Book Review: Heart of the Matter

I finished my first book of the summer!  368 pages in 3 weeks...oh how my life has changed with no more grad school!  A few months ago, it probably would have taken me a year to finish this book! 

Here's the book I finished: Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin.  She is the author of the books Something Borrowed and Something Blue, like the movie that came out a few months ago. 

I went to Borders a couple months ago looking for a book by Emily Giffin.  I found another book called Love the One Your With.  As I was walking to pay, i found this book on clearance for $6.00, so I picked it up too!  It was told from an interesting point of view of the same events, but each even from the viewpoint of 2 different characters.  One lady, Valerie, is a single mom with a boy, Charlie, who is about 10.  The other is Tessa, who is a stay at home mom to 2 kids and the wife of Nick, a well known plastic surgeon at the Children's Hospital.  One night at a slumber party, Charlie gets burned badly by a campfire and at the hospital, Nick becomes his surgeon.  As the story goes on, the events are told from both the eyes of Tessa and Valerie.  Their lives continue to cross is different ways as the story progresses. 

One interesting part of the story was that Tessa's brother and sister-in-law, Dex and Rachael, were the main characters in Something Borrowed.  I can't wait to read the rest of the Emily Giffin series and see how they intermix!

If you are looking for a new author, I would recommend Emily Giffin! I have only had about 20 pages left in my book for the past week, but I found myself not wanting to read it because that would mean the story was over.  Finally, I gave in and finished it tonight!   I have read all the Shopaholic books, except for the newest Mini-Shopaholic.  I think I am putting it off because I love the series so much that I am in denial that this is the last book for now.  Because of that, I am happy that I have a new series to start now!

This Summer Just Keeps Getting Better...Week 3

This summer is just what I needed...relaxation and freedom to do as I please! Every week just seems to be getting better and better as I settle into the summer routine.   Each night, I just keep thinking how wonderful it is going to be when Eric is officially graduated and we have time to do as we want, go here and there, and not have the constant cloud of school work over his head.  Here is a rundown of what we did this week:

Monday: Met my good friend Jennifer for brunch. to catch-up on life.  We haven't seen each other since Christmas and since then, she has gotten engaged!  We had a great brunch and I can't wait until the next time we see each other.  Also on Monday, I went to the doctor on my way home for what I thought was water in my ear.  Turns out it was an inner ear infection...I'm such a 5 year old!

Tuesday: Played catch-up around the house and lounged around.  My ear actually started hurting pretty bad Monday night, so I tried to take it easy Tuesday.  I had been gone for 5 days, so there was laundry to be done!  The beauty of it it that I don't mind doing laundry when all I have to do that day is laundry.  It was actually relaxing...kind of weird!

Wednesday: RAIN!  It actually rained for an extended period of time for the first time in many months.  It was a beautiful sight.  I took another day to hang around the house and catch-up on rest and cleaning.

Thursday:  Finally left the house and went to run some errands.  I finally got my ring exchanged at Swarovski and went to James Avery to get my new graduation charm put on my bracelet.

  Check out this beauty that Eric got me for my birthday!

Friday: Went to lunch with some lovely ladies I work with and took a trip to Old Navy...it's our mecca!  That night, Eric and I went to a nice dinner together and went to look at some neighborhoods afterwards.  We called it an early night and rented Just Go With It on the way home.  Cute movie, I love Jennifer Aniston!

Saturday: Our weekend extravaganza began!  David, Eric's sister's boyfriend, came to Clear Lake early Saturday morning.  We met him for breakfast ans went to Galveston.  The boys played putt putt while I went to the cutest coffee shop and read. There is a neighborhood called Evia behind Moody Gardens that looks like it is out of a movie.  So adorable and the houses are beautiful!

We then gave David the Galveston tour, came back to eat lunch and swam for a little while.  That afternoon, Eric's parents and Katie come down and we went to eat in Galveston at Willie G's.  Yum yum!

Sunday: We had a lazy morning and lounged around until 11:30.  Then we headed out to Sugarland to walk around the mall and eat dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  We had $20 in gift cards that we got by filling out an online survey and a coupon for free cheesecake.  My parents met us and we had a wonderful afternoon and dinner with them.  I don't know if I will eat again for days...ughh...so full!

  This little beauty is what put me over the edge! Red Velvet Cheesecake!

Here's to another week of relaxation, friends and family and Summer 2011!

Things I'm Loving Right Now

Here are some things that I am loving right now...just wanted to share!

Pinterest is a cool website where you can create online bulletin boards to hold all different ideas you find for home decorating, cooking, crafting, etc. It's my new summer obsession!



Love this cute necklace from Funky Vintage Lovely!




  I am loving this print right now.  Since we have no more room to decorate our apartment, I will have to hold off buying cute pillows, towels and many other things I have seen with this pattern...one day!
  Another cute print I am liking.  I think something like this would be cute for my classroom. 



    I have never been a wreath person, until I realized wreaths can be cute!  Eric and I made a wreath for Christmas, and now I want a wreath for every season!  I want to make a wreath like this, but add a "K" instead of our address numbers. 

  There are so many things I love about this...the teal color and frame, the banner on the poster and the saying.  I want to print cute sayings like this to hang in my class this year.  Now...where to find cute frames like this?

Summer Lovin' Week in Review #2

I guess this is s good thing, but it seems like I have been on summer vacation for a lot longer than 2 weeks!  Let's hope the whole summer goes this slow!  This past week was fun because I got to see my family, the Konesheck's and some good friends.   The week started by me having to go to a GT training.  The thing that made it even better was that I got to go with Leslie.  That helped both of us make it through the day.  We had another swimming day on Wednesday and I headed to Katy that night.  Heather and the kids came over to my parents house for dinner and we went to get ice cream afterwards.  On Thursday, I got to practice being a mommy.  I watched the kids for the day while Heather was with her dad for the day.  We started by going to Tegan's first gymnastics class.  She was so excited and worked really hard!  We then meet up with my dad for lunch at Cafe Express.  Heather and I went to dinner that night with my friend Lyndsey.  It was so fun to catch-up and hear about baby Carter who is due in September. 
          Friday and Saturday my mom and I went shopping while Eric played golf and my dad went fishing.  Sunday was Father's day.  Eric and I cooked breakfast for my dad and then went to see the Hangover 2 with my parents.  That afternoon, we went swimming at the Konesheck's and boiled crawfish.  Monday morning, before leaving Katy, I went to brunch with my friend Jennifer.  We haven't seen each other since Christmas since she lives in Charlottesville, Virginia now.  Since then, she has gotten engaged to the guy she went to our prom with.  We have known Brad for many years and after going separate ways for college, they meet up a few years ago and have been dating ever since!  They are getting married in April, so it was so much fun to hear about the wedding plans!  I had a wonderful time getting to stay in Katy for more than a weekend and spend some extended time with my family.  Summer is off to a great start so far!

Summer Week in Review- Week 1

In an effort to fully enjoy this summer while also making it a productive summer. my goal is to blog each weekend about the previous week.  Hopefully this will help avoid the yearly event that happens around the middle of August when all teachers think to themselves "Where did the summer go?  Did I make the most of my time off?" 

Overall, it was a very successful and busy first week of summer vacation!  We saw friends and family, I did some massive organizing and relaxed a little too.

Monday- Spent the day with my friend Leslie, her girls Hayden and Adyson, and her mom to celebrate my birthday.  They treated me to lunch, shopping at Old Navy and a pedicure.

Tuesday- Celebrated my 27th birthday by going to breakfast with Eric.  Went to dinner at Ichibon in Kemah with some teacher friends and their husbands, and my brother in law Darren.  Leslie, Carol, Georgina and I have formed a great little girls group and the husbands get along well too, so that's an added bonus!

Wednesday- Started "Operation Find Our Closet"  It was such an undertaking, but after a long 10 hours day of cleaning, I got rid of 6 huge bags of clothes, shoes, bags and house items.  The process was WAY to much to be contained for one day...

Thursday- Went to a Social Studies training and finished "Operation Find Our Closet".  The transformation was amazing!  I wish I would have taken a before picture.  It makes me so happy every time I walk into my room now =)

Friday- Heather and the kids came out to join in our first pool day of the summer with our girl's group.  It was a wonderful day of swimming, having a picnic on the living room and taking a wonderful afternoon nap.  We then went to dinner with Eric, Michael and Darren.  I love those kiddos so much!  I am not sure who was more sad when they left...me or the kids!

Saturday- Eric and I went to Spring for the day.  Eric went to plat golf with Drew and Brody, his UTMB buddies.  Drew's wife, Brandi, and I went check out Old Town Spring, at lunch at a beautiful restaurant called Jasper's in the Woodlands and sunned ourselves by the pool at Brody's parents house.  After golf, the boys joined us at the pool at we sat outside for hours telling stories and enjoying good company.

Sunday- Eric came to wake me up in the morning and was ready to do something.  He was in the mood for Galveston and a burger at the Spot.  We called my parents and they jumped at the chance to come visit and go to the Spot.  Even though we have been close to 100 degrees each day for the past few weeks, the weather was surprisingly nice.

I know this is long...don't expect each week to be this event filled or detailed =)  Here's to a wonderful summer with friends, family and taking time for myself!

Summer Bucket List

Summer is here!!!  I have big plans to enjoy this summer to the fullest.  I have been in grad school the past 2 summers, so this summer will be a lot different.  One of my main goals for this summer is to get my life back in order.  I have been a scatter-brained mess this year and have let many things go in my life.  I have recently gotten into reading a lot of different blogs about making crafty things/home decorating.  I saw a cute idea on one blog called Tatertots and Jello to make a summer bucket list for kids.  So...I thought this would be a good idea for myself to help me stay focused on some projects I want to do this summer and also to give me ideas when I can't think of what I want to do each day.

                                           My 2011 Summer Bucket List

• Clean out and organize our closet- finished this the first week of summer!
• Clean out and organize our desk area
• Catch-up on my blog- graduation and teacher of the year lunch
• Spend more time with Eric at night and on the weekends since we are both done with classes!
• Blog more often to help me remember this time in our life- Week in Review
• Make going to the gym more of a priority
• Spend time with friends that I have not seen in a while or missed over the past year
• Spend more time with my family
• Have Tegan and Cainan come visit for a few days- each separately at the request of Cainan =)
• Work on some school planning for next year to hopefully alleviate some beginning of the year stress
• Work on some crafting/decorating projects I have seen lately
• Read more books

My hope is to be better about updating my blog so hopefully I will be able to accomplish most of my summer bucket list!