July Book Club: Update

Welcome to the July Book Club! For July we read The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand.

“From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hotel Nantucket 

After tragedy strikes, Hollis Shaw gathers four friends from different stages in her life to spend an unforgettable weekend on Nantucket.”

My Thoughts

I have to be honest….it took me way longer than expected to read the July book. I officially know the meaning of a “slow read”. At first I took it as a bad thing, thinking there’s no way I am going to finish this book, but now that I look back I realize I have just never enjoyed a “slow read” before and it has opened my mind to a new way of reading.

The Five-Star Weekend ended up being one of those books I needed to read. It was a love/hate relationship, one day I loved it and one day I just couldn’t get in to it. But…in the end I am SO glad I read it.

BOOKS – US
BOOKS – CANADA

Questions

Do you see yourself in any of the women and if so…..who?

  • I love this question because at first I only saw myself in Hollis but by the end of the book I saw a little piece of myself in all of the women. I took something away from each of them, learned a little something about myself from each of them, and ended up loving each of them.

If you were Gigi, would you have accepted the invite? Why?

  • Ugh….I go back and forth with this one. One minute it is a hell yes, and the next minute it is a hell no. I want to say I would have the nerve to accept the invite and go but I’m not sure I could have actually gone through with it. But maybe that is why I kind of liked Gigi. She seemed so put together, so confident….such a force, but in a graceful way. Is it wrong to describe her like that seeing as she was sleeping with a married man??

What is your biggest takeaway from the book?

  • The reason I say this book us a “must read” even though it took me forever to get through is because I ended up taking SO much away from it. I love that Hollis found herself and her career when she was older. I love her confidence and her signature style. I learned that friendships guide you and shape you. I learned that it’s good to do something for yourself, especially when you are going through a tough phase. I learned that I want to find my style (like Hollis and Gigi). I learned that I want to have a carefree attitude when life gets hard like Dru-Ann….I could go on and on.

What is your signature style?

  • I only ask this question because I am currently trying to find my style again after becoming a mom and I LOVED that each woman had her own style. I have only recently (like the last few days) realized that mine is casual, classic & feminine. I am a Gap girl. I always have been and always will be:)

Click below for a fun shopping guide I have put together for the book. If you are wanting to treat yourself with a little something that brings the book to life…..here are some ideas.

PS: If you hover over each product it will tell you why I chose it for the shopping guide:)

SHOP – US
SHOP – CANADA

GIVEAWAY: And….for the fun part. Each month I will host a Book Club “Secret” Giveaway. I am only posting it here, hence the “secret”. Enter to win next month’s Book Club selection!

How to Enter: Go to the July Instagram Book Club post and leave a comment telling me what your biggest takeaway from the book was – CLICK HERE

-Happy Reading – Sarah

My Favourite Shoes & Finding My Style Again

Since having Steven (way back in March of 2020) I have to admit that I let my wardrobe go to the wayside. I was exhausted, trying to figure out how to be a Mom, working a ton of hours, getting up at 4:30am every day, and just had zero energy left to pay attention to my clothes. I started wearing the typical “Mom Uniform” which consists of leggings and sweatshirts.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE a good Mom Uniform and still find myself wearing it at least once or twice per week, but I just wasn’t feeling good about myself and knew that I needed to “find my style again”. So…..here on the blog I will sprinkle in a little bit about my style journey. My goal is to create a beautiful capsule wardrobe, and also hope to share my favourite finds along the way.

Starting with these shoes. These are a MUST! They fit true to size, they are beyond comfortable and they are even better in person.

Shop for them HERE – https://liketk.it/45VNO

The Oatmeal Recipe You NEED to Try!

Here’s how I make my new favourite oatmeal recipe. Trust me, you are going to want to try it! The steamed milk is what makes the recipe so be sure to use one that froths well. I used Soy Milk and did it in my milk frother.

The other thing I like to point out is the amount of maple syrup. I try to limit my sugar intake so I only use 1/2 TBS, but you could certainly add more.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1/2 cup oats
  • 1/2 tbs maple syrup (more if you like it sweet)
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • Pinch salt
  • 1 tsp chia
  • 1 tsp hemp
  • Cranberries
  • Pumpkin seeds
  • 1/2 cup boiling water
  • 1/2 cup steamed milk (I used Soy because it froths well)

DIRECTIONS:

  • add all oats – pumpkins seeds to glass jar
  • mix together
  • and boiling water and stir
  • top with steamed milk and enjoy!

Hello And Welcome to My Blog!

I am so excited you are here. Let me take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Sarah, I won’t disclose my age at this time but that should tell you I am well past 30, ha! I live in Kelowna BC, Canada, I am married to my best friend, and have a 3 year old son named Steven……whom I absolutely adore! He’s actually the reason you are here and the reason I am here.

I spent the last 10 years creating an online business and about a week ago I made the very hard decision to put that business on hold (holy crap that was a scary decision) so that I could focus my time and energy on “just being a Mom” which is something you will hear me say often going forward.

So basically I went from working 40-60 hours per week, waking up at 4:30am (for the last 5 years), having a team of reviewers working under me, and feeling constantly drained to putting it all on hold and being totally terrified. The plan now is to focus on my personal Social Media pages, only posting things I love, waking up at a reasonable hour, putting all my energy in to my son before he starts Kindergarten and having time to workout each morning, journal, meditate and bake cookies:)

I hope you stick around……