Show Us Your Books: July

Everything Changes- Jonathan Tropper: 4 Stars
Read if you like  dark humor, dysfunctional families, dramedies, and having to look up words
own, paperback

Tropper has a way of creating characters where even when their situation is completely different than your own, you can feel for them and understand them. Zack had this perfect little life but wasn't really happy in any part of it since his best friend died. Then his absentee father comes back into his life and shakes things up (sometimes literally). I didn't even want to like the raucous father, but I did and I fell for his lies right along with Zack. But he was necessary in helping Zack break out of his shiftless cycle.

I already knew I liked Tropper's writing style (witty and sarcastic, yet poignant). I liked this one far better than This Is Where I Leave You (the only other Tropper book I've read thus far). Sidenote: I had to look up quite a few words in this book- does anyone else do that? I decided to make a list so I wouldn't forget. 

avuncular- relating to an uncle; relating to the relationship between men and their siblings' children

excoriate- censure or criticize severely

copacetic- in excellent order

soupcons- a very small quantity of something

schadenfreude- pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune

Memorex Man-

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life. - Samantha Irby: 4.5 Stars
Read if you like humorous short stories, memoirs, cursing, sex and sexuality
library paperback

I really dislike it when other authors that I like put their review on a book I'm currently reading that say things like "side splittingly funny! A must read!" because I feel like it's a challenge or dare. I'm like "Ok woman, make me laugh." Well, she did. A LOT. Though she often pokes fun at herself, she did so in a way that was relatable (I mean, I fear dying alone in my messy apartment for fear of judgement too, girl. I feel ya).  Even her checklist for compatibility was spot-on: 

Loses a half star for one essay that  left me gagging in disgust and another one that broke my Grinchy little heart. Just know going in that there are some graphic sex scenes with both sexes, and more than a sprinkling of f-bombs.

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Erin's 7.0 Book Challenge updates: I changed my pick for "Published in 2017" AND "Animal on the cover" because I was #21 on the wait-list for the Irby book, but I got it much sooner than expected. While I was waiting, I started Let's Pretend This Never Happened because I found it on my bookshelf.  Here's the updated reading list:

|5 points| Freebie: Some Girls Are- Courtney Summers
|10 points| Starts w/ “B”: Beautiful Ruins- Jess Walters
|10 points| Yellow cover: Everything Changes- Jonathan Tropper (currently reading)
|15 points| An animal on the cover: Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by The Blogess aka Jenny Lawson (currently reading)
|20 points| Published in 2017: We Are Never Meeting In Real Life. - Samantha Irby
|20 points| Compass/cardinal direction in title: East, West- Salman Rushdie
|25 points| A most commonly banned book in America: Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging- Louise Rennison
|30 points| About mental illness: Everything Everything- Nicola Yoon
|30 points| Non-human main character: I Am The Messenger- Markus Zusak
|35 points| A Disney movie /book/ based on a Disney movie: Holes- Louis Sacharn OR The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe- C.S. Lewis

What are you reading this month?

Linking up with Steph and Jana! 

TBB Asks: Summer Edition

I just spotted this on Marie's blog and wanted to play along! I actually had a "summer favorites" type post in drafts, but this was even easier, which is perfect for a Monday. Here are some of my favorite things with questions courtesy of The Blended Blog. 

1) Pool, lake, or ocean?
Pool. I like going to the beach, but not going in the ocean, unless I'm on an island with crystal clear waters and I can actually see what's going on underneath!

2) Camping, cottage, or hotel?

Hotel.

3) Favorite ice cream flavor?
Chocolate chip mint... or pumpkin in the fall. 

4) PJ's, Nightgown, T-Shirt/Shorts or Birthday Suit?
T-shirt and shorts


5) Fave Summer Beverage?
Iced tea


6) Would you rather be hot or cold?
Hot! I can't stand being cold!


7) Sandals with heels or flats?
Flats


8) Shorts or skirts?
Shorts. These firework shorts that I got from Old Navy last year are my favorite!

9) Sit in the sun or the shade?
Sun until I overheat, and then some shade.


10) Water, Tea, or Soda?
(Iced) Tea


11) Fave Summer fruit or vegetable?
Tomatoes or roasted bell peppers

12) Sunrise or sunset?
Sunset

13) Winery or Brewery?
Oooh... both! Though I've been leaning towards breweries/brew fests more this year!

14) Big summer concert or music in the park?
Big summer concert


15) Fave cookout food?
Potato salad or shrimp kabobs


16) Dine indoors or outdoors?
Indoors. I'm a slow eater so my food always gets colder faster when I eat outside. Also, I overheat easily when I'm eating. I know it's weird.


17) Fave summer destination?
DTS (Down the shore aka at the beach for all those not from NJ)! Especially Asbury Park and Pt. Pleasant

18) Big theme park or local carnival?
Local carnival


19) Drinks blended or on the rocks?
Blended. 

20) Hot Dog or Hamburger?
Hot dog, preferably with chili and cheese. 

What are some of your favorite summer things? 

What's New With Me: July

July is always my favorite month, because I love summer, and July feels like the summer-iest. And because Independence Day is one of my favorite holidays. However, I've been a little bummed out lately. I had to sell my tickets to 2 concerts that I really wanted to go to, and just ate the cost of another one due to heavy rain. I've been wanting to go to see the hot air balloon festival since last year (when it got rained out), and while I was able to attend this year, they weren't able to fly the balloons due to high winds. (However, they DID fly the day before AND after... just not the day I was there.)

Really I should just be happy I was able to sell instead of whine about how I didn't get to go. And that even though they didn't fly the balloons, I did get to see and hear Pat Benatar perform live and she still sounds amazing. I had a great time at the beach with friends and enjoyed a brunch with other friends that I haven't seen in months. I was able to break even playing penny slots at the casinos in Atlantic City for Blue's birthday last weekend. 

Yes, I think that last one is my favorite. 

I obviously need to readjust my perspective. Especially since I just realized that I've almost completed my summer bucket list already! 

Summer Bucket List

Go Camping/river tubing- DONE!

Check out Brew at the Zoo: Yup!

Attend a Phillies game: Yes, and they lost! Boooo!

Attend at least 2 concerts (tickets purchased!): Saw 3! U2, Train and Pat Benatar!

Participate in Erin's 7.0 Book Challenge (7/1-10/31): 2/10 complete, working on 2 more

Visit the NJ State Fair: No, because there was a shooting on the first day and after that I didn't want to go. 

Go sailing: Check!
Go to the beach at least 3 times: Went twice and #3 is scheduled for mid-month!



Complete at least 5 goals from my 101 list: Totally forgot about this... time to get on it!  

Attend at least one food festival: Planned for next week!

Watch fireworks: yes, on the 4th of July and last weekend at the balloon festival!
Complete the 30-Day De-Clutter Challenge: Didn't do it in 30 consecutive days, but I did it!

What's new with you?

Currently: August

Reading: We Are Never Meeting in Real Life. by Samantha Irby and attempting to catch up on some blogs and emails! 

Watching: Game of Thrones and a new one to me, People of Earth (TBS). 

Listening To: My Summer Rewind station on Spotify.

Snacking (on): Strawberry and cheese filled pastries

Anticipating: seeing my friend tonight who is visiting after moving to Colorado last Spring, hanging out with some of my favorite peeps on Friday night, and a low key weekend after a whirlwind couple of weeks. 

Borrowing: the above book from the library and Ready Player One by Ernest Cline from Blue.

Admiring: Blue for not completely losing her sh!t after not receiving her paycheck because her company was hacked, and the gorgeous pics my friend posted from the Quikchek NJ Festival of Ballooning last weekend, even though it also made me a tad jealous because I was there the night before and they couldn't get the balloons up due to high winds. Ugh! 

Purchasing: a mannequin to better display the clothes I'm trying to sell on Poshmark and make some money! 

What's currently going on with you? 

Linking up with Anne and Shea! 

The (Other) Girl Behind The Blog: Blue

Hey all! Today is my favorite person's birthday, so I'm sharing some facts about her! It's a little long but I'm only doing this once, so bear with me. Meet Blue! 

1. She majored in music can pick up and play many instruments. She mainly plays the guitar but is adept at others including the piano and the saxophone. Her most recent have been the accordion (which she just picked up and starting playing when someone brought one on our camping trip) and a guitalele (a cross between a 6 string guitar and ukelele). 

2. She is very easy going. If me or someone else wants to do something, she'll give in (as long as it's not on a Sundays. She doesn't do Sundays). Love that she'll take pictures with me, waits for me to take food pics for the 'gram, and go on with my crazy plans.

3. She techy and loves gadgets. She needs all the latest and greatest tech stuffs. 

4. Her favorite teams are all New York: Rangers, Mets, Jets/Giants (in that order). 

5. She looooooves ice cream. And all sweets. 

her favorite hometown ice cream shop

6. She's a t-shirt hoarder. I don't have a pic, but trust. She's has recently made some headway in cleaning out her closet (a select few t-shirts included) and has started a pile of t-shirts I will turn into a blanket for her Christmas present. 

7. Her favorite thing to do on vacation is going to the beach and relaxing. She tolerates me planning on doing touristy stuff though. 

8. She speaks Dani-ese and has a lot of seemingly useless knowledge. I can (and have) said "who was that famous actress from that soap opera who finally won after like 50 nominations?" and she knows it's Susan Lucci. Not surprisingly, she rules at trivia. 

9. She makes me laugh on the regular. She's witty. She doesn't think so, but her one liners and comments are always cracking everyone up. You can see some of them here. 

10. She's a goof ball. She'll dance, belt it out, and do all sorts of crazy things. 

turkey dancing with her niece and aunt

11. She likes subscription boxes. Her favorites are Lootcrate and Smuggler's Bounty (Star Wars themed boxes), and stalks their sites/IGs regularly.  She's a self-professed nerd. 

her Funko collection/nerd corner. Not pictured: her comic book collection

12. Girl can COOK, which is perfect because I hate cooking. She makes mostly Italian or American foods. 

homemade burrito bowl

13. She won't leave the house before turning on CNN since 9/11. She also listens to 1010 WINS news in the car until I change it to pop. 

14. She's "in the know" about allthethings, probably because she watches the news. It's rare that I can show her something and she hasn't heard about it yet, which is incredibly annoying. 

15. Her go-to drink is a Manhattan, and favors Knob's Creek. She also likes red wine (Pallazzo Della Torro is her fave) and craft beers. 

flight night

16. She goes to bed  and wakes up early on weekdays and has a complete opposite sleep schedule than me. 

17. White Castle. 

#gluttony

18. She owns a cat, Keebler. I never really liked cats until I met him, and he acts more like a dog than a cat. Thankfully, she's open to having a puggle. 

19. Her favorite movie is Star Wars. She was inconsolable when Carrie Fisher passed away. She doesn't have a favorite TV show, but if it's comedy, she usually likes it. 

yes, this is a Darth Vader waffle. Yes, she has a Darth waffle-maker. 

20. She hates flying, but likes to travel. (Other hates include feet, socks with sandals, and loud chewers, which she will publicly shame via photo/video on FB.) 

"Nice stems." 

21. She's lived in NJ and Amsterdam. 

22. She recently got a new job as a SCRUM Master at an education company. She was project manager at a music company for nearly 20 years(!), but she really wants to be a full-time PM consultant. 

I didn't make up the word Scrum- see?

23. Her favorite color is blue (duh). 

24. Favorite food, besides ice cream, is pizza or prime rib.

white clam with late onions pizza

25. Today is her birthday! She's a Leo. 

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Happy birthday Blue! I hope I didn't embarrass you too much! Can't wait to spend the weekend with you in Atlantic City- hope you win big! And I hope our balloon festival and Pat Benatar concert doesn't get rained out, but even if it does I'm sure we'll make the most of it! Love you! 

Add It To My List: July

So for some reason I forgot that this linkup was on the last TUESDAY of the month, and not Thursday... my b. Anyway, here are some things I'm recommending this month. 

One Dish Kitchen
One of the biggest issues I have with cooking is the fact that I'm always left with a ton of leftovers, since I'm usually just cooking for myself. I don't mind eating leftovers, but sometimes there's just too much and I hate wasting food. Enter this website. Lots of great recipes for every meal and all sized down to serve just one person! I love the diversity of the recipes, and the fact that there are even slow cooker meals for one. I've already bookmarked a few to try. Hopefully this site will help me get back in the kitchen soon! 

Degree Motion Sense Dry Spray $5
I received this in some beauty box or other, and at first was turned off by the idea. I've been a dry stick girl for as long as I can remember. But it was there and my current deodorant was not doing a great job so I tried it. And I have to say, I'm a changed woman! This keeps me feeling dry and fresh for at least 24 hrs, feels cool going on, and smells great. I'm a fan of the Shower Clean and Fresh Energy ones. 

First Aid Beauty Hello FAB Caffeine Matcha Wake Up Wipes $15
The same blogger recommended this and the item below, but I forget who it was. Anyway I immediately added it to my newly created morning routine, and I honestly don't see any difference whatsoever. It claims to be designed to remove excess dirt/makeup/oil and help to hydrate skin and even out texture. Maybe it's because I use this in the morning (and don't have excess dirt on my face at that time), but it doesn't remove anything. Seriously, I wipe my face and there's nothing on the wipe. And I don't feel any different either. I've used products with caffeine in them in the past and they would tighten my skin and de-puff the area under my eyes. This does neither. Honestly the Simple wipes work better, and they're less expensive. Definitely would NOT recommend. 

First Aid Beauty Eye Duty Triple Remedy: Brighten, De-Puff, and Smooth $36
Look at all of those benefits! Exactly what I need! I was so excited to try this even though it's a bit more than I'd normally pay for cosmetics. And it works. HUZZAH! However, it only comes in one shade: Fair/Medium. I am not fair or (what these people deem to be) medium. It's meant to be used alone or under make-up, but I can only use it in conjunction with concealer or foundations because of the shade, which kind of defeats my purpose. I wanted to be able to just put it on and be on my way. I did like the applicator though. It's got a cool, stainless steel tip about the size of your pinky, so you dab on the product and then rub it in with the tip in a circular motion. It felt great, but I might wait to repurchase until they get some more shades! 

Clean & Clear Deep Action 60 Second Shower Mask $5
I received a sample of this in a recent Walmart Beauty Box, and I love it. A lot of times I skip doing masks because they take 20 min and unless I actually plan it out, it just doesn't happen. I like that I can put this on while I'm washing my hair or shaving and it actually feels "steam activated" like it claims. It makes my face all tingly and I can visibly see a difference after only a few uses. If only the wipes mentioned above worked in a similar way.

That's all for today! What else should I add to my list? 

Click below to see what others are recommending and link up with Lauren and Bre! 

Shit Blue Said

While doing yoga and Keebler was going around under her...
I was going for downward dog and instead got petulant cat.


Me: Did I tell you that I figured out why mosquito bites turn into welts on me?
Blue: No, why? I figured it was because you're tiny and they weren't to scale.


Blue: I'm wearing that black and gray cardigan I bought. I don't know if I like it.
It's a bit big, and the sleeves are awkward. They are 3/4 length but like, webbish under the arms. I look like a flying squirrel and a dolphin made a love child.


Blue: There's drilling going on somewhere here and it sounds like mating whales.
I hear it through my headphones.

In text... 




Blue's Sister: I think I will zoodle some potatoes (or is that potoodles)?
Blue: Redefining the shame spiral.


Blue: A while ago HR made us go to "Sexual Harassment Training" I was like, what? Are you going to teach us how to do it?

Blue: On a side note, I got a bag of Cheez-its from the vending machine. After they went through that little vending-spiral of shame and fell 3 feet to the pick-up tray, they all got crushed. So I'm basically doing shots of Cheez-its in my cubicle.
One day, I'm going to use ground up cheese its as breadcrumbs.


Blue: I wish I had Oprah's closet. It's the size of my condo.
Me: No you don't. You don't even own that many clothes.
Blue: But all the colors.
Me: Your closet consists of gray, black and white. What are you even talking about?
Blue: I have some blue! And a red sweater...


Me: You like that little bag don't you?
Blue: I do. It's what we do as women bags inside of bags inside of bigger bags. It's like our whole lives revolve around nesting dolls.

One liner of the month...

I've created a new word: Pumidity- when humid weather causes people on mass transit to smell really, really bad.

You can find other Shit Blue Said here: Vol. 1,  Vol. 2, Vol.3, Vol. 4, Vol. 5, Vol. 6