Stephanie Howell

Reading Recap // August 2017

September 5, 2017

MY HARVEY FUNDRAISER IS STILL OPEN! You guys.are.amazing. I am leaving it open until it hits 300 comments. THANK YOU!

*This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you.I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. Thank you so much for helping to support my little family!

Another GREAT month for reading!! This might honestly be my best year of reading ever. Here’s what I read in the month of August.

As always, follow me on Goodreads or Instagram for routine reading updates.

Summerlost // Ally Condie

This is a middle grade book but Y’ALL. So magical and cute. Grownups can enjoy it too! Sweet and innocent and I so enjoyed it. 4 stars.

Beneath a Scarlet Sky // Mark Sullivan

Unbelievable and stunning story of courage and sacrifice. For some reason I found the story choppy and had a hard time connecting even though this book combines two of my favorite things to read about – WW2 and my beloved italy. . 3.5 stars.

The Heart’s Invisible Furies // John Boyne

This was one of my BOTM August pics. And honestly I was a little bit intimidated by it because it is THICK. Guys. GUYS. This book is so darn good. It reminds me a bit of my beloved A Little Life, although it is NOT as hard and uncomfortable to read. But gosh, it breaks your heart at times. I cried pretty hard throughout and had some happy tears at the end too. 5 stars.

Startup // Doree Shafrir

Meh. Just a bunch of unlikeable characters doing shady and dumb stuff. And good God I’m thrilled I’m not in the tech world! 2 stars.

Good Behavior // Blake Crouch

Ahhh so good!! No one does suspense and twists like Blake Crouch. I also really enjoyed hearing the insights from Blake at the end of each chapter. Super entertaining- now I want to watch the show!! 4 stars

Necessary Lies // Diane Chamberlain

I really loved this one although it broke my heart. I cannot believe that a thing like eugenics actually existed in this country… So disgusting and terrifying. I have to say that I hated the character of Robert so much that it almost ruined the book for me. Other than that I loved this one…and now I want to read more Diane Chamberlain! 4 stars

The Lost Wife // Alyson Richman

I loved this love story. I got swept into the time period and the struggles and heartbreaks and hopes and dreams of each character. However, my pet peeve was bad editing and holy cow this editing was B A D. Mispellings and “than” instead of “then”. It made me lose focus and lose track. I did love the story though. 4 stars.

The Book of Polly // Kathy Hepinstall

I really enjoyed this one. It was quirky and funny and had a wild southern streak to it. Polly was an epic character and I LOVE that she was based on the author’s mother. Love me some quirky southern fiction. My only issue was that it ended abruptly and randomly. 4 stars

The Night the Lights Went Out // Karen White

This was a great light read. It reminded me a lot of my beloved Mary Kay Andrews books. I figured out the ending pretty early on and I got kind of annoyed with how clueless the main character was, but I still really enjoyed it. 3.5 stars.

Lies She Told // Cate Holahan

This one was interesting, especially the book within a book part. I read it in one day. However, I knew what happened from the very beginning. And that’s not an exaggeration. I might have read too many books in this genre. So I guess what I’m saying is that it seemed really obvious to me. And the other problem I had is that I truly didn’t connect with the characters. Most of them were pretty gross people. 2.5 stars.

For September , I chose:

Lies She Told– review above
Little Fires Everywhere– Just okay for me, although I love Celeste Ng. Full review to come next month, since I finished it in Sept.
Sing, Unburied, Sing– Just started this yesterday, really liking it so far.

September Deals:

WHEW! There you go! So what did you read/love/hate in August?
Love y’all!!

xoxo

I’m 40 today and I’m throwing SE Texas a Party // Fundraiser + PRIZES

August 31, 2017

Warning. Today’s post will be long. Please read it.

I’m 40 today, y’all!! You won’t hear me denying it or being cute about my age. I’m not going to say I’m 39. I’m not going to be ashamed. I am so lucky to be given the gift of another year and I want to celebrate that.

Did you know I’m a native Houstonian?

I wasn’t born in Houston, but I lived in Houston from the first week of my life on.

I learned to walk in Houston, I learned to talk and read in Houston. I learned to drive on the streets that are now under water. I fell in love for the first time in Houston, I graduated from high school in Houston, and I married the love of my life in Houston. I watched Matress Mack on TV and went to Astros games (I was in love with Craig Biggio) and yelled CLUTCH CITY!!! at Rockets games. I had a daddy in the oil and gas business and I grew up around oilmen. I shopped at the Galleria and ate at Ninfa’s on Navigation as much as I could. I went to the rodeo and two stepped with cute boys and drove around listening to Geto Boys and Robert Earl Keen.

And although I left the city for the last time in my mid-twenties, I am always a Houstonian at heart.

thank you to my dear friend, cathy z for creating this image for me

Right now heart is breaking for my friends in Houston and all over southeast Texas.

I can’t drive there and help extract people from homes, although I want to desperately. My friends got themselves out of flooded homes, and are now patrolling the streets in boats and trucks. One friend is even driving party buses around town. They are shuttling supplies to GRB and Ben Taub and all of the other hospitals. I can’t do any of that,and that makes me feel helpless… but here’s what I can do.

I can ask you to give.

I can beg you to give if you want me to. PLEASE give.

Every single dollar helps. This is going to take months and months and months to recover from.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

So today…for my birthday, I want a present.

I’m not selling anything or handling any of the funds myself. I just want you to directly donate.

I want you to donate ANY amount in any way you choose to Houston, Beaumont, Nederland, Port Arthur, Port Aransas, Rockport, etc.

I know there are many places you can send your dollars. Here are some ideas.

I gave to JJ Watt’s fundraiser. I believe in JJ, his heart,and his intentions for the city. And I know every dollar will go back to rescuing and rebuilding my hometown. This is my number one recommendation.

Houston Food Bank

United Way of Greater Houston

Amazon Wish List for the neighborhood of our dear friends the Winegars…which was basically decimated.

Samaritan’s Purse

Baby2Baby Texas Relief Amazon Wish List

Houston SPCA

Send Undies // via Brene Brown

Houston Diaper Bank

Of course there are many many more avenues and options. Do your research and give where your heart leads and feels most comfortable.

Now. Let me sweeten the pot. I reached out to my friends far and wide and the response swept me off of my feet. I’ve been crying all day. The love and kindness in this world will never cease to amaze me.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

TIME FOR SOME AMAZING PRIZES, Y’ALL!

****Give to Houston and leave a comment. Don’t just leave a comment saying Me! or I gave. Leave a message of hope and encouragement for my friends in Houston and SE Texas. I will leave the comments open through some time next week TBA. If you give to several charities you may enter EACH time. ***

If you do what I’m asking I will enter you in a giveaway for the items below. I will choose randomly BUT feel free to tell me which item you are really hoping to win.

**note- If you have donated before today I’ll take your word for it and you may enter.

PRIZE ONE- Created To Create Bible Journaling Kit from Illustrated Faith

PRIZE TWO- Exclusive CZ Design stamp sets PLUS PDF ECopies of both of Cathy Zielske’s books

PRIZE THREE- Giant Happy Planner Happy Memory Keeping prize package

PRIZES FOUR, FIVE, AND SIX- three spots in any Online Card Classes class of choice.

PRIZE SEVEN – A copy of my dear friend MKA’s new cookbook AND a copy of The Weekenders.

PRIZE EIGHT- Amy Tangerine will write a phrase or custom word of your choice in her beautiful watercolor script and send you the PDF

PRIZE NINE- Heidi Swapp is donating one Light Box

PRIZE TEN- Box of Get To Work Book goodies from Elise Blaha Cripe- JUL2017-JUN2018 Get To Work Book planner, one snap-in bookmark, one notepad and one rainbow sticky notepad.

PRIZE ELEVEN- Three month subscription to Book of the Month Club

PRIZE TWELVE- Kelly Purkey Shop Grab Bag of KP goodies

PRIZES THIRTEEN,FOURTEEN,FIFTEEN,SIXTEEN – Studio Calico one each of all four of the August Kits

PRIZE SEVENTEEN- Ali Edwards 2017 collection of Monthly Digital Kits. The winner will have immediate access to all of the kits from January-Septemeber and then Ali will place you under their account in the months following until December.

PRIZE EIGHTEEN- Thirty-One Gifts Mystery Box. It will include many things, but for sure the All About the Benjamins Wallet (retail $48)

PRIZES NINETEEN,TWENTY,TWENTY-ONE,TWENTY-TWO AND TWENTY-THREE- Five $10 Gift Certificates to spend at any of the Steal Network websites

PRIZE 24- One year subscription to Scrapbook & Cards Today Magazine

PRIZE 25 // Simple Stories Carpe Diem Ivory Carpe Diem A5 Boxed Set

PRIZE TWENTY SIX – From Matthew Paul Turner, an autographed and personalized copy of When God Made You

PRIZE TWENTY SEVEN- from Jessica Turner, autographed bundle of The Fringe Hours and My Fringe Hours

I wrap up this post with tears in my eyes. How wonderful are all of these prizes? And all you have to do is donate any amount to my beloved Houston.

Thank you all, I have always said you are the BEST and I truly mean that.

Sending you so much love.

xoxo

Get Qurious Maker Box Review and GIVEAWAY!!

August 4, 2017

* I received a free Maker Box from Get Qurious in exchange for writing a review on my blog. All opinions expressed here are 100% mine.

A while back I got an email from the team over at Get Qurious. They were asking if I’d like to review a Maker Box. I was all ready to write back and say no thank you (which is honestly what I say to 99 percent of emails about reviews and sponsored posts- I don’t want to be that blogger) but I changed my mind. As summer winds down my girls are slowly

losing

their

minds.

The chorus of SHE TOUCHED ME and MOMMMYYYYY is louder than ever and all of my usual ideas aren’t working any more. As soon as I really researched the Maker Box i saw what a great idea it is.

It’s a STEM activity
It’s part virtual, part physical/actual pieces
It’s really, truly COOL. I knew Cate and Lucy would love it. Especially since they would have to borrow H’s iPad mini to use it.

My review is below…make sure to hold on all the way to the end for a G I V E A W A Y!!

So here’s the deal. This activity is part (free) app, part pieces that come in the Maker Box.

What the heck is this all about you say? I took the official blurb from the website b/c I thought that was the clearest and easiest way for me to tell you.

GET QURIOUS sparks children’s curiosity, imagination, and discovery as they create stories, assemble puzzles, role-play, or engage in other age-appropriate games and activities that encourage STREAM learning – SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, READING, ENGINEERING, ART, AND MATH.

Each GET QURIOUS Augmented Reality app magically brings the physical activities to life! Children can play with the activities on their own, but totally new animations pop up when they scan them with their mobile device. They can read along with the animated stories, put on a mask and record their own version of the story, or create many different, colorful 3D animations of their finished puzzle.

Open the box
Download the app
Play

Y’all. It really was that easy. As you will see below, this app is best for kiddos under 8, although HONESTLY I think Harper and Sadie would have happily played along.

Here’s what the box looks like when it comes in the mail:

#Qurious Maker Box Review // via Stephanie Howell

And here’s the official pricing and spec info on the Maker Box. NOTE: There are lots more type of boxes on the way and available for pre-order. This one is available now.

Maker Box

$19.99

Bring the Three Little Pigs’ adventures to life! Children can play with each activity on their own, but new animations pop up when they scan them with the corresponding app on their mobile device. They can read along with the animated stories, put on a mask and record their own versions of the story, enjoy the various colorful 3D animations of their finished puzzle, plus add reusable stickers to the sticker book and read along with the different versions of the tales they create.

Three Little Pigs’ MAKER BOX includes:

12 Story Cards
2 Role-Playing Masks
Double-Sided Puzzle (5 pieces; 10 sides)
Storybook with 12 Reusable Stickers
Activity & Instruction Card
Ages: 4-7 Years

Here is a photo of what was inside the box. The book, cards, puzzle pieces, masks, and stickers are all excellent quality. No ripping, smudging, or wrinkling. Nice glossy,thick paper. Y’all KNOW I notice that kind of stuff.

And then we downloaded the app:

Out of the four activities, the girls decided to start with the story cards. The app tells you to locate a certain numbered card (based on a photo it shows you), scan the card, and follow along with the story. I liked that this helped them work on their ordinal counting and matching skills.

They were SO into it, although there was a bit of arguing on whose turn it was. ALWAYS. WHYYYYY

For the second activity, they each put on a mask (SO MUCH GIGGLING), scanned the mask in a selfie, and recorded spoken versions of the story. Big hit. HUGE.

Next (note the masks are still on HAHA) they did the storybook with reusable stickers. My personal favorite.

This was so so cool. They scanned a page in the book and read it together. Each page has a spot for a sticker and a blank in the story. Several stickers/nouns fit each blank. So they scanned and read the page, added a sticker of choice(kind of like mad libs) and re-scanned the page with the sticker. The app then re-read the page using the sticker the girls chose.

BEING A KID RIGHT NOW IS SO FREAKING COOL.

For the last game (Yes. MASKS ARE STILL ON, bless it) they solved a puzzle and then scanned it into the app, where it showed the puzzle to them in 3D. Again, so freaking cool.

So that’s it! We loved it, y’all. They are playing over and over (or when Harper will let them use her iPad- I guess I could let them use my phone too!). I get really nervous when I’m asked to review products b/c I worry I’ll hate it and then it’s just awkward. Not to worry- I would honestly buy this in a heartbeat. It would make an excellent gift.

Now the fun part…. T HE G I V E A W A Y!

If you’d like to win a Maker Box ($19.99 value) leave a comment here OR on my Instagram post. If you comment both places you get TWO entries. I’ll announce a winner next Friday. GOOD LUCK!

Hope you enjoyed this post…have a beautiful weekend!

oxo

Reading Recap // July 2017

August 1, 2017

*This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you.I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. Thank you so much for helping to support my little family!

This was such a memorable month for reading. I read way more than usual YA novels and listened to more Audible books than usual and several were stinkers. But the jewels…oh the jewels. I read some beautiful books this month. And they will stick with me for a long time.

As always, follow me on Goodreads or Instagram for routine reading updates.

Here’s what I read in July:

The Girls in the Garden // Lisa Jewell

I kept seeing good reviews of this one so I thought I’d love it. I’ve read other books by Jewell and really enjoyed them. This one? Uhhhh no. The cover promised “gripping and heart pounding”. Not gripping or heart pounding at all. Super boring and anticlimactic. I would have given up if it was a library book but it was one I’d purchased so I felt compelled to finish. Blah. 1.5 stars.

Try Not to Breathe // Holly Seddon

I figured it out way before the ending but that didn’t stop me from enjoying it. Entertaining and a good summer read. 3 stars.

Grace and the Fever // Zan Romanoff

Ehhhh. I’m WAY too old for this one. Like at least 25 years older than the target age. I just couldn’t identify with it. It read as a piece of One Direction fanfic and that’s just not my jam. 2 stars.

Our Short History // Lauren Grodstein

My God this book broke my heart. I knew it would before I started reading. After all…it’s about a mother of a six year old boy (the age of my twins) who is fighting ovarian cancer.

I just think this book was written SO beautifully. It’s a mix of a mother’s love for her son and a woman’s love for her job and it couldn’t have been more perfectly described. Karen’s rage and panic and irrational fears were so real I felt like I was right there with her.

Somehow Lauren Grodstein wrote this story without making it cheesy or emotionally manipulative. As a mother I related with every single page.

I’ll think about this one for a long, long time. 5 stars.

180 Seconds // Jessica Park

Let’s start with a positive. I loved Allison’s father Simon. LOVED him. I also thought that the original 180 seconds scene of the book had great chemistry.

BUT.

1. Mental illness is not cured immediately by a cute boy. It’s just not.

2. SO CHEESY. Like literally…some of the lines made me cringe. I’m not exaggerating.

3. Esben (ugh) was the most ridiculously perfect romantic lead ever. Sensitive, tender, virginal, patient, angelic…always saying and doing the EXACT right thing. So vanilla. I need some cracks and faults to love a protagonist. 2 stars

The Kind Worth Killing // Peter Swanson

Twisty and turny and keep you on the edge of your seat-ish. Super interesting and I read it really fast. Overall a great thriller although a pretty major typo annoyed me. 3.75 stars

Love and Gelato // Jenna Evans Welch

Guys. SO CUTE. I can’t even handle it. Of course it helps that I lived in Italy for 3 years and that Florence is my favorite place on earth. I’ve been to almost every single place the blog describes and that made me love it so much more than I would have loved it. It was just adorable.4 stars.

The Hate U Give //Angie Thomas

The title is an acronym for THUG. This book broke my heart. And made me SO MAD. I listened to it on Audible and I fully believe it gave me an even deeper experience than reading it would have. There is so much buzz about this book right now and it deserves every single bit. Race relations, police brutality, gangs, racism…it’s all covered in this book. But the overarching theme? L O V E. If you walk away from this book thinking otherwise, then read it again. Or LISTEN to it. Read it with an open heart and put your defense down. It’s not easy to listen to. I cried in many places. But it’s so so so very important to read. I won’t ever forget a single word. 5 stars.

The Blinds // Adam Sternbergh (One of my BOTM selections for July)
Good Lord this book is addictive. I could not put it down and raced through it in a day. Fans of Blake Crouch’s Wayward Pines trilogy will eat this one up. Fast paced, heart pounding, and absolutely fascinating. Best premise for a book I’ve seen in a long time. 4 stars.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine // Gail Honeyman

I want to shout it from the rooftops… I LOVED LOVED LOVED THIS BOOK. Adored it, swooned over it, devoured it. Well, as fast as you can devour an Audible book. Another EXCELLENT narrator and I feel that the audio version enhanced the already amazing words so much. Fans of Ove and The Rosie Effect will love this book. At times absolutely HEARTBREAKING, it was the most endearing and uplifting book I’ve read in a long, long time. Absolute perfection. I want to find Eleanor and hold her hand. 5 stars.

Their are some excellent choices for August, I debated for a looooong time. I ended up with:

The Blinds (review above)
Eat Only When You’re Hungry (super slender, I will probably be done in the next few days.)
The Heart’s Invisible Furies (this one is HUGE and will take me a while to read)

BOTM is restructuring their subscriber options. From now on, each subscription renews monthly. You get:

❃A book of your choice for $14.99 / month
❃Add extra books to your shipment for $9.99 each
❃Skip any month you want
❃Free shipping, always

WHEW! I think that’s it. I told you this was a B I G month for reading!

As always, please chime in below! I count on y’all to help me add to my TBR pile every month.

xoxo

NYC Traveler’s Notebook

July 20, 2017

Happy Thursday everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful week. Soo…next time I decide to start regularly blogging again, someone please remind me that SUMMERTIME is NOT the time to make said decision. Oh my goodness, what was I thinking? HA!

Nevertheless…I’m back.

And miracle of all miracles, I’m sharing crafty content. Can you believe it?

Last week we took a trip to NYC and when we came home I knew I wanted to do something with the photos. I wasn’t sure exactly what, but I did know that that something was NOT 12×12 layouts. That ship has sailed my friends. One thing that moving every two years has taught me is that I HATE 12×12 ALBUMS. WHYYYYY did I use that format for so long? Don’t get me wrong. The layouts themselves are great, and I treasure them and all that, but they are so freaking big and unwieldy. And they take up SO MUCH ROOM.

Thank goodness for Traveler’s Notebooks. They are little (but not too little) and easy and I love them. I love them even more now that Gossamer Blue has a TN kit.

I used several GB July kits for this project. If you haven’t taken a look at our kits in a while, GO LOOK NOW. They are all exclusive and so chic. I couldn’t be happier with the direction we are going!

July Scrapbook Kit

July Life Pages Kit

July Traveler’s Notebook Kit

Here was my plan of attack:

print photos
add photos and journaling cards
go back and add embellishments (mainly dimensional and word stickers and washi)
journal

Nice and easy, just the way I like it. Here’s how it came out:

SUPER FAT! Just the way I love my minis and TNs.

Title Page-

I actually used STAMPS for the title on this spread. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME? How cute are these? They were a GB new subscriber exclusive.

Under a photo of our Airbnb apartment I printed a little Google map of our location:

I wasn’t sure about these clear stickers but I have to say I LOVE them. They are the perfect embellishment and aren’t distracting:

This might be my favorite spread. Nice and simple.

How cute is the ice cream washi strip?

I added some of the TN paper under this tag to make it pop:

I ran this rubber “remember this” banner through my Xyron “X” -yes i still have one!- so that I could bend and adhere to make it wavy. Love the way it came out:

I am so so so happy with the way this came out, y’all!

Thanks so much for letting me share.

xoxo

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