The Five Stages of Falling In Love by Rachel Higginson

Hello friends, here I am again to recommend you a great page turner.

The Five Stages of Falling in Love is a Contemporary Romance. 

Oh boy, This is one of those books that you'll treasure forever, that will make you ugly cry on one page and giggle on the next. It will make you cringe, and smile, it'll make you feel like your heart in being torn apart and chapters later it's being sewed back together. It's an emotional roller-coaster that is bound to leave you lightheaded.

It's one of those stories that you're scared to start reading because you don't know if you're going to love it or hate it, but trust me when I tell you that you will LOVE it!


Synopsis from Goodreads:

Elizabeth Carlson is living in the pits of hell- also known as grief.

Her husband of eight years, the father of her four children and the love of her life, died from cancer. Grady's prognosis was grim, even from the start, but Liz never gave up hope he would survive. How could she, when he was everything to her?

Six months later, she is trying to pick up the pieces of her shattered life and get the kids to school on time. Both seem impossible. Everything seems impossible these days.

When Ben Tyler moves in next door, she is drowning in sorrow and pain, her children are acting out, and the house is falling apart. She has no time for curious new friends or unwanted help, but Ben gives her both. And he doesn't just want to help her with yard work or cleaning the gutters. Ben wants more from Liz. More than she's capable of ever giving again.

As Liz mourns her dead husband and works her way through the five stages of grief, she finds there's more of her heart to give than she thought possible. And as new love takes hold, she peels away the guilt and heartache, and discovers there's more to life than death. 

"Live in the moment with me and we'll get in the next moment together"

This book will make a reader out of you!

Love,
Camylla

Skinny Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin

Didn't think I'd be back did you? Well here I am, surprising not only you but myself.
As much as I'd like to tell you that being a mother is a super glamorous job, it's not. My life now revolves around a little chubby human which means, I have little to no time for myself. Today is one of those days that I had no Camylla time. It is now 12am and I finally squeezed some time in to write this post, but let me just tell you that this is cutting from my sleep time so forgive me if this post ain't all that, I'm fighting sleep here!

You know what sucks more than no sleep and no Camylla time? It's called post baby weight! Now that's a b%&$h to get rid of. Eating healthy is not my forte, It's so inconvenient and time consuming, it's much easier to be unhealthy. But I know, my body is a holy temple and I must take care of it, not to mention that if I ever want to fit into my old clothes again I better drop the carbs real quick. In my attempt to lose some weight I began to put more effort into making healthy choices, you know like no soda, juice, white carbs, processed sugar etc... It is sooo hard! I'm a BIG dessert gal, I love my chocolate and I refuse to end our relationship. So I'm on a hunt for healthy desserts, as I find them I shall try them out and share with you guys here, you're welcome :)

This skinny, banana chocolate muffin is sooo delicious and the easiest thing to make.
Totally approved by this busy chocoholic momma over here.

I might have gone a little overboard on the chocolate lol

print recipe

Skinny Banana Chocolate Muffin

by Camylla Leonardi July-26-2016

Easiest healthy muffin you will ever make!

Ingredients

• 2 cups Plain greek yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• 2 bananas
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 390F Mix all the ingredients in a blender until smooth (with the exception of the chocolate)fold in the chocolatepour the batter in your cupcake linersplace it in the oven and bake for 15-20 mins.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 20 mins Yield: 12 muffins

It's as easy as 1,2,3 folks. 

I hope you enjoy this yummy and healthy recipe, I know I did. Oh and wish me luck on this journey to healthiness, I have a feeling it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Have a great day!

Love, 
Camylla

New mother in the house!

Hey friends, It's been what? a year? The time flew by and I had no time to write here. Or maybe I did but I'm just an exceptional procrastinator and maybe, just maybe I've lacked a bit of motivation.

So much for keeping everyone updated on my pregnancy. 
I'll tell you what, let me summarize my 9 months of carrying a child right quick.
FAT
HUNGRY
UNCOMFORTABLE
I think that about sums it up. Really though, It's hard to believe that there are real live women out there that enjoy walking around with an extra 50 lbs around their waist. I personally wanted to lock myself up at home and only come out after I popped out the baby.

Yes, I know, I was HUGE! People asked me if I was having twins. But nope, It was just a beautiful, 
9.7 lbs, 21 inches long baby BOY!

Benjamin, the cutest baby in the whole entire world!

I'm serious, just take a look. 

Told ya! Now don't you worry, I won't dare deprive anyone of this cuteness again, I'll be consistently posting pictures of his adorable soon to be 6 months self.

Have a great day!

Love, 

Camylla

The Mason List by S.D. Hendrickson

Have you ever had a book keep you up at night? Well, I have... many books actually. But this one not only kept me up at night but also the handsome dude that sleeps next to me, because every few pages ugly sobs would break from my chest, the ones I could no longer hold back then I'd get an elbowing to my side. Yes, this book was sob worthy. 

This book left me emotionally drained, I mourned it for weeks, I couldn't get myself to start any new ones because none could hold a candle to this amazing, life changing story. This book was deep, powerful and held a beautiful message. S.D Hendrickson is nothing short of what I like to call magically gifted. You get so wrapped up in the story, you actually believe you're friends with the characters and you've known them your whole life. 

-Can I tell you a secret? I like to pretend that the characters I read about in books are actually out there living their lives somewhere and their story goes beyond the pages... Is that weird? Oh well, it helps me sleep at night.  

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Today, 8:15 p.m. 

I hurt. I hurt so deeply, I felt the pain searing in my bones and jabbing like a hot poker into my heart. I knew nothing would make it better as the memories pulled from the crevices of my mind, detailing the bad and the ugly, filling my thoughts with regret as I slipped into the darkness. . . 

When I was eight, my mother was dying of cancer, my father lost his job, and the bank kicked us out of our house. I was forced to move to the strange town of Arlis, Texas where my father and I slept in our car in the hospital parking lot. Desperate and hopeless, we lived on fumes of our former life. 

Then one night, everything changed forever. A knock on the car window brought a family into my life that I only wanted to shut out. I hated charity and I hated the Masons. Well, except one. He made it impossible to hate him. 

Jess Mason had the biggest blue eyes and ornery smile of any boy I had ever seen. He was a ray of sunshine in my dark world. A boy full of adventure, dragging me across the meadow of Sprayberry Ranch; a beautiful Texas paradise full of horses and tree houses that got us into more trouble than anyone ever imagined. 

Jess was my everything as a kid until we grew up and the rules changed. Instead of living happily ever after with a boy full of love. . . I destroyed it.
- Alex Tanner 

AMAZING! 

Oh and did I mention, that I have a signed copy??? S.D made my life by sending me this baby!!!

Hope I made you want to take a trip to Barnes and Noble and grab a copy. 

Love, 

Camylla

5 Weeks

That's right, I'm PREGO! 5 weeks pregnant to be more exact (it says 4 weeks in the picture but I found out the next day that I was actually 5 weeks) and if I told you I'm scared i'd be lying, I'm freakin terrified! This was not planned. The plan was to travel Europe, finish school then in 2 to 3 years start thinking of having a baby. But since when do things always go according to plan? whats the fun in that anyways? So here I am... 5 weeks pregnant and completely lost. Well, not completely, I have so many amazing family and friends that are more than willing to share their wisdom with me.

So this is how it happened... Not the actual baby making part, ya nasty, how it went down when I found out I was pregnant.

First it was the very basic missing of the period, I was four days late. My monthly gift is usually on time but every once in a while it decides to scare me a little, so this month I didn't think much of it but I did have an extra pregnancy test in my bathroom so I though "why not?" this was late at night and I drank tons of water before peeing on that little stick. I put it down behind me on the toilet and went on to get updated on my instagram feed, after a few minutes I had already forgotten about the stick behind me so when I turn around and see a '+' sign I almost drop my phone in the toilet (literally). My heart starts beating wild on my chest and my hand is shaking so hard I almost drop my phone and the stick in the toilet. I start to talk myself out of it, I told myself "there's no possible way i'm pregnant, the little line that makes the '+' is so light i'm probably imagining things, and it's a target brand so this thing probably doesn't even work." But that night I barely closed my eyes for longer than two seconds. So the next day I woke up extra early and passed by a pharmacy on my way to work and bought the good stuff (clear blue). I ran to the bathroom at my job and with my hands still shaky from the night before I peed on the freakin stick again. As I waited for the results I convinced myself that there was no way I could be pregnant, a whole movie of my *cough *cough sexual life crosses through my mind and I know I was responsible. But when I turn around, I see a beautiful, sweet and oh, so intimidating name appear on that God forsaken stick "pregnant" and all I could think was. "damn condoms, you cant trust anything nowadays." Oh, and the very typical What now???

    Never did I think i'd be posting a picture of my belly, pregnancy is already changing me ;)







Love,
Camylla

Welcome!

Hi everyone, and welcome to my little corner in the cyber world!
This isn't my first rodeo, but i'ts been a while so i'm a little rusty. I'm just happy to be blogging again, I've always loved it, but sometimes life gets in the way and blogging loses to school, work and wifely duties (you know, all the fun stuff). Here i'll share recipes, book reviews, DIY's, makeup up tips, latest fashion trends, and since I just found out i'm PREGNANT! i'll bring you along on my journey to motherhood, I guess my pregohood (is that a thing?). Come by every once in a while and see whats new.

Love, 

Camylla