Book Club

One of my New Year's Goals was to get back into reading for personal enjoyment. Between our busy schedules, keeping up with household duties, and Peyton, it's easy for me to put something like reading a book on the back burner. However, I have been managing to work it into my schedule somehow, and I've decided that I want to read at least one book per month this year. I used to read at least 25 books per year when I was a teacher and challenge my students to do the same. Therefore, 12 books in a year should be no problem. I figure if I give myself an entire month then I can manage to get the book read. To hold myself accountable, I want to review each book here on the blog...so today I'm sharing my book from January!

Here is a synopsis from Amazon.com:

In Lisa Genova’s extraordinary New York Times bestselling novel, an accomplished professor diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease learns that her worth is comprised of more than her ability to remember. 

Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty years old, she’s a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics with a successful husband and three grown children. When she becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis changes her life—and her relationship with her family and the world—forever.

Here is an Editorial Review from Barnes and Noble: 

This may be one of the most frightening novels you'll ever read. It's certainly one of the most unforgettable. Genova's debut revolves around Alice Howland - Harvard professor, gifted researcher and lecturer, wife, and mother of three grown children. One day, Alice sets out for a run and soon realizes she has no idea how to find her way home. It's a route she has taken for years, but nothing looks familiar. She is utterly lost. Is her forgetfulness the result of menopausal symptoms? A ministroke? A neurological cancer? After a few doctors' appointments and medical tests, Alice has her diagnosis, and it's a shocker -- she has early-onset Alzheimer's disease. 

What follows is the story of Alice's slow but inevitable loss of memory and connection with reality, told from her perspective. She gradually loses the ability to follow a conversational thread, the story line of a book, or to recall information she heard just moments before. To Genova's great credit, readers learn of the progression of Alice's disease through the reactions of others, as Alice does, so they feel what she feels -- a slowly building terror.

In Still Alice, Genova, who has a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Harvard, uniquely reveals the experience of living with Alzheimer's. Hers is an unusual book -- both a moving novel and an important read.

My thoughts on the book:

First and foremost, I love this author. Dr. Lisa Genova (author) holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University in neuroscience which leads me to believe that she has the educational background and knowledge to be able to tackle something as difficult as portraying a disease like Alzheimer's accurately. She also did extensive research. After reading this book, I read an interview with her about all of the preparations she did prior to writing it. Her professional background and Ph.D. gave her an all access pass to the right people and information. She worked with the leading physicians and scientists in Alzheimer's research, genetic counselors, neuropsychological testing experts, caregiver support experts...basically anyone who is an expert in all things related to the research and treatment of Alzheimer's disease. She also spent time working with a variety of actual patients, caregivers, and their families to best understand the disease from all sides and how it is experienced by all parties involved. Having been at the center of caring for someone with Alzheimer's recently, I would say that her depiction is spot on. In addition, this book has been given the "stamp of approval" by the Alzheimer's Association, which is not something they normally do; however, they found this book to be valuable and accurate enough to do so. Kudos to Lisa Genova for executing this project so well. Now, on to the actual book itself...

You need to read this book. Seriously, go out and buy it right now. Especially if you have a loved one or know someone who currently is or has suffered from Alzheimer's disease. This book will change your entire perception on the disease, that person, everything. I love how Genova chose to present the story from Alice's perspective, it is so powerful in that way. We are able to see Alice's struggles first hand, as well as her thoughts about what is going on inside her head. From the outside, it is hard to understand what Alzheimer's patients are thinking or feeling, and what it must be like to not be able to make those cognitive connections. This book gives you a glimpse into their minds. Not only do you feel empathy for Alice, but you can start to feel her frustration and anxiety as her mind slowly deteriorates. Genova intentionally writes the later half of the story in a way that mimics the way Alice's brain is functioning as the disease progresses. It's repetitive, chunks are missing, it's hard to follow, it's confusing and difficult to comprehend. It makes you as the reader feel like you are experiencing disease yourself. Reading it requires a lot of focus and frustration, which immediately made me understand how trying and difficult it must be to have to feel that way 24 hours a day. That is what makes this book so eye-opening and powerful.

My personal experience with Alzheimer's disease comes from caring for my grandmother. She is currently living in a long-term memory care facility because the disease has put her beyond the type of care that we were able to provide for her at home. She now requires full time service by memory care professionals. Prior to Peyton's birth and my grandma's move into memory care, I would visit her at least once per week to spend time with her and take her places. I would observe her and try to understand as best I could what she was going through and how I could best help her. I'm so glad that I read this book because I feel like more than ever, I now have a better understanding of what she must be feeling and why she did some of the things that I observed. Throughout the book, I kept thinking of her. As Alice progressed in the disease, I felt like I was reliving the past 6 years with my grandma. I kept stopping as I was reading and thinking to myself, "yes, yes, that is exactly what happens!". Of course this was saddening and hard for me to read because it hits so close to home, but it was also enlightening and inspirational. This book really made me appreciate my grandma more than ever before. Beyond what I am even capable of articulating here. Thinking about her disease and her suffering used to make me feel angry, lost and frustrated in so many ways. Why is this happening to her? Why is she acting this way? What is going on? Why can't I help her or stop it? Why, Why Why? But now, I feel at peace with the whole thing. I get it. I understand why she does and acts the way she does. I understand my role in her life. I understand (as much as is even remotely possible) how she feels. I get it. I've accepted it. I can enjoy the time I have left with her and appreciate what she still has to offer to my life.

Can you believe it? A 292 page fictional book did all of that to me. Which is why I am telling you, you must read this book. A movie version of this story did come out last month, which I'm sure is great and I fully plan on seeing that as well. However, if you want the full experience then you have to read the actual book. Not even listening to it on tape will suffice. If you want to truly feel Alice's frustrations and struggles, you have to read her words. You will not get that experience from listening or watching. If you want all of the power that this book can provide, you have to read it. Trust me, it's worth it and you will never forget it.

DIY Planner Stickers

I'm know I've discussed my love for planners on my blog before, but in case you weren't already aware, I'm a paper planner kind of girl. Yes, I'm basically still back in the dinosaur ages with my paper planner that you actually have to write in. The thought of not having a real tangible planner to physically write in, color code and cover in stickers makes me sad. I simply cannot make the switch to the electronic calendar. I'm sure it's much more convenient and efficient, but it's the same reason I can't switch from real books to a tablet or Kindle. I just like paper. There's something about having real paper I can touch that makes me enjoy it more. I basically look at my planner as a year-long project, almost like a scrapbook. I spend all year long decorating it, doodling in it, making lists, writing goals and accomplishments, planning meals and exercise, keeping up with events and special occasions...that planner is like my entire year in one little book. And at the end of the year, I can look back at this little masterpiece that I spent all year creating.

Not only does my planner keep me organized, but it's a fun project that I seem to really enjoy for some reason. I get super excited when someone gives me a date for something because then I get to write it in my planner! And if it's a really special occasion (like a wedding for instance) then I decorate the whole day with different colored pens and stickers. I just love it. I'm basically an overgrown kindergartner. And don't even get me started on my to-do lists. I make to-do lists for myself every single day in my planner and then check each item off as a do it throughout the day. It makes me feel so accomplished getting to check the little box in my planner next to each item. Even if it's something that I will probably remember to do whether I put it on my list or not, I write it down anyways. For example, I could look back in my planner from last year and tell you exactly how many times I went to Publix throughout the entire year. Because every time I needed to go to the grocery store, I would put it on my to do list for that day. I realize that this may sound insane to some of you, but if you are a list person or a planner person like me, you get it. 

I know what you're thinking...someone as crazy and obsessed with planners as me probably knows what the best planner out there is right? Well, I've tried a lot of different ones and it just depends on what you are looking for in a planner. My personal favorite is the Life Planner by Erin Condren. The name itself is exactly what makes this one the best for me. It truly is a life planner, not just a calendar. I don't need "just a calendar". I need something that I can record my entire life in everyday. This planner offers me that and I love it. I am currently on my 3rd Erin Condren Life Planner and it is still my favorite thing ever. My sister-in-law and I buy them for each other every year as a tradition and its always my favorite gift of the year. I get mine on Christmas morning every year and when I go to start opening my presents, my planner is always the one that I look forward to opening the most. 

These past couple of days have been so fun for me because I have been setting up my new planner for this upcoming year. My dining room table has been covered in stickers and pens and highlighters and markers. I've been having way too much fun. Which brings me to the actual purpose of this post...my DIY Planner Stickers. 

The EC Life Planner comes with stickers in it and in the past I've always just used those and that's it. Well those stickers are kind of small for my big handwriting (and they are just basic rectangles) so I wanted some bigger stickers possibly in fun shapes. Well, I didn't want to spend a bunch of money and it was hard to find exactly what I wanted, so I decided to make my own! 

My stickers obviously work best with an Erin Condren Life Planner, but you could always alter the size and shape of the sticker to fit whatever space you have available in your planner. Here are step-by-step instructions as to how I made them!

Here is what you will need...

2x4 inch White Mailing Labels

Craft Punch (any size less than 2") 

Computer and Printer

Your Planner!

Step 1: Design the background for your stickers on your computer. I used a template on Microsoft Word for 2x4 inch mailing labels. All I did was color the background of each label a solid color. You could use patterns too if you want, but I just did solid colors so that it would be easy to read whatever I end up writing on the sticker.

Step 2: Print out your labels and cut the pages in half so that it's easier to reach both sides of each label with your craft punch.

Step 3: Use a craft punch to cut out your stickers. You can use any shape that you would like, as long as you get a size that will fit on the label. I used the 1 1/2 inch scalloped circle and the 1 3/4 inch quatrefoil shapes. I wanted to use as big of a shape as possible (because I have large handwriting) without being too big for the spaces in my planner. I happened to already own these craft punches, but if you are going to the craft store to buy one just for this purpose you might want to measure the spaces available in your planner before you choose a size.

Step 4: Use a sharpie pen to write on your sticker, peel the back off and stick it into your planner!

If you turn using your planner into a fun, craft project, then you will enjoy it much more. I find that the more effort I put into making my planner fun, the more I want to use it and the better organized I stay all year long! If you are looking for a great planner to get you organized this year, check out Erin Condren's Life Planner. 

Here is my new Life Planner for 2015...

Hope you have fun getting organized for 2015!

Nursery Tour

Hey, so remember back when I was pregnant and I told y'all that I would take you on a virtual tour of Peyton's nursery? Ok well, she's almost 12 weeks old so let's go ahead and do that now, mmm-kay? Presenting, Peyton's beautiful (in my biased opinion) baby girl nursery...

Peyton's nursery is basically my pride and joy. My mom and I worked really hard for months to make this the perfect space for our little girl. I absolutely love how everything turned out and this is by far my favorite room in our home...as it should be since it's the most well decorated and has the nicest furniture. Mommy obviously has priorities.

My mom and I went to this amazing baby furniture store in Atlanta called Georgia Baby to order the majority of the furniture. This store is so much better than any other baby store or furniture store I went to because it is basically a giant warehouse full of baby furniture. Most baby stores and furniture stores only have a few models actually out on the floor and everything else you can only see in a catalog. Let me tell you, buying furniture without actually ever seeing it in person is way too difficult. I loved going to Georgia Baby because they had hundreds of cribs, changing tables, etc. all out on the showroom floor where I could see and touch them all. Mom and I spent 8 hours in there trying to make decisions, but by the time we left all of the nursery furniture was ordered and on it's way!

This convertible crib is from the Enchanted collection made by Baby's Dream Furniture. 

These ruffle blackout curtains are from Pottery Barn Kids. The crib skirt is also made of this same ruffle material from PB Kids too. The floor lamp is from Jubilee lighting, and we ordered it through Georgia Baby. The cross on the wall was made by me. I searched and searched for the perfect cross for the wall, but I couldn't find one that was exactly what I wanted so I decided to make one myself. I bought two unfinished wooden crosses from Hobby Lobby. I used the white trim paint from the room to paint the big cross and the pink wall paint to paint the smaller cross. Then I layered the two crosses and hot glued them together. Voila! A custom wall cross that matches the nursery perfectly.

My awesome mother-in-law also happens to be really talented at painting walls. Therefore, I enlisted her skills in painting Peyton's nursery. I must say, the paint job in this room is far better than the paint job in the rest of our house which was done by the professionals. Go figure. It took quite a few paint samples for us to find the perfect shade of pink, but I could not be happier with the color we chose. It is the perfect hint of pink. The color is Diminutive Pink by Sherwin-Williams.

Wooden shelves handmade by Jared's dad. I love the little carved out hearts on the brackets. 

Peyton is so fancy, she gets her own private gate. This is basically the most important piece of furniture in the nursery. It's my "Sadie-you-better-stay-the-eff-out-of-here-or-die" gate. Needless to say, Peyton's room is the cleanest and most dog-hair-free room in our entire house. Thank you baby gate. I highly recommend this gate. If it can keep Sadie out, trust me, it will keep the creatures in your house out too. 

The glider is made by Little Castle, and we ordered it through Georgia Baby. I love this glider because it has a much higher back than most of the gliders out there. That makes it super comfortable for tall people like Jared and I which is why I chose this model. The pink ruffle pillow sitting on the glider is from Pottery Barn Kids. I had it monogrammed myself by a local shop. The floor rug is from The Rug Company, which we also ordered through Georgia Baby.

The little wooden bench is from Lowe's and made by good ole' Martha Stewart. The pink canvas baskets inside are from the same collection as well and come in a bunch of colors. Thanks Martha.

Peyton's crib bedding set is from Pottery Barn Kids: {Maya Floral Nursery Bedding} However, it is no longer available so good thing we bought it when we did. 

This adorable ABC print came from the Etsy shop, LucyDarlingPrints. That girl also makes the super cute little monthly stickers that I put on Peyton for her monthly photos.

This personalized toy chest came from Pottery Barn Kids: {Sabrina Toy Chest}

I am obsessed with Peyton's wall monogram. I really am super jealous and seriously want to order one for my room too. The monogram and the quatrefoil shaped frame both came from this amazing little Etsy shop, SouthernNest.

The lamp on the changing table matches the floor lamp behind the glider and is from Jubilee lighting, which we ordered through Georgia Baby.

This custom canvas wall art was hand-painted to match Peyton's bedding. It came from this Etsy shop, addilyneli. This girl will custom paint canvas to match anything you want. Just send her a picture of a fabric or decorative piece that you want her to match it to and she can paint it! She did an amazing job and I absolutely love this piece of art for the nursery!

Peyton's changing table was hand-crafted in Romania. I know, this kid has nicer furniture than I do. Ridiculous. It came from the manufacturer Romina, which makes super high quality baby furniture all made from solid wood. I love this piece and for some reason it reminds me of the enchanted chest from Beauty and the Beast which makes me love it even more.

Basically my favorite little nook for snuggling with my baby girl :)

Hope you enjoyed our tour of little Miss P's nursery!

Birth Announcement

Peyton's birth announcements finally made their way into the mail this past weekend. Child is now 2 months old. Oops, mommy fail. In my defense, I did have to wait 3 weeks to get my photos from my photographer and then find the time look through the hundreds of birth announcements available online and narrow it down to one. I'm super OCD about projects like this so it takes me forever to consider every possible option and make a final decision. Plus, finding the time to sit down and hand address 100 envelopes is not really so easy these days. Good news is that the announcements are finally out and I absolutely love them! I'm glad that all of my anxiety over making them just perfect actually paid off.

I used Shutterfly to design and order these cards. Good thing I received a bunch of coupons from them while I was pregnant, on top of a sale that was going on at the time of my order, because their cards are not cheap...especially when you need 100 of them. I better start thinking about my Christmas cards now because it will probably take me the next four months to pick one out :)
 

Birth Announcement by Shutterfly

Photos by Ariel Rose Photography

Maternity Photos

When I told Jared a few months ago that I wanted to do a maternity photo shoot, he was less than thrilled. At first, I think he was actually confused. "Maternity photos, like that's a real thing that people do?" Yes, paying someone to take professional photos of you while you are fat and swollen is a real thing, and I wanted to jump on the bandwagon. I still don't think he is completely sold on why I believe this is a necessary part of a first pregnancy. However, he was a good sport and played along because he knows how obsessed I am with taking photos of everything.

I chose my photographer and location carefully. I knew what I ultimately wanted, but I also wanted to make this experience as painless as possible for Jared. My cousins use this one photographer for all of their maternity/newborn/kid/family photos and I always love how all of their photos turn out. Sold. I decided to use a local park sort of back in the woods as our location because I wanted to be able to have a little bit of privacy so that Jared and I didn't feel like we were on display out in front of a bunch of people watching us take our pictures. Plus, I didn't want the location to be too super girly for Jared. He likes the woods and water, so off to Alpine Groves Park we went.

Our photographer, Ariel with Ariel Rose Photography, did such an amazing job and I absolutely love how our photos turned out. She was great to work with and made us feel super comfortable the entire time. My favorite thing about her is that she is so good at giving directions. Posing while pregnant is really awkward and it's hard to tell what I look like because everything feels weird and uncomfortable. Not knowing how I look while I'm taking pictures makes me anxious and nervous because I'm terrified that I'm going to spend all this money and then not like the way I was standing or something. Luckily, Ariel was awesome about calling me out when she could see I was doing something that she knew I wouldn't like. For example, reminding me to relax my face or lift my chin up, trying out different positions to find the most flattering one, and telling me how to hold my arms or my dress to make me look as thin and "all belly" as possible. I love her for that.

Here are a few of my favorites from our shoot!

Ariel will be returning to do Peyton's newborn photos, and I can't wait to work with her again! 

 

Nursing Essentials: Mamas Please Help!

With less than 8 weeks to go in this pregnancy, I just realized the other day that it might be helpful for me to start thinking about what I am going to need for myself those first few weeks postpartum. I've been so concerned with getting everything ready that Peyton is going to need, that I forgot all about myself. Which got me thinking...what am I actually going to need in order to nurse this baby once I get home from the hospital? Nursing pillow, check. Nursing cover, check. Pump, check. Other than that, nada. I guess I'll just be sitting around here naked nursing this baby. Won't that be awkward for our family and friends who come to visit? I'm so kidding. But seriously, I need help. What the heck am I supposed to wear?

Since my blog readers are obviously the best mommies out there, I would like to ask y'all for some recommendations regarding nursing essentials. There are so many types, styles, and brands out there that I want to know which ones you real moms like the best!

I like feeling overly prepared so I want to go ahead and get some nursing bras, tanks, dresses...aka: whatever I need to be wearing the first few weeks at home. This is where y'all come in. Which ones were your favorites? What brand? What style? Where did you get it from?

Also, if you have any recommendations on creams, lotions, nursing pads, etc. feel free to offer those up as well. Give me all your secret weapons. Please :)

If you are sitting here, reading this and feeling a little afraid for my child because I seem so clueless, don't worry. I'm taking a breastfeeding class next week so a registered medical professional will be teaching me what to do. Peyton is safe.

In the meantime, I would greatly appreciate it if you could please leave a comment below with any recommendations that you may have for me. Any input will be extremely helpful. Thank you!

Island Green Smoothie

One of my self-proclaimed talents is making delicious smoothies and frozen cocktails...meaning, I know how to operate a blender. No really, there is a little more skill involved than just throwing a bunch of stuff in a blender and pressing"start", that is, if you actually want it to taste good. I worked at Tropical Smoothie for a year in college and then for two more summers once I started teaching. I absolutely love Tropical Smoothie so it's a good thing that I know all the secrets and have the skills so that I can make it in my own kitchen. If you want to know how to make anything on the Tropical Smoothie menu, I can teach you how to do it. However, there are some newer items on the menu that have come out since I was working there that require a little more effort on my part to figure out how to make them taste just like the real thing.

Since I have recently been trying out this kale fad, I decided to try Tropical Smoothie's new Island Green smoothie. I wanted to drink one from the actual restaurant before I tried to make it at home so that I knew what it was supposed to taste like. I was actually surprised by how delicious it was. I was expecting it to taste like it had leafy greens in it, but it doesn't. I think the strongest flavors of the smoothie are the banana and mango, which is good because it doesn't seem as though you are drinking leaves except for the fact that the smoothie does turn out green.  

To make this smoothie at home, you will need banana, mango, pineapple, kale and spinach. Now, you have some options here for your ingredients. Obviously, you need to get your banana, kale and spinach from the produce section. However, you can use either fresh or frozen for the mango and pineapple. If you are really into the "all fresh" style, then you can get all your ingredients from the produce section. On the other hand, Dole makes bags of mango and pineapple chunks in the freezer section. I decided to use frozen mango and pineapple for a number of reasons. Number one, it will last longer if I don't use it all right away. Number two, it is all ready to go into the blender. I didn't want to have to peel or seed any fruits. Number three, it will keep your smoothie thicker and less juice-like because it is already frozen. Whether your preference is fresh or frozen, it will taste the same so no worries.

You also have the option of putting sugar or sweetener in this smoothie. Tropical Smoothie uses a special sugar called turbinado in all of their smoothies, which is why they taste so good. When you order one of their smoothies, you can request to have that sugar substituted with Splenda or request no sugar at all. I will warn you that this does alter the taste of the smoothie and some smoothies really do need a little sugar in them to remove the tart from the fruit (example: raspberries). However, I think that this Island Green smoothie tastes just fine without sugar. I made mine at home with no sugar or sweetener.

I also did not use any ice when making this smoothie. Using the frozen pineapple and mango allowed me to get the smoothie-like texture without adding any ice. If you use all fresh ingredients, you might need to add some crushed ice or else yours might end up more like a juice than a smoothie. Go ahead and blend up all the ingredients and if it looks too liquid-y for your liking, then just add some ice.

I don't use specific measurements when making my smoothies, but here is a rough estimate. This smoothie calls for 1 banana, and about a handful of everything else (pineapple, mango, kale and spinach), which equates out to about 1/2 cup of each ingredient. I highly recommend that you chop all the ingredients up into smaller pieces before you put them into your blender. The blenders at Tropical Smoothie are professional grade and about $1200; therefore, you can put whole pieces of fruit into those blenders no problem. However, unless you have a $1200 blender at your house go ahead and chop everything up to help your blender out. Once you put all the ingredients in the blender, add a splash of water as well.

If you notice while your blender is going that it doesn't seem to be blending well, there might be an air bubble at the bottom causing it to stall in mixing. Stop the blender, then take a utensil and stir around in the blender mixing the ingredients up. Keep doing this until your smoothie is well blended. Do not stick a utensil in your blender while it is running! I do not want to be responsible for anyone having to go to the emergency room or broken blenders. When you see that your smoothie is getting a smooth, well defined funnel in the middle, then you are all done!    

Enjoy your smoothie!