The Ameri Brit Mom

The Midnight Library: A Book Review

Title: The Midnight Library

Author: Matt Haig

Publisher: Viking

Copyright: 2020

This book sat on my shelf for far too long and my anticipation was strong. Luckily, Matt Haig did not disappoint!

Nora Seed has decided that she no longer wants to live. In the last twenty-four hours she lost her job and her beloved cat and so it seemed to her a good a time as any to swallow a bunch of capsules and check out. The afterlife wasn’t the peace Nora had hoped for, but instead was a large library full of green books and a familiar librarian from her past.

She soon learns that within the pages of each book lies a life that could have been hers. Each variation of Nora’s life was built by the decisions she could have made or the regrets that she held. In this parallel universe, Nora has the chance to see what her life may be like if things had been different. She experiences lives where she is famous, successful, poor, and broken. Each time she feels unsatisfied she transplants to a new version of Nora’s life.

With a beautiful message of contentment and making our own happiness in life this book was worth all of the acclaim in my opinion.

I gave this book 5/5 stars

Follow my Goodreads account for more reviews.

The Ameri Brit Mom

Join the Subscription!

The Ameri Brit Mom is expanding in January and if you want to stay informed about what is happening please join the email subscription below or in the margin of the Home page.

Join

Also, you may have noticed that the website domain has changed. No more WordPress ads or WordPress web address! Welcome to theameribritmom.com!

Thank you!

The Ameri Brit Mom

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe: A Book Review

Title: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Author: Benjamin Alire Saenz

Publisher: Simon and Shuster Books for Young Readers

Copyright Date: 2012

“High school was just a prologue to the real novel. Everybody got to write you — but when you graduated, you got to write yourself.”

This book was so compelling, so tender, and so beautiful. Following the love of two individuals as it unfolded was an amazing journey. Aristotle and Dante found love in an unusual place–the El Paso public swimming pool. Both boys had been outsiders during their high school experience, but chance brought their stories together in the pool and their chemistry helped a friendship move into so much more.

This is a book I’ve been wanting to read for a long time and I cannot believe that it took me this long to get my hands on it. This coming-out story is one of self discovery and acceptance. It’s about the confusion that teens face when they realize that they may not be heterosexual. It’s about searching for support from loved ones. It’s about uncovering secrets to find your place in the world.

The tale of Aristotle and Dante will break your heart and then put it back together.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

Follow my Goodreads account for more reviews in the future.

The Ameri Brit Mom

Announce: Five Minute Friday

I am so excited to reunite with my positive little writing community for a Five Minute Friday link-up. This is a weekly event where members of the community each write an original post using the same prompt. You can find my five minutes of unedited writing below. This week, the Five Minute Friday word prompt is…Announce.

I have a few announcements for my readers today so that makes this week’s prompt a perfect fit.

I graduated yesterday with my Masters of English degree from Bowling Green State University.
The semester has ended at my public school job so I am on Holiday break for two and half weeks.
I am two weeks away from the big reveal on my blog. I’ve been dropping hints about a big surprise on social media so be sure to follow me:

Facebook

Instagram

*Please join The Ameri Brit Mom email list in the margin so that you can see the big reveal first.

Big things are coming for The Ameri Brit Mom and I cannot wait to let you in on the vision and plan for 2022!

The Ameri Brit Mom

Big Things Are Coming

Hello, All!

I have not forgotten about you. This week I finished my Masters Degree and I am taking some time to celebrate that victory before launching some exciting news to you on January 1st.

This post is just to let you know that I am still committed and I am looking forward to The Ameri Brit Mom in 2022.

A couple of hints about my exciting news:

Check out my new, professional logo below and on the top of the page!
Be sure to join the email list in the side margin to be the first to know what’s happening with The Ameri Brit Mom.

That’s all you get for now. Check back often for some more hints and the BIG reveal on January 1st.

The Ameri Brit Mom

October 2021 Bullet Journal

How in the world is it already October!?!

It seems like just yesterday we were swimming in the pool and soaking up the sun while on summer vacation, and now I’m creating a fall themed bullet journal spread. 2021 is flying by and as we turn the corner into the final quarter of the year, I am feeling good about where I am and all I have accomplished this year. I went pretty simple again this month on the theme.

September Review Page

Cover Page: Rose Gold, Gold Theme

I found this rose gold washi tape and gold gel pen at Walmart and fell in love. I’m not completely loving the aesthetic of this wonky pumpkin, but I wanted to find a way to work in the new gel pen to this month’s theme.

October Calendar Page

It’s just another simple calendar layout (5×5) and I used the color scheme and washi to add some continuity among all of the pages for October.

Fitness Tracker and Special Spread

For the past couple of months, I have not used an entire spread for my fitness tracking so I decided to split this spread. On the left side, I set up my usual Fitness tracker with some of the color scheme for the month. On the right side–the page is blank. October is the month where my hometown hosts a HUGE festival and I am going to save that page to document the festival.

Weekly Spread

This month my supplies were two dark pink and brown tones from the Crayola Supertips collection, Uniball Signo broad in gold, and rose gold washi by Scotch Expressions. Let me know what you think :)

The Ameri Brit Mom

Five Minute Friday Link-up

To get me through these final weeks of my grad school I will be turning to some older posts. I hope that if you have been with me from the beginning this will be a fun trip down memory lane. And if you are new to my blog it is a great way to see some of my more popular posts from the past.

This post comes from June 2015 and is my very first Five Minute Friday. I am still a part of this beautiful community of bloggers and I come back week after week for the inspiration I find on the pages of my counterparts.

Check out this post…even if it is six years old:

The Ameri Brit Mom

I am taking a new step in this whole world of blogging. For about a month I’ve been researching link-ups and how they are valuable in growing your blogging community. Essentially a link-up is when you join other bloggers and write on a similar topic. You share your blog posts with one another and begin conversations via a host site. After the idea of joining a link-up was decided upon I sifted through so many groups and topics that closely resembled my blog personality. I settled on a link-up called Five Minute Fridays. From what I can tell this link-up values faith and writing. Two things that speak so much to my soul. Each week the host of the link up (Kate Motaung) posts a topic and those joining the link-up write for five minutes on that topic. I’m really excited to get going in my first ever…

View original post 409 more words

Love Me Some Young Adult Fiction

To get me through these final weeks of my grad school I will be turning to some older posts. I hope that if you have been with me from the beginning this will be a fun trip down memory lane. And if you are new to my blog it is a great way to see some of my more popular posts from the past.

This is an old post and a lot has changed in my classroom since this time. But one thing that hasn’t changed–My aim to foster reading as an enjoyable activity for students. Take a look at this 2015 post!

The Ameri Brit Mom

If you were to ask me to describe my idea of a perfect day my description would in some way involve a trip to a bookstore with a follow-up reading session in a nearby coffee house. My husband and I both possess the gift to linger amongst books in bookstores or libraries for hours at a time. I could spend a bit of that time wandering the aisles which hold the books on religion, home improvement, and healthy living. However, if I could only make one stop during my visit I would have no problem camping out within the rows of Young Adult Fiction.

I have a natural affection for Young Adult literature. I love the creativity that is brought to the plot development of YA fiction. Many of the best authors in this genre write to convey a message relevant in today’s culture. In order to appeal to this…

View original post 862 more words

Purpose: Five Minute Friday

Today I am joining the positive writing community over at Five Minute Friday for their weekly link-up. Each week we gather to write on a common theme. This week our theme is Purpose.

At our district’s opening meeting for the school year, the presenter (Sarah Johnson) spoke on being “Affirmed in Purpose.”

While this was a public school system there were so many hints throughout the talk about how Sarah allows her faith to drive her purpose both inside and outside of the classroom. She challenged us to write a life mission statement and to set commitments and goals based on our passions. I’ve been refining my mission statement and intentions, but I wanted to share what I have written at this point:

Mission Statement: I will lead with faith, passion, and healthy relationships in order to make this world a better, more empathetic place.

Some of my passions include: writing, reading, exercise, art, teaching, and health.

Commitments that I have brainstormed that align with my mission statement are: only taking on roles in my church and school that feed into my mission, completing morning routines and Artist Dates regularly to ensure I am supporting myself, and daily self care.

Sarah challenged us in her presentation to revisit our mission statements and commitments at the 30-,60-, and 90-day marks to figure out what is working, not working, and to set new goals.

As of now, I feel like my goals have remained a priority. I’ve kept my passions in focus as I have chased my purpose over the last few weeks. I know I can continually improve in all of the areas listed above so I reviewing regularly will help me to realign and refine my focus areas according to my intentions and purposes.

The Ameri Brit Mom

Why Blog?

To get me through these final weeks of my grad school I will be turning to some older posts. I hope that if you have been with me from the beginning this will be a fun trip down memory lane. And if you are new to my blog it is a great way to see some of my more popular posts from the past.

This is my very first post on The Ameri Brit Mom. In this post, I discuss the WHY and WHAT of my blog. It was really interesting to look back and see how much life has changed in six and a half years. I hope you enjoy taking a look at this post from February 2015!

The Ameri Brit Mom

The most common advice that I’ve read out there for newbie bloggers is to focus on something that makes you unique. They say to find something about yourself that you can share with others to mutually benefit you as the author and the readers as well. I struggle with picking out one thing about myself to truly focus on in this blog. I have too many interests to limit myself to just one particular aspect to highlight. In truth, I am questioning the value in blogging at all, but the aspiring author in me is yearning to give it a try. So in this struggle to label my individuality I came to the conclusion that I am so multifaceted that picking ONE thing about myself would be to limit my inspiration in this blog.

So who am I?

I am a wife. I’m an All-American girl who fell in…

View original post 397 more words