Rainy Thoughts: Date Your Best Friend

Hello everyone! Hope you are all doing swell! If you follow me on Twitter and Instagram, you may have seen that I went to see Wicked with my best friend. I wanted to see that musical with her because, well, the musical is about friendship. So naturally, I took my best friend to see it. My best friend and I have been bet friends since our junior year of high school and friends since the second grade when I went up to her and asked if she wanted to play and she looked at me dead in the face and replied, "No."

What do I mean by Date your best friend?

Simple. Date your best friend. Done. Do it! Trust me, you won't ever regret it.

Why Date Your Best Friend?

 Because you will find that dating your best friend will help you to see what you want in your next partner. When you're in a relationship, you tend to give in to what the other wants/does and you shouldn't settle. But when you date your best friend, you find out how you actually want to be treated and from then on, you wont settle for anything less than how your best friend treated you.

How Do You Date Your Best friend?

Take them on a date of course! First, change your status on social media, because nothing says official like Facebook official. When you're done with that, then you can do everything else in whatever order you like.

Go to the movies together. Cruise around at night listening to your friendship album. Go to Olive Garden. Spend the night at each other's houses watching weird indie movies, while drinking chocolate milk. Be the firs to tell them happy birthday on their birthday. Do things you both like to do and experience new things together. Travel together. And when you go on family vacations, bring them back a souvenir. Text them when your sad, your mad, or plain happy. Doe everything together and take pictures of it all to look back on later.

When should you date your best friend?

Probably before you get into your next relationship.

What happens after?

After you two have dated and you're both married to your significant others and you don't live down the street from each other anymore, don't forget about your best friend. Don't forget about the one person who taught you what love was. Continue to have dates nights every once in a while. Text each other when an old song comes on the radio that you use to cruise to. Tag each other in those "best friend for life" posts on Facebook. Give them gifts just cause. Let them know how much you appreciate their friendship.

If I could give you one piece of advice, it would be to date your best friend.

Book Review: Dreaming for Freud by Sheila Kohler

Hey everyone! Here is another book review right on time! I’ve been pretty active recently and have been dabbling myself in different things. Some things I stick to and some things are just a fad. But writing and doing this blog has been constant for the past two years, and I’m pretty proud of that!  Anyways, this is another book I found at the Dollar Tree. Here is my review on Dreaming for Freudby Sheila Kohler. SPOILER ALERT.

A Bit of Background

 Sheila Kohleris a south African author. She received her undergraduate degree in literature r the Sorbonne, then her graduate degree in psychology at the Institute Catholique. After raising her 3 children, she moved in the U.S. in 1981 and got her MFA in writing at Columbia. Sheila published her first story in the summer of 1987, "The Mountain," which came out in, The Quarterly, and won her the O'Henry prize in 1988. This story became the first chapter of her novel, The Perfect Place.

Sheila published Dreaming for "Dreaming for Freud" in 2014. This book is about Sigmund Freud's most famous patient, which he wrote a book on, Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria. Dora's father forces her to begin treatment with Freud in the fall of 1900, due to her being ill. Dora abruptly ends her treatment after only eleven weeks , just as Freud was on the edge of a true discover. This book explores what might have happened between the two.

What Was Enjoyable

What I found enjoyable about this book and the original reason I was intrigued on reading this, was that it’s about a historical figure. Who hasn’t learned about Sigmund Freud? It’s a very interesting take on the man behind the famous dream book.

Another thing that I really enjoyed about this book were the pages. The pages are meant to look like an old journal, and anyone who enjoys books and old books will appreciate the detail of the pages.

The last thing that I have to say was that it was interesting how the author portrays Sigmund Freud. Anyone who enjoys reading about historical figures, will enjoy this take of the father of dreams and how the author makes him seem before he ever got famous.

What Was Least Enjoyable

What was least enjoyable was that I found myself a little bored at the end. And when I say the end, I mean the last two chapters.  The last two chapters take a turn and I just didn’t find myself really and truly wanting to finish them.

Another thing was that the beginning took a bit to get into. One could feel that it sort of drags on a little too long for one’s taste.

Overall

Overall, if you like Sigmund Freud or reading up on historical figures, this is the book for you. If not, you might want to skip it.

Stay tuned for my rainy thoughts next week! Until then, Happy Reading! 

Rainy Thoughts: Try Something New

Hi guys! If you follow me on Twitter and Instagram, then you probably know that I started a new thing...Lyra classes! Or mostly known as aerial hoop class.  For those of you who don't know who what lyra is, it's a little hard to explain, is here is a great video to watch! (That's not me btw, but hopefully one day!)

Cool right?! I've actually been wanting to do stuff like this for a while. And by a while, I mean 2 years already. Two years of me saying that I'm going to do it, but never do. But now I'm in a more financially better place where I can do this and I also have more confidence in myself to go there with a bunch of strangers and I'm just ready to try new things. And that's what I kinda wanted to focus on today for my blog.

Wherever you are in life, try something new 

Whether you're a parent, student in college, starting your career, getting married, try something new. Try something that you've been wanting to do and go for it! Don't keep making those excuses, because trust me, I made them all the time. Whether your something is crafting, or learning a new skill, new trade, whatever, try something new and see if you like it. If you don't you're just going to keep thinking about it. 

Life may happen, but that doesn't mean you can't do you boo

Yep, I've been there. Something in life happens. And something that I learned over the years is that life always happens. If life is always going to happen, might as well do something you love, right? Life is too short to let the time get away from you. And if you keep letting life get in the way of your pursuits, you're always just going to wonder. As Shia Labuff would say, JUST DO IT!

So, try something new!

This is definitely one of my shorter blogs and it turned out to be more of a pep talk, but I just felt like reminding you all to not let yourself get away from the things you want to do in life. You do you boo! 

And if you did it, but didn't like it, then that's okay because at least you put that curiosity to sleep and you can try something else! 

Until next time, I hope you do something new and if you are doing something new, let me know in the comments below! And don't forget to check out my book, The Inevitables, on sale now in the button below!

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Book Review: The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

Hello everyone! It's been feeling a lot like Seattle here in Texas. The rain has been non-stop for a week now. I actually really enjoy the rain, especially on the weekends, but as soon as I saw the black slug on my front doorstep, I was over it. I'm ready for some sun!

Anyways, I found Liane Moriarty while I was waiting at a Barnes & Nobles for time to pass for work. I was going through the aisles and one of her other books, What Alice Forgot, caught my attention. I read the first chapter, was hooked, put it back on the shelf because it was time to head to work and that weekend I went to a Half Price Books and didn't find that book, but found this capturing and page-turning book, The Husband's Secret. SPOILER ALERT!

A little of Background

Liane Moriarty is an Australian author. Liane has written 10 books, which includes 3 children's books. She is best known for her novel, Big Little Lies, which was adapted into an HBO limited series, which went on to win multiple Emmy's. The Husband's Secret came out in 2013 and went on to sell well over 3 million copies worldwide and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for over a year. CBS Films currently has optioned the film rights (finger crossed).

The Husband's Secret starts off with a normal, suburban housewife, with 3 kids, husband away on travel, a successful Tupperware business and a nice home. Her life goes down the drain when one day, while her husband is away for work, she finds a letter he wrote years ago that that says for her to open in the event of his death. While this is going on, you meet two other ladies dealing with there own gone astray lives, until towards the end when their existence comes into play.

What was Enjoyable

From the very first page, this book has you on a leash wanting more. Liane takes you directly by the hand and pulls you through a world of crazy, mouth dropping and intense moments. Trust me when I say, you will not fall asleep reading this book.

Throughout the story, the three ladies all talk about the coming down of the Berlin Wall. Any history buff would love this analogy and how it plays out with the lives of these ladies three ladies that had nothing to do with the wall coming down, but still, hold significant importance in a way.

The characters are very relatable. This book may be fiction, but the characters seemed real. they reacted how people in real-life would react. They talk and respond and feel the way you or I would. When an author can make a fake person seem like they live down the street from you, you know they did a good job on characterization.

What was least Enjoyable

I truthfully can't think of anything.

Overall

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book from the first line I read to the very last period. Even though I started reading one of Lian's other books, I knew that whatever book I read from her would be great and would be something I would want to read. She is definitely on my top author's list and any reader will enjoy her book. Can't wait to pick up another one of her books soon.

As always, if you haven't already, check out my own book that you can pick up on Amazon today by clicking the button below. If you aren't following me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, then let's be friends! And until next week, Happy Reading!

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Rainy Thoughts: Finding a Job After College

There have been lots of articles and stories about how hard it is for some people to find a job. Let me tell you, it's true. At least it was for me.

In college, I had internships and jobs that were closely related to my degree. I created one of the top 8 capstones in my senior class and I kept close ties with everyone I met. I thought finding a job after college was going to be easy, and in truth, I was one of the ones that landed a full-time position in my degre field a month after I graduated. But I got that job because I knew someone who knew the manager who needed someone asap. Either way, I got the job. It was defintily not my dream job and it was for a start-up company. I had my own office,  my own money, my own hours, it was great! It was great up until they decided they didn't want to spend money on me and wanted to hire someone for cheap instead and let me go!

But I wasn't too sad, because I found out the next day that I was moving back to my hometown, so I tried not to feel too bad about it. Took it as a sign from above that I was meant for other things. I didn't know those other things would have taken 6 months!

The first month, I applied to places selectively. Only applied to to places that sounded nice to me. The second month, I started opening up my options. By the fourth month, I opened up the whole horizon. I started to apply to places for positions that I didn't really want, but that paid well. It sucked. It sucked so much and it made me feel like I was icompatent in a way. I would have very close interviews, but it always seemed that there was someone with more experience, someone who had been in the industry longer, someone better.

And just when I felt that I was settling for my current position as a collections person at a call center, someone took a chance on me. Yeah, maybe they needed a media specialist like right away, but I didn't care. a company took a chance on me and I am very happy at my job. I get to use what I learned in both my Associates and Bachelors degree and that my friends, is a very fulfilling feeling.

But enough about my experience, I am here to let you know that you are amazing. It sucks not being able to find a job after college. I get it. But it doesn't mean that you suck at what you do, it doesn't mean that you aren't capable and it doesn't mean that you wasted your time. It can mean that you are just in a competitive field, which is definitely true where I live. It can mean that you apply to places that you didn't think about applying for before. I currently work for a big HOA, who would've thought?

But what I am trying to say is that you are awesome and I hope that you land that job soon. And if you have that job, congrats! And if you can't find that job, make your own! You do you boo. That's what I started doing with my book, The Inevitables, which you can buy right now on Amazon.

Anyways, hope you all have a good day and I'll be back next week with a great book review! Till then, happy job hunting!

Book Review: Poetic Insights Through the Journey of Life

Hey guys! I've been so busy, with my new job, my first book just came out (which you can pick up now by clicking this hyperlink) going on vacation and just life in general! But I really want to get back into my blog. And I've been meaning to do a review from a fellow Self-publishing author, DeAsia N.L Zellner. Ms Zellner asked me to do a review, and here I am! Read on for the review of Poetic Insights Through the Journey of Life.

A little bit of background

DeAsia has experienced so many different situations throughout her life. She decided to write her experiences out in a poetry book to express how she felt about it all. DeAsia is not just an author, but also has her MBA and MHA, and is a mentor at MSTRS New York.

What was enjoyable

I really enjoyed and appreciated the honesty of DeAsia. I felt like she was being brutally honest and was not holding anything back from what she experienced and felt. IT really felt like you were reading from a crazy movie.

What was least enjoyable

I enjoyed reading this book, but the only thing I would suggest is the flow of the poems. I felt like they some of them went in a timeline, but others out of sequence. But it did not take away from the book. 

Overall

Overall, this was a great poetry book. I'm not one that reads a whole book of poetry, but this was one was worthy to note. You can find DeAsia's book on Amazon.

Rainy Thoughts: Getting Married

Hello everyone! It's been about 2 and a half months since I got married! Yes, time flies by and I have been insanely busy. But I really wanted to do a blog post on getting married and planning a wedding. I know I went on so many forums and blog posts about how they planned, what they did, what they wish they did and did not do, etc, etc. So here are my thoughts on getting married and the whole process and some advice for you!

Planning the Wedding

Planning your wedding is some stressful stuff! I actually didn't choose to have a wedding planner. I have experience in planning events, so thought it would be one of those things that I could cut back on. If you're planning your own wedding without a wedding planning/coordinator, I have some advice for you:

1. Plan Early. Repeat after me. PLAN EARLY! The last thing you want to do is planning everything last minute. That is just too stressful. Once you have your dates in mind, start planning. First, if you're getting married in a church, get that date done first. If you're not having a church wedding, then get that reception hall down. Those two things are the very first things that need to be booked. After that, you can start focusing on everything else, but plan early. 
2. Let your wedding party know as soon as you know the date. If you're inviting people to be part of your wedding, then you must somewhat like them...hopefully! But letting your wedding party know early is just courtesies so they can start saving up a fund and getting what they need little by little, getting their dresses tailored, etc. instead of all at once.
3. Have a signed contract with all your vendors. This is important. A signed contract helped you stay clear of messed up catering orders, mixed-up dates with the photographer, etc. And if someone happens to not show up and you already put a downpayment, you can get your money back. 
4. As stated in number one, do the big stuff first (church, venue, caterer) and then find the dress and then all the extras. 
5. PLAN EARLY! 

I was engaged for 2 years and 5 months and I think I started planning about 2 years into it. I somehow still found myself getting things late. That's just life.

Planning the Honeymoon

Planning the honeymoon was my favorite part. If you have read my blog post on my trip to Japan, check it out by clicking these highlighted words. I think I had more fun planning my honeymoon than planning my actual wedding. So when you go on your honeymoon, remember, it's just as much of your trip as it is your partner's. 

When I thought of my honeymoon, I always imagined going to France. But when I suggested it, my husband was fine with it, but he wasn't over the top and I wanted him to feel that way. It was going to be both of our first trip out of the country and I wanted us to both experience that fun and adventurous feeling. So the next place on my list was Japan and he was thrilled. 

So when you're planning your honeymoon, here's some advice:

1. Plan a trip you both want to go on. Compromise people. 
2. Try to plan your trip not right after your wedding. I especially advise this if you're going out of the country, even out of state! I know some people who wished they didn't plan their trip the morning after their wedding. I heard horror stories of people missing flights, having to dish out more money and just being mad the whole time. I didn't want to do that, so our wedding was on a Saturday and we went on our trip the following Friday. Gave us some extra time to work and use the weekend to our advantage. 
3. Remember to book everything in advance. Just like how you want to plan your wedding early, the same goes for your honeymoon. Plan early and get everything in advance. Flights do not become cheaper the longer you wait. I know. We tried. We failed. 

Finding the perfect dress

I knew what I wanted in a dress, but I didn't know how exactly my dress was going to look. I am one of the few who found her dress at the first place she looked. Granted, I did add some of my own special touches, but in the end, I loved my dress. I wanted to look like a bohemian princess and that is what I accomplished. And yes, it is true, you do get emotional when you find your dress. Especially when you had 12 bridesmaids as your audience. 

 I don't really have any advice for finding the perfect dress, just don't settle. You'll find it. But like I've been saying, find it EARLY. Chances are, you're going to need to tailor it and you're not the only dress in the dress shop.

The Day Before 

The day before the wedding is stressful. I don't know what else to say. 

It's going to feel stressful and you're going to feel overwhelmed. Just remember to take a deep breath, get what you need done, send out a text reminding everyone of rehearsals and everything should be fine. Take as long as you want during rehearsal, but not too long and all should go smooth.

The Day Of

It's going to be stressful. For the most part, I was stress-free, besides my contacts suddenly going missing, my hairstylist shoes going missing, a highway shut down on the way to the church, my photographer not showing up and my DJ not thinking logically, I was pretty stress-free.

For my Advice: Even though I had some hiccups, the day of my wedding was awesome. I learned that everyone has hiccups, and you just got to roll with the punches. It's not about the things that went wrong, it's about all the things that went right. I had a kick-ass cake, a beautiful ceremony with all my close friends and family, a gorgeous venue at Old San Francisco Steakhouse, good food, good drinks and a husband. I loved my wedding. 

Oh, and don't forget your marriage licence! That's kind of important.

And yes, you are going to feel emotional. You promise you aren't but then you're walking down the aisle and all of sudden all the feels come out and you don't know what just happened. But it's all right. You're that's how you're supposed to feel. Feel away. 

The Day After

It all felt like a dream. Like a stressful, fun-filled dream that you've been thinking about since the moment he put that ring on your finger, and in the morning, it's all done. 

Was it worth it? Yeah. 

Would I do it again? Honestly, I would just do it in Vegas. 

As the wedding day came close, I was pretty sure I was going to be sad that I wasn't planning my wedding anymore. It wouldn't come up in any more conversation and that would be that. I don't know why that made me sad, but it did. Then the day after came and I was so glad it was over. 

The Day After That

Okay, the day after that and after you come back from your honeymoon, you're probably going to need to do a few things, especially when you're the one changing your name.

Quick advice, but more like tips:

1. The first thing you have to do to change your name is to change your social security card. Without that, you can't get anything else done. Once your marriage licence comes in, take that and your old ssc to the ss office and they will order you a new ssc.
2. After your social security card with your new name comes in, you can go ahead and change everything else. I personally went to get my driver's licence done and then my bank, and then changed the name on my credit cards, made it Facebook official, etc. 
3. It's all free. At least in the state of Texas, mostly all of this is free. I did pay go just go ahead and renew my licence, but that was my choice. I don't have to go to the DMV for another few years hopefully.

Overall

Overall, I'm happy with my wedding and I hope you have fun planning yours. Remember to have fun.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this post and that I helped you somewhat in your own wedding planning. As always, if you'd like to be the first to know when my posts come out, follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest!