Happy New Year!

Hello everyone!

As 2015 comes to an end I wanted to go over my year in review as I do every New Years holiday. 2015 was definitely the best year for me, mostly because I got to marry my best friend. I accomplished many things, read many books (about 24 new and re-read 2 old), traveled to new places, and met new people. But it was great for many other reasons as well. Here are my goals that I set and hit last year:

1. Get married to the man of my dreams, AKA Madison Tyler Franek :)

Check, check, and check! Luckiest girl in the world right here!

2. Try something new in Bora Bora

Jet skiing by myself. In another country. I'd say that's something new! If you don't count that ask Madi about our spa experience LOL. 

3. Take a trip to a new place

Bora Bora definitely meets that requirement, but so did Boston with my best friend! :)

4. Do another 5K

I did the Miles for Moffitt 5K with my family and did a mile walk for Leukemia and Lymphoma this year in NC!

5. Hit my weight loss goal for the wedding!

I don't typically take selfies with my shirt off at the gym or in my bra so this will have to do.

My goals for 2016:

1. As always, travel somewhere new!

2. Pass my OCN exam

3. Attend one concert

4. Volunteer more

5. Read more books than last year ;)

2015 was a year of change: getting married, moving, starting a new job, gaining 5 new step siblings in-law, and traveling the world! I can't wait to see where 2016 brings us! Also, a big THANK YOU to all my frequent readers new and old. I hit over 25,000 views a few weeks ago and couldn't be more ecstatic!

Thanks for keeping up with me, and cheers to a new year!

- Olivia :)

Book Worm: Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl

Hello fellow readers,

So I recently finished up the book Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews. Surprisingly I heard about this book from Sophia Bush's Instagram a while ago when the movie came out. For some reason once I heard it was a book, I never even watched the trailer, I just jumped right into searching for it at the library. Luckily, it was available! Anyways, back to the book. This book is about a boy named Greg Gaines, who goes through life trying to avoid every group at school so he has no enemies, but therefore also has no friends. Except Earl, his movie loving side kick, Then the story brings in Rachel, a girl he has known since he went to elementary school but never really cared for, and all of a sudden she is diagnosed with leukemia. Instead this being a typical book where he wants to be her friend, he actually avoids it until his mom steps in and guilt trips him.

This book was a little odd. Odd because it is written weirdly going from movie script to normal to bullet points. And VERY short chapters, making the pages fly by. If I would have had time, I could have read it all in one day, but instead it took me three days due to work. The beginning of the plot was odd, but I got more into it towards the end for reasons I can't say without giving away the plot. All in all, it was worth reading. Rating? Probably 8/10. Yeah that seems to be my go to lately.

My stack doesn't seem to be getting much smaller as we pass through December, but since these last two books have been shorter reads I have been able to conquer more than I thought I would. I recently opened up To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han who also wrote The Summer I Turned Pretty series that I read a few months ago, so I am excited to see if I enjoy it as much as I did that series. I am hoping the library will have the second book P.S. I Still Love You when I go to return this one. I probably shouldn't be checking out more books as I am not reading them as quick as I did when I had a month off, but oh well. So have you read Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl or seen the movie? I am curious and plan on watching the trailer as I could maybe see it being decent, but Sophia Bush loved it and it won awards at the Sundance Festival so hey, can't be too bad!

Thanks for reading with me,
- Olivia :)

My Random Addictions: Watching Underrated Christmas Movies

Happy December!

Can you believe it is already the middle of December? Where has the time gone?! With only a little over a week until Christmas, I have been watching Christmas movies out the wazoo. While watching said movies, I have talked to others about them and had people say "what is that?" or "I've never heard of that before?". Now don't get me wrong. I love the CLASSIC Christmas movies: A Christmas Story, Elf, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Santa Claus, Rudolph, but there are SO many other good Christmas movies out there! So spread the joy and watch some of these very underrated movies listed below :)

1. I'll Be Home For Christmas

This movie is like a 90s gift from heaven. JTT, Jessica Biel in her 7th Heaven stage. In this movie JTT goes to boarding school after his mom dies and his dad wants him to come home for Christmas, however the last thing he wants to do is spend time with his new stepmom and bratty sister. Truly hilarious due to 90s songs and clothes, and just incredible. The dad from Cadet Kelly plays JTT's dad and the sister is from Zenon. Is there another reason you need to watch this?! I am surprised at the number of sexual references for it being a Disney movie, and JTT is kind of a huge brat in it, but it is great and super unknown/underrated in my opinion.

2. The Family Man

I have talked about this movie in blog posts before. It is SO underrated. It is about a man who made a life decision and what would have happened if he chose differently. One of the best movies with meaning ever, and has back in the day Nicholas Cage (even though Reegan literally despises him). If you want to watch a heartfelt movie, watch this movie this year.

3. Arthur Christmas

A newer (2011) animated movie that I was introduced to by the Franek's when it came out. It is about Santa's son who didn't make the cut to become the next Santa. I was unsure of how I would like this movie, but it is one of the best Christmas movies in a long long long time. Any age would love it, and it is funny too!

4. The Ultimate Christmas Present

A DCOM classic. With baby Brenda Song and the mom from Lizzie McGuire, what else do you need? About two girls who find a weather machine and make it snow in California. Moving from Northern Michigan to Florida I used to wish that it would snow, and this movie makes it better.

5. The Holiday

With Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jack Black, and Jude Law this is a holiday must see. Great message. Great cast. Great plot. This movie is about two women who swap houses for the holidays. I am shocked how many people have not seen this movie or heard of it. It is great. I think that is the most I can say great in one description.

So there you have it. Now let me briefly say that this year his changed our movie watching due to not having cable, but I saw the list of the 25 Days Until Christmas from ABC Family and the week after Thanksgiving leading into December and I have to just say: HARRY POTTER AND HUNGER GAMES ARE NOT CHRISTMAS MOVIES! Like can I take the person's job who decides the movies for Halloween and Christmas on ABC Famiy?? End of rant. So what movies are you favorites? Have you seen any or all of the ones listed above? If you have seen them all, pat yourself on the back with the Olivia stamp of approval.

Thanks for watching with me!

- Olivia

Book Worm: The Beginning of Everything

Hello fellow readers,

I just got done reading the YA book The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider. This book is about a boy named Ezra who had it all going for him: popular, star athlete, good looking. But everything takes a turn when he gets in a car accident that makes him unable to play sports anymore. He is ostracized from his friends and goes through a period of depression. Then he meets Cassidy Thorpe who turns his world upside down. However, Ezra feels like she isn't telling him her whole story. 

So this book was an interesting read. It took me a while to finish it due to Thanksgiving festivities, however it would regularly be a quick book to get through. The idea of a woman writing a teenage male perspective is always interesting to me, but she did it well. The writing was good, the characters intriguing. Also the plot stays interesting and although I did not care for the ending, I still think people who like YA books would enjoy it. If you have ever read It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini, this book has similar qualities, but isn't quite so weird. And if I didn't include it in my review for that book, Ned Vizzini actually ended up committing suicide. Super depressing. Overall rating: 8/10. Interesting, but not INCREDIBLE.

Have you read this book before? If so let's chat, I want to hear from others on whether or not they liked it. Next on the top of my stack, I've cracked open Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews. I am interested in this partly due to the movie that I have heard about and partly because for some reason I just love YA books even though I'm in my twenties now. I have a huge stack of library books on my bedside table (thanks Durham County Library) and a huge stack from Florida (thanks mom!) that I will be getting to, but if you have any other books to recommend let me know! Looking forward to the holiday season and reading by the tree!

Thanks for reading with me,
- Olivia Franek

DIY Peppermint Cookie Cholocates

Hello everyone!

With Thanksgiving checked off and Christmas quickly approaching, I have been working on some holiday baking and crafts! This week I made Peppermint Cookie Chocolates, which turned out delicious, so of course I wanted to share!

Here's what you'll need:
- One bag of chocolate chips
- One bag of white chocolate chips
- Five candy canes- crushed
- Five oreo cookies- crushed
- Cookie sheet
- Wax or parchment paper
- Cookie cutters (mini would be the best!)

Step One: Lay out parchment paper to cover your cookie sheet and place the cookie cutters on top of it

Step Two: Melt the chocolate chips at 30 second intervals and stir in between until melted (about three times)

Step Three: Pour the melted chocolate chips into the cookie cutters, making sure all the cracks get filled. Place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to cool.

Step Four: Sprinkle crushed Oreos on top of the chocolate

Step Five: Melt the white chocolate chips at 30 second intervals and stir in between, then pour as you did in step three

Step Six: Sprinkle candy canes on top of the chocolate

Step Seven: Let cool in the refrigerator overnight.

Step Eight: On the day you are serving let them sit out for about 30 minutes before and then push down to pop them out of the cookie cutter :)

TIP: When you serve them place on plate for appeal, however they are rich! So cut them into smaller pieces once people start eating them.

They turned out beautiful and delicious! These were originally going to be peppermint bark, however all the recipes I saw for that involved saltine crackers or another odd ingredient, so this little invention came out great, and the shapes actually worked well. I wish I would have used mini cookie cutters, because it was a lot of chocolate, but it still worked good. Try it out and let me know how yours goes!

Thanks for reading!
- Olivia

#BookWorm: Room

Hello fellow readers,

I recently finished reading the book Room by Emma Donoghue. In 2010 I remember my mom telling me about this book, but the cover was super unappealing so I didn't want to read it. Seriously, never judge a book by it's cover. This book is great, however there were somethings that disappointed me, which I will get to later. The book is from 5 year old Jack's perspective who is the product of his mother's kidnapper and rapist. They are confined to an eleven by eleven room and Jack has never seen the outside world. His Ma has always told him that there is nothing outside so that he does not get confused as to why they are kept in the room. It truly is a fascinating story that draws you in, and the fact that it is from Jack's perspective instead of Ma's is a whole new twist.

The reason I was disappointed when I read this story was that I had heard from a number of people that it was based on a true story. IT'S NOT! Not an ounce of it is based on actual events or people. Which is a good thing, but is also kind of disappointing when you are reading this incredible story thinking it is real then find out it isn't. I have read numerous places that this story was confused with the Jaycee Dugard story, which is strangely similar (even the concept of it). Emma Donoghue claims that she wrote the entire story before Jaycee was found, and therefore could have had no idea but that it was a sad coincidence. It is kind of odd though, and eerie, some of the similarities between the two stories. Overall I would give it a 9/10. I really enjoyed it, even as a work of fiction. I actually finished it in less than a week while working full time and overtime hours!

So have you read Room? Or are you planning on seeing the movie? I am curious and want to see the differences between the book and movie as there usually are many. I'm also pretty intrigued because the movie is rated R, so I am wondering how graphic it will be. Next up is The Story of Everything by Robyn Schneider. I am thoroughly enjoying checking these books off of my list and have really loved people's suggestions, so thank you for letting me know about books you loved and think I would enjoy!

Thanks for reading with me,
- Olivia :)

#BookWorm: Independent Study + Graduation Day

Hello fellow readers,

I recently finished up The Testing series with the last two books Independent Study and Graduation Day by Joelle Charbonneau. This series has greatly exceeded my expectations and I am so glad that I found this hidden gem of a trilogy. If you haven't read The Testing yet, skip ahead to the second set of bold!

*** SPOILERS *** SPOILERS *** SPOILERS *** SPOILERS *** SPOILERS ***

In the second book of the triology, Independent Study, Cia starts her life at the University and begins to notice some strange things going on. People start to treat her differently, including her first year guide Ian and boyfriend Tomas. As her memories start to return from the testing, she starts to remember who she should trust and who she should not. She gets put into a challenge with other new University students, similar to the testing where she has to take charge. In the challenge she learns more about her fellow classmates and more about the University's motives. When students are assigned an internship, Cia runs into some familiar faces and learns some very important things about people she trusted. Without spoiling too much, this book has an amazing ending. If you haven't read this book yet, skip ahead to the next section after the bold.

In the final book of the series, Graduation Day, Cia is forced to make a choice when President Collindar gives her a pretty serious task to take on as a part of her internship. After she watched Symon murder Michal in the rebel camp, Cia has been on wits end. She has to decide what she is willing to lose if she does not take President Collindar's task seriously. The ending to this book is pretty good! I was happy it wasn't a typical ending.

***SPOILERS COMPLETE***SPOILERS COMPLETE***SPOILERS COMPLETE***

All in all, I cannot wait to see what becomes of these books. Although it has similar themes to the other post-apocalyptic series out there, it really can stand on its own. I would give both of these books a 8.5/10. Kept my interest, but sometimes things got repetitive. It would be nice if you read them not in a row to have reminders of things that happened before, but if you read them one after the other it can be annoying. I truly hope it is made into a movie series as I could see people really getting hooked on the characters. I recently picked up a fresh stack of books from the library, and up next on my list is the story Room, which is soon to be a movie Nov. 25! I can't wait to finally finish this book as I cried during the commercial at the movie theater hah!

Thanks for reading with me,

- Olivia :)

DIY Mini Pumpkin Pies

Hello everyone!

This week I worked on a new recipe, mini pumpkin pies. Madi LOVES pumpkin pie, and I am not really a fan, so every year I make him this massive pie and he eats like half of it before it goes bad. So this year I decided to try something new and make mini pumpkin pies so that he could enjoy it! Side note, I remember the first time I made Madi a pumpkin pie. We were living with roommates in our first apartment and I made it around this time of the year. I don't like pumpkin pie and haven't tried it since I was probably six or seven, so I didn't remember what it tasted like. The whole process was a disaster. I dumped half the filling out of the pie while trying to put it in the oven (onto our blue kitchen rug). I served it hot, like right out the oven hot, to him and watched with a hopeful smile as he took his first bite. He politely told me "Babe, I think it's supposed to be cold." Durp. So then I put it in the fridge for a few hours. By the time we went through all of that the pie was mediocre at best. Every year I have worked on perfecting my pumpkin pie recipe for him, but it is hard as he is not a sweets fan and I can't taste test it because I don't like it in the first place. So since I finally got the Madison stamp of approval on last year's pies I used the same recipe to make miniature pies this year!

Here's what you need:
- 1 1/2 box of 2 Pillsbury Pie Crusts (or make your own)
- 1 1/2 can of pumpkin puree
- 10 oz. of evaporated milk
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup of white sugar
- 1/4 cup of brown sugar
- 1/4 tablespoon of salt
- 1/2 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- 1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon
- cooking spray
- muffin tin

Makes 18 mini-pies

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix all of the ingredients together and blend.

3. Cut out small circles with a cookie cutter or lid of something that will fit the size of the muffin tin from the pie crust.

TIP: to get the most of your crusts, re-use extra crust to make more and use a rolling pin to flatten out as much as possible
4. Spray the muffin tin with cooking spray (I literally never fail to get halfway through putting things in a muffin tin and forgot I didn't spray first, ugh)

5. Place the circular pie crusts in the muffin tins trying to center them as much as possible (you can see I failed at this)

6. Pour the pumpkin pie mix into the tin, trying to fill to the top of the mini pie crusts

7. Bake for 20 minutes

8. Let cool in the fridge for at least two hours or overnight.

9. Place whip cream on top, and wallah! You have yourself a mini pumpkin pie!

Now the presentation of mine is very poor ( I didn't even take a picture afterwards). Next time I will take time to actually try and make them look presentable. However, as far as the Madison stamp of approval, it was considered a success! Do you have any tricks or ideas for mini pumpkin pies? I may try some bite sized with a mini muffin tin for Thanksgiving! We shall see!

Thanks for baking with me!
- Olivia :)

#BookWorm: Dear Daughter

Hello fellow readers!

I finally ventured from the world of Young Adult reading back into the more adult world with the book Dear Daughter by Elizabeth Little. Another book I found thanks to Amazon's Recommended Reads section when I was looking at books similar to Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. This book is about a girl named Jane Jenkins who was convicted for the murder of her mother when she was seventeen. She gets released from prison because the forensics department in California was charged with falsifying evidence, and she is trying to figure out if she actually killed her mother. Her memory of what happened went blank about a few hours before the time of the murder until she called the police to report the murder. The plot of this book is super interesting and overall I REALLY liked this book. At first I was turned off by the intense language and grotesque descriptions of the murder, but it actually wasn't quite as offensive throughout the book unlike Gone Girl which literally was so gross the whole book it made me like it a little less. I'm all for making the characters personality come out, but sometimes it makes me wonder if the author is a really good writer or if they truly have issues too. However this was not the case with Dear Daughter. 

If you loved any of Gillian Flynn's books, you will love this book. If you didn't like Gillian Flynn's books due to language but like the mystery/thriller/who-dunnit appeal of books, you probably will enjoy this one. Overall rating, I would say 9/10. Yep, it's that good. I love when books answer all of your questions and connect dots you may have forgotten about in the middle of the book. It makes me happy as a person who hates unsolved mysteries and unanswered questions. Up next on my list are the final two books of The Testing series: Independent Study and Graduation Day. My list continues to grow as I keep getting suggestions from not only Amazon, but fellow readers. Seriously I LOVE hearing recommended reads from people so don't hesitate to share with me! 

If  you haven't noticed by now, I added a section to DHTBB at the top of my page called My List of Books which has a list of every book I've ever reviewed on DHTBB listed by genre as well as which I recommend by using a * and New York Times Bestsellers with the abbreviation NYT next to it. I also put the list of books I am wanting to read. I update each list every time I review a book! If you are looking for a recommended read, check out that list. If you have read everything I recommend or that interests you already on that list, message me! I love when people come to me for book advice :). So have you read this book Dear Daughter? Any thoughts? I want to hear! Share with me!!

Thanks for reading with me,

- Olivia :)

Fall Adventures: Durham, NC

Hello fellow bloggers!

Ahh, fall is in the air. This is my absolute FAVORITE time of year. It is also one of the reasons Madi was able to convince me to move to North Carolina. This year I get to live in the beautiful fall weather as a resident of the Carolinas and I am so excited that we have gotten to do some fun fall activities.

The second week of October my mom came to visit Madi and I, which was convenient timing because Madi was participating in Duke's graduate school camp-out for season basketball tickets (he won by the way ;) ). I got to spend some good time with my mom and although I didn't get to go apple picking due to my fractured radius, we did get to do some shopping for fall clothes! It was beautiful weather here: sixty five and sunny for the most part with some rain on Saturday while we shopped away. We also went to go see the movie The Intern, which if you haven't seen it yet: GO SEE IT! It was so good and again I think super under-rated as it did well in the box office but not as good as Hotel Transylvania 2... interesting. Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway did AMAZING together. I thought they made such a great team and the movie really gave a good message. Although we didn't do as much as I had originally anticipated I was happy to relax a little after my first full week back at work (5 days of 8 on days can be rough when  you are used to 3 days of 12 on night shift!).

The third week in October Madi's sister and one of my best friends, Sondra came to visit! We were able to do some more actual fall activities around the area which made me super excited. We went to a local farm called McKee's and got to walk a corn maze, ride a hay ride, pick out a pumpkin, and see adorable animals! That night we got to get crazie as Cameron Crazies at Countdown to Crazy! It was so unreal to be in a packed stadium of Blue Devil fans and watch the 2015 Championship banner be unveiled for the first time! Way too cool!

The fourth week in October was more low-key again since Madi had an exam week the following week, but I was able to participate in the Light the Night for Leukemia walk with some of my co-workers in RadOnc! It is always so surreal to see the survivors, supporters, and friends all walking together for a cause! I also got to finally carve my pumpkin and I am very proud of it! Of course it had to be Disney themed ;). Tinkerbell was the winning vote from Madi since Peter Pan is his favorite Disney movie.

The fifth week in October we got back into Duke athletics with the opening game against none other than Florida Southern! Which is hilarious because we watched Florida Southern play last year right before winning the D2 national championship so it was cool to see two teams we love play each other. Madi's parents both attended Florida Southern, that is where they met, so Madi has always had a strong connection to the college and has grown up watching their basketball team expand. We spent Halloween at home since I was still recovering from my cold from the previous week. We did get the chance to get out to the tobacco trail again with the gorgeous leaves for a quick mile and a half walk with Nike!

Although we didn't have our annual Halloween party or get all dressed up in a new and creative outfit this year, I loved being in the fall atmosphere and look forward to what November brings as the weather cools down more. I can't believe Thanksgiving isn't too far away and Christmas is officially in the midst! I have some fun holiday DIY crafts and baking I am excited to try for the winter season, so stay tuned for that! Any suggestions for more fun fall activities that we can do while we still have a few weeks left? I would love to hear!

Thanks for keeping up,
- Olivia :)

Happy 3rd Birthday to DHTBB!

Hello readers!

Today Don't Hit the Backspace Button turns three! It is so incredible to see how far this blog has come. Although it's not a crazy popular phenomenon, it has grown so much in three years, and I am so proud of what it has become. I started with just posting about random life events and now have different series such as #BookWorm, Wifey Wednesday, DIY, and My Random Addictions. If you have just recently started reading DHTBB, thank you for checking it out! If you have been a loyal fan since 2012, thank you for your dedication! I truly enjoy sharing my thoughts with everyone, and hope that you all enjoy it too! Any suggestions for topics or anything at all, let me know. I love to hear feedback, and I LOVE when I see people and they tell me "I read your blog about such and such and I made my own thing" or even just telling me you read it and like it. It really means the world to me. So happy third birthday DHTBB, I can't wait for the years to come!

Thanks for reading over the years and for years to come,
- Olivia :)

#BookWorm: Devoted + True

Hello fellow readers!

And just like that, two more books checked off the list for the year! I have been loving this series by Hilary Duff as I just completed reading the last two books of her Elixir trilogy: Devoted and True. This series has been so much different than I expected. There is definitely a Twilight supernatural feel to it. If you haven't read Elixir skip over to the next bonded area! 

***ELIXIR SPOILERS ELIXIR SPOILERS ELIXIR SPOILERS ELIXIR SPOILERS***

Devoted starts off with Clea coming back after Sage was captured by the Saviors and she is trying to do everything she can to find him. While talking to her Dad at his grave she comes across a family of spirits that warn her to stay away from Sage. The rest of the book is finding out what happened to the family and the perspective goes back and forth between Clea and the ghost daughter Amelia. Clea finds out about the Cursed Vengeance and why the want Sage so badly.  

Skip to the bold if you haven't read Devoted. True starts out after Sage's soul was released from his body and put into Rayna's boyfriend Nico. The only difference in Nico's new appearance is his eyes. Sage starts having a weird reaction to taking over Nico's body and has random outbursts where he gets angry and can't remember past events. The story follows the group as they try to figure out how to get Sage's soul to take over the body without these crazy side effects. 

*** SPOILERS COMPLETE SPOILERS COMPLETE SPOILERS COMPLETE***

Overall this series was very intriguing. It definitely kept me reading but got a little weird at times. If you are into shows like Supernatural you would love this book series. I like that show, but I am not super into magical and demonic books, however this one was tame enough that it kept my attention. I would rate Devoted and True both an 8/10. Definitely a good read but not INCREDIBLE. 

So have you ever read this series? Any thoughts as you came to the closing of it? I am hoping this may become a movie too! (Come on Hilary Duff). Let me just say that I have been LOVING the library here. So far I have only gone to the main library downtown on Roxboro street, and it isn't the nicest place ever, but just being around libraries again makes me happy. I know so sad I am such a nerd, I admit it. I really have been having a blast and now with technology advances I can go online, search for a book I might want to check out and place a hold on it if it is available or for when it becomes available at whichever location next! It truly makes me giddy just typing it because I have saved money on ordering books and still get to hold an actual book in my hand when I read. If you haven't ever been to your local library and are looking for a way to save money and still enjoy reading, go take a trip and visit! If you have kids a library is the best place to take them so they can pick out books they want to read on what interest them. I remember taking my niece to the library when she was only three and half to pick out books and she LOVED it. For some reason she had a fascination with bugs at the time (literally one of the smartest kids you will ever meet) and it was so fun watching her face as she picked out a new bug book she hadn't read yet. It's awesome. Anyways enough on my rant about reading ;). In other news I also started working now! Woohoo! Yay for paychecks and not being completely poor!

Thanks for reading with me,
- Olivia

Wifey Wednesday: How to Save a Quick Dollar Part II

Hello fellow savers,

Happy Wednesday fellow and future wifey-s (wifies? not sure, anyways...) ! Since my last post I have been finding other ways to save money pretty easily. I got some opinions from my friends and found some things on my own and wanted to share them with you! None of them will make you incredibly rich, but an extra $5-20/month never hurt anyone!

1) Swagbucks
This is an app for your phone and also you can use your laptop to earn more money. There are several different ways to earn money on it. You can watch videos, answer polls, discover things online, or even through online shopping. 1 Swagbuck = 1 penny, so 100 SB = $1! There are also goals so if your daily goal is 30SB and you hit it for a week then you get a bonus of 25SB. This can be time consuming if you sit on it all day, but you can quickly earn your daily goal and move on. If you earned 30SB/day for a month that is $9/month just for doing the minimum! Almost every day they send out a SwagCode that all you have to do is type in the code on your phone app and it gives you 2-6SB. Or answering the daily poll = 1SB. Super easy. So far I have earned upwards of $35 this month and I just do it when I am sitting down watching TV. Minimum cashout for this app can be as little a $3 to Amazon.com! They also have a deal right now where your first $25 giftcard each month is only 2200 SwagBucks instead of 2500! And if you shop online they give a lot of perks such as tonight I bought a plane ticket on Travelocity and got 8SB/1$ that I spent! Totally worth it :).

2) Perk Points
This one is a little less rewarding as 1 Perk Point = 1/10 of a cent. You can download their many apps to earn points and they have trivia games, scratch offs (that are free you just play for perk points), or Perk TV. You can literally leave Perk TV running and every two hours it will ask if you are still watching. I have only earned $5/month on this one and it feels like it takes a while but I don't spend every waking hour running this app or playing the games. On the scratch and win app you can do bidding for giftcards or Perk Points with coins (earned from games) and I have one 500 Perk Points on that before. Minimum cashout with this app is actually only $0.25 cents for an Amazon giftcard, but the more points you save the more you get for your points.

3) Ibotta
This app is bomb. My friend Summer told me about it and when I downloaded it I noticed a lot of people have used it before. It is a rebate app, but has a lot of general items such as "any gallon of milk" instead of specific brands. Some items have huge rebates while most are about 20 cents, but it adds up quickly and there are quite a few bonuses and such to gain more money back such as redeem three rebates for greater than 20 cents and get $3! So far since I started I have made $15 this month! Minimum cashout with this app is $10 to PayPal or select gift cards.

4) Panel Apps: Media Insiders and Nielsen
The last set of money earners I am going to talk about are Media Insiders and Nielsen Mobile Rewards. Nielsen is a panel app that looks at everything you do on your phone and uses it to better gauge which apps are popular right now etc. Same thing goes for Media Insiders except with this one you have to download it and do a couple steps to get it working. Both of them you literally just open and browse your phone as you do daily. Nielsen I have earned about $3-5/month and Media Insiders is about the same. For literally doing nothing you can make an extra $120 a year with both of these. So why not?

There you have it, just a few more ways to save a pretty precious penny. I am looking forward to seeing how my earnings on these apps change once I am working full time for a while, but with most of them being hassle free, it is easy to keep saving! Overall this month I have gotten giftcards/saved in total $60 from just these apps mentioned alone! To read my previous post for tips on other ways to save click this hyperlink!

Thanks for saving with me,
- Olivia

#BookWorm: Elixir

Hello fellow readers!

I recently finished reading the book Elixir. It's a Young Adult Mystery New York Times Bestseller written by one of my favorite people ever, Hilary Duff. The book is about a young girl named Clea, who's parents are both world known. It starts out like a normal romance novel, but takes a twist when Clea is developing pictures from a recent trip to Europe and notices a strange man in every single photo who she has never seen before but feels a connection to him. Clea and her friends Ben and Rayna start to discover other odd occurrences around Clea's house revolving around the disappearance of her father. Ben and Clea head to Rio on a photography assignment and happen to see the man that has been appearing in her photographs. The book is a thrilling adventure that I thoroughly enjoyed. It does veer from normal and go into supernatural which was unexpected, but I was really impressed with the writing. In the first parts of the book I was so drawn in that Madi had to actually tap my leg to get my attention!

If you like books like Twilight, this book has a similar supernatural twist but in a fascinating way. I would give it an 8.5/10. As I said, the writing is phenomenal and really makes you feel like you are in the book. Scared when the character is scared, happy when the character is happy. It's great. There were a few parts that I had to figure out she was dreaming, since the paragraphs have no separation from reality it could be hard to keep track of. Overall I liked the book a lot and am currently digging into the second part of the series: Devoted.

Since Madi and I are trying to save some extra bucks, I decided to get a library card at Durham County Library and check out the last two books of this series instead of waiting to buy them. I am excited to go back into libraries again since I am such a book lover and go through them so quickly. So have you read Elixir? What did you think?

Thanks for reading with me,
- Olivia

Wifey Wednesday: Popping the Question to Your Girls

Hey everyone!

Happy Wednesday! Halfway through the week :)! This week I wanted to share how I asked my closest friends to be my bridesmaids! We got engaged over a year and a half before our wedding, 19 months to be exact, and so we wanted our bridesmaids to know we wanted them at our big day ahead of time! Especially since almost half of our bridal party was from out of state. The day we got engaged, I called my friends and told them that we were getting married and that we wanted them to be apart of our day, but I still wanted to officially "pop the question" to my girls. I made boxes for each one of them with their name on the front and the question on the inside. Here's how I did it!

What you'll need
- Wooden Cigar Box
- White Paint
- Wedding Color Paint
- Black Paint
- Paint Brushes and Sponge Brush

Step One: Paint the cigar box white with 2-3 coats (or whatever color you want) and let dry over night

Step Two: Cut out a design of your choice where eventually your words will go and trace around it in the lid of the box

Step Three: Paint the outside portion your primary wedding color two coats and let dry over night

Step Four: Paint the inside with your question and the outside with the names. You can do this by using transfer paper or projecting the words with a projector and painting over them. If you're a boss like my mom, you can freehand. Which is what she did. (Thanks Mom!)

And that's it! I also added a little bit of information about each girl and how I met them into the box as well as information about our day. Another thing I did was add a paint swatch of the color we wanted to be our primary color. And finally I added pearl necklaces and earrings for them to wear on the big day. They turned out adorable! And no one forgot their jewelry on the big day either ;). Of course I got this idea from Pinterest, but tweaked it to make it personal and my own!

TIP: Make sure you confirm with everyone that they are willing and able to be a part of your big day. Someone could have the best intentions, but may be scared to tell you that they can't make it or can't afford it. Have the realistic conversation about money early. Things add up. Dresses, bachelorette party, bridal shower, wedding weekend. It's a lot, and if you have the conversation early you will avoid problems later. Let your bridesmaids know you want them there on your day and to talk to you about any issues so you can figure them out way in advance. It happens a lot that people drop out of weddings way after you ask them because  they are  too scared to talk about it when all the excitement is happening, it happened to us with a girl and a guy! Just prepare yourself in advance that some people might not be able to commit to the time and/or expense of your day.

So how did you pop the question to your bridesmaids? Have you seen other super cute ideas? Share them, I would love to hear!

Thanks for reading!
- Olivia

#BookWorm: The Testing

Hello fellow readers!

Last week I finished reading a new book called The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau. It is dystopian novel similar to The Hunger Games, Maze Runner, Divergent, and The Giver in my opinion. The premise of the book is about a girl named Cia who lives in a colony called Five Lakes, a small colony formed after the Seven Stages of War occurred. The colony's families have one goal: get your child to be chosen for The Testing so they may have entrance into The University to study and help repair the broken world around them. The Testing consists of four sections: written, problem solving, teamwork, and physical travel. Those who make it through all four stages are interviewed and if they pass the interview, they can study at the prestigious University. Cia's father was chosen for the testing, and so Cia has always dreamed of proving to her family that she can change the world, since her four other brothers did not get chosen. Well, Cia does get chosen for The Testing, however before she leaves on her big adventure her father warns her about the dangers of Tosu City and The Testing that he experienced many years ago.

This book was incredible. Yes, I said incredible. Although I have read all of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Maze Runner books and recognized similar themes to those books in The Testing, this book stands on its own. It has a good plot line, a lead character you love, and great supporting characters as well as important themes. Overall I would give it a 9/10. It isn't quite up to Divergent or The Hunger Games, both series I would overall rank a 9.5/10 overall. However, it is pretty dang close. Another thanks Amazon.com suggested reads for this page turner! I can definitely see this book turning into a movie in the next few years. I would hope producers would give it the same chance they gave these other dystopian, post apocalyptic series because I think it would be a hit. I have the other two books of the series on my Amazon wishlist and am hoping to purchase them in the next months!

I have one final book to read from my massive stack that I got over this year, isn't that crazy! The book is Elixir by the one and only Hilary Duff! My middle school role model. Okay and still is basically. I love her. Anyways, I am going to have to have my mom bring me some books from Florida to keep myself busy until I can afford to do an Amazon order ;). My friends have made comments about the mass amount of books I have been going through, however take a book loving girl who has worked two jobs the past five years and give her four weeks of free time and a fresh stack of new reads and this is what you get: lots of #BookWorm posts :). Once I am back to work in a week and a half, my reading will slow down I am sure! So send some suggestions that I can add to my Amazon wishlist as the holidays are just around the corner! Have any of you heard of the book The Testing? If so and you have read it, what did you think? Do you feel it could stand on its own in the blockbuster world with the rest of the similar series? Voice your opinion! I would love to hear!

Thanks for reading with me,
- Olivia :)

Movie Moments You May Have Missed: Legally Blonde

Hey everyone!

One thing I love to do is watch movies over and over again. Unlike some people, if I enjoy a movie I have to watch it again. And if I REALLY enjoy a movie, I watch it a lot. There are quite a few movies I have seen probably over twenty times. Legally Blonde is one of them. I saw this movie for the first time in middle school and I barely caught all the quirky moments or jokes. However now I have seen it over twenty times, easy, and I still find new things when I watch it. So here are some movie moments you may have missed while watching Legally Blonde whether you've watched it once, or twenty times like me.

1. The age of Elle and her sorority sisters
Elle is supposed to be an undergrad in college, yet somehow every person in the college scenes look like they're 30.

2. The reference to pill popping by Serena
When Elle is depressed about Warner and starts talking about going to law school, Serena says "can't you just take a Percocet?". I don't know why, but I found that hilarious. Probably because before I was a nurse I didn't even know what Percocet was.

3. When Professor Stromwell whacks a student on the head with a pencil
When talking about Aristotle's quote on the first day of class, Professor Stromwell asks David if he would be his classmates life on the fact that the quote was by Aristotle and whacks the kid she's referencing on the head with a pencil.

4. When Enid is talking to Warner about ovaries and semen at the party
Elle walks up to Warner in her bunny suit and Enid is telling Warner about how the word semester is sexist because it almost has the word "semen" in it and instead should be called an "ovester"

5. Paulette's ex-boyfriend lives in a "trailer park"
But it looks more like a junkyard...

6. Paulette and Elle are randomly shown sitting in the nail salon at Christmas
But really, so random? And why was this scene included?

7. The UPS guy lets Elle sign for Paulette's package
The UPS guy asks Paulette to sign for her package, but when she acts like a moron he hands it to Elle to sign... Weird.

8. When Elle shows Paulette how to bend and snap, she doesn't do what she shows her at all...
Not exactly the snap that Elle just did.

9. Elle leaves her Porche's top down with all her designer luggage piled inside of it
On a busy street... with people walking by... while she says goodbye to Paulette. Hmm.

10. David is wearing New Balances in court
Instead of dress shoes like everyone else, showing his uniqueness once again

Fun Fact: One thing I learned when looking up things about the movie (yeah I like to learn about movies when I watch them) was that the final scene where Elle says the inspirational quote was not originally in the film. It was supposed to end with her walking out of court after burning Warner. The film crew and cast had to fly to the UK where Reese Witherspoon was filming another movie and the scene was filmed at Dulwich College in London.

If you've never watched this movie, you're missing out on a laugh. It really is good and there are so many little funny things that you may miss the first time. It's hilarious. And teaches you a good message about not judging people or underestimating them! Have you seen anything else people may have not noticed in movies that you thought was hilarious or odd? It will be something I look for when I watch movies now! 

Thanks for reading,

- Olivia