5 things i'm loving right now (march)

how in the world is it march already?!  cray.  i get my hopes all up because in georgia- march means spring is coming (and from the sound of it- it's already been spring all winter back home).  here in illinois, that's just not the case- today it was 60 degrees- how delightful, right?  by that evening it was 35 and sleeting.  boo.  all i know is that warmer weather is definitely around some corner & spring begins in march + daylight savings time begins!

here's what i'm loving this month...

modcloth!  i love modcloth every month, but there's extra love for them right now.  i'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my stylish surprise.  omg- what am i getting?!?  i guess we'll find out this weekend.  i can't wait to see.  i love that modcloth does surprising little treats + they have top notch customer service.  i'm so excited to be apart of their modsquad again this year!!

this book!  i've just started reading it and i'm really excited to see what's in store.  i'm sure i'm in for a rude awakening.  we're always making small changes to make our diet better.  for lent i've decided to give up coke.  so far i'm 1 week in and i really haven't had any cravings for it yet.  we'll see how the next 5 weeks go!

the hunger games movie!!!  i just finished reading the trilogy earlier this week.  i loved it.  i'm really excited to see the movie.  dave wants to read the series too, so i'm hoping i can at least get him to finish the first book in time to see the movie opening weekend.  anyone else a fan?

hair tutorials (not my own- but from other people).  they are the source of my greatest joy and my greatest frustration.  there are a few that i've mastered quite easily and some that i just can't get no matter how long i try.  seriously, i need someone to teach me the secret to back combing (just can't seem to get it right) and how to pull the top part of my hair up (just can't ever get that right either).  and i hated my long hair so much- but  now it's too short...  

i am obsessed with iced coffee (and coffee in general right now).  i go through stages with coffee- i drink it for weeks and then i quit drinking it for months.   right now i'm drinking hot coffee and iced coffee.  i have to say how much i love mcdonald's iced coffee.  we don't go there very often- rarely, but lately i've been making a stop there for some delish iced coffee.  i usually get a small with cream only & vanilla sugar-free syrup.  only 60 calories in that.  yesssss.  

what are you loving this month?  

linking up.

oh, and for crying out loud, have you entered my totally awesome giveaway?  i guess at least 2 people read my blog!!

mommy reads in 2011

i wanted to read more in 2011- so i took on the page to screen challenge over at reading extensively.  the goal was to read books that were turned into movies/tv shows and if you chose, to watch the corresponding movie/show.  i thought i could do at least 5- i definitely passed my expectations. 

so many people say that once they have a baby, they don't have time to read anymore...  baloney.  if you like to read- read.  you probably have the time.  i didn't read 100 books this year, but i read a few...  i think i did pretty well.

in 2011 i read...

1. the lovely bones - alice sebold
2. carrie - stephen king
3. BUtterfield 8 - john o'hara
4. the virgin suicides - jeffery eugenides
5. the accidental billionaires - ben mezrich
6. twilight - stephanie meyer
7. eclipse - stephanie meyer
8. new moon - stephanie meyer
9.  breaking dawn - stephanie meyer
10. between a rock & a hard place - aron ralston
11. something borrowed - emily giffin
12. the help - kathryn sockett
13. eat, pray, love - elizabeth gilbert
14. push - sapphire
15. dear john - nicholas sparks
16. water for elephants - sara gruen

not book challenge related, but i also read:
17.  garden anywhere - alys fowler
18.  your first triathlon - joe friel

and started in 2011, but finished in 2012... (19.) shutter island.

so i finished 16 books for the challenge!!! (!!)  pdg.  want to know what i thought of the books i read in 2011?  you can find it all right here.  now it's on to 2012....

mommy reads: water for elephants

water for elephants

i'm so glad i was able to end 2011 on a good note as far as reading goes.  there have definitely been some ups & downs this year, but this was definitely a high.  

jacob jankowski is a 23 year old vet student at cornell only days away from taking his finals and joining his father's practice.  however, his parents are tragically killed in a car accident and jacob learns that his father mortgaged their home (this is right after the stock market crash) to send jacob to school and he is left with nothing.  jacob is so overcome with grief, that he walks out on his exams and just starts walking- when a train comes by, he jumps it, not knowing how much his life is about to change.  jacob has jumped a train belonging to the benzini brothers circus.  he gets a permanent job by telling the ringmaster & animal trainer that he is a veterinarian.  trouble begins to brew though when jacob falls in love with marlena- the star of the show and wife of animal trainer august.  the story is told in flashbacks by jacob at the age of ninety, or ninety-three.  

sara gruen is a wonderful writer and the story kept me entertained from start to finish.  i also saw the movie and really enjoyed it.  it doesn't hurt that it stars rob pattinson- but i thought it was a good interpretation of the book.  a major character was morphed into another character, which took away from some of the story, but in the end was probably the best thing for the movie.  i'd recommend both.  charming story

book 4/5, movie 4/5.

mommy reads: dear john

dear john

i think i've reached my limit of nicholas sparks books. first i read the notebook- the 2 main characters die together at the end (sad, but happy b\c they loved each other so much), then i read a walk to remember- sad because the girl dies at the end when she's only 18.  then i read dear john.  surprisingly, no one died at the end, but i wanted to kill myself for reading another nicholas sparks book....  read on... unless you're going to read this at some point (which i've already advised you not to)... in which you shouldn't because... spoiler alert.

john tyree bad boy turned soldier meets savannah curtis while on r&r.  she's a college student building houses for habitat with a bunch of other college students, including her friend tim, who happens to be in love with her.  they immediately fall in love- but john's only home for 2 weeks.  savannah also meets john's reclusive, distant father, who she diagnoses with asperger's, much to john's dismay.  john happens to pay more attention to his father after this though and realizes savannah is probably right.  john's father is a big time coin collector, and he used to collect with his dad until they got into a huge fight about it.  after the 2 weeks john goes back to germany and they write letters to each other.  everything's going to work out though because john's time in the army is almost up- but did i mention they met in the summer of 2001?  oops.  well, john decides to reenlist after 9-11 adding another 2 years on- but him & savannah continue to write letters.  he comes home to visit again, and you can tell there is distance between him.  john gets sent to war (i swear i thought he would die, but he doesn't) and while he's gone he gets a real "dear john" letter- savannah is breaking up with him b\c she's in love with someone else.  john reenlists again, but is soon called home b\c his father is sick.  his father dies eventually and john comes home to settle his estate.  while at home he decides to pay savannah a visit, it's there he learns that she has married tim and they are the caretakers of tim's brother alan b\c tim's parent died in a car accident.  tim is no where to be found though... but wait... the next day savannah takes john to see tim- he has lymphoma and really needs expensive experimental treatment that insurance won't cover.  it's obvious that savannah is still in love with john, and we know john still loves savannah, but john leaves, sells his father's entire coin collection (except for one) and anonymously donates all of the money to tim.  in the end, we find out that tim took well to treatment and is going to live.  

seriously?!  all i could think about when she dumped him (in the middle of a war, no less) was that she was such a rotten b.  then, she halfway tries to seduce him, and then he sells his father's entire coin collection and donates it just so her husband will live.  the husband that she fell in love with while they were still together...  

the movie was a completely different story... literally.  it should have been entitled "dear john (very) loosely based on the book dear john."  i mean, some of the details were the same, but so much of it was different- if you don't like the details of a book- then don't make a movie "based" on it.  

disappointments, both of them.  

book 2/5, movie 1/5. 

mommy reads: push

push

i wanted to read the novel push by sapphire after hearing about the movie adaptation "precious" that came out in 2009.  i read the book once back in 2009, but just recently got around to seeing the movie- so i wanted to re-read the book to refresh me before viewing the film.  

precious jones is 16 years old, and pregnant with her 2nd child- by her own father.  she's illiterate, abused by her mother, and has just been kicked out of school for being pregnant.  her principal sets her up in an alternative school where her teacher sees precious not just as another casualty of harlem and the system, but as a person with an opportunity to become somebody. 

this book is a hard read.  it's written from the point of view of precious and i guess you could call that a ghetto dialect.  you must remember that although she has gone to school, that she is for the most part, uneducated.  if you can read through the dialect, then the book is a pretty "easy" read...  the novel is short (less than 200 pages).  you begin through precious's thoughts and dialogue with people around her, and by the end you are reading through her writing.  what makes this a tough read is the actual words and nature of the story.  precious explains her sexual, verbal and physical abuse in very graphic detail- it's hard to stomach, and hard to believe that people actually go through things like that in life.  that people are hurt by those they trust the most.  hurt by those who were put on this earth to be their protectors.  precious goes to show that despite your past, you can pick yourself back up and work to have a successful life, despite whatever plans the "system" may have for you.  so as painful as the book is to read, you're definitely cheering for precious to pick herself up and get her life together- and what's in store for precious will definitely have you cheering!

the movie is equally painful to watch in that you actually see the abuse with your eyes, but it can't touch the book in getting into the innermost thoughts of precious.  it also doesn't give you as deep of a look into precious's journey to literacy and her journaling with her teacher, blue rain.  

overall, i enjoyed both.  great read, despite the heavy subject matter.  award-winning film.  

book 4/5.  movie 4/5

mommy reads: eat pray love

eat pray love

as with any very popular novel there is a line drawn- people who love the book- and people who hate the book.  with me and epl- i would say i'm somewhere in the middle.  this is my 2nd time reading elizabeth gilbert's memoir chronicling her year long travels in italy, india & indonesia following her divorce.  the book begins with gilbert filing for divorce.  she never mentions the reasons behind her divorce (and they're no one's business but her own), but from the way she describes it, it definitely doesn't paint her in a good light.  she basically walks out of her marriage and into the arms of another man (that she meets after filing for divorce)- so basically she leaves her marriage without even trying to fix it, and rebounds into an even more tumultuous relationship.  basically, she's a walking disaster.  after her & her boyfriend split again, and she meets a medicine man while traveling for work in bali (who tells her she'll return one day)- she decides to take a year away from everything to travel- to italy to experience pleasure, to india to experience spiritual life and to indonesia to balance the two.  

gilbert is a wonderful writer- she's funny, self-depreciating, and she makes you feel like you're there with her experiencing everything.  her book is split into 3 books- italy, india, and indonesia, and each of those books is split into 36 stories.  in italy i'm dreaming of eating the pizza she eats and describes with such detail that you're drooling on the pages, in india, i'm feeling the frustration at reciting the gurugita, and in bali i'm falling in love.  gilbert really is a fabulous story teller, but sometimes you just sit there thinking "i don't feel sorry for you-  you got yourself into this mess."  other times you're thinking that gilbert must have the best luck in the entire world- and all the money to be able to travel (even though she was supposed to have lost it all).  the book is definitely worth the read for the story gilbert tells, but don't expect a life-changer.

the movie stars julia roberts as gilbert, james franco as david (her new boyfriend), richard jenkins as richard from texas, and javier bardem as felipe (her boyfriend/future husband).  felipe is actually in his 50's when he and gilbert meet (a father of grown children), yet bardem is younger than roberts...  the movie hit on some of the highlights of the book, but could never come close to telling all the stories.  it fell way short of the book, but not of my expectations b\c i honestly didn't expect much from it.

book 3.5/5.  movie 2/5

mommy reads: breaking dawn

since it's taking me for-ev-er to re-read epl, i thought i'd go ahead & do my review of breaking dawn since the movie just came out on friday.

i feel like it took me forever to read this book.  i enjoyed it, but it was really long, really, really long.  here's the rundown:  bella finally marries edward, they have sex, bella gets pregnant w\ a half-vampire.  vampire babies can't exist, the volturi comes to kill the vampire baby, there's a huge fight.  the end.  i enjoyed the book- long but solid.  good way to end it- you can't go on and do these forever.

dave & i saw breaking dawn part 1 at the midnight showing friday morning.  i know there are so many people who hate the books, movies, etc.  i look at it like this: there are books and movies you take seriously, and the rest are just for fun.  this is my just for fun.  i can read the book and feel like i'm on a little break for a couple hours a day.  i can watch the movie, enjoy it whilst laughing at the bad acting & silly dialogue.  do i enjoy the movies?  yes.  are they oscar-worthy?  never.

i really liked the movie.  dave hated it- that's to be expected.  it set things up perfectly for part 2 without leaving a cliffhanger that leaves you dying for the next year.  edward is a total hottie & bella's wedding dress is gorgeous.  this movie was basically a set-up for the final movie- and that's where the real stuff will happen.

did you see breaking dawn?

book 3/5.  movie 3/5.

mommy reads: the help

the help

sometimes after you have a baby you're a little late to the game of what is cool and what's not.  that was me and the help.  i had not even heard of the book until the movie came out, and i really didn't know much about the movie either.  dave & i were lucky enough to go on a movie date for our anniversary!  we weren't really impressed with anything that was playing, but we saw the help and dave said that was one that he thought he wouldn't mind seeing.  best choice ever.  so i saw the movie before i read the book- and i was in love with the movie.  my heart was just broken- i can't count how many times i cried, nor can i count how many times i laughed.  

the help takes place in segregated jackson, mississippi in 1962.  elizabeth, hilly & skeeter are the best of friends.  skeeter is home, fresh from ole miss with big plans for a career in journalism; while elizabeth & hilly left school early to marry & have babies.  they are now leading the "ideal" life of a southern woman.  aibileen & minny are maids for elizabeth & hilly's mother, respectively. after hilly comes up with the home help sanitation initiative, skeeter begins to grow uncomfortable with the way her friends treat their help.  she wonders how these women feel about working for white women while someone else raises their own children.  skeeter has the idea to write a book from the viewpoint of the help.  of course, this needs to be done in secret because of the times.  the book is split into stories from these 3 women, and each is told from their point of view.

all i can say is that you need to see the book, and the movie.  i know it's a fictionalized version of what was going on during the civil rights movement, but i'm sure there are elements of truth within it.  there are moments of sadness, and moments of joy.  just read it.

the movie is just as good.  there are little bits that are different, that were changed to make the movie flow better, but overall, it stays true to the book, and for that, i loved it.  

book 5/5.  movie 5/5.

mommy reads: something borrowed

i decided to read something borrowed again because i had just forced my way through between a rock & a hard place, and i needed an easy read.  that and the fact that we had the movie saved on our dvr from a bunch of expiring free ppv movies.  it wasn't really a movie i wanted to see, but we were out of options and time was running out.  i read this book and its sequel, something blue many years ago.  spoiler:  i liked something blue WAY more than i liked something borrowed...  here's the review...

rachel & darcy have been best friends since childhood.  shy, "plain" rachel busted her butt through law school and now hates her job as an attorney for a large firm in nyc.  boisterous and gorgeous darcy has skated by through life on her looks, has a fabulous job & a gorgeous fiancee.  on the eve of rachel's 30th bday, darcy throws her a surprise party, where rachel ends up sleeping with darcy's fiancee.  she thinks it's just a fling, but neither of them can forget... but the question rachel has for dex is will he or won't he call off his engagement to darcy to be with rachel.... 

i have a few problems.  the book is a good book, but the entire premise of it is a girl who basically steals her best friend's fiancee, and then spends the rest of the novel trying to justify it by remembering all the bad things darcy has ever done to her in  their lives and only seeing the negative personality traits of her supposed best friend.  sure, darcy is shallow, egotistical and self-centered, but does that mean that she deserves to be cheated on by the 2 people she trusts the most?  and yes, the ending does have a twist, which the "heroine" uses to further justify her case... but still.  no.  everyone in this novel needs a good, loud wake up call.  i mean, you find yourself cheering for rachel & dex- they're in love, they had a missed connection years ago when they attended law school together (it was rachel who introduced him to darcy in the first place), but just because you knew him first doesn't make a difference- it doesn't give you the right.  in the end, no one wins.  including me for reading it again.  so although the story has no moral value, but you can't help but kind of like it.  i'm torn.  but seriously, if you take time to read this book- read the sequel- it's definitely better.  hint:  darcy's the heroine.

the movie wasn't much better.  kate hudson plays darcy, which i can totally see- BUT i have a problem when actors don't even physically resemble the characters they're playing.  darcy was supposed to be a tanned brunette- and kate hudson is not that.  i also think kate hudson was pregnant when this was filmed- b\c she totally has pregnant face.  there were also characters missing, and total story changes.  john krasinski was a welcome addition to the movie although his character was a minor part of the novel (look for him more in the 2nd book (and film, apparently)).  also, i can't ever decide if i think ginnifer goodwin is cute, or annoys me to no end.  same with kate hudson.  skip it.

book:  2.5\5.  movie 1\5. 

sad times.  all our books have been packed for our move and i can't find them.  nooooooooooooo!