Five on Friday - August 28, 2020

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you all have had a great week - I can say, I'm feeling much better this week than I was last week and I've tried to chill out a little bit which has been helpful! I'm also very excited because we are on our way today out to Lake Louise for the weekend for our 5 year anniversary! I'm looking forward to a weekend in a beautiful spot (and we are kid free as my in-laws are taking the kids to the cabin for us!)

ONE

I received the Catrice Bronzer as a PR sample and the IANAJD book and Fable e-arc as review copies - this post contains affiliate links

I'm carrying on my Summer Reading list and noticed a pretty strong theme with all the books I'm reading or want to read in August and it is strong women! All the books I rounded up this month, fiction and non fiction, include a really strong female main character and I love girl power, so this is a great round-up! (If you are a bookworm too and are on Goodreads, I would love to connect - you can find my Goodreads here!) I really love seeing what everyone is reading - I will read every genre and am always looking for more recommendations!

Here are the books I'm planning on reading this month:

• If I Go Missing by Brianna Jonnie ~ this is a powerful short graphic novel that is actually a letter 14-year Brianne wrote to the Winnipeg police department. She writes as an indigenous girl about the response she sees to their reaction of a young white teenage boy who goes missing in comparison to young indigenous youth. It's very a touching, quick read, but I think a necessary one. 
• I Am Not A Juvenile Delinquent by Sharon Charde ~ this is a true story about the author who volunteers as a poetry teacher at a residential treatment centre for "delinquent" girls and their journey through personal growth through poetry. As someone who works in a youth correctional centre as my day job, I love a "redemption" or a turn-it-around story so I'm looking forward to this one! 
• With Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo ~ all of Elizabeth's book are on my to-be-read list and they could all fit the bill of strong women as the main characters and all of her books are unique, in that they are written in prose. This one in particular is about a young girl who gets pregnant in high school and struggles to pursue her dream of cooking. (I'm actually reading Clap When You Land and I love her writing style, so I think this one is going to be good - I can certainly relate to a story of young girl being pregnant and the struggles to take of yourself and family!) 
• One Day Closer by Lorinda Stewart ~ if you haven't read "A House in the Sky" by Amanda Lindhout - I highly recommend it - Amanda was kidnapped for 460 in Somalia and this is her mother's account of her life before, during, and after Amanda's kidnapping and her fight to get her daughter back. Amanda's book was an amazing story of survival and strength and I can imagine that this one is going to be too! 
• Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young ~ I have heard fantastic things about this author, so hence why I have two of her books featured this month! I don't actually know much about this book except that the main character is a young girl raised to be a warrior and it is described as part Wonder Women and part Vikings! The reviews of this one are really good! 
• Faith: Taking Flight by Julie Murphy ~ I love Julie Murphy's books, so I had to pick this one up right away. It's an origin "story" of Faith Herbert, who is a plus size superhero from Valiant Entertainment. This takes place when Faith is in high school and just learns she can fly, but also has to solve a mystery as people are disappearing from their town. I think this sounds really fun! 
• Fable by Adrienne Young ~ I just finished this arc and this book is released on September 1! This is about Fable, a girl who was abandoned by her father 4 years ago on an island after her mother drowns in a storm. She has to survive on her own and has a mission to get back to him and demand a place with him at sea. There was lots of great characters in this book and I loved the story-line - it left a big cliffhanger at the end though and now I have to wait months for the next one! 
• Aquicorn Cove by Katie O'neill ~ this is a graphic novel about a young girl on a mission to protect the "aquicorns" a magical sea-horse type creature and she has to stand up and protect them from people in her town. I think this author has a really great way of touching subjects that may be difficult for younger readers - taking care of the environment and standing up to other people when you believe in something - and making it really approachable. I absolutely love her illustrations and books!  
• Malorie by Josh Malerman ~ this is the sequel to Bird Box and takes place 12 years after the end of the first book that had Malorie and the kids rowing up the river to find sanctuary with others. Malorie gets news that someone important to her may still be alive and she has to decide if she will risk going back out to find them (or that's what it sounds like). I really enjoyed the first book, so I'm very interested to see how the sequel is!  

What have you been reading recently? 

TWO

While we are on the subject of books, I have passed my reading goal for the year! Woo hoo! I feel like I've been reading quite a bit the last couple of years, so I read 42 books last year and set my goal of 45 for the whole year, so I am very surprised that I've gotten in 48 and we still have a few months to go! I listen to a lot of audiobooks so that certainly helps, but just wanted to give myself a little pat on the back! 

THREE 

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Hope you all had a good weekend - we managed to check out @calawaypark yesterday. It was Elliott's first time being there and everything felt safe and organized with a ton of cleaning and social distancing going on. Most of the big rises were closed so Mitch and Damian only had to scream inside their hearts (and masks) for one ride, and everything for Elliott's size was open! . . . #calgarykids #yyckids #calgaryfamily #yycfamily #calgarymom #calgaryblogger #calawaypark #screaminsideyourheart

A post shared by Renee - See The World in PINK (@reneeclementine) on Aug 23, 2020 at 10:41am PDT

This past weekend we decided to check out Calaway Park and we were pleasantly surprised - there were a few big rides closed because of covid, masks were required on rides where you might scream and there was a ton of distancing between groups and cleaning after every ride! I loved how many rides Elliott could go on alone and he was just tall enough for most of the rides. He loved it and even though the rest of us could only go on a few rides, it was a fun day!  

FOUR 

Even though I'm wearing far less makeup lately, I'm still keeping up with my Monthly Makeup Baskets just so I can use everything in my collection! The products I focused on in August were:

• Besame Briar Rose Blush Palette - this is a beautiful blush and highlight palette. I picked this because I wanted to use the blushes more, but I've really been on a peachy blush kick lately, so I didn't use the a ton, but I still love this palette. 
• L'Oreal Paradise Enchanted Scented Blush in "Fantastical" - I certainly used this the most this month. Sadly it's lost it's scent, but it's still a good peachy blush! 
• Illamasqua Beyond Powder Highlighter in Deity - This is such a gorgeous highlighter - it's very shimmery and has this gorgeous illuminating finish! It was lovely for Summer! 

I did enjoy using all of these this month! 

FIVE

The end of the month always means a little declutter time! I'm tossing this Wet n Wild bronzer because the packaging is broken (there is something about their packaging that always breaks on me...) and now that I have a newer bronzer in my collection to replace this, I don't need to hold on to this one. The Catrice bronzer is new, but I just got two from the brand so I kept the lighter one and will share this with a friend! And, this peel from Purlisse just won't get used by me, so I will pass it on to someone who will use it! 

I hope you all have a great weekend!