Show Us Your Books: Celebrating Two Years of Reading Together

Two years ago Jana and I thought what the hell, let's make the book talk post into a monthly linkup and see if anyone links up. And boy, have you. Together with all of you, we've really built a nice reading community. Thanks for linking up or commenting on posts or tweeting us about what you're reading. It's awesome to be surrounded by other booknerds, and to celebrate, we're giving away four prizes this month so be sure to enter the rafflecopter down below before you hit the linkup. The prizes are all book related. First prize = $50 Amazon gift card; second prize = banned books socks and a library card catalog coffee mug; third prize = reading journal and book ornament; fourth prize = card catalog pouch (when we bought it, Out of Print sent a book to a community in need, so it's a feel good prize too). The thing you can do to get the most entries to win is follow The Armchair Librarians on Instagram - even if you (like me) don't listen to podcasts, on Instagram we post about book and reading related stuff so I think you'll like it. Please and thank you. Speaking of, who would like to take over The Armchair Librarians account for a few days with your reading/book related thoughts/pics? 

Linkup Guidelines:

This link up happens the second Tuesday of every month.

The next one is Tuesday, November 8, 2016

1. Please visit and comment with both of your hosts, Jana & me
2. Please display the button (need it? let me know) or link back to us on your blog post
2. Please visit a few other blogs who've linked up and get some book talk going!

Here's what I've read since the last linkup. 

Engrossing Reads

Siracusa by Delia Ephron - I was in thick with this book from jump. I devoured it. So many assholes, so little time. Four different viewpoints tell the story, and there's a little overlap with each. The perspectives are true to each character and what could have felt burdensome to read did not. Ephon did well. Thanks to Jen from That's What She Read for the recommendation.

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena - There's something appealing about reading the monumental fuckup that a circle jerk of dumbasses can get themselves into. This was like hopping on the crazy train from beginning to end and the ride was pretty enjoyable to me even with insane plot jumps, sometimes flat characters, and general lunacy from all parties involved. 

Swear on This Life by Renee Carlino - Touted by at least two people in last month's linkup, I got right on this and I'm glad I did. I don't often read love stories, but I loved this one. A few times I was like yes WE GET IT when the author repeated, but all in all I had feelings for this book. (Amazon e-book)

The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison - Kristen told me this would be a good read for me, and she was correct. This was creepy as fuck and God knows I love psychotic characters. (Amazon e-book)

Sleeping in Eden by Nicole Baart - I don't often have great luck swiping books off of library shelves, especially when I judge a book by its cover, which is what I did here. That was not true with this hidden gem. Fast moving, a little weird, and told in a really interesting way that only became apparent later on in the book. If you've got nothing else to do, give it a go. This is straddling the line between engrossing (was it just a good time for me to read this book?) and passed the time just fine. (library paperback)

Passed the Time Just Fine

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead - I think this is an important book, but I drug my feet reading it through most of the first half. I think it actually is a good commentary on race relations today, and how there are so many things that are not the same for black people as they are for white people. There was also a liberty taken with history in this book that I absolutely could not hurdle. (hardback, purchased and passed on) (discussed on The Armchair Librarians)

The Girl in the Ice (DCI Erika Foster #1) by Robert Bryndza - I thought this was a little scrabbled together as far as mystery stories go, but I liked the writing and I liked DCI Foster so if there's another I'll give it a go. (Amazon e-book)

Let Me Go (Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell #6) - I read this series a few years back, and was unsure if I'd finished it out. Turns out, I hadn't. This is the last one, and it felt like meeting up with those fucked up old friends you used to have and finding out that shocker they're still a little fucked up even after all these years. (library hardback)

The Wednesday Group by Sylvia True - Kimmi read this last month. This was a quick and interesting read, especially having lived the role of an addict's wife (different type of addiction, but still). Some of it rang true and some did not. (library paperback)

Owl Island by Randy Sue Coburn - A weird little book filled with eccentric characters. I had to skim some of it because one of the characters could be a real dumbass and the other a real pain in the ass. I wish there was more of the surrounding cast. (cheap Amazon e-book)

The Guineveres by Sarah Domet - This book was close to being not worth it. I had to skim a good deal, and even though it wasn't actual repetition it felt like it at times. Other reviewers were all oh in the vein of The Virgin Suicides - I don't think so. In the end, some of the storylines did redeem it and I was pretty surprised at how it ended. (Free e-copy from Netgalley)

Not Worth It

Seventh Heaven by Alice Hoffman - Every once in a while I like a dose of Alice Hoffman's mystical writing. This was like pounding warm keg beer as an adult. Too much, why am I doing this, no thank you. (e-book, not sure from where)

Prize entry here

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Link up here - what have you been reading? 

An InLinkz Link-up

Show Us Your Books - What I Read in March

My friends...it feels like it's been an age since we've all gathered to discuss books...like, it's been longer than usual. But here we are, on Show Us Your Books day! Something new this month: In parentheses at the end you will see where/how I read the book. I just want to keep track and I'm doing it here.

If you want to actually hear Jana and I talk about books, reading, and other things that may or may not be related out loud, you can catch us once a week on The Armchair Librarians. It's on iTunes or you can click here: http://thearmchairlibrarians.libsyn.com/podcast

And one more thing before we start - Dani from Faster than Forever and Erin from Texerin-in-Sydneyland are challenging themselves and everyone else to read their books...like all the books you own that you haven't gotten around to reading yet. They're doing that in June and linking up on Thursday, July 14, so if you link up here you'd have Show Us Your Books on July 12 and that on July 14 and there you go, you pretty much have two posts that write themselves that week. Plenty of time to go through your books and get a pile going.

Linkup Guidelines:

This link up happens the second Tuesday of every month.

The next one is Tuesday, May 10, 2016. 

1. Please visit and comment with both of your hosts, Jana & me
2. Please display the button (need it? let me know) or link back to us on your blog post
2. Please visit a few other blogs who've linked up and get some book talk going!

Here's what I read since the last linkup. As an example of how I don't really count books...when I sat down to write this post, I was sure that I had only read four books since the last linkup. 

Engrossing Reads

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly - Based on actual occurrences of women in Nazi camps, specifically Ravensbruck. Good Lord, this story. World War II stories are so hard to read, which is exactly why they must be told and re-told and read in all of their incarnations. So we don't forget how terrible humans can be to each other. And so we don't forget how resilient the human spirit can be. It was a very emotional, very good read. I liked the alternating viewpoints. (Free from Netgalley, e-book)

All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda - I spent most of the book in a WTF daze. Everyone is unreliable, especially the narrator, but in a book like this that's part of the fun. I did not like how they tried to sell how the story was told in the forward...let me read it and decide for myself. Overall interesting. (Free from Netgalley, e-book)

Water From My Heart by Charles Martin - Have I mentioned how I hate the star rating system on Goodreads? I hate the star rating system on Goodreads. But this is a flat out five star for me. It gutted me in a wonderful way. I do love a good redemption story. Probably the best book I've read so far this year. (Library, hardback)

Passed the Time Just Fine

If I Knew You Were Going To Be This Beautiful, I Never Would Have Let You Go by Judy Chicurel - Mouthful of a title, huh? Mouthful of a story, too. I wasn't sure if I liked this book as I was reading it. I'm still not really sure. It was almost like each chapter was a short story with characters from others. Some of it was out of order. It was interesting, that's for sure. (Library, hardback)

My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga - So I read this right after Lilac Girls. Nazi torture and teenage suicide...tough week for books. I liked this one, the spin was a little different and the main characters were interesting. I also liked how the author touched on depression. (Library, hardback)

Last Ride to Graceland by Kim Wright - I needed a break after two heavy books and this was perfect. I liked the characters and the story. It was a good, quick read. (Free from Netgalley, e-book)

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley - The writing was beautiful and I like the way the story was told, but I felt like the book was trying to be and do too many things and coming up a little short on all fronts. Fewer threads to tie together and less backstory in some cases probably would have put this book to a 4 or 5. I loved the Scott character.(Free from Netgalley, e-book)

Opening Belle by Maureen Sherry - I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this book. It wrapped up the glass ceiling problem a little too tidily. And in a world where equal pay for equal work and family/work balance are still both huge issues, I wasn't really in the mood. (Library, hardback)

The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain - The main character bugged me. A lot. Like an annoying little gnat. A lot of things about this bugged me now that I think on it. But it was still passable. (Library, hardback)

Hard No

n/a

An InLinkz Link-up

Show Us Your Books! - What I Read in December

Link up your posts about the book(s) you've read recently with Jana of Jana Says and me!

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The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star by Nikki Sixx - This book blew my minds. How does Nikki Sixx - or any addict - live through stuff like this? There's some crazy shit in this book.

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult - I am not a member of the Picoult Cult. I don't love all of her books, but I loved this one a lot. I really liked both the present and past stories.

The Kingmaker by Brian Haig - This book is actually third in a series with the main character, Sean Drummond. I started reading it because I was on vacation and finished the other books I brought along (yes I still bring actual books on trips even though they're cumbersome) so I snagged it out of MFD's bag and I really liked it. I'll read more in this series. 

Prince Lestat by Anne Rice - I absolutely adored Interview With a Vampire and a few books that followed. Then I grew sick of the insanity with the super old crazy ass vampires and of Lestat himself and cast it aside. Rice cast her vamps aside too and poo poo'd her subject matter, and many years later decided to return to it. She should've left it in the past. This book was totally awful and I put it down 100 pages in.

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson - Couldn't get past page 30. Life is too short and my list of books to read is too long to go to bed with books that don't click with me. 

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta - Last linkup I mentioned Marchetta's Saving Francesca, which I liked so much I added this to my list. Marchetta's brand of angst speaks to my brand of angst. I enjoyed this book a lot.

The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant - Diamant's The Red Tent is one of my favorite books ever. She did me dirty with The Last Days of Dogtown and I haven't been back since. This book was her redemption for me. While there are threads that make it an entire book, it read more like small life chapters to me. I truly liked a lot of characters in this book, which is not surprising given that they're painted sort of as feminists before it was a thing women. This book is what I wanted The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street to be and it was not.

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens - This book was fucked! It reminded me a little of the Chelsea Cain Heart books for some reason. I thought the story had some holes, the author glossed over some significant stuff, and the writing didn't support the pretty decent plot fully, but I was compelled to stay up and finish it so that says something.

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Haikuesday

Winter days - long, dark.

Reading lights are always on.

Lesson concluded.

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A special happy happy birthday to my sister-in-law Aubrey, who turns the big 3-0 today!
My thirties have truly been my favorite and I wish the same for her.

Non-bloggers, what have you read recently? Let me know what you recommend!
Bloggers, link up your posts about the book(s) you've read recently with  Jana of Jana Says and me!

This link up will happen the second Tuesday of every month. 

The next one is Tuesday, February 10.

An InLinkz Link-up

Show Us Your Books! What I Read in November

Link up your posts about the book(s) you've read recently with Jana of Jana Says and me!

Also, every time I type that title I almost type boobs instead of books. 

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The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee by Marja Mills - I only read nonfiction if the subject is intensely interesting to me. Harper Lee, novelist of one of the most important books in American literature? Sign me up. I was delighted for about half the book, then that wore off as the book appeared to become more about the author and her life versus Harper Lee and hers. Mills said 40983498 times that Lee agreed to the book, and now I know why - Lee issued a statement when the book came out saying she didn't voluntarily participate in it. Still, I could've rolled with that if it was more about the life and hometown of Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird and less about Mills.

Everything I never Told You by Celeste Ng - I wanted to send everyone in this family a letter containing one word - COMMUNICATE. I struggled through this book not because the writing was poor but because I felt profoundly sad or disappointed for every character in this book. 

Reunion by Hannah Pittard - I think Pittard could've gotten more depth out of the relationships she began to flesh out in this book, but they were superficially satisfactory. In the beginning I felt like I should've known some of the back story, like this was the second book in a series or something. But overall it was enjoyable and I breezed through this book so it was worth the read in 24 hours.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - The premise of this book is really interesting. It reads like childhood fiction at times, but that's because it sort of is. There's something in it for adults too though. It was a nice imaginative romp. I'll probably go on to read other books in the series. If it had ended here with no books to follow, I would've been really freaking annoyed by the ending.

Yes Please by Amy Poehler - I'd love to have Amy Poehler as a friend. Her generosity of spirit and love for the people in her life is evident in her gracious storytelling. If you're looking for an in depth life study, a play by play of her climb to the top, or a tell all, this is not that book. She skims her life, and it's an enjoyable ride. Still doesn't top my BFF Tina Fey's Bossypants  though.

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta - This is a young adult novel, and it comes with all the urgency young adult books centered on females do. But there are legitimately serious issues in here too. But for me neither of those things was what made me love this book hard - it was the writing, particularly the dialogue. The scenes on the bus took me back to my teens. I loved the cast of characters surrounding Francesca. A really quick read that pulled on my memories and made me happy that she found good friends.

The Blessings by Elise Juska - I love reading books that are set in my town, it adds a familiarity that is hard to resist. Told from many different POVs in a sprawling family and spawning many years, it's successful without being disjointed. There are a million little strings that tie us to our families. Juska works them like a Chinese jump rope. And the few pages describing the ride to OCNJ and how things were different at the shore are fabulous.  

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Haikuesday

Cozumel beach day.

Book is libro in Spanish.

Lesson concluded.

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Link up your posts about the book(s) you've read recently with  Jana of Jana Says and me!

This link up will happen the second Tuesday of every month. 

The next one is Tuesday, January 13.
Since I'm on vacation this week, expect to see me comment on the post you link up here when I return!

An InLinkz Link-up

Show Us Your Books! What I read in October

Link up your posts about the book(s) you've read recently with Jana of Jana Says and me!

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I was in a bit of a reading rut at the beginning of the month so I'm a little light overall here. I've been reading at a steady clip and my mind just needed a break from it. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, I know I need to let it take its course. I was also beset by some bad books. I hate when that happens, don't you? Anyway, on with it.

Once is Not Enough by Jacqueline Susann - I had high hopes for this because I liked Valley of the Dolls when I read it a few years back. This book was AWFUL. I read halfway through then returned it.

Empire Falls by Richard Russo - I had very high hopes for this book. The prologue nearly killed me with boredom, but I soldiered on. This is one of those books where everyone loves it and I just...don't. I found it really tedious. It reminded me of how I felt when I read most John Irving novels. Like I know I'm supposed to find this compelling and excellent but I do not. 

The Promise of Stardust by Priscille Sibley - I loved this book so hard. I was intent on reading it and adored everything about it. Such a hard, hard subject - actually a few hard ones tucked into this book - written and expressed really beautifully. It gave me all the feels so be prepared. Add it to your list. 

Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty - Some parts of this book made it a total page turner. Others made me pause and think. Overall, I was left a little unsatisfied. I think it had a lot more potential and petered out on some fronts. Yvonne annoyed me. The depiction of X  felt a little like a tinny characterization.

Some Luck by Jane Smiley - Way back when, I read A Thousand Acres. I thought it was smashing. I kept waiting for this book to smash me over the head with wonder. It never came. I really liked a lot of things about this, including seeing the changes that came across the country and the world over the 33 years this first novel in a trilogy spans. Some things peaked my interest, but if the other two novels of this trilogy are 419 pages each of middling story at best, I'm not sure if I can hang in there. I feel like this skimmed the surface of what really went on in this family over the years, and surface doesn't typically cut it for me in a book of this length. I slogged through this at best. 

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Haikuesday

Four day week for me...

So Tuesday is not as bad.

Just kidding. It is. 

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Link up your posts about the book(s) you've read recently with  Jana of Jana Says and me!

This link up will happen the second Tuesday of every month. 

The next one is Tuesday, December 9.

And of course, thank you to all Veterans not only today on Veterans Day, but every other day as well.

 

Friday Five: Halloween Week Musings and Reminders

1. Happy Halloween from the Three Amigos. Don't they resemble Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, and Martin Short? Mae is Martin Short. Some outtakes:

When Gus is enraged he closes his eyes so he can pretend you don't exist

2. I'm going to be like a store right now and discuss Christmas on Halloween, okay? Okay. I'm finished Christmas shopping with the exception of my Gamma's family photo calendar that I do for her every year because I need photos from Stephen & Aubrey's wedding to finish it. We'll be away Thanksgiving weekend and for over a week in December, so if it doesn't get done now it's not getting done because I want to enjoy the season, not spend it shopping. Hence, I did all of my shopping online and I'm finished by October 31. I bought my photo cards from snapfish too. There's a 40% off coupon through today. 

3. The Fleetwood Mac concert was amazing on Wednesday night. I had tears during the first song because I've loved them for so long...it's some of the earliest music I remember hearing in my life and I've heard it consistently all the way through. Stevie can't hit the high notes anymore - age? cocaine? booze? - but she still rules. She's my favorite. I love this piece on her from Rolling Stone.

We saw Michael's Aunt Maureen & Uncle Matt before the concert for a bit, and had drinks and wings with Jill & Frank. My parents were in the club box next to us so we watched the encore with them. This was the first time I've been in a box for a concert, and yeah, I don't want to watch outside of a box ever again. It's easy to be spoiled. 

We were hungry after the show so we played pretend we were 21 and went to Lorenzo's on South Street. Respect the slice that requires two plates. And this concludes my Wednesday night overview on Friday.

4. Today is the last day of the October Wallet Watch. Link up on Wednesday, November 5, to share how you did. And don't go out and buy all the things this weekend just because you can.

5. Today is also the last day of the Choose Your Own Adventure Challenge for October. The theme was food. Don't forget to link your results up Thursday, November 6. Choose Your Own Adventure for November starts tomorrow. The theme is organize. 

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Check back here tomorrow for a special Saturday post talking about my goals for the Organize theme as well as a special November giveaway.

Happy birthday to my uncle Perry today!

Happy Friday! Happy Halloween! Be safe out there.

Back in My Day

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Suze from Straight on the Ground did an awesome Back in my Day post. Everyone loved it because who doesn't like to think about what shit used to be like? So Steph @ Steph's Space and I joined Suze to co-host a linkup and here we are talking about how it was back in our days.

To give you a frame of reference age-wise, I was born in 1977 and turned 37 in March. I'm totally a child of the 80s and did my high school and college stints in the 90s.

Back in my Day...

You could sit this close to New Kids on the Block in concert because nobody knew who they were.

There were no cell phones. I got my first cell phone when I was a sophomore in college in 1996. So when you were out, people just couldn't reach you. When we were in high school or college, it meant setting up meeting times or just driving around/walking around to various meeting spots and parties and running into people. It was pretty awesome. I always had change for the pay phone.

We used to slide around in the backseat of Gamma & Pop's car, the triplets and me. No seatbelts, no car seats, no problem! Standing up was frowned upon though.

We used to go see Steve Miller Band in the summer and who was driving was always a big thing.

There was no caller ID. We used to prank call people all the time, and that would be our activity for the night. It provided endless amusement.

There was no social media of any kind. Up until college the internet was still something no one was really using.

We went to the library to study because we had no computers. We needed books and reference materials and the dreaded microfiche.

We took photos and didn't know how they'd come out until we got the film developed. I have a lot of pics that look like this.

When you wanted to share music with your friends, you dubbed a mix tape. To make the original tape, you sat around listening to the radio and hit pause/record. When a song you liked came on, you scurried over and unpaused it. SCORE when you caught it from the beginning.

School shootings were not a thing. Stink bombs were things. Schools were safe places that sometimes stunk.

We thought orange was a good hair color...or I did, anyway.

The weekend morning cartoons were awesome: Monchichis, Superfriends, Scooby Doo, Popeye, Bugs Bunny/Road Runner, Speed Buggy, Smurfs, Get Along Gang, Muppet Babies, Cartoon Express on USA (Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, G.I. Joe, Captain Caveman, The Great Grape Ape, Jabberjaw). Pee Wee's Play House, The Glorious Ladies of Wrestling, and the WWF all ruled too.

The Berlin Wall was up until I was 12. We did duck and cover drills in elementary school where we'd get under our desks and also sit out in the hallways away from the windows. As if the drill would save us from a nuke the Russians may send our way.

If you weren't the winner, you didn't get a trophy. Period.

I ordered books from Scholastic Book Clubs. Pizza Hut's Book It program launched in the early 80s and that meant I got a lot of free personal pan pizzas. I remember the assembly where they announced the program. I was elated in the way that only book dorks can be. And oh, the books. I read The Little House books, The Boxcar Children, Encyclopedia Brown, Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary, Christopher Pike, Sweet Valley Twins, Sweet Valley High, choose your own adventures, Babysitter's Club, VC Andrews (whoops)...

The posters on my wall were of Richard Grieco and Jon Bon Jovi. In my basement, my friends and I ripped pages out of Teen Beat and Bop and glued photos of dreamy stars to the concrete block walls. My dad was not pleased with that when it came time to sell that house.

I tight rolled my pants, wore scrunchies and banana clips, collected Swatch watches and colored high top Reeboks, and had big bangs. In high school, I loved flannel and all the jeans were high waisted. There was no choice.

My room was a mess. And I photographed it with a Polaroid camera. I wish I never threw that out. Thank God I got neat.

We wrote notes. I didn't get my first email address until I was a freshman in college, and even then we didn't  use email for everything. In college, we sent letters and cards.

I made lists for everything. Wait, I still do that.

When we got our licenses, we got beaters or hand me down cars and drove them with pride, patting them lovingly and praying they worked. A negligible percentage of kids drove newer cars. A beater first car was a must.

We carried our college student IDs in these...and our student IDs had our social security number printed right on them.

MFD was homecoming king the year we graduated high school. This makes me laugh because people who didn't go to school with us are always like seriously? Yes, seriously. (Hi Nancy!)

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Haikuesday

Ugly then and now:

Many eighties styles are back

Stop with the peg pants.

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Link up here, and click around to see what it was like back in someone else's day.

An InLinkz Link-up

2013 in Review

 

Let's do this. Settle in, it's a whole year in review.

I'm currently reading my 50th book of 2013. These are my top 10:
1. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

2. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

3. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

4. Looking for Alaska by John Green

5. The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

6. A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams

7. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

8. The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

9. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
10. Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

1. The Blacklist

2. The Americans

3. Downton Abbey

4. Veep
5. The Killing
6. Sons of Anarchy (I'm up to season five)
7. The Sopranos (I watched all episodes this year)
***Favorite People to hate on TV: Dana on Homeland, the inept FBI on The Following, Elena on The Vampire Diaries, Clay on Sons of Anarchy

Favorite Songs 
1. Get Lucky - Daft Punk/Pharrell Williams
2. Royals - Lorde
3. Pompeii - Bastille
4. When I Was Your Man - Bruno Mars
5. Ho Hey - Lumineers
6. Suit & Tie - JT
7. Wake Me Up - Avicii

1. Engagements! Kim & Steve, Stephen & Aubrey, Shawn & Maggie. Happy things. 

2. Babies! My aunt Dawn and Sergio and cousin Tiffany and Brandon had babies in June. Two of MFD's cousins had babies - Matthew and Laura and Nicole and Patrick. Frank and Amanda found out they're expecting in 2014.

3. Weddings! Laura & Chris! Lauren & Kevin!
4. Beach weekeends: OCMD trip with family, Girls' Weekend in Cape May,  OCNJ with Kim & Steve and straight on to Strathmere with Frank & Amanda
5. Kim & Esteban's Bridal BBQ shower

6. Maisel joined our family

7. Summer weekend and Thanksgiving in North Woods

8. Aunt Carrie's 60th wine tour
9. Spent a lovely fall weekend with Gwen with appearances by Marla and Brie

10. Relay For Life

11. Declaring Sundays stay at home days whenever possible
12. Getting a new king bed
13. Expanding the gallery wall going up the stairs
14. Turning the office into a dressing room and rearranging the upstairs
15. Re-doing the front retaining walls and painting the front door yellow

16. Learning how to do a sage smudge on my house to usher out negativity, how to make perfect rice in the crockpot and freeze it, that hard boiled eggs are easier to peel when you make them in the oven, and how to fold a fitted sheet
17. Already started paying for 2014's vacation
18. MFD had a successful year in his business even though he was on crutches for over 12 weeks - not cool when you're a realtor and need to be on the move
19. We got a fake tree! Finally!
20. I did three spending freezes with not too shabby results, and my next one is set for January with a link up planned for February 4 if you're down. More info to come.

(when the link goes to my pin on pinterest, I've noted alterations in the description)

1. Roasted Carrots with Thyme
2. Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes
3. Jalapeno creamed corn
4. Triple chocolate greek yogurt zucchini cake
5. Buffalo chicken pizza
6. No bake energy bites - I omit the coconut
7. Layered Southwest Chicken Casserole a la The Weary Chef
8. Whole wheat waffles
9. Mimi's bread
10. Deconstructed Chicken Parm
11. Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta

1. MAC lipstick in Twig

2. Essie nail polish (above L-R) Madison Ave-Hue, Sunday Funday, Cashmere Bathrobe, and It's Genius
3. L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes, the poor lady's Lancome Definicils
4. Erin Condren planner
5. Trader Joe's Face Wash and Moisturizer
6. Palmolive Soft Touch Aloe
7. Lodge Enamel cast iron dutch oven - total kitchen work horse.
8. Coconut oil - Good for face, body, hair...Christ even my dogs eat it to better their skin and coat
9. Muji Makeup Storage
10. Nordic bakewear - that  photo is after using it all year and never once spraying it with nonstick spray. It is exceptional. I buy them at TJ Maxx or Marshalls.

Favorite Posts I Wrote

1. The Honey Bunnies vs. the Reality of Relationships

2. P is for Productivity

3. Quotes and Reflections that Reflect Me
4. How to Throw a Kick Ass Party
5. This is written by my dog Gus, but still...From the Desk of Augustus Gloop
6. I didn't marry my best friend
7. When Sharing is Not Caring
8. Forgiveness
9. 36 Realizations from 36 Years - Part I and Part II
10. A Thanksgiving Timeline

In general, 2013 as a year was harder than most for many people I know, me included. I won't be sorry to see it go. I also won't be listing the shit events because who wants to read a wahhhhmbulance list? No one, son.

However, from all bad comes good if you're open to it. The things that were hard for me taught me the most even when the only thing they taught me was that I could persevere. Plus look at this large list I've amassed, all these good things! There is always yin and yang, good and bad. I really think you need some bad to appreciate how good the good is. That's life, and there is beauty in the nuances. Signing off with one of my all-time favorite quotes: