Drinks, Ducks & Dogs

Hey guys! I’m super busy today and don’t have time to write a “real” post today, so here’s a few “scenes from the week” that have been making me smile lately

1. Fabio made me breakfast on Thursday, which included an egg on top of an arepa. An arepa is sort of like the Colombian version of an English muffin; it’s made of corn dough and gets nice and crispy when toasted. Fabio melted some cheese on top (under the eggs) and it was de-licious!

2. I had a silly day at work on Wednesday, when I took a fun snapchat with my coworkers.

Love snapchat.

Then we had to test out a Google+ hangout for a client, and things got a little weird.

The funniest part was that the hangout was with two very important people on my team (read: the boss’ boss’ boss) and we had so much fun playing with the props and just hanging out on Google+. I have to say, Google+ might be kinda lame for everything else, but their hangout feature is awesome! (In case you are unfamiliar with Google+ hangout, it’s like Skype but for groups).

Even though my job can be super stressful at times, I definitely LOVE my coworkers

3. Fabio and I received a coupon in the mail for Chipotle for buy one get one. Oh yeah!!

We redeemed it on Wednesday when our kickball game was canceled (solving the to-bar-or-not-to-bar question) and I enjoyed a chicken burrito bowl with brown rice, black beans, tomatoes, corn, cheese, and lettuce. So good!

5. Does anyone remember the duck that I have now seen two times sitting outside my office? You may remember it as the super awkward duck that somehow made its way into the middle of a big city.

Yes. That duck.

Well, I have some news for you- said duck has had babies!!

How adorable are they?!?!?!??? Omg I could not get enough of these little balls of fluff when I spotted them on my walk to work yesterday morning. So cute! Also, since their location was not exactly an ideal place to be raised, someone called animal control and had them moved to a park. Sad for me, good for the ducks. Just look at their cute little fuzziness…

6. I’m going to the National’s game tonight with a bunch of my friends and I am so, so excited!

The last time I went to a game was way back in June of last year! Crazy, right?

Unfortunately Fabio won’t be there this time, but I might just wear the shirt that he has on in the above picture We’ll have to see if it fits me, but I think it would be cute since I don’t have any Nats gear of my own. We shall see!

7. And, the best news of all……from June 27 to July 5, my mom, stepdad, Fabio and I will be going to….

[Source]

The Amalfi coast of Italy!! WOOOOHOOOOOOO!!! Just look how gorgeous that is!! I absolutely cannot wait to go and it’s going to be a blast. I am so grateful that my mom is taking us on this trip- I know it’s going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity THANKS MOMMMMM!!!!

Ok kiddos, that’s all I have for today! Have a great weekend!

Question of the day: What’s the coolest trip you’ve ever been on?

Good afternoon everyone! How is your day going so far? Today I want to share my review of Still Missing, the book chosen by Julie’s book club for the month of May. Although I was too late to post for the blogger link up (somehow I didn’t see when she asked for our reviews?) it’s still fun to participate and I did read the book so I might as well post my review! I will warn you that it does include spoilers so if you haven’t finished it yet you should stop reading this post now (Britt this means you)!

Brief Summary

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens tells the story of Annie Sullivan, a 32-year old realtor who gets abducted during an open house by a man who she deems, “The Freak.” While she is abducted, she is forced to live in an isolated cabin with The Freak and adhere to his strict rules, which include using the restroom only at specific times during the day, never leaving the cabin, and being raped by The Freak every night. Eventually Annie gets pregnant and grows to love her baby, only to have her die at the hands of The Freak. This is when something inside Annie snaps and she realizes she will do anything to escape from The Freak, and manages to kill him while he is chopping wood. Annie then finds her way home and attempts to solve the mystery of who The Freak was and why he abducted her.

In the second half of the book, when Annie is solving the mystery of The Freak, she realizes that her own mother was responsible for her abduction as a type of get-rich-quick scam. Through this discovery and a few bumps along the way with her friends and potential love interests, Annie grows to understand herself better and begins to get over this horrible time in her life.

My Thoughts

On the one hand, I really enjoyed this story. It was well-written and fast-paced and there were times when I just couldn’t put it down. I needed to know what was going to happen and blew through this book in about a week. I love when books hook me from the beginning and keep me turning page after page (or, you know, kindle-button-click after kindle-button-click). I was really happy with the writing style and was so thankful that the story is told with a mix of past- and present-tense events so that even during the most suspenseful parts, you know that somehow Annie will be safe in the end.

On the other hand, I found this book pretty disturbing and creepy. I made the mistake of reading it while I was home by myself, and found myself crouching under the covers and jumping at small noises in my apartment. The detail and level of description in the scenes with The Freak were great because they were so realistic, but they were really sick. It made me sad that this actually happens to women way more often than I realize and I need to be more mindful of my safety (my parents are probably thrilled to hear me say that…).

All in all I thought it was a really good book. It was pretty simple and gets the job done if you are looking for a quick thriller to read. I would recommend this book to a friend (and I have) and think it was definitely worth reading.

Discussion

What did you think of the book? How did Annie’s relationship with The Freak affect you? How about when she started to feel sorry for him? Personally I almost lost it when he killed that duck, but we all know I’m a duck lover. What did you think of Annie’s relationship with her friends and family? Who do you think was the worst?

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Mine was really fun and was filled with a lot of drinks, ducks, and dogs. Confused? Read on!

Drinks

Friday after work I met up with some friends at a Mexican restaurant in honor of Cinco de Mayo. Of course, being the group of girls that we are, it took a while for everyone to get ready and we didn’t arrive until around 8 p.m., by which time the wait at the restaurant was really long. We didn’t mind though, because they had really great drink specials and even had “Jumbo Margaritas” for about $10, which we all happily ordered. Once they arrived we were shocked by how huge they were; the glasses were bigger than my head!!

We hung out at the bar sipping out giant margs for about an hour, and by the time we were seated we were all feeling a little tipsy. I spilt a crab quesadilla and some fish tacos with my friend Britt, and we munched on some chips and salsa while we waited for our entrees to arrive.

I had a really great time chatting with my friends and I caught up on some girl talk, including everyone’s most recent obsession- 50 Shades of Grey! All of my friends could not stop talking about it and although I had heard about it before and made a mental note to read it, they convinced me that I had to start reading it ASAP. So, as soon as I walked home from dinner I immediately downloaded it to my kindle and dug in. So far it’s pretty much what I expected, but I’ll give everyone a full book review when I’m finished. Let me know if you’ve read it and what your thoughts were!

Ducks

Saturday morning I woke up bright and early and after walking Jack, I immediately drank a Shakeology shake for breakfast and then jumped into an Insanity workout. This time I did Plyometric Circuit and enjoyed the challenging moves. During my workout I decided to wear my Katy Smith ankle and wrist weights:

I bought these at Ross ages ago for about $4 a piece. The wrist weights are only 1 lb. each so I use them every single time I work out. It’s just so easy to slip them on your wrists and add some extra resistance to your workout! The ankle weights, however, weigh 5 lbs. each and I only wear them when I’m feeling really motivated because I’m usually pretty sore after I wear them. I definitely recommend these weights because they’re so convenient and are a great way to kick up my regular workout routine!

Later in the day I went with Jack to my Dad’s house while Fabio spent the day with some friends. While I was there, I sat by the pool reading 50 Shades of Grey. Meanwhile, my sister played with Jack on the trampoline.

Later on we took Jack and Max (my dad’s dog) on a quick hike through the woods. It was probably about a mile loop altogether.

After our walk we all went to dinner at another Mexican restaurant (everyone was feeling the Cinco de Mayo love) and after dinner we walked around a lake.

My dad gave me my grandpa’s old camera (yay!!) and I was testing it out on some baby ducks that we saw.

Aren’t they adorable???

Then my dad snapped some pictures of me with my sister.

After dinner we watched a movie and then Jack and I headed back home. It was definitely a fun day!

Dogs

Sunday morning was kind of cloudy out so Fabio and I lounged around a bit. Eventually we got our butts out of bed and I had another Shakeology shake and took Jack for our mile jog. After our run we showered and took Jack over to the dog park. I had fun testing out my new camera at the park.

Jack, of course, had more fun retrieving the ball! At one point there were two tennis balls in the water and he couldn’t decide which one to get. Eventually he picked one up in his mouth and then circled around the other one over and over again trying to figure out how to bring both of them back to shore. It was hilarious!

After the dog park Fabio and I grabbed some lunch and I got some frozen yogurt for dessert! Yum!!

Then we ran some errands and came back home to relax and watch Game of Thrones (best show ever).

Now it’s time to do a little more reading and then get to sleep so I can start the week off right. Good night!