Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy

Warning: These books are HIGHLY smutty! They are not for the easily offended. SERIOUSLY. If they were a movie, they would be whatever is two ratings above R. So don't cry if you read them based on my recommendation and are offended. Okay? Okay.

I loved these books! I read all three in less than a week. The first one (Fifty Shades of Grey) is available in print and ereader versions, however the last two (Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed) are only available on ereader type devices. Print versions release on April 17th.

So, I loved these books. Don't judge! I saw an article about the first one in Entertainment Magazine or some other rag and it peaked my interest.  The story is of Anastasia Steele, a recent literature graduate who does an interview with Christian Grey, an extremely wealthy entrepreneur based in Seattle. He has a very painful past which he copes with using controlling behavior and sexual habits. They fall in love; steamy romance and conflicts ensue.

They are fairly quick reads at 356, 373, and 456 pages respectfully. The biggest thing that bothered me with these books was the repeated expressions and thoughts of the main character. She seems to use the same descriptive words continually through out the books and that does get a little irritating, but since it's a smutty romance novel so you can't really expect profound terminology. Also, I didn't even know they were a trilogy until the last page of the first book. Side note: everyone should be proud of me for not reading the last page first. I almost always do.

I set a Goodreads Goal of finishing 12 books this year. To some that may not seem like many, but I have set the same goal in the past and failed horribly. I am happy to say that these books put me at 7 so far for the year, 4 books ahead of schedule! Go me go!

2012 Reading Challenge

Meagen has read 7 books toward her goal of 12 books.

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7 of 12 (58%)

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Update

Well, I am slacking on blog duty. I wish I could say it was because I am super busy doing awesome things. I've just lost the blog magic. So an update since I last blogged.

I got a super cool (and delicious) surprise on Valentine's Day. The card had the same message as last year.  I honestly have no idea who this stuff is from, but it pretty much makes my day. 

I went to the 12:01AM showing of The Hunger Games. I loved it!! I didn't take any pictures though because I didn't think about it. Also, because it was so hot in the theater I was a sweaty mess.

I broke out my sewing machine and I've been working on a few projects. I plan to do a post of them once they are completed. I am bound and determined to become a decent seamstress!

 

I discovered Draw Something. Here are a few best of's..

    

Breathe You In

This album is magic. This is my favorite song:

Breathe You In
Dierks Bentley

I've never been the kind
to bear my heart and soul.
Yeah, I've always taken pride
in stayin' in control.
I told myself I'd never fall too deep.
But girl you came along
and made a liar out of me.

I'm as gone as I can be.

I wanna breathe you in,
I wanna be so close,
You can wear my skin
Like a new set of clothes.
So you can't even tell
Where you end and I begin.
I wanna breathe you in.

Your silhouette
And moonlight on the wall
As you crawl across the bed
Beats all I ever saw.
The smell of your hair
Falling on my face,
Those red wine kisses,
Give a buzz with just one taste.

Girl you blow me away.

I wanna breathe you in,

I wanna be so close,

You can wear my skin

Like a new set of clothes.

So you can't even tell

Where you end and I begin.

I wanna breathe you in.

Again and again and again,

Until the sun comes up.

Mmm

Again and again and again

I can't get enough

I can't get enough

I wanna breathe you in,

I wanna be so close,

You can wear my skin

Like a new set of clothes.

So you can't even tell

Where you end and I begin.

I wanna breathe you in.

Fridge

Fitness and Nutrition Update

So I wanted to give everyone that still reads this an update on the fitness and nutrition changes I've made. We got a new gym a few months ago (Planet Fitness) in Orem about a mile or so from my house. As soon as I saw the 'coming soon' signage I knew I wanted to join. Well I did it. And I've been going almost every day. And I'm freaking in LOVE.

When I was taking prednisone for my ears everyday I gained close to 50 fucking pounds. Anyone that has been on that for an extended period of time knows it's inevitable. There's nothing you can do to stop it, don't even try. Anyway, the extra weight on my 5'3" frame is obviously not a good thing. I had this idea in my head that once I stopped taking it the weight would come off on it's own naturally. It didn't. So I faced it and made a choice about a month ago and I knew the only way I would start to look and feel normal again was to work the weight off through the gym and change my diet. So I bought a gym pass and am doing just that.

Originally, my goal was to just get my ass to the gym 4 times a week. But now, I go in with a purpose and push myself a little harder each day. I have tried all of the cardio machines available. I've never been a big fan of the bikes and the treadmill is hard on my joints. I landed my heart on the Arc Trainer. I LOVE it. The first time I got on it I did 5 minutes and thought I was going to DIE. 2 days later I got back on and went 20. And now I am doing no less than 35 minutes each time. It is super low impact on my joints but it burns calories twice as fast as the treadmill or elliptical. If you've not tried one I seriously recommend it. I am dripping in sweat when I get off that thing. It's magic. In addition, I am doing the 30 min full body circuit training they have set up 3x per week. That's good too and I feel my body (especially my back) getting stronger.

As far as my diet goes, that has completely changed. I used to eat 2 maybe 3 meals containing tons of processed crap a day. I've cut out everything processed. My diet consists of mostly fruits, vegetables, and whole wheats and grains. And I eat 5 small meals/snacks a day. I didn't (and don't plan to) cut out Coke and Dr. Pepper. That's not a realistic goal for me. I just seriously cut down. I have one can with lunch. I keep track of all my food intake and exercise on MyFitnessPal.com. Since I've made these changes (roughly around the 4th of January) I've lost 8 pounds. Go me go! I am sleeping a bit better at night and I don't eat based on emotion or what 'sounds good' anymore. I think of food as fuel now and it's changed everything. I'll do another update in a week.

In the last week....

I've fallen in love with these things!

  

Gym Magic

Blogger Tips Tutorial

So I seem to get quite a few inquiries each time I redesign my blog on how I do it and if I have any tips to give. First off THANK YOU! And it's got me thinking I want to put together a tutorial with tips and step by step instructions on how to create cool headers with cute fonts, how to add stat counters, pages, etc. This would be specific to the Blogger (Blogspot) platform because this is what I use. I am thinking of a video tutorial and/or instruction manual with screen shots. Would you guys be interested in something like this? Also, would you pay cash monies for it? What other things would you be interested in learning how to do with your blog? Let me know what you think in the comments or on my Facebook page.

Welcome 2012: Magic

Hello 2012! And welcome to my newly designed blog! I'm really excited for the new year! Instead of coming up with a list of resolutions on ways I will improve my life over the next year, I've decided to participate in the one word focus challenge I've seen going around the blogosphere. Basically, you pick a word and focus on it throughout the entire year. I debated on several words the last few weeks: warmth, strength, happy. But ultimately I decided to go with the word magic.

The last few years have been rough for me. I have focused more on all of the negative things around me more than ever before. Moving forward I want to focus on the more positive things in my life: things that make me smile, things that make me happy, things that are good for me, things that are magic. I'm going to do my best to post at least once a week on the magic in my life, but if it doesn't happen then so be it. I'm also going to be trying to do more book reviews.

So, to start things off, the weather right now is magic. Seriously. It's January and 43 degrees! It's been like this for weeks! No snow, no freezing my ass off when I get in the car, ahhh I love it!

Magic  is all of my shows starting up again after the holiday break like Biggest Loser, and Grey's Anatomy. Magic is falling in love with new shows like The Walking Dead and 2 Broke Girls.

It's been fun seeing everyone post about their resolutions and if you don't have anything in the works yet think about doing the word challenge. It's not as overwhelming as a big long list of things to do! Happy New Year everyone!