My Reading List

I read. A lot.


I don't make enough time to read novels, even though I love them. I do, however, spend lots of time reading textbooks for nursing, flipping through magazines and catching up on my favorite blogs. I'd like to share with you my current favorite readings....


FAVORITE MAGAZINE
Vegetarian Times
This magazine offers great articles about the vegetarian lifestyle. It's educational while also comforting to be a part of the vegetarian community. What I REALLY love about this magazine, though, is the huge supply of delicious recipes it boasts. Many of the recipes call for odd ingredients, though, so it can be difficult to throw something together without planning ahead. At the back of each magazine, there is a index that breaks down each recipe by appetizer, main dish, salad, etc. Then the recipes are coded vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, etc. User friendly and yummy food - can't beat that!

FAVORITE BLOG
Joy the Baker
Joy is one of the wittiest, most honest bloggers I've read thus far. Her quirky personality shines through in her writing. It's like talking to your best friend. She also is a mean baker. I'm serious. Her recipes are incredibly unique and indescribably delicious. I am dying to make her Dark Chocolate and Pistachio Sea Salt Cookies. Joy also photographs/styes all of her food photo shoots. I never knew, but this is a serious talent! The pictures are beautiful and I love pinning her recipes to Pinterest.

source: joythebaker.com

FAVORITE BOOK
The jury is out on this one... As I said, I don't make enough time to sit down and read full-length books. I'm in the process of reading "The Geography of Bliss" and "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle." Both are great! Over the summer I read "Eat & Run" by Scott Jurek. He inspired my mom to go veggie with me! This book is enjoyable for runners and non-runners alike.

Humor, Honesty, Love

Instagram is one of my new favorite iPhone apps!  Even when I didn't have a Facebook, I used Instagram to share photos with family and friends. The app offers awesome filters to make pictures look artsy. 

I follow friends, blog authors and even a few random people who post hair styles or other fun things. The other day I stumbled upon a user who posted the following picture...

The first three words that I found were humor, honesty and love.

I kinda really liked that. 

<3

La Chasse Au Bonheur - Le Fin

#5 Gorgeous Hair and Good Music

These two items don't necessarily go together... other than the fact that your hair is on your head which also happens to be the location of your ears. But I needed to wrap up the series somehow!

Let's start with HAIR. I'm not a huge hair person. I love my curly hair but I have little patience or time to spend doing my hair. Heck, I haven't had a hair cut in months. I'm long over due. I do, however, enjoy these photographs of gorgeous hair! I follow this gal on instagram who posts pictures each day of hair cuts, colors and styles that are utterly inspiring. Check out the ones below...

The blonde hair is a dream wedding up-do.
I love the colors in the bottom left. Think I could pull that off?
I also really like the bow of hair. That I could definitely try to do.

The other night when I was home, my mom started playing with my hair. What started out as just playing around turned into a really beautiful hair style that mom coined the "Swedish Twist".  Isn't she amazing?! Makes me wonder why we paid big money to have someone else do my hair for prom....

The Swedish Twist (with bangs!)

Now, onto MUSIC. I have been listening to music CONSTANTLY lately. I always have the radio on in my car, but now I'm hooked on Pandora. For those of you living in the dark ages, Pandora is a FREE website (and iPhone app) that plays music. You type in a song, artist, or genre and it generates an infinite playlist based off your one suggestion. The best part... Pandora remembers every playlist you ever create! All you have to do is make an account and ignore the ads that pop up on the screen while music plays. 

Lately I've been hooked on country music.
This song reminds me of being @ Saddle Up!
[This image is a screen shot of the Pandora app]
 

You can create countless numbers of playlists.
This reveals the variety of my playlists on Pandora.

My friend Jenny sends me songs every now and again. I love it because it diversifies the music I listen to. When she sends me a new song or artist, I sometimes start a new playlist based on her suggestion! Check out this video/song below that she recently sent me....

La Chasse Au Bonheur - The Hunt for Happiness

Le Fin!

La Chasse Au Bonheur - Chicago

#4  Chicago

I have been SO blessed to have a job in Chicago. I like to complain about traveling there from Peoria but once I'm there I'm IN LOVE! So much so that Ross and I have even started talking about the possibility of moving there after graduation. Crazy? Absolutely. But we're playing the "What If" game and loving it. 

I'm a huge fan of public transportation!
This is my brand new 10 ride pass on the Metra

Lake Shore Drive at 12am  = No traffic!

Sky Scrapers are mezmerizing. 

The sunrise over Lake Michigan... It never gets old.
This is the view from my unit at the hospital! 

Lake Michigan

La Chasse Au Bonheur - The Hunt for Happiness

La Chasse Au Bonheur - Family & Friends

#3 - Quality Time with Family & Friends

Sleepy Boy :)

Since I work nights this summer, Ross and I are often on different schedules. The photo above is proof of our goofy sleep schedules. He's sleeping at 6 am (like a normal 21 year old). I on the other hand was bright-eyed and busy-tailed! I still like to consider moments like this "quality time" because we get so little of it. 

Every once in a while, Ross and I will be awake at the same time. Usually we opt to laze about and spend quality time together talking/giggling. The picture above is from the 90 degree day we decided to go on a run. Needless to say it was rough. We hadn't run in about a month and it was SO hot. I had mental images of us passing out after five minutes into the run. After we drank some water and rested, though, we were VERY glad we got out there. We really love running and being active. We need to force ourselves into a running routine.

Last weekend I worked in Chicago at Lurie Children's Hospital. Ross was sweet enough to drive the entire way there and back. On Friday we opted to stop in Naperville for dinner home. He went to his parents' house I went to mine. The impromptu family visit was awesome. I miss them so much! I enjoy working and living on my own, but there's nothing quite like coming home. My dad had some good news to share, I got lots of hugs from Adam & Halle, and Mom & I had great quality time at the end of the night :)

My Girlfriends 21st Birthday :)

Ross and I in Downtown Naperville for Kim's B-Day

Ladies Night for Kim's Birthday 

Celebrating Amy's Birthday!

June and July were filled with 21st birthdays with friends from back home! Kim and Amy were two VERY good reasons to come home and celebrate. Thanks to Kim, we all now have a new favorite bar: Saddle Up Saloon and Dance Hall. It sounds super goofy but TRUST ME, its a BLAST! We went there for both Kim's and Amy's birthdays. They teach you how to line dance, play great country music and then play an awesome mix of pop and country after 10:30 p.m.  I can't wait to take Ross there!


This post wouldn't be complete without mentioning these great girls that I miss SO much! They are the ONLY reason I am excited for summer to end and for school to start. I would never be where I am today with out their amazing support and love in nursing school. We've all gone our separate ways for the summer and sometimes it's difficult to keep in touch. Even if we don't talk every day, I still know they have my back and I've got theirs. I can't wait until we're all reunited again!

Old picture from my last visit to AZ!

One of the coolest and most surprising visits of the summer was getting to see Jenny a couple of weeks ago! She was working at Eagle Lake Camp in Colorado when the wild fires threatened the safety of camp. She ended up coming to Illinois to visit her extended family and was able to visit Alexa for a few days. I made sure to swing by on my way to Naperville/Chicago. It was great to see her even if it was only for a few hours.












La Chasse Au Bonheur - The Hunt for Happiness