Double Book Review: The Stephanie Perkins Novels

May 29, 2012 Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

This is going to be somewhat of a long post because I wanted to review both Stephanie Perkins novels in one shot. I loved her books & wanted to share them with you! Have you read them? What did you think?

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Book #1: Anna and the French Kiss

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Type: YA Contemporary

Release Date: December 2nd 2012

Publisher: Dutton Publisher (Penguin Group)

This YA novel follows the story of Anna, who’s father forces her to spend her senior year of high school studying abroad in Paris. At first, Anna is so angry at her parents for sending her away from her life in Atlanta to start over in a completely different world. She has to leave her best friend Bridgette, her crush Toph, and a bunch of other friends that she’s had throughout high school.

In France, Anna quickly becomes friends with a group of girls and guys who help her get used to the new language, the classes, and her new city. Among her friends is Etienne St. Clair- a boy who immediately catches her attention with his sweet English accent and cute-but-not-perfect looks.

The two of them quickly become very close friends, but Anna realizes it could be much more than just friendship. Although St. Clair has a girlfriend & Anna has Toph back home, it turns into a year of hit and misses for them both. And honestly? One of the sweetest stories about friendships, love, and the changes that you go through from high school to college. 

What I loved

1. Overall, the characters were really well written. My favorites were St. Clair & Anna (of course!) although at first I really wasn’t crazy about Anna. I thought it was strange that she wouldn’t want to travel to Paris for school and I thought she was being very selfish. HOWEVER, she quickly grew on me. I began to understand her character much better & understand her point of view. And St. Clair? I liked him from the start. He is SUCH a well written main-guy, I was really impressed. I thought all the rest of the group of friends was well done too. Meredith started off as a really good first friend but I felt like she kind of lost importance over St. Clair and it wasn’t clear as to why right away. In the end though, I really liked how the characters interacted with one another and I thought their stories were well developed right through to the end.

2. I loved that it took place in Paris. I know that’s not necessarily for everyone, but I was immediately taken by the place Perkins chose for her story to take place. I also thought it was very well written when Anna first went back home & realized that it wasn’t as enchanting as it was when she’d first left. She finds a love for the French culture, and it’s so accurate about how I feel when I come home from vacation. You really fall in love with this new place, and I couldn’t be more excited to get back to Europe after this book!

3. The friendship factor. I REALLY loved how Perkins developed St. Clair and Anna’s friendship first and foremost. You really get to see how their relationship evolves from the first step & how two people can have incredible chemistry from the start, even if it can’t work right away. This was one of my absolute favorite friendship-turned-love-story stories that I’ve read to-date.

Overall, I just fell in love with this story. I wasn’t quite sure at first, but I quickly realized I wouldn’t be able to put this book down until it was finished- I think I read it in like two sittings. I immediately went on Amazon after finishing this book to buy Perkins’ second book, Lola!

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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 Book #2: Lola and the Boy Next Door

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Type: YA Contemporary Fiction

Release Date: September 29th 2011

Publisher:  Dutton Publisher (Penguin Group)

In her second book, Stephanie Perkins introduces Lola Nolan; a child adopted by her loving two fathers because her mother lived a life of drugs and irresponsibility. Growing up Lola was best friends with the twins who lived next door, Calliope and Cricket Bell. Over time, figure skating phenomenon Calliope lost interest in her friendship with Lola, however her & Cricket continued to be friends in their high school years.

Her friendship with the incredibly tall and peculiar boy next door wasn’t an easy one- the twins moved a lot because of Calliope & each time it seemed like Lola’s heart broke a little more as she fell head over heels for Cricket.

After an especially awful last move, Lola tries to get over the idea of her and Cricket ever becoming anything at all. She moves on with her life, gets a new (older!) boyfriend, and transforms into a beautiful young lady with the most unique style… ever. Until one day, there are boxes in the house next door. The twins are back, and Lola doesn’t know what to expect from the boy who broke her heart two years ago.

Another incredibly sweet, romantic story by Perkins that intertwines the lives of her current characters with those of her past books- Lola is another novel that follows a fiercely independent and beautiful girl who learns to follow her heart & always stays true to herself! 

What I loved

1. Ohmygoodness the characters! Perkins has a real knack for character development,which is quite clear after this second book. Lola manages to get you from page one with her crazy clothes and fun personality quirks. I wasn’t sure about Cricket at first, but he grew on me really quickly as the story continued & I found myself loving all the things that Lola loved about him, too! I think the secondary characters were really well done too; Lola’s parents, her boyfriend Max, Calliope Bell, and her mother Norah all came in the story at the right moments & really complimented the story. Her best friend Lindsay was the only one that I found a little bit cliche- she bothered me in the same way that Meredith did in Anna & The French Kiss, but neither one bothered me THAT much.

2. The boy next door plot. The “character” next door thing seemed overdone before I picked up this book so I was kind of nervous, but I ended up absolutely loving the way Perkins wrote about their friendship. Although I didn’t have a boy living next door to me as a child, I was still brought back to my childhood in this story and reminded of where real, authentic friendships stem from. Plus, Cricket & Calliope weren’t your every day kind of next door neighbors. Their story had a lot of depth to it which made it different enough from everything else to be really fun to read about.

3. SPOILER- Helloooo Anna and St.Clair! I literally teared up when I saw them back in this story. They play an incredibly minor role, but I loved seeing their lives continue to develop together throughout this novel. It made me miss their story, but it still didn’t take away from Cricket and Lola whatsoever.

Overall, I really enjoyed this second book. There were a few plot points that I didn’t like so much and that seemed a little bit unnecessary in the story, but as always Perkins managed to tie up the loose ends and make it all work. I must admit there was a point in the middle where Lola’s character stopped being believable; her relationship with Max got really bad but it was almost TOO much as if to highlight how awesome the other boy in the story was. I understand WHY, but I wish Max had been a little more believable at the very end.

I think that as a whole, Lola is a must-read sweet, romantic, coming-of-age novel for teen girls. I really enjoyed it (more than I thought!) despite a few things that I liked LESS than in book one. I can’t wait to see what Perkins’ third novel will be like!

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

6 Comments

Extended Weekends

May 28, 2012 Filed Under: Everyday Stories, Family, Friends, Pictures, Summer Time! Tagged With: , , , ,

Weekends in the summer are my favorite. This year for the first time since I was 16 I  plan on fully enjoying them with family & friends. I asked to have Fridays and Saturdays off at work entirely, and the way my hours work out I often have Thursday and most of Sunday off too. It gives me this really nice, long weekend to look forward to and this entire month I’ve managed to take full advantage.

This weekend has been quite a bit more low key for me because my mom was out of town & left me to take care of the puppies for 4 days. Because they’re still so little and need to be crated when no one is home, I’ve tried minimizing my time out of the house so they don’t spend their whole day caged up! I did manage to spend a bit of time out and about though- here are some pictures:

Thursday-

After spending most of the afternoon out in the sun reading, I got ready and headed out to dinner with a bunch of people from work. Back in March a group of us organized a big event for work during our free time and as a thank you our managers treated us to a dinner at a really cute Italian restaurant!

We had a ton of fun catching up, drinking wine, playing random ninja games in the parking lot after dinner and obviously taking pictures!

Friday- 

I went out for a lovely breakfast with three of my favorite ladies. I always love when we have the chance to get together because we end up sitting and talking for hours! We didn’t have very long because our schedules only had a few free hours, but afterwards I headed back home with Agnes & we spent some time planning and booking our hostels for our week in Italy in August!

We also tried to figure out how we want to organize our week in France, but we had a bit of trouble figuring out where EXACTLY we want to visit, for how long, and how to get around. Anyone have tips?

Finally in the late afternoon my brother came to pick me up and we spent the evening together with my nephew! It’s been YEARS since I hung out with just my brother. Back when he lived at home I would just go down to the basement and we could spontaneously watch movies together, but now we have completely separate lives to try and figure out. We stopped by his friends’ house who offered to spend 10 minutes taking pictures of me and my nephew together with his professional camera. I was super excited (although not picture ready, it was spontaneous!) and I got some ADORABLE pictures with my favorite little boy.

There are a TON more but I’ll stop there for now. I can’t believe how photogenic that baby is though, seriously. Love!

Saturday-

In the afternoon I headed downtown for a photo shoot with CASA Cares, the organization I joined a couple months ago with school. We get individual shots and group shots with the whole team for our website so I got to dress all business and hang out on a roof for like 2 hours on a gorgeous day.

Most of the girls hanging out on the roof while we wait our turn to take individual shots! 

We took photos with all different parts of Montreal below us and I really can’t wait to see how they turn out! I took a few shots with my iPhone from the roof because the view was so awesome.

The rest of my weekend was really low key. I did some reading on Saturday evening & Sunday morning I spent some time working on my new blog space before work! Today I have another spontaneous day off and I’m not sure yet what I feel like doing.

All around really nice weekend spent at home- it was my first non-road trip weekend all month!- and I feel ready for the work week ahead.

How was your weekend?! 

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Living Life

May 26, 2012 Filed Under: Everyday Stories, Goals, Inspiration Tagged With: , , , , ,

For the last couple weeks I’ve been trying to decide on a domain name for my blog. It hasn’t been easy because, I’ll be honest, I’m not creative whatsoever with names. I’m still really attached to my blog name ‘Press Play’ because to me, it’s about more than just the literal meaning that it can sometimes come off as… But there was no domain available that involved it- and besides, I worry I might grow it out soon enough. I wanted a domain name that reflected  ME right now, but that was still simple enough that I could keep my current blog name without too much confusion. Not only did I SERIOUSLY outgrow my WordPress.org blog name, but I really wanted to take the leap to a domain after writing on a regular WordPress blog for so many years.

So if you’re reading this, chances are it’s on my new blog www.melissalivinglife.com. It is the most simple, direct thing I could think of and it really stuck with me. If you’re subscribed to my blog through a reader or by e-mail, I would LOVE for you to re-subscribe to me under my new domain name! This change just means I’m trying to get more serious about my writing, and I hope that you’ll want to follow along with me.

The post below was inspired by my blog domain choice. It mostly explains where I am in my life now & why I chose to move ahead in my writing with this new space. Oh, and stay tuned! There is most DEFINITELY going to be an entire professional blog re-design in the next month or two. I can’t wait!

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Growing up, I didn’t know how to take chances on myself. I had dreams of course, but I didn’t know how to make them into a reality. Or rather, I knew what I needed to make them happen, but I wasn’t taking the right steps to achieve what I wanted.

Basically I was slowly figuring out what I needed in my life to be happy but I was too lazy to achieve those goals. Which is crazy, because why would I purposely restrict myself from doing something that would ultimately allow me to feel better about myself and more fulfilled in my life?

At almost 23 years old, I’m learning to live happily. I’m taking the simple mentality of “live life” and attempting to apply it in everything I do.

There are a few things that have happened recently that sparked this realization in my mind. I realized on a personal level that I’ve been working incredibly hard lately and have been achieving results that I didn’t know were possible. I got the grades I needed to go into a program in school that I thought would be impossible for me for a long time- even some people close to me would say “but…why?” as I worked miserably hard to get in. Because I wanted to, of course. Last year, I became infatuated with the idea of traveling overseas in a big way. I told myself that there was no way I could do it again after last summer because of money; I was falling in love with the idea of far away countries but not sure I would ever have the chance to visit them. Yet last week, I took a leap and booked another big, three week trip. The exact kind my heart was asking for. Finally, last month I took a chance on myself and applied for an unpaid position in a charity organization at school because it was the kind of experience that I wanted to be a part of- and I got it.

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These all seem like little things, maybe, but to me they’re BIG steps. I was never the girl who was DOING things. I was trying to make the people around me happy and I was living a life that I THOUGHT fit what I should be doing… Not what I necessarily WANTED or what was good for me.

I’ve received a surprising number of e-mails (and I love it!) telling me how happy, jealous, proud or excited people were about me booking another trip. A few weeks ago at work when people started asking what I was up to this summer I would answer “Oh, I’m either going here or here or here”… and I would get blank stares followed by “how can you talk about big trips like it’s the most obvious thing to be doing? That’s so expensive!” Yes, it’s expensive- but I’m 22 years old and I’m living life. Isn’t that what I’m supposed to be doing? Aren’t I supposed to be taking chances on myself, seeing the world, and learning who I am as an independent individual?

It seemed so obvious to me until I began to reflect on all the things I’ve accomplished with my goals over the last couple years. This isn’t something that everyone knows how to do. I’ve been SO fortunate to have family & friends (both on the blog and not) that were a step ahead of me and taught me through their words what it meant to live life on my own terms- that I SHOULD be living life on my own terms. 

Your dreams, no matter how big or small, are possible to achieve. The moments in life that make you happy deserve special attention; whether that means living near home and seeing family all the time, or packing a bag and seeing the world until you miss your bed too much to stay away. The things you want MATTER and every single day I’m learning that it’s worth it to make these dreams a reality. SO worth it.

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The Book Chat {Vol 11}

May 24, 2012 Filed Under: The Book Chat Tagged With: , , ,

Thursdays, as always, are Book Chat days hosted by Jessica over at Sweet Green Tangerine. Head over and link up!

Today’s question: Who are your favorite male characters? Least favorites? 

In my last few book reviews, I’ve mentioned how important male characters are to me. Especially in YA (I say especially because I realize that they’re catering to younger people) I look for strong male characters that have real depth to them- not just really good looks.

In fact, most of my favorite male characters recently have been the ones that are more than just those really gorgeous characters that the less-than-perfect girls fall for and win over. I don’t think I could ever narrow it down to just ONE. To be honest even narrowing it down at all seems tough. I’ve loved quite a few of male characters… But here are a few that have stood out for me over time:

1) Max from The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (See also: Hans Hubermann)

When I first started reading The Book Thief I just wasn’t sure what to make of it. The characters, the POV and the overall story started off by confusing me. The minute Max was introduced to the story, though, I truly began to fall in love with this book. He is one of my favorite parts of the whole novel. Him and Hans are two of the most memorable male characters in all my reading history, to be honest. But Max? I have a special place in my heart for that character.

2) Augustus Waters from The Fault in Our Stars by John Green 

See also: Miles, Colin and Quentin from various John Green novels (Alaska/Katherines/Paper Towns)

John Green is one of my favorite authors, so it’s really no surprise that just about ALL his male characters are in my favorites. This may sound somewhat biased, but the reason I really love his writing is because his lead male characters (most of his books are from their point of view) have so many fun quirks and I just love discovering more about them throughout their stories.

Augustus Waters is definitely his most unique character. I loved meeting and learning about him. I must say though that runner up is  Colin from Abundance of Katherine’s. That character doesn’t get nearly enough love and he is SO damn awesome. Love his anagram skills!

3) Kai from Cinder by Marissa Meyer

The entire time I was reading Cinder I couldn’t believe how awesome Kai was. I can’t stress how much I love this book enough, and he is a huge reason why. He not only sounds freaking adorable, but there is SO much to his character that makes me wish he was a real person so we could meet.

4) Thomas from The Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner  (& his crew!) 

I really need to re-read these books because I don’t remember Thomas nearly well enough. But considering the entire trilogy is told from his perspective AND he’s got the whole memory-loss thing, he’s a very well thought out male character. You learn so much about him throughout the three books, I grew extremely fond of him by the end. Don’t even get me started on Minho, Frypan, Newt and the rest of the guys in these books!

5) Etienne St. Clair from Anna & The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

St. Clair makes it on the list because I was basically in love with him during this book. Is that weird? Oh well. At first I was all “Ummm St.Clair you’ve got a girlfriend, chill out” but then his mysterious act is all unveiled and it was love. YAY Anna! I’m such a sucker for good stories like this one.

Honorable mentions: Ed Kennedy from I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak, Harry/Ron/Weasley twins from Harry Potter by JK Rowling (these deserve more than an honorable mention to me but since I always talk HP I tried to keep it to a minimum here), and Marcus Flutie from the Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty.

Least favorites are a bit tougher because I generally won’t even finish a book if I’m not enjoying it (AKA not even KIND OF relating to characters). Plus, I feel kind of mean dissing authors’ writing with least favorites. Basically I’ll be nice & just leave you with all the male characters I’ve loved most. There are several more, but these are definitely the ones that have stood out the most to me, especially in recent years.

Who are your favorite and least favorite male characters? 

10 Comments

Guest Post- Jessica from Sweet Green Tangerine

May 23, 2012 Filed Under: Guest Bloggers Tagged With: , , ,

Today I’m doing a blog swap with the lovely Jessica! You can check out my post on her blog today as well. We both wrote about our adventures sharing music together via Dropbox these last couple weeks which has been SO much fun! 

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Hello Press Play readers!  If we haven’t “met” yet, I am Jessica from Sweet Green Tangerine.  I blog mainly about books and music, but you can sometimes catch a glimpse of my two small boys and one big one…who are all pretty cute if you ask me.  I also host the Book Chat every Thursday, which I’m sure you’ve seen Melissa’s posts before.  We would love more people to join in, so jump in anytime!

My absolute favorite part about blogging is the amazing people I meet.  Melissa and I have been blog friends for a while now, and I honestly don’t know if there is another person alive with more similar interests as mine.  When you get to connect to people based on like interests and similar tastes, it results in the most rewarding friendships.

Recently, Melissa invited me to share music with her using a program called Dropbox.  It’s basically like a virtual mailbox that lives somewhere in space.  I put music into it, and she can download it.  Then, she puts music in it that I can download.  It’s completely safe and legal (I think).  It’s great because we’re not just doing it to “steal” music, but to expose each other to new sounds and artists.  Rather than burn a CD and send it out to her via snail mail, I can just shoot her a tweet and say “Hey Mel, check out this band!” and BAM she has the album to listen to instantly.  Then, we can promote those bands here on our blogs and everybody wins.

Today, I want to share my favorites that Melissa has sent me.  Here is a short list of some of the stuff I received…

Anthony Green – Beautiful Things

Circa Survive – Blue Sky Noise

Ed Sheeran – +

But there are two specifically that I want to talk about…

1. Young the Giant – Young the Giant.
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I had heard YtG on the radio a bit and I knew they were a band to listen for. Songs such as “Cough Syrup” and “Apartment” are easily marketable songs that we will be hearing much more of in the future.  However, they don’t quite showcase the singers voice like I wish they would.  He is so unique.  He’s totally a crooner in a rock band!  Don’t believe me? Listen to “I Got”.  He’s like the Michael Buble of indie Rock.  Such an incredibly fresh sound that never gets old.  I like their popular songs, but I LOVE the rest of this album.  And let me tell you, I was stoked when I found out they would be at Bonnaroo this year! (as will I)

Young the Giant may sound like just another mainstream rock band by their singles, but I promise this band has something special in their lead singer.  Do give them a listen.

2. Of Monsters and Men – My Head is an Animal

Oh man, oh man, oh man.  This is easily one of my new favorite bands.  I cannot say enough about how much I love this album, but I’ll give it a shot.  I heard their single “Little Talks” a lot on XMU and Alt Nation back in November.  I was immediately obsessed with that song.  However, I never gave the rest of the album a chance.  I have a fear sometimes when I fall in love with one song, that the rest of the album won’t live up to it.  That is NOT the case here.  ”Little Talks” isn’t even the best song on the album.  Let’s talk about their sound.  The two lead singers, Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and Ragnar “Raggi” Þórhallsson (they’re from Iceland), have these voices that blend so well.  Raggi has a sweet, husky voice that sends me away with “Sloom” every time.  And Nanna’s voice, while not overbearing, is so gentle and almost timid.  There’s a moment in the first song, “Dirty Paws”, where they crescendo into the emotional, yelling line and every time, I get chills.  This band owes a lot to their percussionist too, I believe.  Every song has a powerful tempo that supports the soft voices and sinewy instruments.

Let’s talk about the song “Lakehouse” for a moment.  What is it about this song?!  When Melissa told me she listened to them sound-check with this song, I was drooling with jealousy.  Best song on the album I tell you.  They invite you in with this sweet guitar melody and simple harmony…pause in the music…then BAM, the band joins in and I’m swept away.  This song soars.  Once again, the percussionist owns it.  Then Nanna joins in with the line “Can you chase the fire away” and it slays me.  Her voice.  Okay, stop reading this, and just go listen to it and I promise you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Basically, their sound is humble and honest.  They are a stellar team and they work together seamlessly.  There are so many moments in this album when I literally hush everyone in the room with me, and we just listen.  Particularly to the instrumental refrain in “Yellow Light”.  So beautiful.

Thank you Melissa!  Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I have a whole new list of albums that Melissa has sent me that I cannot wait to really explore.  I’m so glad she introduced me to Dropbox.  It really gives us the opportunity to find & share new music while also becoming even closer friends.  If you haven’t used it yet, I recommend you try it.

Thanks to Melissa for having me on the blog today…hope we can do it again soon!

1 Comment

Ad Swap in June

May 22, 2012 Filed Under: Blogs & Blogging Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Just a random, pretty picture from when I spent the weekend up North a few weeks ago! 

I just wanted to let you all know that I’m taking in new ads for the month of June, if you’re interested. My sponsor “program” (if you’d like to call it that) is based on a swap- You host my blog button (or guest post or anything, really) and in return I post your blog button and offer you a guest post opportunity, if you want one. Plus I always love my sponsors and I love talking about them around here. :)

If you want to know more information you can check my Sponsor Info page. I’d love to have you!

You can leave me a comment below if you’re interested (with an e-mail address) and I’ll contact you ASAP.

Happy Tuesday!

6 Comments

A little motivation to move

May 22, 2012 Filed Under: Confessions, Everyday Stories, Health Tagged With: , , , , ,

You might say that in the last couple months I’ve really slacked on eating well and exercising. I think there’s a million reasons excuses that I could give as to why this happens. I mean, in the winter time it’s easy to just get comfortable in a routine of NOT moving around because the weather is no fun and, let’s face it, I hate winter and being part of it.

Actually, as a side note, one of my goals this year was to find a way to appreciate winter. I really tried, you guys, but realized once the snow had melted how truly relieved I was to see it all go. I came to the conclusion that the only part of winter I’ll ever appreciate is the excess amount of teas and coffees I drink, Christmas, and reading with a warm blanket.

Summer is so much prettier anyway :)

Back to my point, though. I get into this routine of doing-nothingness and it’s the easiest thing ever to just stay there. The worst part? I was doing a KICK ass job of eating awesome back in January. I’d actually never felt better than when I’d cut 95% of the meat out of my diet and replaced it with other various proteins. I had really taken myself out of my comfort zone & accomplished a goal I’d never even though I could do. I was proud of myself and I had SO MUCH FUN with it.

Now that I look back, I was eating all that amazing food right before I left to spend a week in Florida. And the time before that, I spent a ridiculous amount of time exercising and eating well right before my trip to Greece. I have a pattern that I’m beginning to notice as I started subconsciously eating really well these last couple days & significantly cutting the CRAP out of my every day diet.

I like to eat well when I have a goal to work towards. AKA vacation. AKA I want to feel good when I’m on a beach. The thing is, I book vacations so regularly now, a healthy lifestyle should be so much easier for me to keep up because I know I’ll always have somewhere to look forward to being. But I don’t WANT to just keep up a healthy lifestyle for as long as I travel- I want this to be a long term kind of thing. So why is it SO HARD for me to stay motivated to always eat properly and exercise regularly? Shouldn’t WANTING to FEEL GREAT be enough motivation? Why do the caramel frappucinos always beat out my willpower?

Must eat well now so I can eat pasta every day in Italy! 

I work in a really big store where there is a built-in Starbucks. This has been my ultimate downfall, although I’ve been really good at regularly ordering the ‘skinny’ version of anything I want. They all know to cut all the sugar out of my drinks, and yet I still feel extremely guilty at how often I get a coffee. Like, every day. Sometimes more than once a day.

I want to make a permanent lifestyle change without slipping back to old habits. I’m not sure how to make this a permanent thing yet, but with 2 and a half months before I’m back on the beautiful beaches of Europe, I’m willing to give this good eating & exercising thing yet another shot.

I’m going to start by cutting out a BIG part of the bad stuff I eat and replacing it once again with fruits and veggies. I want to cut down on the meat I eat again. I’d been doing really well at consciously eating LESS of it, but with school & finals that all went away too. I’m going to make healthy choices when I eat out, and try with ALL MY WILLPOWER to pretend there isn’t a Starbucks 10 feet away from where I spent 7 hours of my day.

I really want to give Jillian Michaels another try but so far she’s been my biggest downfall because I can never finish her freaking work outs. She’s too hard on me, guys. I think I may try some easier work outs at first and then kick butt in Jillian Michaels and see what happens from there.

I can do this. 

I’m even going to make myself a nice little deal. If, by July 1st, I’ve held up my personal goal of eating well, avoiding foods that are clearly not good for me & making a conscious effort to exercise regularly, I will buy myself a lovely new bathing suit for Europe & some other treat that I haven’t decided yet. I really want another bathing suit though & the ones I like aren’t CHEAP. If I’m going to spend the money, I better feel damn good wearing it. So I mean, I have to make this work!

What do you do to stay motivated in your healthy eating & exercising lifestyle? 

8 Comments

A new countdown begins!

May 21, 2012 Filed Under: SO EXCITING!, Summer Time!, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

It’s no secret that I’ve caught the traveling bug, and I think after going to Europe last summer for the very first time it got even worse. I vaguely remember coming home after 3 weeks in Greece with 3 of my best friends and feeling like my ACTUAL home would never be the same to me again. I was wrong, of course, but when that travel high went away I realized that what I REALLY wanted was simply to have the opportunity to travel MORE. Instead of spending all my money on ALL THE THINGS that didn’t matter, I wanted to save & see the world.

Coming home from Greece last year I remember feeling one thing for certain. I LOVED Europe & I wanted to go back and see many more of the countries there. However as a student, that trip was extremely expensive for me. I told myself that  I would go back when I was no longer a student struggling my way through expenses.

Turns out, I just can’ t stay away from Europe.

If you follow me on Twitter, Instagram or if we’re friends on Facebook you may have already seen my news but… I’m going back to Europe for almost THREE weeks in August! I’ll be spending 19 days with my best friend traveling through Italy, France, and parts of England. Things may change a little bit here and there (we’re still figuring out our itinerary) but basically that is what we have planned.

I’m SO excited. We’ve been talking about this trip for weeks now, but as of Saturday our flight to Rome (and leaving Paris) is BOOKED!

I’m so nervous, to be honest. I love talking about traveling the world but I think this trip will be my scariest yet. I have to find a backpack. I’m going to be traveling into different COUNTRIES. Just the two of us. Probably staying in hostels with strangers. I’m nervous because I’m going back to a country I LOVE and I have all these memories from my last trip. I know that traveling has been SO good for me. I’ve ultimately changed as a person for it. It makes me nervous to see who I’ll be when I get home on August 26th after three weeks of living from a backpack. Last summer I had so much trouble re-adjusting to being home and I just don’t want to go through that again.

But most of all? I’m excited. I’m SO excited. I’m going back to Europe.

I’m visiting places like this:

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Europe 2012. Let the planning begin! 

If you have any suggestions, recommendations or tips for any parts of France, Italy or England… I’d love to hear them :)  

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7 months

May 18, 2012 Filed Under: Everyday Stories, Family, Things That Make Me Happy Tagged With: , ,

Dear Cris,

Sorry it’s been a while since I wrote your last letter. I kind of wish I’d written a little more often but it seems like time is going SO FAST these days and look at you now, you’re already more than HALF A YEAR OLD. I seriously can’t believe it. You’re growing so fast & you’re learning so quickly, it amazes me each time I have the chance to see your cute little face.

We spent some time together last weekend. It was Mother’s Day and you were in an amazingly good mood. That’s no surprise though, you’re almost ALWAYS in a good mood. Let the record state that you might be one of the calmest, easiest babies to please. Ever. You’re kind of like your dad that way, because apparently he had a pretty easy disposition as a baby as well.

At one point you were sitting in your car seat while we were all standing around outside waiting for your dad, and you were extremely giggly. I looked at you from the rear window and you BURST into laughter. We started playing a really serious game of hide and seek and you were laughing so hard it made me start laughing, too. I seriously love how much you love playing games, and it just makes my day when I can make you giggle.

Giggles in your little suit on Mother’s Day! 

The last 5 months since I wrote to you have just been crazy. You’ve done a lot of growing, getting bigger, and becoming the little boy that I have imagined you to be for SO long now. Your face is a real tiny person’s now, not just a newborn baby’s. Your smiles are more than just you learning how mimic other peoples’ faces. Your face genuinely lights up with delight when you recognize someone, and you are learning the difference between friend and stranger. Random people love saying hello to you and giving you little pats on the back because you’re so cute and round and you’ve got the biggest, bluest, most curious looking eyes. And when they try and get your attention? You smile and cover your face up. YOU’RE A SHY BABY. Who would have known?!

Drooling on Mother’s Day. It’s your thing, now that you’re getting teeth. Woo! Ha :)

On your half birthday you finally started eating food. It’s a bit of a challenge because your mama and daddy are teaching you what it means to put actual food in your mouth instead of just milk. I personally think it’s hilarious to watch and I love snapping pictures of you with food all over your face. We’re going to have so much fun looking back at all this when you’re older. Just wait until you bring a girl home. Hehe :)

Food. Everywhere. You’re still cute! <3

Seriously though, you’re just all kinds of cute. I’ve wanted to be an aunt ever since I can remember (more than wanting to be a mom. I am NOT ready for that yet!) and you have been the perfect baby to learn the ropes with. In your first letter I told you that I needed some time to get used to you and how to hold you comfortably; now I know that I’ve got the hang of things. I was so NERVOUS when you first got here that I wouldn’t be able to do things right when I saw you & that scared me. I’ve had so much fun figuring out what you love and don’t love, and I can easily say that you get excited and antsy when I come to pick you up now. It’s such a heart-warming feeling. I un-buckle your seat belt and you start moving your legs and giggling and you hoist yourself upwards to make things easier.

Clearly, I need to write to you more often. This is becoming a long letter. I can’t WAIT to see what the next few months have in store for you. I’d like to just say that my new favorite thing is taking walks with you and showing off how freaking cute of a nephew I’ve got.

Kid, you’re gonna be a heart breaker.

Love always,

Auntie Melissa

Oh, hey there.

Chit-chatting with squeaky Elmo. It’s like your videos come to life!

Mirror picture!

Have I mentioned you’re cute yet? <3

15 Comments

The Book Chat {Vol 10}

May 17, 2012 Filed Under: The Book Chat Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Book Chat is hosted weekly by Jessica over at Sweet Green Tangerine. Go link up!

Today’s question: What are you favorite childhood books?

I was a bit of a strange reader as a kid. To be honest, I don’t remember reading picture books with my mom when I was very young, but I do have vivid memories of my father taking me to the library and looking at stories for a few hours. I don’t remember ever having a favorite though as I never owned any of them- I think I liked just going and looking at everything the library had to offer.

As I got a bit older he would also often bring me (strangely enough) to the place where I now work. It’s been open for about 15 years now, which was just a few years before he passed away. When the store was first built there was a huge castle in the kids’ department with computers to play games on. I loved going and playing with the other children, looking at the thousands of books, and every once in a while I was treated to a new chapter book! Those are my fondest memories as a child, which may kind of explain my fondness for where I work now. It’s changed a LOT (and expanded somewhat) since then, but it’s always felt like I came around full circle when I started working in the place that I practically grew up in.

I started remembering the books I read when I was around 7 or so. Other than buying them with my dad, my mom would often give me two dollars to run across the street to the Dollar Store to pick up the newest edition of The Babysitter’s Club by Ann M. Martin. It kind of feels like every girl my age read those; I’m sad I don’t remember much about them other than the cheesy 90′s covers, but I constantly recommend them at work to girls who were the same age as me!

After those books, I read a lot of random Scholastic titles; Animorphs, Amazing Days of Abby Hayes, Goosebumps, Fear Street and other various chapter books that I was allowed to buy at book fairs or through the Scholastic flyers at school. I’m not even sure I can begin to explain my love for Scholastic. Even today? One of my top picks all the time for customers. I’m just going to throw this out into the Universe- I would TOTALLY work for Scholastic. :)

Other than Harry Potter, I started reading a series around the age of 9 called the California Diaries. They were also by Ann M. Martin actually (I think this was her series right after Babysitter’s Club?) although not many people remember them besides me!I still have a few of those and I can’t even tell you how many times I read them. Over and over again. Unfortunately they’re way out of print now, but I’m fairly convinced I’d still totally love them if they came back out. They all followed a group of friends who had to keep journals in school. Each of the friends had their own series of books (Dawn had a few, then Amalia, Ducky, Sunny, and Maggie) and at some point in their journals they meet and all their lives start to become intertwined. I loved it. I remember their individual stories SURPRISINGLY well- they each battled their own important real life situations, and even as a kid I could appreciate how scary the world could be for other people.

I think it was right around then that Harry Potter came out and, well, the rest is history! 

I feel like I kind of went on a little tangent with this Book Chat, but I suppose that’s what it’s all about? Little tidbits about my reading life and how it shaped me as a person! As an adult, I buy books in excess. I think I like making up for the fact that money was so tight as a child and receiving a new book was a REAL treat. I still have a ton of those first chapter books and keep them in a safe place- I just wish I’d kept those cheesy Babysitter’s Club books! Those covers are so priceless.

What are some of your childhood favorites?

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