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Today I’m going to talk a little bit about The Selection Series by Kiera Cass. Melissa bought the series for me for my birthday, and it finally took until January for me to sit down and dig in- yikes! I was so pleasantly surprised to find one of my new, out of control obsessions!
Perhaps the best way to describe the trilogy of The Selection Series is “hunger games meets the bachelor”. Sign me up! It’s “Hunger Games-esque” in that it takes place in the future, with a different sort of government (in this case, there is a monarchy and caste system in place). The time has come for The Prince to marry, and he brings 35 women to the Palace to go through a Bachelor style of dating until he finds “The One”. This process is called “The Selection”. Unlike The Bachelor, however, there are government dynamics playing out as he continues to work, and family dynamics that dramatically impact the process. Honestly, there’s no way for me to make The Selection Series sound as amazing as it truly is!
The books in the series are around 325 pages each, but it’s a quick read, such that I read a book a night, three nights in a row (I told you I was obsessed!). The best thing about this series: there’s a fourth “follow up” book, as well as several novellas that explore the stories of some of the side characters from the main series! I love books that allow me, as the reader, to continue to attach and learn more about the characters!
The Selection Series was a most excellent read, and I gave all 3 books very high ratings on goodreads! I’d highly suggest adding these books to your “want to read” shelf and enjoy the emotional ride! 🙂
For more book suggestions, check out my book reviews page!
Disclaimer: I received a free three month Bulu Box subscription to review as part of being a BibRave Pro . Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!
I’ve seen people post all sorts of pictures of subscription boxes over the years, so when I had a chance to review Bulu Box and try my own subscription service, I jumped on board!
I first chose between two boxes: Bulu Box Weightloss and Bulu Box Original- I obviously went with the original. I then filled out a profile, answering questions about my activity, goals, etc… (I’m not quite sure, as I seem to have gotten the same things in my box as other Pros, which is fine, I’m just unsure of what the questions were for). And then, I waited!
I first noticed the fun boxes that the samples were sent in, as it was covered in all sorts of inspirational phrases. So fun!
Then it’s time to open it up and see all the goodies!
Here are some of my favorite products from the December and January boxes:
I ate these a lot on my trip home for Christmas! They were delicious!
Delicious and fudge-y, with no protein after taste
I never tried this alone, but enjoyed it mixed in with my oatmeal!
I loved the flavor of this, but didn’t love the sweetener aftertaste
Ok. Now pros and cons:
Cons
- Not enough snacks. I was really expecting there to be more actual healthy snacks for me to try out.
- I’m not a fan of just trying one or two pills of a supplement. You definitely can’t tell a difference with that, and so the sample wouldn’t be enough to convince me to purchase a product.
- $10 seems a little expensive to me for how few snacks were included, but I love the fact that you can go on and review the products and earn credit back!
Pros
- Exposure to new products I wouldn’t have tried on my own!
- Some delicious treats that helped with Christmas travel and the start to my next half marathon training cycle.
- It’s convenient. Once your profile is filled out, you sign up for a subscription, and it will automatically renew for you. Of course, it might be easy to be stuck paying for something you no longer want, as well. I guess there’s two sides of that coin for any subscription!
So, will I continue this subscription on my own? No- probably not. With POTS and all the medication I’m on, I don’t try random supplements, as I check in with each thing I might take with my doctor, and that feels too difficult every month. I love getting to try new products, but for how few actual snack type items were in the boxes, it didn’t feel quite worth it to me. However, I absolutely loved working with Bulu Box, I love their mission, and the employee I worked with when I was struggling to get the system to recognize my profile was extremely kind and helpful. I think Bulu Box is a great investment for those of you who really love trying new health products. For me and for my chronic illness, it feels like I need something just a little different….
Now it’s your turn to share! Have you tried a subscription service before?
Happy February Friday to each of you! Since winter is nearing its end, I decided to pull out one of my favorite nail polish colors this week: OPI’s Lincoln Park After Dark!
There are very few things I can say about this color except that it is just pure beauty and everyone needs to own this to get them through the winter 🙂
Here are some random facts:
Disclaimer: I’m receiving three months of BuluBox for free thanks to being a BibRavePro! This week I finally pulled out this chocolate peanut butter protein powder after my long bike ride, and I LOVED it! I put it in some oatmeal to bulk it up a bit, and immediately wondered why I’ve never tried this flavor of protein powder before. It was delicious mixed into the oatmeal, although I have no idea what it would taste like on its own. I’m wondering how it would taste to mix it in with some plain greek yogurt!
I’m in a full blown love affair with bubble tea, so when I was out to lunch with a friend this weekend, I asked if we could go out of our way to get some bubble tea, and I’m lucky she was game! I got strawberry mango this week and… it was completely delicious! I can’t even help myself…
Sometimes flowers and coffee brighten the mornings more than I can say!
The last two weekends I’ve played multiple games of ticket to ride! It’s so fun. Have you played it yet?
Growing up my mom would make these little smokies in BBQ sauce for the Super Bowl, so now, even though I’ve been out of the house for over a decade, I still make them. I can’t watch that football game without them- they’re just so delicious!
Now it’s your turn to share! What’s one random fact from your week?
Saturday morning I was up before the sun to eat and get ready for the Nuun Year Dash 5k. I actually had 4.5 miles on the schedule, so the plan was to dash away for 3.1 and then pick it up for the last 1.5 miles.
The feels like was 19 degrees as I headed out, and I threw a Jillian Michaels podcast on as I hit the road. The grass still had frost on it and the sun was rising, which made for an absolutely beautiful start to my morning.
It was a gorgeous day to race, and I enjoyed each step of it. I finished the 5k in 35:45, which is alright for a training run, which this one was part of. I had 4.5 miles on my schedule, so I continued on for another 1.4 miles after I finished the race portion, and tried to pick up the pace just a bit.
I haven’t run outside since New Years Day, so I’ve been really trying to practice keeping a consistent pace since it’s easy to do so on the treadmill. Gosh- it’s much harder to do in person! I did alright though:
- Mile 1: 11:26
- Mile 2: 11:27
- Mile 3: 11:35
- Mile 4: 11:14
- Final 0.55: 10:26 pace
- Average Pace: 11:18
It’s been quite a few months since I had a run with a pace like that, so I couldn’t have been more pleased.
My last .25 of a mile I steadily picked up the pace, as I’m trying to continue to practice finishing strong so I don’t cramp up on race day as I have in the past. I realized as I was pushing myself those last .2 of a mile that I had a huge smile across my face. Between the gorgeous sunrise and the lightness to my pace today, it felt like a truly beautiful 50 minutes outside, and I walked inside feeling overwhelming thankful for the ability to move and run and experience beautiful mornings like this.
Of course I recovered with one of my favorite Nuun Flavors: Watermelon! I enjoyed it while stretching 🙂
I also wanted to mention one another thing. (disclaimer: I received this product free through being a BibRavePro Ambassador). I used my 2Toms Sports Shield for the first time, and absolutely loved its easy application! I’ll share more with you later, but wanted to mention it as soon as I tried it out since I liked it so much!
So with that, race #1 of 2016 is complete!
Last year I broke up my book lists into quarters (previously I had just done a yearly post- that’s how little I was reading- yikes!), but that felt like things got too long, so I’ve been going back and forth between doing a monthly and an every-other-month post on the books that I’ve read. I’m usually a bit behind on posting my book reviews (I’m just now starting to post January’s book reviews on the blog), so it feels a little difficult to know how to proceed. So, for now, because I read so much in January (my highest number month yet!) you’re getting a post today on the books I’ve read in January of 2016!
David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants. I really enjoy books that explore why certain things happen or certain people succeed or survive, so this audiobook was right up my alley! This book looked at how people succeed and how the little ones stand up against the big ones, and often win! It was fascinating.
Left Neglected: This book, by Lisa Genova, explored the diagnosis of “left neglect”, which occurs from a right hemisphere brain injury. I wrote a book review for Left Neglected here.
Attachments: I really have enjoyed the previous books I’ve read by Rainbow Rowell, but this book I didn’t enjoy quite as much.
Killing Kennedy: I read Killing Lincoln last August, so I was curious to read another book in the series. It was pretty interesting, although I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the first one that I read.
Let It Snow: This book was made up of three short stories that all connected. I loved the first three short stories, but didn’t enjoy the last one quite as much. It was a fun winter read!
The Martian: I saw this movie in the fall of 2015, so I was anxious to read the book, and I absolutely loved it! It was funny and I found myself invested from the first page! Well worth the read.
Brain On Fire: My Month Of Madness: This is the true story of one woman’s intense medical story of what appeared to be psychosis. It’s hard to describe this story, but I was hooked from the start!
The Selection Series: This was made up of three separate books: The Selection, The Elite, and The One. I wrote a review of The Selection Series which should be posted soon (maybe next week!).
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail: I enjoyed this memoir of a woman who went out to hike the PCT on her own as a way to find herself and process her mom’s death. It felt like it could’ve been shorter, but it definitely still made me yearn to go out west and hike.
Cinder: This is Book #1 in the Lunar Chronicles Series. At 47% through the book, I still hadn’t really connected to the story, but around the 50% mark I started feeling really invested, and sat down and read the rest straight through. It was really good!
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia Series). It was one of my goals to finish this series in 2015, and I didn’t read a single page of the series last year. Yikes! So I’m committing to it this year, and picked up where I left off in 2014. This was my least favorite book of the series so far.
The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. This was so fun! I enjoy the Pioneer Woman’s show on the Food Network, so I enjoyed hearing her story of how she met her husband and ended up living on the Ranch! It was a great book to listen to on audiobook.
Simplify: This was a quick read by Josh Becker, and I really enjoyed it. I read if after deciding that my word of the year was “simplify”.
Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace. Listened to on audiobook.. It was ok.
So that makes 16 books for the first month of the year! I’ve slowed down quite a bit this month as my next busy season has started, but I’ve sure enjoyed getting to read so many great books already in the year.
Now it’s your turn to share! Are any of the books I’ve read so far on your “to read list”? What’s your favorite book you’ve read so far in 2016?
Happy First Friday of February! I can’t believe that winter is flying on by so quickly- wow! This week I’m wearing a color that I’ve REALLY looked forward to wearing: Essie’s Starry Starry Night
This is one of their retro collection colors, and I’ve been eager to get my hands on it! While I’ve heard that it’s not the same as the original color, I still love the glitter that’s IN the polish. It’s very similar to midnight cami.
Here are some random facts from the week:
For Christmas someone gave me this adorable peppermint spoon (with chocolate and sprinkles on it!) with a packet of hot chocolate, so I decided to enjoy that, and it was delicious! I mixed up the hot chocolate with a normal spoon first, but then stirred with this spoon so it melted throughout the mug. YUM!!
I was cleaning out something the other day and came upon this group picture from an ice skating recital I was in when I was in elementary school (I’m in the back row). Fun fact- the girl right in front of me was the friend I ran Rock’n’Roll St. Louis and the Thanksgiving Day Gobble Wobble with in 2015!
Someone in my office brought in four different types of Dove chocolate’s for someone else’s birthday, and these two flavors (Sea Salt Carmel and Carmel & Milk Chocolate) were ones I’ve never tried before. I think I have some new favorites…
I made curry for the first time this week. I’ve fallen in love with curry since the summer of 2015, so I figured I should try make it. Curry is one of this dishes that just tastes better than it looks…
I have followed The Pioneer Woman’s blog for a number of years, and have watched her show since it first started airing, so when I saw last week that she had a book out, I thought I’d listen to it. I had a lot of cleaning out of things to do at work, so I listened to it then, and definitely enjoyed it!
Now it’s your turn to share! What’s one random fact from your week?
The last few years I’ve chosen a word of the year (read my final thoughts on my 2015 word: “Peace” here), so as I headed into 2016, I wondered what my word would be. I decided not to force it, to really not even think about it, and see if a word would pop out from among the rest. AND IT DID.
The word that slowly floated to the surface was: Simplify.
I’m not someone who writes out goals for my word of the year, but I let that word be consistently on my mind as I make decisions and changes in my life. My words the past few years have absolutely impacted my year, and I hope this word will positively impact my year as well.
I want to create more space in my life for the things that I truly, deeply value. 2015 was a year that allowed me to discover more of those things, and I want 2016 to be the year where I can put these things into action. I don’t want to live in clutter or unused things anymore. I want to surround myself with the things I value and the people I truly value.
Simplify seems like a word that naturally comes out of the phrase I’ve repeated so much over the fall and winter: “Find rest, Shalom, It is well.” Simplify gives a little more space for that to play out.
I’m excited to share more of my journey with this word throughout 2016!
Now it’s your turn to share! What do you think of when it comes to the word “simplify”?
I read Left Neglected immediately after finishing Love Anthony. I appreciate Lisa Genova’s stories, and enjoy the mix of medical information being woven through a story, while also showing what it’s like for individuals and families to experience whatever illness she’s talking about.
I had never heard of “left neglect” before, which made this book even more interesting. The main character gets in a car accident and lands in the hospital, where she slowly realizes that her brain is no longer registering things on the left side of her body. Left Neglect, or hemispatial neglect, occurs when an injury occurs on one side of the brain and this causes an inability to take in stimuli from one side of the body. Fascinating, isn’t it? This is the story of one woman’s fight for independence, connection with family, and figuring out what is truly important to her.
The quote below is one of my favorite parts of the entire book:
“I’ve been so focused on what’s horrible and unfair and terrifying about my condition that I hadn’t acknowledged what is positive about my condition, as if the positive had been sitting quietly by itself on the far edge of the left side of my condition, there but completely ignored. I can’t copy a whole cat. But I can recognize it, name it, know what one sounds and feels like, and I can copy most of it, enough for anyone who looks at it to know what I’ve drawn. I am lucky.”
On goodreads I gave this book a 4 out of 5, and definitely enjoyed it more than Love Anthony, but not as much as Still Alice. If you’re interested in more book suggests, check out my book review page!
Now it’s your turn to share! How do find new book suggestions for yourself? What draws you to a book after reading the description?
Happy Friday! This week’s nail polish was once again OPI’s Muir Muir On The Wall.
After a workout with my one of my favorite Nuun flavors!
I love it just as much this week as I did last week… or even more. I can’t believe I haven’t had this nail polish in my life before this month, because it is absolutely beautiful!
Here are some facts from the week:
Let’s talk books for a second. Last week I got OBSESSED with The Selection Series and ended up reading an entire book on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. I had gotten the series for my birthday this summer, but just sat down to read it and LOVED it! I found myself staying up later than normal each night just to finish up the story line. They are quick reads, and I’d definitely suggest adding them to your “to read list”!
I FINALLY saw Star Wars this past weekend. I can’t believe that it’s taken me so long to see it, but I did and my middle school self who fell in love with Star Wars originally was SO happy to see the movie again! A friend and I went to a theater that also served food, and I enjoyed a big basket of fries while watching the movie! The best part of it was that the tickets for this theater (with huge, comfy seats and LOTS of leg room) were two dollars cheaper than any other theater in the area!
Screenshot of a snap from my story because I forgot to take a real picture!
I tried bubble tea for the second time last weekend, and I absolutely LOVED it! Have you ever tried bubble tea?
(Disclaimer: I’m getting three months of Bulu Boxes for free as part of my BibRave Pro Ambassadorship). My second Bulu Box arrived this past week and I was excited to see what was inside! Look at all these goodies:
This past weekend I played a new-to-me game: Pandemic! I loved that the game involves all the players joining together in game play to try to cure the diseases, which made for a fun dynamic.
Now it’s your turn to share! What was one random fact from your week? Have you ever played Pandemic?
I wrote this back on July 19th with the rest of my NYC blog posts, but forgot to post it. So here’s a throw back to the beautiful nights of summer…
Last week I had the joy of getting to play tourist in NYC for a few days, and one of the things that I did while there was see Wicked on Broadway! When I was there back in 2012 I had walked into the lobby of the Gershwin Theater with my mom just to get as close to it as I could at the time, so I was overwhelmingly excited to get to see one of the greatest musicals in one of the best theaters in the country.
inside the theater
The musical is tied deeply to my life. The song “For Good”, which is at the end of the musical, was performed at a funeral for one of my friends who died back in 2006. That was my introduction to the musical. I listened to that song over and over through two other deaths of friends that year (yeah- it was a pretty rough 12 months for me) before I started to listen to the rest of the soundtrack. When I saw it in college, I went to see Wicked for a psych class, and we had to write a paper on the human condition based off of something from the musical. Because of that assignment, there are aspects of the musical that I use in counseling sessions fairly often. This musical is wound through my life and my career.
All of Wednesday leading up to the show I was SO very excited. I’d had the opportunity to see Wicked twice in college, but I hadn’t seen it since then. I unfortunately ruined the soundtrack for many close friends in college because I listened to it constantly- my poor roommate heard it as I listened to it over and over while doing homework, and however I was driving around listened to it as well. I was obsessed. So, getting to see it again was a dream come true!
We walked to the theater from our hotel, as we only stayed about a mile away. The Gershwin is pretty much just across the street from the Stardust Diner, which I went to last time I was in the city. As soon as we walked in I became a crazy person taking pictures of everything I could find. It was probably a little embarrassing, but my excitement was so high that I didn’t care.
I actually teared up as soon as the curtains opened for the first act, and the act ended with me getting full goosebumps and chills. The person who plays Elphaba right now in NYC has an absolutely stunning voice, and it was a true joy to hear her sing.
By the time we got to the song “For Good” at the end, I was crying- the song always makes me cry. It’s a beautiful way for the musical to end. Tickets to Broadway certainly aren’t cheap, but they’re well worth it to experience the beauty and magic that comes from a show like Wicked.
There are moments in life when I wish that time would stand still so I could breathe it in as deeply as possible. This was one of them.
