Next Up

It's time I decided what my next read is going to be. Not knowing much about the Pioneer Woman other than a few of her delicious recipes, I was interested in learning more about what her life is like as the Pioneer Woman, so I thought this would be my chance. I've heard many good things about this book on other blogs, so I can't wait to get started!

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels--A Love Story

By Ree Drummond

What's on your summer reading list?

Prep for the Big Event

I picked my latest read to help prepare me for the big event at the end of this month...The Royal Wedding. I've always been interested in the Royal Family and wanted to pick a book that would give me an in dept look in to William and Kate's relationship and the Royal Family. I came across William and Kate A Royal Love Story by Christoper Andersen one evening and couldn't pass it up.

I am just about a quarter of the way through the book, but I will have no problem finishing it in time for the big event! I highly recommend this book if you are interested in learning more about Kate and William's romance, the drama behind Charles and Dianna's marriage and understanding the dynamics of the Royal Family.

Will you be tuning in bright and early for the big event on April 29th? I certainly will be!

What I'm Reading

I made a Target run over the weekend and picked up my latest read, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. It was a terribly cold and rainy weekend here in South Carolina which in my mind is no better time to read. I started reading Water for Elephants Saturday and have already read three quarters of it in three days. I am really enjoying the book even though I had no idea some of the scenes in the novel would be so descriptive and graphic. The novel is very well written and I was interested in reading it after so reading so many rave reviews not to mention the movie is coming out soon. Have you read Water for Elephants? If so, what did you think?

What are you currently reading? At this rate, I'll be needing a new book by the end of the week!

I'm trying to decide which of these books to read next:

1.) The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain

2.) The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels--A Love Story by Ree Drummond

3.) William & Kate: A Royal Love Story by Christopher Andersen

Please help me decide!

Style

I'm interested in finding a style book or two that not only I will enjoy reading but is also very helpful. I briefly paged through Lauren Conrad's style book while at Target a few weeks ago, but I wasn't sure this book was what I was looking for. Any suggestions or recommendations? I don't want a elementary style book filled with basic information, I want a very detailed yet informative book.

Below are some other style books I have seen, but know nothing about.

I desperately need your help and expertise!

Getting Ahead

I can't believe I never shared this book I read with y'all. I can't remember when I first read it, but it definitely had to have been before I started this blog. Anyways, I apologize for holding out on y'all but if you haven't already read If You Have to Cry, Go Outside: And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You by Kelly Cutrone and Meredith Bryan, don't jog, sprint to your nearest bookstore and pick it up. It is such a great book for any woman looking to get ahead in the corporate world. Yes Ms. Cutrone tells it like it is, but sometimes the truth hurts, agree?

For those of you who don't know, Kelly Cutrone is the founder of fashion public relations, branding, and marketing firm People's Revolution, which has represented clients such as Longchamp, Vivienne Westwood, Valentino, Jeremy Scott, Paco Rabanne, Thierry Mugler, Bulgari, Christie's, and more. She starred in Bravo's Kell on Earth and has appeared on MTV's The Hills and The City. Prior to founding People's Revolution, Cutrone cofounded Cutrone & Weinberg and was the director of PR for Spin magazine. Cutrone lives in Manhattan with her daughter, Ava (Amazon).

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, so much so, I had to keep myself from reading it cover to cover in one night!

The good news is, if you read this book and enjoyed it like me or if you haven't read it yet and when you do, you realize you enjoyed it as much as me, Kelly Cutrone and Meredith Bryan have a new novel coming out on April 26, 2011 called Normal Gets You Nowhere. If you can't already tell, I'm looking forward to that day!

Lastest Read

Since starting and finishing The Help in a weekend, I've since started my next read: Women Want More: How to Capture Your Share of the World's Largest, Fastest-Growing Market by Michael J. Silverstein & Kate Sayre.

I have been interested in reading this book for some time. In 2008, the Boston Consulting Group ran a lifestyle survey of 12,000 women in 22 countries about their spending habits. In great detail, the authors describe how to reach the group which controls the spending in most categories of consumer goods, but are sometimes misunderstood by the companies that try to reach them. Using several examples of the women interviewed for the survey we see the modern woman from around the world struggling between roles of wife, mother, caregiver, pressed for time, over-concerned with expensive beauty products, frustrated with condescending financial advisors and determined to do good with their dollars (Publishers Weekly.)

So far the book has been interesting and very fun to read. The statistics, stories, and quotes in each story are very engaging. I would recommend this book to any woman who is interested in understanding how we behave as consumers and how to gear products for success in the female economy.

I know I've just begun reading this book, but I am already thinking about what I should read next, any suggestions? I love recommendations!

About the Weekend

I can't believe were back for another Monday, you would think I would have learned by now how fast the weekend goes by.

Friday night Thomas and I had planned to go out for pizza. We decided on a place not far from my house that we had never been to before. When we arrived the wait was close to an hour and Thomas was hungry and didn't want to wait. So we were off to the next place, which ended being just as crowded and there was no hostess which made for a mad house. So we decided not to try another place right down the road. We are walking in to what I thought was our third and final place, which Thomas suggested, and can you guess what? We didn't end up staying there either! He didn't like that you had to order at the counter instead of having a waitress. I mean for crying out loud, we have been to three different pizza places and are now on to our fourth! At this point Thomas starts loosing his "cool" and when this happens he gets extremely frustrated especially since almost an hour had past and we could have just stayed at the first place! The funny part is, the fourth and I am happy to say final place he decided on because I said we aren't going anywhere else, no matter what, didn't have servers either, you had to order ahead and then sit down! Long story short, I am happy we ended up at the place we did, the pizza was delicious and the company was even better (once we ordered)!

Saturday was cold and very windy. I spent most of the morning cleaning, doing laundry, and getting the ingredients together to make chili in the crock pot for dinner. We decided we would stay in on Saturday night since Thomas has been fighting a terrible cold and sore throat. We couldn't have picked a better night to stay in, eat chili, and play cards with the weather being so windy and cold!

Sunday was some what of a lazy day for me, I finished reading, The Help, which I started in August, but ending up sitting on my bookshelf for the past four months until this weekend. I read the entire book from start to finish this weekend and absolutely loved it. I don't know why I didn't stick with it back in August, I think life was just too busy at the time. I'm excited to continue reading as my next book is arriving in the mail tomorrow!

This weekend was just what I needed to recharge. Although, I didn't take care of a big project that is looming over my head, taking down and putting away the Christmas decorations, sigh, I will be working on it this week.

I hope each of you had very enjoyable and relaxing weekend!

Happy New Year!

As I look back on 2010, many memories come to mind. In 2010, I continued to grow and progress to be successful at work, my relationships with family and friends strengthen and grew, celebrated the engagements of cousins and friends, started this blog, traveled to new places, made plans for the future, and made many more memories big and small.

If you have been following my blog from the beginning you probably remember one of my first posts about my New Year's Resolution for 2010 and philosophy if you will on resolutions. Well 2010 didn't change how I feel about making resolutions, but I have put lots of time and effort in to making my New Year's Resolutions for 2011 after successfully completing my resolution for 2010, which was a success by the way! Without further ado...

Katie's 2011 Resolutions

1. Drink MORE water. I don't drink enough water. period. I have always been that way and I want to change that about myself in 2011. It bothers me because I know its not good for my body. Water is a vital part of your body's health and I know my body is severely lacking. It's not that I am choosing other drinks over water, I actually just rarely drink anything. When I am thirsty I usually only drink milk or water with the occasional sweet tea if I go out to lunch or a glass of wine at dinner on the weekends. So here's to drinking more water to keep my body hydrated and healthy in 2011!

2. Read. In 2010 I feel like I got away from reading, wait I know its a fact, I definitely got away from reading. I wouldn't say it's because I lost interest in reading, I really feel as though I just got busy with other interests. My goal for 2011 is to not only get back in to reading, but to make a reading list and to challenge myself to read 10 books in 2011. Anyone want to join me?

3. Try something new. I don't exactly know what I want to try that is "new" to me, but I do have a few ideas. I want this resolution to force me to step outside my comfort zone with the hope that it will become a part of my life from this point forward.

4. Blogging. To continue to grow and create this blog. I have a subcategory of blogging goals for 2011, but I promise there will be some changes, all for the better I hope!

What's your "philosophy" on New Year's resolutions? Do you agree with making resolutions at the beginning of the year or not? What about spending time reflecting on the previous year?

Here's to starting 2011 on the right foot and putting my resolutions in to action!

Eat Pray Love

I can't quite remember, but I would say it was close to two years ago that I first picked up Eat, Pray, Love. This was around the time when its popularity soared through the roof. I really enjoyed the first part of the story where Liz discovers herself in Italy. I spent a semester abroad in college studying in Florence, Italy and it was so neat to read this part of the book and be able to picture myself back in Italy. It was about half way through the pray section when the story just wasn't moving fast enough to keep my interest. In fact, it was moving so slow, it was boring me to death. So as I am sure you can guess I never was able to finish the pray section in order to make it to the love part of the story and therefore never finished the book. However, my terrible attempt at reading the book didn't stop me from seeing the movie!

Last night I went to dinner with my friend Katie and afterwards we went to see the 7:30pm showing of Eat Pray Love. I think I can describe the movie in two words: slow and boring; unfortunately just like the book. If you are like me and had a hard time getting through the book, to the point where you didn't even finish it (I usually don't put down a book without finishing it) then you will feel the exact same way when you see the movie.

The movie wasn't a total disappointment, but it definitely isn't one I would recommend to my friends or sit down and watch time and time again. However, Julia Roberts was fantastic and the beautiful scenery of Bali was incredible.

What are your thoughts and opinions of the novel and/or the movie?

The Help

After reading so many rave reviews on The Help by Kathryn Stockett, I finally gave in and purchased it in hardcover two weeks ago. Gosh two weeks ago, already? Where does the time go? To be honest, I am not a fan of hardcover books, not to mention they are more expensive, so I usually only purchase a novel in hardcover if it is by an author I absolutely love, such as Emily Giffin, but I just couldn't resist this one! Needless to say, I am very excited to start reading this novel! For those of you who aren't familiar with this particular novel below is a synopsis of the novel courtesy of Barnes & Noble.com.

The Help by Kathryn Sockett

"Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women:

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town..."

Are you intrigued? Not to mention I love a story that takes place in the South! I will be sure to share my thoughts with you as soon as I am finished reading. In the meantime, what have been your favorite reads so far this summer?

Happy Reading!

Mint Filled Brownie Cupcakes

My Mom came across this recipe last year in one of her magazines and sent me a copy of the recipe to try. I have made these cupcakes several times over the last year and they have always been a big hit! This recipe is from Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book.

Mint Filled Brownie Cupcakes

Ingredients:

8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup (1 stick unsalted butter), cut in to pieces, room temperature

1 cup sugar

3/4 tsp. salt

3 large eggs

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa, sifted

12 small chocolate covered peppermint patties, such as mini York Peppermint Patties

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard tin with paper liners. Place chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over (not in) a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally just until melted, 4 to 5 minutes.

Remove bowl from heat. Whisk in sugar and and salt until mixture is smooth; whisk in eggs to combine. Gently whisk in flour and cocoa just until smooth (do not over mix).

Spoon 1 heaping tablespoon of batter in to each lined cup. Place one peppermint patty on top, gently pressing in to batter. Top with 2 tablespoons of batter, covering patty completely. Bake, rotating tin about half way, until a cake tester or toothpick inserted halfway in centers (above mint patty) comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, about 25 minutes. Transfer tin to a wire rack to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature in an air tight container.

Tip from my Mom: For bite size use a mini muffin tin and since there is not a peppermint patty small enough for the mini muffin tin I used Junior Mints for the mint candy. You can't go wrong with either size tin, these cupcakes have the perfect amount of chocolate and refreshing mint!

I'll be honest, I'm not always a fan of Martha's recipes because it seems as though many of her recipes over complicate what should be a simple recipe that can be finished in a reasonable amount of time, however I have found that is not always the case with the recipes in Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book!

I haven't been able to find many of the recipes out of this book online but the next time you are at bookstore, check it out! Also, check with one of your girlfriends to see if they happen to have the book and are willing to share.

Happy Baking!

Eloise Gets Her Own Suite at The Plaza

One of my favorite characters, Eloise, from the children's book series "Eloise" by Kay Thomspon has finally has her own suite at The Plaza! My mom first introduced me to the series of books when I was a little girl and I of course fell in love with Eloise! The "Eloise" series was first published in 1955 (something I didn't know until I was doing research for this post).

Eloise is a lovable six year old girl who lived in The Plaza with her nanny, her pet turtle Skipperdee and pet pug Weenie. Millions of copies of the books have been sold and have caused readers to fall in love with Eloise due to all the trouble she caused by making prank calls to the guests, befriending the butlers and braiding her pet turtle's ears!

Eloise: "I absolutely love the Plaza!"

The suite at the Plaza was designed by Betsy Johnson who is known for her whimsical creations. The elaborately decorated room on the 18th floor features pink striped walls, zebra print carpet, and a king size bed with Eloise bedding and lots of pillows just in case you have the urge for a pillow fight! Eloise's room also has a small kitchenette stocked with pink glasses and plenty of candy, a flat-screen TV, DVD player, and of course plenty of Eloise books!

Pictures of Eloise's Suite!

Eloise: "Think Pink. A better way of life!"

The suite officially opens August 16th and according to The Plaza they have already received numerous reservations. With that being said, are you ready to be sticker shocked? The cost for the room is $995 per night!!! Then again, maybe that isn't that shocking to you if you know the cost of everything in NYC is through the roof! If you have ever spent the night in a hotel in NYC then you know first hand how much money you will fork over to stay the night in what I refer to as a budget hotel! In case you are wondering what parents are to do while their daughter (s) are spending the night in Eloise suite, don't worry the suite is attached to two adult rooms. The price tag for all three rooms is $2,000 a night. No big deal, that's pocket change, right? Wishful thinking!

If you are like me and will not be fortunate enough to stay the night at The Plaza hotel in the Eloise suite, do know that in the lobby of the hotel there is an Eloise boutique (opened in December 2009) featuring Eloise toys, dresses and of course books! If you have a little girl of your own or know someone who does, anything "Eloise" makes a great gift, but especially the books.

The Eloise Boutique at The Plaza!

Most of you reading this blog are well past the age of reading children's books unless you have daughter of your own, however I kid you not these books will put a smile on you face no matter your age. Not only is the Eloise series a great story the illustrations make the story even better and more real! The next time you are in a bookstore, pick up an Eloise book and take a look. You will quickly find out what I am talking about and I promise it will make you wish you were a little girl again!

Eloise's Bedroom was always a mess!

Its Definite...

Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin is a must read. In between my several loads of laundry this past weekend, trips to the pool, dinner dates, etc. I managed to start and finish Emily Giffin's Heart of the Matter. I am no book critique nor do I want to ruin it for those of you out there that haven't had the chance to read it yet, but I am here to tell you, you will not be disappointed. Are you ever with Emily Giffin's novels? Not me!

This novel definitely will definitely tug at your heart and through the emotions of the characters, but that's what I love most about Emily Giffin's characters, she makes them come alive. So hands down, without a doubt, whether you are an Emily Giffin fan or not it's a must read! Lucky for you if haven't discovered Emily Giffin before now, because she has written four other novels you can enjoy. Then there's me, who reads her novels faster then she can write the next, but I sure do hope her next novel is in the making, because let me tell you how hard it was at the bookstore on Sunday evening trying to find a book to read after a such a stellar story.

Happy Reading!

Heart of the Matter

One of my favorite authors, Emily Giffin, author of Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Baby Proof, and Love the One You're With has a new book out, Heart of the Matter!

I stopped by the bookstore during my lunch break yesterday to pick it up. I love her books so much, I am always disappointed when I'm finished, because I know she can't write as fast as I can read!

I have read all Ms. Giffin's books and enjoyed each one of them, although Something Borrowed and Something Blue are still my favorite. Rumor has it there is a movie in the making for Something Borrowed starring Kate Hudson, I sure hope it's true!

If you haven't read any of Emily Giffin's books, you are missing out. Be sure to stop by your local library or bookstore and pick one up, I promise you will not be disappointed.

In the meantime, you can find me snuggled up on my living room couch reading Heart of the Matter. Look for a review in the coming weeks once I'm finished reading.