The Fault In Our Stars

I rarely read a book that makes me feel as many emotions in a 300 page span as this book did. 

 Once again, this book was on my to read list, but not one that I would typically read. 

I started The Fault in Our Stars, only knowing that it was about a girl with cancer.

I had no idea if it would be funny, sad, or keep me interested.

At one point, I was laughing and Kyle looked at me weird and said, 

"isn't that a book about kids with cancer?"

Yes, yes it is, but their situations are so real.

I really enjoyed this book because it felt so real to me. 

As I read I wasn't sure where it was going to go, 

yet at other parts I couldn't figure out what else was still going to be written.

Not that I could ever relate to what was happening in the story, but I felt connected to the characters.

I felt like their story was real life. 

It didn't gloss over the harsh reality of disease to give you this happy story. 

There were so many parts and so many things that happened.

It didn't feel like a story to me, but that I was hearing about their daily lives. 

Everything was connected, but not really.

I loved Hazel and Gus's relationship, 

no, their relationship isn't a normal teen relationship, 

but at the same time it really is. 

They were just two teenagers falling in love and trying their best to navigate the situations that they were going through in life. 

They were so defined by their disease, and yet they were just normal teenagers trying to get the most out of their lives before they ended. 

I loved how Hazel tells her parents she feels like a grenade, destined to damage those near her. 

Then later, when she realizes that her parents are planning for their future it seems to give her closer on her own life. 

You won't walk away happy, I cried my eyes out in the end, 

but I'd still recommend this book and am really glad I ended up buying it.

Hello Spring Break

I have to say, weekends are much more enjoyable when you know you don't have to go to work on Monday morning. 

This weekend we spent a lot of time with friends and family. 

It was so nice to just enjoy the time and not worry about things I needed to get done.

Friday night, we had some friends over and played Settlers of Catan. 

We really like to broaden our horizons. 

Kyle and I won every game played and figure it must be because it was at our house. 

We might need to play over here more often.

Our friend Brad spent the night and the next day we went with him and Jason apartment hunting.

It's much more enjoyable when you just get to look at places, but aren't moving yourself!

Sadly, this happened. 

We rolled down the window and the power windows went out. 

This had happened a few months before and the fuse just needed replacing. 

So we went and bought a couple fuses and fixed the window. 

Sunday, we did our usual church and family lunch. 

Then we headed to our friend's house to play some more Settlers.

Like I said, party animals.

Stephanie won every game, furthering our theory of house wins. 

On our way home, we stopped to get some food. 

Only to try and roll the window up and the power windows again go out. 

Thankfully, we had an extra fuse this time. 

We replaced the fuse, and before we could even get the window back up, that one blew as well.

Clearly, there's a bigger issue here...

On the bright side, I have Spring Break this week. 

What a great way to spend the morning. 

Now I get to spend the rest of the day dealing with the car.

At least it happened now, when I have time to work on it!

High Five For Friday

Guatemala Mission Trip Spring Break 2009

1. Spring Break! 

I am so ready for the break so I can sit around and do nothing. Spring Break now is so much different than it was in college! Hopefully I'll finally be able to knock out this sickness!

2. Bloglovin'

I've had it for awhile, but never used it as a reader. Now that Google reader is going by be-bye, I have officially switched over. I have to say, I absolutely love it and don't know why I didn't get on board earlier! You can follow me by clicking he follow button on my sidebar.

3. New Work Laptop!

My work laptop is super old. As in,constantly won't run things because it's missing plugins. However they can't be updated because ones that fit my computer no longer exist! 

Anyways, there was a contest at work for a brand new laptop. I knew I wouldn't win it, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got the call that I'm getti g the teacher that did wins old laptop. Trust me when I say that it's a major improvement! 

SweetHeart VoxBox Review

A few months back, I signed up for Influenster, a program where you can receive free products in exchange for honest reviews. 

Afterwards, I promptly forgot about it. 

That is, until I was contacted to receive the SweetHeart VoxBox in February. 

I was very pleasantly surprised about what arrived in my box!

1. Olay Fresh Effects (Va-Va-Vivid) Powered Contour Cleansing System. $12.99

2. Olay Fresh Effects (Shine, Shine Go Away!) Shine Minimizing Cleanser. $6.99 for full

I would have to say that these two are my favorite products.
I really liked the idea of a powered cleansing system, but never wanted to shell out the money for one in case I didn't like it.The system leaves my face feeling softer and smoother than anything else I've ever used. I also love how the wedge shape, which makes it much easier to get to the areas around the nose. Plus, it can be used in the shower!
The Shine, Shine Go Away Cleanser was fine, but I don't have a lot of shine problems. I would want to try out one of their other cleanser's next time. The full bottle is almost 7 times the size of the sample size and goes a really long way. I've been using the sample for almost 3 weeks daily, plus Kyle's admitted to trying it out too. 
I probably would never have pick up this system on my own, but now that I have it I will definitely continue to purchase the cleansers.

3. Secret Clinical Strength Stress Response. $7.99-9.99

I was pretty excited about this one because I like clinical strength deodorant much better than regular. However, it's another expensive product that isn't something I feel like is worth it for me. I don't typically sweat enough that I feel like it matters. This product does work very well, better than my regular Secret deodorant and I surprisingly liked the smell. I typically go for fresh scents, but the citrus was very nice.


4. Not Your Mother's She's a Tease Volumizing Hair Spray. $6.00 for full

My hair has trouble holding body. Most of the time when I put any sort of volumizing product in, it's noticeable right off the bat, but the second I start styling my hair everything falls flat. Since I had heard so much about this product I was really hopeful it would work better than others I've tried. It gave me a lot of great body right when I put it on, but as soon as I started to do my hair it all feel again. Maybe it's really great for people who have a better time maintaining body than I do.


5. Skinnygirl Daily On-The-Go Bars. $9.99 for a box of 5

First of all, I'm not a huge fan of these expensive type of bars anyways. Second, the flavor I received was Banana Oatmeal Dark Chocolate and I don't like anything banana flavored. While they are low in calories, you should watch out because they are very high in carbs. I made Kyle try it and he says it tastes like a regular granola bar with chocolate. For me, this wouldn't be something I tried again. I'd rather save my money and make my own granola bars.

Even though I didn't love everything in the box, the first three items more than made up for the other things. I loved being able to test new products and find some new favorites. 

 

Disclaimer: All products were received from Influenster for complimentary testing purposes. All opinions are my own.

Weekend Update

I finally started feeling back to normal this weekend. 

I can't believe how long it's been since we've done stuff other than hang around the house. 

Saturday morning we headed down to meet the rest of the family at the Youth Day Parade.

People in the community ride on floats and throw candy at all the children watching. 

It was really cute!

The girls were so excited, I'm sure it had nothing to do with all the candy!

We got to spend time with family and then walk around the mall to pick up some stuff we needed. 

It was just a really nice day.

Later that night, we went to dinner with my family to celebrate my little brother's birthday!

I can't believe he's already 18!

It was so nice to get out of the house for something other than errands!

A Little Bit of Nothing

Ever since I got sick it seems as if I've done nothing.

I still can't completely kick this sickness so this is my life.

 Factor in the fact that Daylight Savings always seems to mess me up for a week and you have one lazy person. 

Work has even furthered to help my laziness because we started swim last week. 

While it's slightly stressful with the change in schedule it takes up most of the day. 

I get to school, have my kids for 10 minutes and they go to specials. 

They come back, we do reading and they go to lunch. 

We leave for the pool and by the time we come back there's just enough time for math and snack.

It's been pretty nice to have relaxed time before Spring Break.

Plus, I don't have anything really to work on, so I come home right away and hang out on the couch.

Hopefully I will get better soon, but for now I'm thankful I'm able to take it easy while still being at work.

Probably the most "exciting" thing that's happened recently is that Kyle and I finally finished Friends!

Not only did he enjoy it, but he even thought the finale was sad. 

I might be a little too excited that he now understands me when I quote friends.

Every Now and Then I Fall Apart

This week/weekend I spent the majority of my time camped out on the couch.

 I was miserably sick and after leaving work the second I possibly could I parked myself on the couch.

Other than watching an entire season of Glee in three days I've been pretty unproductive.

Thankfully I have a wonderful husband who is always there to help.

He's so wonderful about taking care of me when I'm sick, always checking to make sure there's nothing I need or running to the store to pick up tissues. 

Unfortunately he might be coming down with what I had. 

At least our couch is so big we can both lay on it!

Now let's just hope I make it through today and the start of swim with my kinders. 

Only 3 more weeks till Spring Break!