Book Club Friday: Little Bee

Hurray! It's Friday! We're laying low this weekend, which is just perfect because this week has been too long and I'm ready to just relax! Anyway, let's get this party started!

This week I'm sharing...

From GoodReads:
"Two women collide lives on a Nigeria beach. One must make a terrible choice. Two years later, they meet again and the story starts ..."

My Thoughts:
My first thought was "Seriously? They won't tell me what the book is about?? That's so vague!" 
I got this book from a friend who recently read it. She wouldn't tell me what is was about either, so of course I was really intrigued.
Well, I found out why they didn't tell me. 
This story was so sad, but not exactly depressing. It amazes me how Little Bee kept going, even with all that she had seen and experienced. I gave this book 5 stars... yes, it was that good. But I won't give any more details! You'll just have to read it!

What are you currently reading?

See what else I'm reading on GoodReads!

Don't Worry, I Saw This On Pinterest

Sometimes Pinterest gets the best of me, and I want to do the things I see. Usually C somehow gets involved. 

Source: someecards.com via Dani on Pinterest 

So this is how some of these things go...

C: Hey, why is the Pam out?
me: I'm giving myself a manicure.
C: That's great, but why is the Pam on the counter?
me: Oh, don't worry about it- I saw this on Pinterest...

Source: realsimple.com via Dani on Pinterest

C: Umm... why is there a candle in our freezer?
me: Oh, don't worry about it- I saw this on Pinterest...

Source: snapguide.com via Dani on Pinterest

Mine, loaded with seashells

me: Do you have a two-hole punch?
C: Yeah, why?
me: I need to punch holes in these greeting cards.
C: What?
me: Oh, don't worry about it- I saw this on Pinterest...

Source: foundpaperco.blogspot.com via Dani on Pinterest

Started mine with a birthday card- love it!

In the grocery store...
me: We have beef right?
C: Yeah, why?
me: I want to make beef stroganoff.
C: You want to make what?
me: Beef stroganoff.
C: Have you ever even had that before?
me: No. But I saw it on Pinterest. It looked yummy.
C: *grumble grumble, as he heads to find the right kind of beef (we had ground beef. apparently that's not the right kind of this recipe. oops)*

Source: allrecipes.com via Dani on Pinterest\

Look out for the recipe next week!

me: I need to steal some baby pictures from your mom. Can you help me find a way without her seeing?
C: Why?
me: Oh, don't worry about it- I saw this on Pinterest...

Source: bhg.com via Dani on Pinterest

Check out Baby C! Such a lil cutie!

me: Hey, I have a question.
C: ?
me: See this cardigan here? It's too small. So I was thinking... should I donate it, or cut off the arms and make some legwarmers?
C: I'm not getting involved in this!
me: No, this is a serious question!
C: On one hand, I think you should, and on the other, I think not.
me: What's your reasoning?
C: I want to see how horrible this turns out, but on the other hand, why waste a perfectly good cardigan someone else could use?
me: Because I need legwarmers...
C: Did you see this on Pinterest?

Source: sisterssuitcaseblog.com via Dani on Pinterest

He knows me well....

Goals Update: February

In the beginning of the year, I wrote down some things I hoped to accomplish this year. (For full recap, see here.) Now that we are through the first month, I wanted to do a check-in and see how I'm doing!

Get A New Job/ Career- sent in two apps and found a few more I still have to apply for.

Read 20 Books- two more down!

Go On Vacation- shelving this goal fro a bit. Definitely not going to happen unless I find a friend to go with me. To say I'm disappointed about this would be an understatement.

Print Pictures and Make a Scrapbook- urm. Yeah, no progress on this one yet. 

Save Save Save!

I plan to do this by:

     - saving 10% of each paycheck: I was saving, but I wound up spending it for my train pass this month, since my TransitCheks from work don't cover the full costs. 

     - participating in the 52 Week Money Challenge: check!

     - doing a Money Minute everyday: I didn't do this everyday, but at least 2x a week, and wound up saving myself some major agita.  My bank doesn't tell me when I'm overdrawn, and just charges me everytime I take out money/spend after I'm overdrawn... another reason why I need a new bank! 

DeClutter/ Simplify- went through my closet and got two bags ready to go to Goodwill. Also gave away our old record player to a friend- I'm happy it's going to a good home!

Pay Off (at least) One Student Loan
I plan to do this by:
     - revisiting my budget: I did not do this. Nor have I done it yet for March- gotta get on it!
     - tracking expenses: kind of did this, but I forgot sometimes. Doing well for this month though!
     - going on a 3 month Spending Freeze (eek!): I spent $5 on a belt... but other than that, I didn't buy anything clothes/personal wise.
     - Side Hustles; hopefully $100/month: made $20, but then spent $5 :/

Work on Company- no excuses, I just sucked at this one. Again.

Learn to Say No- yeah... I can't think of any outings I said no to. But I didn't buy even one Groupon/deal this whole month, so that's some progress right?!

Line-A-Day- I missed about a week. I just didn't want to do it, I guess because I was a little bummed out. Doing better this month. 

I didn't do very well in February. I might add weekly spending reports here to keep myself accountable, so I apologize in advance for those boring posts! I'm also considering taking on a second job on weekends which I am not thrilled about, but it would be easy money. I need to focus more on my finances in general if I want to pay off a loan, go on vacation, and basically stop living paycheck to paycheck. It is a new month (and the last month of the Spending Freeze- YAY!), so hopefully I will do better! 

how are you doing with your goals?

The Happiness Report #22

Source: Uploaded by user via sassy little on Pinterest

- seeing old friends

- Philly cheeseteaks from Pat's (NOT Geno's)
- absolutely every detail from this reception

- this video

- getting our State Park Pass in the mail

- Gchat

- this video too: 

- having a great Monday

- buying a brand new journal

- sweet thank you emails from close friends

Book Club Friday: Dead Sleep

This Week I'm Sharing...

From GoodReads:
"They are called "The Sleeping Women." A series of unsettling paintings in which the nude female subjects appear to be not asleep, but dead. Photojournalist Jordan Glass has another reason to find the paintings disturbing...The face on one of the nudes is her own-or perhaps the face of her twin sister, who disappeared and is still missing. At the urging of the FBI, Jordan becomes both hunter and hunted in a search for the anonymous artist-an obsessed killer who seems to know more about Jordan and her family than she is prepared to face..."

My Thoughts: 
Someone left this among a pile of unwanted books at work, so I picked it up. It wasn't until I went to mark it on GoodReads that I noticed that this was #3 of a series (argh!), but I decided to read it anyway. I've never heard of the author, but love a good murder mystery! Totally didn't see the twist coming! The only reason this didn't get 5 stars is because there were some unanswered questions.

An Award... And Some Throwback Pics!

First off, I would like to thank Kenya of Life with Giggles for this award! Thanks so much girl! This award requests that I write 11 facts about myself- another way for you all to get to better know me! So here we go!

RULES:

1. Link back to the person who nominated you

2. Write 11 facts about yourself once nominated

3. Answer the 11 questions from the person who nominated you

4. Come up with 11 questions for the 11 people you nominate 

Facts:

1. The first concert I ever attended was David Hasselhoff. In my defense, I was just a kid, and he just happened to be playing at the Meadowlands Fair where I went to ride the rides, not see him! (I did get an autograph and free CD though!)

2. I am half Puerto Rican, and half Indian (like the country, not the Native American variety) by way of Trinidad. Confused? So was I for most of my childhood.

3. I love travelling, and have been to 14 countries. I would love to go to Italy and Australia.

4. I was a competitive dancer when I was younger. 

5. I have a half sister who I've never met, though I think I would like to one day. 

6.  I want to be an Event Planner. 

7. I almost drowned going into a waterfall in the rain forest in Puerto Rico. The water pushed forward from the waterfall, and threw me backwards against rocks, and I went under. So I got up and did it again... I got through the second time :)

8. I played the alto saxophone for 8 years. I was a super nerd. I played in marching band, jazz band, and concert band, and was the only female sax player for the last 3 years.

9. I can sing almost any song after hearing it just once. But that might be due to the fact that a lot of current artists have such craptastic, repetitive lyrics. 

10. Though I have a current driver's license, I haven't driven a car in 7 years, and I have never owned a car. (I had two cars, one in high school and one after college, but they were both in my mom's name.)

11. I didn't learn about Santa Clause until I was 12. I was very naive. I found out on Christmas morning from the radio station Z100. One of the saddest days ever! 

Kenya's questions:

Do you have a middle name? I do! 

Favorite sport? To watch: baseball [Go Phillies!] To play: probably tennis, though I haven't played in years

Wine or  Beer? Winter- red wine. Anytime- beer. 

Do you prefer cooking or baking? Baking! I can't even cook eggs properly (I've tried, it didn't go well)

Did you have a sweet 15/16? Sweet 16! My crush came with me as my "escort"! 

What is your job? Office manager at a college

Do you have kids? No, and I am definitely not ready for any right now!

Dog or Cat? Neither right now. I had a dog when I was younger. I would love to adopt a puggle. I already have a name for him/her!

Source: Uploaded by user via Joslyn on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Chelsea on Pinterest

Country living or city living? I've almost always lived in suburbs. I don't think I would do well in the country- I need to be near the energy and craziness of a city!

What kind of car do you drive? See above! 

Favorite color? Cerulean or blue-green. Like this:

11 Questions for my nominees (and anyone who wants to answer!):

1. Where did you go on your favorite vacation?

2. You win $5,000! What are you gonna do with the money?

3. Who or what do you miss the most? 

4. I love hearing new music! What is your favorite song right now?

5. Do you have a signature scent/perfume? What isit?

6. Do you have any collections? What are they?

7. What is your favorite tradition?

8. What is your biggest fear?

9. What trait do you value most in a love interest (bf/gf/hus/wife/etc)?

10. I'm a quirky girl. What's one quirky or something others might find "weird" thing about you? 

11. What makes you happy? 


I nominate the following blogs:

1. Musings of a Twenty Something

2. Forever Newly Wedded

3. Begin Anyway

4. Bubblymuppet

5. Crazy Shenanigans

6. Oh The Places You'll Go

7. The Landlady

8. Get It Together, Woman.

9. Casa de Crews

10. Established: 2008

11.Dabbling in Dixie

Check these ladies out- they are some of my favorites! 

[Sidenote: I wanted to nominate several other blogs, however, they had already been nominated by someone else! Sorry ladies!]

What's in a Name?

I have noticed a few new faces around here (hi new followers!), so I wanted to do a little re-introduction. I saw this link up and thought- what better way to start than with how I came up with my blog name?

I started this blog in 2009... wow! I didn't even realize I've been blogging for almost 4 years! In the beginning (and middle), it was mostly just surveys and linkups. It was until the bf, C, said he wanted to read "real stuff" that I started writing, well, real stuff!

My blog name actually came from a song. I used to *LOVE* Nelly Furtado- I even had a "Nelly wall" in my  home bedroom. It was literally a wall covered from floor to ceiling in pictures of her. (I never realized how creepy that sounds until just now...oh well.)
I went to her concerts several times, though I never got an autograph (harumph).
I stood outside MTV Studios when she was there for MTV's TRL (anyone remember that show?!). It was December, pretty close to my birthday, and I was there, gigantic sign in tow, with 2 of my best friends. It was frigid. I took off from school. It was that serious.

Anyway, my blog name comes from lyrics from a song. The song wasn't my favorite on the CD, but for some reason the words stuck with me. You know how sometimes the lyrics in a song just speak to you? They say everything you're feeling at the time:

"All this inspiration is passing me by
All I can do is chill when I really wanna fly
And this pollution do nothing but dirty up my mind
Faster than forever in the blink of an eye
To see past my lethargy is hard I feign
The beauty of my youth is gone 
But the chemicals remain"

Here's the song for your listening pleasure!

How did you get your blog name? Click on the button above and share!