weeks in workouts, because I have checked something off my 30 before 30 list!  I worked out every day for two weeks.  This item on my list was more about having a two week span where I didn't come up with any excuses.  It wasn't about having hardcore hour and a half work outs every day, it was about getting my butt in gear and making sure I did something, anything, each day. 

Here is what I did:

Sunday - 45 minutes on the elliptical
Monday - HABIT class (Hips, Abs, Butt, Inner Thighs)
Tuesday - Upper Body weights
Wednesday - 90 minutes yoga
Thursday - TABATA
Friday - Yogalates
Saturday - TABATA at home
Sunday - Jillian Michael's Yoga Meltdown
Monday - Absolute Core
Tuesday - 45 Minutes on the elliptical
Wednesday - Ball class
Thursday - HABIT
Friday - Yoga at home
Saturday - TABATA at home

It kept me interested because I switched it up every day.  I went to a bunch of classes, and did  a few home workouts as well.  Some days my body was telling me it needed a break, so I tried to do something a bit easier those days, like going on the elliptical, or accepting that Absolute Core would be my only work out for the day. 

Fitness Friday

Source: loseweight-safe.com via Kaileigh on Pinterest

I'm linking up with Desirae today for Fitness Friday.  I have thought about doing fitness posts for awhile now, so this link up seems like the perfect opportunity!

Fitness is something that is very important to me.  I started working out back in University when I gained a few pounds (a few being like 20) and I haven't looked back.  Not only does it help me to maintain my weight, but it makes me generally happier.  I enjoy finding new work outs that challenge me.

That leads into my topic.  TABATA.  The latest and greatest fitness craze.  I have actually only done it twice, but so far I love it.  We have fitness classes at my office at lunch and so I did the first one there.  It was tough!  But I came out of that workout feeling awesome.  Then I did one on my own at home last weekend.  I found this Tabata clock online and used it on my playbook while watching taped TV episodes.  Multitasking people!

Basically, Tabata is a series of 8 exercises.  You do a 20 second interval followed by a 10 second rest, and you do that 8 times.  I believe there are a few different ways of doing this.  Some people do the 8 exercises one after another and then repeat that whole series 8 times.  The way my fitness instructor does it is to repeat the same exercise 8 times in a row.  Then you take a 2 minute rest before you begin the next sequence of 8.  Trust me, you need that 2 minutes once you get to the 4th circuit!  When I'm repeating the same exercise, sometimes I will add variations.  Or if I am doing a weights exercise, I will alternate and do 4 of one exercise and 4 of another.

The great thing about Tabata, is that time flies!  It's about an hour long work out once you add in warm up and cool down, but it goes quickly and you definitely feel like it was worth your time at the end of it!  And everyone wants to feel like it was worth their time at the end of a workout.

Happy Blogiversary!

{via}

Today is my first blogiversary!  I can't believe I have been writing on this little blog for a whole year now.  I know I only have 35 followers, I'm not the biggest blog on the block!  But, I'm having a great time with it.  So thank you to my 35 followers for following along.  I really appreciate it. 

I love blogging mostly because it gives me something to do.  It's also a great outlet and an awesome way to keep track of what is going on in our lives.  I love the whole big blogging world that I have found.  And it is way bigger than I ever expected!  I had no idea what I was getting into a year ago when I was only following 4 blogs.

Oh and here are my 5 most viewed posts, just for the fun of it:

Oreo Cheesecake Deliciousness - catchy title I know, but they are delicious

Little Piece of Our Wedding - thanks Pinterest challenge

Return of the Scrunchie - random, it seems to be a big search term in google

Pinterest Challenging - again, linking up with Young House Love for the pinterest challenge draws in the readers

Culinary Tour

So yes, most of my top hits are because it is a popular search term or because the link was posted somewhere else on the interweb. 

So happy first birthday you little blog you. 

Literary Junkies #3

I'm linking up with Literary Junkies again this month. 

1. Which book could you read over and over? Why?
This is a tricky one.  I read books multiple times more often when I was younger.  This is actually kind of surprising since generally I read a book and then completely forget what happened in it, so I could probably just continuously read the same books.  I have probably read The Giver more than anything else though.

2. If you could be any character from any book you've read, who would you be?
Ginny Weasley.  I was gonna say Hermione but I feel like I need to stick to my ginger roots. Seriously though, who doesn't want to be a wizard?

{via}

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?
Absolutely I will put a book down.  My time is too valuable to read books that are terrible.  I usually try to give them a fair shot though.  I'm not really enjoying The Casual Vacancy but I'm convinced that I'm going to get through it.  So there's one that I'm going to stick it out to the bitter end for!

4. Show us your book shelves. 
I totally forgot to take a picture last night, but that's probably for the best.  My book shelf is currently in the office, and the entire office is just a catch all for all of our junk.  It's a mess.

I do have plans for making a little book nook in my basement.  And honestly, most of my books are in boxes at my parents house still.  Actually some of them might be at boxes in my house.  Everytime I go to their place they send me home with a box...  I had a teacher who said to never get rid of a book (the same teacher who told me I read crap books, so I guess she wasn't completely bad), but because of that I have never gotten rid of a single book.  I have them all somewhere!

Unveiling the Bathroom Makeover

The upstairs bathroom was the only room on the main floor that we hadn't done anything with.  Now it's my favourite room in the house.  Here is what we started with.  Dull and dreary with a lovely floral border.

And of course the bathroom light we were dealing with for the past year.  The bathroom wasn't that bad actually, we could deal with it.  But now I love it!

Here she is!

 

My fantastic husband did the whole thing on his Christmas break.  It pays to have a husband who works for a kitchen company.  He built the vanity himself.

I love the detail in the cabinets.  We went a bit overboard/over budget with the fixtures.  I really wanted these fancy drawer pulls, but they were worth it.

I also required the fancy faucet.  

Ryan also built a frame for around the mirror.  I think the light is an improvement as well.

This may seem like a little thing, but Ryan built new shelves for the linen closet and made them so that they didn't come out as far so that we could hang our towels in the closet,  out of sight.  This works well since we registered for brown towels when we got married and brown towels would drive me crazy if they were visible all the time.

I'm in love!  It makes me happy every time I go in there!  

And That's Who I Am

Every day I wake up and think I should get ready for work and leave early to put in a bit of extra time.  Then I sit down at the computer and that idea is shot. 

This morning Ryan said to me "It's Friday letters, I'm linking up with Kaileigh today, Dear Kaileigh: I love my wife."  I think he's really catching on to this blogging thing.  Or he wants me to say point for husband more often on the blog... Anyways, I'm not doing Friday letters today.  I came across the ...and that's who I am tumblr page and thought I would do a And That's Who I Am post.

4 Whole Years

This morning as I was getting ready for work, Ryan asked me if today was our anniversary.  My first thought was, "were you at our wedding?  Because it definitely wasn't in January."  So I said ummm no.  Then I looked at my phone.  January 10.  He's right!  We started "officially" dating 4 years ago today.  Point for you husband.  The date came up as a reminder in your phone, lose half a point.  Do people still acknowledge their dating anniversary once they are married?  I guess it doesn't hurt. 

So here's to us putting up with each other for 4 years!  We have been together for as long as highschool.  It makes me feel like I'm in a real relationship, which is good, being as we are married and all.