Week 7

How far along? 7 weeks

Weight gain/loss: still the same.. but you would never guess that by the insane bloat

Maternity clothes? I usually want some maternity pants by the end of the day but I am still wearing my own.
Stretch marks? Um there might be some on my freaking torpedo boobs
Sleep? I want to sleep all the time but I sleep fine at night and wake to pee at least one or two times. Sometimes 3.
Best moment this week? Getting my paperwork for my first appt. Also, very daunting.
Food cravings: More like food aversions. My tummy has to be kept in perfect harmony and finding that harmony is hard. I eat what I can. And it is best if I eat every two hours.

Gender: I think boy
Belly button in or out? In
What I miss? Being able to eat what I want when I want and being able to open the fridge without cringing

What I'm looking forward to: My first appt in a couple weeks

[source]

Also from thebump. "Baby's brain -- both hemispheres! -- is growing fast, generating about 100 new cells every minute. Arms and legs are emerging as joints start to form, and a permanent set of kidneys (baby's third!) is now in place. "

Just been super duper tired and having a hard time figuring out what to eat. Lovely, lovely.

October Group Read Suggestions

Ok everyone, now it is time to suggest something for us to all read along to in October. Remember, if you participate in discussions for September's Read or guest-post on it, you enter yourself to win a free copy of the October Group Read, whatever it is!

Anyone want to read something "scary" for Halloween? Scary of course can be defined in many ways. Scary has in a very long book you want to read but are scared because of the length. Scary has in we will have bad dreams all month. Scary as in big words that we don't know the meanings and have to look them up. Scary as in, I never want that situation to happen in my life.

Or you could just suggest whatever you want as per usual. ;)

This is what we have already read:
The Color Purple
The One That I Want
The Secret Garden
House Rules
American Wife
Firefly Lane
Middlesex
The Reader
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
The Awakening
Pride & Prejudice
I See You Everywhere

Suggestions will be open until September 30th at 10:00 pm. Poll will be up October 1st and the selection will be announced October 4th! Thanks for participating!

Five 5's

I'm all for lists and for meme's and well, my brain is mush. So this is stolen from someone who stole it from someone who stole it from someone. There would be links, but I am lazy. ;)

5 Books I’ve Read Recently
1. The Mayo Clinci Guide to A Healthy Pregnancy
2. Doctor and The Diva - Adrienne McDonnell
3. Some Girls: My Life in a Harem - Jillian Lauren
4. Songs for a Teenage Nomad - Kim Culbertson
5. The Color Purple - Alice Walker (still in progress)

5 Books I’m Planning to Read (in the near future)
1. The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth - Henci Goer
2. Ina May's Guide to Childbirth - Ina May Gaskin
3. Mad Men and Philosophy
4. The Weight of Water - Anita Shreve
5. She's Gone Country - Jane Porter

5 of My Favorite Books
1. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
2. The Help - Kathryn Stockett
3. 13 Reasons Why - Jay Asher
4. American Wife - Curtis Sittenfield
5. The Girl Who Played with Fire - Steig Larsson

5 of My Least Favorite Books
1. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
2. Bitter is the New Black - Jen Lancaster
3. Forget You - Jennifer Echols
4. The Female of the Species - Joyce Carol Oates
5. No Place like Here - Cecilia Ahearn

5 of My Favorite Book-to-Film Adaptations
1. The Notebook (waaaaaay better than the book)
2. Kiss the Girls
3. The 19th Wife
4. Along Came A Spider
5. Little Women

What are your Five 5's? I find it hard to find the book to film ones that I actually liked. James Patterson books haven't been bad movies yet and I do love Little Women in practically any form. The 19th Wife is a new Lifetime movie and I could make a huuuge long list where the movie sucks and the book is great. Leading that list? Mystic River.

There is someone I would like you to meet..

I have been keeping a dirty little secret from my bloggie friends for almost 3 weeks now.

I'm pregnant!!!!!!!! ;)

We are sooo excited, nervous, scared and every other emotion under the sun! My husband is so cute and I think I love him more than ever just because of how ridiculously cute and helpful he is, and that he wants to know EVERYTHING. So freaking cute.

I was going to wait awhile to tell you all, but seriously it is hard to keep a secret and umm I've been so exhausted that I can barely read and coming up with posts is pretty hard when your brain is mush.

I haven't been sick. I've been through phases of super hungry, super tired and umm that sounds GROSS. I smell everything and that is gross, I have stared to get mild heartburn which is not cool, but if I an continue this no sickness thing I would die a happy lady. I should be around 6 weeks (today actually!) and do not have an appt. with my midwife until Oct. 12th, which is kind of why I haven't wanted to say anything, but it is HARD.

We've told our parents, siblings and a few close friends. Trying to keep it off the extended families radar until after a few family get togethers so I don't strangle any of the rude commenters and cuz I'd like to see my baby and make sure it is baking properly before we introduce him or her (I'm thinking him) to the whole world.

So lucky you, blog readers get a sneak peek intro! ;)

[source]

How far along? 6 weeks
Weight gain/loss: so far staying steady with zero weight gain and zero weight loss
Maternity clothes? - no but the bloat is ridiculous and i prefer sweatpants as soon as I get home
Stretch marks? no
Sleep? I am so tired, sleeping about 9 hours a night and occasionally taking a nap
Best moment this week? my husband singing John Denver to my belly
Food cravings: usually only want nachos, coke and Italian subs
Gender: I think boy.. hubby keeps saying red-headed girl
Belly button in or out? same as always innie
What I miss? beer
What I'm looking forward to: Everything!

Ten on Tuesday

Shamelessly, stolen from Chelsea.

1. What’s the one thing you always do when you’re stressed?
Sadly, the answer is eat. Or avoid the situation. Waste time and procrastinate on the Internet. Avoidance at its best.

2. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done for a friend?
Oh man who even knows. I've sent random fb messages to get info, I've hung out a random places to "run into a guy." I've pretty much done a lot of stuff but nothing sticks out.

3. What cleaning supply could you not live without?
Um I hate cleaning. I suppose Clorox wipes.

4. How long do you plan on living where you currently reside?
I would love to move within 5 years. Sadly, I think my hubby would be happy here for life. I think 2 kids and this place will feel crowded. Or my husband will have to throw stuff away hahaaha. (Sidenote: we live in a lovely house that we own but it was an impulse purchase and besides the amazing yard, i would be so happy anywhere else.)

5. Do you usually vote straight party, a mixture, or not at all?
Usually a mixture, but pretty close to a straight ticket. I live in a mostly Republican area usually the only options are Republican so if you want to vote you generally have to vote that way. Or you can rebel like my husband and I and leave random write-in candidates when you don't think the people on the ballot deserve the position.

6. What’s something that you love to do, but seem to never make time for?
Hmm.. I need to read more, though I know I read more than a lot of people. I would love to spend more time walking and being outside.

7. What’s your favorite store to buy things for other people?
Probably Kohls. I don't have a lot of options here. Online? uncommongoods.com

8. What’s the weather like around you today?
Beautiful. Sunny and windy and I hear near 80.

9. What’s the worst book you’ve ever bought and read?
Hmm bought and hated? I never did finish The Number 1 Women's Detective Agency and I think I bought it at a garage sale. I don't tend to buy things that I end up hating. I did review Forget you by Jennifer Echol's this year and that was terrible.

10. What’s the closest thing to you that is yellow?
Something on the cover of my alumni magazine.

The Doctor and the Diva

There are not many times when I think a book would make a great movie, but this is one of those rare times. I think this would make a MUCH better movie than a book? Are you shocked? ;) It was a really great story but it was slow in some parts and I really think a movie would do the singing scenes justice.

The Doctor - Dr. Ravell is a women's doctor in Boston, nearing 30 and single. It's the early 1900s and even though he is single, the doctor does have a relationship with a former MARRIED patient. She is about a decade older than Ravell and is in a loveless sexless marriage, which is how he justifies it. However, he also has another MARRIED patient that tries to get his attentions and that one is a bit more conniving than he gives her credit for. Dr. Ravell really needed to venture out paast his patients for his love interests! Even though it IS the early 1900s he is very much on 'newer' ideas and helps couples with fertility issues.

The Diva - Erika von Kessler, married name Myrick, is a beautiful opera singer who is struggling to have a child with her importer husband Peter. Peter is adamant that he have a child and drags Erika around insisting she get everything possible done to knock her up. But will he allow HIS sperm to be tested? HA. CUZ how dare someone question his manhood. :::rolls eyes:::: By the time Erika and Peter seek out Dr. Ravell Erika is done. She is tired and her heart has already gotten over the idea of a child. She wants her career to blossom and she knows it will be hard stuck in Boston and with a child. She is just biding her time until she can do what she wants.

Dr. Ravell and Erika & Peter strike up a very close relationship and the whole situation ends up wierd and a little messed up.

But, I would very much watch a movie version of this book because I think that done right it would be beautiful and have excellent singing. However, reading it was a bit slow and I skimmed some descriptions because I am not a description reader. ;)

Anyone else fascinated with books about the early 1900s?

I received this book from Crazy Book Tours. All opinions are my own!

The Color Purple Check In..

For those who don't know The Color Purple by Alice Walker is our September Group Read selection. If you want to join along you are more than welcome! Those who participate in discussions and/or guest post get the opportunity to be entered into a free copy of October's Group Selection!

Who has started? I just got my copy from the library today. ::hangs head::: Whoops. The cover of the copy I have is beautiful. I am going to start it later this afternoon.

Taken from SparkNotes :::shhh::: here is some context to think about as you read..

Alice Walker was born on February 9, 1944, in the small rural town of Eatonton, Georgia. She was the eighth and last child of Willie Lee Walker and Minnie Tallulah Grant, two sharecroppers. Walker’s parents’ experiences with the oppressive sharecropping system and the racism of the American South deeply influenced Walker’s writing and life’s work. When Walker was eight, one of her brothers accidentally shot her, permanently blinding her in one eye. Ashamed of her facial disfigurement, Walker isolated herself from other children, reading and writing to pass the time.

I can't imagine having a sibling accidentally shoot me?? Yikes. The amount of guilt that her brother must have felt! And I can't imagine how it must have felt to have a facial disfigurement when you are already being singled out by the color of your skin!

In 1961, on a scholarship for disabled students, Walker enrolled in Spelman College in Atlanta, where she became active in the A-frican-American civil rights movement. Two years later, Walker transferred to Sarah Lawrence College in New York and eventually traveled to Uganda as an exchange student. When she returned for her senior year, Walker was shocked to learn that she was pregnant, and, afraid of her parents’ reaction, she considered suicide. However, a classmate helped Walker obtain a safe abortion, and she graduated from Sarah Lawrence in 1965. At this time, Walker composed two early landmark pieces: “To Hell with Dying,” her first published short story, and Once: Poems, her first volume of poetry.

Who says SparkNotes is bad. I did not know this before. Wow, I can really feel for her. It's hard to imagine being single and pregnant in modern times but pre Roe v. Wade I really have no idea how hard that must have been. The thought that if the abortion wasn't safe that you could die or never be able to have children must have been terrifying.

Upon its publication, The Color Purple unleashed a storm of controversy. It instigated heated debates about black cultural representation, as a number of male African-American critics complained that the novel reaffirmed old racist stereotypes about pathology in black communities and of black men in particular. Critics also charged Walker with focusing heavily on sexism at the expense of addressing notions of racism in America. Nonetheless, The Color Purple also had its ardent supporters, especially among black women and others who praised the novel as a feminist fable. The heated disputes surrounding The Color Purple are a testimony to the resounding effects the work has had on cultural and racial discourse in the United States.

For those of you who have started, what do you think of the way black males are portrayed? Do you think it re affirms stereotypes or does it hold true?

Do you think some people claim some things are stereotypes but in reality they are unpleasant truths about a certain group?

Let me know your thoughts!

Some Girls: My Life in a Harem

"So these were the women with whom I was traveling halfway around the world: a Jesus-loving Hustler centerfold, an evil shadow Marilyn, and a summer=camp counselor gone wrong." page 72

Some Girls is the story of Jillian Lauren who at 18 took a chance of a lifetime and traveled to the country of Brunei to be part of Prince Jefri's harem. She had just recently started working as an escort on the recommendation of a girl named Taylor whom she met while playing Victim 1 in a Vampire flick where her boobs got more airtime than her face.

Jillian left home at 16 when she early enrolled to NYU and then promptly dropped out and her adopted asshole of a father said no more money. So she started stripping, working as a waitress and interning with a theater group. She always held out hope that the big job that would break her was just around the corner, but what 18 year realizes when you show your tits you probably aren't going to make it to the big screen?

Jillian had an emotionally and physically abusive father who made her leap to Brunei sort of easy to understand but at the same time you wonder why the thought of sex slavery wouldn't keep her firmly planted on USA soil. When she arrives she finds a very regimented party where girls separate themselves by country and vie for the attention of Prince Jefri who insists upon being called Robin. He is spoiled playboy who gets what he wants how he wants when he wants and he demonstrates his control all of the time. In his defense I will say that he does give some pretty darn good gifts!

I really enjoyed this memoir, but parts of it were 'eh.' You can tell she was a very broken young girl and writes about her depression and her loathe of herself but I really don't think her best writing is in those parts. I think the parts of her first trip to Brunei are the best written parts of the book. I will say that the epilogue made my heart happy.

You can check out Jillian Lauren's website here.

Here is the Wikipedia article on the prince whose harem Jillian was a part of. I personally found that part of the story to be my favorite. The New York parts were the typical rich kid going at it poor style in New York trying to make the ends meet that appear in other memoirs or stories.

I received this book from Crazy Book Tours. All thoughts and opinions are mine!

Blogfest Giveaway Winner!!

is Betty from Reflections with Coffee! Betty picked out 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher which was one of my favorites that I read this year! I also follow the author's blog here.

I really hope all of you new followers stick around for awhile! I will slowly get around to visiting all of you!

Betty I will send you an email to get your shipping address!

I am currently reading: Some Girls: My Life in a Harem by Jillian Lauren. It is really good so far and I am almost done. It has humor, depression and a real life tale too good to be true. Highly recommend it. I have it as an ARC from Crazy Book Tours and after I finish it I will be reading The Doctor and the Diva also from Crazy Book Tours. Anyone read these? What did you think?

What are you reading right now?

Blog Fest 2010 Giveaways abound!

Welcome to all of those stopping by for the first time!




I feel so bad because I had grand plans for this giveaway and then time/money and tiredness got in the way and it won't be as awesome as I had planned. But I do promise that I will definitely attempt to giveaway the awesome locally homemade book covers that are at my local arts shop soon. So for my awesome giveaway I am letting you pick which book out of the ones I have reviewed in 2010. Here is a list and a link to my reviews.



Cross Country by James Patterson

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larsson

Twenty Stories - Kristin Fouquet

The Sister Pact - Cami Checketts

The Reader - Bernhard Schlink

The Worst Case - James Patterson

Funny Farm - Mark Teague

Morning Neurosis - Juliette Miranda

13 Reasons Why - Jay Asher

Sexaholics - Pynk

The Night Before the Tooth Fairy

Five Little Bunnies Hopping on a Hill

Spooky Little Girl - Laurie Notaro

Middlesex - Jeffery Eugenides

Firefly Lane - Kristin Hannah

The Last Child - John Hart

True Colors - Kristin Hannah

The Help - Kathryn Stockett

Jane Austen Ruined My Life - Beth Pattillo

The Perfect Wife: The Life and Choices of Laura Bush - Ann Gerhart

Dying Scream - Mary Burton

House Rules - Jodi Picoult

The Girl Who Played with Fire - Steig Larsson

The Wednesday Sisters - Meg Waite Clayton

Accomplice - Eireann Corrigan

Orphan - John R. Weber

The Girl WHo Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Steig Larsson

The 9th Judgment - James Patterson

Pray for Silence - Linda Castillo

The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

Fly Away Home - Jennifer Weiner

Loving Frank - Nancy Horan

Forget You - Jennifer Echols

The Surgeon - Tess Gerritsen

The Apprentice - Tess Gerritsen

The Sinner - Tess Gerritsen

The One That I Want - Allison Winn Scotch

Glass - Ellen Hopkins

Dark Song - Gail Giles

Every Last One - Anna Quindlen

Songs for a Teenage Nomad - Kim Culbertson



To enter you just need to be a public follower of my blog and leave your name and the book that you want to win. If this is your first time stopping by my blog, let me know who you are!



If you want more chances to win you can tweet about this giveaway and leave a link to your tweet!



The giveaway will be open until midnight on September 12th! I will pick the winner using random.org and will annouce that person on my blog Monday morning. If you don't respond within 72 hours I will pick a new one! Sadly it is only open to US AND CANADA RESIDESNTS ONLY!



Check out the next blog particpating in the Blog Fest

Reading at the Beach



Don't forget about the massive BlogFest 2010 grand giveaway! Head on over to http://ajourneyofbooks.halfzero.net/ and click on the Tracking Site link to head to our own exclusive tracking site. Once there you can register with a valid email address (to be used solely for the purpose of contacting the winner). This site will allow you to track your progress through BlogFest 2010! You can log on from anywhere at any time and continue where you left off. The best part is that every blog that you visit and mark off through this tracking site will give you one entry into the massive giveaway! We have a great collection of books, goodies and other swag that is looking for a new home



Thanks for stopping by!