Reading: Its Good For The Soul

I love to read. I read every day. On the bus, in the bath, before bed, waiting for a friend, any chance I get. It’s very rare to find me in your company without a book. But don’t worry I’m not rude about it. I won’t make you wait while I finish a page, or paragraph, or a chapter. I’ll quietly fold the corner over of the page and we can get down to whatever it is we’re going to do.

So what do I read? Well, quite a bit, but not everything. I love any kind of chick lit, I love Jodi Piccuolt, Jennifer Weiner, Barbra Delinsky, Diane Chamberlain, and even a recent Nicolas Sparks convert! I usually love the Target Book Club books and have found some really great new books through their picks.

I love self help books on business, budgets, relationship advice, health, and green living

And I love mystery and law. Dan Brown, John Grisham, pretty much all the best sellers.

So right plan.

now I’m currently reading two books, I’ reading "Knit Two" by Kate Jacobs in my spare time and "The C Students Guide to Success" by Ron Bilwas. My goal is to read 1 self help book a month, as part of my "new year, new me"

plan.

In the future I’m planning on posting small reviews on the books I read, I believe it’s important to share good books with good friends. I’m always telling my friends to read this book or that, and often giving them my copy. So stay tuned to hear more about the books I’m reading.

Along the same lines, I’m always looking for recommendations. So, if you’ve recently read a good book, and want to recommend it, please leave me a comment or send me an email. Along the same lines, I would love to join a book club that reads the types of books I love. If you belong to a club, thinking about starting a club in Lincoln Park I would love to know more about it!

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Working Out

So, last week I gave myself some workout goals. I’m happy to say I was able to surpass my goals. I worked out 4 days, went to the kick boxing class with my sister, and remembered to stretch after my workouts. I even did a little Pilates with Daisy Fuentes (on the wii of course!). So I’m really happy with my progression, week 3 is usually about the time I give up, but I’m working hard on it. Saying that I know that I may not always meet my goals, and I want to make sure I don’t get down on myself. As soon as I think I can’t do it is about the time I give up.

What I need from you:

So this week, I’d love to hear what everyone else does that keeps them motivated. I really want to stay with this and improve my lifestyle, but I definitely need help! Any ideas, tricks, methods, workouts, any advice you have, I’d love to hear it, so just leave me a comment!

This week, my goals are to:

work out 4 days this week, finish the calorie combustion Bosu workout, go to kick boxing with Shannon, and to have fun with my workouts.

Lucky in Love

Back in July my sister Becky married the love of her life, Emerson. It was a beautiful wedding, and much like Shannon's, we did a lot of the work ourselves.

It was a great experience and a lot of fun. It really brought my sisters, my mom and I together. Between the shower, the wedding, and everything in between we constantly getting together and crafting whatever could.

The theme of Becky's wedding was Lucky in Love. Everything was red, black, and white and had an Asian twist. The centerpieces were made from Chinese take out boxes, the napkins were folded in fans, everything revolved around being Lucky in Love.

Out of everything we did, my favorite was probably the candy bar. I still can't believe how incredible it turned out. We had all sorts of red, white and black candies in different vases, decanters, bowls, it was simply amazing! On top of that we made cute little labels to go on all jars.

Everything matched and looked great. Becky looked blissful, Emerson was in love and the cake was amazing! My sister was able to get a replicate of the cake in Because I Said So with Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore. It was amazing! Truly gorgeous, it makes me excited and hopeful for my own wedding someday. 5 years in counting, so hopefully its coming soon! And since out my sisters I'm the last I'll have to make sure to go out with a bang!

Working Out

I loathe working out. Its not fun, it takes away time I could be doing something else, and I just hate it. But this year is the year of the new me, and its time to get it done- especially since I've been paying for a gym membership for the past two years! Right now, I'm rocking the at-home workouts, at least until I'm comfortable going back to the gym and its warm outside. Who wants to wait for a bus or worse walk in this Chicago weather right now, seriously?

To round-up my at-home workouts...I'm a huge fan of the gazelle (thank you Tony Little!) the wii, and my newest purchase, the Bosu ball. I also love the blog Your Wishcake and totally support her Work it Out Weekends and want to join in the fun.

So to help me in my quest, I'm making myself accountable and writing about my workouts throughout the week. Don't worry, its not all I'll be writing about, but I at least want to make it a recurring post. Please feel free to share with me your success stories, obstacles, advice, insights, complaints, what have you. I'm a great listener and would love the feedback.

My goals for this week:

I want to workout at least 3 times this week, go to a kickboxing class with my sister Shannon, and work on stretching more after my workouts, maybe fit a little pilates in!