"You're Not Having A Heart Attack"

"You're not having a heart attack." Those aren't words I thought I'd hear, especially at the ripe 'ole age of 35. If you follow me on either Instagram or the twitter, then you saw this yesterday:

Yep, I'm wearing a heart monitor, or a holter, as my doctor calls it & it's not fun. Back story: in July, I started having heart palpitations. They actually started the day I got my first full paycheck in 8 months & had waaaay too much caffeine. I cut back on the caffeine, but the heart palpitations didn't go away. They actually got worse. I was having them pretty much all day, every day. And I didn't feel stressed. In fact, I felt relaxed because I finally had a job, albeit a temporary one. I felt like I could finally take a breath & relax for awhile. My body, clearly, was not as relaxed.

One afternoon, I was at work, totally relaxed, reading a book & they (they being the heart palps) got really bad. I panicked & called my mom, then called my doctor. I spoke to the nurse, who assured me I was not having a heart attack. Then she asked me something that changed the whole landscape of this, she asked if I've ever been treated for anxiety. Ugh. Yes.... But not in a long time. I was still a month away from having health insurance, so I made an appt for a full physical & tried to chill the eff out. In the almost 2 months since this first started, I've gone off the caffeine (sucks!) & started doing yoga twice a week. It's definitely gotten better, but it's still there.

My physical was yesterday. They did an EKG & it came back normal, but she still wanted me to wear a heart monitor for 24 hours just to be safe. So I'm wearing it until 2pm today. I can't work-out or take a shower & I look like a robot. I have 5 electrodes taped to me & then their long grey cords are everywhere, eventually reaching this box that looks like an early nineties beeper, that clips to my pants. It's super uncomfortable & awkward & I'm really not looking forward to going to work today wearing it.

My doctor doesn't think it's my heart, she thinks it's anxiety. She thinks I'm having a delayed reaction to losing my job last November. This actually isn't the first time this has happened to me, so she's probably right. For whatever reason, my body has a delayed physiological response to stress. Regardless, it's frustrating.

She gave me a prescription for Xanax with directions to take as needed, but if I feel like I need it every day, to call her. I don't know how long it will take to get the results of this weird thing I'm wearing today, probably next week, but I'm curious as to what those results will be. Regardless, I'm just going to continue looking for job & trying to stay moderately relaxed. I really do think I'm at the tail-end of this. If I could just find a stupid job....

To be continued.

Chicken with Coconut-Lime Peanut Sauce

Chicken with Coconut-Lime Peanut Sauce

Adapted from Tasty Kitchen

Serves 4

Ingredients:

FOR THE SAUCE:

1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter

1/2 cup light coconut milk

1 tbsp thai red curry paste

1 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tsp sesame oil

1/4 tsp honey

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp cinnamon

FOR THE CHICKEN

1 tsp canola oil

1/2 cup diced onion

3 cloves garlic, chopped

*2-3 chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 cup broccoli florets

jasmine rice

Directions:

Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add onion & garlic, cook until softened. Add chicken, cook until golden brown & cooked through, about 10 minutes.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sauce ingredients. Set aside.

Stir sauce into the chicken. Partially cover & simmer for about 5 minutes to let the flavors combine. Add broccoli during the last few minutes of cook time.

Serve over jasmine rice. Garnish with cilantro, peanuts or green onion (optional).

Kim's Notes:

*The original recipe calls for 2 lbs chicken breast, but I didn't buy that much. I bought a package of 3 chicken breasts, which I think only weighed 1.5 lbs & it was plenty.

This dish wasn't spicy enough for us, so we ended up squirting a lot of sriracha onto our plates. Next time, I'll add it to the sauce. But the flavor of the sauce was amazing! This dish was really good & not hard to make. It was a good team effort. John cut & cooked the chicken, while I made the sauce. If you like thai food, try this recipe. So good!

Weekend Wrap Up: Feature Creature Edition

FRIDAY

Girls night! Alexis just got back from a week in Japan, so she had us over (per our request) to eat, drink & see all of the AMAZING pictures from her trip.

SATURDAY

I have two young cousins who enjoy the plethora of clothes I'm constantly discarding, so I spent the morning cleaning out my closets & getting rid of everything I'm too fat, too skinny & too old to wear. It was a ridiculous amount of stuff. With a trunk full of clothes, I headed to Smyrna to meet my mom, sister, aunt & grandmother to watch The Help. I read the book back when it came out & loved it, but I wasn't sure how the movie would be. I was pleasantly surprised! I loved the movie & got a lot more emotional than I thought I would, probably because I was sandwiched between my aunt & grandmother, who were both crying. Speaking of my grandmother, she's my new movie date from now on. When we got settled into our seats, she reached into her purse & pulled out a huge ziploc bag full of candy bars for all of us. It was awesome!

The Features were playing a record release show for their new *incredibly awesome* album, Wilderness. We went to dinner beforehand with Michael. We brought him into The Wild Hare fold. Oh, Wild Hare, you drive me crazy. The food is always good, but the service continues to kind of suck. Get it together! So, The Features. First of all, that was the most people I've ever seen inside Mercy Lounge. Secondly, one of the original members of The Features started a brewery called Calfkiller Brewing Company & they were at the show selling their new beer, Feature Creature. It was so good! But most importantly, the show was freaking awesome! This band has been one of my favorites since college & it's so nice to see them reach this level of success. Well deserved, guys!

SUNDAY

Yesterday was my last yoga class at Sanctuary, well at least as far as my month pass is concerned. There is a rumor that they're going to offer a follow-up pass, but we'll see. In the meantime, I bought a Groupon for 5 yoga classes at Yoga Source, so I may do that for the next 5 weeks & then reassess.

Book Review: A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

After I read To Kill A Mockingbird, my friend Heidi let me borrow her copy of A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. It took me awhile to get to it, but I finally read it & loved it! I think it's my new favorite book.

Betty Smith wrote A Tree Grows In Brooklyn in 1943, but it was re-printed in 2001. I remember when I lived in NYC, I saw this book everywhere, so I was surprised when I started reading it & learned it was originally published in 1943. I thought it was a 10 year old book.

From Amazon:

Francie Nolan, avid reader, penny-candy connoisseur, and adroit observer of human nature, has much to ponder in colorful, turn-of-the-century Brooklyn. She grows up with a sweet, tragic father, a severely realistic mother, and an aunt who gives her love too freely--to men, and to a brother who will always be the favored child. Francie learns early the meaning of hunger and the value of a penny. She is her father's child--romantic and hungry for beauty. But she is her mother's child, too--deeply practical and in constant need of truth. Like the Tree of Heaven that grows out of cement or through cellar gratings, resourceful Francie struggles against all odds to survive and thrive.

I fell in love with the main character, Francie Nolan. Her story broke my heart, but I couldn't quit reading it. It took me about 3 weeks to finish this book. It's long, but I also read it slowly because I didn't want it to end. In the few days since I finished reading it, I haven't quit thinking about Francie & wondering what she's doing now. I always find the mark of a good book is how much I continue to think about the characters after I finish reading it.

I think one of the things that fascinated me about this book is the fact that it's semi-autobiographical. Betty Smith was born Elizabeth Wehner on December 15, 1896, the same date as, although five years earlier than, her fictional heroine Francie Nolan. The daughter of German immigrants, she grew up poor in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.

I loved this book & I really think it's my favorite book now. Better than To Kill A Mockingbird. Better than The Poisonwood Bible. I know a lot of you read this book in school when you were younger, but I recommend re-reading it now. It's long, but it's so worth it.

Five stars!

S'mores Bars

Ingredients

In a large bowl, cream together butter & sugar until light.

Beat in egg & vanilla.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder & salt.

Add to butter mixture.

Mix at a low speed until combined.

Divide dough in half & press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan.

Place chocolate bars over dough.

Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff.

Place remaining dough in between 2 sheets of parchment paper & roll into single layer.

Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff.

Spread it around gently.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Serve!

S'mores Bars

Adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/3 cup AP flour

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 king-size Hershey's milk chocolate bars

1 1/2 cups marshmallow cream/fluff (7 1/2 oz jar)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.

In a large bowl, cream together butter & sugar until light. Beat in egg & vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder & salt. Add to butter mixture & mix at a low speed until combined.

Divide dough in half & press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff. Spread it around gently.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Kim's Notes:

This recipe is a test of patience. My dough was so hard to work with. It took me forever to get the bottom layer spread evenly over the bottom of the pan. In hindsight, it may have been easier if I had sprinkled flour into the bottom of the pan. The marshmallow creme was also a little tricky to spread, but easier than the dough. I kind of lost my mind at this point & John stepped in. He took the remaining half of the dough & rolled it out between two sheets of parchment paper, then strategically placed it on top of the marshmallow creme. If I make this again, I'll probably use the same parchment paper trick for both halves of the dough. Much easier.

Also, I'm still not 100% sure I bought the right sized chocolate bars. The recipe says to buy king-size, but my store had both giant-size & king-size. I ended up buying king-size, but next time I may try the giant-size so that the chocolate covers the entire pan.

All of this being said, this recipe is really good. It's just not the easiest to make.

Katie: I know you've made these a few times, so if you have tips, please feel free to share.

Weekend Wrap Up: Beer-Butt Wabbitt Tickler Edition

Pineapple red curry @ Ginger Thai

Sticky rice with mango @ Ginger Thai

Sugar & Spice & everything not so nice...

New mailbox

Mr. & Mrs. Beer-butt chicken

Cook-out!

S'mores bars

Friday:

We spent Friday night shopping for a new mailbox as ours has been dying a slow death for the past 3 years & finally tipped completely over on Friday, never to stand upright again. My friend Delaney has mentioned this mango sticky rice at Ginger Thai a few times. We had never eaten there, but we were right by it, so we went in. Via text, Delaney told me what to order & as usual, she was 110% right. That mango sticky rice was one of the best desserts I've ever eaten. My blurry picture doesn't do it justice.

Saturday:

On Saturday morning, my friend Jaime & I walked the Richland Creek Greenway, then had brunch in Hillsboro Village. That night, I made the trek to Smyrna for a "Sugar & Spice" party my sister was hosting... Not my thing, but I took one for the team & managed to make it through the 3 hour sales pitch with only a modicum of giggling.

Sunday:

Yesterday, I went to yoga & the grocery store while John installed our new mailbox. Our neighborhood friends made 2 beer-butt chickens, so they invited us over to help them eat them. Who are we to turn down free food? So we went & had a blast. Those chickens were so good! Thanks, Bairs!

Dr. Dre's Guide To A Happy & Healthy Life

{Source}

I spent my formative years in the bowels of lower Antioch, attending Metro's finest, Glencliff Elementary.

**Disclaimer: I only attended Glencliff one year before my parents realized the error of their ways (e.g. the potential Fly Girl track I was on) & lied about our address to get me into a different school district.**

I digress. So the other day I was stuck in horrendous traffic & for whatever reason decided I wanted to listen to The Chronic in its entirety. For those of you who may not share my affinity for early nineties gangsta rap, The Chronic, was Dr Dre's 1992 debut album. As I was listening (& pantomiming gang signs) (in traffic), I realized there are many a lesson to be learned from this fine piece of artistry. I thought I'd put together a little list to help you through your weekend. Without further ado....

Dr. Dre's Guide To A Happy & Healthy Life

Rule # 1: Re: Water Safety -- Always Wear A Life Jacket
"G's up hoes down, if dat bitch can't swim, she bound da drizzound."

Rule #2: Do Onto Others...
"You tryin' to check my homie, you best check yo self, cause when you diss Dre, you diss yourself."

Rule #3: Contraception, aka Protect Yo Junk
"You never know, she could earnin' her man, & learnin' her man, & at the same, burnin' her man"

Rule #4: Gleefully Announce Your Presence, Preferably Via Your Spirit Animal
"Bow wow wow yippy yo yippy yay. Doggy Dog's in the m-effin' house..."

Rule #5: A Creative Spelling Of Your Name Will Take You Far
"It's the capital S, oh yes, the fresh N, double O P, D O double G Y D O double G ya see."

Fat, Fatter, Fattest

{Source}

Disclaimer: this is from a different race, but I included it to show the vast difference striking a pose makes.

{Source}

{Source}

Yesterday I saw a picture of myself on Facebook from the race I ran on Saturday. Actually, two pictures, equally horrendous, both of which I had been tagged in & both of which you can see above. I quickly did the math on how long these pictures had been up, how many people had potentially seen them & then untagged myself. Feeling pretty low (& by 'low', I mean fat), I posted this status:

"Whoa. Nothing like seeing a picture of yourself running to realize you need to lose some serious lbs. Like yesterday. Thanks, random (albeit mean) photographer. Sigh..."

As you can probably guess from the whopping 49 entries over there under my label "Weight", this is an on-going issue for me. I wrote a shockingly concise blog post titled Happy or Complacent? in November of 2009 after a recent trip to NYC about whether or not I need to just accept myself at this size & get on with it. Clearly, almost two years later, I still haven't made up my mind. Le sigh...

I've actually felt pretty okay with my weight/size for about a year now. I lost enough weight last Fall to go down a size & have maintained it. I lost a little more when I was unemployed & couldn't afford to eat out. I did that boot camp in May, was feeling totally fine & then I went back to work. I've pretty much gone out to lunch 1,000 times in the past two months & never work-out anymore. It's been too hot to run, so my usual three runs a week have gone down to one, if that. I got bored with my lunchtime work-outs, so I quit going to those. I randomly do a Sculpt class after work, but it's RARE. I have been doing yoga pretty frequently, but it's too soon to see any results from that, if there will even be any. (Do you get results from yoga? I don't know.)

This happens to me once about every two-ish years, I see a picture of myself, freak the eff out, do something drastic, & then about a week later, decide I'd rather stay this size than do the work it takes to get smaller. At my biggest, I was a size 16. I'm a size 12 now. I actually weighed myself (for research purposes) & was surprised to learn that I'm at the exact same weight I was at the end of boot camp. But my body is clearly bigger. It's mind-boggling.

If I still care about this in a week, when the picture of me running is no longer seared into my memory, or yours (you're welcome), here are some things that will assuredly help:

1) Quit eating so damn much

2) Bring your lunch

3) Cease & desist the binge snacking before dinner

4) Get back to running three times a week

5) Do more strength training

6) Don't let anyone else take your picture while in motion.

I'll report back.

Weekend Wrap Up: Tomato Edition

Friday:

Real exciting night in the Baldwin house. We walked next door to Korea House for dinner (at 6:00pm), I painted my nails & watched the Season Finale of So You Think You Can Dance. Shocking, I know.

Saturday:

I got up early to run the East Nashville Tomato 5K. I ran the course on Wed night with East Nasty & didn't do so hot, but I did a lot better on Saturday. My friend Claudia ran it with me. I always run better when I have someone with me. I finished in 35-ish minutes. Not bad, not awesome. I've run faster. The hilarious part is the overall results: I came in 691st place, HA! Yeah, 691!

Saturday night John & I tried The Wild Hare for a third time & it was much better than last time. They seem to be working out the kinks. I tried the wild hare pizza & John got the burger. We both loved our food. John even threw down the gauntlet & declared it THE BEST BURGER. Whoa.

Sunday:

Yesterday I went back to my Sunday yoga class at Sanctuary & loved it. There were only 3 of us, so we worked on headstands. Yeah!

Last night John & I watched True Grit. Meh. I kind of hated it. I don't know that John liked it either, but he did say that he's glad he saw it.

Archie Bunker Goes To Yoga

{source}

So I bought this $59 unlimited month pass to Sanctuary Yoga in the Gulch. I went for the first time last Sunday & the instructor, Dawn Cunningham, recommended I try her Thursday Candlelight Flow class from 7:15-8:30pm. I told her the time didn't really work for me, when would I eat dinner, etc. She said as long as I eat around 5:00-5:15, I'd be good.

I get home from work today around 5:00 & basically immediately eat dinner. I didn't really plan well for this, so the only thing I had in the house to eat was a Trader Joe's palak paneer frozen Indian dinner & garlic naan. I figured, it's a small amount of food, it's meat-free, it's light - whatever. Wrong. So, so wrong.

Tonight was like Archie Bunker goes to yoga. I was burping & farting to beat the band. And don't even get me started on the smell coming out of my pores. I was literally excreting curry & garlic out of every orifice. There was this nice lady on the mat beside me decked out in the latest lululemon finery & I couldn't even look her in the eye. At the end of the class, I felt like I owed her an apology. But alas, I just rolled up my sweaty, smells-like-curry yoga mat & shirked back to my car.

Note to self: next time, just eat a Clif bar.

Book Review: An Object of Beauty

I recently read An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin. Mary Katherine first read this book & LOVED IT, so when she brought it to Book Swap, I grabbed it. It's a pretty short book, so I read it really fast. It's generously spaced & has lots of short chapters, so you'll fly through it, or at least I did.

The main character is Lacy Yeager, a young Manhattanite climbing her way up through the art world. She starts her career at Sotheby's & goes on to become an art dealer. Even though I lived in NYC, I have little to no experience in this world, so the inside look into NY's art scene was fascinating to me. Lacy is one of those bad-girl protagonists that you find yourself enamored with & living vicariously through. Oddly, Lacy's story isn't told by Lacy, but by her male friend, Daniel. If you forced me to voice a complaint about this book, this would be it: Daniel as the narrator of Lacy's story tripped me up a lot, especially at the end.

Here's the blurb from Amazon:

Martin compresses the wild and crazy end of the millennium and finds in this piercing novel a sardonic morality tale. Lacey Yeager is an ambitious young art dealer who uses everything at her disposal to advance in the world of the high-end art trade in New York City. After cutting her teeth at Sotheby's, she manipulates her way up through Barton Talley's gallery of "Very Expensive Paintings," sleeping with patrons, and dodging and indulging in questionable deals, possible felonies, and general skeeviness until she opens her own gallery in Chelsea. Narrated by Lacey's journalist friend, Daniel Franks, whose droll voice is a remarkable stand-in for Martin's own, the world is ordered and knowable, blindly barreling onward until 9/11. And while Lacey and the art she peddles survive, the wealth and prestige garnered by greed do not. Martin (an art collector himself) is an astute miniaturist as he exposes the sound and fury of the rarified Manhattan art world. If Shopgirl was about the absence of purpose, this book is about the absence of a moral compass, not just in the life of an adventuress but for an entire era.

I really liked this book & highly recommend it. Four stars!

Weekend Wrap Up: I Ate 100 Cupcakes This Weekend Edition

{More photos & info on Flickr & Instagram}

Friday:

We had a girls dinner in Murfreesboro to celebrate Katie's birthday. Katie took us to this hidden authentic Mexican restaurant called Carmen's Taqueria that was so good! And cheap! My entree was $5.00!!!

Saturday:

My friend Claudia is getting married in September & her bachelorette party was Saturday night at Goten. Lauren drove up for it & we had a blast. After dinner, I watched The Dive from Clausen's Pier. Lame. Loved the book, hated the movie. Note to self: never again Netflix a Lifetime movie.

Sunday:

I've been contemplating how to work more yoga into my schedule, which I wrote about here. After attending the free lululemon Thursday night classes at Sanctuary all through July, Sanctuary offered a $59/month unlimited package, which I promptly bought. Yesterday was my first class. I took Dawn Cunningham's 11:00am-12:30pm vinyasa flow -- so good! Dawn taught one of the lululemon classes & I loved her. I'm definitely going to go to as many of her classes as I can this month. Yay, yoga!

Vanilla Pistachio Cupcakes

Vanilla Pistachio Cupcakes

Adapted from sprinkle bakes

Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 box Duncan Hines French Vanilla cake mix

3 eggs

1 1/3 cup water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

8 oz package cream cheese, room temperature

1 stick of butter, softened

1/4 cup clover honey

3 cups confectioners sugar

1 cup pistachios, ground fine in food processor

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 & line cupcake pan with liners.

Blend cake mix, water, oil & eggs in a large bowl at low speed until moistened, about 30 seconds. Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour batter in pans & bake immediately.

Bake for 18-21 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes. Cool completely before frosting.

For Frosting:

Place cream cheese, butter & honey in the bowl of a stand mixer; beat until combined. Gradually add in confectioners sugar, mixing until it is spreading consistency. If frosting is loose, place in refrigerator until firm enough to spread.

Place 1 cup pistachios in food processor & grind until fine.

Frost cupcakes & sprinkle generously with ground pistachios. Serve!

Pork Stuffed Peppers

Pork Stuffed Peppers

Adapted from Dishing the Divine and Better Homes & Gardens

Ingredients:

3-4 red bell peppers, cut in half lengthwise

1 lb ground pork

1 can black beans, rinsed & drained

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

1 1/2 cup salsa

4-ounce can diced green chile peppers, drained

1 cup quick-cooking brown rice

1/4 cup water

1 tsp ground cumin

Tabasco, splash or two, to taste

Sliced cheese, either cheddar or Monterey Jack

Directions:

Microwave the peppers for 4-5 minutes, or until softened. Cut in half lengthwise & place side by side, cut side up, in an oven-safe casserole dish.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large skillet, cook pork until no pink remains; drain. Stir in beans, soup, salsa, chile peppers, rice, water, & cumin. Heat & stir just until bubbly. Divide & pour among the peppers. Pour any extra around the peppers.

Add the cheese slices to the top of each pepper. Bake for 20 minutes. Serve!

Kim's Notes:

This recipe is a combination of the vegetarian stuffed peppers I made recently & a pork & green chiles casserole that John & I are big fans of. Those of you paying attention may have noticed that in the pictures, I forgot to cut the peppers in half. Oops! I do recommend cutting them in half. They're a lot easier to cook & eat that way.

This dish was really good & hearty. The addition of ground pork definitely made it more appealing to my carnivore husband. We'll make this again.

Book Review: Loving Frank

I just finished reading Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. I received this book as a gift almost a year ago, but wasn't sure what it was about, so I set it aside. Recently, Tiffany was talking about The Women, which she had just read & the conversation turned to Loving Frank. She couldn't believe I hadn't read it yet.

From the back of the book:

"I have been standing on the side of life, watching it float by. I want to swim in the river. I want to feel the current." So writes Mamah Borthwick Cheney in her diary as she struggles to justify her clandestine love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright. Four years earlier, in 1903, Mamah and her husband, Edwin, had commissioned the renowned architect to design a new home for them. During the construction of the house, a powerful attraction developed between Mamah and Frank, and in time the lovers, each married with children, embarked on a course that would shock Chicago society and forever change their lives.

I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did because: a) I'm not a huge Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiast & b) Most of my friends "liked" the book, not loved it. Well, I daresay, I loved it. It was a little slow-going in the middle, but by the end, I couldn't put it down.

I really enjoyed getting to know the main character, Mamah (May-muh). I've never given a whole lot of thought about what it was like to be a woman in the early 1900's & Horan writes Mamah's story in a way that makes you think, but doesn't push any views on you one way or another. She does a good job of writing objectively about the decisions Mamah makes, a lot of which I had a hard time wrapping my head around.

I don't know how to put this delicately, but Frank Lloyd Wright is a dick. I somehow did not know this about him. This love affair that he & Mamah have is bizarre & disconcerting, but by the end, you're somehow glad that it appears to be working out. Speaking of the end, the end of this book will rip your heart out. I literally gasped & read the entire last chapter with my hand over my heart. I did not see that coming.

This book is historical fiction, but it's pretty factual. At the end of the paperback version I have, Horan explains how she wrote it. The book is based on a factual timeline that was apparently easy to trace. She also had lots of letters, diaries, etc, so she was able to piece a lot of things together. She says the fiction part is where she embellished dialogue, etc., but not events or people. Everything that happened in the book, actually happened, which kind of blows my mind.

Anyway, now I'm completely obsessed & want to travel to Wisconsin to see Taliesin. Apparently there are Loving Frank tours. My friend Haylee just moved to Chicago & she offered to host a group of us if we want to go take the Frank Lloyd Wright tour in Oak Park, which I really want to do.

I really enjoyed this book & definitely recommend it. 4 stars!