1. The Turk and my Mother-Mary Helen Stefaniak
2. Girl, Interrupted-Susanna Kaysen
3. Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea-Chelsea Handler

First off, I want to mention that I get most of my books from thrift stores. This means that (most of the time) I have no idea what these books are actually about and buy them because a) I like the cover b) I like the author c) The synopsis sounds cool.
I kept seeing The Turk and my Mother every time I went to the store and finally decided to buy it. I'm glad I did because I really enjoyed this book. This is a collection of stories, spanning four generations of a family, and there is everything from forbidden love affairs to people who come back from the dead. I totally recommend it.
The book I least enjoyed this month was Girl, Interrupted. This memoir chronicles Susana Kaysen's two years in a psychiatric hospital. I don't want to say that it was a bad book, because it's not a work of fiction, but it was just not my cup of tea.
The last book I read in August was Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea. Like her other books, this is a collection of anecdotes. I liked this book a lot more than My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands , which is her only other book I've read. If you like Chelsea Handler and comedy, you might like this book.

As a side note, I don't think I'm actually going to meet my goal of reading 50 books this year (I still need 15!) and that makes me really sad. Between work (I finally have a job, but let's not go there), school, and family I have no time to read.:/

33-Small Style

 Sweater: hand me down (from cousin), Dress: thrift store, Leggings: Target, 

Shoes: Pink Converse, Bow: Dollar Store

I never wear dresses or skirts or accessories. Don't get me wrong, I love all that girly stuff, but I'm just a jeans, t-shirt, and chucks kind of girl. I always thought that when I had daughters they would be tomboys, because that's how I was. Of course, I was wrong; both of my daughters love makeup, dresses, bows...anything and everything girly.
When I was a kid, I rarely got to choose my own clothes. My grandma bought my sister and I matching dresses (no, we're not twins) and made us wear them on the same days, so we always matched. I hated it! When my girls were babies I chose their outfits, but that stopped once they were old enough to let me know what they wanted to wear.
This means that sometimes my child will walk around wearing a romper, tutu, and purple rain boots. It means people will look at us funny and wonder why I let my kids out in public looking like that. (It also means that I don't care what people think, but that's a whole different story).
Sometimes I do want to make my kids go and change. I don't though. My parenting philosophy is this: choose your battles. I'd rather argue with my kids about their grades or the importance of being honest than about their mismatched outfits. So, yeah, that group of kids that look like they're homeless/pageant contestants/color blind, they're all mine.:)

32-Mix Tape

 

31-Books I Read in July

1. The Woman Warrior -Maxine Hong Kingston
2. The Diary of Darcy J. Rhone-Emily Giffin
3. Unenchanted-Chanda Hahn
4. The Memory Keeper's Daughter-Kim Edwards
5. The Thirteenth Tale-Diane Setterfield

July seems like a million years ago. I'm so busy with school that I haven't read a single book this month. :( I have a ton of assignments and I am trying to stay on top of them, so I'm not sure I'll even read anything this month. So sad, because I really wanted to read 50 books this year. Ok, let's just get on with the books I did read (in July): 


I read The Woman Warrior years ago and didn't really like it. A few months ago, I was cleaning out my desk and found a list of 100 books to read (or something like that) by Jane magazine (remember Jane mag? I totally loved it). Of course, I decided to give it another go and, of course, I still don't really like it. Oh, well. At least I tried.
Another book I didn't love was The Diary of Darcy J. Rhone. I know it's a prequel to Something Borrowed and Something Blue, both books I have not read; which may be the reason why I didn't enjoy it. Idk, it was just not my fav book.
I read Unenchanted on my phone (for free!) and was pleasantly surprised. If you like modern adaptations on fairy tales, then this book is for you. I'm actually looking forward to reading the second book in this series.
And now, for my favorite books this month: The Memory Keeper's Daughter was SO good. I experienced so many emotions while reading this. There were even times when I had to set it aside just to process all these feelings. Yeah, it was pretty deep. If you haven't read it yet, do it!
And, The Thirteenth Tale. This book completely surprised me. Right when I thought I knew what was going on, BAM! Ok, maybe I'm being a tad dramatic, but I definitely was not expecting it to end that way. So, yeah, read it!

30-These Are The Times

 

Summer is over! The kids started classes on August 27th (as did I). We dropped them off on the first day, but now the boys walk and the girls ride the bus. Maybe I’m crazy for sending my three year old to school on the bus, but she loves it.

I’m taking 18 credits again. Remember Spring semester and how I said never again? Yeah. Four of my classes are online, which means I’m only on campus Monday and Wednesday afternoons. I have so much free time during the day, but I’m all alone and it’s kind of boring…