Insta Dump #33

December was such a great month.  Not only was it filled with so many celebrations but we were just busy with different activities!

work meeting on a Friday// reflecting on moving forward// back extensions// Fall in December in Texas// coffee date between errands// nutcrakin' in Ft. Worth// hot tea feeling bad// cozy all white looking for honeymoon inspo// 20/20 vision lasik follow up// planner talks to me// cozy morning with HGTV// marriage counseling= IKEA// shoulder workout complete// new booty scrunch ready to work those cakes// party baby// bathroom selfie// my 2016 top 9// Max waiting for stockings on Christmas morning

Book Review: The Best of Us

So in my last book review post HERE I started reading the 14th Women's Murder Club novel and as always James Patterson killed it. I want to skip that mystery book review because I've read and reviewed a ton of those books and they are ALL good so lets move on to one maybe no one knows about!

The Best of Us was a book I saw on one of the blogs that I follow on the must read lists and they weren't lying!  I devoured this book in mere days and those were very cold days last week.  This book was the perfect read for a cold day as the book is set mainly in Jamaica.  It would be a great book to read on vacation.  I was so engrossed in the book and the author kept my interest as I was constantly reading forward to see what was going to happen with the 4 couples that were involved on this trip!  Were they all just going to fall apart or pull it together.  Each couple has their own story and their own troubles that I'm sure a lot of people can relate too. Its a little bit of fantasy vacation mixed up with a whole lot of real life problems.  I highly recommend this good read!

Amazon Synopsis in case you don't believe my raving review! LOL

Paradise isn’t quite what it seems as four college friends meet for an island vacation in this captivating new novel from the acclaimed author of These Girls.

An all-expense-paid week at a luxury villa in Jamaica—it’s the invitation of a lifetime for a group of old college friends. All four women are desperate not just for a reunion, but for an escape: Tina is drowning under the demands of mothering four young children. Allie is shattered by the news that a genetic illness runs in her family. Savannah is carrying the secret of her husband’s infidelity. And, finally, there’s Pauline, who spares no expense to throw her wealthy husband an unforgettable thirty-fifth birthday celebration, hoping it will gloss over the cracks already splitting apart their new marriage. 

Languid hours on a private beach, gourmet dinners, and late nights of drinking kick off an idyllic week for the women and their husbands. But as a powerful hurricane bears down on the island, turmoil swirls inside the villa, forcing each of the women to reevaluate everything she knows about her friends—and herself.

Since this book was so good and it as on of those must read lists I started another book I found the same way.  I am currently reading While YOU were sleeping: A gripping pyschological thriller you just can't put down

Hopes & Goals for 2017

Happy New Year!  2016 was full of adventures both bad, good, and GREAT!  2017 is already starting off fantastic knowing we are going to have some exciting things happening as we plan for our late Spring wedding, our honeymoon, and our garden which always blesses us.  If those are the only things that happen this year then I'm already so excited but knowing how life goes I know that 2017 will be filled with so much more than just those events.  There will be laughs, loves, tears, and many more adventures on top of hopes and goals I have for the new year.

• Read 20 books
• Go on a ski vacation
• Make for canning recipes
• Get back into my groove of healthy habits and working out consistently
• Take a girls weekend trip to NOLA, Palm Springs, or Charleston
• Get bikes for Hendrik and I to start riding
• Cook new recipes
• Add landscaping to our yard
• Have a positive outlook on life
• Make 30 the best year yet!
• Payoff the majority of my debt
• Make use of my time more efficiently at work 
• Try more adventurous things around our area for dates with Hendrik

2016 in the Rearview

My goals for 2016 were:

• Prepare and compete in my first fitness competition didn't happen this goals has changed
• Continue growing in my fitness journey and in gainzzzzville!! LOL  I hope to grow my quads and back to epic proportions! I grew and learned a lot this year about fitness and I feel I made significant gains on my physique but its always a work in progress
• Start my own business Done and Done- started my own personal training business in March.  Although I have stopped training clients as of now it was a perfect start and I still plan on opening more business in the future that hopefully become more permanent
• Take Caleb on a brother sister cultural graduation trip Completed this goal in June and although I STILL need to recap the trip on my blog (in the drafts)  We took an awesome week long trip to London, UK and Ireland.
• Take a girls trip to NOLA still a goal but this didn't make it on the completed list
• Vacation to somewhere extraordinary like Bali, Thailand, or somewhere equally amazing with Hendrik  Not only did we travel to some where amazing we hit BOTH of these places plus a couple more.  I have recapped our Dominican Republic trip but still need to recap our amazing trip this Fall to Bali, Thailand, and Dubai (in drafts)
• Finish the massive home to do list and declutter/ clean up old furniture, garage, and home in general.  I don't have clutter but there are always build up in drawers and useless items that can go I feel like this is completed but also on going as I completely revamped the shop and parts of our living room but still would like to reorganize our drawers and night stands.
• Finish my chicken coop and get chickens This got completed back in July and I now collect 6 eggs daily
• Plan for a great garden I planned and had a great garden with a lot of new items even though my tomatoes didn't fair well
• Finish my MSA with a bang and start CPA exam preparations BOOM!  Done with that grad degree
• Work on my 30 before 30 bucket list I did work on this but SEVERAL things carried over for me to hit maybe by 40?
• Work on myself- cussing, procrastination, focusing on the positive and cutting out negative (people, thinking, situations), not worry so much  I don't think I made much progress on this but there is always next year LOL

On top of the above goals that I put on the blog I also had a goal to read 25 books and I only read 12!! 4 of which were school books YUCK!  

I took 3 amazing vacations- Dominican Republic with Hendrik, London and Ireland with Caleb, and Dubai, Thailand, and Bali with Hendrik.  I still need to blog about 2 of which but I will get it done I have them waiting in my drafts I just need to finish them.

Hendrik and I got engaged.  Again I need to blog about this as well but I will catch up.

I think that was all of 2016 essentially other than the this and that.  I wasn't very good at staying up to date with my blog in 2016 but maybe that will change in 2017...  

Check out my 2017 hopes and goals to find out what all is planned and hoped to achieve for the upcoming year!

Book Review: Down the Rabbit Hole

Wow it has been a while since I have done a book review.  1. Because I have been reading a ton of book series or the same series so I thought it monotonous to rehash each one and 2. I haven't been reading all that much this entire year.  

The past month or so has finally given me the time and the desire to start back up reading.  Over the Thanksgiving holiday my best friends got together to catch up and Rachael told me that a while back she read a book from Holly Madison and it was her tell-all from her days in the Playboy Mansion.  She said it was nonfiction but kept her entertained and it was like reading a sort of gossip magazine.  Coming from the person who got me to read the Harry Potter books I had to look up the book a few nights later and read the synopsis.  It sounded really good so I went ahead and made the cheap purchase of Down the Rabbit Hole and dug in.

Read the Amazon synopsis before my review...you may not make it any further because you will have to stop and go read the entire book yourself!

Lost in Wonderland . . . 

A fairy-tale dream that became a nightmare, and a woman whose strength helped her find a way out to the other side

At 21, small-town Oregon girl Holly Cullen became Holly Madison, Hugh Hefner’s number one girlfriend. But like Alice’s journey into Wonderland, Holly’s plunge down the rabbit hole took her to a world where all was not as it seemed. The fairy-tale life inside the Playboy Mansion—which included A-list celebrity parties and starring in a number one television show—quickly devolved into an oppressive routine of strict rules, manipulation, and battles with ambitious, backstabbing Bunnies that nearly drove Holly to take her own life.

Down the Rabbit Hole is her introspective account of her time inside the Mansion: the drugs, abuse, infamous parties, and Holly’s real behind-the-scenes life with Bridget, Kendra, and Mr. Playboy himself. It is also her chronicle of healing and hope. By telling her story, both a cautionary tale and a celebration of personal empowerment, Holly reminds us of the importance of fighting for our dreams—and of finding the life we deserve.

I literally COULD NOT put this book down.  It is one of those I was reading it every spare minute I had a chance and stayed up WWAAYYY too late several nights foaming at the mouth to read more of Holly's sordid tale.  It was the best gossip book and the best way to fit in some nonfiction into my life. LOL  I can't stand nonfiction I find it SO boring. Down the Rabbit Hole was anything but boring my only negative was I wish there was more.  The perspective that I have now about Playboy and the whole mess is so different than my thinking before.  Not only was it the perfect read it got me back into my reading groove.

Buy it on Amazon HERE

I'm currently reading a book in my favorite series EVER the Women's Murder Club novels by James Patterson.  They are also page turners and can never be published fast enough for me.

Buy it HERE on Amazon

How I stay Organized

Some people are just messy, some are organized and some are well...OCD!  I fall somewhere in between VERY organized and OCD.  I plan everything from my daily to dos, monthly meals, to my route when I go to Canton!  The #1 item that I use to support my organizational habits is my yearly planner that has a monthly, weekly, daily breakdown.  I have used Erin Condren before but for 2017 I'm going with my 3rd Plum Paper planner.  Get yours HERE!  

I chose this nice floral design for 2017 and today I plan on organizing my meals for January along with my upcoming week.  

Other tools I use to help to stay organized is Pinterest which I get meal ideas and I love Numbers on my MacBook.  I can make long-term to do lists of items that I need to get done "eventually" around the house. Ever since the time changed I have been in a bit of a funk but the new year is a perfect way to get out of it and the first step is being prepared and organized!

Insta Dump #32

November Instagram dump.  November was a fast paced month that was spattered with naked baby butts and fire pit fires!

Lusting over Magnolia Magazine// late night work flow turned into early morning work flow// lazy days in my robe// I voted// Case cutie// 2 hours of getting hit in the face// clean house equals hotel feels// feeling like Christmas// Case making his Playgirl debut// ready for a shower// fire pit night with my love