One of my favorite experiences is picking up a new book and falling so in love with the story that you can't stand to put it down. The book fully consumes your mind and all you want is to see what happens to the characters. The most recent book that consumed me was The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson. This was a book that had frequently popped up in recommend reading lists so when looking for a new lunch time read I decided to give it a chance.

Picture Credit: Goodreads.com

Initially, I didn't think I would like the main character of Leia. She makes her living as a graphic novelist which is a genre that I have never been interested in. The story immediately opens onto Leia talking about her pregnancy and debating about how to break the news to her stepsister, Rachel, and other family members. On the day Leia has decided to break the news to her family she is suddenly informed of a possible health crisis with her Grandmother, Birchie. Leia rushes to a small Alabama town, almost like Mayberry, where Birchie lives with her childhood friend Wattie. This story follows Leia, Birchie, Wattie, and Rachel as they deal with family secrets, and discover the meaning of sisterhood.

Like I stated above, I initially didn't like Leia because I didn't feel like I could relate to her. But as the story continues I discovered that Leia is actually likeable and a strong character. The author, Joshilyn Jackson, brings each character to life, from minor to major, and gives them each a distinct personality. This really helped draw me into the book because it brought the characters from being on a page to people I could have actually known in real life.

Not only are the characters well done but the story surprised me. I was expecting "fluff fiction" about a family that's full of happy endings and lacking any deeper meaning. Ms. Jackson takes what could have easily been "fluff fiction" and turns it into a thinking piece. The character of Wattie is an African-American and a large portion of the book is dedicated to something Ms. Jackson has dubbed the Second South where Wattie has experienced discrimination simply because of her race. The picture that is painted of this Second South makes you stop and think. You suddenly start seeing that despite it being 2017 many of these issues are still alive and well.

Overall, I am a complete fan of this book and have already recommended it to several friends and family members. I look forward to hunting down other works by Ms. Jackson and devouring those as eagerly as I devoured The Almost Sisters.

Today is day four of the NYX Lippie Countdown! If you're wondering why I'm talking about a random lipstick then please see this post. Yesterday was a bit of a flop. It wasn't a bad color but it wasn't a color that I would normally wear, so I was excited to see that today's color looked like it was a nude shade.

Upon opening the box I was happy to see that this color was from the NYX Lip Lingerie line which had been the entire advent calendar last year!

Once I pulled out the color I was even more excited to see that this was the Push-Up shade which is a nice, soft peachy nude.

This is extremely easy to apply with the doe foot applicator and because it is almost a perfect nude shade for me I don't  have any issue fixing mistakes. You do need to be careful with the Lip Lingerie line because occasionally they do get a bit clumpy so check your wand before applying. This color lasts a long time, there will be some flaking onto glasses and things but for some reason it always looks fresh on my lips until around lunch time.

Now one fun thing that I did notice was that this shade is a touch lighter than the one I received last year. They both look the same when applied but in the tube they're a bit different.

Like many of you I try to set individual goals for each month. While scrolling through the various blogs I follow, I realized that many of them share their monthly goals. It dawned on me that this would be a great way to hold myself accountable, so here are my 5 goals for August!
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August Goals
1) Canter through the water.
Thanks to all the rains Florida has been having there is a small section of the arena that's flooded. Now Cupid is 'Little Miss Prissy Pants' and hates getting her feet wet. Our recent goal has been to walk through this puddle without issues, and we've managed to trot through it without a major break in gait. My goal for August, if the puddle sticks around, is to canter her through the puddle. Because I would love to take her cross-country schooling and to a hunter pace, she's going to need to adjust to going through water.

2) Practice the flute for 2 hours a week.
Central Florida Community Arts Orchestra rehearsal has started again and this time I need to really dedicate myself to the music. I would love to play for the Christmas concert so I need to make sure that I give this whole season 110%. The upcoming concert consists of music that is from Spain and Latin America which are pieces that I'm not really familiar with but have proven to be extremely fun to play!

3) Read 3 books.
I would love to start working through some of the books on my GoodReads "Want To Read" list, but first I've got to read through the 100 books that are currently on my Kindles! (Yes, I've got two of them)

4) Workout 3 times a week.
It's no secret. I've gained weight. I hate it so I've got to do something about it. I'm going to be checking out a training program through a local running store but until then I've got to start rebuilding my strength.

5) Paint office.
I've got this room in my house that has sat and done nothing for the past year. It started as a guest room, then went to my office, then started to gather stuff that I didn't know what to do with. I honestly didn't know what I wanted to do with this room and what my goal was for it. But now I've settled on a basic plan and just need to talk with my mom about swapping furniture. In the meantime I've picked out my paint color for the room and need to get it painted before bringing the heavy antique furniture into it.

See. It's in need of a makeover.

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Now for the fun part; seeing if I can achieve these goals! I'll be using my planner to track what I've accomplished, and when, so I will have an accurate record of what I've done.

This weekend was full of all sorts of fun things. Normally I deep condition my hair and do a face mask on Saturday but I was at my moms house late last night and didn't feel like doing it when I got home. So now I'm sitting in my living room watching Quantico, writing, and letting my hair and face soak. I'm honestly impressed that I managed to finish everything on my list and have time to do it today!

I woke up yesterday and dashed to the barn for my lesson. It was my last official lesson with the current trainer so it was fairly bittersweet. We worked on various exercises to help us loosen up while riding such as standing at the trot, two-point, and hugging the horse. Cupid did amazing during this lesson! She's used to me working on standing at the trot and two-pointing but the hugging at the trot is a new concept. We've encountered it in lessons but I always feel like I'm going to go over her shoulder so we never work on it. Honestly I think we "jumped" better than we ever have before. My trainer made us hug our horses through a simple 6 stride line and Cupid rocked it! Normally she zig zags through her lines but during the hug exercise we had very little drifting. She did attempt to refuse one of the last jumps but I felt myself release my right leg and pop that heel up.

After the lesson I dashed over to my moms house to shower and change. She had signed us up for a boat tour in Mt. Dora through Premier Boat Tours. The tour was 2 hours long and went through Lake Dora, and the Dora Canal. I enjoyed the tour and found our captain, John, and skipper, Sandy, to be very pleasant. The houses along the route were fun to look at and the plants were fascinating. I especially enjoyed the cypress groves. The way the trees have grown and become "tangled" with other vegetation was enchanting. The only negative of the tour was that a good portion of it was spent pointing out alligators and trying to find them. I understand that tourists are amazed by the Florida gator population but after running past ponds with them, daily, they no longer captivate me.

View of the shoreline from the boat

From the boat tour we headed to PDQ for dinner. My brother has become addicted to their Buffy Bleu sandwich and was excited to have me try it. Because I wasn't feeling like a sandwich I went with the chicken tenders which were amazing. The breading was just right and the chicken tasted extremely fresh. I plan on going to PDQ again so that I can try more of the menu, possibly even the Buffy Bleu!

They don't look like much but they were really good!

When we got back to my moms house I helped her clip the dogs nails and back wash the pool for the first time. I had previously back washed the community pool I used to work at but never a smaller personal pool. It didn't take too long to back wash but neither of us had realized doing so would drain the spa. As soon as we turned the filter on we could hear this spraying sound, like someone had turned on a fire hose. It was the jet of the spa shooting water into the wall, which was then spraying all over the deck! We played with the filter, turning it on and off, and trying different valves until we realized that the jet was supposed to be doing that. The back washing had drained the spa and the jet was refilling the spa using fresh pool water. The spa successfully filled and the water actually seemed to appear clearer!
Once we were doing playing with the pool filter and spoiling the dogs, I headed home to get ready for the next day.

Views on a morning run always make it worth the effort

This morning I woke up early and immediately went out on a run. I put in 1.9 miles at an 11'56" pace. There was a lot more walking than I wanted, but I finished my run feeling good and not like I had worn myself to the bone. I'm going to work on focusing more on building my endurance then bring speed back in a few weeks. I want to get faster but I think I need to get my endurance back first.

That shine is probably more humidity than sweat

When I finished my run I flew through my errands for the day. I had to do several loads of laundry, clean the house, meal prep for the week, clip the Tweedles nails, and tend to the plants in my backyard, all before going out to the barn to work with Cupid and do the barn chores. I'm proud to say that I completed everything and still found time to read for a bit before heading to the barn! I'm currently reading Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. I'll do a quick write up of it once I finish!

While doing my errands I received a text from one of the other girls at the barn. She had randomly decided to work with Cupid and successfully got Cupid to stand in the water that was flooding sections of the paddocks. Normally Cupid will do everything she can think of to avoid standing in the water but this girl managed to get her to walk through a few puddles! As much as I want to be the one to exclusively work with Cupid I am extremely proud that my pony wasn't a holy terror and learned something new.

Proof that she wasn't losing her mind with the puddles

It wasn't until I got to the barn that I learned what had prompted this little lesson. Cupid was apparently being brought in from the field this morning and jumped over a giant puddle then cantered off while dragging one of the other girls. Whoops. This prompted them to work with her and get her over this fear of water. She thankfully retained this training and let me lead her through the puddle by the gate when she was turned out this evening. *Note. There is a dry gate to use for her field. It's just a bit further from the barn than the other gates.*

Sometimes she's convinced she's a draft horse and needs to run through everything/everyone

My weekend might not have been too exciting but it was extremely fun!