Five Things Friday

Here you have it, my five things Friday! Hope everyone had a great week and has an even better weekend! See you on Monday! Or, better yet, keep up with me on social media! @estherlaurien on Instagram & Twitter!

5 Things I did

1. We got snow. Because of said snow, we had a snow day last Friday. There was a very bad accident about an hour or so away from here, it involved a 150 car pileup and a truck carrying fireworks. There was a fatality. My thoughts are with all those who were involved and with their families.

 

2. My mom had foot surgery last Tuesday, so on Sunday I went out to see them. As it ended up, my Dad got sick the night before and my Grandparents came over with tons of food for them. So I went on fridge duty for them, and left with some yummy food for myself too. Hope they get better soon, silly parents.

3. So this is Shiloh. She was my 16th birthday present (I am now 30). She is a verrrry old girl who doesn't usually like to snuggle. When I was at my parents house, she randomly decided she wanted to snuggle. It was adorable and glorious and my mom snapped this cute picture of her.

4. I took 10,500 steps one day this week!! I know this because for Christmas I received a Jawbone UP24.

5. I caught up on Parenthood; my husband doesn't really like it (too soap opera-y for him) and he was out of town so I caught up on it one night. It was gloriously guilty and delightful.

5 things I ate

1. A delicious bowl of Cream of Wheat on a snowy winter morning is just absolute perfection. Truly.

 

2. I had some leftover frozen blueberries; so I threw those along with some spinach and milk into the blender. Pretty yummy.

3. Monkey Bread!

4. I have a guilty pleasure in eating frozen lasagna. I mean, I heat it up first, then eat it. My husband does not understand this, and has no desire to partake in it. So that means when he is out of town, I eat it and I enjoy every guilty morsel. He calls it a Lasagna Brick. So that is what I ate; a lasagna brick. Delicious.

5.Swedish Fish. That's all that needs to be said about that, am I right?

5 things I read

1. Corgi cuteness

This is an adorable little article about this corgi who went to Disney and got pictures taken with the characters. Trust me, it will make you smile.

2. How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon

This book was well written, but kind of confusing because it is told in the voices of like 10 different characters. So that is kind of annoying, but I do understand the importance of the different voices to the plot but still...I had a  hard time keeping up with each switch.

3. Literally made me LOL

4.  The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Loved, loved, loved this book. I gave it 5 stars on Goodreads in fact. Historical Fiction is often hard for me to get into, but this story just sucked me in for days. Let me know if you want a full review on this book!

5.  Every month from my library I get a free copy of BookPage and I thumb through it very slowly and deliberately to decide what books to add to my Goodreads. It's a book nerds heaven for sure.

Books | On my nightstand | Sept. 2014

Another month, so another look at what books are currently on my nightstand and in a pile waiting for me to read! Since I am offically back at work from summer vacation, my reading time is dwindling. But that doesn't stop me from having a library problem. So here are the 6 books I hope to finish in September! 

1. Ten Tiny Breaths by K.A. Tucker

Last month I read the fourth book, Five Ways to Fall, and quite enjoyed it. So I decided to start back at the beginning, which is this book. This books follows Kacey Cleary and the fall out in her life following a drunk driving accident four years prior. Her main priority is to wait out her hellish life until her little sister Livie is no longer a minor and then they can escape. When their Uncle Raymond slips into bed next to Livie one night, Kacey decides she has had enough and it's time to leave. They flee to Miami, where they take up residence is an apartment complex full of "characters".  Naturally, the fellow residing in apartment 1D catches Kacey's eye, but she is broken beyond repair...or so she believes.

My thoughts: I enjoy books where people have shitty lives, I know it seems sick but it's the truth. I look forward to reading this book, and I am positive I will enjoy since it seems fairly similar to the other book I read by K.A. Tucker.

2. If you could see what I see by Cathy Lamb

I have read 2 other books by Cathy Lamb, and I super loved them...hence why I am already onto a third book! This one is about the woman in Megge O'Rourke's family. They have run a lingerie business for decades, and naturally, their family dynamic is fairly dysfunctional. Meggie wants to stay away, but her grandmother has summoned her back to Portland, Oregon. Given the flux in her life the past year, Meggie is secretly happy for a focus - to keep the family business afloat and deal with her bickering family. In an attempt to draw customers to their website, Meggie begins to interview relatives and employees about their first bra's and favorite lingerie items. What she finds are unexpectedly poignant stories, and revelations that highlight her family's past and help Meggie begin to find her footing again.

My thoughts:  Lamb has no problem writing books about issues that are uncomfortable and I love that. I am eager to read this one, and hear the stories people share. I like unexpected, and I feel like there is more than meets the eye with this novel. 

3. The Magnolia League by Katie Crouch

This is the first book in a series of the same name, there are at least two that I know of. In this novel, 16 year old Alexandria Lee is forced to leave her west coast home after her mother dies in a tragic accident. Alexandria is forced to move in with her wealthy grandmother in Georgia, a grandmother that she has never had a relationship with. Just by birth, Alex is rightfully a member of the Magnolia League - a long standing debutante society. This is a far cry from the life Alex is used to, and she is the first in decades to question the intentions. Yet, even with her unwillingness she gets caught up in their world. Alex discovers a pact and some deadly secrets hidden beneath the "southern charm". 

My thoughts: This book seems kind of mysterious, and I like that. Maybe a little dark, but not too crazy...no nightmares (hopefully!). 

4. The Bird Sisters by Rebecca Rasumussen

Twin sisters Milly and Twiss spend their days nursing people and birds back to health. But it wasn't always this way, back in the summer of 1947 Milly was known as a great beauty and Twiss was a wild child who never wore a dress or do what she was told. That was also the summer their father was in an accident and their mother finally admitted that their penny pinching lives would never change. It was also the summer their priest renounced his belief and God and ran away, and also the summer a boy caught Milly's eye. And most unforgettable, it was the summer their cousin Bett changed their lives forever.

My thoughts:  I read about this book in my free book magazine I get my from my library. I feel like I have no idea what it is really about, but I still want to read it. I feel like that is good enough for me, so I checked it out. I don't need much encouragement in reading, in case you couldn't have figured this out.

5. The 9th Girl by Tami Hoag

This is the 4th book in the Kovac and Liska series, if you're a Tami Hoag reader. I have read these all out of order, but it hasn't proved to be complicated to figure it out. On New Year's Eve in Minneapolis, MN a young woman's beaten body falls from the trunk of a car into the path of traffic. She is the 9th nameless female victim of the year and homocide dectectives Kovac and Liska are given the task of finding out who she is and why this happened to her. Their fear is that she is the 9th victim of the transient serial killer they have dubbed Doc Holiday. Doc Holiday has been criss-crossing America's heartland, choosing his victims at random; snatching them from one city and leaving them in another...always on a holiday.

My thoughts: I love Tami Hoag, and all of her series, even the particularly gruesome ones. I think this is the last one I have to read in this particular series.

6. The One & Only by Emily Giffin

33 year old Shea Rigsby has lived her whole life in Walker, Texas...a small college town that eats, drinks and breathes football, a passion she also shares. Her best friend, Lucy, is the daughter of legendary football coach Clive Carr. When a tragedy occurs in Walker, Shea's comfortable world is no more and she begins to wonder if the live she has chosen is the one she really wants. She decides to step outside of her safety net, and follow an unexpected path. She discovers the truth about the people and things she has always trusted, and is forced to confront her deepest desires, fears and secrets.

My thoughts:  Giffin's books have never really made me feel anything beyond mild amusement. This book has the appearance of being able to go a bit deeper, and it didn't really tell me much by the description which I like. 

What books are on your nightstand? Or what books are you currently reading?

High Five for Friday | Link Up

Since it is my last week of official summer vacation, it has just been a chill week. Laying around, going for walks and reading. The calm before the storm if you will.

1.  On Saturday a group of friends and myself went out to celebrate my birthday! We went to a local brewery that I had been wanting to try, EagleMonk Pub and Brewery. Pictured is the sampler that C and I split, to decide what beer we liked best. I had about 4 favorites (out of 8), so that's a definite win in my book! It was a great time, and I super appreciate the people that came to help me celebrate. 

2. It's always a great week when I get to see this old girls smiling face. She was my 16th birthday present, and seeing that I just turned 30...that tells you how old she is. She continues to live at my parents, since it seems evil to yank her from her comfort zone. She has lots of land there, plus her best friend Mojo to snuggle with on cold winter nights. I love her. 

3. I have been going for walks everyday, usually to the library. It's been great to get outside and walk to one of my favorite places ever.

4. I am test driving some cars this week. Unfortunately my car has pooped out. That is not a high five. BUT getting test drive some cars is. I have had my current car...for 12 years. I have never really driven anything else, so this is kind of exciting.

5. We are going to be joining some friends for dinner in Old Town, Lansing. It will be delightful to eat some great food and catch up with people.

Hope everyone has a great weekend, see you back here on Monday!

High Five for Friday | Link-up

It is very nearly August 2014, I can't even believe it. I feel like I say that every week, but I'm going to be going back to work in the month of August, and I will have to figure out my blogging schedule for when that happens. Don't worry, I will keep you posted. Here is my High Five for Friday for this past week!

1. C and I had three parties on Saturday. So needless to say we had a very busy and fulfilling day, getting to see family and friends all day long. We started out at a graduation party for his 2nd cousin, and it was great to see his extended family again (we just saw a lot of them at the wedding shower) and visit with them, even if only for a brief period of time. Then we hustled over to a friend's combined 5th anniversary/30th birthday party and also their son's first birthday! We missed the cake smash {oh man!} but got to visit with all of our college friends, including some out of state. It was great to catch up and [hopefully] make some plans for a UP vacation next summer! Lastly, it was C's best friend and his fiancee's combined birthday/engagement party. C is the best man in there wedding, which is in August of 2015. It was great to see them, eat some delicious fruit loop cake and meet back up with some of my friends from out of town at a local bar in EL. We ended the night with some Panchero's, as you do in EL. Perfection.

2. Unfortunately, I was unable to get my crap together on Sunday to do anything productive. But sometimes, that's a high five anyway.

3. My brother is going through a reading phase right now and he ran out of books to read. Well, twist my arm and make me take him to the library. We spent a good hour at the library, where he found two books to read and I found 4 to add to my pile of 11. It's a problem and I'm okay with it.

4. A group of 4 of us bought tickets to an Andrew McMahon concert in Chicago on Halloween. I'm SO excited to go and see him with C {for like the 5th time} and also with S & R who are big fans as well. So a long weekend in the city, yes please!

5. The weather on Wednesday was nearly fall-like. It was 70 degrees out around 7 pm, C and I decided to go for a walk. It was absolutely perfect, now I can't wait for fall -- tailgates, spiced pumpkin lattes, football games and hoodies. 

I was super bad about taking photos of the things I did this week, and for that I apologize. Have a great weekend, and see you Monday!

High Five for Friday (link-up)

Greetings from Jacksonville, Florida! I am here visiting my sister and her family for the next two(ish) weeks! Let's get down to why we are all here, okay?

1. I live about an hour and a half away from Detroit, but love to go down and explore all that it has to offer. My fiancé and I went the Detroit Institute of Arts on Sunday and explored about 1/4 of what it had to offer. I wrote a whole blog post about it so if you want to learn more, check it out!

2. I am a huge library nerd. I try to get my picture taken outside of every library I encounter. As it turns out, the DIA is directly across the street from the main branch of the Detroit Public Library!

3. Along with our Detroit Adventure, we went to a film festival called Cinetopia. We viewed a documentary called Rich Hill and it was about rural poverty. We viewed the film at Detroits ONLY independent theatre, Cinema Detroit. When you pull into the parking lot it looks like an abandoned building but it is a fully operational (including concessions!) two screen cinema. Read more about this experience in the previous blog. 

4.

I flew down to Jacksonville and am staying for two weeks! The flights were uneventful and the clouds were looking marvelous!

5. Reunited with my nieces! I am so excited to spend the next two weeks w them, hanging out and experiencing life in the sunshine state!