Never Never "Book" Review - 5/5

Hey Everyone!

First, a bit of an introduction before I begin my “book” discussion. I have been watching a lot of youtube videos lately about books. Apparently it’s a thing... called BookTube!  One of my favourite vloggers Kayla (channel is ObbsandLala) started a new channel called BooksandLala and I am obsessed with her videos. Since I am always looking for book recommendations I have basically made a list of all of the books she mentions in her videos, good or bad in her opinion, and will try and read along with her.

One of her more recent videos was titled “Never Never | Book Reaction” and the screenshot of the video just made me want to read that book immediately. I didn’t watch her video because I wanted to go in with an open mind and see how I felt about it. In some of her previous videos she had raved about one of the co-authors, Colleen Hoover, so I grabbed the “book” and started it last night and read for about an hour.

Then I picked it back up when Miss Lily went down for her nap, read for about another hour and just finished it about five minutes ago! Now I am not one of those people who can read at lightning speeds, and I don’t have an eidetic memory.  I got through this “book” so quickly because it was only 140 pages long! Reading it on my ipad I should have noticed that but tend to not pay attention to the page numbers at all.

As you may have noticed, I have been calling this a “book” because it’s not a book!! I think Kayla put it perfectly when she said “WTF did I just read?!” This is merely an introduction to an interesting, emotional, confusing, addictive and intense story. 

A brief synopsis: Charlie (a girl) and Silas (a guy) are both 17 year old high school students who all of a sudden, at 11:00 am on a Wednesday morning completely forget who they are and every detail about their lives. They quickly realize that the other person also doesn't remember anything; but they discover they are apparently a couple, have been best friends since childhood and have been in love for years. We follow the story from both points of view and slowly learn who the characters are, at the same time as they themselves are discovering who they are. Amid family drama, alcoholism, violence, arguments and simply random clues they try to piece together what happened to them and how they can try and fix it. I sat there for 140 pages completely absorbed in these characters and trying to figure it out with them - maybe they’re angels? maybe they’re aliens? was it some kind of drugs they took? are they hypnotized? WHO THE HECK KNOWS!?  I've never read any of Colleen Hoover’s books; maybe they all have a sci-fi element to them?  And then, when you’re thoroughly confused, itching for more clues and at the most intense dramatic moment of the story you see the horrible words – TO BE CONTINUED….

Are. You. Freaking. Kidding. Me!?!?!

I immediately went and watched Kayla’s video and yep, it sufficiently summed up my feelings.  WTF did I just read?! I am not sure what the authors were thinking, whether they wanted to add more to the story or change it somehow? But they had an original release date of January 2015, so they had to put out something. What they released is this horribly mean, tease of a story that I give an emphatic 5 out of 5!  I did not realize that in 140 pages I could become so engrossed in a story, and so in love with characters that don’t even seem like very nice people at all! Plus, you cannot possibly read this book and then NOT get the next book that comes out to continue the story - that’s some great advertising really!

I don’t really know what else to say other than “oh man!”  I need the rest of this story! Part 2 comes out May 17th, 2015, I will give you an update when I read that sucker!

If you can handle a major cliffhanger and can be patient enough to wait for the release of the rest of the story, I highly recommend getting this “book”.  If you can't handle it, wait until the rest comes out in May and then definitely read it in its entirety - amazing!

Let me know if you read the story and we can be in utter shock and awe and “what-the-heck?!!?-ness” together.

Now, what to read next…?

Until next time friends,

~ Shannon

New Years "Changes"

Hello everyone!

      I hope each and every one of you is having a great new year so far. Does anyone have any resolutions they would like to share? Comment below! I am the type to plan resolutions and have them fizzle out after only a couple of weeks. So this year I think I will call them something else, "changes", and see if they stick (worth a shot, right?).

So here is my list:

1 - Take better care of my body
This includes eating healthier, drinking a lot more water, following proper hair and skincare routines, and exercising. The hubby and I will be starting the new Insanity Max 30 workout series this coming Sunday (Jan 11) so I will keep you all up to date with our progress on that. I also want to just try and be more positive about myself - try loving my body a bit more instead of constantly bashing it for its flaws.

2 - Blog more
Here I am, world! I am going to aim for at least one post a week. :)

3 - Spend more quality time with my family
I want to plan fun excursions and maybe even some spontaneous trips for Mike, Lily and I. She is such an intelligent little girl and just absorbs everything around her, it's amazing to see what she learns every day. I want to take her to new places, see new things, explore and create memories. <3

4 - Read more books and watch less TV
I love books, always have, always will. I used to read SO much but I've grown up a bit and with the responsibilities of adulthood (boo!) I just haven't had as much time. Also, since having a child I really (!) don't have time. But I want to change this. I waste so much time watching re-runs of old TV shows when I could be reading! I also want to try and read several of the books that are being turned into movies this year, because its fun to compare the two (even though the books are always better). 

5 - Move up a level with Younique
I joined Younique in September of 2014. The business model is arranged so that you can move up in sales "levels" - all called different colors and mean different things - white, yellow, pink, blue, green, orange, purple and black. I started off as a "white-status" presenter and in November promoted to "yellow". This year I would love to hit pink or higher, that would be very exciting!  (If you haven't heard of Younique, check out my website and/or my facebook page. You can also ask any questions in the comments below.)

6 - Maybe, maybe, start a YouTube channel...
This is something I have thought about for a long time, but am very afraid to do. Firstly because I am not sure anyone would even be interested in watching a video by little old me, and secondly because there is a lot of hatred in the online world and that's scary. I will continue to give this some more thought. If you would actually be interested in seeing videos, or think its a horrible idea, please let me know in the comments.

Well I think that's everything, folks!

Thanks for taking the time to read my little goals for the year. Maybe writing them down and sharing them with all of you will keep me accountable. :)

Until next time my friends,

~ Shannon

Happy New Year!

Good Afternoon and Happy New Year Everyone!

As the New Year rolls around I think everyone tends to reflect on what the past year held for them. In my case, 2014 was a very tough, but also wonderful, year.

I began the year caring for our infant daughter, and now looking back, I can admit that I was also struggling with post-partum depression. At the time I attributed everything I was feeling to sleep deprivation but now I can see that it was actually so much more than that. I plan on doing a full post about this topic so will not say much about that now. Happily once we began sleep training and Lily (and I) slept through the night I began to feel MUCH better!  Over the year I have watched that little baby grow into an awesome toddler who makes me laugh every single day with her crazy shannonigans (hehe, see what I did there?)  She is such a beautiful, intelligent, happy, and loving little girl that I still, to this day, cannot believe we created! How did I get so lucky?!  Here is a photo from a recent shoot we did for my in-laws for Christmas that definitely shows off her personality, just love that little squishy nose!

After a horribly long and cold winter, the springtime allowed Lily and I to finally get outside for some fresh air and much needed exercise. I followed along with the Tone It Up girls “Bikini series”. If you don’t know about the Tone It Up girls, check them out here: www.toneitup.com. They are amazing. It’s a wonderfully supportive community of women all working together to motivate and empower each other to be healthy. I would someday like to join their Nutrition Program as well. Right now they have their “Love Your Body” series running, a post about that to come.

Also fitness-related, the hubby and I decided to try out the workout program “Insanity” (http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/insanity.do).  Well, let me tell you, the title is appropriate!!  It’s a two-month program with a one-week recovery in the middle. I unfortunately only made it half-way through and then lost all motivation since I was impatient and not seeing mega results yet.  My awesome hubby, on the other hand, continued through the entire program and lost like 25lbs! I was, and still am, so proud of him!  He assures me that most of the changes took place in the second month and that I shouldn't have given up, he is right.

We had the pleasure of welcoming three new family members this year. A beautiful niece, Miss B, in May, a nephew who is the toughest little man around, Mr. A, in June, and another wonderfully sweet niece, Miss K, in July. Lots of baby snuggles followed by comments like “so when’s your next one?!”… Give me time people! It's been amazing to watch all of our nieces and nephews grow this past year, to see their personalities develop, how they are all similar and different, and to shed tears of pride each time any one of them learns a new skill. We couldn't have asked for a more amazing family!

We attended weddings of some amazing friends, and celebrated engagements and pregnancy announcements with others. I also had so much fun planning and carrying out Lily’s first birthday party. It was Minnie Mouse themed and I loved getting crafty with it. I will also be doing a separate blog post about her party so stay tuned for that.

I tried out, loved, and then started selling the Younique cosmetics products. I have a facebook page dedicated to that (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shannons-Younique-CosmeticsBeauty/263881567154601) and also a website (www.youniqueproducts.com/shannonm) if anyone is interested. 

I returned to work after a year of maternity leave and am enjoying being back in that atmosphere; despite how much I miss my little lady every day. We found a wonderful daycare for her and she has so much fun there, so that makes it much easier. I have about an hour's commute every day, which I used to loathe, but now don't mind. I downloaded the app Audible (www.audible.com) on my ipad and purchase one audiobook a month, then listen to that in my car on my drive home. I really look forward to that time of the day each day, since I don't have much time to read actual books anymore. Right now I am listening to the book "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon, and am loving it so far!

All in all, 2014 was a year filled with tears (a lot!), laughs (even more!), baby snuggles, learning new skills, failing at others, and dusting myself off to try again. Here’s to another great year! Cheers everyone!