Book challenge 2012 ~ The Brethren: John Grisham

Today I promised myself an early night but instead stayed up and finished my second book of 2012. This means I am still on track to complete my 24 in 2012, hopefully more. Book number two was The Brethren by John Grisham. I have always wanted to read a John Grisham novel.  He seems to be one of those authors that everyone has read at least one of their books. The Brethren just so happened to be the chosen book as I picked it up for $2 at an op shop. 


So what did I think of the Brethren? I liked the two separate stories that collided, I liked that it was suspenseful but not so suspenseful that it annoyed the hebber jebbers out of me and I also liked that it was clever without being to complicated (think the first 100 pages of Girl with the Dragon tattoo).


What didn't I like? I didn't like any of the characters, none of them had much depth and this is usually something I look for in a book. I also thought it was going to have a really clever ending, I liked the ending but I expected more.


Would I recommend it? Definitely, it is an easy read with an interesting storyline, I give it 6 tacos out of 10, yum tacos. 


Have you read any John Grisham novels? Anything that you would recommend I read?

Acquired

One of my goals this year was to get better at budgeting and while I have been pretty well behaved a few new things have slipped through the cracks...

♥  Basic stripy top 

♥  Clinique lip balm - I love this product, some lipsticks dry out my lips but this product moisturisers and colours all at the same time, its brilliant.

♥ I couldn't resist this cute jumper from Target, I have stored it away for Autumn.

♥  I think it is crazy that easter eggs are already out but I am happy to see these little guys again. I got addicted to them last year after seeing them on this blog

♥  New books, I can never resist walking out with something when I go into a bookstore.

Confetti

Shoes: varsavia // dress: gift/vintage // top: valleygirl // hat: jeanswest belt: besey johnson

Today I have been in a grumpy mood and managed to completely waste the day away. I had a friends farewell last night and the classic white wine was on the house and I completely over indulged. I think I am getting too old for these shannanigans, especially as one day with a hangover is kind of a waste of a weekend. I also wanted to go swimming today and the weather was awful so that definitely compounded my mood. 

On the other hand I had a really fun night, we went to a Greek restaurant and the end of the night saw plates being smashed and tables danced on, completely cliché and completely delightful. I wore this skirt yesterday which the lovely Alyssa sent me for my birthday, I adore the colour it reminds me of confetti.

Right now Brendan is watching the Jurassic Park marathon on tv and I am filling my ASOS cart with things I cannot afford (don't worry I wont hit "buy now"). Sorry to be a bit moany, I think an early night and I will hopefully be back to normal tomorrow. I hope you had a lovely weekend! 

Oh and I joined Pinterest it would be great if you left your username in the comments so I can follow you, my username is timeaftertea.

Nespresso love

Up until I was 21 I absolutely despised coffee, the smell alone was enough to put me off. On my 21st birthday a friend bought me a mocha, not wanting to be rude I had a sip and bam it was all over, a coffee addiction quickly followed. I would hate to think I how much I have spent on coffee over the years...

For christmas my mum bought me my own nespresso machine and it is absolute heaven. On a weekend we don't have to go out and get coffee to have with breakfast and during the week I make one in my keepcup or Starbucks travel mug and run out the door. Now the only problem is stopping at one. 

An oldie but a goodie

Bag: coach // shoes: forever 21 // dress: dangerfield //cardie: target // belt: allanah hill //watch: swatch

My wardrobe is currently failing to inspire me, I wish I was better at remixing things but I seem to create one outfit that I really like and continue to just keep recycling the same look. I am pretty sure that I have worn this dress (and possibly together with the cardigan) on my blog before but look at that cute red bow belt I have added and new shoes....ok so I need to work on the remixing. Feel free to tell me how you would wear this dress without a red cardy because thats the only way I seem to rock it. However this is one of my favourite outfits, polka dots and a pop of red have never let me down.

At the moment I seem to gravitate towards anything with dots, does anyone else go through phases like that? I seem to go through phases and never leave them as I am still obsessed with florals and stripes, so I will now just add polka dots to the list.

Today I stuck pretty well to my 30 day challenge but had 1 and a half diet cokes, caffeine is obviously a weakness I need to work on. I am going to go to bed and hopefully get up early to do washing and bake cookies for work, its been a bit hectic lately and I think people deserve a treat (plus I am loving freshly baked cookies at the moment and this seems like a good excuse to indulge.)

My 30 day challenge

Link

Last night I was reading one of my fave blogs Milkteef which recommended I read this blog. This lead me to read the entire blog from start to finish and leave feeling completely inspired afterwards. I really feel like Rose has this whole life balance thing sorted out and made me want to persevere to achieve my goals this year.

So for 30 days I am concentrating on being kind to my body. I developed some pretty good habits in 2011 in relation to eating better and exercising regularly but after my trip to America it all started to go a little down hill so for the next 30 days I am aiming to:
♥ Only have one coffee and one diet coke a day (I failed this today...)
♥ Eat 2 serves of fruit & 5 serves of veggies (5 serves of veggies is tough, check out this guide)
♥ Exercise six times a week
♥ Get at least seven hours of sleep
♥ Four alcohol free nights a week
♥ Drink eight glasses (approx) of water a day
♥ Limit carbs after 4pm

I am not going to weigh or measure myself, I just want to concentrate on forming better habits and feeling good! Feel free to join me if you need to get back on track after the holiday season or maybe you could set your own 30 day challenge if there is something else you want to achieve. Lets all report back in 30 days....


Oh and by the way after 30 days I am rewarding myself with this....... its all about balance!

Avoiding the express lane

Top: Fine and Dandy Vintage // shorts: //bag: forever new // shoes: wittner // belt: zara// earrings: sportsgirl

Yesterday I had absolutely no motivation to do anything. By 2pm I had managed to sporadically move from the lounge to the bed and back again without achieving anything in between. I bargained with myself that if I at least got dressed I didn't have to do anything else. Getting dressed some how lead to a spur of motivation and I baked some cookies, went and got coffee and walked around the lake.

Today I was treated to breakfast at one of my favourite cafes and than got an hour and a half massage with a gift certificate from my birthday. It was so lovely and relaxing, something I wish I could indulge in every Sunday, what a great start to the week.

However I than went to pick up groceries and was abused by a lady in the line for having two many items in the express lane. I was three items over and I can honestly say I had no intention of inconveniencing her, I didn't think that I was 3 items over. I was so taken back I didn't know what to say I guess in future I will just double check how many items I have, surely there is more important things to worry about in life.

I hope you have had a good weekend!

You're my best friend

Today is my sisters 21st Birthday and unfortunately I am not celebrating with her, as the lucky thing is in Paris. She will be at the Moulin Rogue when the clock strikes midnight and than is spending the day at Disneyland. Pretty good 21st if you ask me! I wanted to put this post up because I will be thinking of her today and thanking my lucky stars that I was blessed with such an amazing sister. I know she will stand by me through anything (even when I accidently waxed half her eyebrow off) but is not afraid to tell me how it is. I love this girl and cannot wait till she gets back so we can all celebrate together. I am so thankful for the amazing bond we have and for having someone who knows me better than most.

Week two: Spinach and feta pie

This week I tried out Spinach and Feta pie, I love anything that combines these too delicious ingredients so knew I was onto a winner. The receipe was once again from Jamie Oliver's 30 Minute Meals and once again it took me longer than 30 minutes but that's ok. The salad was easy and yummy, but when it came to the pie I broke one of Jamie's rules of easy cooking - I didn't have the right tools. 

I had left our pie dish at a friends house so instead used lots of little dishes which made the pie far to thick and with not enough pastry. If I had have had a shallow dish I think this dish would have been perfect, just slightly disproportionate in taste with the deep bowls. You wouldn't think something like that would make such a difference.

What have you been cooking this week?

Safer in heels

Shoes: Wittner // top: vangelica // skirt: target // watch: fossil // bag: markets in China town // earrings: sportsgirl

I bought these shoes from Wittner on the weekend for $25 originally $190. To me that is just a little crazy, it makes you wonder how marked up products are and how quickly styles come in and out of fashion that within probably a month a product can lose 80% of it's value. The retail sector is in a slump at the moment and I can see why, with crazy prices like this it really makes me question ever buying anything full price. Anyway I really shouldn't complain because they were a steal and completely budget friendly.

I am currently on the lounge nursing a very sprained ankle, you would be forgiven for thinking that it was the heels that caused the injury. However it was actually at netball tonight after falling over awkwardly and then causing a big scene due to my ridiculously low pain threshold. Plans of getting back into the gym tomorrow have subsequently been put on hold.

Oh and just one more thing, this top is pretty cute right? I wish I could have captured it better in the photos but it was too bright. I bought it from a very sweet little store in Melbourne called With Love from Harem which I unfortunately cannot find a website for.

All good things must come to an end

Skirt: target // shoes: joanne mercer // top: i.d.k // ring and necklace: gift // earrings: monet

My holidays have finally come to an end and I head back to work tomorrow. It is probably for the best as a good portion of time has been spent lying around watching Pretty Little Liars and having afternoon naps. I did venture out a little this weekend for a friends hens  night and than lunch and a movie today. We saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie which was pretty good, definitely better than the first one.

I bought this top in Melbourne from a boutique called i.d.k on Brunswick Street, it had lots of cute stuff at affordable prices and I am happy to find out that they have a stockist in Canberra.

Well I best be off to bed so I can be bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning. Hopefully it doesn't get t0 4pm tomorrow and I curl under my desk for an afternoon nap.

Week 1: Steak Sarnie

One of my resolutions this year was to learn how to cook so I am aiming to cook a new meal each week. This week I tried a receipe from Jamie Oliver's '30 Minute Meals' which I got for my birthday.

The beetroot salad was delicious, you really cannot go wrong with beetroot and feta. The potatoes were good too but I really am just not good at cooking steak. It wasn't bad I just imagine that it could be better. Definitely something I am going to have to try and work on over the next year. The steak was meant to be served with a baguette but I thought that was probably a little bit too carby for dinner time but I imagine it would be delicious. Oh and this definitely didn't take me 30 minutes, Jamie has high expectations of his readers but it was all pretty easy which I like.

My vintage moo-moo

Dress & earrings: vintage // shoes: sportsgirl // belt: forever new

Have you seen the episode of the Simpsons were Homer decides to put on weight so he can work from home and swans around in a moo-moo? This my friends is my moo-moo because lets be honest without a belt it has as much shape as a heshen sack. I do love it though and it such a light and breezy material, maybe some sort of polyester blend. To be honest alot of my vintage dresses are this material and so good for Summer, not enough dresses are made of this material anymore.

I bought this dress from a Vinnies store in Newtown, there was also another dress I fell in love with there but it was unfortunately too big to justify buying, I hope its gone to a good home because it was beautiful.

I only have three more days left of holidays which is slightly depressing. I love my work but I love being on holidays even more. I slept in this morning and than went out for lunch and shopping for a friend. I stuck to my resolution and didn't buy anything except a new bedspread which I bought with a gift card from christmas, woo hoo!