Spring Break Must-Reads

There are few things I enjoy more than cozying up with a good read in front of the fireplace.  One of those few, however, is parking it on the beach with a great book, under the sun, all day long.  Next week, I will pack my bags and head to Vero Beach, FL, and I am pretty darn excited about it.  I have missed out on some major Vitamin D this winter and I am in need of about 4 million new freckles. So, here is a list of the 5 books that I intend on zipping through during my week in paradise.  

1. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

2. Heaven Is For Real by Todd Burpo 

3. The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks 

4. Uganda Be Kidding Me by Chelsea Handler 

5. I Wish Someone Were Waiting For Me Somewhere by Anna Gavalda 

Gone Girl is a story about a wife who disappears on her and her husband’s fifth wedding anniversary.  This thriller-novel, the mystery of whether or not her Amy Dunne’s perfect husband was the one who really killed her.  Heaven Is For Real is a true story about a 4-year-old boy who slips out of consciousness and enters heaven while in the middle of a life-saving surgery. He returns with bone-chilling details of deceased relatives he had never met in his lifetime.  The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks is about two high school seniors who fall madly in love, but who’s love is ripped apart when their lives take on opposite paths.  Uganda Be Kidding Me is TV Host Chelsea Handler’s latest.  I have read all of her books, and have laughed-out-loud in each without fail.  This book is an account of Handler’s journey on a safari in Africa.  The title alone is funny, so I have confidence that this will be a good one.  I Wish Someone Were Waiting For Me Somewhere is a compilation of short stories that all surround the theme of a single instance that can alter one’s life forever.  It explores the painful pangs of loneliness as well as the wonderful highs that love brings.  

I am looking forward to a relaxing week on the beach, with no obligations but to breeze through these five great reads.  

Spincity

Spin classes have recently become my #1 addiction, and an expensive addiction at that.  It began when I was still living at home and working at lululemon athletica, where I was sponsored to fulfill my need for the bike.  A place called Pelo Cycling popped up just down the street from my house, so I began attending regular classes.  It was a tough workout and a good sweat, and I left happy with nothing to complain about.  However, a year later, when I returned home for the Holidays and began work at lululemon again, SoulCycle had made its name in the Marin County Community.  Marin is home to a bunch of young, plastic mothers who have absolutely no issue paying $30 for a 45 minute spin class.  However, since I was sponsored again by lululemon (they provide employees with 2 comped workout classes a week, anywhere in the community), I decided to drink the cool-aid and head on over to SoulCycle.  It was Thanksgiving Day when my addiction was born.  The class was so high energy, so intense and so sweaty.  It was one of the best workouts I had ever done, and that was all it took for me to be hooked.  I fully understood what the hype was all about, and I began going everyday for the month I was home.  Yes, it was quite expensive seeing as lululemon only paid for two, and I was attending about five, but you can’t put a price on happiness, am I right? Once it came time for me to head back to Dallas, I felt a deep pang of sadness because it meant that I had to part with SoulCycle.  I got back to Dallas and was determined to find something at least sort of similar.  I tried FlyWheel and finished the class cold and frustrated.  My issue was that they keep the room at icebox temperatures.  In order to get a good sweat, the room has to be semi-warm.  It was a fine workout, but I was freezing the entire time.  I vowed to continue my search.  I went to Beyond Pedaling, which was an awesome workout, but still didn’t even come close to SoulCycle.  Recently, my best friend and roommate got asked to be a spin instructor at Terlingo, a new cycling studio in Dallas.  I had been there once before I became addicted to the spin culture, and I hated it.  It probably had a lot to do with the fact that I got dragged there at 6am and was grumpy from the get-go, but it put a permanently bad taste in my mouth.  However, once Lindsey told me that she was going to be teaching, I made her a promise that I would try again.  Ladies and gents, my addiction has been reborn.  She killed it.  I was so impressed and proud of my best friend that I bought the 10-class package without hesitation.  Though I have yet to take a class from the other teachers, I have no doubt that Terlingo is as close to SoulCycle as I am going to get, so I just have to take it and run spin with it.  

 

A Goodbye Letter…

Dear iPhone, 

Why must you fail me now?  We were doing so great together.  I will be the first to apologize for dropping you so many times, but I swear you took it like a champ.  I suppose today marked our final day together because, little did I know that when I walked into the Apple store this afternoon, they were going to take you away from me.  Yesterday, you took a pretty hard fall, but you deceived me because it seemed that you escaped without a scratch.  Most iPhone’s shatter entirely, giving a very large hint that it is the end of their lives.  You, however, showed no signs of defeat, leaving me thinking that all you needed was a little readjustment of your SIM card.  Wrong again…silly me.  I walked into the Apple store on Knox today, mostly expecting to ask the employee to take out your SIM card, and simply put it back in again; an easy task.  The employee did exactly as I asked, however, much to my demise, you stayed persistent with your “Searching…” status.  I gave the man a pitiful look as I held you in my hand.  He sent me over to the ‘technician’, who gave me the tragic news: I needed to replace you.  She also informed me that they were fully booked appointment wise, and that I would have to come back in order to get the new phone.  So, it seems, you just had to get a few more hours in with me before our dreaded departure.  Upon my return to the store, I had to bid a final adieu to you, dear friend.  

We had a good run.  You lasted almost a year, longer than most Apple products.  You also left this world (aka my palm) without a crack on your exterior (save for a few dents on your side).  I am proud to say I kept you in mint condition, until the fall that led to your death, of course.  I am terribly sorry that it had to end this way, and that it had to end before our designated two years finished.  I will certainly miss you, but I hope I have your blessing as I begin a new journey with my new iPhone.  I promise to consider him/her/it “B Team”, you will always be my “A Team”.  

 

XXOO,

Brynne 

An Endless Line For Endless Love

Enter roughly 500 girls, a few moms and a few dads, a handful of boyfriends who had no idea what they were getting into, and some more girls, and you’ve found yourself at NorthPark Mall in Dallas on Wednesday afternoon.  The reason for the flock?  Endless Love, a movie starring Alex Pettyfer and and Gabrielle Wilde, was premiering a week early, and for free too.  Normally, I would avoid such a tacky event like the plague, but various variables permitted me from seeing the movie on its release date, so the early premiere was my only hope.  My friends and I arrived at 3:30 (three and a half hours before the movie was set to start), and we were met by a line that snaked through a good portion of the mall.  The whole event was extremely disorganized, which instantly gave me an itch to organize it myself.  I pushed that aside, however, and stood in my place in line, waiting for the people in charge to give us some sort of guidance.  Finally, a woman announced that they would be giving out wristbands to stand as tickets for the showing, and that the line was for people who wanted to meet the actor who was supposed to be arriving shortly.  After another hour of waiting, my friends and I opted to bail on meeting the actor and save ourselves from the shrills of every girl in Dallas.  So, we went up to the theatre, found ideal seats, and waited some more.  Alex came into the theatre to introduce the movie in a British accent I had no idea he had.  Save for some painfully corny moments, the movie was surprisingly adorable, but it was also a not-so-lovely reminder of how perpetually single I am.  Even though it was your typical chick-flick, I would recommend it to anyone whose Valentine’s Day happens to not be filled with any plans.