Book Club, Book Review, and a Recipe, Too!

I hosted Book Club for June this month.  Although I didn't make it as fun and fancy as last year's...it was still great to hang out with the girls!  We always end up talking for so long about the funniest topics and only the books for a little bit! :)

Unfortunatly I didn't get a picture of the girls, but we had a good group! Thanks Sarai, Shannon, Ann, Amanda, Jamie, and Loren for coming over!

I made Mexican Chicken Casserole, pasta salad, and July 4th Trifle.  My sweet friend Tiffany has been getting into making cakes and she was working on one and brought it over since she remembered me saying how much of a sweet tooth I have now! It was delicious and the perfect time to bring it over so I wouldn't eat the entire thing all by myself {although it was so good, I could have!}. It was a cute pineapple cake - I'll have to upload to picture later! I made a few changes to the Mexican Chicken Casserole this time ~ which I think I liked better.  I used Chili-flavored fritos instead of Doritos chips, and I had fixed Doritos Chips Chicken the night before, so I made a few extra breasts and then used that chicken diced in the casserole instead of plain chicken.

You know I don't exactly love reading books...well Sarai suggested A Bump in the Road by Maureen Lipinski.  IT.WAS.SO.GOOD!  I absolutely loved the book! It was seriously hilarious and there were SO many points in the book that I felt was totally my life right now! I would laugh out loud while reading and read Brian tons of sections of the book.  It's a total must-read in my opinion if you like light and fun books.  It is about a girl {who blogs, haha} who just found out she's pregnant. But I don't think you have to be pregnant to like it since a lot of the girls said they did like it and they are not currently prego!

{maybe I should make this my next give-away?}

And lastly, I found this YUMMY {and easy} 4th of July treat to make from Taylor Made. 

I made one for Brian's work yesterday as a little holiday treat and made another one for Book Club last night! It was super easy and very delicious!

What you Need:

Angel Food Cake (baked with love from the grocery store)
16 oz strawberries
1 container of blueberries
Strawberry Ice Cream (strawberry and vanilla swirl, Great Value Brand)
2 tbsp sugar
How to Make:-Set your Ice Cream out because it needs to be soft
-Wash and slice your strawberries and mix them with 1 tbsp sugar. Wash your blueberries and also mix with 1 tbsp sugar and let sit for about 20 minutes.
-Take your Angel food cake and slice it right down the middle horizontally.
-Then you layer in this order:
1/2 cake
strawberries
ice cream
blueberries
1/2 cake
(I had extra strawberries so I put them on top.)
-Place in the freezer and freeze for at least 2 hrs and Enjoy!

Book Club!

This month (Oct.) was my month to host Book Club! I was so excited because I've really enjoyed making it to all the other ones (despite not reading the books) expect one.

Because October is SUCH a busy month for me with work (parent-teacher conferences with every kid!) I decided to be realistic and say we would read a magazine. :) Some of the other members didn't like this too much, but hey, it's still reading!

So we read the October issue of Southern Living. Of course, I threw this dinner right in the middle of us getting our beadboard up so B was working very hard to finish it! I had about 12 people RSVP, but some last minute cancellations. Oh well, they got extra favors and Sarai and I got lunch for the next day! haha

I made a couple of new recipes, which I will share soon! I had the open-faced hot chicken sandwiches, twice-baked potato casserole, Caesar salad, fruit & honey, spinach dip, caramel apple dessert, and warm bourbon cider!

Here are a few pics from the night:

{Favors} {Pumpkin Bread and Peanut Hummus. The SL magazine featured peanut hummus, so I tried to make it as the favors. I thought it tasted nasty, but some of the girls did like it!}

{wrapped silverware napkins~I always do this when I host people, I think it adds a little something!}

{My little creation! French bread with the holes scooped out filled with Doritos chip chicken and hot sauce baked with cheese and lettuce with ranch drizzled over. They were SUPER yummy!}

{college friends!}

Me in a Book Club??

I've never been much of a reader. I think it's because I read slow, get ADHD when reading, and have to re-read material over and over again to understand what I'm reading. Therefore, TV keeps my attention more!
{But don't tell my students, I pretend I read all the time for their sake.}

Well anyways, my group of friends from college started a Book Club this summer.
{To my husband's surprise he stated, "since when did your friends read books instead of drink martini's together" in which my response was "when we started checking the 26-30 box on our taxes and realized drinking makes us fat"}

I read the first book, The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell, for the June club but wasn't able to make it! This time around it was this book:
{I didn't read it, whoops}.

So ~ We met at Ann's beautiful home last night and I attended my first book club. I felt very mature and adult-ish. The book they were discussing was anything but that! HA! It sounded like a crazy book, but if you watch Chelsea Handler on her late-night show, she is crazy!
Ann had lots of yummy food for us and a delicious drink she made from Tastefully Simple mix. YUM!
{the cute hostess, Ann}
{the girls + baby Grady}
{Grace - who also didn't read the book! - wore fake glasses to look the part!}

So I guess this is more of an excuse to get together once a month, but I think I'm going to love it! I'll really, really try my best to read the books, but as you know I'm still reading these books, so we'll see! The thing I love about it best is it's the same day of the month every month - perfect for planning! I'm going to host October and I'm so excited! I love a reason to host a good party!

*Hopefully by then I've found the perfect curtains I've STILL been looking for*

PS- All the girls are getting on Good Reads. If you're in to reading, you'd love this site!