The Help

I thoroughly enjoyed The Help By Kathryn Stockett.

I was reading this book every chance I had. Mostly because it is quite a few pages and I needed to make sure I could finish it before May 4th, for the book club, but also because I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen with each character.

Each of the 3 characters that is followed through out the book have such strong personalities and qualities, it feels like you really know them. The descriptions of the houses and the weather are so detailed you can almost imagine being there.

Kathryn Stockett did a great job personifying the characters realistically that it felt like non-fiction, she really understood what was happening at that time in Jackson, Mississippi. She created a beautiful story.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read.

Slacking...Again

Maybe I'm not cut out for blogging, maybe my life isn't exciting enough, but for whatever reason, I can't seem to keep up blogging more than once a week. Maybe that's ok.

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Who's excited for Maui??!! I AM!!! After looking at these pictures, how could I not be excited!! I'm so ready for warm weather, and relaxation! And many hours spent right there on that pristine beach!

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These pictures are getting me through the 6 week wait before we actually leave!!

This cute suit is getting me through the 6 weeks of work outs and diets!

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When I started my work out challenge w/ Jess and Ross, my goal was to lose 4 inches and 5 pounds. I'm not sure those numbers really go hand in hand. I find setting a goal in inches is much more realistic for me than setting a weight goal because I see very little change in the number on the scale each week. So far I've lost 2 inches and 1/2 a pound. I think I'll stick with inches! I'm half way to my goal. We skipped a week measuring because life got busy, so I'm hoping to lose more by this Thursday!

Productive Weekend

So the Miranda concert was awesome!! Ross bought me this cute t-shirt in a light pink. White was sold out in my size, and they didn't have black. I would have gotten the black if they had it! The name of Miranda's tour is called Roadside Bars and Pink Guitars. It was fun! It was low key, no costume changes, no fancy set, just good, fun music, and two pink guitars!!

I finished reading the fifteenth book of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plumb book series. It was a quick and fun read as always! Grandma Mazur has to be my all time favorite character!! I wanted a fun read between my two book club reads because I don't always like to read serious stuff. These Stephanie Plumb books have me laughing out loud. I try to pace myself, so I always have one of her books to read if I need a good laugh. Luckily I still have to read number 16 and the 'between the numbers' novels!

I have started reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett for my book club. It is a long book, I will have to read it at every free moment in order to finish it by May 4th for our meeting, but I am loving it!! The book is told from 3 different points of view, 2 are from maids who work for white women in Mississippi in the 1960's and the 3rd point of view is from a white woman that wants to change things. I'm not very far into, a little over 100 pages (the book is almost 500 pages), but I am already loving the characters and can't wait to see where they take me!

I also got to walk through a house that Mike is looking at buying. I can't believe we are old enough to be home owners!! I hope it's everything he wants it to be!!

TGIF!

Seriously, could not be happier that it is Friday!! We had a light dusting of snow this morning, I'm so over snow. But I'm hearing 60's for Saturday and Sunday. I'm ready!!

No big plans tonight, Ross and I are suppose to get together with another couple who we haven't seen since last September! No reason for not keeping in touch, just life I suppose, they actually only live a couple of blocks away from my apartment. So it will be nice to see them!

Speaking of apartment, one of the girls who lives in my building got all 4 of her tires slashed yesterday, and the guy she is seeing had his slashed too. She was parked in the back lot and he was parked on the street in front of the building. They were definitely targeted, we just don't know by who. I am banking on it being her ex-boyfriend, but she thinks it is the group of people who live above her in our building. She called the cops and accused the group above her, so we'll see where it goes. I hope my tires are safe!!

This is where I will be tomorrow night!!! I am pretty excited! We have floor seats and they were reasonably priced. The concert is in Kalamazoo, so we plan on eating on the way down there and making an evening out of it. I forced Ross to come with us and paid for his ticket, but I know he'll have fun. Concerts are always fun! We are going with Jessica and Mark, and they are both in love with Miranda as much as I am. I hope Ross gets on board!!

The big black rectangle on the 300 red square is us!!! Should be great seats and a great time!!

Enjoy the weekend!

Reading List 2010

I attended my first ever book club yesterday evening. It was a small group of 5, but we still had a great discussion. I'm really glad I decided to go, and look forward to next month's meeting!

We complied a list of books to read for the rest of 2010, we each picked two books. I picked probably the fluffiest of all of them (I like fun, easy reads!!!). I picked The Help and Have a Little Faith, I hope they are good!

I thought I'd make a list of all of our picks on here so if anyone is looking for a new book to read these are some options, and this way I will always have a copy of the list!

May: The Help By: Kathryn Stockett

June: Same Kind of Different As Me By: Ron Hall and Denver Moore

July: The Great Divorce By: C.S. Lewis

August: Home Safe By: Elizabeth Berg

September: A Wrinkle In Time By: Madeleine L'Engle

October: 50/50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days By Dean Karnazes

November: Letters From a Skeptic By: Gregory A Boyd and Edward K Boyd

December: Have a Little Faith By: Mitch Albom

The Weight of Heaven

I read this book for a book club I am going to try out. The book club is being put on by a group in my church. I went to another event held by the same group, 'the not so youth group', group and it was a horrible experience. It was a game night, and everyone there was complaining about their spouse, or kids, or being pregnant. I could not relate, and I was extremely irritated and annoyed listening to all of the negativity. I decided the group was not for me.

Then I got an email inviting me to join their book club. I'm thinking it will be a group of different people, some may be the same, but hopefully there will be some other people to even out the group. I decided I would read the book and if I liked it, I would check out the book club meeting.

The first meeting is tonight at 7:30 and I will be going. This book was amazing. The Weight of Heaven by Thrity Umrigar was fantastic. I've never read a book quite like this one. Thrity Umrigar is an Indian woman, she wrote this book about an American couple who moved to India when the husband had the opportunity to transfer there for work.

It is an amazing story of loss, hope, love, despair, and irony. I really enjoyed it. I am hoping by joining the book club, I will be introduced to many more great books that I normally wouldn't read on my own, and I will fit in with the group a little better than I did at game night!

Happy Easter (Early)

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I am a lucky girl! I get to take the afternoon off work today to enjoy the mid 70 degree weather we are having, and I also have tomorrow off in honor of Good Friday. Beautiful!!

Blogging every day is a challenge, I don't always have something worthwhile to say. Sorry!

I hope you all have a Happy Easter! I'll be playing the hand bells at church bright and early Sunday morning, then have two big dinners to enjoy, yum!

I hope you enjoy this picture of an Easter Cactus Flower. I have one of these, but mine does flower...at least it hasn't yet. So I'll just look at this picture and pretend it's mine!