Great Summer Read Alert and Giveaway! - Elizabeth The First Wife

I just finished the most fun book! Elizabeth - The First Wife by Lian Dolan. If you are always on the look out for a good summer read (like me) this is the perfect choice.

Elizabeth Lancaster, an English professor at Pasadena City College, finds her perfectly dull but perfectly

orchestrated life upended one summer by three men: her movie-star ex-husband, a charming political operative, and William Shakespeare. Until now, she’d been content living in the shadow of her high-profile and highly accomplished family. Then her college boyfriend and one-time husband of seventeen months, A-list action star FX Fahey, shows up with a job offer that she can’t resist, and Elizabeth’s life suddenly gets a whole lot more interesting. She’s off to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for the summer to make sure FX doesn’t humiliate himself in an avant-garde production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.


This is a smart, entertaining, and clean book. I loved the clever references to Shakespearian couples and the likable and intelligent Elizabeth. Just the kind of book to pick up and just enjoy yourself for a few days.

Elizabeth the First Wife just came out this month, but I have two copies to give away! 

To enter - tell me what adventure you are embarking on this summer where you will need a great book to bring along.

Extra entry if you're a Natalie's Sentiments Facebook fan.

Winners announced May 27th. US addresses only. Good luck!

Insta-Friday.....posted on Monday because I'm a total slacker. #36

Something amazing happened this weekend. Shane and Collin went to the father-son campout. Lydia went to a birthday slumber party at her best friend's house. I had almost 20 hours in my house to myself. I have not spent the night alone in my house in seven years. I finished some projects. Ate junk food. Made a paint sample banner for Collins birthday while watching a chick flick. Slept in and went to yard sales in the morning. It was beyond awesome. And I was so happy when they all came home.

I got some great thrift deals while on my mini vacation.

And for some reason this came home too.

Not really sure how....

Lydia had her first trip to the spa while at her slumber party.

I didn't have a spa day until I was in my 20's.

Apparently my request for "lots of photos" from the father/son campout meant one photo of Collin eating dinner. But even without photographic evidence, they had a great time.

We've had amazing weather lately. 

And Collin has been dressing himself. He likes long socks.

Actually, Boise pretty much skipped Spring and went straight to Summer.

So we skipped school and went swimming.

Collin got a summer haircut. Where'd my baby go?!

I've been sitting outside in the sun a lot, drinking herbal ice tea and listening to ocean waves on my phone.

I really wanted to hit the coast this summer. But I'm having a baby instead. 

So I have an ocean vacation app for that.

Woke up (way too early) to the sound of little chatter the other day. Found the kids on the couch looking at our scrapbook of last years Florida trip. (When I snuck up behind them the floor squeaked. Collin gasped "Lydia! I just heard my heart beat!)

I guess they are wanting a vacation too.

A preschool carnival is a vacation right?

We got some photo booth pics.

Because I worry there just are not enough photos of my kids.

:)

I hadn't been to the grocery store in a very long while. We had just enough milk for cereal but no fruit, no juice except for half a bottle of Martinelli's sparkling cider. And I had to let the kids drink it out of the bottle because I forgot to turn on the dishwasher the night before.

I could have gone grocery shopping that night.

But I just went out with the girls instead.

I've never said I was perfect. Dang, those avocado egg rolls were good.

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Saturday Evening Shopping.

Eeek! I've been invited to a rather cool gala and I'll be needing a dress. I want it to be something classic but not boring. I will be about 2 months post-delivery so I need this dress to be very forgiving too. 

I found several on Shabby Apple that had a kind of "vintage clothing" kind of feel. 

1, 2, 3, 4

Which would you choose?

And I may be needing these Ann Roth shoes too.....

The Second Trimester. Savor it.

Ah, the second trimester. What a wonderful time to be pregnant. This is the time we dream of when we think of being in the family way. You look like yourself, just with a cute little tummy. You feel good. The nausea of the hellish first trimester is gone.

It's not all perfect of course. I've been crazy tired this time around. Maybe its from having to pee all though the night and my sides are sore from only having one sleeping position to sleep in. (I fantasize about sleeping on my back and belly again.) Or maybe it's because I'm "advanced maternal age" at a whopping 35 years old. And I've been dealing with boughts of pregnancy induced depression. Usually it only lasts for an hour or so, but it's still very unpleasant. And I may have full on wet my pants in the middle of Hobby Lobby when I sneezed last month. Honestly, I don't remember even having to pee.

But I'm trying to enjoy this time.

Right now, I feel the baby wiggling gently in my belly.

Instead of crashing herself against my ribs and bladder, which will be very soon.

Right now my maternity clothes fit beautifully.

Instead of straining to cover the enormous being I will develop into shortly.

Right now eating is a wonderfully pleasant experience.

Instead of making me completely full after just a few bites, then leaving me ravenous only minutes later.

Right now my skin is glowing and occasionally I get flirted with before the guy spots my telling tummy.

Pretty soon I will become the epitome of asexual. My pelvis will actually start to loosen and my walk with transform into a waddle. No one is flirting with that.

Right now my hair is thick and lustrous, and my nails are long and manicured.

Instead of the greasy unwashed hair that will be falling out shortly after the baby is born. And my brittle nails will be filled with diaper cream and poop.

Right now I actually like getting it on.

Instead of wanting to cry at the thought of getting naked at 8 months pregnant, or being so happy at the news I need to wait 8 weeks after the c-section before getting intimate. "Are you sure doctor? Maybe we can make it 10?"

Yes. I love being pregnant.

Ask me again next month.....

Happy Chocolate Chip Cookie Day!

Don't you just love America? National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. Fantastic.

Luckily, I was asked to bring some cookies to a church thing tomorrow, so I have an excuse to heat up the stove on this blazing day and bake! (We are doing drive thru Visiting Teaching interviews for Relief Society. Genius. You don't even have to get out of the car! It's a Mormon thing.)

Collin was excited at the news of today's activity.

He's a fan of "cooking class". Mostly the dough eating part.

My sister Emily sent me a link to "the best chocolate chip cookies". I was skeptical.

 But these ladies have done their homework. These are some amazing cookies.

Making cookies and feeling patriotic doing it. I love this country.

Celebrating 12 Years!

This weekend we spent a beautiful evening dining alfresco, then caught a movie, slept eight hours (uninterrupted!) in our lovely hotel suite, enjoyed breakfast on the balcony along with a late check out. Not a bad way to celebrate 12 years of marriage. Happy Anniversary Shane! 

You make me very happy.

One Great Mother's Day

I'm so grateful for my two little darlings and the tiny darling wiggling around in my tummy.

And grateful for my sweet husband who makes sure they give me appropriate props.

Nothing like a yummy breakfast in bed.... ("hey mom, that looks better than what dad made us. Can we sit on the bed and beg for your peaches and cream?)

Collin colored the oven mitt for me at preschool.

I got to watch the kids sing in church today. Well, Lydia sang. And Collin clung to her.

(thanks Robyn for snapping the pic)

Earlier this week I taught some young women at church some simple floral arranging techniques to make Mother's day gifts. They did such a good job! 

Taught them to make corsages too. 

I couldn't let the sample one go to waste! so I wore it to church. 

Lydia sock bun got some flowers too.

After the incredible gift of my Farmhouse table, a little bouquet of flowers from Shane would have been plenty. He went a little above and beyond and not only bought four beautiful hanging baskets for the pergola, but he installed drip-lines so I wouldn't have to bother watering them. 

Smart man. I tend to kill all green things.

The kids and he also planted my herb garden yesterday. 

What do I do with lavender? It sounded all romantic when I requested it. But now I'm at a loss.

Lydia's gift to me was a foot massage on the patio. She's actually quite good.

For dinner, Shane made me what I've been craving almost everyday of my second trimester. 

Burgers and chocolate malts. I'm heading into a food comma right now.

He also took care of the kids for almost the entire day, which is how I'm actually able to blog while the kids are still awake. Amazing! 

Being a mom is pretty rad. Especially today! 

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there!

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Farmhouse Table!!!!

I got my Mother's Day gift from Shane a little early. I told him I'd love a Farmhouse table, and he went to work drawing up some plans and getting the supplies. I'm in love with it!

 He painted the legs and base white and stained the top black so the wood grain peaks through. Shane's planning on making a bench for the kids to sit too. Eventually the white will match the wainscoting Shane is working on now. My job is to pick the wall paint color. I'm thinking a blueish gray. My rule for a main room is the color has to work with all seasons. Yellow walls aren't great at Christmas.

And still not sure about window treatments. Kind of like the windows bare. 

We get so much light in this home.

Shane likes to design his own projects, but you could do a less beefy version with this Ana White plan.

This table is so heavy, it takes two just to shift it.

Yippee! Here's to great husbands! What are you dreaming of this Mother's Day? 

(Other than this table, I want a long nap and a chocolate malt.)

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Invited to a little Cinco de Maya party Saturday night.

Honestly, I get way more excited for a good Cinco de Mayo spread than for Thanksgiving dinner. 

I love walking by the kids table and hearing bits of their conversations.

"The gas at the dentist smelled like bubble gum!"

My kids are not great at pinatas. Really not good.

And now that I think of it, they aren't good at badminton either.

But it was still a fiesta extravegante para todos!