December Reads

I read 8 books in December! That's double what I normally read, as I average a book a week. I don't feel like I necessarily had more free time this month although I did have several vacation days around the holidays. There were 2 books that I finished in a day each!!! Read on to find out more!

Don't Wake Up by Liz Lawler (release date February 5, 2019)

 Thank you to Harper for an advance reader copy of this book. This thriller was about a doctor named Alex who blacks out and wakes up on an operating table not knowing what is being done to her or by whom. When she comes to, the hospital she works at can not find any evidence of her experience. More and more odd things happen to others around her, and Alex thinks they are related (or that she is being framed). As Alex struggles with her mental stability due to her trauma, as well as self medicating and drinking, I was held captive until the end to find out what the truth was.

 

Saving Meghan by D.J. Palmer (release date April 9, 2019)

Thank you to St. Martins Press for an advance reader copy of this book. Meghan is a teenager who suffers from many symptoms that doctors cannot find an answer for. As Becky and her husband finally find a doctor who thinks he has an answer, others accuse Becky of Munchausen syndrome by proxy (faking her daughters illness for her own selfish reasons). Meghan is taken away and institutionalized by those who feel she is in danger from her parents. As Becky fights the legal system to get her back and/or prove her diagnosis, her marriage crumbles and she has few people to turn to. This book kept me guessing until the end as I thought the answer would be Becky being the "bad guy" or else Meghan "faking it" for reasons that were hinted at. The twist at the end is really surprising!

 

Winter Loon by Susan Bernhard

I received this book from my friend Sarah as a Christmas gift, and I couldn't wait to read it! As a loon lover, that is what drew me in initially to add this book to my "want to read" list. I loved how the loon was incorporated into the story, and the Winter setting was appropriate for the season, but it's much deeper than that. This was a very sad book that haunted me for days after I finished it. I think the summary of the book gives it the most justice, so I am going to copy it here:

Abandoned by his father after his mother drowns in a frozen Minnesota lake, fifteen-year-old Wes Ballot is stranded with cold hearted grandparents and holed up in his mother’s old bedroom, surrounded by her remnants and memories. As the wait for his father stretches unforgivably into months, a local girl, whose own mother died a brutal death, captures his heart and imagination, giving Wes fresh air to breathe in the suffocating small town. When buried truths come to light in the spring thaw, wounds are exposed and violence erupts, forcing Wes to embark on a search for his missing father, the truth about his mother, and a future he must claim for himself—a quest that begins back at that frozen lake. A powerful, page-turning coming-of-age story, Winter Loon captures the resilience of a boy determined to become a worthy man by confronting family demons, clawing his way out of the darkness, and forging a life from the shambles of a broken past.

 

Winter in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand

The reasons for reading this book were two-fold: "Winter theme" and also my friend Sarah got me hooked on Elin's books (more on that below)! This is the first book in Elin's "Paradise" series, and I really enjoyed it on a train ride to Chicago and back. Elin's style brings fun, easy reads and her descriptions of places make you feel like you are there. This book was set mostly on the island of St. John, and I can't wait to read more about this new set of characters as this series evolves.



Okay, so now onto Elin's "Winter" series which encompasses 4 books. Sarah gave me Winter Street first and boy was it addictive! So much so that I texted her to see when I could get the other books (which ended up being me stopping at her house within an hour). The series follows the Quinn family and is set on Nantucket. Another important grounding theme is Christmas, so it was the perfect series to read in December! I would describe these as a Hallmark movie in book form....... the story lines are a little far fetched...... a little cheesy....... but so, so good!!! I guarantee that you will be reaching for the next one as soon as you finish one. Two of the four books I read in 1 day (not both in 1 day, but each in 1 day). Here's Winter Stroll, Winter Storms, and Winter Solstice. I think Elin has officially won the title of "guilty pleasure" author of my 40's!

Charmed Christmas

 There's a lot of random things in this post, but I tried to tie them all together! After a wonderful Christmas (about 48 hours in pajamas) I really needed to get dressed today! This is a very simple outfit of pieces I've shown before, with special new accessories that I haven't shown before. A gifted charm necklace and some cute slides which I will share in more detail below.

 When we haven't been lazing around in pajamas, we've been working on our latest home improvement project (since our Master Bedroom in November)........ the finished part of our basement. We did one whole wall with this cool wood, and I just had to get some pictures using it as a backdrop before it is taken up with a long console cabinet and TV.

 Okay, so a wasn't really a fan of the mule trend but was really drawn to these at Target. I loved the colors and pattern, and they are lined with fur! We have been having seriously mild weather these last few weeks so I can totally wear these when I run to the store later. This gal is not even mad about no snow on Christmas and hope that doesn't mean we will get socked with it the next few months.

 Okay, on to the "charming" part........ I have really loved Anthropologie's selection of charm necklaces this season! These remind me of what I would have put together back when I was making jewelry. They were on my Christmas list and my sweet boys came through for me with 2 of them which they got during the pre-holiday 40% off sale. I picked up the other two today at the infamous after holiday tag sale as they got marked down plus another 30% off. Great deals!!! The one I am wearing (also pictured bottom right) is Bits and Baubles Charm Necklace. The others are Babbling Brook Statement Necklace, Key to My Heart Charm Necklace, and Aspen Layered Necklace. I am heading to Chicago over the weekend and looking forward to being in a brick and mortar Anthropologie to shop the tag sale!

 Women's Synthia Faux Leather Fur Backless Mules - Universal Thread - Target



Downtown Murals

 This past Fall, the city of Jackson held a Bright Walls festival where artists from all over the world came to beautify downtown. Of course I've been dying to use these as backdrops for outfit photos, but I knew my outfit would have to be pretty simple to not compete against the patterns. What is more simple than jeans and a white shirt? Except, these jeans and white shirt do have special details!

I got these Gap embroidered jeans at TJ Maxx a few years ago, and I always feel like you should match the colors of the embroidery - in this case red, blue, green - or just white. These also have cute details like distressing, raw hem and split hem. 

This white blouse I actually got at Meijer! It reminded me so much of a flowy white Anthropologie blouse with it's peplum hi-lo hem. It also has cute pearl "cufflinks". I am not sure if Stacy London (of What Not to Wear) is still over the Massini line at Meijer, but there are some gems to be found there!

When I featured these jeans previously here, I am reminded that I wore a similar peplum hi-lo blouse with them that WAS from Anthro. It was a look worth repeating I guess! When I wear this blouse again, I think I'll dress it up with black jeggings and heels.

The company I work for sponsored this wall and one other, so of course I had to use it first!



I've posted pictures of the other murals below for eye candy, but then I also found this peacock art on the outskirts of downtown so I had to stop and take a pic. In a way, the back of this blouse is like a white peacock tail too!

 

Boho Roses

The last time I featured this cardigan on the blog was back in 2014 when I was pregnant with Carson. It's technically a "maternity" cardigan, but I am a believer that any cardigan can be a "maternity" cardigan if you wear it open. I love it just as much as I did 4+ years ago. When I bought it, it reminded me of a much more expensive Free People sweater and even just this season I saw a similar coat at Anthropologie.

When I wore it pregnant, it was with blue jeans and a black tank. Nowadays I like to wear it with black jeans and pull out the green with the tank and booties. And a pop of pink with my necklace!

Cardigan : Motherhood Maternity

Rock & Republic Jeans, Sonoma Tank and Booties : Kohl's

Anthro Necklace via TJ Maxx

Sunglasses : Target



Second Chances

I recently got this cute dress at Anthropologie during an extra 40% off sale prices deal, and even though it's colors are Spring/Summer I had to wear it anyway. I wore it last week with tights and boots (see second set of pics), and had a belt on at the beginning of the day, but felt the length of the dress with tights was a bit dowdy. Maybe it's just me but when I don't like an outfit, I feel like I need to redo it fairly soon. So it got it's second chance this week. I went with bare legs, which I don't usually do in the Winter, and a cropped jean jacket helped give waist definition (and warmth). What's going to be even better is some strappy sandals in the warmer seasons!

 

ett:twa Coreyell Turtleneck Dress - Anthropologie
Lenora Dame Necklace - TJ Maxx

Christmas Sweater

 I don't know if people would consider this a Christmas sweater, and I hope to wear it all Winter long, but it's the closest thing I have. I have long admired fair isle style sweaters, and with the addition of roses on this one it felt most like "me".

 I paired this oversized cozy beauty with black jeans and green suede booties. All of my items are old (sorry) but you could certainly search eBay or Poshmark!

 Mossimo Sweater - Target

Sunglasses - Target

Rock & Republic High Roller Jeans - Kohl's

Sonoma Booties - Kohl's

November Reads

The Good Demon by Jimmy Cajoleas

Coming off of Halloween, I wanted to read something haunting and The Good Demon fit the bill. I didn't realize, until I was into reading it, that it could be considered Young Adult (YA). I typically don't go for YA, but I liked this one because it wasn't "drama" filled. The main character, Clare, has a demon exorcized from her and is fighting to get it back. As the story unfolds, she discovers plans in place that were bigger than she could have ever realized. It was dark and interesting without being too scary. Highly recommend!

 

The House Girl by Tara Conklin

This is one of those stories that flashes between past and present. Lina Sparrow is a lawyer who has been tasked with finding a key descendant (plaintiff) to benefit from a history making case on slavery. The art world winds itself into the story a couple of ways..... Lina's father is an artist who is opening a show based on Lina's deceased mother, and she struggles to get him to talk about the past. As she dives deeper into her case, she discovers artwork credited to a pre-war artist that might have actually been created by her slave Josephine. A very rich story which I truly enjoyed!

 

The Adults by Caroline Hulse

I was anxious to read this to get into the holiday spirit. It's the story of two ex's who, for the sake of their daughter, decide to spend the holidays together at a resort along with their now significant others. What could go wrong? This was a fun read with good character development, and I was pleased with how it ended after the climax event.

 

The Last Woman in the Forest by Diane Les Becquets

to be released March 5, 2019

Another selection to get into the Winter season, I could hardly put this book down! Marian moves where her job takes her. She works with rescue dogs on projects to track endangered species. The work requires long hours in remote places with very little comforts. She becomes involved with a man in the same program, and they are soon parted by different assignments. Unfortunately, Tate dies tragically and as Marian grieves she soon starts to question things about the man she loved. Is he responsible for a series of unsolved murders? Did she really know him at all? Was she his next victim? This is the perfect book to cozy up with!



Master Bedroom Refresh

 The latest room we've finished refreshing is our master bedroom. Back in May, we got a new bedroom set and mattress which required us to move the bed from the wall with the door on it to where it is now (we upgraded from a Queen to a King). It hasn't been until this past month that we've had time to paint and redecorate. You can purchase the furniture from Macy's (Avondale Collection) or from Art Van (Meadowbrook Collection). We bought from Art Van. I took a risk on one of those "mattresses in a box" based on some recommendations and am very pleased. Ours is from Amazon and at the time I got it delivered for under $400! I think mattress prices are such a scam and after sleeping on this one for 6 months now I can honestly say I would recommend it to anyone! The other item that was updated at that time was the ceiling fan, as we moved the existing one into the spare bedroom when we did that redo. You can find our new fan at Menards. I'm glad Biscuit cooperated being in the pictures, as the bed is his favorite place to be (although, under the covers).

We had 4 can lights in the tray ceiling but they were small and didn't work very well. When we started the project this month Jon replaced those as well as added 4 more. This has made a huge difference, especially to a reader like me who can turn them off with a remote control from bed (that's the little white box on the headboard)! Yes, it does bother my OCD personality to have it there, but as I age convenience wins over perfection sometimes! Since we needed all new bedding for the new size, we decided to go all white to give the feel of a modern hotel. All of the bedding is from Kohl's - sheets by

Vera Wang, pillows by Columbia, comforter by Cuddle Duds. I had intended on using these DIY throw pillows on the bed (which is a good post to get an idea of what the bedroom looked like before), but they looked too bright to me. The bed looks boring, I know, but in all honesty I never really make it daily so additional fluff is unnecessary I guess. Keep it clean and simple! After installing the lights, we painted the ceiling white. Then painted the walls and portion of the tray ceiling (I believe the bluish grey color is "master matte" or something like that). We planned to paint the portion of the tray a lighter blue, but it didn't look right so we went over it with the same wall color. Next was painting all of the trim white and we got new blinds as the existing ones were broken and dingy. We selected a very simple white fabric honeycomb style.

On to the barn door!!! We replaced the door to our bathroom (please excuse any mess you see in there) with a barn door. We got both the track, and door, at Menards. We stained the door to match the furniture. 

With the bed moving to the other wall we were able to do this and even though we gave up wall space, we love it! It makes our bathroom feel so much more open too as the traditional door opened up and covered a good half of another opening that went into our toilet and shower as you can see in this pic.

The handle was found at Home Depot.

I made this canvas (scrapbook paper, paint, stamps, etc...) many years ago at our old house, as it matched our kitchen (hung over the eat in table). I am glad we were able to use it again in this space as it goes perfectly! Jon's closet is on the left (my walk-in is off the bathroom) and the entry door is on the right.

The decor is mementos from our travels as well as my globe obsession/collection (all thrifted). This little cubbie shelf I posted a DIY about in 2014 is still in the mix. 

The gallery above the bed (and art on other walls) was all used before, just in different configurations over the years. It was in our living room at our old house, but then was already in our bedroom when we moved and before we started the refresh. Jon made the pipe shelves to hold the alebrijes figures from our honeymoon in Mexico. Maps, pictures and masks are from Mexico, St. Lucia, and Belize. I had a hard time with some of the bright colors as I didn't think they went with the more subdued blue and deep brown, but I'm really liking how it all came together now.

As much as I hate things being is disarray and having chaos, it is so rewarding when these projects are done!