My Top Summer Must-Reads

Pick up these hot books along with a beach umbrella and a side of sunscreen.

1. Escape By: Barbara Delinsky
Exploring every woman’s desire to abandon the endless obligations of work and marriage, and the idea that the most passionate romance can be found with the person you know best.

2. Mad Women by Jane Maas
Her tell-all account of life in the New York advertising world, a copywriter who succeeded in the primarily male jungle depicted in the hit show Mad Men. 

3. 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James
When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating. This New York Times #1 bestselling, steamy book has taken the world by storm,  jump on the bandwagon and see what all the buzz is about.






4. Apron Anxiety: My Messy Affairs In and Out of the Kitchen by Alyssa Shelasky
Hilarious and heartfelt memoir of quintessential city girl Alyssa Shelasky and her crazy, complicated love affair with, the kitchen. This is a memoir (with recipes) about learning to cook, the ups and downs of love, and entering the world of food full throttle.









5. Lots of Candles Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen
The New York Times bestselling author writes about looking back and ahead—and celebrating it all—wise and witty as she considers marriage, girlfriends, our mothers, faith, loss, all the stuff in our closets. The book is enjoyable gulped down in a few sittings, but the format also calls for a leisurely one-essay-each-day reading perfect for your sun sessions.





6. This is How  by: Augusten Burroughs
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Running With Scissors comes a groundbreaking book that explores how to survive the "un-survivable" and will challenge your notion of self-help books.






 

7. The Goddess Guide by Gisèle Scanlon
A girl's bible for living a spectacular life. It is ravishingly beautiful to look at, every page is a work of art! Stuffed to the gills with the author's genuinely stylish tips, there isn't a woman alive who wouldn't love it. From getting the perfect Hollywood smile from world renowned experts Marc Lowenburg and Gregg Lituchy in New York to booking the best hotel bed and seeing Christian Louboutin's Paris to obtaining those perfectly sculpted arms, The Goddess Guide has it all.






8. Bloodmoney by David Ignatius
A gripping, ripped-from-the-headlines CIA thriller set in Pakistan that will have you wondering just how much is actually fiction.








9. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, raising exceptional children, becoming more productive, building revolutionary companies and social movements, and achieving success understands how habits work. Habits aren’t destiny. As Charles Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.

Wrinkle Jealousy

While I was at church the other day I noticed and older man in front of me with his family. 

At first I didn't pay much attention but then he smiled, all of these deep set wrinkles started to show in his face, and a sense of jealousy washed over me.  I thought about how when I get older I hope those are the lines that help define my life.  It showed that he went through life happy, that he probably smiled a million times to get those wrinkles.  I bet his life wasn't easy or perfect but that man smiled through it all.

 Food for thought

Tuesday Chrissy her mom and I went to Tigers Game! 

So fun other than the fact that it snowed... 

Oh Michigan you never surprise me, given I was just sunbathing 2 weeks ago. 

Ha 

At least they won :) We must be good luck charms.

Never Forget

 

*****

Strawberry Shortcake/ Angelfood Cupcakes

makes 24 cupcakes

9 large egg whites (1 1/2 cups)

1  teaspoons cream of tarter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups sifted powdered sugar (sift before measuring)

2/3 cups sifted cake flour (sift before measuring)

1/8 teaspoon salt

Let egg whites sit at room temperature for about one hour before beginning. While eggs are resting, measure out powdered sugar and flour, then sift powdered sugar, flour and salt together. Set aside. Line a cupcake tin (or two) with cupcake liners.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in the bottom third of oven.

Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until frothy (Top Right Picture). Once frothy, add in cream of tarter, then beat at medium speed until soft peaks form. This took me about 5-6 minutes. Gradually add granulated sugar with the mixer still on medium speed, continuing to beat until egg whites thicken a bit more with opaque, soft, droopy peaks (Middle Right Picture). Once there, beat in vanilla extract.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and sprinkle 1/4 of the dry ingredients over the egg whites. Fold gently with a spatula until combined completely. Continue with the rest of the dry ingredients – I did this in three increments.

Once batter is smooth, use a 1/4 cup measure to pour heaping scoops of batter into each liner. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until tops are golden brown. Let cool completely, then frost as desired. I frosted mine with a simple fresh vanilla whipped cream, using 1 pint of whipping cream, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and beating until thickened. 

After that I cored them and added a Strawberry compote & frosted them with store bought whipped White fluffy icing! 

Enjoy! 

Grander Rapids

Recently I went to Grand Rapids with my mom to go check out a school (yes I'm thinking about transferring) which is a crazy, scary thought. While we were there we stop at this little place to eat that came highly recommended, and it was great. They had so many Vegetarian, Vegan and Gluten-free stuff. Which is wonderful cause mom can't have gluten, and she was definitely not used to all the choices! They even had a whole Gluten-free dessert bar. It's great food, and a great atmosphere! If your ever in the area I would highly suggest it. Here's their website - http://mariecatribs.com/

Snow for Spring Break

So this weekend Maria, Chrissy and I decided we wanted to do something for Spring Break but nothing too expensive. To our luck a few of our guy friends were heading up north for a skiing trip over from Friday to Sunday, and one cabin split between 11 people was just in our price range. To start off the trip we had 4 people 3 snowboards the over packed bags of 3 girls in a tiny Ford Fiesta.  It was a cramped and a got a little crazy but with only $20 in gas we made it. The first night we went bowling where my motto soon became, " The worst you are at bowling, the cooler you are." At the bowling ally we found tattoos and lets just say we went a little crazy with them later in the night. When we woke up we hit the slopes (Bunny one of course) I love how my friends and I are always on the same page as me. After about 10 times down and an accidental one down the moderate trail we were done ha. Then the boys came back for a family dinner after we had the chance to shower and nap and just goof around. We headed to the basement of the resort where there was a DJ and a very generous man named Kevin who kept us entertained all night. Oh and we met some friends from our area that were having a girls weekend and since our group was highly out number with males we all became quick friends and as you can see got a little carried away with the whole mustache thing. Needless to same it was a wonderful, cheap weekend. Hope yours was awesome as well.