Book Review: The Poisonwood Bible

I have finished my 5th book of 2013:

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Here is the synopsis from amazon.com: 
The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it—from garden seeds to Scripture—is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.

My partner, Julie, from a Book Swap hosted in April by Ashley from Being Ashley sent me this book.  I didn't have time to read it until now.  When I started reading, it took me awhile to really get into it. It was not one that captured me right away, and I was able to put it down for days at a time.  BUT I kept telling myself that I needed to keep reading because a few people had commented on my Book Swap Reveal post, and said it was a good book.  PLUS, I trusted Julie's judgment. 
It is a good thing I persevered because the more I read, the more I liked. I enjoyed that the story was told from the perspectives of the mother and her daughters. I eventually felt like I was sharing in their struggles against their stubborn man of the house.  Without revealing too much, Nathan Price's dream was to baptize the people and children in Africa.  The problem is that he just couldn't understand that he wasn't reaching them.  He wasn't meeting them where they were.  He would not listen to the council of others, and rather than turning them to Jesus, he was confusing them or turning them away.

The thing I liked the most was following the girls through their journey and being able to read about their lives after they were grown.  I was surprised by the choices some of them made!

I would definitely recommend The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver if you're looking for a book to add to your summer reading list!

You can view my updated Summer Reading List here.

A Healthy-ish Snack

When I was doing a good job of trying to eat healthier, I decided to take a walnut/pecan mix of nuts to work as a snack.  The thing is....walnuts and pecans taste better in sweet desserts than alone. 

So I decided to take some of the healthy out of the snack and make it a little sweeter.  I'm not using exact measurements here because I pretty much just threw stuff together.  How much you will need depends on the amount of nuts that you use.

This picture shows the snack in a regular cereal bowl.  This was all that I made.

Sweet Walnut & Pecan Snack

Ingredients

• walnuts
• pecans
• butter
• brown sugar
• semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Melt butter in sauce pan over medium heat.
2. Dissolve brown sugar in the butter.
3. Place walnuts and pecans in a bowl with semi-sweet chocolate chips.
4. Pour butter mixture over nuts and chips.
5. Let cool and store in a sandwich bag for on the go snacking!

This was not overly sweet, but it gave the nuts a little something besides well...nothing.  Enjoy! :)

Dinner Time Tuesday 7/2

It's Dinner Time Tuesday again, friends!  :)   To link up, please remember the following:

1. Follow me.
2. Use my button in your post.
3. Snap a picture of your dinner, share it, tell us what you had, and/or share a recipe.
4. Link up your post below.

Here's what I had:

I don't think I can completely express how much I LOVE zucchini!  What you can't see in the picture is that there's spaghetti in there.  I love taking some kind of pasta, cooking up a little zucchini, and putting it all together with sauce and some Parmesan cheese.  Mmmmmm....

While I can get zucchini year-round, it just screams summer to me.

What's your favorite summer vegetable??

Book Review: The King Maker's Daughter

The 4th book I've read this year was The Kingmaker's Daughter by Philippa Gregory.

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Here is the book synopsis from Amazon.com:

SPIES, POISON, AND CURSES SURROUND HER. . . . IS THERE ANYONE SHE CAN TRUST?
The Kingmaker’s Daughter—Philippa Gregory’s first sister story since The Other Boleyn Girl—is the gripping tale of the daughters of the man known as the Kingmaker, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick: the most powerful magnate in fifteenth-century England. Without a son and heir, he uses his daughters, Anne and Isabel, as pawns in his political games, and they grow up to be influential players in their own right. At the court of Edward IV and his beautiful queen, Elizabeth Woodville, Anne grows from a delightful child to become ever more fearful and desperate when her father makes war on his former friends. Married at age fourteen, she is soon left widowed and fatherless, her mother in sanctuary and her sister married to the enemy. Anne manages her own escape by marrying Richard, Duke of Gloucester, but her choice will set her on a collision course with the overwhelming power of the royal family.

Philippa Gregory can do no wrong in my eyes.  Every single book that I have read, I have loved.  To me, few things are as fascinating as these historical tales of England.  Her books are based on historical research, but she weaves in amazing story lines to fill in details that cannot be found.  This book is part of The Cousins' War (also known as the War of the Roses) series.  These novels focus on the time period in which the House of Lancaster and the House of York were fighting for the rights to the throne of England.  The first book in the series is The White Queen.  The Red Queen is next, followed by The Lady of the Rivers, which is actually a prequel to The White Queen because it tells about Elizabeth Woodville's mother, Jacquetta.  The Kingmaker's Daughter is fourth in the series.

I found this particularly interesting since I've read the other three books in the series.  Though it has been awhile since I've read The White Queen, I was able to recall some of the events told now through Anne Neville's eyes.

What I truly love about Philippa Gregory is that you are always rooting for the protagonist of her novels...even when you found yourself rooting against that same character in a previous novel.  In The White Queen, I desperately wanted things to work out for Elizabeth Woodville.  In The Kingmaker's Daughter, I was rooting for Anne and feeling, like her, that Elizabeth Woodville was the enemy.

Maybe I'm just fickle.

OR maybe that's the beauty of these books.  Unlike real life, you actually get a chance to experience events from another person's perspective.  It really makes you see both sides of the story.

If you like historical fiction, English history, Philippa Gregory, Kings, Queens, love, drama, triumph, etc., I say, grab this book and read it!

Microwave Brownie

One of the best things about my Bean Pot is that you can make things in the microwave that you probably wouldn't think of.  Cake, brownies, corn on the cob, even a whole chicken! 

I finally have a microwave big enough for my Bean Pot.  The one we had before was so small that it wouldn't even fit when I turned the lid upside down! 

My friend, Anna, held a Pinterest Themed Celebrating Home party for me, and she decided to make a chocolate peanut butter chip brownie in her Bean Pot in the microwave.  (We have the same Bean Pot.)  It was SO yummy!  I decided to make it for my Celebrating Home team meeting a couple of weeks ago.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Brownie

Ingredients

• 1 box brownie mix (plus ingredients listed on the back of the box- mine were 2 eggs & oil)
• peanut butter chips

1. Mix brownie mix, ingredients from the box, and 2/3 of the bag of peanut butter chips directly in your Bean Pot.

 

2. Place the lid on the Bean Pot and put it in the microwave and bake for 8-12 minutes.  (I'm giving you kind of a large time window here.  Anna cooked hers for 12 minutes and stated that the edges were a little hard/overdone.  I tried 10 minutes.  The entire thing was a little crunchy on the outside, but while it was warm, it was super easy to scoop and eat, and it tasted delicious.  When it cooled, it was rock hard.  I actually needed to pour some milk in it and reheat it a bit.  Next time I make this, I'm going to try 8 minutes.)

Celebrating Home Bean Pot in Simply Summer $39.

 

3.  Remove the Bean Pot from the microwave, and sprinkle with the remaining peanut butter chips.

Do you like my Bean Pot???  This is a spring/summer exclusive pattern called "Simply Summer."  Celebrating Home has a lot of other patterns to choose from!  You can snag your own by using the link below to be taken directly to the Celebrating Home website so that you can participate in my Blog Party!  You have a chance to win FREE MERCHANDISE!!  Visit the Blog Party link for all of the details.

http://www.celebratinghome.com/parties/blogparty519744/PWPHome.aspx

The party runs until July 8th!

Summer Style

Summer really makes me happy. 

My friend Joan and her baby, Abby, came to visit me on Monday.  We had lunch, and went shopping, and I scored some great stuff at Old Navy. 

Naturally, I couldn't wait to wear it.  (Is anyone else like this??  When I buy something new, I need to wear it as soon as possible.  I wore this Tuesday.)

Tank tops, Skirt, Flip flops: Old Navy // "Let's Dance Necklace": Penelope Ann

What you can't see from this picture is that there is a nude color tank under the teal one.  The layering worked well. 

If you like the necklace or want to see more jewelry, handbags, accessories, or home décor, be sure to take part in my blog party!  (This necklace is just $19.75 with a $55 order!)

Right now, this outfit is my summer favorite.  Do you have a go-to summer outfit?

Summer Mani

Before I get started, have you read about my Blog Party??  I'll wait......









Ok.

I really do love painting my finger nails.  I get to do it more in the summer because I have more time.  I can't stand it when polish starts to peel and chip.  Then I have no time to take it off and repaint. 

I digress.

I've mentioned before that I'm a Julep Maven.

Julep is a fun company that offers you an opportunity to receive a monthly box of full-size nail polishes and beauty products for just $19.99.  The best part is that you don't have to get your box each month.  If money is tight, you can just skip the month.  To become a Maven, you take a style quiz.  I'm a bombshell.  :)  HOWEVER, you're not stuck with your style profile.  If you don't like it, you can change it.  Or maybe you like another style's nail polish colors better, you can try those for a month instead.  With each purchase, you earn Jules that can be applied to future purchases.

This was my Maven box for June:

The nail polish is wrapped up in a colorful paper bag and tied with the ribbon.  I love it.  :)  This box also had a few pieces of taffy.  There's always a little surprise in your box!

My colors for the month: Payton and Raegan

Though I probably shouldn't have (for budget reasons), I wanted to try the DD cream, and I really loved that green (Payton).  I have a few outfits I've been wearing that have a green that shade.  I thought it would be a great compliment to them.  It still will be, but that's not the first way I chose to use it....

 

 

Pink and green go great together! 

 

I'm going to try to be a little more adventurous next time, too.  I thought that if I paint the thumb pink, go around the outside of the nail with green, and paint on some black dots, it may look like a watermelon!  What do you think??

 

If you're interested in becoming a Julep Maven, use this link to sign up: http://www.julep.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/136185/.  I get Jules if you join!  :)