Summer is ending, which means it's going to become so much harder to eat healthy - holidays galore, am I right? Let's just hope these FitSnack boxes continue to be as fantastic as the August box. There were so many amazing items in this month's box (which was actually two boxes, wowza!).

This has been hands down the best box(es) I've ever received from FitSnack - I am in awe! I'm really excited to try out to pretty much everything I got this month.





What was in my August box?



Vahdam 100% Pure Indian Teas loose leaf sampler

CandyPop popcorn made with Butterfinger

Shrewd Food baked cheddar protein crisps

Mediterranean sea salt Pasta Chips

Wicked Cutz turkey jerky in Korean style BBQ

Foods Alive lemon chia-crunch power crackers

Nothing But! quick fix bars in cherry-cranberry-almond and chocolate-coconut-almond

Nutiva virgin coconut oil

RX Bar peanut butter

Coupons for Dr. Praeger's items




















Interested in joining? Get 30% off your first box by clicking below.

My first job was at an ice cream shop - I was a crew leader for almost three years before the shop unfortunately closed down, but it was one of my favorite jobs. I worked a lot - through spring breaks and busy times when other people were taking vacation, I would always work double shifts. I ate a lot of ice cream there, and honestly, the smell of dairy never truly left my work shirts. And while I enjoy ice cream now, it's never something I truly crave. But I do have a birthday cake cone tattooed on my skin forever, because scooping ice cream will always be a part of who I am. It certainly taught me a thing or two about leadership and work ethic.

Anyways, when Netflix released the Stranger Things Season 3 promo for The Starcourt Mall (which is actually Gwinnett Place Mall, about 45 minutes from my house), I was obviously obsessed. And when I saw my favorite mom, Steve Harrington, working at the ice cream parlor Scoops Ahoy, I was even more thrilled.






Not even weeks later, Totally Good Time introduced a brand new ringer tee, very similar to the one I used to wear back in my ice cream scooping days, and I knew I had to have it! It's certainly a fun choice for the summer, and would be adorable with high-waisted button front sailor shorts. I chose to instead go in a bit of a different direction, with a look that would work year-round, but certainly has more of an autumn feel with the colors of the belt and the (unseen in the pictures) teal Minnetonkas.









I like this look because it's so versatile, honestly. The skirt shown is actually a dress, and the shirt is tied in a front knot and tucked under itself to look like a shirt tucked into a skirt, with an accompanying belt to tie it all together. I also love the look of the denim jacket, oversized, and in a different denim shade than the dress.









I'll certainly be wearing this shirt over and over, especially when I binge watch Season 3 of Stranger Things, which will likely be out in 2019 - a bit later than it's usual fall release date for the past two seasons.

Let me explain how this is tied to my ancestry: Without having DNA testing or any other type of ancestral information, I feel I can't honestly go too far back into my ancestry. I know many of my family members resided in Appalachian counties, and in fact, many of our family cemeteries are in the Smokies. This novel takes place in Appalachia - somewhere in the Carolinas. Therefore, I considered this novel to be "tied to my ancestry."





Brief synopsis: When Darl accidentally kills a man while hunting on private property outside of hunting season, he enlists the help of his very best friend, Calvin. When they go about covering up the evidence and hiding the body, they think the worst of their troubles are their guilty consciences. But boy, are they wrong. The man Darl accidentally killed has a brother, and his brother has a rage growing deep within him.




The Line That Held Us was actually a pretty quick read at just about 250 pages, and for the most part was fairly poetic in prose, however, there were a handful of moments within the book where I had to read a section over a few times because I couldn't comprehend what the author was trying to say - the wording was just very odd at times.

The story was a little overwhelming at times - constantly moving on to what was happening next. But because of the story moving on to the next piece so quickly, the story was concise. It was incredibly visual and at times, haunting and quiet disturbing. I felt the character development was lacking, and there was so much potential that was not taken advantage of. In the story, there are only a handful of characters, who all seemed to grow up together, but their history was hardly touched on in relation to one another or as individuals. Then, the ending felt abrupt and unfinished. I was underwhelmed by the end of the novel, and felt unsatisfied with how it ended.

I liked the relatable pieces of the story, like shopping at Wal-Mart, or stopping at the Dollar General - that's always cool to me. Overall, I enjoyed the story, but I felt like something was missing from the plot.

Brief synopsis: Jay doesn't want to do the vote-work-die thing, so he leaves college and heads to Paris to write. There he does lots of drugs and drinking and falls in love, hard. Fast forward to Los Angeles twenty-five years later. He's a successful author, has a lovely wife and loving children. And out of the blue, he gets a message from the one he loved before, which sends him spiraling down memory lane and what could have been.




 I came to the James Frey show a little late - I only discovered A Million Little Pieces a couple years ago, after picking it up from a thrift store or yard sale and letting it sit on my shelf for quite a few years. After a recommendation for the "sequel," I immediately went out and bought My Friend Leonard as well, and have loved Frey's stories ever since. Though Pieces was originally marketed as a memoir, I do call his books stories for a reason. Since the giant controversy surround A Million Little Pieces and Oprah's Book Club, Frey's books have since been changed to a genre of memoir/fiction or just fiction. Regardless, his writing is fantastic, and I read books for entertainment, so I couldn't really care less if the story was fabricated or not. However, there is a realness to Frey's words that are obviously the truth.

Pieces is focused around Frey's six-week stint in rehab, and Leonard is a follow-up with one of the main characters from the first book. Katerina isn't marketed as being part of a series, and the main character's name is Jay instead of James, but these books all hold a bit of Frey's truth, and so in my mind, they're all tied together. Though Katerina is set in 1992/93 and 2017, the main part of the story is the 90s. I would place this book as a kind of prequel to A Million Little Pieces, however, it is entirely a standalone.

James Frey creates this weird inter-mixture of biographical information and fictional story and it's impossible to tell where that line meets. Katerina is very much written in the same style as Frey's other books - a stream-of-consciousness style that's not impossible to deal with, and actually adds to the story and how it's read.

My biggest complaint is the excessive sex scenes in the book. I'm no prude, but the sex seemed vulgar and didn't seem to add any value to the story. One or two would've been fine, but again - they seemed excessive and unnecessary.

I would say that Katerina is no A Million Little Pieces or My Friend Leonard, but it's certainly got that James Frey spark and I would definitely recommend it.

Career & Development
99. Complete my Master's degree in Student Affairs/Counseling with a 3.5 or higher GPA. I won't finish this by February, but I should be obtaining my degree come May. I just started my last fall semester with a 3.88 GPA.
101. Present at a conference. I'm planning to hopefully present next year, but again, most likely won't hit this by February.

Brief synopsis: It's 2011 and Jake Epping is a high school English teacher who teaches adult education classes in the evening and enjoys a cheap burger at Al's local diner. But Jake's world gets turned upside down when Al let's him in on a little secret - a closet in the back of the diner is a rabbit hole to 1958, and no matter how long one stays down the rabbit hole, they'll always come back to two minutes later in 2011. Now Al's dying and he needs Jake to complete the mission he's tried so hard to complete - stop Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating JFK.



When Hulu developed an 8-episode mini-series a few years ago about JFK and starring James Franco, I was totally there for it. 11/22/63 - the date President Kennedy was assassinated - now turned into a science fiction novel about time travel, and hence a mini-series. I watched it every single week and absolutely loved it. It took me a little longer than I'd meant for it to, but I finally got around to picking up the Stephen King novel from the library, and though it took me close to two weeks to finish the book (those King novels sure are dense), I enjoyed every second of it. Once I finished, I immediately watched the mini-series again, and that adaptation? I didn't love it so much the second time around, because the book was fantastic. Seriously.

The characters, even those that seem minor, are so well developed. The mixture of facts and fiction are completely intriguing. Oh, and those little tie-ins with other King novels were a wonderfully pleasant surprise (and I'm talking about Richie-who-lives-in-a-ditchie and Bevvie-from-the-levvie in a little town called Derry). I swear Stephen King is a genius and if I never get to meet him, I will be eternally sad about it.

I had more than my fair share of cries while reading, because the lives of the characters and the surrealism of what could have been. Sidenote: I went to Dallas a few years ago and stood there in Dealey Plaza and sobbed in the middle of the street. Those moments were incredibly surreal and somehow that just added to the story King laid out in 11/22/63.

I can't say enough about how amazing the book was. I will say that if you haven't read nor watched - watch the show first, so you can enjoy it as it is. Then read the novel and become completely immersed in the life of Jake Epping/George Amberson and the precious little town of Jodie, and the impact educators can have on the lives of students. Watching the series after reading the book really took away most of the awe of the series - they both tell the story is totally different ways, but the book is always better rings true with this one, too.

I'd definitely recommend this one.

I started out July with a bang because I took that first week of the month off work - it was glorious. I stayed up many nights until about four in the morning, just reading. The rest of the month kind of tapered off a bit, but I still meet my monthly goal of six books. We're over halfway through the year at this point, and I'm still checking off prompts for the 2018 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge, so fingers crossed I satisfy all prompts this year, unlike 2017 and 2016.






Carrie by Stephen King ★★★★☆
POPSUGAR Reading Challenge Prompt: A book that is also a stage play or musical
Brief synopsis: Carrie White is a weird girl, different from all the other teenagers in her school. When a traumatic event sends her over the edge, one of her classmates tries to make it better by trying to give her an amazing prom night. Unfortunately, the taunting only gets worse, setting loose Carrie's gifts and giving her classmates a night they'll never forget.
See full review here.







The Saturday Evening Girls Club by Jane Healey ★★★☆☆

POPSUGAR Reading Challenge Prompt: A book you borrowed or that was given to you as a gift
Brief synopsis: Boston, early 1900s. Four young immigrant women join together each Saturday night to catch up and together plan for their futures. Each of the four women try their best to adjust to what it means to be an American woman in the 20th century and figure out how to live their best lives with their best friends by their sides.
See full review here.







The Glitch by Elisabeth Cohen ★★★☆☆

POPSUGAR Reading Challenge Prompt: A book that's published in 2018
Brief synopsis: Shelley has it all - a husband she loves, two adorable children, an amazing house, and an executive position at Conch, a tech company that produces the latest gadget that's nearly artificial intelligence. And she owes it all to a life-changing event that happened mere days before her twentieth birthday. When abroad with her family, her little girl goes missing - but due to the kindness of a stranger is safely rescued. But the rescuer is really interested in Shelley's company and wants in on the venture. Up next is a young girl who looks remarkably like a young Shelley, and just happens to have the same scar. Is something fishy going on, and how does all this relate back to Conch?
See full review here.







The Anamoly by Michael Rutger ★★★★★

POPSUGAR Reading Challenge Prompt: An allegory
Brief synopsis: Nolan and his team of documentarians delve deep into the Grand Canyon in search of a secret cave that may have existed over 100 years ago. Finding the cave could be a big win for them - it could take The Anomaly Files from obscure YouTube series to cable. They find the cave, a big enough win for them because the team isn't typically one to find the things they search, but things in the secret cave certainly are not what they appear to be. And they could be in big trouble.
See full review here.







Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes ★★★★☆

POPSUGAR Reading Challenge Prompt: N/A
Brief synopsis: Joe Goldberg is back, with a new girlfriend, who just so happens to be using him just to get to his collectible books to sell for money to make it to (and in) Hollywood. So of course Joe, being the stalker that he is, follows her to to California to do some unthinkable things. But Hollywood has quite the effect on him.
See full review here.







*Prague Spring by Simon Mawer ★★★★☆

POPSUGAR Reading Challenge Prompt: N/A
Brief synopsis: Two students from the University of Oxford take a tour of Europe over a break from school. As they get to know each other better, they find out a little more about themselves, while making friends and acquaintances along the way. Simultaneously, a diplomat from the British embassy in Czechoslovakia determines what it means to be in love and in lust, while also trying to do the best for his country. Their stories merge at some point along the way during the spring of 1968, during what's known as the Prague Spring.
See full review here.

Brief synopsis: Two students from the University of Oxford take a tour of Europe over a break from school. As they get to know each other better, they find out a little more about themselves, while making friends and acquaintances along the way. Simultaneously, a diplomat from the British embassy in Czechoslovakia determines what it means to be in love and in lust, while also trying to do the best for his country. Their stories merge at some point along the way during the spring of 1968, during what's known as the Prague Spring.



I've mentioned it a variety of times here before, but historical fiction is not my favorite genre by any means. I'm not a history buff, and while I realize the importance of understanding history, it's not necessarily something I am overwhelmingly interested in. I really enjoyed this novel, however, not only because of the factual pieces of the story, but also because the obvious parallels to our current political climate. Mawer intertwined both wit and prose to provide a timeless story of facts and fiction in this novel set during the Cold War.

Prague Spring not only forces its readers to understand the intricacies of love and intimacy, but it forces us to think about how far we would go to save those around us; not only those who are our friends, but those who are total strangers. It forces us to think about how well we really know those we call friends, and if we can know enough about someone's character within mere hours to know that we want that person to be a part of our lives for a much longer piece of time.

This novel was written in such a beautiful prose and one that's intriguing enough to encapsulate its readers within its pages, while also weaving in true historical facts in a way that forces you to place yourself in the shoes of individuals who experienced such terrifying placement in a time of political liberalization, which in turn houses such eye-opening similarities to events happening throughout the world in this current day and age.

Prague Spring not only reminds us of where this world has been in the past, but makes us realize where we could go in the future if we're not careful.

There are certainly some sexist themes within the novel in the ways that that both Sam and James think and interact with the women around them. This may be a sign of the times, but could also be a further examination of sexist ideals and perceptions of how and who is in charge of our bodies. The women in the novel are much more complex, with furthering discussions of "this is my body, not anyone's property," as well as women who feel they "owe" something to the men in their lives.

There was so much engrained in this 400-page story, but I truly enjoyed reading it and learning more about Czechoslovakia and its history. This was certainly an informative mix of facts and fiction.