#BookWorm Growing Up Duggar

Hello fellow readers!

So I finished another book: Growing Up Duggar: It's All About Relationships. If you haven't heard of the Duggar family, I am shocked, but let me give you an update. They're a conservative Christian family who have 19 children, all birthed by the same mom and dad. This book is written by the four oldest girls: Jana, Jill, Jessa, and Jinger. They write about relationships with God, with yourself, with boyfriends, etc. The reason I wanted to read this book is because I love the Duggar family. Thanks to my boss at telefund, Beth, I got the book as a going away gift :).

So let's get down to the reviewing. Do I practice all of the Duggar's beliefs? No. But I think they're family members are all so sweet and great members of the community. The book comes from different girls perspectives and shares stories of the Duggar family. While I didn't agree with the book one hundred percent, I enjoyed hearing more stories about the Duggar family and what it has been like growing up for them in their huge family. It did get dull at times, and if you don't like the Duggars beliefs, you probably won't like this book. Just saying. Overall I'd say its an 8/10 for me since I like them and found it interesting! It got a little long winded by the end, but if you like the Duggars, I reccomend reading it!

So as Labor Day is upon us tomorrow, and the days of summer are at an end, I created a new reading list for the fall! Here is my list from the beginning of the summer:
The Fault in Our Stars- John Green ✓
Vanishing Acts- Jodi Picoult ✓
Wicked- Gregory Maguire ✓
Dear John- Nicholas Sparks ✓
A Stolen Life: A Memoir- Jaycee Dugard ✓
Growing Up Duggar- Jana, Jill, Jessa, and Jinger Duggar ✓
Looking for Alaska- John Green ✓
+ I added: 
Heaven Is For Real- Todd Burpo ✓
A Night in Rodanthe- Nicholas Sparks ✓

All of them checked off of my list! My next list is:
- Four- Veronica Roth
- Paper Towns- John Green
- The Wedding- Nicholas Sparks
- If I Stay- Gayle Forman
- Where She Went- Gayle Forman

What did you read this summer? Did you check all the books you wanted to off of your list? Do you have any to reccommend? Keep me posted!

Olivia :)

Wifey Wednesday: 5 Days of 5Ks

Hey all!

So I am starting a new blog series called "Wifey Wednesday" which will encompass all things wedding for now until I am an official wife next May :). I have had a lot of people asking me to put up things we are working on for the wedding, and while some things I want to remain a surprise until the big day, others I would love to share! Going from DIY projects, to the experiences of wedding planning, to organizational tips, or personal challenges: this series will encompass them all! So whether you are in a relationship, engaged, already a wife, or single and just love to read about all things weddings, join me on this journey!

First topic, the dreaded wedding workouts. In the fitness department, I am no guru, but I would love to share what I have been working on. Hard core crash dieting and intense workouts are typical of the modern day bride, however I am not that gal. I love food. Sorry bout it. I have been trying to eat less of certain things and adding more healthy alternatives into my diet, but I have read SO many times about how a lot of people just try to completely cut out all bad things and it doesn't work! Read example here. Or an article in People magazine from Cameron Diaz where she said even she splurges! Anyways so slowly I have been cutting back on things that I am superrrrrrr addicted to like soda, ice cream, cookies. It is hard coming home from a stressful day at school or work and all you want is to munch down on cookies. And since I don't drink coffee, the caffeine in a cherry coke is all I wanted at the end of a long clinical day to get me home. But now that I am no longer in nursing school, and on my way to a wedding in nine months, I am cracking down a little harder. Yep I still enjoy dessert and soda, but I have been working really hard on getting back to the number and shape I was in the Spring semester before the craziness of my final internship, final exams, and graduation kicked into gear. I stepped onto the scale after graduation, and was at the top of where I wanted to be. Not over, but at the top. But now I have added a more routine fitness plan into my weekly life. An ATTAINABLE plan. Which by the way looks different for everyone.

For me, I tell myself: as long as I don't get to xyz number on the scale I'm good. That could mean different things for different people. Whatever you're comfortable with, thats cool. But now as I am wanting to look good in my wedding dress, but also my bathing suits (I mean come on we are going to Bora Bora for our honeymoon) its becoming less about the number and more about the inches. Now I'm not like "OMG I HAVE to have this small of a dress" or "I want to be a size 00". Attainable goals, remember? For me its about looking healthy but not heavy and actually maintaining my clothing size and weight goal, not making it smaller and smaller as the day approaches. So I started working out more. This last week alone, I wanted to get back into the routine of running. I have NEVER been a hard core runner, but love participating in 5Ks and different races for good causes like Moffitt's annual Miles for Moffitt. I ran a 5K for 5 days in a row: #5Daysof5Ks. After the first day, I set an overall goal for the end of the 5 days and a goal for the next day. Each day my time got faster. My original goal was to be at less than a 10 minute mile. My first day I ended at 36:42. By the last day I was down to 30:49! A 9:56 minute mile! Now some people can run a 5K in like a ridiculously fast time, but this was something I put my mind to and did it! I made no excuses and every morning woke up, walked Nike, and headed to the gym. By the end of the last day, it got SO much easier and I felt SO much better. Trust me on the third and forth day, I did NOT want to go to the gym. My time of the month came, I felt like crap, I was tired, I was sore, but I DID it. Every day for the full 5 days in a row! Confidence is key.

So what do you suggest as a good cardio workout? Do you set little goals to help get you through the workout plan? I did this, you can do it too! Walk the 5K, jog the 5K, sprint the 5K. Whatever makes YOU feel better and gives you a good workout. Try the #5Daysof5Ks and let me know how it goes! I am excited to do my next post about my Save the Dates and DIY ideas for that department. Let me know what you want to read about with my wedding plans!

Thanks for keeping up,
Olivia :)

DIY: Mug Decor

Hey all!

So recently I made a gift for my best friend Kari who is moving to Providence to attend Brown University. Smarty pants right? Well I am going to miss her so so so much. We have been best friends for eight years now, and never had a single fight! Anyways, so I made her this legit mug and wanted to share with you how to do it.

You will need a mug, sharpie paint pens or some type of pen that can write on ceramic material, and a creative idea! I got my idea from Pinterest, but added our initials to make it more personal. I had planned to cut out the shape of the state online and trace around it, but that was not working because of the little edges and such, so I did it by hand. The project probably took me about an hour and a half of focused work, making sure I got everything straight and the words were dark enough.

FYI: If you use sharpie paint pens, shake well and test on paper first, because they don't come out as dark in the first part, and you don't want to have to retrace everything.

So what do you think? Pretty cool huh? I loved it! Have you seen a cool mug that you want to make? Try it out and show me how it comes out!

Thanks for reading,
Olivia :)

Alpena, MI

Hey all!

I just got done spending my time in my hometown: Alpena, Michigan. If you have no idea where that is, I am not shocked. No it's not near Detroit or Mackinac Island, rather somewhere in between off of Lake Huron. We did our typical activities: Sailing, Hiking to Misery Inn, Beach Croquet, Big Boy, Lee's Mini-Golf, but also added a couple new things to our typical trip. Every evening after dinner Madi and I would walk to the end of Partridge Point and back which is about 2 miles total. It was a nice way to spend some time together and talk about whatever was on our minds.

DIY projects were the thing to do this trip. I worked on my Halloween costume, SO excited to reveal it this fall. Let's just say it's Disney themed: duh! We also did a DIY project for our wedding. I can't reveal it yet, but it has to do with wood and making puzzle pieces. It's pretty legit. I got in touch with my handy side this trip and used a sledge hammer and a saw independently for the first time. What can I say, it is in my blood! Anyways now that we are back to Florida, we missed our Nike dearly, we are prepping for my graduation this weekend as well as for my NCLEX and Madi's CSCS exams. We are looking forward to what this year brings as it is Madi's final year in undergrad and my first year being in the big girl world, yikes.

Thanks for keeping up,
Olivia :)