Book Reviews

So far this year I have completed two books. Two wonderful books. I will offer my opinions on each for those that are interested :)

I started reading My Sisters Keeper in December of last year. I knew vaguely what the book was about but refused to see the movie until I read the book. Not seeing the movie was hard because I really wanted to but I think Jenn, my sister might have killed me if I did that. She, having read the book has been waiting on me to finish it so we could see the movie. Had I broken that promise it would have been an ultimate betrayl and I would not be here to write this book review. Now, with that out of the way on to the review.

If you have children-I do not recommend you read this book. I do not have any children yet and I could not imagine reading this book when I do. I have read The Pact, by Jodi Picoult book before this one and I must say My Sister's Keeper was the better of the two. Her style of writing can be confusing and at times frustrating for some. Throughout this book, she would flash back and forth between time periods and the story from the different characters perspectives. However, with this story being amazing and captivating it was not hard for me to keep up. I could hardly put this book down. This story is about a family with a sick daughter, Kate, who is battling a form of leukemia in consistent needs of transplants and bone marrow. While they have an older son, Jesse - he is not a match and neither are the parents. They begin working with the Doctors to have a child that is a perfect match (donor) for their sick daugher. Anna, as soon as she is born begins her life as a donor for Kate. As they get older, it is decided the Kate needs a kidney or she will die. Anna, at age 12, decides she no longer wants to put her body through all of this and finds an attorney for the rights for her body's medical decisions. Picoult takes you through the views of the story from all characters and she did a fantastic job at doing this. You begin to feel connected to all of the characters in different ways. The decisions in this book that are made are mind boggling and you will find yourself torn throughout the book. This is all I can give you without giving away the entire book. My opinion on this book on a scale from 1-10 is an 8. However, this book should come with a warning on the cover that says: WARNING READ WITH A BOX OF TISSUES!!

Second Book was Dear John by Nicholas Sparks. If you read Nicholas Sparks you know that his books never end Happily Ever After- there is always a bittersweet twist. I personally really enjoyed this book because right from the beginning you could feel the love that John and Savannah shared. I'm not just saying that; you really could. He does a great job of making you become frustrated with the two because you so badly want them to be together. Between the military and obstacles in life it just seems impossible. On a scale of 1-10- I would give it a 7. Just a heads up; The book and the movie are entirely different. My vote was for the book, personally I thought it was a better.

If you are looking for suggestions for my Birthday...

I would totally love to have this right here:
Let me know if you need more information and I will gladly send it to you...

What a wonderful Weekend!

My Saturday was wonderful this weekend. Chad went Kart Racing and I spent the day with Honey (My Grandmother). Something I haven't done in awhile. I called her Friday night to see if she wanted to go see the Early matinee of Dear John, go to lunch and do some shopping!! We went to Walmart to return something for her and we figured while we were there we might as well get some candy for the movie right? We all do it right? Take our biggest purses to the movie to sneak some candy in...Or am I the only one that does that?
I have to admit I was a little disappointed with the movie. If you didn't read the book you probably loved it. I however read the book and it was as diffferent as night and day. I like it when books and movies stay on the same page. It's a prefrence. If you have not read the book you will enjoy it and you will enjoy the eye candy as well! That's all I can say about that one...If you disagree with me I would like to hear your view:)
After the movie we enjoyed our usual mexican food at La Parilla of course:) Yum! We talked, laughed and really enjoyed our time together. We then went shopping for nothing in particular.
Days like that mean more to me than she will ever know. I love getting to spend time with her. She is a lot of fun and I love her so much:) She brought up several times that she cannot believe I am turning 25 on Saturday. When I started to think about it...I can't either...
Years continue to come and go and my life just gets better and better!!
Today Chad and I went to SonRise for the fourth time and once again- Great Sermon, Worship and Fellowship. Tonight we are going to our first small group session and we are really looking forward to it!! We are reading Crazy Love and all I can say is wow. It's an amazing book that I would recommend to anyone but more to those that have grown up in church and can sometimes just go through the motions. Tonight we are discussing chapters 5 and 6- I will let you know how it goes!! Enjoy today outside- it is BEAUTIFUL! Chad and I played some badminton earlier and it was so nice! Except for the guy burning leaves in the neighborhood behind us-ew!
Have a great week!

Superbowl

Dear Superbowl Coordinator,

As an avid football fan I would like to propose something to you along with a question. Why is the Superbowl on a Sunday? It makes it very difficult to have friends over to watch the game and to truly enjoy everything that this very special game has to offer. With it being on Sunday the overall experience is less enjoyable. If you were to move the game to Saturday night I think you would receive positive feedback. Those of us that are not able to take Monday off simply to sleep in from a late night, watch the game anxiously. Not simply because of the points or the outcome of the game but because we are dreading the fact that we will have to get up and be at work at 7:45 am the next morning. I think this would be a great proposal to consider. If you do choose to consider this option please do the following:

Any additional profits made from this change please make the check out to the following person:

Laura Martin Reichert

I will be happy to take this extra revenue off of your hands.

Sincerely.

Football Fan,

Laura Reichert

GO COLTS!

Ski Trip-Postponed

     Chad and I made our way up to Maggie Valley, North Carolina last Friday to begin our greatly anticipated weekend ski trip. We were watching the weather all week and it was going to be ideal weather for skiing.

     Our adventure began around 12:00. I picked Chad up from work in Atlanta and we left from there for our destination.

We made one stop on the way-WalMart for 2 reasons:

1. Restroom break

2. Of course I got Chick-fil-A buffalo sauce on my shirt that I loved so we got a Tide Pen as well.

     When we got back on the road it was raining. The further we drove the rain began turning into snow. Which was fun at first. Here I am in the car taking pictures of the snow and sending it to mom, Jenn and friends. Do not judge me, I am from GA and I don't see it that often. Well, then a little snow began to turn into a lot of snow. We make the turn on the bypass (hwy-23) which we find out gradually gets steeper and steeper. We are making our way up and the snow is really coming down. More snow than I thought possible. We are making our way up the bypass, following behind a truck and trying to stay in his lines. That didn't work for long because he pulled over to switch to four wheel drive which left us just spinning. There were cars pulled off to the side all over the place, just covered in snow. We ended up sideways and unable to move forward. Chad then called the cabin place where we were going. The guy he talked to supposedly gave us a different route to take which means we have to turn around. I got out to help direct Chad backwards so that we could turn around and make our way back down. I was probably outside of the car for a whole 2 minutes and I was covered when I got back in. We make our way back down. I must say Kudos to Chad on the driving because the windshield had very little visible space to see out of. If you know me-you know I would have been freaking out if I was having to drive. So, as we are making our way back down the road is getting thicker and thicker with snow- everything was now lacking color-just white. Somehow on the way down we got sideways and ended up in the ditch (not a deep one). Chad had the break all the way down and E-break up and we just went on sliding. At this point we are both frustrated. Chad had been up since 2:30 and he was trying really hard to stay calm. We call our All-State agent about getting a tow truck to us, he said he would get right back with us, right.... After 30 mins, some volunteers from the fire department show up and direct Chad and help us get back on the main road so we can attempt to get to the bottom again. Thankfully, we were able to get back on the road and on our way. We are in constant communication with the cabin place trying to figure out what to do. In Georgia, we shut down when we get 1/2 an inch of snow so this was a little different from what we are used to. We are able to get back and off of the bypass.

     We pull into the gas station to gather our thoughts and figure out what we are going to do. I go into the gas station for a restroom break and come to out to find Chad buying a King Size Snickers. In my mind I am thinking, "How can you be thinking about Snickers at a time like this?" But I said nothing. We go back outside and scrape all 5 inches of snow off of my car. We get back in and start going by the directions the guy from the cabin place told us to. I am still hopeful that our trip may happen at this point. Well, that was squashed rather quickly. We figured out real quick that he was sending us the same way we just came from.

:( My hope is gone. We discussed staying at a hotel and attempt to get there on Saturday but it was supposed to snow all night and all day Saturday. I didn't want to get stranded up there all weekend so we decide to head home. After about 5 minutes of driving we started talking about how maybe the roads are a little better now. They have had atleast a couple of hours to get the snow plow trucks going and it wasn't snowing as hard. So we flip a U-turn for one more last try on the bypass. We made it further than we did the first time but the fire department was making everyone that didn't have four-wheel drive or chains on their tires turn around. Weekend=Squashed. I was sad that everything didn't work out. We then preceeded home and got a phone call the next morning. We were not able to get a refund but they re-scheduled us for the first weekend in March and to a better cabin for no extra charge. Cabin Number 4, Here we come!

This is the progression of the snow in pictures from my cellphone:

I can look back now and laugh about it but on Friday it was a pretty stressful experience...I went from being excited to see snow, to hating it all within a couple of hours.