Recipe | Chicken and Barley Soup

So a few weeks back I fell sick, and I loathe chicken noodle soup with a passion. I often had stomach problems as a child, and I feel like I just ate it a lot and now I'm sick of it. I attempted to eat a bowl, when I was sick, and could barely stomach it. I wanted something fairly bland and easy to deal with since I was having some *ahem* stomach problems.

I fell upon this ridiculously easy soup, and I didn't take a single picture because I was sick and quite frankly...I forgot.

Ingredients

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 3/4 cup barley
• 48 oz low sodium chicken broth
• 1 16oz bag of frozen mixed veggies
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Put everything in crockpot. Cook on low for 5-6 hours.
• Before serving, shred chicken.

That is it! If you fall ill with the stomach flu, this is a great break from traditional chicken noodle! What is your favorite thing to eat when you are sick?

Book Review | The Precious One by Marisa de los Santos

 

I popped into my local library the other day to pick up some books I had on hold, and while I was there I took a quick look through the new releases shelf. 

The Precious One caught my eye because I have read some of de los Santos other books, and from what I can recall, I really enjoyed them. Plus, the blue is quite bright and is probably what caught my eye to begin with. I quickly added it to my pile and devoured it on Saturday.

 

The Plot

 

Eustacia "Taisy" Cleary has only loved 3 men in her life; her high school boyfriend Ben Ransom, her twin brother Marcus and Wilson Cleary, her father. Her father is a professor, inventor, philanderer, self-made millionaire and grade A jerk. Seventeen years prior, Wilson ditched his family to start a new one with Caroline, a beautiful, young artist. In those seventeen years, Taisy's family has only seen Wilson, Caroline and their daughter Willow one time; and it was a disaster. The book picks up with Wilson calling Taisy seemingly out of the blue, asking her to come for an extended visit and to get to know her younger sister.

 

My Thoughts

 

This book is told in alternating voices; those of Taisy and Willow. It's really interesting to have those two different voices butted up against one another; Taisy and her complicated relationship with Wilson versus Willow and her complete and utter adoration of Wilson. This novel just shows how complicated families are; how heartbreaking people can be and the pure emotion that is embedded in all of it. 

To me, this book was an effortless read. I wanted to know what was going to happen, and they don't give the entire backstory away in the first 3 chapters. I was completely intrigued by the Ben Ransom factor and am glad they gave us the story within the story. I highly recommend this book and I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads.







Five Things Friday

 

5 Things I Did

1. I went to my parents house and got to hang with them, my little brother and the animals. 

2. My husband and I went to go to the state boys basketball quarter-finals (I think that's what it was?); a local team was playing and apparently some really great high school basketball was supposed to be had. Well, we arrived and the line was out of control long. There were at least 2000 people in line, it was absolute insanity for a high school basketball game. We reluctantly got in line to purchase tickets, not having high hopes that we were going to get in. We did not, along with about three million other people who were turned away at the door. Crazy. The local team won, btw. Here's a link to an article about the game, if that's your jam.

3. We had a local children's librarian come in and read to my class for March, since it's reading month. The kids had fun listening to someone who wasn't me reading to them, so that's always great.

4. I posted last week I think about my newest unborn niece's diagnosis of IUGR, and my sister had another ultrasound this week and the baby has grown! She is up to 3 pounds and doing very well, so we are very blessed and excited about this. My sister is due late May/early June so fingers crossed that this path becomes easier for her and her family!

5. I felt great, health-wise, for about 4 days and then woke up Thursday morning with a runny nose, sore throat and general misery that is associated with a cold. I'm over this. I am pretending it's not happening. On the plus side, my ribs seem to have healed.

5 Things I Ate

1. I made some smoked salmon, mixed veggies and butter herb noodles and it was very delicious. So delicious in fact that I forgot to take a picture.

2. I made a delicious smoothie on Sunday morning - 2/3 cup of kale, 1 cup mixed berries (raspberry, blueberry and blackberry), 1/2 a banana and 1 tsp chia seed. I used water as the liquid and blended until smooth. I hate bananas, but it was good in the smoothie!

3. Zucchini Black Bean Skillet - recipe will be posted on here in the next few weeks.

4. We got suckered into a Pizza Hut commercial the other day, and got a pizza along with a Hershey's Ultimate Cookie which is essentially a giant cookie cut into pie slices. WHAT THE WHAT? It was delicious and ridiculous.

5. I remembered a yummy snack and become obsessed with it again; cottage cheese and pineapple. SO good.

5 Things I Read

1. Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (Leo Demidov #1)
I didn't have high hopes for this one. I thought it would be kind of too historical-ly and bo-ring for my liking. It was not! It was a great mystery/suspense novel, rooted in history. I'm not sure how much is accurate, but with my little knowledge it all seemed accurate. I will definitely read the second and third books.

2. The DUFF: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger

I decided to read this book because they made into a movie, so I felt the need to frantically read it before everyone else decided it was cool to do it. I was pretty sure I was going to hate it, especially a few pages in - I was NOT impressed. But then, I got sucked into it. I stayed up way too late finishing it, reading the whole thing took me maybe 3-4 hours. I got little tremors in my heart, I teared up and I felt the need to go give my husband a hug and remind him that I love him. WHAT?! How did I go from hating everything about it to having some serious emotions over it? I don't know. It must be magic, or I'm a sucker for some lonely high school angsty love. Sometimes you just connect with a book, no matter how much you don't want to.
 

3. Plus size woman + low rise bikini = this article

I read an article similar to this one last summer, I believe. Wear what you want, and wear it proudly. This is something I am working on.

4. Michigan Road Trip!
I have been to a lot of these towns, but this would still be cool to do. But they did forget the northeastern corner of the state where some pretty neat things are. Guess you can't win them all.

5. Is this real life?
I just never would have thought to even try something like this. Even when I was a teenager. Now it just seems like a waste of perfectly good Burts Bees product. Now I'm going to have to hide my products from my future children!

As per usual, I am going to be linking with Fitting It All In and her Five Things Friday. I am also going to be at the High Five for Friday link up over at Coffee with Caitlin, Cup of Tea, Bright on a budget and Della Devoted

Travel | MSU "Butterflies in the Garden"

Butterflies are pretty dang cool guys. Every Spring I do a butterfly lesson with my students and during that time period we usually (budget permitting) go on a field trip to Michigan State University's Butterflies in the Garden. The kids love it, the parents love it and the teachers love it - plus its hands on and educational. It's a total win.

 

 

Generally beginning sometime in March and going through April, the Butterfly House is opened up for classroom visits and other people who are interested. Michigan State has some really beautiful gardens, and the butterflies are located inside one of the buildings. Parking during the week is metered, but on the weekends is free.

 

 

While there you are able to see everything about the life cycle of a butterfly. You get to see the eggs on the plants in the gardens, you can even see the larva eating leaves and of course the chrysalis! Once the chrysalis is formed, they put them into a separate box type thing and its super neat to watch. When we were there, some butterflies were emerging. The kids LOVED it.

 

 

They have sponges filled with "nectar" placed around the gardens so that you can get some on your finger and "invite" a butterfly on you. This is awesome, my kids just got their fingers wet and walked around with their index fingers extended waiting for a butterfly to land. Some of them got lucky, as evidenced by the previous pictures.

 



This is a great activity for a family to do. It's open Monday-Friday 2pm - 4pm to the public and then Saturday and Sunday 10am- 4pm. They also have a great event on Saturday April 25th, called Butterfly Day. For more information visit their website.

 

 

If you live in or ever find yourself near East Lansing, Michigan in the spring (or the summer, the 4H gardens are amazing!) make an effort to swing by and view some butterflies!

MSU Gardens have no idea who I am outside of my scheduling field trips with them. I just truly love them and the experience and wanted to share it.

Beauty | Adeline Organic Eye Serum

Right around the time I received this product in the mail, I fell ill. As in, I ended up in the hospital so dehydrated that I needed 3 bags of fluid, ill. I also displaced two ribs in all that mess, so I was in pretty rough shape. I had dark circles around my dark circles around my eyes. I was pretty excited, once I started feeling human again, to have something to try out on those bad boys. Some of the benefits of this eye serum are the hyaluronic acid with retinol and a blend vitamins A, C, D and E.

 



 

I have been using this eye serum for about a week, and I don't know that I see a difference but I definitely feel one. First off, this is a serum so it's quite liquid in texture. It soaks right into the under eye area, leaving it super hydrated and supple. It literally has no scent, and that is amazing. This serum is just so light, it feels like nothingness and that is the best. When it's working FOR you and your skin, but you can't feel the layers of product on your face. Isn't that the goal? I give this eye serum an enthusiastic 5 stars because my under eyes feel soft, for the first time since I was 2 days old.

 



This review is sponsored by Tomoson.com and I received this product free of charge from Adeline Beauty in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own.

Recipe | Pad Thai

So a few weeks ago, we decided that ordering in Pad Thai was ridiculous because of the cost. I assured my husband that I could find a recipe and we could make it at home way cheaper. I did just that, modified it for our preferences and shared a photo on facebook. I made it again recently, and have deemed it worthy of sharing. So here we go, some homemade Pad Thai!

 

Ingredients:

• 8 oz rice noodles, cooked according to package
• 1 boneless/skinless chicken breast, chopped into bite size pieces and cooked with salt and pepper.
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 1/3 cup sliced green onion
• peanuts (optional)

Ingredients for sauce:

• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 4 tbsp. fish sauce
• 4 tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. garlic
• 2 tsp. peanut butter (creamy or chunky)
• juice of 1 lime (I just used lime juice)
• 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 tsp. soy sauce

Instructions:

• Season chicken with salt and pepper to taste. Cook chicken in a large wok or pan over medium heat, stirring until cooked through. Transfer chicken to a bowl and set aside.
• Begin cooking noodles, in a separate pot, according to package directions.
• Whisk together all sauce ingredients and set aside.
• Crack eggs over preheated pan that you cooked chicken in, and allow to fry for about a minute. Then break it up with a spoon and add the bean sprouts.
• Add in chicken, cooked noodles and sauce.
• Toss to coat the noodles in sauce. Stir in green onions.
• Garnish with peanuts if desired.

 

And that is the finished product, so good and tastes pretty darn close to our favorite takeout Thai place. Let me know if you try it and what you think!

Five Things Friday

 

5 things I did:

1. The weather has been positively spring like! So, I am getting in the last of the snow pictures this week I believe! We went on a walk, and spotted this crane in the pond.

2. I got sick. Like, really sick. So that kind of took over my life for a few days.

3. We went on another field trip! This time to a butterfly garden. It was awesome, and I'm going to be doing a post on that next week.

4. I got two ribs out of place, from my being sick. So now I can't lift anything over 10 lbs and no "excessive bending" which is complicated when I work in a place where everyone and everything is below my waist. Good grief.

5. That was really pretty much it, I mean I was sick for the majority of the week. Sad face.

5 things I ate:

1. Alan took me out to dinner to Zoup, which is a fantastic soup place. I got a lobster bisque and a salad. Perfection.

2. Chicken noodle soup (because I was sick. I actually don't like chicken noodle soup, but sometimes it's all you can have.)

3. I made some Chicken and barley soup, just to spice things up.

4. Strawberry sorbet

5. Crackers. Oh so many crackers.

5 things I read:

1. Shopaholic to the Stars by Sophie Kinsella
I really don't like these books and I am not sure why I continue to read them. This is like the 7th one and they are SO BAD. The main character is such a terrible, self-absorbed person I can hardly handle it. This is my last one. Hold me to it, okay?

2. Cut Me Loose: Sin and Salvation after my ultra-orthodox girlhood by Leah Vincent
This was a really interesting read, to hear about the super orthodox Judaism and the affects that it had on this woman in particular. I recognize that it is one persons point of view, worth the read. But don't expect lightening bolts, it won't change your life -- it's just interesting. 

3. The Summer Wind (Lowcountry Summer #2)
These books are just nice, easy reads for me. I like the characters and I care about what happens to them. Plus, I like the "nature" aspect and learning a little bit more about the lowcountry and the sea life. I'm a sucker for some dolphins.

4. March Madness has begun, I am watching my bracket like a nut. Go green! (If this even counts as reading!)

5. IUGR Awareness - my newest niece, that is currently still living inside of my sister, is suffering from this. I had never heard of it before this, and it's crazy to think about.

As per usual, I am going to be linking with Fitting It All In and her Five Things Friday. I am also going to be at the High Five for Friday link up over at Coffee with Caitlin, Cup of Tea, Bright on a budget and Della Devoted
 

Travel | Impression 5 Science Center | Lansing, Michigan

So here in the grand city of Lansing, Michigan we have TONS of things to do all year round. But one of my favorite things to do is go to Impression 5. Located right in the heart of downtown Lansing, it is a children's science center full of fun, hands on, interactive exhibits such as:

 

• Chew on This - This exhibit looks at the mouth, it has giant dental tools and a giant mouth. It also allows for you to see teeth up close through a microscope and see how certain foods affect your teeth. They even encourage everyone to take a digital picture and upload it to a digital smile wall!
• Spectrum - This allows you to explore the electromagnetic spectrum and compare different light sources, lenses, prisms and mirrors. They also have a life size Light Mosiac so you can create, along with a Shadow Wall.
• Nano - This exhibit allows you to immerse yourself in nanoscale science, engineering and technology by allowing you to explore with magnetic materials, building a giant carbon nanotube and static electricity.
• Build Zone - This area features large tinker toys, pipes, tubing and giant blocks. This a favorite of my preschoolers whenever we go for a field trip.

 

• MI Nature - This exhibit is full of natural environments that are found in Michigan, including an aquarium-like tank full of fish!
• First Impression Room - This room is for birth to 4 years. It is completely enclosed, so it's a great place to take the kids when they just need to roam around without you for a bit. There is a section for the younger toddlers, with mats and a texture board. There is also a water room and a smart board. This room is usually where we end our field trips.
• POP! A Bubble Experience - This is a room full of bubbles. Ways to make bubbles, different shapes of bubbles, bubbles, bubbles, bubbles. This is kid favorite, being inside of a bubble!

 

There at least another 5-7 exhibits on top of those I have named. Plus they have workshops and programs, summer activities and a membership program. If you live in the Lansing area, or are ever visiting you should definitely check this place out!

Impression 5 has no idea who I am, outside of scheduling field trips for my class. I just truly love this place and wanted to share the information. Also, children's face are hidden for obvious reasons...

Beauty | Body Merry Products

The weather for the first part of 2015 was bitterly cold and all around just terrible for my skin. I generally have more oily skin, but I was completely dried out and flaky which was a new issue for me. I was given an opportunity to review Body Merry's Retinol Surge Moisturizer and their Dew Serum, and I was immediately intrigued by the Dew Serum. I have tried a few Vitamin C serum's and they can be a bit sticky, but Dew Serum?! That sounded amazing, light and like it might give a glowing dewy complexion. I immediately jumped on board.

First, up the Retinol Surge Moisturizer contains 2.5% Retinol  which is known to help aging skin preserve a youth-like quality, but Retinol can also be quite drying on the skin. Needless to say, I was hesitant because of that factor. But this moisturizer is THICK. In a good way. When I slathered (yes, slathered) it on my face and neck, it immediately felt soothed and hydrated. It also soaked in quickly, without any sort of greasy residue. I was incredibly surprised by that. The formula used to help hydrate, even with the retinol, is shea butter, green tea, organic jojoba oil, Vitamin E and Vitamin B5. I imagine the shea butter is the reason for the thick texture, but let me tell you that it feels great when applied. Plus, it is a huge size at 3.4 oz.

 

The magical mysterious dew serum. When I first opened it, I was so happy it was clear. A lot of the Vitamin C serum's have a orange/yellow tint to it and I feel like when I apply that to my super pale skin it tints it that color. So this was clear, and a lot less runny. The texture was almost gel-like. That got me irrationally excited. It was super cooling on the skin and dried pretty quickly. I gave it a few minutes to soak in before applying the Surge Moisturizer, just to make sure. This serum has vitamin c, jojoba oil and green tea all of which are great for your skin and help to promote anti-aging effects. I love this serum, I never once felt shiny or sticky or orange.

So there you have it, I am pretty happy with these recent finds and I will definitely continue to use them. Have you ever tried a dew serum? What were your thoughts?





This review is sponsored by Tomoson.com and I received this product free of charge from Body Merry in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own.

Recipe | Creamy Crockpot Chicken

Happy St. Patricks Day everyone! In college March 17 was my favorite, but nowadays it's just another regular day. Have a green beer for me, if that's your scene.

 

Alright, I won't lie, I was hesitant upon making this. I don't like ranch, and then adding the noodles was a risk indeed. It ended up tasting AWESOME, so I thought I would share. I didn't take pictures, sorry.

 

Ingredients

• 2 boneless/skinless chicken breast
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 1 packet dry Italian dressing 
• 1 packet dry Ranch dressing
• 1 brick of cream cheese 
• noodles (I used spaghetti, but use whatever you have on hand) 

 

Instructions:

• Put chicken breasts in crockpot. I threw mine in frozen solid still.
• Mix soups and packets in a mixing bowl.
• Pour over chicken in crockpot.
• Cook on low 8 hours.
• About an hour before add the cream cheese and give everything a good mix. Use a potato masher to break up the chicken.
• Then, if you're lazy like me, throw in about 6 oz of noodles and a cup of boiling water and mix around.

 

There you go, serve with some veggies on the side and a yummy quick and easy dinner. Happy eating!

5 Things Friday

5 things I did:

1. I attended the last day of the Michigan Head Start Association Conference. It was only a half day, but I got to attend two breakout sessions. I am grateful for the opportunity to attend, and hope to be able to go to more in the future.

2. We finally finished the WHOLE SERIES of Parks and Rec. SO GOOD. Definitely one of my favorite all time shows and I look forward to re-watching it again and again.

3. We had Family Fun Night at school, and we had this adorable hedgehog come by. For whatever reason I thought it was hilarious.

4. We had dinner with some friends at their house, and I got to hold their baby and he was so adorable. 

5. We took a field trip to a local children's science museum, impression 5. I plan on doing a whole post on the awesome that is I5.

5 things I ate:

1. I had my first Boston Cooler this week. If you've never heard of one, it's ginger ale (preferably Vernor's) with vanilla ice cream. So good and I can't believe that I was born and raised in Michigan and never had one. So many wasted years...

2. Alan made breakfast. It was so good and so appreciated.

3. I met my bestie for dinner. I hadn't seen her since the wedding, so it was great to catch up with her. It doesn't happen often enough, unfortunately.

4. These cornbread muffin-cake-loaf things are my favorite. We get them at school, like 2 times a year and it's the best day ever.

5. I made Pad Thai again, and I am going to share the recipe on the blog soon!

5 things I read:

1. The List by Joanna Bolouri
This book was so...dirty? I guess I just wasn't expecting it when I began reading so I was surprised. It was alright, but a lot of the usual lack of character development. I just didn't care for anyone in the book. They were all so one dimensional and so incredibly selfish. I gave it two stars on goodreads.

2. Burial Pods - If this is a real thing than I am totally on board and this is what I want to have happen to me.

3. Girl scout cookies  - I never knew this!

4. BookPage - Finally made it to the library to grab the March version!

5. Yes please by Amy Poehler - I really enjoyed this book. I giggled out loud of couple of times, but I can understand how people may not like it. It's kind of all over the place and spastic, which is appealing to me because it feels like a conversation.

As per usual, I am going to be linking with Fitting It All In and her Five Things Friday. I am also going to be at the High Five for Friday link up over at Coffee with Caitlin, Cup of Tea, Bright on a budget and Della Devoted

Beauty | Empties

I figure sharing products that I have used up will be kind of like giving a bunch of mini-reviews on products in one nice sitting. I plan on keeping a bag of items that I have used up, when it gets full (or I need something to talk about) I can bust them out and share my thoughts with you. A fair amount of them will be samples, especially from Birchbox, so it could (maybe?) be helpful to see what I thought of them after/during using them.

 

 

So there is my current situation. As you can see some of them are not actually empty products, but products that I deemed unworthy of keeping.

 

1. Borghese Superiore State of the Art Mascara (sample)

This was alright. I feel like I have yet to find the mascara that changes my life. This was not it, but I appreciate the chance to try it out. It was the perfect shade of black, but it tended to smear around my eyes. That may be because my eyes water constantly and have been really irritated, so that probably didn't help matters.

 

2. Starlet Intense Eyeliner

I just didn't like this color. It was too light of a brown for my skin tone. I need a richer brown color or else I kind of look like I have pink eye. That's not the look I am EVER going for.

 

3. The Body Shop Tea Tree Concealer

This was just a no. The color was off, the consistency was weird, it smelled strange. Will not be repurchasing.

 

4. Maybelline Volum' Express The Colossal Mascara

This my go-to mascara, even though I am kind of so-so on it. It lasts for the day, doesn't smear and it goes on really smooth and not clumpy. So, it works.

 

5. Harvey Prince Hello Liquid Loofah

I would rather just use a scrub. This smelled really good, but I didn't feel like it really exfoliated and scrubbed.

 

6. Laura Mercier Full Blown Volume Supreme Mascara

I actually quite enjoyed this mascara, but I can't justify spending a lot of mascaras. I may one day use Birchbox points to purchase, but let's be real...I probably won't.

 

 

 

• Suave Professionals Dry Conditioner Spray

I am not sure why I wanted to try a dry conditioner. But I did, and I didn't like it. It smelled kind of like citrusy baby powder and it just kind of rested on the top of my head. Even if I worked it into my hair/roots I just felt like it just got weighed down.

 

• Serge Normant Meta Revive Dry Conditioner

So while the previous dry conditioner was a massive fail, this one was really great. I'm still not entirely sure I understand the point of a dry conditioner and I am still on the hunt for the PERFECT dry shampoo because that I can get behind.

• Yes to Blueberries Softening Facial Exfoliator

This is my absolute favorite exfoliator. It is so gentle and it kind of smells like sunscreen. I really like the Yes to products, and I will continue to use this product for the foreseeable future.

• Up & Up Pomegranate and Lemon Verbana Body Wash

This is actually a pretty summery body wash, but I absolute loved the scent of it. As far as body wash goes, it got me clean? It's the Target brand, so it's not life changing, but it got the job done and it smelled realllly good.

• Garnier Moisture Rescue Refreshing Gel-Cream

I LOVE this product! It was so moisturizing and it absorbed so quickly and it was amazing. It was super cooling too because of the gel-cream formula. This will be a definite repurchase once I finish up the current stash that I have.

Recipe | Slow Cooker Swedish Meatballs

 

For whatever reason, my husband was craving Swedish meatballs. I'm not sure if he was wanting his mom's version, but I did a little twist.

 



 

Ingredients

• 1 bag of frozen meatballs
• 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can of beef broth
• 1 packet of brown gravy mix (or whatever gravy mix you prefer, you can get creative here)
• 1/2 cup of water
• noodles (I used egg noodles)

 

Instructions:

• Mix together everything, except meatballs and noodles, whisk until smooth.

 

• Dump meatballs in slow cooker

• Pour mixture over meatballs
• Cook on low for 6 hours
• Serve over cooked noodles of your choice

While I was preparing it, I wasn't a fan of the smell. I think it was the gravy packet, so I was a little hesitant and pretty convinced I wasn't going to like it. I was regretting trying to get creative. But when I got home to the smell of it cooking it all day, I was excited to give it a whirl. We cooked up some noodles and slapped the meatballs on over them and shoved it in our mouths. It was so good! A went back for seconds, so that's always a great thing! I hope you guys enjoy this as much as we did! Happy eating!

Books | Ashfall Series by Mike Mullin

 Disclaimer: I will do my very best to avoid spoilers, but I am writing about all 3 books. If you don't want to know what happens, move along please and just check them out from your local library. Thankyouverymuch.

I read the first book back in 2013 and immediately devoured the second book. I then waited rather impatiently for the third book to come out, all the while bothering my little brother to read the first two and wait in anticipation with me. He declined. I loved these books SO much, I bought him the first one for Christmas and I'm pretty sure he hasn't read it yet. Oh well. I just wanted someone to share my love with, and if he won't participate...I nominate you!

 

Ashfall is the first book in the trilogy. Alex, the main character, is a regular teenage boy who has been left alone for the weekend by his parents (and sister, Rebecca). For Alex, this means time to normal teenage boy stuff; video games, hang with his friends, etc. Unfortunately for Alex, the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts leaving his town (and most of the west/Midwest) in darkness, ash and increasing violence as panic increases. Alex decides to venture out and find his family. What he finds is Darla and a world in havoc.

 

My thoughts: I was so hooked. The entire circumstance of Alex and Darla meeting is so entrancing, and heartbreaking that I couldn't put the book down. I guess there is some perverse pleasure in reading about a world falling apart. I am pretty convinced I would just stay in my house and eventually die.

 

 

Ashen Winter picks up six months after the eruption of the supervolcano. Alex and Darla are with Alex's relatives and are trying to adjust to a new, primitive lifestyle in Illinois. During these six months, Alex's parents have not returned from Iowa. Unable to wait for them any longer, Alex and Darla decide to retrace their journey to Iowa to try and find them. But in those six months, the world has turned even more perilous than it was the first time they trekked through it; with communities battling over food and power.

 

My thoughts: While writing the description, I was thinking to myself...why didn't they just stay put? Obviously nothing good is going to come of their leaving and going out into the wild blue yonder. Naturally things have gotten worse. The grid is down. The animals are dead (from ash inhalation). Crops are buried. People are DESPERATE. Alex and Darla, keep your butts in Illinois. When you're reading it though, they make compelling arguments and you just agree with their decision.

 

 

 

Sunrise is the final book and it takes place about a year after the eruption. The human race has nearly been wiped out by the supervolcano and the survivors seem intent on finishing the job. Communities have turned on each other and war is raging, cannibals roam the countryside and what little government survived has collapsed entirely. Alex and Darla have to make the difficult decision to leave their current home and start a community that is entirely self sufficient and begin to focus on long term survival.

 

My Thoughts: I was pretty happy with the way the series ended. Naturally I always want to know exactly what happens forever and ever in their lives but that's just not plausible. Generally, I am sad and upset when a series I love is over but I felt great closure with this one in particular. Obviously, READ THIS SERIES. Let me know your thoughts if you take the plunge into one of the best dystopian series I have read.

 



5 Things Friday

5 things I did:

1. I went to a family baby shower. They are having a baby girl, due in April!

2. My grandma had a heart procedure done, so positive, healing vibes sent her way are appreciated!

3. I am attending a conference in Ann Arbor on Friday. Actually as you are reading this I will be there. Exciting times.

4. I came home the other day to a cleaned house; the couch was vacuumed, the rugs were rotated, the whole nine yards. Felt lots of love towards my husband and it was so incredibly appreciated.

5. Got accepted for my first Influenster VoxBox, so be on the lookout for that review in the next few weeks!

5 things I ate:

1. I always have a massive weakness for these trail mix thingies at showers. I just sit there and shove them into my mouth. Ugh. My stomach hurt afterward.

2. Got some of my fave Mexican food! Enchilada's suizas, refried beans and Spanish rice.

3. Acai, blueberry and pomegranate sorbet is SO GOOD!

4. Made a super yummy chicken dish in the crockpot, recipe will be forthcoming!

5. My grandma sent home a whole dish of rainbow jello with me. Been eating it for days and feel like I haven't made a dent. #firstworldproblems

5 things I read:

1.Struggles only girls with long hair will understand

2. An adorable video by my fave musical artist

3. Keurig sadness

4. Sunrise by Mike Mullin (Ashfall #3)

5. Kelly Clarkson owns


As per usual, I am going to be linking with Fitting It All In and her Five Things Friday. I am also going to be at the High Five for Friday link up over at Coffee with Caitlin, Cup of Tea, Bright on a budget and Della Devoted