Monday, October 19, 2015

What I've Read Lately

I like to read. A lot. I always have a book to read! I even used to have a book review blog (which I have been debating about whether or not to start posting on again...) but I pretty much stick with mystery/suspense/adventure type books. Here are a few good books I've read lately...
Saving Amelie by Cathy Gohlke
From goodreads:
Increasingly wary of her father's genetic research, Rachel Kramer has determined that this trip with him to Germany--in the summer of 1939--will be her last. But a cryptic letter from her estranged friend, begging Rachel for help, changes everything.

Married to SS officer Gerhardt Schlick, Kristine sees the dark tides turning and fears her husband views their daughter, Amelie, deaf since birth, as a blight on his Aryan bloodline. Once courted by Schlick, Rachel knows he's as dangerous as the swastikas that hang like ebony spiders from every government building in Berlin. She fears her father's files may hold answers about Hitler's plans for others, like Amelie, whom the regime deems "unworthy of life." She risks searching his classified documents only to uncover shocking secrets about her own history and a family she's never known. Now hunted by the SS, Rachel turns to Jason Young--a driven, disarming American journalist and unlikely ally--who connects her to the resistance and to controversial theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Forced into hiding, Rachel's every ideal is challenged as she and Jason walk a knife's edge, risking their lives--and asking others to do the same--for those they barely know but come to love.


I've been reading a some WWII era books lately, but this one was really good! It was well written and the story was engaging and kept me interested. 


Dust And Obey by Christy Barritt
From Amazon:
When Gabby St. Claire’s ex-fiancĂ©, Riley Thomas, asks for her help in investigating a possible murder at a couples retreat, she knows she should say no. She knows she should run far, far away from the danger of both being around Riley and the crime.

But her nosy instincts and determination take precedence over her logic. At the retreat center she feels like she’s stepped into the pages of a creepy gothic novel: an isolated island that’s often foggy, an old lodge with a dark history, and a small pool of suspects who each have either motive, means, or opportunity for murder. When another life is threatened, the risk intensifies. 


Gabby and Riley must work together to find the killer. In the process, they have to confront demons from their past and deal with their present relationship. If they don’t learn to trust each other, they could both end up as fodder for the supposedly cursed island’s folklore. 


This is book 10 in the Squeaky Clean Series. I've been reading them since the first book was released quite a few years ago and I still enjoy them. (The first book is free on Kindle if you want to try it.) This was just another good installment in the series. They're fun mystery books that aren't too intense, but still interesting. I did figure out who the killer was about halfway through the book, but I still enjoyed reading it!


The Bones Will Speak by Carrie Stuart Parks
From goodreads:
Forensic artist Gwen Marcey has become the target of a serial killer who believes he's been appointed God's executioner.

In Copper Creek, Montana, Gwen Marcey is struggling to put together her life after cancer and divorce. When her dog retrieves a skull of a murder victim and leads her to the victim's grave, Gwen uses her forensic art ability to identify a serial killer. She is horrified to discover all the victims look like her fourteen-year-old daughter.

The murderer is a "lone wolf," a member of the terrorist group Phineas Priesthood-and he has a score to settle with Gwen. Unraveling the tangled Christian Identity movement, where race-not grace-provides salvation, Gwen is in a frantic rush against time. She must use all her skills to uncover the killer before he can carry out his threat to destroy her and everyone she loves.


I really really liked this book! I really liked the first book as well! I like that the author uses a lot of real facts and information in her books and carefully crafts an interesting and unique story around it. I highly recommend this book!

Follow me on goodreads if you want to keep up with what I'm reading!

Have you read any good books lately?

Friday, October 16, 2015

Five for Friday

Hey and welcome to my Five for Friday! I hope you all had a great week! I am linking up with Cup of Tea , Della Devoted , Bright on a Budget and Coffee With Caitlin!

1. This past week has been pretty busy! Since my mom and I were gone for two weeks, there was a lot to do when we got back! Between work, small group, grocery shopping, other shopping, and errands, I am glad it is the weekend!

2. This tip for grease free cupcake liners is so great! By putting rice in the bottom of the cupcake pan, the rice absorbs the grease, leaving your cupcake liners grease free!

3. I was doing my grocery shopping this week and found some random bunches of flowers back in the clearance section. I've never seen flowers in a clearance section before, and they were pretty cheap, so I couldn't pass them up! I put this bouquet together and thought it was pretty! I also bought some tulips, but I forgot to get a picture of them.
4. I finally went and picked up a piece of foam board to use for taking pictures on. I couldn't find the exact one I bought, but this is pretty much the same thing. The piece I got was under $2 and back where the school stuff/kids art stuff is. Right by where they have poster boards and stuff. It's great for displaying things and taking pictures on!

5. I started working on getting my Europe pictures organized, which took quite a while! I thought this would be a good project to do while getting caught up on almost three weeks worth of the Tonight Show! It took a little while to get all 441 pictures organized and put together in chronological order, so now I'll just have to get around to scrapbooking them!
Hope you have a great weekend!

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Snapshots from Wichita

A quick post featuring a few random pictures I took while in Wichita and our trip back to Idaho...
Donuts from the Donut Whole.
Some buildings downtown Wichita.
There was a large park near our hotel that had some nice walking trails. I thought these tree tunnels were pretty neat!
The park where we walked was pretty. The trees were just starting to change colors and there was a creek running through the park.
 We flew into Oklahoma City and drove up to Wichita. I took this at a rest stop as we entered back into Oklahoma. I'd never been to Oklahoma before, so it's one more state I can cross off of my list!
 My mom and I stopped at Gigi's Cupcakes and picked a few out to bring back home for the family. The cupcakes were pretty good!
I took this at SeaTac after we were safely back on the ground. Flying into Seattle was the most turbulent flight I'd ever been on! Seattle had been having a pretty good storm, with strong winds and heavy rain and we got to fly right into it. At times the plane was literally jerked left and right! Luckily it didn't last long and we were able to land safely! 

Friday, October 9, 2015

Five for Friday

Hey and welcome to my Five for Friday! I hope you all had a great week! I am linking up with Cup of Tea , Della Devoted , Bright on a Budget and Coffee With Caitlin!

My mom and I are going to be heading back home tomorrow, which will be so nice! After being gone for two weeks I am really looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and cooking in my own kitchen! And having Wifi that actually works! But ultimtely, we were in Wichita for my mom to get treatment for lyme disease, and I am glad that she is doing better!

1. Last weekend my mom and I decided to check out downtown (a term I use very loosely!) Wichita. While that was a bust (they literally have almost nothing. One area with some restaurants, and that's about it.) But, we did stop by a donut shop which had Doctor Who donuts! (Which were pretty awesome by the way!)
2. I got my first massage earlier this week. My mom gets a massage every day as part of her treatments, and if the center has an opening, they offer massages to family members, so I was able to get one! It was pretty nice!

3. My mom and I went to Hobby Lobby earlier this week and walked around. They had all of their Christmas stuff out and we were looking at it all. There were sooooo many creepy Santa things! I took a bunch of pictures and was sending them all to my sister. Haha. Here's a few of the best ones...
That last Santa is probably thinking about how he knows where you live...
4. I've been thinking about switching my comments over to Disquis. I like that it's so much easier to see when people reply! Anyone have any tips/suggestions for adding that to Blogger? Do you like using Disquis?

5. And last but not least, I came across this article on Buzzfeed titled 23 Pictures That Pretty Much Sum Up 2015. It's pretty funny and definitely worth scrolling through. 3, 4, and 16 are so true!

23 Pictures That Guys Will Just Never Ever Understand from Buzzfeed is also pretty funny. I think every girl can relate to most of these!

Have a great weekend! 

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Wichita Botanica gardens

This past Sunday, my mom and I decided to check out the Wichita Botanica Gardens. The admission was pretty inexpensive (Only $7 at the time we went.) So it sounded like a nice place to spend the afternoon! And there really isn't much to do in Wichita, so it was pretty much our only choice.

Anyways, it turned out to be a good choice because there was some interesting things to look at and quite a few things to photograph!

We ended up getting trapped in the Japanese gardens with a bunch of other people. Haha! The doors locked and wouldn't open again! Someone eventually came out and we were able to get back in to explore the rest of the gardens.
I've never seen a bush like this! Looks perfect for Halloween!
This was possibly the weirdest/most interesting looking flower I've ever seen! There wasn't a label on it so I have no idea what it is or where it is from!
There was also a butterfly garden, but they only had three different kinds of butterflies. I managed to get a few pictures of them! They kept flying around too quickly and wouldn't land on anything very often.

Have you ever been to a botanical garden?

Monday, October 5, 2015

Southwestern chicken salad

This Southwestern chicken salad became a family favorite over the summer! My family loves salads, so I am always looking for new and different salad ideas. It's really filling with the guacamole, beans, and chicken. 
1 bag romaine hearts
Grated cheddar cheese
Corn and black bean guacamole (you can also just use chopped avocado, but the guacamole is SO worth the time it takes to make it!)
Corn chips
2 chicken breasts (around 1 pound of chicken)
Barbecue sauce
About 1 tsp. Pepper
About 1 tsp. Onion powder
About 1/2 tsp Garlic powder
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 can black beans (rinsed) *
1 cup frozen corn*

*Optional if not making the corn and black bean guacamole.

Additional toppings: Black olives, chopped onion, diced tomatoes, peppers, and anything else you like!

Barbecue ranch salad dressing
1/2 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons barbecue sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp dill weed

1. Prepare your chicken breasts by removing any fat, then place them in a Ziplock bag with the barbecue sauce, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and Worcestershire sauce. I don't typically measure out those ingredients, I just add enough to coat the chicken. Squish bag around to coat chicken, then place bag in the fridge. Refrigerate for at least half an hour.

2. Cut up, wash, and dry your romaine lettuce. Once the lettuce is dry, place in a bowl and set aside.

3. Prepare the corn and black bean guacamole. 

4. Grate cheddar cheese, set aside.

5. Prepare the dressing by mixing the sour cream, barbecue sauce, Worcestershire sauce, milk, garlic powder, and dill weed. Feel free to add more milk to make the dressing as thick or runny as you like.

6. Heat your barbecue grill to about 350. Lightly spray grill grate with cooking spray, then place the chicken on the grill and cook for about five minutes. Turn over, and grill for another five minutes or until no longer pink in the center.

Once done, cut into bite sized pieces.

7. Fix your salad with all of the toppings and enjoy!

This should be enough for about 4 - 6 adult sized salads

Friday, October 2, 2015

Five for Friday

Hey and welcome to my Five for Friday! I hope you all had a great week! I am linking up with Cup of Tea , Della Devoted , Bright on a Budget and Coffee With Caitlin!

1. My mom and I have been in Wichita, Kansas for the past week and we'll be here for another week. My mom has lyme disease and has been going to a clinic here. So far, after a week, there's finally been some improvement! It's been a really long journey with the lyme disease. My mom has had it for over 12 years but wasn't officially diagnosed until a little over two years go. It's just been so nice to finally have some improvement! 

2. We had a stopover in Portland and I picked up this Starbucks mug. I was torn between the Portland one and the Oregon one. I liked the Portland one because it had roses on it. I still need to get a Washington one. I don't like the Seattle one. I think they have just a Washington one? Anyways, I really want it ;)
3. There isn't too much to do here in Wichita, so while my mom is in her appointments, I've just done a little shopping. They do have a Super Target though! I wish they had a Super Target near where I live, but unfortunately they don't. 

Here's what I picked up while walking around Target.
4. I shared my fall decorations earlier this week. I had been searching for some Halloween/fall decorations, and picked this Thanksgiving sign up from Target. They didn't have anything Halloween related that I liked, so I just decided to paint my own Halloween saying on the back! The lettering didn't turn out quite how I wanted, but it's not too bad!
5. And last but not least, since national coffee day was this week I took an obligatory coffee pic. Vanilla iced coffee for the win! ;)
Have a great weekend!