Randomness & A Recipe (or 2)

Let's update via the list, shall we?

1.) I have read a total of 6 books this summer. I had planned on reading more, but just haven't. These by far have been my favorites...

If you have not yet read the Hunger Games trilogy, go NOW and read them. I was obsessed with them the entire month of June. They were intense, but SO good. In summary, what we know of North America no longer exists. The small country that is left is controlled by a dominating Capital who forces two teenagers from each of the 12 districts into a fight to the death to remind the citizens that they are merely pawns in the hands of the Capital. That's all I'm going to tell you. There is so much more, but you need to read them for yourselves. I seriously have thought about these books again and again long after I had finished them. Everyone I know who has read them say the same thing. They are worth the read. I also finished The Help--loved it too. Right now I'm reading a kid's book called The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. It was a Newberry Honor Book and on sale at Sams so I thought I would give it a try. It turns out it's written by an author outside of Austin, and the setting is the same little town that my dad was raised in and where my grandpa still lives. It is set is 1899, but it is so neat to read about her going to the library for books, and knowing it's the same library I went to story time at during the summers there. (They have one of the oldest libraries in the state.) Very cool indeed.

2.) Kelly and I had a self-proclaimed "Nerd Day" this past week. We went to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Other than these extremely large dinosaurs (the T-Rex was discovered outside of Austin!), we weren't too impressed. Definitely not super-kid friendly, but they had a few neat exhibits here and there.

3.) We also went to Anthropologie. Love. Love. Love. Madly Love everything in that store. I bought two adorable canisters and this precious coffee mug, which is holding one of my newest favorite things. Greek yogurt + Bare Naked Granola (in vanilla) = sooooooooo good.

4.) When I got up yesterday morning about 6:00, there were two clouds like this flanking the pasture. No story about them, I just thought they were really abnormal and beautiful at the same time.

5.) Today I had a girls' day out with my sister and nieces. It included a trip to see Smurfs in 3D (eh, ok), and Addison did not want to take off her 3D glasses after the movie. She wore them every where after that, including lunch. She couldn't understand why they didn't work on the DVD player in the car, but she still wore them anyway. She's awesome.

6.) Want 2 good summer recipes? For one go here to the Pioneer Woman and try this watermelon granita stuff. SO good. I did, however, use a whole small personal-sized watermelon instead of 1/3 of a whole one like she suggested.

The other recipe was a fly by the seat of my pants recipe that I made up/sort of remembered trying before. It makes this...

All you need is two 8oz. packages of cream cheese (softened), 1 cup sugar, 1 can strawberry pie filling, 1 graham cracker pie crust, and 2 tsp. of vanilla. Blend the cheese, sugar, and vanilla together. Put it in the pie crust, and top with the strawberry pie filling. Let it set in the fridge for an hour or so before you serve it, and you're good as gold.

So that's my random update for now. Hope you have a great rest of your weekend!