Happy July book review!! I was somehow able to squeeze in FIVE books this month! We can thank two glucose tests and a toddler learning to nap in her own crib for this. And all the mamas out there said "AMEN!" to one of those three, I'll let you guess which one. 😉 I stepped out of my comfort zone a little this month with my reading by including two books with a touch of magical realism and fantasy. Now, let's take a look at what all I read this month. First up this month was Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry . This is a YA book that was compared to Jenny Han's To All the Boys I've Loved Before  which is still one of my favorites. Instead of having letters mailed out to her crushes, Quinn has her journal stolen and exposed. Quinn keeps lists of everything in her journal from boys she would like to kiss to things she would never admit out loud to things she wants to do before she graduates high school. An anonymous Instagram opens up and starts posting Quinn's list...

I recently read the book " So Old, So Young " which follows friends over the course of 20 years but we only get to see them during five parties. After I finished reading it, I listened to a Bad on Paper podcast about it where they asked the question, "If you were to have your life told in 5 parties, what parties would they be?" It got me to thinking and these were the five parties I came up with and apparently I was too busy enjoying the parties to take pictures. 1. My Wedding July 8th, 2023 was my wedding and it was a blast! I spent the morning with all of my best friends getting our hair and makeup done followed by a fun brunch which honestly would've been enough to make it a memorable day, but it got even better by marrying my favorite person. We had friends and family from all over the country -- as far west as Washington state and as far south as Florida. I've always been a big fan of weddings, but when it's your own, it's even more special. We ...

Hello there fellow readers!! I'm trying to get in the habit of review books I read and sharing them with you so we can discuss as well as get new book recommendations. I just took a look and saw that my last book review was June of 2023...whoops! I was able to squeeze in four books this month and as moms of toddlers know, that is basically unheard of! Two of them were ARCs, one was a new release and the other.....well, I thought I was reading a different book until I finished it and realized the book I meant to read was by a different author. First up this month was an advanced copy of Book Club Boyfriend . It's scheduled to be released July 14th. In this enemies-to-lovers book, actress/producer Blair is going through it -- she's recently divorced and a new empty nester when her youngest child goes away to college. Enter novelist Jack who is struggling to write his second book and publicly humiliated Blair when he turned down her offer to be featured in her popular book clu...

  There have been several posts and comments lately about how public schools are the enemy and indoctrinating the children. As a public school teacher myself, I have some thoughts. Do you want to know what I did last night when I couldn’t sleep? I prayed for my students by name. While I am privileged enough to be trusted to know some of their struggles, there are many more that I don’t know. I am a safe space for my students and someone they feel comfortable talking to when it feels like everything else is falling apart and they don’t have anyone to listen to them. When I prayed for my students, I lifted up the troubles I know as well as the ones I don’t. I prayed for ALL my students, not just the “good” ones but the “challenging” ones as well. It wasn’t just my students that I prayed for, I lifted their families up as well – some of whom I know by name and others I don’t. Just because I can’t pray WITH my students in school doesn’t mean I can’t pray FOR them privately. My students...

 Hello and welcome to 2026 -- better late than never, right?? As a way to hold myself accountable, I wanted to share my goals and explain them a little. 1. Keep up with The Bible Recap Last year I read through the bible using The Bible Recap. I'm not going to lie, I got pretty far behind and was scrambling at the end, but I did it. This year, I want to follow along better with the plan. I also bought the journal and study book to go along with it. There is a daily podcast as well that I want to listen to as I go along. 2. Improve Posture One thing I've noticed since being pregnant, is how poor my posture has become. While pregnant, you do whatever you can do be comfortable and by the end, all that extra weight is hard to carry and you may end up slouching. It's officially been one year since I gave birth and I definitely need to work on improving my posture. I catch myself slouching all the time so I want to focus on correcting that and standing tall. 3. Purge Pens Okay, ok...