Friday, October 21, 2011

Book Club Friday: The Help


[via]

The Help
Kathryn Stockett

Product Description: (via Amazon)
Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.
Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.
Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.
Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.
In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women—mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends—view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t.
 
My Review:
It took me a couple of days to get into this book.  I had a hard time with the dialect in the beginning (most of it is written from a Southern black woman's perspective.)  However, once I got a fourth of the way through the book, I couldn't stop reading.  The Help opened my eyes to the past and how much things have changed.
 
5 out of 5 stars.
 
Read a book & link up!

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Car shopping.

Gas is expensive.
We all know this.
Fueling a large SUV that only get 14 MPG is extremely expensive.

[not mine, but exact replica, via]

I love my Jeep Commander.
Love, love, looove.
However, it's not entirely necessary for me to have that large of a vehicle.
90% of the time, it's just me cruisin' around in it.
I'm talking about a vehicle that can hold 8 people.

So, I will be test driving some new cars this weekend.
Here's what I have in mind...
[2010 Subaru Legacy, via]
[2010 Ford Fusion, via]
[2011 Hyundai Sonata, via]
[2010 Suzuki Kazashi, via]

I am going to be picky.
I will only buy the car that I fall in love with.
I'm leaning towards the Legacy, because they are all equipped with AWD.
That is pretty much a necessity with Midwest winters...


Do you find fuel efficiency to be an important factor?
What else do you look for in a car?

Wish me luck!
xox.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Movin' on up!

Exciting news!
My bestie, Heather, is now my roomie!

After quite a disastrous search for a 3 bedroom house that we can afford,
we found one!
It definitely needs some cleaning, but it will be super cute when finished.

So, upon this major decision... I need to create a budget.
Enter blogging entries....
I'm creating a budget page to track my terrible spending habits.
You will see every penny that I make and where it goes.
I honestly NEED to do this.

I have seen so much success through blogs of other girls tracking their spending habits and becoming more frugal.
I WANT TO BE THAT GIRL.

Do you have a budget?
How do you stick to it?
I'm going to need some support through this!