Showing posts with label book. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book. Show all posts

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Welcome Back/Books I Love





Hello, again!  Sorry I haven't updated in over two weeks now, it's been absolutely crazy for me and I feel like this is the first time I've really been able to sit down and keep my eyes open long enough to write for a bit.  I will get more into detail in the next post about what I've been up to, because I obviously haven't been keeping up to date with my Instalife posts either.

However, as some of you may know, I had a little vacation time to go home and visit my boyfriend and some friends as well as the family I have still in CT and the day I came back to Oklahoma, my nephew was born!  Needless to say, vacation and baby, plus going back to work just in time for spring cleaning has been hectic and exhausting to say the least, but at least I've been staying busy and making plans to get back into the swing of things.

I had had this idea of wanting to post some of my favorite books with you guys for a while now.  As I mentioned in this post, I have a goal to read more in 2014 (you can find my reading list for the year here).  Since I don't think I read many, if any books at all last year, I'm already off to a good start.

All photos in this post courtesy of Goodreads.com

I've finished Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris, which was a really great book.  It's written in true David Sedaris form, which I've found to be a mixture of wit, hilarity and also, at times, truly heartbreaking.  I honestly have not found a book by him that I haven't enjoyed (I've also read When You are Engulfed in Flames and parts of both Me Talk Pretty One day and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim) and I fully plan to read the whole collection.  He often tells stories of his family, which will either remind you of your own (especially if you come from a larger one) or make you roll on the floor laughing at the sheer insanity of their actions.  I really can't recommend his books enough, especially if you're looking for a good laugh.

Some of my other favorite books include:

  • A Million Little Pieces by James Frey - Although the story wasn't as true-to-life as the author originally tried to claim, the story itself is just wonderfully written.  A very interesting and somewhat graphic book.
A Million Little Pieces
  • Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky - I've read this at least 7 or 8 times now.  I also have a tattoo of one of my favorite quotes and the movie is almost just as great as the book itself.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
  • Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut - This still comes up in my mind every so often, simply because of how much it made me think and pay attention to detail.  It's a little more on the challenging side, especially if you have very little attention span, but the history and occasional graphic scenes keep your attention from wandering too far. 
Slaughterhouse-Five
  • Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - A true classic, and something I think everyone should read in their life.  This was one of the few books I actually read when I was in school, and I'm really glad I did, although it did make me pretty sad.
Of Mice and Men
  • The Newsflesh Trilogy (Feed, Deadline, & Blackout) - If you like zombie books and have a faint interest in politics and the media, this is definitely something I would recommend.  The first boo, Feed, was a little slow starting off, but once you get to about the halfway point, the story gets very interesting.  I won't lie, I had to kind of force myself through the first book, but the second two were nearly impossible to put down.  The action and suspense had me hooked and I finished the second two books within a week.
Feed (Newsflesh Trilogy, #1)Blackout (Newsflesh Trilogy, #3)Deadline (Newsflesh Trilogy, #2)


So what are your favorite books?  I'm currently reading This Book is Full of Spiders by David Wong, but honestly, I'm kind of struggling to focus.  The book is interesting, but I think it's just my attention span kicking my butt.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Instalife #2

Alright, week two! I hope everyone's had a good week, mine has definitely been interesting. Here are my photo challenge pictures (as well as a couple extras) from this weeks Instagram posts.
Day 5: I admittedly cheated on this one. This is an old picture of me and my sister but I miss her and we make cute funny faces together.
Day 6: what I'm reading. I actually started this book on Monday and finished it by Friday. It was a good book to start the year with, in my opinion, since I haven't really read much in the last year. It was an easy read, but still very interesting.
Day 7: weather. It was pretty dark when I thought to do this one, so screencap had to do. Luckily, it's warmed up a bit in OKC since this was taken.
Day 8: the view.
Day 9: selfie! Haha I did this as a selfie/throwback Thursday combo.
Day 10: song of the day, but frankly I've been obsessed or a few months now.
Day 11: trees. This is obviously edited a bit, but I kind of love it. 

I had a couple more interesting additions to this weeks Instagram updates as well...
At Teapioca (an Asian tea house thing), I saw this little jar that apparently isn't quite sure of its contents...
Seasonal clothing shifts are starting to become a little less smooth.
And I started gathering some more inspiration for my portfolio! More to come next weekend, and I hope you're all having a good weekend so far!

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Just the Beginning..

Now, since I've already posted my goals for 2014, I was thinking of ways that I could try to keep them through the year and keep my motivation up.

Goal 1 is to keep a blog schedule.  So far, I've been able to block out certain days for certain blog posts for the entire year, which I listed in this post. Hopefully, I can keep up the motivation because I've made my life pretty easy by writing out a schedule so that there's almost no reason not to stick with it.

Goal 2 is to stop eating like crap all the time.  As someone who loves baking and has hopes of owning a bakery some day, this one seems to be a bit harder for me.  I have a motivation board on Pinterest that I've been neglecting for...months.  I've somehow lost seven pounds since Christmas, which surprised me, but maybe whatever I've been doing will help keep it on track.

Goal 3 is to start jogging again.  I've been trying to make myself go out for a walk, even just a short one, daily for the last week.  When it starts getting a little warmer out, I think it will actually be pretty nice to start jogging again because the wind in Oklahoma kills any motivation to run when it's cold.  The base has running trails all over the place, so it won't be hard to find ways to keep it interesting by finding new paths.

Goal 4: Budget.  Now, this year is going to be a trying time for my finances, just like last year was.  I can't start budgeting too early because I honestly don't know what kind of job I'm going to have in the next few weeks, what kind of car payment I'll end up with in the next few months, or where I'll be living by the summer.  I'm just hoping I can find a way to save a little more than I spend for once and maybe make it out of the year with more than $13 to spare.

Goal 5 is probably going to be the easiest for me because of a prior post (which can be found here).  This is the list of books I want to read before the end of 2014.  There are 13 books on this list, and I'm currently finishing up a David Sedaris book (Let's Discuss Diabetes with Owls) right now.  When I finish my current book, I have Paper Towns by John Green on standby that I got from my sister for Christmas.  I'm so excited to start reading all of these books, and I will probably end up buying most of them on Amazon in the next wee or so, so that I have no excuses not to read them later on when I finish others.

If you have any suggestions on keeping goals through the year, let me know, and leave a comment with your goals for the year, if you have any!  Happy New Year!

Saturday, December 28, 2013

2014 Goals

Last year I made a list of goals for myself that I kind of, sort of followed...  This year, I'm hoping that I can at least kind of follow my goals again, but hopefully be a little more realistic this year.

I realized when I was writing my Recap of 2013 post that I had given myself a TON of things to try to follow all at once, and maybe that's how it ended up failing.  I had set twelve goals for myself, which just seems insane to me.  This years list more like five items long, and will hopefully keep me on track without feeling overwhelmed.  Here's my own list for 2014, let me know if you've made and goals or have any suggestions on how to follow my own!
Goal 1: Keep a blog schedule.  I've tried to do this before (like last year with the Random Acts of Kindness posts) and had it fail slowly but surely.  I bought this calendar and literally went through the entire 12 months and filled in blog post plans.  It took a whole sleepless night, but that happened.  Now I have to stick with it.

Goal 2: Stop eating like crap all the time.  Seriously. Put down the cookies.

Goal 3: Start jogging again.  I used to go jogging every other day when I was living with my parents and I honestly felt a lot better during that time.  I stopped because I got really sick for a couple weeks and I physically couldn't bring myself to go out like that, then I never got back in.  I'm hoping once the weather warms up a little bit I can go out again and start.

Goal 4: Budget.  No, really. Stop laughing.

Goal 5: Read more.  I said this would be on the list.  I feel like I never read enough and now I have a huge list of books I want to read and hopefully finish by the end of next year.

If you know of any good budgeting apps or motivation to work out and stay positive, please let me know!  I'm really hoping to start on these goals sooner rather than later so I can just make them second nature habits as opposed to daunting tasks.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Book Wishlist December 2013

I've realized lately the amount of books that I want to read has grown incredibly over the last few months.  I'm not sure what exactly made that happen(probably cold weather), but since the end of the summer I've started finding more and more books that I've added to my Amazon wishlist and I would love to hear any feedback you guys have if you've read these!  Also, if you have any suggestions or favorite books, let me know =)

(All photos from Amazon.com)
  1. Paddle your own Canoe by Nick Offerman
  2. This Book is Full of Spiders by David Wong
  3. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
  4. Paper Towns by John Green
  5. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
  6. Egghead by Bo Burnham


(All photos from Amazon.com)
  1. Adulting: How to become a grown up in 468 easy(ish) steps by Kelly Williams Brown
  2. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling
  3. Bossypants by Tina Fey
  4. Bitches on a Budget by Rosalyn Hoffman
  5. The Bedwetter by Sarah Silverman
  6. Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick