Blogging for Books--Indivisible by Kristen Heitzmann

As I believe I have mentioned before,

I (Monica) love to read.

In exchange for my honest opinion,

Waterbrook Multnomah publishing company

has graciously offered me books to read.

http://www.bloggingforbooks.org/

The first book I reviewed was

Indivisible by Kristen Heitzmann.

Truthfully, I probably would not recommend it to a friend.

It did not follow the typical Christian fiction standard.

I have, however, read certain works of Heitzmann

in the past and thoroughly enjoyed the books.

My formal review is listed below.

I absolutely love to read but am prone to put down any book that seems to be wasting my time. Indivisible by Kristen Heitzmann, strangely, did not grab me from the beginning but still compelled me to stick with it to figure out what in the world was happening. The multiple plots, intertwined with the characters' childhood baggage, made it a little difficult to follow at first, but it would have been impossible to not see the characters through to the end. Intertwined are two great love stories that make you feel as if you have become part of them.

 

Indivisible is not typical Christian fiction. For this review, I received this book free of charge from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group. All opinions in this review are my own.



Hey, Hey, Good Lookin', Whatcha Got Cookin'?

So, the other night, Rachael Ray and Paula Deen Merri and I

decided to whip up some fabulous dishes for supper.

We love cooking (well, if collecting recipes and writing them

down on pretty little recipe cards counts).

Let me rephrase that,

we love the idea of cooking.

Anyway, first things first.

We had to narrow down all of our amazing recipes

and go shopping. Of course, we couldn't pick something

like taco salad, macaroni and cheese, or spaghetti.

No, we had to choose menu items that called for

dried basil, fresh parsley, and minced shallots.

Since we just happened to be out of those necessary items,

off to Wal-Mart we went.

After approximately 45 minutes in the produce section alone,

we made our selections and headed for the kitchen.

Here was the menu for the evening.

Menu

Shrimp Scampi Linguini

Zucchini Casserole

Maggiano's Salad

Banana Cream Pie

We chopped and minced and diced and sliced

and sauteed and studied those recipe cards

for what seemed like hours.

Here we are hard at work...

 And, yes, Merri was definitely crying. :)

Well, our hard work paid off!

Who would've guessed that we were such beastly chefs?!

We invited some friends over and let them eat first to see if they survived

and enjoyed our nice meal.

The fruits of our labor...

Merri's shrimp scampi linguini

(Let me just tell you that it tasted like it came

straight out of Red Lobster's kitchen.)

Zucchini Casserole

(recipe courtesy of my sister's sister-in-law...if that made sense)

And the Maggiano's salad...

And the banana cream pie,

which I actually had to make the next day because I just ran out of time!

And apparently, they don't show Martha Stewart rolling out her own dough.

That business is messy!



What you didn't see...

Me catching the pie right before it slid out of the pan.

What we wish we had done...

Cleaned up as we cooked.

That was a whole lot of dishes. :)

What we didn't think about...

The fact that the smell of onions and shallots really stays on your hands for days.

Talk about a social hindrance.

Next time, you should just come on over!

A good meal is always better when it's shared with sweet friends.

Spring has sprung!

Yay! Spring is finally here! Well...it will be officially on Sunday. :) Sunday is the first day of spring...just in case you were wondering. :) Woohoo!!

Short sleeves, pastel colors, flowers, rain, birds chirping, Bambi...ok, may have gotten carried away on that last one. :) Anyway, I was just going to share a few of my spring projects with you. Here we go!

Remember these?!

 Here is how they turned out. :)

I got this old window at a junkyard for $5 and got the stuff for the wreath 50% off at Hobby Lobby.

For the chair, I just took a piece of...fake wood that is kind of styrofoamy (not sure what it is called) and spray-painted it and camouflaged with a pillow and some flowers. :)

 Yes...that's right folks...that is Haseena that you see there! She is officially part of the family! ha! :)

Isn't she lovely?! I tied a bow around her waist and thought the measuring tape was a cute touch too. :)

Check out this subway art that my sister made! 

Isn't it super cute?! Love it!

 I have an obsession right now with hydrangeas! Here are the flower arrangements that I was working on earlier.

 The corkboard before...

and after the spring makeover. :)

 ...butterflies, Easter, sunshine, green grass, blue skies, bees...Nevermind. Don't do well with bugs. Ugh!

Anyway, you get the idea! S-P-R-I-N-G!!!



Our Favorite Things!

Check out our very favorite things!

Right up there at the top of the page...

A Day Out!

 Shopping day!! So the other weekend Monica and I decided to go to the Mall of Georgia and a few of our favorite stores. Woohoo! Let's go!

We love to shop!!! Maybe a little too much...anyway. :)

Monica and I decided to take pictures of some of our favorite things and decor. When we got to the mall, first stop...lunch! One of my favorites...

The sante fe combo...Mmmm!

Another fun stop and one of Monica's favorites is...

A two-story Barnes and Noble!!! :)

Here are a few things that caught my eye! :)

We all know that I love anything that is distressed, country vintage, or shabby chic!

Both of these pieces are from Marshall's. Love this chair! It looks like it is out of Sense and Sensibility! I pretty much have every Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion, and Sense and Sensibility ever made. Love an old-fashioned romance movie, especially from that era! I'm a hopeless romantic! :)

Anyway...

I like this grayish-blue lamp, also from Marshall's. I thought it was springy too. :)

At Pier 1, love this kitchen table and shelf set!

Ok...and right now this next piece could be at the top of my wish list.

 

 Meet Haseena!!

Yes, that is actually what she is called at the store. :)

 Isn't she lovely?! Very shabby chic! Love it!!

Ok...so I'm almost finished with the new spring stuff!! Pictures coming soon! :)

My New Room!

Here it is! I love it!

Well, let me show you the before picture...

Then we have the primer stage...

Then the paint stage with the stripes...

And now...drum roll, please...

(Use your imagination here, folks.)

The finished product!





I truly do love my new room!

I've had this sleigh bed since I was about twelve,

and I don't know if I'll ever change it.

I have always found dark wood enchanting anyway.

Let me say that I do need to come up with something to make my curtains longer.

We have high ceilings so all normal curtains are too short.

Here are a few more pics.

My inspiration for this vintage room came from two Paris pictures

that I got for $4 or $5 on clearance at Hobby Lobby.

I love that artichoke candle holder from Anthropologie, too!

(Present from my sister...thanks, Mer!)



And I am currently in love with this topiary from Michael's

and this vintage bird clock from Pier 1.

The clock is definitely my new favorite purchase.

The open bookshelf came from Hobby Lobby. Love, love.

 

My New York corner...

A bench on the Brooklyn Bridge

and Central Park in the snow.

And my favorite part of my new room...

My gallery wall!

All of my frames came from Michael's.

 

I've had this chair for a couple years.

Love it, too!

Chair was from Pier 1, pillow from Target.

My bedding was on clearance

at Bed, Bath, & Beyond.

It matched my vintage idea perfectly!
And the frames above the bed also came from Pier 1.
That was the coolest find ever.
They are ivory vintage frames
on a circular wire hanger. One of my new favorites!

Anyway, I've been dying to show all of you my pictures, but I was trying to wait until my sister saw it in person. Hope you love it as much as I do!

"Be My Valentine?" Applications now accepted.

 Bahahaha! I cracked myself up with that title! Since Monica and I are both single, I had to make this post a little fun! At least I have an amazing best friend with which to spend it!

I decided to send my Mom some flowers for Valentine's Day! Well, what I didn't realize, AFTER I HAD ALREADY SENT THEM, was that my Mom was going to be gone to a teacher's conference! Bah! I had already sent them to the school where she teaches to "brighten up your day and your classroom." Some of my exact words on her card. :( Anyway, because I have the best sister in the world, they were able to make it to the house before she got back home. My sister rearranged her day and waited at the church for them to arrive! I know...she's the best. :) Thanks, Rachel! Love you!

They were sitting on the table with the note when she got home. :) Who says your mom can't be your Valentine?! Love you, Mom!!

Well, I did have one project for Valentine's this year and that was...can you guess? A wreath!! Surprise! Definitely have an obsession with those right now!

Ahh! I'm having a hard time getting these pictures up right now! Ok...one more time...

Yay! It worked! Alright...here is what I started with for this project. I bought the heart styrofoam wreath from Hobby Lobby and bought three different colors of pink streamers. Lots of rose-making and hot-glue!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!