It's a Brand New Year

I'm not one to make resolutions.  They're hard to keep and it's disappointing to let yourself down, but this year I want to make some changes.

I want to write more, and I say that every year, but maybe I'll do it this time around.  I don't necessarily mean to blog more, but I want to keep my journal at least somewhat up to date.  I'm trying to do the bullet journal, but it's really more "bullet-ish" because there are a lot of features of an actual b.journal that don't really work for me, others that do, and I have some ideas of my own that I've been incorporating.

I want to learn to listen more.  Not just be a sounding board for the people in my life but someone who is present and pays attention.  This might mean that I need to learn to unplug myself from my smart devices and take a break from all the distractions.  I'm someone who always has to be doing something with her hands, whether its checking my apps, or doodling, or picking at my clothing, and I'd like to stop the fidgeting and start being more focused.  Also I'd like to be more informed about the world around me.  When I watch the news or read articles online I want to really absorb them so that when they are brought up in normal conversations I can feel like I have an educated opinion and not just be talking out of my ass.

I want to get back to the person who used to read all the time.  I don't need to catch up on the same Big Bang Theory I've watched 16 times in the past year.  If it's something I've already seen, instead of becoming one with the couch and TV, I want to pick up a book and lose myself in a new world.

I want to motivate myself into learning how to cook meals that are more than just fatty comfort foods. I'd like to learn how to cook things that are more healthy (but taste good, and don't take all night to prepare) so that I don't feel guilty when I stuff my face at the end of a long day.  I started a subscription to Talley Farms harvest boxes today, so hopefully this will get me going in the right direction.

I want to get back to my photography hobby.  I want more than just an iPhone camera in my hands, and I need to get myself out in nature more and get some photos to hang on my walls, and make our house more of a home.  I have all these visions of what I want, but I need to make them happen.

I want to exercise more, but its so freaking hard to get started. I have all the tools I need at home, and yet.... I make 10000000000 excuses as to why my butt is not on the elliptical, why the weights are not in my hands, and why the yoga mat has never been unrolled.  I need to cut the BS with myself and do it.

If you have any good book recommendations, recipes, want to go on a weeknight photo adventure (which might have to wait until it starts staying light in the evenings), want to go for a walk with me and my awesome dog, or just offer up some of your own resolutions/ideas/goals... hit me up in the comments section, or however you'd normally contact me.

Happy New Year!

Summer Reading List: 2015

I love reading, and while this is going to be a crazy busy summer, I wanted to make a list and try to get through a few books this season.

• JRR Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings
• I read this book in college and really enjoyed it, even though it was the complete opposite of a quick light read. So far it's proving to be just as long as a read as it was 10 year ago, so I will filter through some other books when this one gets to be too much.
• Jen Lancaster: I Regret Nothing
• I LOVE LOVE LOVE her memoirs, and this one was no different. This book takes us through Jen's bucket list and her journey to make her life more fulfilling.  It's hilarious and inspiring. I love how her writing style makes me feel like I'm having a conversation with a friend, not just reading a stranger's story.
• Dorothea Benton Frank: The Hurricane Sisters
• I'm going to be honest, I don't really know what this book is about but I love her novels.  They're real and full of life and her characters spring from the pages.  I laugh, I cry, and I get angry when I read her books.
• Gillian Flynn: Dark Places
• Reading Gone Girl last summer made me a fan of this author.  She's creepy and entertaining, and I couldn't put that book down, so I'm excited to pick this one up.
• Sara Gruen: Like Water For Elephants
• I saw this movie years ago, and have wanted to read it for years before that.  I never got around to doing it before, so this is the summer to do it.
• Anne Rice: Memnoch the Devil
• I read this book when I was 15 and camping in Yosemite. There were times I had to put it down and walk away from it because parts of it seemed so wrong and opposite from the world I knew.  I'd like to take a look at it through my adult eyes and see what I think of it now.  I've read Rice's entire Vampire Chronicles and the first time through this was my least favorite of the series, I'd like to give it a second chance.

So this list isn't as long as some of the ones I've seen online at other blogs, but I feel like with what I have on tap over the next couple months (moving, a mini vacation for my birthday, a 40th birthday blow out for my BF, and whatever else life might bring) it's something that is doable (well, I may not finish LOTR, it took me 3 months to read it the last time I picked it up).

What's on your summer list?

A Novel Idea: Favorite Series To Read

So the last post in the "These are a Few of my Favorite Things" was about beauty products, and things to keep you pretty on the outside.  This post is about my favorite fiction series of books, so it's more to feed your mind.  As I was thinking about what my favorite books were and looking up images for them, I came to realize that the books that have stuck with me the longest were all a little on the dark side, they're magical, they embrace the unknown and run with it. Vampires, dragons, magic, dystopian societies, post-apocalyptic worlds, or worlds similar and possibly parallel to ours it what brings me in, and brings me back.  

For your convenience I've linked the author's AMAZON.com pages in each section. Also there aren't too many spoilers, this post is more about how the books made me feel than their actual content. 

The first on my list would have the be the one that started it all, the series that I have read so many times I've had to replace some of the paperbacks over and over because I'd read them until the binding fell apart.  Now I have a few on my kindle fire, so hopefully I never have to worry about pages falling out again.  This would be the Vampire Chronicles, by Anne Rice.  I started reading Interview With The Vampire in 1994, a full eighteen years after it was published, when I was in the 7th grade.  I was so drawn to it, to Louis and Lestat and the world Rice created.  I devoured her books about the vampires as soon as I could get my hands on them, and replaced them when they were inevitably destroyed from being read so many times.  It lead me to reading her novels about the Mayfair Witches, and the Wolf Men of Mendocino County.  When I went to New Orleans the year I turned 31, I stood outside the houses that her stories took place in, and the pieces all fit together in my mind.  She made her world real to me, and it's always going to be in my mind and heart.

The next series is one I picked up in college. Stephen King's The Dark Tower. I love how so many of King's stories are interwoven with each other without necessarily being part of the same series.  The first Stephen King novel I picked up was The Stand which wasn't really part of this series, but it wasn't not part of it either, they share a common villain.  Anyway after reading it, I was sucked into his universe and had heard great things about this series.  I'll admit the first time through it, I had a hard time with The Gunslinger it was the shortest of the series, and the hardest for me to get into. By the time I finished the series, I was so disappointed that the world of Roland Deschain had come to an end.  I wanted them to go on forever... and if you've read all the way to the end of the series, you'll see how they kind of do. I've often tried to cast this series as a movie... and I just don't think Hollywood could truly do it justice. After all, look what they did to The Stand.

Believe it or not, but the J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series is another one that I picked up in college.  The Sorcerer's Stone was required reading in a Humanities class I took my sophomore year.  It truly is a coming of age, it just also happens to include magic, dragons, wizards, trolls, ghosts, and so much more. By the time I finished this series I felt like I had attended Hogwarts myself (10 points for Griffindor!), and that Harry, Hermione, and Ron were my friends.  I cried when they lost loved ones, and I cheered for their victories.  I skipped class on opening day in the theaters for the movies (and now proudly own not only the most of the book series, but also the entire DVD collection).

Suzanne Collins, and The Hunger Games took dystopia to a new extreme... and once again had me turning the pages in Young Adult fiction.  Even though the majority of the characters (likable ones anyway) are teenagers, you can empathize with them, their desperation, and their will to survive against all odds.  This isn't a heartwarming tale by any means, but it teaches about real love, real sacrifice, and the lengths people are willing to go to fight for what they believe in.

Back to the vamps and Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries: Sookie Stackhouse novels.  These are the books that the HBO series True Blood is very loosely based on.  These are much campier than Rice's series, and honestly, not as well written, THAT BEING SAID, they're so entertaining. After the first season on HBO the show took an extreme left turn and pretty much left most of the stuff from the books to fill in background stuff, but the major portions of the story lines have been changed. I love the relationships between the characters in the books, they're so much better than in the show, and you'll get to meet characters that have yet to make an appearance on the cable network. I don't think these novels are going to win and major literary awards, but they're great for wasting away a rainy day.

Bonus, Patrick Rofthfuss' The Name of the Wind.  This is an amazing book, and it does have a sequel, but I haven't read it yet, I just finished this one a couple days ago.  It has a similar vibe to The Dark Tower with a little bit of Aladdin thrown in.  There's action, adventure, attempts at romance, and even a dragon. This was another book that I was sad to see end, but I look forward to reading the next one (which I just purchased for my kindle while I was mid sentence here).  

So... what are your favorite books?  If the weather doesn't change much, it looks like we're going to have a few rainy days to fill.