Synopsis: “A groomsman and his last-minute guest are about to discover if a fake date can go the distance in a fun and flirty debut novel. Agreeing to go to a wedding with a guy she gets stuck with in an elevator is something Alexa Monroe wouldn’t normally do. But there’s something about Drew Nichols that’s too hard to resist. On the eve of his ex’s wedding festivities, Drew is minus a plus one. Until a power outage strands him with the perfect candidate for a fake girlfriend… After Alexa and Drew have more fun than they ever thought possible, Drew has to fly back to Los Angeles and his job as a pediatric surgeon, and Alexa heads home to Berkeley, where she’s the mayor’s chief of staff. Too bad they can’t stop thinking about the other…They’re just two high-powered professionals on a collision course toward the long distance dating disaster of the century–or closing the gap between what they think they need and what they truly want…”
Review: I honestly thought this book was incredibly fun to read and I was very invested to see how far things would go with Alexa and Drew. I did not like the constant back and forth of oh its not meant to be, but I really want to be with them, but I can’t be with them.. blah blah blah. Another thing I did not like was how pretty much every time they were around each other, more or less they just had to have sex. The descriptions weren’t in so much great detail to the point it took away completely from the story, but it definitely went into more depth then a lot of other Romance books I have read in the past. This series does have more books, mostly about the other characters that were found in this book, which I cannot wait to get my hands on and read those books as well. The writing style was really good and easy to read, made it feel like I couldn’t put the book down and just had to keep reading.
The way my Tea Talks are going to go is that I will discuss something completely random, something that is just sitting on my mind or just something I want to get off my chest, it could be a complaint, an accomplishment, something that makes me angry or happy. It can change each time, but will only be written when I am drinking tea. Each Tea Talk post will also include a little chit chat about what type of tea I am drinking that morning/evening. There is no particular day or time that these posts will occur, it can be fairly random, kind of like a journal or a diary per say, but will be numbered for tracking purposes, just to see how far I can take these Tea Talk posts.
For today’s tea, I am drinking Toffee Caramel Pu’erh Tea (Ingredients: Pu’reh tea, almond pieces, natural flavours) mixed with Chocolate Fudge Cake Rooibos Tea (Ingredients: Cocoa beans, Rooibos tea, date pieces, golden raisins, candied ginger pieces, roasted buckwheat, brittle pieces, licorice root, hazel nut, sunflower blossoms and natural flavours). I was running out of the Toffee Caramel, but in order to get good amount of flavour in my tea, I decided to mix it with another tea I already had started. Both of these tea flavours have come from Sipology. For these types of tea’s, I normally take it with a milk or creamer, today I chose Starbucks Almond & Oat Caramel Macciato flavour. So my tea is definitely very very very flavourful!
One of my favourite things to do is shop, which honestly could be really dangerous, especially if you are terrible when it comes to budgeting and tend to spend far much more than you probably should. Well, for me, I have noticed that there has been a lot more clearances, which, honestly, is my favourite type of shopping. When I was at the mall today, I went into one of my favourite stores, Bath & Body Works… such a DANGEROUS store… sometimes even worse than book stores for me. I got a few lotions, body sprays and a shower gel (I have far too much in my over stock pile right now… but, who can walk away from a clearance sale without shopping?), I do intend on making a separate post to show exactly what items were purchased.
On top of that sale, there was also a clearance sale with Scentsy, which I have ordered a bunch of Scentsy Buddies, Bitty Buddies, a new wax bar and a few dish soaps. Most of the Scentsy products is for my baby girl, whom I am obviously spoiling before she can even play with stuffed toys. The wax bar and dish soaps are however mine. On top of that, there is Thirty-One, one of my friends (former lead) was selling some of her stock for discounted prices, which I have a few items I am purchasing from her that I can put into good use. So I do have quite a few items I am super excited to receive.
Currently I have been keeping busy with my baby girl Hailey, I am currently on Maternity leave and loving it, however, I have been sucking when it comes to giving myself some well needed pampering time. I have been however, been trying to read more often, and have been trying to blog a little more, just to get into the hang of writing something often, eventually hoping to use this motivation to write a novel or even some short stories, something publishing worthy… one day.
On top of the new parenting duty, and the reading/writing.. I have also been occupied with so much wedding planning related stuff. I remember when I told myself years ago… like YEARSSSS ago… that I wanted to become an Event Planner, and now when I’m planning my own wedding, it makes me question if that would have ever been the job for me… I cannot make decisions to save my own life and I keep flip-flopping. Cannot wait to do specific wedding related posts when things start coming along. I am also super excited for my Bachelorette Party, because it would be the closest thing to a vacation from this crazy life… as much as I will be sad to be away from my baby girl and my Fiancé for a few days.
Another thing that I will be pre-occupied with this year would be moving. For just less than two years we have been living in a basement apartment, not quite to my standards as it doesn’t really feel like “home” to us given certain circumstances. We will be moving back in with my Mother-in-law, which will be to keep her company, but it would also help us save money. The market is just wild this year, houses being sold for over a million… rent pricing going ridiculously up. Living with in-laws this time will be a little different, we are actually painting the rooms, so they will be a little more personalized and we wont be feeling nearly as cramped as before. Unfortunate circumstances though, my Father-in-law had recently passed away this year, which I am incredibly sad about. I wasn’t super close with him, but, I felt a connection with him through talking about books, he also always treated me like a daughter of his own, and he felt like a father to me as well. I often think about him, and about our cat Josie. But I do know they are both watching over us.
On top of those two close deaths we are dealing with, my great aunt had also passed away recently. I was not as close with her, but, it still hurts. I haven’t seen her since I was younger, but she was always the most sweetest lady ever, and always made the people around her feel so loved.
For the month of July and August, I really wanted to try to focus on a Summer reading theme. The total amount of books I plan on reading this month is 11 books, which I may or may not succeed at, but, I truly do want to start blogging more about my book goals.
The titles I plan on reading is as follows:
The Summer Cottage by: Viola Shipman ✅
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by: Ann Brashares ✅
Girls in Pants the Third Summer of the Sisterhood by: Ann Brashares
Summer Hours by: Amy Mason Doan
The Stepsisters by: Susan Mallery
The Book of Summer by: Michelle Gable
Summer at the Garden Café by: Felicity Hayes-McCoy
A Week at the Shore by: Barbara Delinsky
Just a Boy and a Girl in a Little Canoe by: Sarah Mlynowski
Depending on how successful I am with my July & August reading goals, I may even be able to do a Summer reading wrap-up, where I discuss about which books I enjoyed more than others.
Comment below with what your favourite Summer must reads are and what your July reading list looks like. I love getting book recommendations.
Synopsis: The trip of a lifetime! Rosie Lewis has her life together. A swanky job as a Michelin-Starred Sous Chef, a loving husband and future children scheduled for exactly January 2021. That’s until she comes home one day to find her husband’s prepacked bag and a confession that he’s had an affair. Heartbroken and devastated, Rosie downs her sorrows in a glass (or three) of wine, only to discover the following morning that she has spontaneously invested in a bright pink campervan to facilitate her grand plans to travel the country. Now, Rosie is about to embark on the trip of a lifetime, and the chance to change her life! With Poppy, her new-found travelling tea shop in tow, nothing could go wrong, could it…?
Review: I loved everything about this book, mostly because I have secretly liked the idea of having a used book store/tea shop on wheels. My personality also was similar to Rosie, where I am a huge planner and barely ever do anything spontaneously, so I was very invested in seeing how her life would turn around once the least expected happened to her. Once her husband had left her, he said the one thing he did not like about her was that everything had to be by her books and within her timing, everything had to be planned and was predictable. She then felt like she needed to not only prove him wrong, but prove herself wrong and that she can change how she has managed her own life, that is when she spontaneously quit her job and purchased a campervan (under the influence of far too many glasses of wine). She then decided to get on the road and travel, selling different teas and making a whole new life for herself.
I am truly thankful for this book, as it taught me that not everything goes according to plan. And sometimes it is okay for you to be spontaneous and make different plans with your own life to fully enjoy it to the best of your ability. It also covers some Romance with someone she least expected to be with and online dating with someone who pretended to be someone he wasn’t.
Favourite Quotes: “And one thing I’ve learned is there is no right way to walk this earth, and we can only learn from those in our lives, take whatever lesson we can from it and keep going.”
“It strikes me that we humans build these lives for ourselves that have the tendency to trap us.”
“Bookworms do that a lot, fall for the hero in their latest read and get terribly down about the fact they’re fictional.”
Synopsis: Daughter of immortals. Princess Diana longs to prove herself to her legendary warrior sisters. But when the opportunity finally comes, she throws away her chance at glory and breaks Amazon law-risking exile-to save a mortal. Diana will soon learn that she has rescued no ordinary girl, and that with this single brave act, she may have doomed the world. Daughter of death. Alia Keralis just wanted to escape her overprotective brother with a semester at sea. She doesn’t know she was being haunted by people who think her very existence could spark a world war. When a bomb detonates aboard her ship, Alia is rescued by a mysterious girl of extraordinary strength and forced to confront a horrible truth: Alia is a Warbringer-a direct descendant of the infamous Helen of Troy, fated to bring about an age of bloodshed and misery. Together, two girls will face an army of enemies-mortal and divine-determined to either destroy or possess the Warbringer. Tested beyond the bound of their abilities. Diana and Alia must find a way to unleash hidden strengths and forge an unlikely alliance. Because if they have any hope of saving both their worlds, they will have to stand side by side against the tide of war.
Review: Wonder Woman is honestly on of my all time Super Heroes, and any novels to do with heroes.. especially heroes that already exist I find could be a hit and miss in terms of it being good. I overall think that Leigh Bardugo did a wonderful job to capture what Wonder Woman stands for. She was treated as if she was too little to be a true warrior, but when she was going to prove the other Amazons wrong, she had decided to go off course to protect this girl that had a boat which was being attacked.
This book did have some funny moments, especially how Alia would react when it came to Diana’s super strength. I really enjoyed the amount of girl power in this novel and how Diana pretty much tried to tell Alia how she can rewrite her own path and not be the evil she was destined to be.
I really did enjoy Leigh Bardugo’s writing style as well, so I am hoping to read more of her work. I am also looking forward reading more Super Hero novels written by some other amazing authors.
My favourite quotes: “I am done being careful. I am done being quiet. Let them see me angry. Let them hear me wail at the top of my lungs.”
“We cannot spend our lives in hiding, wondering what we might accomplish if given the chance. We have to take that chance ourselves.”
“You can’t live in fear. You make things happen or they happen to you.”
“We can’t help the way we’re born. We can’t help what we are, only what life we choose to make for ourselves.”
“Because people are always going to look. They’re always going to judge, so you can say nothing or you can at least answer back.”
I was originally due April 16th 2022. However I ended up feeling the contractions (or at least they felt like it would be contractions) all night/early morning. On April 17th 2022 at approximately 5:30am I woke up to go use the bathroom, I had almost reached my bedroom door when my water broke. When I got to the bathroom I noticed a weird colour mixed into the pad where the amniotic fluid was, this was also roughly the time that I lost my mucus plug. I personally thought it was blood at first, but then it looked a little yellow or green, which means that the baby had most likely pooped inside. I took the time to shower and wake my Fiancé up. We also made sure we ate some breakfast, as when you are in the Hospital, at least when dealing with labor, you are no longer allowed to eat.
A few hours later, we ended up going to the Hospital. I was able to go up right away, and showed my vaccine passport, my Fiancé had to wait until I got registered before they would let him into the birthing unit.
It did not take long at all for me to get registered, the nurse checked to see how far I was dilated, which was not very far. They had also decided to keep me at the Hospital instead of sending us home, since the water had broken.. plus… baby pooped. My contractions at this point had completely stopped and I was told that they would need to speed up the process and induce me, as they only had 18 hours to get the baby out. Mind you.. I did not want to get induced at all… but I felt like there was no choice there given circumstances.
The pain came pretty hard and fast, I honestly would not recommend anyone getting induced unless if they have to. Let the birthing process go naturally if possible, cause that shit hurt and does not give you the chance to gradually get used to the contractions. Now, because of how much pain I was in, I gave in and asked for an Epidural (originally when the nurse asked me.. I did decline.. because I wanted to try to go as natural as possible for this birth). It took what felt like forever for them to finally get the Epidural going… for some reason my Fiancé was not allowed to stay in the room during this process, and it took the nurses several attempts to get the needle in the right spot. Apparently the struggle was that my lower back was so stiff from an injury that I had from years ago when I was in a car accident.
Eventually I got to 7-8 CM dilated and was told that the babies heart rate had dropped twice. The first time took approximately 10 minutes to go back to normal and the second time 15 minutes. Which then we were told if it happens a third time, it might take much longer to recover. They highly recommended I get an Emergency C-Section done this way they could get the baby out a lot faster, and prevent the chances of her heart rate dropping again. Of course I agreed to the C-Section, honestly anything to keep the both of us safe.
They were pretty quick about everything, which was good. The Anesthesiologist that was at the Hospital was busy with another patient and was going to take too long to attend to me, so they had to call another one in, and she arrived pretty quickly. They did the freezing for my lower half, which honestly was not given enough time to numb me and I felt every little thing. Because of the amount of pain I was in during the C-section they had highly recommended for me to get put under, which I said no. They then kept pumping me up with drugs to make it tolerable. I was gripping the hand straps tightly to make sure I would not interfere with the surgery. My Fiancé was trying his best to comfort me, cheering me on, lightly rubbing my head. Shortly after they pulled my baby girl out, I had passed out. The nurses had no clue why and they were not able to get a heart beat rating from me because the finger monitor fell off due to me gripping the straps tightly.
Not too sure how long after, but, eventually I did end up waking up and I was not able to hold my baby girl due to being out of it, and they feared I might end up dropping her. I did get wheeled back into the birthing room with my baby on my legs and her head kind of leaning on my lower abdomen.
Hours after the C-section, super early the next morning I was finally able to drink again and be cautious of what I eat. I was also fed Hospital food 3 times that day and the day after. I was also pushed to use the bathroom myself and was told to walk around as much as I could, and try to get out of bed without assistance. It was a struggle, but, I did it. My Fiancé also had to help me out of bed a few times. The Hospital was more or less ready to discharge us 24 hours after the C-section, but I was determined to speak with the lactation specialist, as I was interested in Breast Feeding or at least pumping (that honestly did not last long… but speaking with the lactation specialist was very informative).
Even though nothing went according to plan for my Birthing experience, I would still go through it all again. Hailey is honestly my pride and joy and I love her more than anything else in this world. ❤
Before I dive into the actual pregnancy, I wanted to say I actually had a feeling I was pregnant. A day that my colleagues and I had gone for Sushi was the day I was talking to my coworker and saying I had a feeling something was off about my body, like something was just different and I didn’t know what or why. She however told me not to worry, and its probably nothing, I even mentioned that I think it could be pregnancy, and she just kept saying I wouldn’t worry about it. Well.. that was the last day I had all-you-can-eat sushi.
My hunch was because I was off of Birth Control pills (I decided to go off of them because there were too many side effects that were happening, and I was scared of blood clots… even more that some COVID vaccines plus COVID itself can cause blood clots.. why take BC pills that are known for blood clots too…) I had a bit of a period, but not a full blown period.. it was less than what I had while on the pill, but I shrugged it off because maybe its the pill that needs to clear out of my system. During my “next” cycle.. it seemed a little off too and didn’t seem right in the slightest.. so one of these two periods must have been the “implantation”. Because my periods seemed off, I asked for second advice from a friend of mine.. at this point I spent close to $30 on pregnancy tests but didn’t want to use them till I was sure what was going on. My friend told me to wait a few more weeks and if I miss a period or my period isn’t normal to test myself. Well.. my body had other plans and gave me the most wicked heart burn ever days after the conversation happened (mind you.. I never had heart burn before.. so I had to google it).
I looked at the heart burn as a sign that I have to test ASAP. And as I was thinking.. I ended up being right..
I was definitely pregnant!
Took a second test to be sure and it was positive again, but this time because it was the digital one it said…
3 + weeks!
When I told my Fiance, we were both nervous, but also excited.
My pregnancy was fairly interesting, I did not get the morning sickness or the crazy cravings that most Women got during their pregnancies.
At the very beginning my pregnancy was pretty minimal with the symptoms (honestly never know what to call them), I would only ever feel super nauseous when it came to me not eating enough, and only once during the pregnancy did I come close to vomiting, and that was due to being so nauseous from not eating for a long period of time, that if I did not get food inside me that second, I would puke. I am actually pretty grateful for not getting the morning sickness, as I had not puked since I was only a little girl.
I was turned off from the smell of garlic and onions cooking, I was able to smell things from far distances and the smell of smoke/weed bothered me more than it normally did. We were ordering Hello Fresh for a while, and I was not even able to eat that anymore because the smell of the seasonings cooking made me feel disgusted and nauseous, and just forget about the taste. Lettuce tasted like grass and I completely lost interest in eating salads. Tomato made my stomach feel bloated.
The only craving I could recall having in the earlier stages was fries and hot sauce. I needed to have hot sauce in everything. And fries just smelled and tasted way better than usual. Pasta also tasted better than usual as well. The craving did not last long, but, because a lot of seasoning seemed like a turn off for me, I did stick with having hot sauce during the whole pregnancy, as that was my safe option. There was some things I just really wanted at specific times, like one day it was a burger and then another day I needed to have Greek food, but to me I don’t really call those cravings because they are one offs.
Eventually anytime I ate fast food or anything overly greasy, I felt a tightness in my chest and stomach.
Since the pregnancy “symptoms” were so mild, I barely even felt pregnant, till my stomach started growing and clothes stopped fitting me, I was unable to make certain movements or I would be completely out of breath just going up a flight of staires (mind you.. I was never fit to begin with), would be twice as hard days I had to go to the office lugging my stuff up the steps while wearing a face mask.
The heart burn and acid reflux got worse closer to the end of the pregnancy, maybe the last couple of months, and when the heart burn did come, it came really hard and usually always at night prior to bed time. Closer to the end of the pregnancy I also ended up having to deal with swelling feet and ankles, however, they did not get as bad as a lot of other people have claimed them to be, it probably helps that most of my pregnancy was during the Fall/Winter, so I did not have to worry about the heat aggravating it.
I must say it was pretty cool being pregnant at the same time as a few of my close friends and one of my cousins. I was able to keep in touch with them and we exchanged stories about our own pregnancies and helped each other out. Plus its easier to talk to someone that is dealing with the same thing as you, verses someone that isn’t. Also having people close to me that were also pregnant the same time as me, made me realize how different every pregnancy is.
A few annoying symptoms I did get was the one time I had a bloody nose.. literally I sneezed once, and that’s all it took for a Niagara Falls of blood leaking out of my nose, the horror on my Fiancé’s face when this was happening was priceless. It was such a weird feeling too, because I never seen so much blood during a bloody nose, nor have I ever seen blood pour out so quickly from a nose bleed. Luckily the nose bleed was just a one off. The other annoying symptoms were the sensitive gums, which caused my gums to bleed almost every time I brushed my teeth. AND MY SINUSES, my sinuses were going nuts during the entire pregnancy, most likely from a post nasal drip. So I did end up buying a humidifier and it was my best friend during the pregnancy.
I had a few ultrasounds done in the beginning, one ultrasound was done too early, and I had to go back two weeks later to make sure the pregnancy was progressing. And then I had one done for the anatomy scan, which I had to re-do because the baby was facing the wrong way. The tech did not want to tell me the gender of the baby, and my OB ended up writing on a piece of paper to say it was a girl, but, she told me that it does happen where the gender is sometimes wrong, and she did not recommend me telling too many people. So when I went for the repeat anatomy scan, I did ask the tech if it was still a girl, and she confirmed for me it was a girl (this was a surprise to my family, because I have three nephews, so woohoo for a girl). Unfortunately due to what my OB told me about not telling too many people, we decided not to waste money on a gender reveal. However the theme of my Baby Shower was girl… I’ll post about this later.
My favourite parts of the pregnancy was going to my OB appointments and hearing the babies heart beat, on top of that I loved feeling the babies kicks and to be quite honest, I do sort of miss feeling those kicks. Unfortunately due to COVID and the precautions the OBs office was taking, my Fiancé was unable to experience any of the baby appointments. I am hoping by time we decide to have a second baby, that it will be a little more normal and that he wont be able to miss future appointments.
Shopping for Maternity clothes was RIDICULOUS! Went to a few stores and a mall or two.. and tell me how finding a Maternity clothing store is nearly non-existent anymore and I pretty much just had to purchase larger sizes that ended up being too large for me to wear anyway. I did get lucky that one of my friends gave me her Winter jacket from when she was pregnant, because I was literally not having any luck at all…
The hormones and crying for the tiniest things ever was bad. But not nearly as bad as I was during my period as a teenager.
I am so very grateful that my pregnancy turned out to be an easy one, and that the hardest part was probably getting to point B from point A due to the waddling at the end. Or when the baby was still riding high, it was hard to move when I was in bed because of all the extra weight in my stomach.
America’s pregnancy bible answers all your baby questions.
When can I take home a pregnancy test?
How can I eat for two if I’m too queasy to eat for one?
Can I keep up my spinning classes?
Is fish safe to eat? And what’s this I hear about soft cheese?
Can I work until I deliver? What are my rights on the job?
I’m blotchy and broken out—where’s the glow?
Should we do a gender reveal? What about a 4-D ultrasound?
Will I know labor when I feel it?
Your pregnancy explained and your pregnant body demystified, head (what to do about those headaches) to feet (why they’re so swollen), back (how to stop it from aching) to front (why you can’t tell a baby by mom’s bump). Filled with must-have information, practical advice, realistic insight, easy-to-use tips, and lots of reassurance, you’ll also find the very latest on prenatal screenings, which medications are safe, and the most current birthing options—from water birth to gentle C-sections. Your pregnancy lifestyle gets equal attention, too: eating (including food trends) to coffee drinking, working out (and work) to sex, travel to beauty, skin care, and more. Have pregnancy symptoms? You will—and you’ll find solutions for them all. Expecting multiples? There’s a chapter for you. Expecting to become a dad? This book has you covered, too.
Review:
Before reading this book, a lot of people were telling me not to waste money on it, and that it is a waste of time to read. But in compete honesty, I am glad I purchased this book, it has all the updated information necessary as it is the 5th edition. It was also what helped me get through 9 months of my Pregnancy without freaking out over every possible symptom I get.
There were a lot of stuff I was able to skip, like the beginning talked about before pregnancy, and well.. I purchased the book after finding out I was pregnant. I was able to skip a lot of the information about health concerns, and having multiples and etc.. literally anything that didn’t apply to me, but when it came to all the pregnancy symptoms that could happen each month, I made sure to read all of that, so in case something did happen, I knew it was normal. It is also good knowing that if anything did change with my health, I could just easily go over the chapter that I skipped, because I had it all accessible in my hands.
I also really like that the original What to Expect When Expecting book gets updated as the years go by. More access to research = more information needing to be shared and known. And it avoids only getting outdated information from 13 + years ago.
Overall book review: *****
Synopsis:
Announcing a brand-new edition of the pregnancy food bible. With over 1.4 million copies in print, What to Expect: Eating Well When You’re Expecting is the essential companion to What to Expect When You’re Expecting. This cover-to-cover update provides a fresh, fun, realistic, and body-positive approach to help moms-to-be navigate healthily and tastily through the nine months of pregnancy—at home, in the office, over the holidays, in restaurants. Thorough chapters are devoted to nutrition, including all the latest facts on superfoods, food trends, food safety, foods to chow down on, foods (and drinks) to limit, and those to cut out altogether. How to eat well when you’re too green to come face-to-fork with broccoli, or too bloated to eat at all. How to eat well on a budget. On the run. Whether you’re vegan or a red-meat eater, a carb craver or a gluten-free girl, a confirmed fast-food junkie or slow-food foodie. Readers hungry for nutritional facts (which vitamins and minerals the pregnant body needs and where to find them) will get their fill of those, too. Plus, how to put it all together with dozens of practical tips and 175 recipes that are as delicious as they are nutritious, as easy to love as they are easy to make.
At the heart of the book are hundreds of pressing questions that every reader has: Do I have to skip my morning latte—or my afternoon energy drinks? I’m too sick to look at a salad, never mind eat one—do I have to? Help! I’m entering my second trimester, and I’m losing weight, not gaining. How do I get enough calcium if I’m lactose intolerant?
Written with Heidi Murkoff’s trademark warmth, empathy, reassurance, and humor, it is the must-have guide for a new generation of moms-to-be.
Review:
I read some reviews where people took this book in as just another diet book, or they thought it was just a book entirely full of recipes. Honestly, if you’re looking for a book that isn’t going to tell you what you should eat, you really should not be buying this book (lol).
This book was exactly what I expected it to be and more. It broke down exactly what foods fall into which vitamin and mineral category and why it is important for the expected mom-to-be to eat those specific nutrients. It also goes more into depth health wise, like if you are experiencing a specific situation, that is when you should be eating more of this and etc..
Another good thing I liked about the book is that it went into depth of what you should not be eating, more so what foods are dangerous to the baby and it compares empty calories verses smart calories. It also taught me how to read the nutrition labels at the grocery stores more smart, because sugar and sodium are some times hidden with words we don’t even think about. It also goes into depth of how to be smart when eating out or when always on the go, so you don’t fall into the bad habits of eating the most worst foods possible.
A very good chunk of the book (maybe more than half) is all recipes. Gives you ideas of what to eat for breakfast, lunches, dinners and even snacks. I do wish I read this book earlier on in my pregnancy, I kind of read it so slow that I reached 9 months in, so I unfortunately did not get to try any of the recipes myself, but I did learn a lot about eating, shopping and cooking smarter. I do plan taking the information I have read to heart and will apply it to when I am attempting to Breast Feed my baby along with when I am trying to get back into a more healthier nutritious routine post-partum (cause lets face it… I was far from healthy prior to getting pregnant and only started making wiser choices when I had another human dependent on me for nutrition).
Overall book review: *****
P.S: I highly recommend both books to all expecting MAMA’s to be.
Synopsis: Carmen got the jeans at a thrift shop. They didn’t look all that great: they were worn, dirty, and speckled with bleach. On the night before she and her friends part for the summer, Carmen decides to toss them.
But Tibby says they’re great. She’d love to have them. Lena and Bridget also think they’re fabulous. Lena decides that they should all try them on. Whoever they fit best will get them.
Nobody knows why, but the pants fit everyone perfectly. Even Carmen (who never thinks she looks good in anything) thinks she looks good in the pants. Over a few bags of cheese puffs, they decide to form a sisterhood and take the vow of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants . . . the next morning, they say good-bye.
And then the journey of the pants — and the most memorable summer of their lives — begins.
Review: Another book I have had kicking around for quite some time now, I originally read this book last Summer and finally decided it was about time I gave my review before I completely forget about it. I have watched the movie a long time ago, and have full intentions of re-watching it, so I can do a comparison of both the book and the novel together.
Four Best Friends that have never been a part during the Summer came across a pair of old worn out jeans and have decided that even though this Summer was going to be the Summer they spend away from each other, they will mail it out to each other (NEVER TO WASH THEM) and will wear them during the most important or scary parts of their Summer. The pants brought them good luck or even helped to keep them feel secure, kind of as if the friends were still together. What made these pants feel like magic was the fact that they fit all four of them, even though their body types were completely different.
Carmen ends up heading South to go visit her Father, which she eventually finds out that her dad is due to be Married to another Woman, and she also finds out that he has future step-daughters.
Lena and her sister go to Greece to visit and bond with their Grandparents. Lena also learns that not every guy is shallow and that just maybe someone is genuinely interested in her.
Bridget goes to Mexico for a Soccer camp and ends up falling for her coach, a forbidden love for a young girl like herself.
Tibby is the only one of the four girls that is stuck staying at home working her day job, when she meets a younger girl and becomes friends with her despite of the age difference.
I honestly did love this book, and I think it is a series I may want to introduce to my soon-to-be-daughter when she becomes of age to read young adult books.
The author for this book is Ann Brashares and she has written a total of 5 books for this series, which I own most, I cannot wait to get my hands on the last book or two. I will definitely also write reviews for the other books as I read them.
I know I already posted what my hopes are for 2022, but this post is a little more elaborated and I feel like it would keep myself more in check and accountable to get these accomplishments. The things I want to accomplish for this year is overall to better myself as a person and to prioritize me, while becoming a good Mother to my soon-to-be-baby.
Focus on Self Care: I have decided to make every Monday my designated make a homemade specialty coffee day (I’m not one for a lot of caffeine, so it’s a good way to help motivate me to get through an insane work day. When my nails start looking bad, I will do my nails and make them look pretty again that same week. Sing out loud. Curl up with a blanket and watch a movie or shows with a cup of tea or hot chocolate. Unwind and relax with a cross word, puzzle or diamond art (I’ll be trying to do this once a week, mostly on a Friday).
Skin Care: My goal is to cleanse, tone and moisturize twice a day (morning and evening). Exfoliate every Monday. Face mask every Wednesday and Sunday.
Read More: My goal is to now read a chapter a day if possible. Last year and previous years I went weeks or months without reading, and reading has always been my great escape or unwind time, so I seriously want to focus on reading more regularly.
Regular Organizing: My goal is to daily find something in the house either to clean or organize, so then my weekends become easier. I have been pretty good with this so far this month, and I find that once something has become organized, I feel a weight lifted off my shoulders and overall happier.
Eating Healthier: Eat more veggies, fruits, grains, and protein. Consume more calcium, iron and vitamin C. Overall eat less sugar and calcium. Try cooking more homemade instead of ordering in, eating frozen boxed or canned foods. Also to do more health related research to gain more knowledge about health and nutrition.
Exercise More: Right now because I am pregnant I will accept baby steps. Make more movements around the house, stretch, squats, dance and light weights. Once Winter is over and the baby arrives, I plan on going for more walks, get into yoga and more steady intense workouts to become heathier again.
Be a good Mom: I really want to make sure I get into the habit that 90% of things should and will be homemade like the baby foods. Also want to make sure I read to my baby daily and educate as early as possible.
Take Lots of Photos: I really want to get into taking more photos and scrapbooking or creating photo albums. Create new memories. It may help me realize that it is the small things in life that can make us happy.
Become financially stable: I want to get my credit card paid off, start saving money for retirement and for short term goals like getting a better place to live. I know especially this wont come easy this year, but I am already making the right moves, and I just need to ensure I continue to make the right moves without slipping up.
Write more: Even if its just a blog post here and there or journaling, it is a form of writing. I really want to get back into doing writing prompts OR get back into writing stories, which I have not been able to do in years. Goal one day is to publish a novel, even if it wont be this year.
All these items that I really want to focus on this year is not necessarily in a proper order, but it is the things that would mean the most to me if I can follow as closely as possible to accomplish my goals. With COVID things have been a mess and I got into really bad habits the last two years like stress shopping and emotional eating, stopped working out and put on a lot of weight before getting pregnant. Put everyone else before me and slacked on self care and had trouble sticking to a good skin care routine. 2022 will be my year to officially take my life back.
ATrueBornWriter 