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A Photo A Day

Every year, I create a Shutterfly book that encompasses all of the big events and trips I take. You can view 2012 here and 2013 here. I’m almost caught up with my 2014 book, and quickly realized that as of June 2014, it will be all about Isla – except our trip to Mexico in September for Paola’s wedding! I also wanted to create another Shutterfly book with one photo a day for the first year of Isla’s life. It astonishes me how much she has already changed in under two months, and I know that I’ll love looking back and seeing her grow day-by-day on her first birthday.

Have you seen other creative ways to chronicle life’s big events? Do you use Shutterfly? I know that my friend Mara does Project Life, which I love as well.

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2014 Summer Reading List Part 2

As I mentioned here, I have been doing a lot of reading since Isla’s birth. I’ve finished a number of wonderful books since my last post, and I want to share them with you. The last nine books have had some hits and some misses. The ‘must reads’ include Ella Minnow Pea, Eleanor and Park, Girl in Translation and The Cuckoo’s Calling. I would not recommend reading Save the Date, and am pretty iffy on The Vacationers and Austenland (links to all novels below). For summaries and my thoughts, read below! Please give me your suggestions! I’m currently reading the sequel to The Cuckoo’s Calling, titled The Silkworm. Loving it so far.


 

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Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn is a genius novel. It is set in the fictional island of Nollop, where the town’s ‘god’ is the man who fictitiously created the pangram ‘The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.’ This sentence hangs in the town, and as letters start to fall to the ground, the leaders of Nollop start to ban them from everyday language. It’s a very, very well written book, and I highly recommend it to any literary lover.


 

1352137632_The-ChanceThe Chance by Karen Kingsbury is a nice, easy read. I love Karen’s novels, and have read about 20 of them over time, so the only negative thing I have to say about this book is that it’s predictable. The story is based on two high school best friends who are torn apart due to the girl’s mother’s affair. Many years later, the two individuals paths are set to cross as they reach the date of a reunion set about before Ellie moved to California. Karen is a Christian fiction author, and I enjoyed reading this novel and being reminded about how God influences our daily lives.


 

girltranslationGirl in Translation by Jean Kwok is amazing. Seriously. I will admit that I thought it was an autobiography for 90% of the book, which made me cry even harder about the hardships this young Chinese girl faces living in the slums of New York. I love it, even knowing that it’s fiction! This novel will open your eyes about the conditions that immigrants face when coming to the United States and how difficult it is to land in a country with a foreign language. This is a must, must, must read.


 

GONE_GIRLGone Girl by Gillian Flynn… well, gosh. I loved it until the very, very end. Like, the last few pages – and it’s long. And even now, I don’t hate it – but the ending is not how I would have written it! This novel is also very well written, and is a definite page turner. I finished it in a day and a half – keep in mind, Isla feeds 7-8 times a day, so there’s lots of reading time. The premise of the book is that a man is framed for murdering his wife, but it is far more intricate than that. I don’t want to give anything away, but read it for yourself and let me know what you think about the ending. I cannot wait to see the movie, which comes out this year!


 

9781594631573_custom-4b106fc6a0849fb88eaa0e325b41623860b3f21d-s6-c30The Vacationers by Emma Staub is (truthfully) overrated. I see it ALL over Instagram that bloggers are reading it, and I really didn’t think it was that great. It’s an easy read, but not necessarily page turning. I get why a book about a family vacation gets dubbed as a summer read, but I don’t recommend reading it. The storyline is about a girl whose dad has an affair on her mother, but they are sticking together for a family vacation abroad, where they are joined by her brother, his girlfriend, and her mom’s best (gay) friend and his husband. If you’re looking for a book to read, try one of my ‘must reads’!


 

rowell_ep_usEleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell is absolutely incredible. I loved every page of this book. Eleanor is a very, very poor girl whose stepfather is very abusive. She goes to a new school, and is befriended by Park, a small Asian boy, who allows her to sit next to him on the school bus, much against his desire (due to intense ridicule from the popular kids). Their friendship develops without Eleanor’s parents knowing and then takes some interesting turns. Please, read this.


 

9781594631986B.JPGSave the Date by Jen Doll – I wouldn’t bother reading this. I don’t think I’ve quit reading a book ever in my life, but about 60% of the way through Save the Date, I did just that. I felt like it was a collection of (some funny, some complainy) wedding stories by an unmarried woman. It came off a bit feminist and ‘some people find that they have to get married to be happy, but I don’t!’ ish.


 

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Austenland by Shannon Hale is another easy read, but very, very predictable if you have read any Jane Austen novels. I enjoyed it nonetheless. It’s about a girl whose late relative pays for her to go to England and experience a submersion experience ‘Austenland.’ All Jane wants to do in life is find her Mr. Darcy, and you sort of expect that she will from the first page.


 

9780316206846_custom-011797377029ae073fad95dcd2116402cac33bf0-s6-c30The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith (i.e. J. K. Rowling) is such an intricate, page-turning, exciting novel. I haven’t read this sort of detective novel in years, and I was seriously dying to find out ‘whodunit’ from the very beginning. It is about a model, Lulu, who is found dead and declared by the police that it was a suicide attempt. Lulu’s brother pays Cormoran Strike, a detective, to figure out the true cause of her death. I pinned it on about seven different people throughout the book and was very anxious to find out the true murderer.


Thank you for the great suggestions last time! Please give me more books to read if you have your own ‘must reads.’

Featured image by Palwasha N. Minhas

Highlights of Week One in Durango

We’ve been in Durango for just over a week now, and we are loving it. Sasha said to me yesterday, “You realize the most important and stressful decision we make all day is what we’re going to eat for dinner.” I laughed – but it’s true. We go on about four to five walks a day, as my parents live within 5 minutes of the grocery store, Main Street where all of the restaurants and shops are, Animas River, and mountain trails. My Nike Fuel Band is back in action! I wrote a Durango Travel Guide post last year, but I definitely have to update it after trying many new restaurants, juice bars and ice cream shops. I’ve put together an assortment of photos from our first week – as you can tell, I’ve been very trigger happy as of late.

What are your summer plans?

PS Happy birthday, Mum and Karine!

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Isla flew from Houston to Denver to Durango and slept through every second of it (thank you, Lord!)

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Walking to Durango Joe’s for morning coffee with the whole Petrovic family

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Hiking and biking (while the grandparents were here to babysit!)

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I finally found a bow that is semi-appropriately sized for a newborn – and a tutu dress from my sweet co-workers!

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Celebrating our one year anniversary — with dinner and on a raft!

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My favorite bow romper from Paola (I love Janie and Jack!) and our romantic rooftop anniversary dinner

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Staring at that face all day and praying she always wants to hold my hand

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Geared up for a day on the water (another Paola gift!) and a wet pup from lots of Animas River swimming

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Isla’s new nap place – the BabyBjorn – and a tired tanner in her Baby Gap swimsuit from Erin

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Navajo State Park adventures with the whole family (Isla slept through the entire experience)

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A sneak peak of Isla’s newborn photos from Taylor Lord and I’ve finally sent all of the birth announcements!

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Father-daughter bonding moments that make me heart melt

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Hamming it up – and wearing her UT apparel! Girl’s gonna be a Longhorn fan, for sure

Isla Loves: Wink Shapewear

As mentioned here, I’m starting a series in which I review baby and post-pregnancy products that both Isla and I love. Today is the first post, and I’m reviewing Wink Shapewear.

In order to get my body back to its pre-pregnancy size quickly, I knew I would need the help of a postpartum girdle/shapewear. I did research online, and ended up ordering two different brands – Wink Shapewear and Belly Bandit. While I definitely liked both, I found the Wink Shapewear much more effective. I ordered the Ultimate Postpartum Bikini in nude (see below left). I ordered a medium, which looked tiny while pregnant and definitely fitted very snuggly when I first put it on four days after delivery. Over the following weeks, it became less tight (and more comfortable!). I saw results pretty quickly – see the difference in 10 days in the photos below. I was back in my regular clothes on day 8, which felt like having an entirely new closet after wearing maternity clothes for months!

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Wink Shapewear kindly sent me another product to try – the Waist and Hip Blaster Shorts in Black (see above right). I wanted something to help narrow my hips as they had expanded significantly during pregnancy – probably the reason Isla popped out after 18 minutes of pushing! I received these shorts in a medium, which seemed much larger than the bikini medium. In retrospect, I would have ordered a small in this item. I really like these shorts and wear them 2-3 days a week. The only thing I preferred about the bikini versus the shorts is that the bikini has a clamp at the bottom which makes it easy to go to the restroom, while the shorts unclamp on the side, so you have to undo them them pull them down which takes a little longer. Overall, both products are very effective and I highly recommend both.

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40 weeks pregnant (before heading to the hospital at 2am!) // 8 days postpartum (first day back in regular clothes)

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10 days postpartum (in my Anthro PJs which I love!) // 14 days postpartum


Follow Wink Shapewear on Twitter and Facebook and check out their website here

Nikkor 50mm f/1.8g Lens

I recently signed up for the Photo 101 class with Nicole’s Classes, and my first homework assignment was due yesterday. I absolutely love taking pictures and I have a nice camera (Nikon D5000) that I’ve used on Auto for far too long (i.e. 7 years), and recently decided that I need to learn about all of the features. My friend, Danielle, pointed me to these 4-week online courses and I’m already obsessed. I start my next set of classes in one week – Illustrator 101 – and then will begin Floral Arranging 101 two weeks after that. I can’t wait!

As of last Monday, I only had two lenses, but quickly after starting the courses, I decided that I needed a 50mm lens with a low f-stop number. I did online research, and ended up ordering the Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.8g lens on Amazon. I am obsessed. Seriously – I don’t know how I’ve been taking pictures without this portrait lens!

I’ve included some of the photos from my homework – which included changing ISO, f stop numbers and doing a ‘day in the life.’ I chose to make Isla my model (no arguments from her) – the day included three outfit changes. She’s a puker!

 

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