Books

I think reading is so important.  Ever since I was in elementary school I have absolutely loved to read and to this day I still read every single night before bed.  Times have changed a little and I'm officially a Kindle girl now (it took me awhile to give up actual books).  I just finished Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese and am looking for something equally as awesome to delve into next.  Here's what I'm planning on reading over the next several months:

The Light Between Oceans - M.L. Stedman *I just started this one

 

 

The Next Best Thing - Jennifer Weiner

Tell the Wolves I'm Home - Carol Rifka Brunt

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford

Next to Love - Ellen Feldman

A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving

Art of Hearing Heartbeats - Jan-Phillip Sendker

Where We Belong - Emily Griffin

Sephora

 I went to Sephora the other day (at the fabulous King of Prussia Mall....go there) with a gift card to spend.  I would up getting to new products that I am kind of obsessed with.  First, I bought Nars Illuminator in Orgasm and while I'm still playing with it and learning the best way to use it, it's pretty awesome.

 

 

I also got a new Sephora eyeshadow palette which is gorgeous.  Oftentimes when I buy a palettte, I like MOST of the colors but there are always a couple left unused.  I can honestly say I love each of these colors and they go on so smooth and iridescent (and lighter than they appear).  Love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beach Days

Way back when, in a time before residency took over our life, we spent our last day of freedom at Rehobeth Beach in Delaware.  What should have been a 2 hour drive turned into over 4 hours (thank you common sense for escaping me).  Apparently Route 1 in PA takes you to Baltimore, whereas Route 1 in Delaware take you to the beach.  Who knew??

Anywho, it was lovely.  And a little rainy.  But mostly lovely.

 

 

 

Lazy Lazy Lazy

Summer has made me lazy.  I haven't been too ambitious with posting on the blog, I haven't been terribly disciplined with working out, hell, I've barely been getting dressed everyday.  Part of it is the chaos of moving across country, but the other part is I've just felt kind of blah.  In a rut.  I'd rather hang out with my family, go to the pool, go shopping for home goods (and shopping AT Homegoods) than do much else.  I am also now transitioning to night shift which I'm sure will slowly be sucking the life out of me over the next few weeks as I get acclimated.

And so I have yet to get a gym membership (it is in progress though!) or really blog about much other than babysitting my niece and nephew (which I imagine is quite an invigorating read)  I HAVE however not yet given up on Pinterest and have been particularly enamoured with simple outfit ideas that appeal to my lazy self. 

Here's what I'm loving lately:

Adventures in Babysitting

This week was rainy so we had to stay indoors all day. Luckily we had planned to make cupcakes, so we had that activity to fill the time.  The kids decorated them with cupcake flags that I found at Michael's. Camryn's were princess tiara's and Braydon decorated his with rocketships and planets.

 

 

We also made time for a quick game of Princesses and Pirates.  What, you've never played??

In other news...what the fudge did Miley Cyrus do to herself?  I'm calling it right now: she'll shave her head by the end of the year (a la Britney).  Worst makeover of 2012, hands down.

Hair Did!

I finalllllly got my hair done, hallelujah! Were you all loving my roots? So in true Stephanie fashion, I failed to get a picture until after I had slept on it all night. Pretty, right??

If I were a better blogger, I would have documented before and after photos, I'd have pictures of me hanging out on the veranda, sipping my coffee and casually posing for "natural" photos. Or I'd be frolicking in a field of wild flowers (where the fudge do these people live??). At the very least, I'd have a nicer camera (aka not my iPhone!). But this is what you get :)

In other news, I need to get back to the gym...like yesterday.  It's been 2 months since I had a gym membership and it's killing me.  It's so humid here and the only exercise I've been getting is running.  On hotter days I've been running on the treadmill in the mini-gym our apartment complex (which I hesitate to even call a gym), and even then I've only been running about twice a week.  No bueno.

I did this workout the other day and holy hell it was hard. 

Minka Kelly's treadmill workout: 1 minute at 5.0, 1 minute at 5.5, 1 minute at 6.0, 1 minute at 6.5, 1 minute at 7.0, 1 minute at 7.5, 1 minute at 8.0, 2 minutes at 4.5 Repeat five times.

 

I lasted 3 rounds and was soaked in sweat and ready to call it a day. And now I look just like Minka :)  Anyone found any other high intensity treadmill workouts?  I've seen a couple noteworthy ones on Pinterest but this is the first one I've tried.

Why I've Been MIA

Sometimes it's easy to get caught up living life and fail to document it...and I think that's a good thing.  I've been working, trying to decorate and make our new home home-y, managing our life since my husband is working 923483209854 hours a week, and spending time with my family.  I also have been babysitting these little fools:

And bribing them with donuts haha

Happy Friday :)

Happy Birthday!

Both Jonathon and I celebrated birthdays last week! We turned 27 and 28 (I'm 27! For the record!!) We celebrated with my family last weekend and we each got our own cake becuase he loves German chocolate and I love angel food cake....and also because we're spoiled :)

It really has been a blessing to live so close to family again. Our move across country has been significantly more stressful than we had imagined, but moving closer to family has made everything worth it. I mean, how can you not love this face: