I’m a yelper and I’ll review if I want to

Firstly, puns, oh how great. "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to..." "I'm a yelper and I'll review if I want to..." No? Ok. Moving on. 

Yelp. A great website/app that allows you to review businesses based on your personal experience. If you’re in my neighborhood and want to know if that Taco place is too hot to trot, or causes you to spend the night near a toilet/trash can, then yelp is a great resource!

So what’s the backstory? I made a yelp account I don’t even know when, but back in May 2014, my friend Justine invited me to a yelp event. I remember thinking “Yelp has events? Say what?” It was at Dorinda’s Chocolate by the River. And it was an Elite event. “What’s an elite?” I thought. We got to go behind the scenes in Dorinda’s chocolate making kitchen and get the lowdown and know how on some of the techniques behind their confection affection. I had a blast. I then furiously and meticulously took pictures of things I received at places, paid closer attention to customer service treatment I received and placed all of that information on the app. I started RSVPing to the local events that I was interested in, and then the end of 2014 rolled around. It was Elite nomination time. I nominated myself and explained why I would make a good Elite yelper.

2015 rolled around. The golden email came. I was selected to be on the Elite squad! Oh joy! What an honor to have been entrusted with a rank of truthful reviews (Some lengthier than others), to know other yelpers and general populous alike would be looking to my reviews about a location.

I’m now 3 solid years into the yelp game, 2 years into being Elite and I’m having so much fun. I now look to other yelpers reviews of places, I check the ratio of overall star review (4 of 5 stars, 2 of 5 stars etc) to the number of reviews posted. Then, I make my decision whether or not to give the business my money.

Yelp is also great because it can help you find local places, little mom and pop shops that are trying to make it, despite the big wig chain places (Dorindas vs. Sees’, Hub vs Starbucks).

Ok, we’ve heard your spiel on the awesomeness of yelp. That’s cool. How does that relate to your life as a Godfearing woman?

Wouldn’t you wanna have a resource to access truth and history and “reviews” of places you’ll go in life? Wouldn’t you want to hear the consequences of ordering from that place? The Israelites ordered up a whole bunch of false idols and selfish pride. The consequences? Disease, plague, defeat in war. We have the timeless Bible to reference as review of our history. As a testimony of trial and error, trial and success. We can go read and sympathize, “Yep, I did that too”. While we can’t add to the Bible by review or picture, we can share about, much like we share about great restaurants, poor service at a dry cleaner, or a great nail tech who absolutely kills it every time.

 

Be intentional. Be truthful. Be genuine.

 

Amen and Amen

 

This review of yelp.com is not sponsored; I was not asked to write this. I was not paid to write this. Opinions are solidly my own.

Product Review: Quaker Breakfast Flats

I feel like my life has calmed down enough that I’m finally able to accept  VoxBoxes from Influenster again. I usually am on top of accepting their surveys and trying out their products that they send and writing a review. But with how busy life has been recently, I haven't wanted to get busy and forget about doing them!

This last time, I forget what the survey questions were, but the box was a pack of the Quaker Breakfast Flats. I got a cranberry almond flavor. 3 flat bars come per pack.

I ate all 3 within 10 minutes probably as a mid morning snack between breakfast and lunch. They were a bit dry, and makes me wish I had some coconut milk or almond milk to go with it. But they were super tasty, and not as crummy as the Nature Valley bars (where crumbs go EVERYWHERE). I do like them, and with some further research into how healthy they are (for my diet goals, not diet like cutting out food, but changing the diet to healthier options)

Here are the bars peeking out of the package. They were the entire length of the packaging, so well worth what the price would be, I think.

Probably could have cropped this picture, but I wanted to take the picture before I devoured the food, and at work, I didn't have much time to make a nice background.

So, after eating these, I definitely have to say "Thanks!" to influenster for opening the door to a new product I may not have otherwise purchased to try.

Product received complimentary through influenster, I did not pay for the product. Opinions are my own, I am not being asked to provide anything specific other than my opinion.

Book Review: Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives,

Disclaimer: I received this book free from Birchbox for their Birchblogger book club.

I don't remember exactly when I received the book, but I do think I tried to start reading it a few times before I finally put my brain to it and started reading in June. I got pretty into it and was reading fairly consistently, until I wasn't. Life got really busy (new puppy, bought a house, life itself) so the reading dwindled. And finally, yesterday, I finished it. Oh what a sweet relief to finish a book.

As far as the book was concerned, it was only OK to me. I definitely had a struggle to finish it the more I read through it. The text just seemed to get a little repetitive. I think the information was well presented and very thorough.

If I could have made a change to the text, I think that once I had laid out the 4 tendencies, I would have then broken the rest of the book down by those tendencies and how habit forming works best for them. As an "obliger" (according to the mini test at the back), I don't really care about how Rebels and Questioners and the 4th category (Which I can't remember the name) form habits. If I needed to interact with them to form a habit, then I would indulge in that section.

If you're interested in reading this, click here for the author's page about the book.

I'm not a huge fan of Self Help books. I feel they're not quite as helpful to me as they may be to others. While I did highlight a few things in the book, I'm not sure it's one I'll be going back to read again and again.

I'm thankful for Birchbox to have been able to receive it and read it.

I know this is probably one of my less thought out reviews, but I just don't know what to say about a book I didn't love.

So I'll call this good here.

Until next time.

-S

Movie Review: The Age of Adaline

This past weekend I had the chance to finally watch “The Age of Adaline” with Blake Lively. I had asked my boyfriend Max to watch it with me, and he didn’t seem too interested in it at first, but once I popped the movie in, he confessed he had wanted to see it. So I’m glad I had a willing viewing partner.

 

First off, holy crap. What a movie. For my emotional and life relating response, keep reading. For the review on the movie, scroll down to the *****

I don’t think I’ve felt that deeply, emotion wise, as a response to a movie ever. The movie was really well done to have produced a response like that. First emotion to hit me hard was sadness. One of the characters dies in the beginning part of the movie (before the halfway point). The characteristics of the character’s death hit home because I had something oh so similar happen in my life.

And the second, which was probably the most powerful emotion, was love. This one hit me the hardest, so much so I almost had an anxiety attack with how deep the truth hit me. Like Adaline, I too ran from love, obviously not for the same reason: I’m aging just fine and did not have my DNA affected. Due to fear, or the man not treating me well, I always found a way to get out of the relationship. Even though I wanted to share my life with someone, be married, make a home and all of that, I’d always find something wrong that I “couldn’t get over” and get myself out ASAP, with no second thoughts.  Sometimes second thoughts would creep in later, but I’d shut them down and overrule them. For those of you reading this who’ve known me a while, you’ve known this about me, that I’ve been in a fair number of relationships.

I was never content, until Max. I never felt secure, until Max. I never felt comfort, until Max. I never felt love for anyone like this, until Max. I never realized how much I could love, until Max. I never wanted to share a life, buy a house, or get a dog with anyone, until Max.

I never felt nervous to lose someone, until Max. I never wanted to be selfless, until Max. I’ve never cared so deeply, until Max.

This movie hit me hard in the heart. I looked over at Max at some point during the movie and just felt a rush over my body of deep appreciation for all that Max is. The rush was overwhelming and adrenaline fueling. I’m pretty sure due to the similar circumstances of love with Adaline and mine: something just clicked in my head and released these feelings, and helped me see deeper how much love I have for Max.

I don’t know that everyone will feel this way about their loved one after watching this movie. But if you haven’t seen it yet, go ahead and give it a go. If you’re single, give the movie a go and see what you can get out of it, I’m sure it’ll be something.

 

***********

As far as the actual movie goes, it was a beautiful movie. The acting was great. Cinematography was great and the storyline was awesome.

It wasn’t what the trailer made it out to be. The trailer I thought, made it seem like there was a man who also didn’t age and chased Adaline through the centuries. While instead, Adaline falls for a man hard in the current year. (I think they made it 2014 and then the movie came out earlier this year). That was a bit of an “Oh, ok” moment. I was actually kind of hoping to see how it would have turned out having two ageless people find each other through the centuries.

One thing I was a bit confused on is in the beginning, once Adaline became ageless, the FBI approached her on the street and she ran from them. I kind of wish they would have expanded on that. I don’t think the FBI would give up on an interesting case like that. After that part in the movie, we don’t see any more of them throughout the entire movie. C’mon people…tie up loose ends, or don’t have any ends that could unravel and be loose.

That’s all I have to say on the movie, and how it affected me, and I’m done bragging about how awesome Max is and how I feel about him and what not. Tune in for the next post, probably a book review. I’ll end it here.

Until next time

-S

Book Review: Four - Veronica Roth

After falling in love with the book Divergent, drooling over the attractive selection of Dauntless males in the movie adaptation I proceeded to buy the rest of the books in the trilogy and set them on my bookshelf to promptly read. Which didn't happen. Then I heard from some YouTube beauty guru who also enjoys literature (I forget now who) mentioned Veronica Roth wrote a book from Four's perspective of Divergent. On my next Target trip I made sure that book made it out the door in my grocery sack.

I had wanted to read it before the sequels to Divergent, but then remembered it had been a while since I had both read the book or seen the movie and decided  I needed a refresher of the plot line before reading Four's take on it all. 

Come to find out it's a collection of stories, the majority centering on his transition from Tobias in the abusive Abnegation home of his father to his miraculous (As in there hasn't been a Stiff who made the switch to Dauntless in quite some time, if at all) first place finish as Four in the Dauntless initiate class when he turned 16. In the ending of the book (not including the extras) is a chapter where he interacts with Tris and we see his perspective of some events where she is involved. 

Four is as intelligent and deep as I thought while reading Divergent and Insurgent. His actions are calculated and have substantial backing to them. He's an intelligent character and it's great to see the beginnings of it. 

The chapters were broke up well and though consecutive were not back to back events. They provided a good snippet into Four's experiences in Dauntless and the explanation for why he does the things he does in Divergent. 

I wish other authors would do this for other protagonists in their story. Though I do understand that not all characters have as strong a connection with their authors as others. 

Until next time

-Samantha

Book Review: Insurgent - Veronica Roth

What a whirlwind this book was to read!

This was one of the most intense sequels I've ever read. The action and conflict in this book left me out of breath trying to keep up with it all. But in the best possible way.

Like the first book, this one too was full of vivid picture painting, so you knew exactly what the scenery was like at all times. I felt I was right there with Tris in the simulation rooms, climbing the steep stairs, and stepping over broken glass in the lobbies of faction headquarters.  The growing tension between the factions continues, and eventually sparks a reaction and the war against the Erudite-Dauntless takeover continues.

After the first book ends, and Tris realizes the loss of one of her friends (not naming names in case it'd be a spoiler) and deals with the repercussion, one of which is the fear and inability to handle a gun, adding a very interesting plot twist to a war between the factions: how can you win as one of the figureheads if you cannot defend yourself? Other interesting points are brought up: the "girlfriend" of the deceased male is upset to learn Tris is the one who killed him in his simulation stupor, and she isn't sure how to act around Tris, enemies seem to become allies when the loss or gain of information is on the line and the question stands: trust or not to trust. 

Veronica Roth is a talented writer and I look forward to reading more by her.  I thoroughly enjoy the way she weaves words to portray the ideas. :)

Until next time

-Samantha

Book Review: Divergent - Veronica Roth

I had read this book prior to blogging, but never made it to the second or third book in the Trilogy. With Insurgent set to release March of next year, I decided I should probably finish reading the series. 

My copy is a little worn on the edges, as it's survived two readings and a traveling expedition through the cargo area of a plane.

Rereading the book I can see how different it is from the movie Hollywood made, but isn't that usually the case?

I really enjoyed the way Tris's mind is written and the commitment behind her actions. She is certain of her decisions, even if it seems she shouldn't be. The progression of hesitant abnegation to confident Divergent is a tale told well.

Though the story is told exclusively from her point of view, the way the other characters have been written allow us a glimpse into their minds. It's the way they way they interact with Tris, and her reaction to them, that also reveals what they're about. It's a well written introduction to the characters so that we can stand behind them, or learn to dislike them. It also builds up the climax to the conflict that is sure to follow in the sequel 'Insurgent'.

The description about all the characters, locations and buildings portray a wonderfully vivid picture. The words paint the scenery well that I too feel I've gone through the Dauntless initiate process, minus the impact of the fighting. 

Though a "post apocalyptic"/dystopian novel starting a strong female lead like Hunger Games, they are different enough elsewhere that reading one does not eliminate the need to read the other. Personal preference alone, I prefer Tris and what was the city of Chicago to Katniss and what could have been the United States.

One nice feature about the book itself, is the fact that though very chunky as a text, it's light and easy to handle whilst reading. If you have read the Harry Potter series, you'll know those books hold a little bit of weight to them. This book on the other hand is almost as light as a feather. 

Book Review: Dark Places - Gillian Flynn

Dark Places was one of the three books I received complimentary of birchbox through their birchbloggers book club program. Having better expectations for this book after liking Sharp Objects, it didn't take me long to tear through it.

 

After finishing it, I can say that the book moved slower than SO. The book is broken up based on different character's perspective: Libby, the only surviving daughter; Patty, the mother's perspective from the night of; and Ben, the suspected and convicted killer who everyone is trying to prove innocent, and at the end a very brief chapter of the killer's rationale for the night (I can neither confirm nor deny that Ben is or is not the killer). Like I mentioned in my review of The Help, it's more difficult for me to get through a story when it's told from different characters. Unlike The Help, however, this book switched between flashbacks of Ben and Patty, to present day view of Libby.

Libby's perspective was the most prevalent throughout the book. I found myself going back and forth with liking her as the narrator, and dislike her thinking she may have partaken in the killing. She is a disturbed klepto character trying to unravel the mystery of what happened the night her mother and two sisters were murdered. It leads her to some interesting locations included an area of strip clubs at a trucker stop and a hazardous homeless camp likened to Hooverville. There's also Satanic practices that some of the characters take part in, which is an interesting idea because it is one I know nothing about.

The amount of gruesome detail Gillian Flynn puts into this novel is so exquisite, it made my stomach turn over. Her word choices are on point. The research for this novel is extensive and I do give the author props for writing what may be perceived as a controversial topic. But controversial makes the for the most interesting material.

Ranking these novels I'd put SO first, then DP and finally GG. Thank you to birchbox for the opportunity to read these novels.

If you want to follow brief ratings and reviews on books, you should look for me on Good Reads (link opens in new window). It's a great way to track books in your life: Books you've read, want to read and are currently reading. 

Until next time,

-Samantha