Mini Half-Price Haul

Alright, it has been a while since my apartment mate and I went to Half-Price and we were feeling a bit deprived. Not to mention, we saw a trailer for the movie if i stay, which looks amazing, and we felt the need to find the book and read it before the movie comes out (as all good readers know to do). Anyways, my apartment mate ended up purchasing it, so we have a copy, and I think that she has nearly finished it already.
I wanted to share with you my mini-haul of the week, totaling for $17!

1. A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin. In case you don't know, I'm a mere 105 pages away from finishing the first book in this brilliant series by George R.R. Martin, so I decided to not wait and purchase the second book in the series. Even though I have not seen the TV series and have barely finished the first book, it is already very clear to me that this series is going to be one of those that will make my head spin and I will love every moment of it. Ok, minus when I started to randomly (in the view of others) scold the author for breaking my heart and killing another one of my favorite characters or the characters for being stupid, but still, the book would not be the same without that! My most expensive book of the haul, but I think $8 was worth it!

2. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. Who would not love a book written from the point of man's best friend? Yes, my friends, another book written from the POV of a dog! Rejoice and enjoy!

3. Shakespearean Detectives: Murders and Mysteries Based on Shakespeare's Life and Plays edited by Mike Ashley. This book was more purchased out of curiosity....I love Shakespeare and I really have a hard time passing up anything that has to do with him and/or murder mysteries. Seems like a perfect marriage right?

4. The Templar Legacy by Steven Berry. I had tried to check this book out of the library only to learn that my library card was not accepted in that county :( It made me very sad and when I saw this in the clearance section I couldn't say no. I do love my medieval literature, fiction and not!

What books have you been reading lately?

Love,
Sara :)

Musica Monday

In honor of the beloved Robin Williams who has left this earth today, I just wanted to share my favorite song of his from one of my favorite childhood movies, Aladdin. I hope you all enjoy the music and remember this amazing man and what he has done for us.

Love,
Sara :)

Books Books Books: Simple Thai Food by Leela Punyaratabandhu

I'm finally getting back into the book reviewing! I'm excited and hopefully you are too! Here goes my first book review back from my time off. :P

When I was in high school, we had a foreign exchange student come and visit from Thailand. Until then, I had never really been exposed to the Thai culture, all I knew was they had elephants and spicy food. My foreign exchange brother, as my sister and I called him, had a dream of someday opening his own restaurant, which of course led to him cooking for us once or twice. He also found a delicious restaurant in Milwaukee where we ended up going several times throughout his stay that served authentic Thai food. I think it was at that point that I fell in love with Thai cuisine. Nearly eight years later, this cookbook has fully renewed that love for Thai food.

Leela Punyaratabandhu has done an amazing job with bringing out the beauty and subtle complexity that Thai food offers. As soon as I opened the book, I was struck by the colorful pictures and ended up paging through the book first just to see the bright colors of the food that I could not wait to cook in my own kitchen. Her descriptions of each dish at the start were funny and felt homey at the same time, with a friendly voice to the narrations and optional American alternatives that make each dish more available to those of us unable to order completely authentic ingredients.

As with many different authentic cuisine books, some of the ingredients were a bit more on the pricy side, so for people on a limited budget it is a bit more difficult. It also is not a cookbook that is friendly towards certain dietary restrictions, just as a forewarning. Another thought to be noted is that this cookbook is not for those looking for a quick meal; the recipes are complicated and require several ingredients that most households would not normally have in order to attain the unique Thai flavors. However, the aroma that filled my apartment as I tried my hand at Leela's recipes is one that will bring your friends and neighbors knocking to try a taste.

I hope that you get the opportunity to try out some of these recipes, which I will be posting a few of my own vegetarian alterations as well as possibly some chicken recipes as soon as I get my act together.

Love,
Sara :)

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.

Muisca Monday

It is officially musical h-e-double-hockey-sticks week for many people, myself included. Why? It's dress rehearsal for the musical!! Opening night is Thursday and we have yet to get through the entire musical without stopping or getting confused! Yay!! 0.0 Why do I put myself through this year after year? Honestly, it's goofy. But musical people live for it, we are just crazy like that. So, yea, that's what's going on for me this week...
In other news, I signed up for a half marathon (yes, 13.1 miles) in September and I am super excited to run it, plus kinda scared too. I'm still trying to run more than 6 or 7 miles without my body being done, so we shall see how this goes! :P
Today's music is brought to you by the lovely YouTube (as usual) and by my roomie. She was the one who showed this to me and now I am sharing with you! I hope you enjoy "I'm Ready" by AJR, who are a YouTube sensation who have captured the interest of so many people worldwide!

 

 

Love,

Sara :)

Weekend Links

Since I'm not posting on weekends (and struggling with the posting otherwise) I've decided to give you guys a post of what I've found looking around the internet during my 'free time', meaning while I'm sitting at work between clients, don't tell my boss. I hope you guys enjoy!

• Found this blog while looking through Bloglovin, and these look delicious!
• Also this bread sounds like a much better breakfast than my current cereal.
• Officially adding these countries to my travel list, several were already there, but now the rest are too!
• As some of you way know, I'm now registered on this site and just got my cookbook in the mail! I can't wait to start!
• Just because I'm mostly vegetarian doesn't mean I can't appreciate delicious looking chicken like this.
• If you're looking to travel to the Galapagos, Ecuador, or Peru this could be a great place to look.
• And you have to admit that a chair like this would be awesome!
• I have to end on this though, I think we all sometimes need the reminder...

It's amazing how much is really out there if you just take the time to look. What have you guys found recently?

Love,
Sara :)

Blogging for Books

Due to my recent desire to read, but the lack of actually following through with it, I have joined a website called Blogging for Books. I still plan to finish the books I had listed in my Summer Reading List, but now will be receiving books in the mail to read and review online here. I am excited to get back into the swing of writing reviews for the books I read and really thinking about them instead of just jumping into the next one like I have been doing recently.

The premise of this website seems to be to allow book lovers to read and rate books for free. Which in my opinion, is awesome! I can order one book at a time and need to post a review within 90 days of receiving the book. This review should be posted both on the Blogging for Books blog and on my blog as well, meaning it will show up here! After posting a review I can request a new book.

I am super excited to get started with this and look forward to my first book, Simple Thai Food by Leela Punyaratabandhu, which is coming in the mail! I can't wait to share these reviews. I know this blog isn't very widely read but these reviews are for those who do get the chance to get on and read. You are awesome!

Love,
Sara :)

Muisca Monday

Changes are good...right? I mean there's a lot to be said for changing little things in our lives like exercising and eating well, and I do not mean to belittle these things at all, but what about changes so big that they require a complete lifestyle change? The problem with being in my head is that I keep thinking about how much things can change and what would happen if things were to change, I'm that annoying student who asks 'what if' in the middle of a class discussion where there should not be a 'what if' asked. Yea, especially in college, I was not much of a talker in high school.
But as I think about it, it's kinda silly to keep asking what if when it is what it is and it's the changes that really make us who we are and make us think. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm doing quite a bit of changing lately and they will only continue to happen as long as I stay on the path I'm going. I hope that you all are willing to take some risks and try something new! This song has been in my head all day, it's called "Change Your Life" by Little Mix. Btw I love her purple hair! Enjoy!

Love,
Sara :)