Read It

Millennium Series by Stieg Larsson

Not sure if I really need to go into detail.  It was kind of difficult to get into, but after the first chapter or two it picks up.  For me, it was hard to keep all the characters straight.  Once I finished the first one I couldn’t wait to get to the next one and so on.  But warning, these books are for the faint of heart.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

It is certainly strange, because I have a tendency to read books before I see their movie counterparts, but this was an exception.  I LOVED the movie and was compelled to read the book.  As expected, there was some difference, but I loved the book just as I did the movie.

Heaven Is For Real by Todd Burpo

Whatever you may believe or don’t believe, read this.  I read it in one sitting because the story was compelling and it’s a quick read.  It’s the true story of a 4-year-old little boy who slips from consciousness during emergency surgery and goes to heaven.  The book is written by his father, but is kept in the boy’s perspective as much as possible.  It is pretty amazing.

Through My Eyes by Tim Tebow

This is an inspirational memoir about Tim Tebow’s life.  His story has been filtered through others, such as the media, and this is his chance to tell it himself.  He has a unique story, starting at his birth.  He discusses his faith, his family and his motivation.  Tim is a one of a kind man.

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Amazing.  See my blog post [HERE].

Sunrise Series by Karen Kingsbury

This is the third series in the Baxter Family books.  It includes: Sunrise, Summer, Someday, and Sunset.  It follows the lives of the Baxter Family and Dayne and Katie.

Above The Line Series by Karen Kingsbury

This series includes: Take One, Take Two, Take Three, and Take Four.  It follows the lives of two Hollywood producers, starting with them trying to make a movie that will change the world.  It intertwines with the Baxter and Flanigan families in Bloomington, Indiana.

Bailey Flanigan Series: Leaving & Learning by KarenKingsbury

I’ve only read the first two books in the Bailey Flanigan series.  The third book, Longing was recently release and Loving comes out in March.  I love where this series is going and can’t wait to read more.  What will happen with Bailey and Cody Coleman?  Or Bailey and Brandon Paul?

The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman

I read the “Single’s Edition” back in small group in college, but loaned by copy out and never got it back.  I bought the regular version on my Nook and read it in a day or two.  The principles apply not only to marriage, but to any relationship.  I think it’s a book that everyone should ready.  My top love languages are Physical Touch and Quality Time, I think they differ by one point.  The other “languages” include Words of Affirmation, Receiving Gifts and Acts of Service.  We all receive love in different ways.  This book explains each language and the ways people give and receive love through each one.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Just read it.  OKAY?!

Stuck in the Middle by Virginia Smith

Freebie from Nook.  It’s the first of a trilogy about three sisters.  This one is about Joan who is 25 and living at home with her mom and grandma.  Her life is stuck, but once a young doctor moves in next-door things start to change.  With some help from her sister Allie, a big dog and God she starts to find her way.

Bright Young Things by Anna Godberson

This was another freebie.  What’s with getting free books that are part of a series?  It makes me want the others.  This was a fun one, set in 1929, the end of the roaring twenties.  Letty and Cordelia escape from their small Midwest town to New York.  Letty wants to be a star and Cordelia wants to find her long lost father.

Throwaway by Heather Huffman

One more freebie, but this is a standalone.  The author made it free to download as an ebook to help raise awareness about human trafficking, which is the subject of the book.  Jessie’s worked the streets for 14 years, but Gabe, an undercover cop, comes along and offers her love and a future.  It was a really fast read.

I’m currently in the middle of Wuthering Heights.  Next on my list is to re-read The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown, Cold Tangerines and Bittersweet both by Shauna Niequist.  I really want to read through all the books on my Nook.  Do you have any recommendations of books to add to my list?

Seen It, Heard It, Read It

Seen It

Tangled

My family finally got around to watching this after my dad got home from Texas. He loves animated movies, let's face it, I like them too. It was super cute and definitely would be one to own!

Pretty Wild

I had a sick day last week, or the week before, and I ended up in bed all day watching this. It's just one of those good, but bad reality tv, trash shows. It kept me entertained and helped keep my mind off not feeling well. Side note: after watching the show I googled Alexis and Tess and ended up finding Alexis' Youtube channel. She recently started doing video blogs about how much her life has changed since she's been in rehab. It's pretty inspiring and really awesome to see how much she's grown.

Country Strong

This was one we watched right before dad got home, because we weren't sure if he'd like it or not. It was such a great movie and definitely nothing like I expected [in a good way]. I like how the music was incorporated into the movie, there was a great balance between the music and the story.

Just Go With It

I had a free rental from Redbox and this is what I ended up getting. I had fairly low expectations, but since I like Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler [occasionally] I figured I'd give it a shot. Heather, my mom and I laughed through the whole thing! I really want to get it again so my dad can see it because I'm sure he'd love it. I think it's probably worth owning.

How Do You Know

I kind of regret watching this. I'd definitely call it a dud. The story just didn't seem to flow and during parts of it I would ask myself "what is going on?" and "why is this happening?". I was pretty bummed and will [hopefully] never watch it again.

What If...

The cute Debby Ryan tweeted a month or so ago that this movie she was in was on instant Netflix. I looked it up and after reading the brief description I immediately added it to our queue. It's a sweet story about the "What if..." in this man's life. It has a lot to do with faith and spirituality, but does so in a way that doesn't portray Christians as outrageous or crazy. I would highly recommend this to anyone and everyone.

Heard It

Brett Dennen: Loverboy

I'm still mourning the fact I missed seeing Brett when he was in Boise at the beginning of June.

Lenka: Two

I was thrilled to finally get Lenka's new album. Remember that one time I met her? Oh yeah, that was awesome.

Steve Martin: The Crow

I can't wait to see him on Saturday night! I'm trying to convince him via twitter that he needs to give Heather and me backstage passes as a birthday present.

Death Cab For Cutie: Codes and Keys

I don't know if I could really say that I've truly listened to this. I've had it playing in the car since about Friday because I've been driving all over the place lately. I guess if I play it long enough it might stick in my head.

Spotify

On Friday I opened an account with Spotify because I have a Klout account. I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing with it. Maybe I should read/watch the tutorial, ha! I think it'll be cool once I figure it out.

Read It

When Joy Came To Stay by Karen Kingsbury

This was the second to last stand-alone book by Karen that I had left to read. It was difficult to read because of the spiral of despair that one of the characters is experiencing. I love that Karen is not afraid to approach tough subjects, such as depression and faith. I appreciate that her stance in this book is that Christians do experience depression and just because they do it doesn't make them any less of a believer.

Where Yesterday Lives by Karen Kingsbury

This book seemed a little bit different than some of Karen's other books, maybe because it was one of her first ones. It's a story of a woman going home after her father passes away. She looks for solace while dealing with arguments with her siblings and distance from her husband.

The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

When we went to Whistler last summer [ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE] Janelle was reading this book. I've had it written down on a sticky note so I'd remember to read it when I found time. Heather read it last fall and wrote THIS POST about it. I absolutely loved it!

Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult

I decided to take a little break from reading through all of Karen Kingsbury's books, so I started at the beginning of Jodi Picoult's books. It was definitely a different pace than Karen's books, so it took me a while to get into it and find a rhythm. It's told through 5 different voices, some in the past and some in the present. I found it really interesting and, at times, heartbreaking. I'm starting another book by her today.

Seen It, Heard It, Read It

Seen It

Remember Me

This movie has been in my Netflix queue for the longest time. I moved it to the top of the list while my dad’s been out of town because I figured it was a chick flick that he wouldn’t be interested in. I thought it was a great movie and very unexpected. Plus, Robert Pattinson was some sweet eye candy.

Ramona and Beezus

I remember reading this when I was younger and so I was excited to see the movie. It was a sweet story and was definitely family friendly. Joey King was an adorable Ramona and Selena Gomez was a perfect big sister.

Soul Surfer

Heather, my mom and I went and saw this at the dollar theater a couple weeks ago. It was such an incredible and inspiring story. I pretty much cried through the whole thing. Check out Carlos' blog about this movie HERE. It's amazing.

Bad Teacher

Heather, my mom and I decided to go to a movie last Sunday afternoon. There was nothing worthwhile playing at the dollar theaters so we decided we’d pick a new movie to go see. Unfortunately there wasn’t much to choose from, but we decided on Bad Teacher. First of all, my mom did NOT like it. Just a suggestion: don’t take your mom to see this, even if she does love Justin Timberlake. The story left much to be desired. As Heather said, the message she got from it was that you can manipulate people to get ahead as long as you don’t get caught. If you want to see this movie I’d definitely wait until it’s on dvd. I wish I hadn’t spent the money on it. Bummer.

Heard It

Shawn McDonald: Rise



I heard this song this past week on Air1Radio and immediately fell in love with it.

Maroon 5: Moves Like Jagger



Has anyone else had this song stuck in their heads for the last couple weeks? I must confess there have been a couple times that I’ve played it on repeat. It’s so catchy and I can’t help but dancing every time I hear it.

Read It
Divine by Karen Kingsbury

This book is a story of a modern day Mary Magdalene. Mary Madison grew up with horrible tragedies in her life but overcame it all through the divine power of God. She’s used her story to help others and will once again share what she’s faced with a young woman named Emma who is trying to escape an abusive relationship and care for her two young daughters.

Reunion by Karen Kingsbury

I was so happy to finally finish the Redemption series! This was the perfect end to it all. I was just so happy when I finished it because I knew I didn't have to say goodbye to the Baxter family yet. I was able to continue to get to know them in the next series by Karen.

Firstborn Series

Fame by Karen Kingsbury
Forgiven by Karen Kingsbury
Found by Karen Kingsbury
Family by Karen Kingsbury
Forever by Karen Kingsbury

While the Baxter family is part of this series, it also has many new characters. I really enjoyed all of these books. I probably read them in less than a week. Before I start the Sunrise Series I'm going to try to finish up all of Karen's stand alone books that I haven't read yet. If you haven't read any of her books yet, I definitely recommend it. Karen's trademark is "Life-changing fiction" and that's definitely true of each and every one of her books.

Seen It, Heard It, Read It

Seen It

Extraordinary Measures

This was a sweet and touching movie, inspired by a true story about a father (and mother) doing absolutely everything in their power to help their sick children. Harrison Ford was a great addition to the cast of Brendan Fraser and Keri Russell.

Better Off Ted

Jenny suggested that we watch this when we were in Savannah. Heather and I hadn’t seen it before. We continued to watch it on instant Netflix during our roadtrip. It’s such a funny show and I’m so sad it’s no longer on. I love that the episodes are short, we’ve almost watched both seasons already.

Bridesmaids

I went into this movie expecting it to be the female counterpart to The Hangover. It was to some extent, but it was also a really great story. I could actually relate to Annie a little bit, which at some times was scary, haha.

Heard It

Nate Fowler: Wherever You Go

This was one of the cds on our roadtrip playlist. Besides hearing him open for Tyrone Wells I hadn’t heard him before. But when a couple of his songs came on I was able to identify them, weird!

Kate Nash: Made of Bricks

This takes me back to my California days. I hadn’t listened to it in a long time, but added it to the roadtrip playlist because I knew all of us would enjoy it. The music is so fun and the songs are unique and creative.

A Fine Frenzy: Bomb In A Birdcage

Heather and I listened to this a lot last summer while we were working. I love it. I love Alison Sudol. I can’t wait for more music from her. I won’t tell you about the time Landon Pigg opened for her (our second to last night in California) and we left before she even went on.

Rilo Kiley: Under The Blacklight

This will always and forever remind me of California (is there a theme here?), but more specifically the beach. I’d always bring my itouch along to the beach and sometimes I’d take out my headphones so we could all listen to music. This was a favorite and always fit the mood.

Finally, a different kind of heard it:

If you watched our video blog about our trip from Boise to Savannah, then you’ll know that getting from Atlanta to Savannah was our biggest challenge. We met a mom and daughter on the plane who were coming back from New York. Hannah, the daughter was a student at University of Alabama in Birmingham. She experienced the tornado there first hand and sadly lost a sorority sister to it. Her first hand account was moving and terrifying. She sent a text to her parents and brother telling them that they’d never know how much she loved them. She didn’t think she’d make it. I can’t begin to imagine.
If you would like to donate to help the tornado relief in Birmingham or Joplin you can do so HERE.

Read It

Forever Faithful Series
Waiting For Morning by Karen Kingsbury
Moment Of Weakness by Karen Kingsbury
Halfway To Forever by Karen Kingsbury

I started reading this series when I was waiting for new books from the library. Literally a sentence into the first book I remembered I’d read it before. I figured that I’d re-read them since it’d obviously been a long time. I was surprised at some things I didn’t remember from reading them the first time. The first two books of the series are separate stories and in the third book they cross over. They deal with hard issues. The first book is especially difficult because of the bitterness of one of the characters. It’s amazing though to see how God works in their lives and remains ever faithful.

Women of Faith/Timeless Love Series
A Time to Dance by Karen Kingsbury

I read this on my way to Savannah and finished it before we left on the roadtrip. It was really hard to read through the hurt and pain the characters were experiencing. It ended up being a beautiful story.

A Time to Embrace by Karen Kingsbury

I didn’t start this sequel until after I had got home from the trip. When I first started it (perhaps because I had been so tired) I totally forgot it was the sequel. I loved learning more about the characters from the first book and to see their faith continue to grow through the struggles and trials they faced.

Amanda’s Blog

My amazing friend Amanda started a blog in April. She is starting a new chapter in her life and is sharing her journey. Her blog is honest and she lets you see into her heart. Amanda is an incredible woman who has been through her share of struggle and pain. She wants the best out of life and she is going to change the world. She is truly an inspiration and I’m so proud of her. Read it HERE. Follow her on twitter HERE.