Book Review ‘Yes Please’

Some of you may or may not know this, but I’m quite a fan of Amy Poehler. I mean what’s not to like about her? She’s funny and a strong female. Plus I love the characters she played in Mean Girls and Baby Mama (yes I’m a fan of those movies, and I’m not ashamed to admit it).

A good friend told me about the app Borrow Box. Its an app I downloaded and links into your library account and she mentioned that Yes Please was on there to loan. I got the app through ITunes but its also available on Android. Great, a library book and I don’t have to leave the house to get it! The selection isn’t huge, but its worth checking it out.

I discovered Amy Poehler had her own book and I thought it would be worth a read. I haven’t read many autobiographies but when I find ones by people I find interesting I enjoy reading about their life so far. Since I grew up in England, I was always a fan of Ant and Dec, (aka PJ and Duncan for some of you that may of heard of them?) I read their book about 4-5 years ago, and for Christmas 2011 I received a copy of James Corden’s autobiography (Smithy from Gavin and Stacey). Both of these books made me laugh out loud at times and I expected the same from Yes Please.

It took me a couple of weeks to read the book, as I tend to do most of my reading at bedtime. The chapters were pretty short so I found I could read quite a bit, plus its fun reading about someone’s life. Amongst the chapters were her childhood in Boston, her career at Saturday Night Live (SNL), her part on Parks and Recreation, becoming a mother, friendships and some real life advice. It wasn’t as laugh as loud as I thought it would be but it was a genuinely honest account of her life so far and I want to say “Amy, thank you for sharing”.

One of my favourite parts in the book was when she shared a conversation she had with her boy Archie. He once asked me, “Are you sad that you don’t have a penis?” I told him that I was happy with the parts that I had. I then reminded him that girls have vaginas and everyone is different and each body is like a snowflake”. I thought it was a really good way to explain gender differences to a child since it has been noted that no two snowflakes are alike.

Amy wrote a chapter on her visit to Haiti in 2013, which I thought was interesting and a brief insight to the devastation experienced there. It is in a chapter towards the end of the book. I remember this event being on the news, but I don’t remember ever hearing some of the personal stories from people who went there to help out. It’s pretty eye opening.

I highly recommend this book, it doesn’t have the ‘laugh out loud’ moments I was expecting but it is definitely a great read. It’s a honest account on her life and how she has gotten where she is today. Amy is very much into empowering women and girls and she co-founded Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, check it out.

Trip to the Movies

I don’t get to go to the movies much these days (although the hubby and I did have a date night last weekend and we got to see ‘Jurassic World‘ FAB! If you are a fan of the other films, I think you would enjoy it).

Anyway, I have been waiting patiently for Little Miss to turn an age I thought seemed appropriate to take her to the cinema. I knew that Disney Pixar had a new movie coming out at the end of June, (mainly thanks to Fat Mum Slim Week 24 ) called Inside Out.

I thought this kind of movie would be perfect as it is aimed at kids as well as adults. I’m a HUGE Disney fan and I particularly love the Disney Pixar ones, Toy Story, Toy Story 2 & 3, Ratatouille and Up are my favourites. Plus having a bit of time with Little Miss I thought would be beneficial for us both. A good friend of mine also wanted to see the movie and she didn’t mind my 3 year old tagging along, perfect! I decided Little Miss wasn’t quite ready for a 3D showing, (plus its more expensive) so I booked us some standard tickets online. (I thought it was best to get tickets near the back and by the aisle, in case I needed to make a quick getaway!). I explained to Little Miss what we were we going to see, and that it would be dark and people are quiet as they are watching the movie. She seemed quite excited and looked forward to it.

When we arrived at the cinema I treated her to some popcorn and a drink (the drink was for me, she’s happy with water) and we went and sat in our seats. (Oh, for a kiddie sized popcorn and drink it was $7.50!). Little Miss was quite happy to have a ‘big’ seat all to herself and kept asking me why the lights were still on! When the movie started, she seemed quite settled, or so I thought………

“Mummy, I don’t like this movie, I want to go home now”. WHAT!? I quickly asked her if she wanted to sit on my knee, reminded her she had popcorn and she was happy for a few minutes……….

She spent the majority of the movie sitting on my knee, either eating popcorn or playing on my phone. She made comments about the movie every now and again but also asked to go home several times and she didn’t want to watch this movie anymore. At the end of the movie, (both of us covered in popcorn, as well as our seats and the floor!) I didn’t receive any comments or dirty looks from the other viewers, phew!

We both survived and I got to go to the movies, yay! I really enjoyed the film and I look forward to adding it to my DVD collection in the future. Plus, my friend is still my friend and she thought Little Miss, was really good. I think I will wait until Little Miss is at least 4 before I take her to the movies again. Her and I will both get more from the experience next time. But I’m glad we went today and I look forward to many more movie dates with Little Miss in the future.

Here’s the link to the official website for Inside Out in case you want to check it out.

Me and Little Miss waiting for the movie

Little Miss and her popcorn

FMS Photo a Day Challenge

I discovered the Fat Mum Slim Blog and her daily photo challenge app Little Moments at the end of February this year. I mentioned to one of my craft friends that I had always wanted to do a photo challenge and she suggested Fat Mum Slim. I had to purchase the Little Moments app, it cost $3 but I think it was totally worth it. I have looked at it everyday. Since I went back to work at the end of April I have got a bit slack with my daily photos, I’m often too busy and lacking inspiration. There is a FMS photo a day Facebook page that I joined. I don’t post my photos to the page but I love looking at what others around the world have interpreted the theme to be. I have found the challenge really fun, let’s me be creative. I use my iPhone, I don’t have have a fancy camera but that’s the beauty of the app. Fat Mum Slim says it’s alright if you don’t take a photo everyday, you can always play catch up or if you miss days that’s ok. Just have fun, no pressure which I like!

Fat Mum Slim is a woman called Chantelle, a Mum of two and her blog includes, recipes as well as the photo challenges. There is also a Facebook page.

I am going to make a conscience effort to post one everyday this week since I love the theme for his week, check out http://fatmumslim.com.au/photo-a-day-week-24/

Fat Mum Slim has done her first collaboration with Disney for the release of their new Pixar movie Inside Out. I love Disney movies and this one sounds great, plus Amy Poehler does one of the voices, love her! So the movie is about a young girl named Riley who moves cities and focuses on the emotions in her mind, Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness. With the Little Moments app ideas are suggested along with the prompt to help you achieve your photo. It also has different filters you can use, also you can add text and embellishments to your photos. For today 8th June, Sadness I was at the park with Little Miss and Mr Happy this morning and saw a sad looking tree, not many leaves left and it looked sad and lonely, perfect for today’s prompt. I always share my photos on Instagram and Facebook (I’m sure some people most get sick of it!). But I enjoy it so that’s all that matters.