Summertime

50 Shades of Darker

Ahh the second book of this fascinating trilogy. And I have to admit, it just keeps getting better.  Prepare yourselves, my loves to not be able to put this book down until you have finished it.  And even then be prepared to just want to to pick up the third book and continue to read the story.

After experiencing first hand just how bad it can get, Ana left controlling billionaire Christian Grey. His BDSM tastes were too dark for her to handle. Why is she reconsidering now? Fifty proposes a tempting arrangement. He is prepared to try and give her what she desires most. More. It isn’t an easy road for them, though. Ana must learn about herself; the strength she carries within, while Fifty needs to face his demons while also attempting to open up to her. Forces from his past and present are conspiring against the two. Can they make their relationship work? Is ‘more’ enough for tortured Fifty Shades? A story of how love can conquer all.

The cliffhanger-ending of Fifty Shades of Grey had me needing to download the second book immediately to find out what happens. It was such a relief to download of the second book in the Fifty Shades series to my Kindle; until I read the Prologue. Jeezzzz! Prepare yourselves for a not too happy beginning.  On a brighter note: I was so happy to see Ana and Fifty back together, even though I knew they were about to face a lot of hardships; but hey, that's what makes a good book! 

 Losing Ana led to a major shift in Fifty's outlook. Fifty realized how much this “maddening, maddening woman”meant to him. The decision to get her back went hand in hand with change. Change of his priorities, change of his wants, and change of his way of thinking. It was interesting to me that Fifty wasn’t capable of taking credit for his accomplishments, I suppose that has to do with his troubled past though.  As for Ana, it wasn't surprising  that she doubted herself or why such a man would be attracted to her. Or the fact that a "normal" relationship would never be enough for Fifty.  That was one of their biggest struggles to get through.  Once they both could get past their issues, things would be so much easier for them. 

One of the major problems of the first book was that the author told very little about Fifty's past, only that he had a troubled past, and that bothered me. It was a very annoying part of the first book.  What could’ve possibly happened that made him want to control every aspect of his, and Ana’s life?  I was given a lot more insight reading Fifty Shades Darker. The title should give you a big hint.  The glimpses into Fifty’s past combined with the information he offered Ana (a huge step) helped me understand him better.  Fifty is such a fascinating character. All his faults and issues drew me in… maybe even more so than before.  Letting the readers have more information about his past made him more likable and made you root for them to work. 

What made this book so much more likable??  Fifty was funny! I found myself laughing out loud at him at several different occasions.  In spite of all the drama, the author made sure to give the reader some breathing room for giggles. I’m still not over the greatness that’s Ana’s and Fifty’s email exchange.  It was fun and flirty and funny. Also, Fifty overshot the mark from time to time, but Ana didn’t put up with it any longer. She thought carefully about which battles to fight. It was a challenge for him to accept this. Then again, sometimes she let him have his way. I understood. She took the advice of her mother, good advice that mother gives!! 

There was just as much sex in this book as the first and it was just as repetitive as in the first.  But I found myself just skimming over those scenes.  Because really, if you read one sex scene, you've read them all.  

50 Shades of Grey

50 Shades of Grey is about a soon to be college graduate who goes to interview an insanely rich CEO for her roommate who suddenly falls ill to the flu.  His name is Christian Grey, he is a condescending, bossy, stubborn, handsome 27 year old who has more money that he knows what to do with.  Ana is shy, quiet, awkward and clumsy.  Immediately there is a chemistry between the two of them which confuses them both.  Ana leaves the interview feeling flustered and Christian shows up at her job about a week later.  He asks her to dinner and approaches her with an indecent proposal, not knowing that she is an innocent virgin and she not knowing that he has some serious demons.  This is not your typical boy meets girl, lets date romance story.  He wants to dominate her and he wants her to be his submissive.  He comes up with a contract that he wants her to sign.  She's torn between her love for him and her fear for him.  She wants to know why he is so Fifty Shades of "f'k"up.  She wants to know why he is so Fifty Shades of "f'd" up. She wants to get to the bottom of what happened in his past to make him need this type of relationship and why he hates to be touched. He introduces her to the "dark side" of his sexual habits and in his desire to keep her and make her happy, tries for the "vanilla relationship" she desires. Will Ana embrace Christian's dark side or will it be more than she can handle? The way he makes love to her is so erotic, steamy, sexy and scary all at the same time. But after the first couple times, it's very repetitive.  

When I first started reading this book, I was completely unaware of the plot of the book.  I just heard about how addicting it was and how much people loved it, so I decided to give it a try.  The first chapter seemed like a normal book and then the plot hits you like a train.  I wanted to hate it because it was so disturbing but I couldn't help but grow attached to these characters. I wanted to know what happened to little Christian as a book to make him so tortured as an adult; I wanted to find out if he was going to throw away his contract to give into the thought of true love and being happy; I wanted to find out if Ana was going to try to see past Christian's demon's and see him for the lovable man that he has the potential to be. 

Although, I didn't like how repetitive the sex scenes were. She's biting her lips again. Christian wants to nail her AGAIN. Christian wants to spank her AGAIN. She's not sure if she wants him to. I preferred the more natural sex scenes to the Dominant/Submissive stuff; those seemed to be the times where Christian broke down and little by little more of him was revealed and the readers were able to understand him. Even though they were very detailed and raw, they didn't make me uncomfortable as I thought they might.  

I have to say, I started by not wanting to like this book at all because I found it so disturbing and I also had issues with the grammatical and editing overlooks.  But by the end, I got used to the way the author wrote and was able to overlook the grammatical issues and I found myself very attached to the characters in this book.  I actually, immediately downloaded the next two books on my kindle and began reading them right away. 

Back At It

It's official. 

I will be competing in the AAU women's division of gymnastics in January.

I am beyond excited to compete again.

It's been eight years since the last time I competed.

I was a competitive gymnast for 13 years.

This is what I do.

Me and one other coach are both competing in January.

We told most of our team girls and the parents last week and to say they were excited is an understatement.

We have started training three times a week after our girl's practice.

It's fun getting back into the swing of things but definitely rougher on my body than I remember.

hahah but I guess that's what happens when you get old.

The good thing about the women's division is that it isn't super serious so you compete what you do in mod op(which is basically just competing whatever skills you can on the events) or you can compete women's level 8.

Which is the goal that I'm going for.

I think I can do it, I have 7 months to get my skills and I still have most of them. 

So as long as I don't break any bones :)

So here's to having fun and winning some medals in the process! 

One Year Of Marriage

One year ago from yesterday, I married the man of my dreams and my best friend.

It was a beautiful Friday, full of sunshine, family and friends.

I was relaxed and excited as could be, not a bone in my body questioning if walking down that isle was the right decision.

I knew it was.

I knew since the night I met Chris that he was the man I was meant to marry.

A year later, I feel the same way. 

Not a bone in my body questions if that decision to marry was the wrong decision.

I've married my best friend who as happens to be the love of my life.

Easily the best decision I've made to date.

This first year of marriage has been so amazing.

Yes, we've spent only four months of it together but we've grown closer and we've conquered new challenges.

Our emotional bond has strengthened us and brought us closer together.

The time that we spend apart has never hurt our relationship, it only brings us closer and that is a key to making our relationship survive. 

The time we get to spend together we cherish and we don't waste our time fighting over silly things.

We've learned to pick our battles and let the little things go.

Yes, we always knew that one but this year we really listened to it.  We argued when things count and let me tell you, that's not often.  It makes life so much easier just to let the little things go.

While we always tried to remember to  kiss goodnight and never go to bed angry, we really starting sticking to it. 

We've learned that life is short and we need to enjoy the time that we have together.

Yes, this is common sense, but things that happened this year really proved that point over and over to us and we truly took advantage of the time that we had together.

This year has been amazing.  

Truth be told, we're still in the honeymoon phase.

I hope it never ends.

I feel like I love him a little more everyday.

I feel like he loves me a little more everyday.

If this is what marriage is,  I can't wait to see what the rest of marriage has to offer us. 

I can't wait to see what the years ahead have in store for  us and more importantly, I can't wait to walk through those years hand in hand with my husband. 

Gorgeous Saturday

Make Up

I was browsing Pinterest the other day; on their beauty section because lets face it; I love makeup, especially doing up my eyes.

I came across multiple pictures of the same girl with fabulous eye makeup and on all her pictures she said that she used BH Cosmetics 120 Palette.

So naturally I googled it, thinking that it was going to be pricey.

Well I might have stumbled across some gold.

This is a eyeshadow palette with 120 colors in it for about $20.

Well of course, me being me and being used to spending $$ on eye shadow, I couldn't believe there was something so cheap that could possibly be any good.

Well, after reading all the reviews,  I was proved to be wrong. 

Not to mention, you get about every shade in the rainbow.

So now I'm eyeing the 120 Palette First Edition, the Matte Palette and the Shimmer Palette.

Maybe for my birthday I'll get one :)

Here's the link in any of you wanna check it out.

http://www.bhcosmetics.com/products/eyes/