This is the nerd coming out in me… reading books and giving a little synopsis and review on my feelings about the book. I grew up loving to read and it’s something I still love to do, but lately I know that I have not made enough time for it. Hopefully writing this post inspires me to give myself the time again to read the way I did when I read these two books! If I’m being totally honest, these books probably deserve their own posts, but I don’t want to fill up too much of our little corner of the blogging world with my love of reading! Haha!! 🙂

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up was a really quick and easy read for me. I read it in about two days, but those were also days filled with sitting on an airplane, flying to Texas. This book had been on my list to read for quite some time and when I finally got around to reading it, it wasn’t the best timing on my part! I read it since we have lived here with my parents and so a lot of our things are packed away in boxes. I wasn’t able to go through the book and go follow along with it, but I do look forward to having our own place again and being able to go through this book again with all of our things!! The main idea of this book is that we shouldn’t just have “stuff” to take up space. We should surround ourselves with things that bring happiness to our lives and truly serve a purpose. I loved that idea and I feel like that was something I had already latched onto before reading the book, but this definitely strengthened those ideas. There were some different ideas and things in this book that I kind of just had to giggle and laugh about. When I read about how we shouldn’t roll our socks up together was one of those ideas. I just couldn’t really get behind that idea because I like the way socks are rolled up in the drawer! Overall, I would recommend this book if you are into the idea of getting rid of things and moving forward to finding those things that truly bring you happiness and putting those things in your home.

Daring Greatly by Brené Brown was a truly inspiring book. That was one book that I felt like I could not put down. This is also the book that we based the Michelle & Meghan Retreat off of because it really is that good!! I think if you want a little pick me up, a reminder that you are enough, and some feel good stories, this is a good one to read!! Brené talks about loving others, leading, parenting, being yourself and so much more in this book. There are many, many colored flags sticking out of a lot of pages from this book and I love being able to go back and read those little quotes or phrases that really have stuck with me. Here are two of my favorites- “Joy comes to us in moments- ordinary moments. We risk missing out on joy when we get too busy chasing down the extraordinary.” And the other one is- “We can’t give people what we don’t have. Who we are matters immeasurably more than what we know or who we want to be.” This book was a renewal of confidence and a book full for things for me to think on. Even though we are not parents, that chapter is one that will forever stick with me because of the stories she shares!

If you are looking for a book to read as a photographer, creative, person, mom, or anything else for that matter, these are two books I would highly recommend!!