Carpool Book Club {3/30/17}

Well hello Thursday.  I'm joining Narci for Carpool Book Club to talk about the books I've read or listened to this month.  I could easily get in trouble with Audible.  I'm loving listening to books, but I have to pace myself because they're not free.  So I listened to two books and read one this month and found them all inspiring in their own ways.

I listened to The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo on Audible because I figured I'd have a hard time getting through a book about tidying!  Ha!  It was pretty interesting to listen to and quite motivating though.  I'd already been working on going through things in our home and getting rid of excess and organizing, so this book just made me want to continue to do that even more and it has several really good ideas.  Kondo says to go through and discard/keep things by category and not room and to do so in this order: clothes, books, papers, miscellaneous, momentos.  While doing this you're suppose to hold each item in your hands and ask yourself if it sparks joy.  And then it's important to have a place for everything you keep.  It does feel really great to get rid of things we don't really use, want or need and to just keep things we love or need.

I loved The Magnolia Story by Chip and Joanna Gaines!!!  Probably because I LOVE Chip and Joanna Gaines.  I watched season 1 and 2 of Fixer Upper awhile back when they were on Netflix.  We don't have cable and now none of the seasons are on Netflix (I was hoping they'd eventually add the newer seasons), so I'm not sure when I'll be able to watch more.  Anyway, I decided to listen to this book as well because Chip and Joanna "read" it themselves, although it mostly just feels like them telling their story as opposed to reading their book.  It was interesting to hear about their lives all the way from their grandparents' stories to their present day lives.  Their faith, priorities and hard work are very inspiring to me and I can't help but just want to be their real life friend.

This is just a sidetone, but my sweet hubby knew I was listening to The Magnolia Story and he brought this magazine home for me.  He said he knew I'd love it and he was right.  It's been super fun and relaxing to look and read through.  I haven't looked at a magazine in such a long time!  I also had to smile when I read that the theme of this edition of the magazine is simplicity.  The idea of simplicity keeps coming up for me!

Present Over Perfect.  I love the title of this book so much.  It's become a bit of a mantra for me.  I can definitely relate to a lot of Shauna Niequist's struggles.  This book gives the reader permission to be themselves and to remake their life around what's truly important to them.  Although I did find parts of the book a bit repetitive, I also found it inspiring and to be a breath of fresh air.

Uninvited by Lysa TerKeurst is next on my list, but I would love recommendations for after that!  Let me know if you've read anything good lately! :)

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