A Book for your Beach Bag

Hey everyone! It is hard to believe it is hump day already. May is rapidly coming to an end. Memorial Day, the official kick off to summer is next week.

One of my favorite things to do on summer vacation is to take books to read on the beach. I think it is so relaxing to be under an umbrella with a good book.

One book I've recently had the chance to read is "the bright side of disaster" by Katherine Center. I was sent an advanced copy of the book by being one of the lucky folks who was first to respond to an offer on the webside formerly known as sk*rt (now know as kirtsy, check out the button on the right).

This book is an interesting read. To be honest, it is the type of book I would have read if a friend loaned me, but I don't know if I would have picked it out if I saw it in the book store. That isn't a negative towards the book, this book is just different from the type of books I normally pick out.

Book Synopsis

This book is the story of Jenny Harris whose live in boyfriend, Dean skips out on her when he gets cold feet about marrying her and becoming a father to their unborn child. One night he goes out for cigarettes and doesn't come back. The very next day Jenny goes into labor and gives birth to their child (won't tell you the sex of the baby, I'll let you find out).

The story unfolds with Jenny finding herself as a single mother. She joins a mommies group, gets support from her family, and learns how to do everything by herself. She becomes friends with a handsome neighbor who is handy and great with the baby. A blossoming romance starts. Just when things start to heat up with the hunky neighbor, her old ball and chain Dean shows up. The story takes a turn and leaves you guessing who she will choose - hunky neighbor or dead beat Dean?

This book was a fun, easy read. I will definitley lend it to friends. I enjoyed the different personality dynamics of the various characters and to see Jenny's character develop over her first year of motherhood. The one criticism I have is that Jenny's friend Meredith is in a good portion of the beginning of the book and then drops off the face of the earth to appear at the end. I would like to have seen that character's transition in the story a little better, but it isn't an earth shattering event that ruins the book. I still would recommend this as a summer read.

I hope to have some other book and magazine reviews in the upcoming weeks. If any of you have any great books that you'd like to review, I'd love to have you as a guest reviewer here on the Chic Crafty Chic blog. I'm all about finding great summer reads. Please email me if you are interested.

Fabulous Favorite Friday

Hello everyone. I hope you are having a happy Friday where you are. Today was a fun day. My MOPS (Mother's of Preschoolers) group met today for our last time before we break for the summer. I am really going to miss those twice monthly meetings. It has been great getting to know some of the ladies in the group.

Today we had a fun game day where they did MommyFear Factor challenges. They had things like put all the kiddie videos with the right case, diaper and cloth a baby doll, make a pb&j with one hand (I won that one) and matching pictures of cartoon characters with phrases from the movie they appeared in, and matching pairs of socks together and putting them in a laundry basket. The winner of all of those challenges had to participate in a final challenge where they put a bowl in front of us which had 4 or 5 gummy worms in some chocolate pudding. You had to fish out and eat the worms with no hands.

Y'all, I hate chocolate pudding so the thought of having to get the worms out was yucky. But, my good friend Shari stepped in and held my hair (the one day I don't put it in a pony tail) and I went to town. Don't y'all know that I got those worms out as quick as I could and I won! It was so funny. They crowned me Miss Fear Factor Mom of 2008. LOL I got a lovely pink tiara and a dozen awesome smelling pink roses. Oh, and those of us who had won the challenges got cute prize baskets. Mine was a collander with bread sticks, pasta, pasta sauce and parmesan cheese. The prize baskets were so cute. The ladies who put it all together did a fabulous job. I wanted to give y'all a lot of detail so if you are in a MOPS group and are looking for something fun to do, you can borrow this idea .

My Fabulous Favorite Friday pick is Stoneyfield YoMommy yogurt. They also make YoBaby yogurt which is how I found out about YoMommy because I was buying it for my son. I'm really not a big fan of milk, so to eat yogurt everyday has helped me with getting in my dairy.

I also buy Stoneyfield's organic milk. I started that when I was pregant with Sawyer. I persoanlly don't taste any difference in organic milk and other milk so switching was not a big deal to me at all. One interesting note is that the expiration on the organic milk lasts longer than on other milk. Go figure. One of my neighbor's said she has noticed that too.

So, if you've never tried the YoMommy give it a try.

Have a great weekend. Next week I'll have a Paula Deen recipe review so be sure to check back.

Big news in our Chic and Crafty World

Breaking News....

Well, I'm happy to finally be able to spill the beans. The reason I haven't been doing any Deceptively Delicious recipe reviews in a while is....I'm pregnant! I haven't felt like trying many new recipes due to morning sickness, but fortunatley it seems that is passing.

Because our son was born at 25 weeks and was 1 pound 12 ounces, I'm considered a high risk pregnancy. Last week I went into the hospital and had a procedure called a cerclage done. That is where they put a stitch in your cervix (not fun). They can't say 100% sure if I have an incompetent cervix, but doing this procedure was the best course of action to hopefully help prevent preterm labor.

I have been told I have to rest 3 hours a day and I've tried to be good. I've been told worst case scenario I could end up on bed rest by 20-25 weeks. We are hoping that won't be the case. I also will have to start giving myself progesterone shots once a week. I have always had a hard time with shots, so having to give them to myself just stinks. But, we will get through it. The specialist is watching me like a hawk and we are praying this little person will stay in as long as he can.

Our little bundle is due November 11th and we are going to find out what we are having. I will probably be able to find out in the next month. And yes, I'll post when I find out. For grins and giggles, I've got a poll at the top. You can vote and tell me what you think I'm having.

A Healthy Discovery
I've recently seen on different news segments that Pomegranate juice is supposed to be really healthy for you. So, last week I decided to buy a bottle and give it a try. It reminds me of a sweeter version of cranberry juice. I have to say that when my sweet tooth starts up, just having a small glass of this juice helps.

I wanted to show y'all the bottle I bought. I bought this at Wal Mart. They sell this brand. I bought this on the juice aisle. BTW, if you think you don't want to try it by itself, I did see where you could get the pomegranate blended with another juice flavor. That might be great for a smoothy or something. There is another brand of pomegranate juice called POM. They sell that in the produce section with the chilled fruit.

This juice isn't cheap. There are 32 ounces in my bottle and that set me back about $3. But, its like I always tell my husband it costs to eat/drink healthy.

I hope y'all are having a great week.