Recent Reads

I do a lot more reading in the summer than any other time of year... guess it is due to going to the beach/pool or feeling like there is more time (even though there's still 24 hours in a day) or the fact that summer just seems like the most relaxed season and relaxing and reading go hand in hand. So I thought I'd share a few of the books I've read recently and some brief thoughts on them.


The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth

Amazon

So as you can see this was three books and I'm sure many have read these by now. Before reading these, I thought they were going to be just like Hunger Games. They have the same dystopian genre and a heroine but they explore different themes and are written differently. Although like the Hunger Games, I really enjoyed books 1 and 2 much more than book 3 which felt rushed at times and didn't have an ending that made sense or that the story deserved (even more so than Hunger Games book 3). I did find an alternate ending written by a fan which is much better so I just like to pretend that is the ending instead. And it is written in the same style as Veronica Roth and is an ending that the book and series deserves. Even with book 3 (because it's not like you could really just skip the last book), if you like the Hunger Games you should read these. It is easy reading and I pretty much flew through them. Maybe they will consider a different ending for the movie. The Divergent movie that came out a few months ago was great and well cast. Of course the book is almost always better than the movie but it's definitely worth seeing. It is impressive that Veronica was in her 20's when she wrote these.


The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Amazon

I figured I might as well read another book that Shailene Woodley was starring in the movie version of haha. I thought a book about two cancer patients that fall in love would be completely depressing and while parts of it are sad, the writing and characters are so genuine and it is about so much more. I'm not describing it well enough to do it justice so just read it! I will also be seeing the movie at some point and have heard it is very true to the story.


Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple

Amazon

I mentioned this book previously in my gift guide post and I finally got to borrow it from my sister and read it. It was like nothing I've ever read before. It's written from the perspective of a 15 year old daughter to an eccentric opinionated and brilliant mother and a workaholic dad about when her mother goes missing. Definitely pick this one up. I think it would be an excellent book club read too. Plus the cover graphic is awesome.


The Memory Thief by Emily Colin

Amazon

This is another book my mom/sister lent me and it was a good, interesting and quick read but not in my list of top 50 books or anything... the characters felt underdeveloped and self centered.. I'd read all the books I have above before this one. It is two stories intertwined: one about a wife, husband who dies in a mountain climbing accident (don't worry it's not a spoiler if it's also on the back of the book), son and the husband's best friend and the other about a man thousands of miles away that awakes from a coma with the dead husband's memory instead of his own. Kinda out there right? It;s only her first novel so may be the next one will be better.


I have a few more books I've read recently so I'll do another one of these posts soon plus I just bought two new books I hope to be wonderful beach/pool reads. What great (or not so great) books have you read recently? Read any of the books above?

Grilled Chicken Marinade

Now that it's warm out, I hope everyone is firing up the grill! We tried out a new marinade last time we grilled chicken and it was delicious. I wanted to use our Penzey's Chicago Seasoning because it has a wonderful smokey flavor and it is great on beef and suggests it would be great on vegetables too so I figured why not chicken. And I read that apple cider vinegar is a great tenderizer so a new marinade was born.

I now swear by Penzey's spices. They are more potent that what you'd buy at the grocery so you end up using less of it and the quality of the spices just seem to be better and you can really taste the difference. We love their garlic powder, Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper too (and friends we gave some cinnamon to love it). Once some of my current frequently used grocery store spices run out I plan to purchase them all through Penzey's. They have stores across the US but not one that close to us so I just order the bags online and they do free shipping for $35 or more (plus the catalog you can get mailed for free has great recipes in it). I know this sounds like an advertisement for Penzey's but I promise I am not getting any perks, I just like their products.

Grilled Chicken Marinade

- 6 chicken breasts
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 3 Tbsp minced garlic
- 1 1/2 tsp of Penzey's Chicago Seasoning (or Weber has a comparable seasoning but probably would need to use more of it)

Trim fat, cover with plastic wrap and pound chicken flatter with a mallet (we find when it's thinner it grills better and doesn't get too done while you wait for the inside to cook). Mix the last 3 ingredients together to form the marinade. Combine chicken and marinade in a well sealed ziploc bag and leave in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours. When ready to grill, remove chicken and grill on both sides until cooked through.

The chicken was so tender and flavorful! Goes great with grilled corn, grilled zucchini/squash and caprese salad! And of course you can't forget some sort of dessert... like pie or cheesecake... YUM!

What I Wore: Teal Blazer

Every girl needs a fun colored blazer after a couple of staple blazers such as black/navy/gray and a black & white striped blazer. And my fun blazer is teal! Are you surprised? I used to hardly ever wear black tops (or even white tops) beacause I always wanted to wear brighter colors and I thought those colors were boring. A black or white top is perfect with a bright colored blazer though because the blazer can be the star of the outfit and not compete with anything else. I wore this to work when we had a big all hands meeting and it definitely brightened my day!

I want to style this blazer with a casual outfit soon too. Do you have any fun colored blazers?

Teal blazer: Loft, similar, similar, more green than teal
Black top: Banana Republic Outlet, similar, similar
Black straight dress pants: Loft, similar, similar, similar
Black flats: Anne Klein iflex bam bam, also have seen at Marshall's
Pink necklace: Towne & Reese
Pink earrings: Towne & Reese, similar


Linking up to: What I Wore Wednesday, What I Wore to Work, Because Shanna Said So, Tucker Up, PTMT Get Pin-spired, Tip Junkie

Family Room Update

You saw our family room empty when it was painted and then a little bit in the Christmas post but there are some exciting changes happening. You may remember the color scheme planned for our open kitchen/family room is teal, cobalt and coral and so far the only items fitting our new color scheme were the 2 dark teal wing chairs. I have been working on pillows (and will do curtains) in the fabrics I shared in that post. But I've been on a search for the past 8 months or so for a rug (more casually) and for a furniture piece (more seriously) for under the tv.

Well first came the rug. I went to the outlet mall with my mom about a month ago. We were mainly shopping for clothes but decided to pop into the TJ Maxx/HomeGoods too real quick. Well low and behold I saw this lovely wool rug that I really liked in a medium gray color with a geometric off-white pattern. I hadn't gotten serious about the rug search yet so I wasn't sure what size we would need but I knew it needed to be big. Well this rug was 9x12 which I wasn't even sure would be big enough so I didn't buy it then and decided to go home and measure the family room area. I did purchase a rug for in front of our kitchen sink. (I bought a small teal rug from Target several months back but it ended up looking a little small so I moved that to the mudroom area entrance). It just happened to be cobalt and geometric (can you tell I like geometric patterns) and the right size. Oh and $15. How could I say no to that? Isn't it pretty?

Anyway fast forward to when I got home. I did some measuring and it turns out 9x12 was actually the perfect size for the family room rug! I didn't want the rug sticking out in the pathway in front of the teal chairs and I wanted most of the furniture completely under the rug just like the rule of thumb decor measurements suggest. Definitely check this out, our rug in our first home just had the front legs of furniture on it and I promise it makes a big difference if you can do it.

So I called up the HomeGoods and had them put it on hold for me and we went back up there with my dad's SUV and picked it up. It was $499 which is an amazing deal for a large wool rug but I also asked for a discount since there was a small picked spot (which ended up under furniture anyway) so I got it for about $470. Hey, asking paid off! Once we arrived back at the house my sweet husband had already moved all the furniture out of the way and we laid out the rug.

I gave it a good vacuuming and we put the furniture back. So far we really love it. Since it's wool it does shed so I vacuum it at least once a week right now but I've heard it stops shedding after a few months. While I love the look of wood floors, the rug really warms things up and now it's hard to imagine not having a rug in there.

Then only a couple weeks later, I was browsing craigslist like I do every couple days and saw an ad for a cobalt credenza. I'd been searching for a long time for a dresser or buffet or something with storage to go under our tv and it needed to be less than 70 inches long but more than 60 and it was 65 and it also couldn't be too deep since we have that leather chair in the corner. I honestly didn't care what color it was since I had planned to paint it or something as long as it was solid wood but when I saw this and it was already the right color for our room it was meant to be! The price was perfect too at $275 and it's made by Hooker, a really great brand.

It has plenty of storage and is a pop of fun color in the room. Can't wait to share more family room updates soon!