Book it!

i have always been a total book nerd. always. maybe it's because i was an only child, maybe it's in my genes- who knows, but i LOVE reading. as i started college, my reading slowed down (oh who am i kidding. i stopped reading because i was studying ALL the time) but after college i started reading again. now it kind of comes in waves where i'll read a lot and then i won't read much for a while. lately, i've been a reading machine. like, can't hardly put books down. and i've read a lot of really good books, so i thought i'd let ya'll in on what i'm putting my nose in:

1. The Hunger Games series (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay)

oh. my. gaaaaahhhhh. these books are so good. i think i read them in like 2 days or something. they are young adult novels (don't judge) but they are really really really good. not sappy, super well written and very insightful. if you are looking for some great books, these are your choice.

2. The Passage

this is another book about the future, but much different than the hunger games series. it involves a little girl, mutated vampire-like humans and a future society. it's long and it spans many decades and is definitely worth the read.

3. Freedom

this book is not about the future, and actually it starts in the past. it's the story of a family and the paths they each take and the effects they all have on each other. i read this book and then found out that it is now on oprah's book club! so if ya don't believe me, trust oprah!

4. Super Sad True Love Story

this was probably my least favorite book of late, although it does have an interesting take on our culture and future. i would say read, but i would also say to read these other books first.

i am still in the middle of my reading craze, so i have more books here to read! my future readings will include:

Room

Cutting For Stone

One Day

Never Let Me Go (i've seen this movie so i know the plot, but i'm the kind of book dork who loves reading the book even if i've seen the movie)

happy reading, ya'll!!!!

my girl wants to party all the time, party all the time, party all the tiiiiiimmmmeee

soooooo, i'm back. for a minute. in my defense, i've been so freakin' busy lately! engagement parties, bachelorette parties, birthday parties, more bachelorette parties=exhausted me. since i haven't posted, i'll try to keep this as chronologically accurate as possible.

first up was our friends chris and eileen's engagement party. these two are super awesome people, a super awesome couple and i cannot wait to go to their wedding THIS WEEKEND!

here's the bride and i (i love me some sunglasses)

the sweet bride and groom

kyle just loves america

bean bag toss!!!

this was the scariest squirrel i've ever seen. he was laying down and we thought he was dead, then he got up and staggered around slowly and scurried into a trash can. ugh!!!

group pic (thanks to the self timer!)

a few weeks later, i went with eileen to get her wedding dress. the highlight of this trip for all of us was that the shop was next to a chili's and if there's one thing this girl loves is a chili's!!!

a few weeks later, i headed home for my BF kalinda's bachelorette party. my friends richard and cory are in a band and luckily they were playing that friday night! they started playing literally the week after i left for dc, and i'd never seen them play so i was PUMPED to go see them! and they rocked!

me and bethers!

"siblings"

the next day i headed out to the lake for the party. lp's sweet aunts let me use their lakehouse for the party, which was the sweetest thing in the whole world! i 'decorated' (aka throw some stuff from party city on the table) and got everything ready for the bride-to-be!

the bride's beautiful veil-ha ha!!

beth really loves whiskey.

our "man" for the evening

a few weeks after that, lp and i decided to head to nyc for his cousin rachel's birthday. i barely took any pictures, but we had a blast, stayed out too late, ate too much, drank too much and just had a great time. here's the birthday girl with her cake substitute-chips ahoy and reese's.
the week after was eileen's bach party. it was also a blast with fun games, fun ladies and dancing! eileen and i and some other girls had gone to a burlesque show a few months ago and she thought it would be fun to attempt to make pasties for her party. i totally gave up on the ones i was going to make for her-bird boobies.

jude's were the clear winner.

so that's it for now. i should have many more stories coming up as it's my 30th birthday, thanksgiving, christmas and then lp and i are going to africa on dec 30!!!!