A Book Review

Do you see that look in Maddie’s eyes?

It says ‘Mama, why must you torture me by placing your lunch on the floor to photograph it and not let me have a bite? It’s just plain rude!’

I know Maddie. Bad Mama.

It’s not my fault it’s the best light in the house. Mama has to make the food look as good on the blog as it is in person!

See? Delicious.

(What you don’t see is the corn wrap cracking on the side. Corn wraps are delicious, but are no bueno when it comes to actually wrapping.)

Inside the crackin’ wrap was a slice of swiss cheese, spinach, and hummus. Yum.

On the side?

Apples, Carrots, and a Pickle.

Maddie, I promise you wouldn’t have liked any of it anyway.

You’re right. That was a lie.

Maybe next time. 🙂

Carrots ‘n’ Cake

A few weeks ago I was sent my dear friend Tina’s new book – Carrots ‘n’ Cake – to review for the blog.

I’ve been following Tina’s blog for over three years now and have had the honor of calling her my friend for two of those three years. Tina is about as sweet and easy going as they come, so when she told me she was contacted by a publisher last year and would be writing a book, I couldn’t help, but jump for joy with her.

While Tina worked her little booty off writing the book and prepping it for it’s debut (hey, writing a book is tough!), I patiently awaited my turn to read what she had been working so hard on.

During a road trip to Nashville last month, I finally got my chance!

The book itself is divided into several sections (ranging anywhere from ‘Cookie Friday’ to ‘Happy Hour’) where Tina writes towards that aspect of life/ fitness/ food/ what-ever. The divided sections and Tina’s casual voice made the book a quick and easy read. It was the perfect book to zone out to during a road trip and, even though I haven’t tried any of the recipes yet, I like how easy and non-complicated they look – only a couple of ‘weird’ ingredients needed. (And by ‘weird’ I mean, I have them on hand, but the normal, every day person may not.)

I’m a pretty devote follower of Tina’s blog and speak with her pretty regularly in real life, so a lot of the information presented wasn’t new to me. However, the thoughts Tina associates with the information is. She dug deep and you could really tell she put her heart and soul in this book. There are some really touching and personal moments in here that I’ve never heard her discuss on the blog before. I even enjoyed the section where she explain the thought process that went behind her ‘lose the dough before the big 3-0’ challenge. Tina is real and this book proves it.

My only complaint was how the publisher is marketing this as a ‘diet book.’ This isn’t a diet book (just like her blog isn’t a diet blog) it’s a life book. Tina’s life book. 🙂

If you like Tina and you like her blog, I suggest you pick it up for a good read.

Have you read Carrots ‘n’ Cake yet? What were your thoughts?