Soft Gingerbread Cookies (Vegan-style)

I love reading, but mainly Kindle books which makes me unusual among other readers (at least the impression I get from my book club is that they prefer real books). For this past month's book, we read Washington's Spies. I thought it sounded interesting since I enjoy history, but for some reason this book fell flat with me. But, as usual, I gave it a try and finished it in time for our book club meeting.

This month I hosted book club at my house. When I host, I like to cook and bake. It's just part of hosting, in my opinion. One of our regulars follows a vegan diet which proves to be slightly challenging when I menu plan. But luckily I was able to come up with a couple options that were pretty tasty.

For a sweet treat, I baked soft gingerbread cookies. I have made them before, but not a vegan version, so I was a little nervous about how they would turn out. They came out great! Maybe a little too good because I can't stop eating them!

To make them vegan, I substitute coconut oil for the butter and a flax seed mixture for the egg. Easy as pie...well, cookies. Here's the original recipe if you want it: One Little Project.

Design: Book Club

One of the special activity groups for our base spouses' club is Book Club. Since I am already a part of a book club, I am not taking part in this one. It can be hard juggling two books with deadlines each month. But it was fun picking out the graphics for this one. There were a lot to choose from on Shutterstock.

Fonts used:
Little Days
Franklin Gothic Book

Design: Book Club

When we first moved to this base, a new book club was started. I have been going since the first meeting where we read Mr. Penumbra's 24- Hour Bookstore. About a year ago I became the admin for the group which allows me to maintain the Facebook page and make sure the group keeps running smoothly. It is a lot of fun and, since we are so casual, it is not a lot of work.

Our base recently had a festival and they invited several base interest groups to have tables to promote themselves. The book club was asked to join and I was happy to do it. Since I have been in charge of the group I have not really promoted the group except in a base spouse Facebook page. But this would be a fun way to reach out to more people.

My friend, Emily, and I hung out at the table and we met some really nice folks. I was surprised that even some guys came up and chatted with us. So far our group has only been females. But having a male member would add a different perspective and maybe open us open to books we might not pick otherwise. 

For the table, I created a sign, a signup sheet and a little take-away flyer. I started my design process by searching other book club flyers on Google and found a really cute one that I could pretty easily replicate. I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Fonts I used:
Modern No. 20
Gardenia (one of my favorite fonts right now)
Segoe Script

My bookshelf

Growing up with a mom who wanted to be a librarian, we read a lot. I remember many visits to the library to pick out books to read.

Then at some point I made up my mind that it wasn't cool to read. I don't know why it mattered. I still read from time to time, but definitely not as much.

Over the past few years I have returned to reading just for the fun of it. It started off reading before going to bed. I find it is an excellent way to turn my brain off so I do not lie away thinking of everything under the sun and not being able to sleep.

And now that I'm stuck at work for lunch instead of being able to come home, I read on my lunch break, too. I have several co-workers that stop in the break room and will ask me what I'm reading. They have kids and say how they wished they had more time to read. One of the ladies told me that last weekend she finally took some time, sat in her comfy chair and read while her boys played. I was so happy for her that she was able to take some time for herself. I think all parents should do that!

I just finished a nice book called Charleston. Of course I would enjoy that, right? It took place in the 90's, so it was the Charleston of my youth. As always when I read books that take place in the Lowcountry, I got homesick. The story was interesting and hit home. It was about a lady who grew up in Charleston and then moved away for college and was living in London. She had been gone for about 10 years and then came home for a visit. She described her feelings about being home...how it was all so familiar and she just picked back up where she left off. I feel the same way every time I am back.

Our next book club book is called Brooklyn: A Novel. I am about 20% through the book. We picked it from a list of books that were becoming movies this year. So far, I am not sure it would make for a great movie. The story has been slow to get under way. I am hoping it picks up soon.

Book Club & Game Night

Soon after we moved here, I joined a Book Club. Our first meeting was great with maybe 8 ladies. Since then it has dwindled. Each month we vote on the next book from a list of choices from the admin. We have read a few books I never would have picked up myself, but all have been interesting. We have also read two books that I read in the past year. One of which was Call The Midwife. I love that series of books and I love the TV show. It has some heartwarming and heartbreaking stories.

Our most recent meeting was on Friday night. My friend hosted and we had fondue. Yum! We read The Goldfinch which was an interesting book, but totally different than I was expecting. I am still not sure if I liked the book or not. For the discussion, it just ended up being me and my friend even though a couple other people had RSVPed. It was still a good evening.

We're in the midst of voting for our next book. Both options seem a little better than The Goldfinch.

And last night I hosted a game night for some of my military spouse friends. Everyone brought some food or drinks. We chatted and played Apples to Apples. That is a great group game! It was so much fun to get to know everyone a little better. I love hosting events.

Next month almost everyone requested Bunco. I have only played once, but it was fun. It should be interesting!

Austenland: Review

A while ago, I saw a preview for the movie Austenland. I love Jane Austen books, especially Pride and Prejudice. When I realized it was a book, I decided to read the book and wait for the movie to come on Netflix. The book made for light and quick reading, but it was a cute story. It is such a short book that you could read it in a day or two.

Last week the movie came in the mail from Netflix and we finally got around to watching it on Saturday evening. From the very beginning I knew I wasn't going to like it. As with most movies based on books, they deviated quite a bit from the book.

The other thing about the movie that I did not like was they made it too cheesy and ridiculous. Some of the characters were just annoying in the movie. I do not remember them being that way in the book. Only one character from the book and movie were pretty dead on.

In summary, I suggest reading the book and skipping the movie.