Book Review - "Alexander McQueen: The Life and the Legacy" by Judith Watt (#2 - 2016)

Alexander McQueen: The Life and the Legacy by Judith Watt

I make no secret of my love of McQueen and his work, he was hands down my favorite designer of all time.  I'm dating myself here, but I followed his career from almost day one and was in shock for a solid day when he died.  This book took a deeper look into his life, how he got his start in fashion, timeline of his work and a super helpful breakdown of each of his collections.  It was so interesting and insightful.  I've read a lot about him and have this book and this one (both of which I recommend and both make great companions/references when reading this book).  My only complaint was that I wished it had more pictures, but I had to remember this book was more about him, his inspiration, motivation and not as much about the actual fashion.  So I ended up referencing both books I mentioned before and YouTube.  If you search on YouTube you can find almost every collection in whole or part.  Bottom line, this is a must read for any McQueen fan or anyone who wants to learn more about him.

Book Review - "A Star for Mrs. Blake" by April Smith (#1 - 2016)

A Star for Mrs. Blake by April Smith

I could not wait to read this book, I had heard so many good things about it, the story sounded so solid and interesting.  It follows Cora Blake in the Summer of 1931, she is a "Gold Star Mother" and is invited to go to France by the U.S. government to say goodbye to her son killed in action in WW1.  She makes the trip with fellow Gold Star Mothers.  The women she travels with are from various backgrounds and circumstances and the story follows them through their journey.  This was such a great idea for a story.  It was a horrible read.  It took forever for me to get through it, I kept thinking it would get better or there would be a payoff/resolution of some sort that satisfied (or wasn't totally cheesy).  It did not.  There are so many characters who you don't really get to know, yet are supposed to care about.  It was all over the place, I just wanted some focus.  Reading this was like slogging through a bog.  I would not recommend this book at all.  

Book Review - "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo (#41 - 2015)

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo

I was eager to get my hands on this book after hearing all the hype.  I also love a book about organization.  First, let me start by saying, this was translated from Japanese, so sometimes it reads a bit weird (and the word "tidy" is used so much you will want to scream).  Second, this is not new information, the thing is she just presents it in a different way.  She gets a bit extreme in her purging, a little too extreme for my taste (I would not throw away as much paperwork as she suggests).  For example, in our move back to our house we lived in 8 years ago, we discovered the refrigerator we bought when we moved into the house was on the fritz.  I did some research and it turns out our model was involved in a class action lawsuit and recall.  So seeing as I had kept all of the proof of purchase information paperwork, it made the process go a lot faster when I had to speak with customer service.  If I had chucked as much as she suggests, the process would have been so much harder and time consuming.  That being said, since I was reading this while unpacking endless boxes after the move, it did help me let go of things.  Boxes and boxes of things.  So I will give her credit for motivating me to do that (I'm wondering if I would have been so motivated by the book if I had to dig stuff out of places to do the decluttering? Really not sure.).  The bottom line is, pick it up if you are in need of decluttering inspiration/in the mood to get rid of stuff/moving/need a different way to help with getting rid of things.  Otherwise, don't get wrapped up in the hype.

This is the last book I read in 2015, making a total of 41 books read in 2015.  I didn't get to my goal of 50 set back in this post, but I'll cut myself a break since we moved and that took up so much of my time and energy.  So far I haven't finished one book this year!  I have such a big stack to read and I've just not been in the mood.  Such is life.  Don't worry I'll still be posting reviews as I finish any I read!

What I Bought - January 2016

Only stuff for the house this month:
1. Python tray (medium) - $58
2. Origami Star (small) - $16
3. Medallion storage ottoman - $83.99 (the quality is really good for the price)
4. Wildon Home console table - $101.99

Total = $259.98

Go forth and shop responsibly!

What I Bought - December 2015

1.  Tatcha Polished Classic Rice Enzyme Powder - $15
2.  Bobbi Brown Long Wear Cream Shadow Stick - $29
3.  Original Beautyblender - $20
4.  Kate Spade cheetah laptop sleeve - $42 (on sale)
5.  iPad Pro case - $9.95
6.  Round Cubic Zirconia Tennis bracelet - $11 (on sale and had a $20 gift card) - similar
7.  Covet spike stud earrings - $13.98 (on sale) - these are so gorgeous in person
8.  Lush tunic - $25.20 (on sale)
9.  kensie striped drape front cardigan - $44.90 (on sale - I wear this pretty much every day)
10. Trucker plaid top - $22.77 (had a $25 gift card from my FabFitFun box)

1.  Battery storage organizer - $26.99 (how did I ever live without this? It's so great!)
2.  Zola flat weave rug 2'x3' - $28.99 ($19.99 now!)
3.  Dash and Albert woven rug 4'x6' - $112

Total = $401.78

Go forth and shop responsibly!

What I Bought - November 2015

1.  Nike Zoom Fit Mesh sneaker - $63 (on clearance) - in black here
2.  RIFLE PAPER Co. Bobby Pin print - $16.80 (Black Friday discount)
3.  RIFLE PAPER Co. weekly desk pad - $8.40 (Black Friday discount)

Total = $88.20

Go forth and shop responsibly!

Book Review - "And the Good News Is..." by Dana Perino (#40 - 2015)

And the Good News Is... by Dana Perino

Dana Perino is a Fox News contributor and was White House Press Secretary in George W. Bush's administration.  As you all know, I love reading memoirs/autobiographies/biographies and this one was a good, quick read.  We are about the same age so that was an added bonus for me.  She talks about her childhood in Wyoming and Colorado and her unlikely journey towards working in the White House.  What I really liked was her honesty, her straightforward talk and she gives some pretty solid career advice.  Overall, I'd recommend this one!  Here's one of my favorite takeaways from the book:

*note:  I'm so not on track to get my goal of 50 books read this year, the move threw me off.  I'm probably only going to get to 42 or 43.  Oh well...