So I oviously love to read. Not having much time during the school year, I’m taking full advantage this summer (especially since one of my nanny jobs is really boring and I pretty much just sit on my booty all day long!). I decided to let you all know what books I’m currently reading and give quick reviews on them!
I finished Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner last weekend. 13 years after her other novel, Good in Bed, takes place, this novel follows the same main character, Cannie, as she struggles with her rebellious teenage daughter and planning her bat mitzvah; struggles with her writing career; and her relationship with her husband and his desire for a new baby. The novel switches back and forth from Cannie’s point of view to Joy’s point of view. Throughout, Joy struggles with her own identity and discovering things about her mom’s past that she finds confusing, new, and betraying.
I have to agree with Ms. Hangry Pants who said that while she enjoyed it, it wasn’t her favorite of Jennifer Weiner’s books. It was a good book, that I never found boring or bad. But it wasn’t as page-turning or funny as I found her other books to be. I often times got frustrated while reading it because I just wanted to tell Cannie to lighten up and stop being such a controlling mother, or tell Joy to stop being such a snotty daughter! All around? I would recommend this book as a an okay read, but I wouldn’t rave about it.
Grade: B-
This next book, Pledged, by Alexandra Robbins, I finished in a mere 3 days! The author of this book went undercover for a year researching sororities, and roughly followed 4 girls’ lives throughout the school-year. There were also random more “factual” sections written throughout the book that covered sorority information in general – from facts, interviews the author conducted, researched information, etc. Written as a narrative, it reads as a page-turning novel. I found much of the firsthand accounts and stories appalling, but unsurprising, as it generally reconfirmed the typical sorority/fraternity stereotypes. Then again, I still wonder and have doubts about whether that stuff actually occurs at most schools (mine included!). It was an interesting read, and obviously page-turning (since I finished it so quickly!), but I found some of the informative information a bit too informative for a fun read!
Grade: B+
I just started The Queen’s Fool by Philippa Gregory today, and I’m currently working my way through Intuitive Eating, a book all about rejecting the diet mentality and creating a healthy relationship with food! So stay tuned for reviews on those books!
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The weekend so far has been full of sun, pool & ice cream!
Thursday night’s snackage after the 3 1/2 hour drive:
Mud Pie ice cream (yes – it is the god of all ice creams). I admit I way overdid it on the ice cream last night and ended up with a tum-tum ache. It is so hard to control myself around big containers – it’s why I like to have smaller containers of extra rich ice cream around (think Ben & Jerrys) because then I only take a few bites at a time versus 2 or 3 bowls! Which I did last night. My 2nd bowl contained some of this:
Sooooooo good!!! I’m not a big mint ice cream fan – but this stuff is awesome! Swirls of thick fudge omz.
Then yesterday morning I woke up to my mom making cookies. I helped myself to a good 3 cookies worth of dough, plus chocolate chips, and more cookies through the afternoon. I know it’s all good things in moderation, and not to feel guilty about overdoing it, but I had a bad stomach ache all day from last night and today’s cookie extravaganza. I know I can’t eat like this ALL weekend!
I did a quick gym trip in the AM before we met mi madre for Costco. It was:
- 34 minutes treadmill run/walk intervals (including warmdown)
- 20 minutes total of running (slow 5.5-6 mph)
- Rest walking 4-4.3 mph
Then it was fruit snackage all day + a bunch of these guys at Costco:
“Veggie” sticks? HA! Pretty much just like potato chips in stick form. 
Still feeling weird and bloated from recent eats, I opted for a small(ish) dinner of sun dried tomato sausage with grilled onions & BBQ sauce for dipping. Plus a salad creation on the side.
Spinach salad loaded with strawberries, goat cheese, onions, dried cinnamon apple chips, craisins & TJ’s pear gorgonzola dressing.
These apple crisps are delicious and great in salads!
I’m pretty sure I ate a whole onion between my salad and grilled. I love me some onions 
! Good thing I’m staying in
Where’s the bread, you may ask? Not having any buns handy, I didn’t really feel the bread. I got plenty of healthy carbs in my 329750385 portions of fruit throughout the afternoon and during dinner. And this was perfectly satisfying and filling for how I felt last night!
I hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th of July!! I love the 4th! Or I just love the idea of it – parades, BBQs, parties, fireworks…we’re heading ng to the parade soon 
I hope everyone has a great one and I’ll be back to recap my patriotic day latazz!
Also, Ms. Fit & Fabulous is having a quenching giveaway. Check it out!
Thanks for the book reviews- I have been eyeing up Sorority Girls for a while. We don’t have sororities in the UK and I have heard some cool stuff from people in them, and some horrifying things from magazine articles!
Sorry about the tummy ache- the down side of eating healthily all the time is that your body doesn’t know quite what to do when there is something it hasn’t had for a while…the ice cream looks worth it though! Mud pie is chocolate cake, right?
The salad looks/sound amaaaaazing. I love fruit in salad!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend Tay!
thanks so much for the book reviews tay! I’m always looking for a good read in the summer months now that I have the time!!
that mud pie ice cream sounds like a dream come true! I am hitting up the grocery store stat in search of some
!
have a great 4th of July, beautiful! xo
I SO want all your eats!
sounds like a great book – ill have to check it out for a nice summer read
Oh I had that mudpie ice cream ad it was amazing!!
thanks for the reviews, i’m always looking for some good books! and my fav ice cream is grasshopper pie (mint ice cream with oreo). plus that salad looks like the perfect eat for the summer
Lol you are the ice cream queen!
You know it
This pics are making me hungry… I love moose tracks ice cream!
I have soo many different Edy’s 1/2 gallons in my fridge it’s not even funny. And I love them but I totally agree that it never feels like enough with light ice cream. I really like Stonyfields froyo pints or ciao bella gelato because a little goes a long way on the taste buds.
daaaaaang. Mint + moose tracks? That’s genius.
I wish I had your kind of motivation with reading. I’m way to ADD or something. It’s quite a mix of books you got there!
Thanks for the book reviews! I’m always looking for a good book.
I love cookie dough but don’t like the tummy ache it gives
You have a new reader… me! I just caught up on your last few posts =) that salad looks heavenly, i will definitely be trying apple crisps in my salads sometime soon! mmm ice cream! I’m lactose intolerant so i can only have low fat froyo or sorbetto but i indulge over bloggers pictures of their creamy ice cream!
Thanks for reading!
Have you tried soy ice creams and coconut ice creams? I’ve heard good things!
girl…that ice cream looks friggin’ delish. no worries – celebrating our independence totally requires an extra serving of ice cream
love the book reviews too – i wish i could get more reading done because i totally do love jennifer weiner’s books. looking forward to the intuitive reading review – have a fabulous monday dear!
thank you so much for the book reviews! i’ve been wanting to read pledge for a while- might have to pick it up
that ice cream looks amazing!
have a great day <3
Cookie dough and ice cream – probs two of my favorite junky foods. I definitely need them in small quantities though to avoid tummy troubles, but I go a bit overboard sometimes too. So don’t feel bad
<3 Nell
ive been wanting to read pledge and your post pushed me to go find it. ice cream is prob the best dessert
I just started reading Certain Girls… it’s okay. I agree with your rating. I’m not sitting there thinking, “I have to finish this book now!” I enjoyed her other books more, for sure!
I also read Pledged. I go to university in the south and I can tell you that everything highlighted in that book most likely occurs at my university. My sister-in-law actually was part of a sorority and nothing like that ever happened (she went to school just outside of Chicago). I’m not sure it’s a universal thing or if it mostly applies to souther universities. I’d love to know!
Oh, thanks for the book review! I liked Weiner’s Good in Bed too, but now I’m not sure about the sequel…Pledged sounds fun, though!
Hee hee, ice-cream makes my tummy hurt too…
Have you read In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner? I got it in my stocking for Christmas this year and loved it!
That ice cream looks delish, summer is so good for ice cream!
I’m going to have to read Pledged, I was in a sorority in undergrad, but we were a local organization and very different from a big sorority. It’s always interesting to hear what happens in the national sororities especially compared to my own Greek experiences.
Yeah I loved In Her Shoes! I’ve read all her books except one…I think it was The Guy Not Taken? Pledged was good and quite interesting, especially if you were in a sorority yourself. Check it out!!