Welcome to this week’s Sunday Post. This feature is brought to you by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, so swing by after you are done here and get the full list of participants!
What I Reviewed:
- [7 Aug] The Gun Runner by Scott Hildreth ★★★★
- [8 Aug] Man of Honor by Sarah O'Rourke
- [10 Aug] Worked Up by Tessa Bailey ★★★★★
- [10 Aug] It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
- [11 Aug] Seducing The Boss by Mari Carr ★★★½
- [13 Aug] Obsession Falls by Christina Dodd ★★★★½
What’s Coming Up:
- Grievous by Nancy Haviland
- Kayden/Simon by Alexandra Ivy and Laura Wright
- Ravage by Tillie Cole
- A Scot in the Dark by Sarah Maclean
- Her Darkest Nightmare by Brenda Novak
- In My Arms Tonight by Sasha Clinton
This Week’s New Releases:
Open Giveaways:
You can enter to win lots of fun stuff on these #EPSummerCarnival posts: Soda Pop Ring Toss, Dunk Tank, Man Candy, and Photo Booth!
And, check out this $200 giveaway from Rachel Van Dyken to celebrate the Kindle in Motion announcement! Her books, The Matchmaker’s Playbook and The Matchmaker’s Replacement have both received the Kindle in Motion treatment and its pretty cool!
What I Found Online:
- Lexxie at UnConventional Book Reviews tells us what schools are like in Switzerland!
- The Goodreads blog lists the highest paid authors in the world!
- Parajunkie teaches us how to create Fancy social icons for our blogs!
This Week’s Book Haul:
And I also went a little crazy with NetGalley and ARC’s (I would say I am ashamed at my lack of control, but I’m not!)
Thanks to the publishers and authors for all these pretties!
Non-Bookish News:
Well, I had my doctor’s appointment. The good news is all my labs came back good! My thyroid levels were fine, my A1C is fine. The only thing that was low was my Vitamin D. The bad news is I don’t know why I have been feeling so crummy and gaining weight. My doctor wants me to get 5 hours of cardio a week and cut my calories to 1200. I am kind of miserable just thinking about it. So, anyone have any low calorie food ideas?!? I can’t have gluten. I would love any advice you all might have!
I finished teaching the test prep course and now I start my actual job! Next week we have staff meetings and freshmen orientation. Then school officially starts on August 23rd! And I leave for Italy on September 21st! I am still really nervous because its all new to me. I have never traveled outside the USA. With my OCD, I struggle with situations I am unfamiliar with so chaperoning 25 high school seniors to a foreign country is about as unfamiliar as it gets! Have you traveled overseas? What do I need to know? What do I need to get or prepare for? Also, since I can’t have gluten, how difficult is it going to be for me to find food while I’m there? The only thing I do have is a power adaptor for my macbook and iPhone!
My school has a 1 to 1 iPad program (that means every student in the building has his/her own iPad provided to them by the school). The teachers get iPads too. Well, they haven’t given the teachers new iPads in 4 years but they finally upgraded ours! I am now the proud owner of an iPad Air 2 64Gb! They got me and the other IS the bigger storage because we have to store more textbooks since we work across all content areas. I was super excited! Now, my old iPad 2 has become my exercise iPad (the one I keep on my elliptical machine) and my iPad mini has been given to a friend in need.
So, whats new with you this week? Did you read any of the same books I did? Did you find any great book deals I need to grab ASAP? Let me know in the comments!
You should ask your doctor to show you the actual numbers for your thyorid, I’ve heard of people whose doctors (or the labs) said everything was fine, when in fact, they weren’t completely in the ‘normal’ range with their numbers.
I’m sure you’ll be OK in Italy, and frankly, most restaurants in Europe have gluten-free choices on their menus, and in supermarkets, things are labelled either ‘con gluten’ or ‘senza gluten’ (senza means without). Where in Italy are you going? I can’t remember, and I’m sure I’ve asked you before 😀
Congrats on your new iPad! That’s great news. I need to scan some of my school books so I can bring just my iPad to class… I have the new iPad pro, and it even works with a special pen – so I can annotate documents in class and show my students different things on the overhead.
Have a wonderful week and happy reading .
My doctor did show me-she is really great about that!! So I know for certain that everything is normal.
I will be in Assisi and Rome! Glad to know there are gluten free options!
My husband has the iPad pro and loves it!! I love the idea of annotating for students to view. Thats great!
I’m glad to ear things are okay! Yogurt is a good choice, find the ones with a lot of protein and no added sugar or anyting, I think it’s Dannon? And they are gluten free. Dried fruit, maybe?
Oh I didn’t think about dried fruit. Thanks for the idea! Sadly, yogurt and I don’t get along well. I have a thing against weird textures and yogurt just gives me the heebie-jeebies!
Yay for The Untouchable Earl!! I can’t wait to read it! A Sure Thing sounds really good too.
I know it probably makes you miserable thinking about that new diet, but once you get used to it I reckon it will be okay. I would probably look up recipes for grilled chicken or fish and soups and salads. Good luck with it!
I’m so excited to hear how Italy will go. I can understand how scary it is for you, but you will rock it! Have the best time!
Yes, I am super excited for The Untouchable Earl!!
Oh soups and salads are good ideas. I will have to check out pinterest! Thanks!
Looks like you’ve had a great week. You’ve added a whole bunch of lovely books. I hope you enjoy your new books. Have a great week!!!
Thanks!
Have a great trip. I;m sure you’ll be fine and I hope you can find some safe foods to enjoy there. That iPad sounds fabulous. Good of them to get you an updated one. I still haven’t got one. Keep meaning to. Great haul of books. Looks like some exciting romances for summer reading:)
Thanks for stopping by!
I did the 21 Day Fix diet and a lot of those foods were “pure”, only proteins and vegetables. That’s what you’ll want to fill up on. HUmmus is gluten free. I have that with whole wheat pita all the time. Hummus and carrots, too. I don’t think I stink too bad (at least my hubs isn’t complaining yet!). I eat a lot of salads with hard boiled egg and organic dressing on it. And then I constantly have chicken breast for dinner that has marinated all day. I have a griddle pan so I don’t have to grill outside at all. I avoid processed food as much as possible. Does that help at all??? It totally sucked at first but got better. Use Pinterest to find food – there’s a ton of ideas on there!!
Yay for a new iPad!! You are swimming in technology!! And that was so nice of you to pass down your gear 😀 I’m sure it was really appreciated!!!
You know what I’m reading right now is Bedmates by Nichole Chase and it’s really good. You would like it, I think. I’m not sure if it’s on NetGalley b/c I got it on Edelweiss. *shrugs*
Have a good week… stay indoors!!!
I am glad your labs came back with good results! I hope the doctor is able to figure out what is wrong. Hopefully the exercise and diet will help. I wish I could help you with low calorie foods. Goodness knows I could use help in that area too!
I hope the school year gets off to a good start! And enjoy your trip! HOpefully figuring out what you can and can’t eat won’t be too difficult. What Lexxie said is pretty positive, I think, in terms of helping making it easier for you.
Take care of yourself! Enjoy your week!
I’m glad your lab tests came back good, but at the same time I’m sorry you didn’t get any answers :-/
I don’t have any advice for traveling to Italy as I’ve never been, but I think it’s great that you’re going. I’m sure it’s scary, but you might regret it if you didn’t go, you know? Just do whatever research you can before leaving and try to have fun once you’re there 🙂
How awesome that you get iPads from the school and that you finally got an upgrade!
Have a great week and enjoy all your new books 🙂
Great giveaway! Some good books you got this week also, I’ve got to go check them out on Goodreads. I had issues with being tired a while back. But I had some medication that I think was causing it, and when we changed the dosage, and added a different one, it got better. I need to diet, but just can’t seem to make myself. For now I’m concentrating on getting more exercise in. Good luck with your attempt on that!
I’ve yet to start It Ends With Us – even though I pre-ordered it. I don’t think my heart is ready. Plus, I’m still savoring it. As soon as I read it, it’s over. But for now I still have all that yummy anticipation. 🙂 I can’t believe I still haven’t read anything by Tillie Cole or Tessa Bailey (I know, I know, what have I been doing with my life?).
Good news that your lab tests were within a good range but I’m sorry that they didn’t provide any answers. I know that has to be crazy frustrating. 🙁
So cool that the school provides iPads! That’s the one I have (the iPad Air 2 64 GB) but sadly I had to pay for mine. LOL
P.S. New subscriber here! *waves frantically*
Welcome!! I hadn’t read any Tessa Bailey until this year and now I am gobbling up everything she wrote! And Ravage is my first Tillie Cole!
Seems like you had a great bookish week! 🙂 Wishing you the best of luck for the beginning of school again, and have a great trip! 🙂
Sounds like you are a very busy woman. Sorry I have no suggestions for you, but I do hope you feel better soon. Exercise creates energy, so I think that is always a good idea. I hope you trip is fabulous and it does sound daunting,, OCD or not. LOL