Book Review: The Vow

I love reading a good book, and its even more special to me now that I have less time to read with a baby at home.  I love that the movies have been coming out with lots of great movies based on books and if you are anything like me you want to read the book before you see the movie...  I put off seeing this film when it came out just so I could read it first! 

The Vow is a book (and movie) based on the true story of Kim and Krickitt Carpenter, a special couple, who encounter a terrible car wreck early in their marriage.  The book gives lots (and I mean LOTS) of credit to God, and how he was able to save them and their marriage.   I love when things are in the public media that are focused on God and faith in God.  

I don't want to give away too much of this book but it was GREAT.  The Vow was a very quick read for me- super easy to follow and very heart warming as well.  It made me examine my own life, marriage and what is important to me.  

The beginning chapters spend lots of time setting up the accident and what happens after the accident.  The only thing that I would have changed about this book is the ending- I wish that there would have been more details and more time describing the "ending" (hello! I can't tell you! :) just in case you haven't read it! ha.)  Warning- have some tissue in hand while reading... there are some tear-jerkers for sure!  

Overall, I give The Vow 4 1/2 stars!

I loved this book and look forward to seeing the movie soon! 

Have you read The Vow? What did you think? 

Wednesday Love!

linking up {here} :) 

Just a few things that I am loving today: 

+that I just finished the book, The Last Song- see my review {here}

+TJMaxx

and their great deals... like...

+my new curling iron

umm yes please! Cheaper than the original one I had (from wal-mart of all places)

+the awesome deals on name brand shampoo/conditioner (thanks for the suggestion to go to TJMaxx, Lori)

and the conditioner was even cheaper- 7.99

+plug-in's from Bath and Body Works, specifically the Lavender and Vanilla mmm! 

+and of course this sweet face! and her new jewelry from her aunt, Donna - it was hers when she was a baby :)

Book Review: The Last Song

{via}

The Last Song, by Nicholas Sparks 

I'm not really sure where to start with this book, so let me start by saying that I LOVED this book! It only took me about 8 months to finish reading it because I kept sitting it down, simply because I did not want it to end! It was that good!  I am really looking forward to seeing the movie (even though I am usually disappointed by the movie after I have read the book). K was going to buy it for me last night but all the Targets near us are sold out.  I guess that could be a good sign.  Out of all of the N.Sparks books I have read, this one is one of my favorites! Amazon rates it 4.5 stars out of 5!

Like in most of his books, Nicholas Sparks uses the first few chapters of this book to introduce a lot of the characters and set the rest of the book up.  In my opinion the first few chapters took a while to get through but once I got past that this book was such an easy read for me. 

Here is the description of this book:

Seventeen year old Veronica "Ronnie" Miller's life was turned upside-down when her parents divorced and her father moved from New York City to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Three years later, she remains angry and alientated from her parents, especially her father...until her mother decides it would be in everyone's best interest if she spent the summer in Wilmington with him. Ronnie's father, a former concert pianist and teacher, is living a quiet life in the beach town, immersed in creating a work of art that will become the centerpiece of a local church.

The tale that unfolds is an unforgettable story of love on many levels--first love, love between parents and children -- that demonstrates, as only a Nicholas Sparks novel can, the many ways that love can break our hearts...and heal them.

If you love MUSIC, you will love this book.

If you love THE BEACH, you will love this book.

If you love FAMILY, you will love this book.

If you love FRIENDS, you will love this book.

If you love SUSPENSE, you will love this book.

and last, but NOT least...

If you love ROMANCE, you will LOVE this book!

the perfect book

In my effort to finalize more things before little Raleigh Grace gets here I am trying to decide on a baby book...

I am totally not into the cheezy themed books...winnie the pooh, monkey's, etc.  I found these super cute personalized books on Etsy that I just love but really 60 dollars!?  eeek.  Is that too much? I mean honestly, I don't even know what my baby book looks like or if it is even finished... will it really matter down the road? I want to document every. little. thing. but I know realistically that that probably won't happen once I have my darlin girl to ooh and ahhh at all day long :) !! Here is the book: (you can personalize the colors... I'm thinking baby pink and grey? or would the grey clash with the linen?)

So, here is where I ask you for your help. I know that yall have such wonderful taste I am wondering what you used for your children... where did you find your baby book? do you love it?

Also, since I have 2 months (omg really!? only 2!?!) to go (from Saturday...) I am anxious to get my hands on some good books.... like baby books.  not A-baby-book... but you know, books about your little one- or about pregnancy or the like...
what are the MUST have GOOD INFORMATIVE books.  I enjoy funny books too but I am looking for more books that provide some good insight. 

Here are a few I have heard are great...
-Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy
-Happiest Baby on the Block
-The Wonder Weeks
-Belly Laughs
-The Pregnancy Bible
-Dr. Sears

which ones are MUST haves... I look forward to hearing from you all!! :) :)

I Wanna Be Like YOOOOU!!!

"just danced around the living room with his wife...to music from Disney's Jungle Book...thank God I found her, I'm sure any other wife would think I'm retarded..."Oh, oobee doo, I wanna be like you, I wanna walk like you, Talk like you, toooooooooooooooooooo!!!" --K.J.'s (my hubby) status on facebook tonight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur3uk0OiyuA

(please click on this link and have it playing in the background while you read this post hehe)

Well that is the perfect start to this post. Trust me... this was the highlight of my night, my week and most likely our marriage this far (okay that might be a stretch but still it was great, you get the idea.)

K was off work today, YIPPEE! and we spent it doing a lot and a lot of nothing. We slept in - wonderful- and then started our day. We mailed a package to Karls grandma with a bottle of wine in it. The mail guy made sure we were not sending cologne because apparently that is not allowed... interesting... of course we asked why. dumb reasons but apparently it is flammable and the airplanes do not allow it. (this bothers me... why am I allowed to travel with it but my package can not?... just wondering...) Learned something new today anyways... cool. ha!

Okay, welcome to the great state of Texas where the weather was 64 degrees and sunnnny and breezy... pure BLISS! we had the time so we drove. just straight up drove and drove... ... ... and ... ... ... drove. Loved it! Windows down sun up breeze in the hair... thank you Jesus, it was wonderful.

We decided that we needed to fuel our engines (not the car, our tummies) so we stopped at Pei Wei and I enjoyed a nice Spicy Chicken Salad- go try it. Perfect combo of sweet and spicy! We then made a trip to Barnes and Noble where we purchased a few books -- one called "Letters from a Skeptic" by Dr. Gregory Boyd and Edward Boyd, and "The One Year's Devotions for Couples" by David and Teresa Ferguson. I will keep you update on these new reads as we go. I skimmed todays devo and so far it looks like a great devotional for those of you out there who are married and looking for something to strengthen the spiritual side of your marriage. I'm real excited about this- it is something that I have wanted us to do for some time now... can't wait to start that tonight in a few mins.

My parents go to a church in Sugar Land, TX named Holy Cross Episcopal Church. This is a wonderful God-fearing, God-serving church. Father Scott has been doing a series on Marriage that he started last weekend when we were in town. Convenient. :) So since we aren't able to travel such a great distance every weekend (even though we would love to...) we podcasted the sermon online -- you can check it out to by clicking on the link here. Today was entitled "Marriage: Real Love" -- it comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED ... by me! You can download it to your ipod and even listen to it on your way to work or on your daily run. It isn't long and it is definitely rewarding.

By the time the sermon was over my tummy was definitely rumbling for some food. K cooked for me and ordered from Papa John's pizza ha! One of the best meals ever haha!

The other night K and I purchased a couple of movies from Wally World... classics... tonight he picked the WONDERFUL Jungle Book. The movie was good, as usual, the company was great, as you should come to expect, and ... well... the music during the menu was THE BEST hahah! We danced around the middle of the living room singing and having a grand ol time. GRRRAND!!!! We have sooo much fun together, even if we do act like we are 10 years old. I hope we still do things like this when we are 100! and honestly, I have no doubts in my mind that that will be a reality. (Even if we are in our wheelchairs! ha!)

So until next time...

Oh, oobee doo, I wanna be like you, I wanna walk like you, Talk like you, toooooooooooooooooooo!!! :)

All About Us and Chickfila

Words of Wisdom from kids:

When is it okay to kiss someone?

"The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone then you should marry them and have kids with them. It's the right thing to do." Howard age 8

As I sit here sipping a glass of chocolate milk I am thankful for a very good day! This morning I went to a preschool and kept 2 kids for the day, one was three the other four. I am exhausted and having a hard time writing but I did want to update with some fun stuff. So I worked for the first time since December- and man that felt good! I felt like I actually had purpose in life ha! Then I came home and hung out with the FI and then I took a much needed hour long afternoon nap. I have to say that I could get used to being done with my day between 3pm or 4pm... it was rather nice and much more enjoyable than the constant 6, 7 or even 8pm while at my old job. So yay for that today!

Also, got off "working" and had a voicemail from a Preschool/Daycare that I had called early last week. Long story short I have an interview with them on Thursday at 12:30cst so please please be praying for me!! How can you pray? That God's will be done and that no matter the outcome of the situation that He may be glorified!

This afternoon my sweet fiance took me to run some errands and then we went to dinner at Chick-fil-a. It was family night and I happened across a free kids meal! (WAHOO! free chickfila= heaven on earth!) KJ ordered a combo and I ordered a kids meal and the total was 6something dollars. He asked the guy working "hows that work?" and the guy explained when you purchase a combo Tuesday night then you get a free kids meal. I think we may have just started a new "Family Tradition" because there is always a craving needing to be filled by good old Chickfil-A! After that my sweet baby took me to Barnes and Noble for some book he wanted to get "us" but wouldn't tell me what it was because he wanted to surprise me! Anyways, ends up we get the book "All about Us"by Phillip Keel. Basically it is a book that you and your significant other fill out (be it boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, etc.). It has questions about yourself and about each other and has blanks in the book with a line where each of you answer the questions. We spent a couple of hours tonight filling that out and it really just made me love this man more! It was very refreshing and I would recommend it to anyone in a relationship that means something to them!!

Still looking for a restaurant to take everyone for dinner... heellllp!! Thanks ya'll!