What I Read In January

I've had a seriously good book start in 2020. Not just because I read seven books, but because they were all amazing books. My lowest rating was 4 stars, and there are two 5 stars in this stack! That almost never happens in just a month of reading for me. I only rated 12 books that high in all of 2019!

You're going to want to make note of these! Take a screenshot or get your notebook handy. :)

The Shift by Wayne Dyer
Admittedly, if you are not really into the woo-woo spiritual world or haven't gotten very deep with the inner self (think A Course In Miracles, Journey of Souls, Abraham Hicks, Florence Scovel Shinn), this one isn't really for you. It's incredible, but it uses some woo-y terminology and gets to some next level quantum thinking that's not going to reach you the way it's intended to. I love the way Wayne Dyer re-words things and bridges the gap between different modalities of spirituality, so I really adored spending time in this book, but just be sure it's your cup of tea, first.

Emergency Contact by Mary HK Choi
This was sooo goood! My first 5 star rating of the year. It's about a girl who meets her new college roommate's uncle (though he's only a few years older than them) and they strike up a friendship via text. The pair are each going through their versions of drama and issues and joke about becoming emergency contacts for each other. I won't spoil anything, but I was addicting to watching these two evolve, but even more entertained by the humor weaved into the writing - it was so much fun!

10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston
This was super cute, albeit a little bit contrived. I doubt anyone's family operates quite like this one did - the main character was forced out on ten blind dates by random members of her family who treated the assignment of planning these dates as a competition. The dates were cute, and I liked Sophie (the mc), so I enjoyed seeing where it all lead. Including shipping her with the person she obviously should have been with from the get go. :)

The Farm by Joanne Ramos
Okay, mixed feelings. It took a while for me to really get into the groove with this book, but then I had to know how the rest of it went down and I liked the way the loose ends were tied up - even if the premise is super creepy and inhumane. The majority of a story takes place on a baby farm disguised as a luxury resort, full of surrogates that don't even know whose baby they're carrying. There's a lot of class-ism and privilege worked through with a lot of interesting points of view, so I enjoyed it - it was just hard not feel a little skin-crawly and ready-to-bolt the whole time I read it.

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
While some of the poems in this book were a little on the darker side (and I don't like to spend a whole lot of time in that vibe), I loved the raw and real emotions behind every one of them. There were a few in particular that spoke to me (loudly), in a slack-jawed, put the book down for a sec and reel in how she perfectly describes something you've felt, kind of way. Totally a work of art.

You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley
Ahhh, this was incredible!!!! Basically, there's some magical dreaming going down in this book (which is what drew me to it) but it was so much more than I expected! A pair of strangers star in each other's dreams (months for him, years and years for her), and after moving to a small town, Mia runs into her dream man. They become friends while they research why this is happening, all while Mia is struggling with infertility with her husband, and said husband (who is a doctor) is struggling with the death of one of his patients. There are so many layers in this book, all tied up with mystery, exploring the moments in life when we're inexplicably pulled to someone or something, and beautiful introspection on love and its many forms. I loved every single moment I spent with this book!

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Let's just say....if you are not prepared to carry a lot of all-consuming stress, maybe shelve this book for another day. It was...a trip. I don't think I've ever been as unnerved by a book as I was with this one! There was just...non-stop doomsday moments. One problem lead to the next and the next with very little redemption in between. That said - it was amazing. This is probably one of the most creatively documented stories I've ever read. When I wasn't trying to lower my heart rate back down to normal, I marveling at the incredible thought and detail that went into the making of this wild book. This might be YA, and it may center around young love, but this is one heck of a thriller if that's your thing. I'm not sure my nervous system can handle the sequels lol.

So good! I'd recommend all of these if any of them are calling to you - they're all worth the read! Let me know if you've read any of these or if you're adding any of them to your TBR shelf!



This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you! This means that if you click through or purchase any of these books, I may make a teeny tiny commission. Small as it is, it makes me so happy and able to keep my blog up and running. Thank you so very much for your support!! xo

20 New 2020 Books I'm Excited About

Let's be clear: reading books and collecting them are two entirely different hobbies.

They work in tandem, naturally, but the enjoyment I get from researching, hunting for, and organizing my books is completely separate from the enjoyment I get from reading them. So, yes, two days after I posted an endless list of mainstream media I've missed out on, I'm sharing another list of books that I really want to roll my eyeballs over eventually.

So here's the 20 books coming out this year that caught my eye (plus 2 honorable mentions because I couldn't help it.)



The Upside of Falling by Alex Light (Feb 18th)
YA Romance. High-schooler Becca gets teased for not having a boyfriend and decides to make up a fictitious relationship with one of the most popular guys in school. He gets wind of it, and decides to play along. The yummy fake relationship turned real trope (my fav) reeled me in on this one!

Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli & Aisha Saeed (Feb 4th)
YA Fiction. I saw a new book by Becky Albertalli and I threw it on my list before I even knew what it was about. I discovered later that the book centers around teens Maya and Jamie as they get involved in some political activism and end up exploring a multi-cultural romance. Sounds good to me!

The Mall by Megan McCafferty (June 9th)
YA Fiction. I loved the Jessica Darling series so I was intrigued by a new release by the same author, and even more excited to find out that it's set in the early '90s! We get to watch Cassie navigate the time between high school and college, as new plans replace the carefully laid ones she'd had before graduation.

If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane (March 24th)
Fiction/Romance. Ahh, another fake relationship turned reaaaal, yaaaas. This one centers around a law firm, though, where Laurie works with her now ex-boyfriend of over a decade. To get over the embarrassment of seeing him every day and hearing about the pregnancy with his brand new girlfriend, she plans a fake relationship with a man named Jamie to inspire jealousy and intrigue through the office. We allllll know it never ends there!



Moment of Truth by Kasie West (March 3rd)
YA Fiction. I don't even care what this is about - I will read anything Kasie West puts out there! I'll give you the gist, though - this one follows avid swimmer Hadley as she seeks to discover who is showing up to her swim meets dressed as a specific celebrity. I'm not sure how this one pans out, but I know it involves falling for someone unexpected and finding the identity of the incognito spectator. I'm into it.

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle (March 10th)
Fiction. Yay for magical realism! Dannie has a set five year plan, complete with a fiance and new job prospect, when she somehow wakes up five years in the future and nothing is as she planned - including the man lying next to her. She only lives in this alternate reality for an hour, waking back up in the current day, but she can't shake the memory of her other life. About four years later, she meets the man from her vision! Yep, gotta know what goes down.

Followers by Megan Angelo (Jan 14th)
Fiction. I'm not entirely sure of the details in this storyline, but I know that it involves two friends that get in too deep with social media and celebrity and they have to wade through secrets, lies, and the dark side of fame. I'm intrigued!

Chasing Lucky by Jenn Bennett (May 5th)
YA Romance. Okay, this one sounds yummy - I've liked Jenn Bennett's other books so I can't wait for this one! A childhood friendship between Josie and Lucky is begrudgingly rekindled when Josie and her mom move back to her hometown to help with the family's bookstore. There's some trouble and drama in here that lead the once friends on a journey through understanding how they've changed, and, ya know...how they are probably into each other.



More Than Maybe by Erin Hahn (May 12th)
YA Fiction. This one sounds like fun! It revolves around the theme of music in some unique ways - one character being the son of a famous musician, the other vying for success in musical journalism. The two cross paths, and clearly have a lot in common. I think we can all guess what happens!

All Adults Here by Emma Straub (May 5th)
Fiction. I was hesitant to put this one on my list because I tend to shy away from heavier themes. Most of my list is YA because I like the lighthearted nature of young love and early adulthood drama. This one gets deep as it discusses the way we mess up as parents and the way our parents have messed us up. In the end, I thought this one would be both thought-provoking and heartbreaking in all the right ways, and I'm looking forward to it.

Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth (April 7th)
Fiction. Okay, I'm so into this idea! This book follows a group of now 20-somethings that were once a band of heroes through dark times when they were teens. They're now dealing with life and all of the celebrity that came with their heroic actions a decade after the action. This reminds me of Harry Potter and what it would have been like to see Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Neville, Ginny, etc. adjusting to life after Voldemort. I have a feeling this is one I won't want to put down!

You Were There Too by Colleen Oakley (Jan 7th)
Fiction. Gah - already requested this one from the library because yessss dream worlds, soul mates, what if's, I am here for all of it! Mia is living a cookie cutter happy life, but while she dreams at night, she spends her time with a man she doesn't know. After moving, she meets the man from her dreams, only to find out that he's been dreaming of her, too! Juicyyyy! I can't want to get into this one!



The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver (March 3rd)
Fiction. I just read One Day in December and thoroughly enjoyed it so I was really excited to see another book from Josie Silver being released so soon! In this one, Lydia is dealing with the death of her long term boyfriend. As she starts putting her life back together, she is inexplicably pulled to another reality where her boyfriend is still alive and life is as it used to be. She begins living two different lives along these separate realities, and has to make some tough decisions about where she belongs. This one is gonna hurt, but in the best way.

You Say It First by Katie Cotungo (June 16th)
YA Fiction. I know that this book centers around a relationship that gets it footing through texting between two people that initially dislike each other, and that Katie Cotungo wrote it, so I'm here for it. I don't know much more than that, but I'm thinking the couple's differences and conversations revolve around politics (based on the cover), so I'm really interested to see how their relationship unfolds.

The Switch by Beth O'Leary (March 19th)
Fiction. One of my favorite books last year was The Flatshare - it was one of two that I read obsessively. Like couldn't go to sleep obsessively. It was such a kitschy and unlikely scenario (two strangers sharing an apartment), and it sounds like Beth O'Leary is playing with unique living situations again in this book. Lena swaps homes with her Grandmother to give each of them some new opportunities, and I can't wait to see where this leads them!

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord (Jan 21st)
YA Fiction. This one sounds so cute. As kids of rival restaurant owners, the main characters engage in an epic twitter battle in support of their own family's establishments. It's just that they're also falling for people via a chat app and they have no idea that they're actually falling for EACH OTHER! The timeliness of electronic interactions and conflicting opinions through different internet avenues sounds like a really fun story and I can't wait to read it!



The Happily Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez (April 14th)
Fiction/Romance. Sloan finds a lost dog and takes him in - maybe to fill the void of her fiance, who she lost two years prior. Weeks later, the dog's owner makes contact and wants him back. The pair text and chat about their predicament - and, oh yeah, he's a famous musician, currently touring in Australia. The two have a lot to figure out, but I think we can all see where this is going...

Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon (Feb 18th)
YA Fiction. Yes yes, more magical realism, this one taking place in an elite boarding school. WHY is that such an attractive idea? haha So, our intended couple seem to be enemies at the onset (one of them carrying some sort of curse that's activated by turning 18), but things don't go quite as planned between them.

The Honey-Don't List by Christina Lauren (March 24th)
Romance. The other couldn't sleep due to obsessively reading book I read in 2019 was a Christina Lauren book, so, color me sold on everything they publish. This one seems to center around a Chip & Joanna type couple and the employees (Carey & James) that are holding them (and their growing empire) together. We get to watch Carey and James manage this hot mess and maybeeee find a little heat of their own. I mean, let's be real, I'd put money on it.

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd (April 21st)
Fiction. I am a liiiittle skeptical about this one, I'll be honest. Deep, tricky, sometimes dark adult fiction is not really my jam. BUT, I did love The Secret Life of Bees, and early reviews rave about the clear research and believability of this book which is intriguing. Because...it's about Jesus and a fictional tale of his marriage.


I chose these next two as honorable mentions because they are sequels to books that I have yet to read (but really want to!) I think I'm excited about these, but if I read their predecessors and find myself disappointed, then maybe not. I'm not expecting that to happen, though. ;)


Wild at Heart by K.A. Tucker (March 3rd)
YA Fiction. I've got The Simple Wild on my TBR list after hearing great things, and I don't want to spoil the plot for myself by digging into the synopsis of this one! It's the second installment in this series, and all I really know is that it takes place in Canada.

Undercover Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams (March 10th)
Fiction. Okay, same deal with this one - this is the book that comes after The Bromance Book Club and I don't want to spoil it! I know that the first book is about a group of guys that get together to read romance novels to enhance their marriages, which just sounds like so much fun!


Which one intrigues you most? I'm not sure what's at the top of my list, though I knooow I'm going to reach for those fake-relationship-turned-real ones first. I'm also a sucker for the subtly supernatural (like the dreams and flash-fowards and all that fun stuff). Did I miss anything good? Let me know!


This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you! This means that if you click through or purchase any of these books, I may make a teeny tiny commission. Small as it is, it makes me so happy and able to keep my blog up and running. Thank you so very much for your support!! xo

The Belated Culturalization of Me.

I'm going to make you scoff in this post.

There will be the dropping of jaws and popping of eyes!

The word SERIOUSLY is probably going to float through your awareness if not actually uttered aloud. Because, as you're about to find out - there are some serious gaps in my indoctrination of mainstream media culture.

Gilmore Girls has made it abundantly clear that the number of essential, fundamental movies and books I have never experienced is an actual crime. Just call me Luke Danes!

I keep up with the contemporary scene, but that, I've decided, is just not enough! How can a well-read person such as myself, who was born in 1984 no less, never experience George Orwell? How can a Hallmark movie connoisseur - subjected to all manner of characters named Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth - never immerse herself in the original story? It just cannot be so!

I've therefore spent a ridiculous and frivolous amount of time deciding on the books and movies I MUST indulge in, followed by organizing them into categories. (These are the times when my Virgo shines brightest.)

AND SO....I give you the long-over due syllabus of works I challenge myself (and maybe my husband too because I have ways of making him join me) to consume.


Things I Read In School And Didn't Truly Appreciate

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
3. Charlotte's Web by EB White
4. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
5. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
6. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (I've actually been reading this for years and just haven't finished yet!)
7. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
8. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger (I actually remember hating this one)
9. The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas
10. The Giver by Lowis Lowry

Classic & Well-Known Books I Really Should Have Read By Now

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
3. Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
4. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
5. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
6. 1984 by George Orwell
7. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
8. Animal Farm by George Orwell
9. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
10. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf

Classic & Well-Known Movies I Really Should Have Seen By Now

1. Citizen Kane
2. Casablanca
3. The Godfather
4. Taxi Driver
5. Singin' In The Rain
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
7. Pulp Fiction
8. Gone With the Wind
9. Some Like It Hot
10. The Sound of Music
11. Duck Soup
12. The Sound of Music
13. Rocky
14. Annie Hall
15. Mary Poppins
16. Bonnie & Clyde
17. Rain Man

Popular 80's & Early 90's Movies I Missed Out On

1. Pretty Woman
2. Footloose
3. The Goonies
4. Flashdance
5. Sixteen Candles
6. Heathers
7. Pretty In Pink
8. Weird Science
9. Risky Business
10. Labyrinth
11. Empire Records
12. Mystic Pizza
13. When Harry Met Sally
14. Sleepless In Seattle
15. Desperately Seeking Susan
16. The Outsiders

Movies Referenced In Gilmore Girls That I Want To See

1. Showgirls
2. The Jerk
3. Sabrina (1954)
4. Driving Miss Daisy
5. Urban Cowboy
6. Diner (1982)
7. Terms of Endearment
8. Hardbodies
9. Thelma & Louise
10. Chinatown
11. It Happened One Night
12. His Girl Friday
13. Mr and Mrs Bridge
14. Brigadoon
15. Fiddler on the Roof
16. High Fidelity
17. Saturday Night Fever
18. Life of Brian
19. Sid and Nancy
20. Endless Love
21. Gidget
22. Xanadu
23. An American in Paris
24. Guys and Dolls
25. Easter Parade
26. Funny Face
27. Almost Famous
28. Animal House
29. Broadcast News
30. Hello Dolly
31. The Incredible Shrinking Man
32. Pippi Longstocking


Books Referenced In Gilmore Girls That I Want To Try Reading

1. The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker
2. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
3. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
4. The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath

Ambitious Classics & Well-Known Books I'd Like to Attempt

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
2. Swann's Way by Marcel Proust
3. In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower by Marcel Proust
4. Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche
5. Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche
6. On the Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Nietzsche
7. Daisy Miller by Henry James
8. The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
9. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
10. Letters Home by Sylvia Plath
11. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
12. Emma by Jane Austen
13. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Okay - lay it on me - what did I miss?

I left off some obvious ones either because I don't really want to restrict my time to 900-page reads or because I really (really) don't like war movies. But if you've got anything else for me that isn't one of those two things, fill me in!

Intentional 2020: Luke (wk3)

A lesson I repeatedly learn in life: my plans never pan out exactly as I envision them.

I just learned this week that I am a non-specific generator - a detail of human design I somehow overlooked until now. It basically means that those with my type call in the essence of what we want and not the exact specifics. Which makes complete sense looking back. This is true for both physical things and even the spiritual assistance I sometimes ask for. Nothing shows up quite how I thought it would.

This is the case for my week of being Intentional about the son that made me a mom. I had a list of things that I thought would lend itself to focusing on Luke, and what actually happened was a bit different - and yet kind of perfect. As I wrote down my list of things I did to celebrate him, I realized that what actually transpired was better. And that the point, in all of this, is to establish the feeling and the focus, and not so much the practice of the thing. Dogma and I just don't really get along.

So - I chose this week to be Luke's because his birthday fell in the middle of it. I knew that would mean we'd already be focusing on him and it would give me the perfect motivation to highlight all the best parts of him. I'll likely do the same for his brothers this year.

Here's what I (and a little bit we) did to be intentional about our guy this week. 

+ I'm not great at warming up my car in the morning, and we have a 30 second drive to school in the morning which isn't enough time to get it warm. So poor Luke is always shivering the whole way there. I made it a goal to warm up the car for him this week - I only succeeded twice (Monday and Wednesday), but that's 2 less days he froze - haha.

+ We wrote to each other most days this week. I started this notebook with him last year to give him a place to talk to me and ask questions that he might not be comfortable verbalizing, and we hadn't used it in a while. I made my letters encouraging and positive, and asked him to tell me about his day and about things that would make him happy. He loved writing back, finding the notebook on his pillow (where I put it when there's something new to read), and I noticed that I wrote "I love you" A LOT. He doesn't say it a ton in person, but in writing it was constant. 

+ I both started and ended the week with meaningful tributes to him on Instagram. He doesn't have IG account, but I wanted to document my thoughts on him at this age and put the vibration of admiration and love out in the Universe. His story is a bright one, and deserves to be honored!

+ I tried my best to infuse his birthday with special little things. I started by getting 11 packs of Pokemon & Fortnite cards (because he was turning 11) and stuck them in his Birthdaymas tree. When he was little, he was upset about putting Christmas away so we'd put a mini tree up with a party hat topper and called it his Birthdaymas tree since his birthday is right after Christmas. It's a tradition he loves, now, so we've kept it up all these years.

   + I tried to make his birthday lunch special by filling it with celebratory post it notes, a bright happy birthday napkin, special treats, and a bundle of fruit roll ups that he could pass out to his friends.

   + We replaced his broken Nintendo Switch (which he was not expecting!), got him a new game for it, and filled out his gift bag with some of his favorite things that we normally limit - Gatorade, iced tea, Sour Patch kids, gum, etc.

+ The day after his birthday, he had an orchestra concert. We applauded the heck out of him and took him out for ice cream after even though it was a school night and we usually turn down ice cream because it doesn't really agree with him. (Which devastates him, because he LOVES it.) 

+ We told him last year that 10 was the last year for the "big deal" birthday parties and going forward, we'd just have cake with Grandparents and maybe invite a few friends to do something. He asked if we could take his brothers and his two BFFs to a trampoline park, so I arranged it for this weekend.

+ I asked Luke if he would collaborate with me on a blog series and he said yes! I'm not gonna share the details just yet so we can work it out together, but I'm really excited to have him work on it with me. It's going to be SO fun to share - I can't wait!

+ During dinner on his birthday (which he chose - my kids always get to pick anything they want for their birthday dinner), I had everyone go around the table and say what they love about Luke. Matt and I were expectedly mushy about his loving heart and his caring nature, but I especially loved his brother's responses. Jake said he loves how Luke always helps him, and Henry said he loves that Luke tells him he loves him. Gah, my heart!

+ This wasn't planned (and so I guess not exactly intentional), but worth mentioning. We had Luke's grandparents over for cake last night, and it just randomly happened that everyone was standing in a semi-circle in the kitchen with fresh drinks in their hands and Luke sitting on the piano bench in the center. Someone (I think it was my mom), proposed a salute to Luke and everyone cheers-ed their glasses in his honor while he grinned. It was a cute moment. :)

In addition to all of that, I went out of my way to give him extra hugs and kisses, have little conversations with him, and fully-loaded pep talks in the drop off line everyday. I always try to think of something to say as he gets out of the car in the morning - lots of encouragement about the day ahead, I love you's, you got this-es, and things of that nature. He seems to like it.

I hope that this week felt good to him, but it certainly felt good to me! I loved focusing on him this week because, well, he's kind of awesome. :)

Next week, I'm switching gears a bit again and focusing on physical health. Specifically, healthy eating. Even more specifically - healthy winter eating. Meaning I'm going to center my efforts around eating produce that is in season and making healthy food feel comforting and filling the way winter inspires us to eat. As I'm writing this, winter has finally arrived (it's been shockingly mild for Buffalo until now) and the snow is just coming down outside the window. And honestly, all I can think about is digging into some of that leftover cookie cake - haha. So, yeah, next week needs to happen.

Uh, actually, you do have time.

Warning: this post is spicy. Read at your own risk, and maybe have a glass of water handy.

I'm cliiiimbing up on my soap box here, folks, and I'm gonna trigger some of you!

Ahem. *clears throat*

I love talking books. LOVE. IT. I love when people come to me for recommendations, or come back to me to tell me what they thought of a book I mentioned (regardless of their opinion), and I even love talking about book sales, library functions, book swapping, and all manner of collecting printed works.

What I do not like, is when someone sees or hears or notices how many books I've read and they say,
  "I don't have time for that."

...

Side eye emoji.

What you mean, friend, is that you don't make time for that. Because the truth is, we all make time for the things that matter to us. If something is a priority in our lives, then we find the time for it. We choose it. We return to it repeatedly.

Do you know how often I choose books over other things? Like, all the time.

I choose them over Netflix. I choose them over going out. I choose them in all The Fringe Hours of my day. I choose them in pickup and dropoff lines instead of staring at my phone. I choose them in the morning instead of watching the news. I choose them, and choose them, and choose them.


And to be quite honest, I choose them a lot less than my idols (read: published authors). Did you know Nicholas Sparks reads over 100 books a year? (For the record, he's no longer one of my favorite authors, but once upon a time he was - I met him! - but I remember him giving that advice to aspiring writers. To read over 100 books a year.) This year, I saw Gretchen Rubin's "year in books" on GoodReads and saw that she read 199. (OMG the things I would have done to get to that even 200.)

But also, GOOD LORD she must take a shower with a book in her hand.

The thing is, I'm not only getting into semantics here. This isn't just a debate about I don't have time vs I don't make time, though I'm very literal and ridiculous about word choice. This is also about the fact that the line, "I don't have time for that," in response to my reading accomplishments is a bit of a judgement.

Don't deny it - you know it is.

It's saying, "I'm busier than you and you're just a lowly stay at home parent with time oozing out of her ears to sit and read books and eat bon bons all day."

I'm pretty sure that this entire blog immediately proves that shit wrong.

But what I really want to say to that is - your busyness is not an admirable sword to fall on. And this 2000's era "my worth is measured by how busy I am and the more that's on my plate the more of a martyr I am" is STALE. How have we not let that go yet? (Please note that I'm not referring to people in extreme circumstances like chronic or fatal illness, deployment, etc. This is meant solely for those in the rat race and that orbit around it.)

My husband works overtime hours without overtime pay, is an incredibly present Dad, and keeps up with black belt training in TKD and even he can read nearly 30 books year. So, shove it.

Hahaha, I really wanted to say something aggressive and retaliating and that's as salty as it got. What can I say? I've got fire in my throat chakra but love in my heart. I'm a walking contradiction of peace and rage. This is why my friends stick around even though I am a reading hermit that rarely ventures out into the world. I keep it interesting.

Anyway. You get what I'm saying?

I don't have any extra time than anyone else. Believe it or not, I don't just sit and read all day.

I probably juggle more things and wear more hats than someone working a single full time job. I'm not trying to get all compare-y or "my wound is bigger than yours" in saying that, just that you don't really know what anyone else is carrying in life. I'll never forget the time I was laughed at for having a planner because I was "just" a stay at home mom. Dudes, the amount of brain power I spend on keeping track of all the directions I need to go in is astronomical. This is why I'm mostly made of coffee.

So, I don't know, moral of the story is - let's maybe edit our responses to have a little less judgement, a little less envy, a little less fishing for validation.

Because the truth is, you might choose to spend it differently, but we all get the same 24 hours in a day.

Intentional 2020: Evening Routine (wk 2)

Ooookay....I think I'm getting paid back or punked for being willing to toot my own horn last week. Because, quite frankly.....I suck at the evening routine.

It's probably good that I didn't tackle this in week one because my momentum would be garbage trash.

I know why this week was harder. My willpower stores are low-low-low in the evenings. My brain is tired and just wants to fast forward to the in bed with a book part. And, evenings tend to be a lot more flexible and unpredictable. We get invited to dinners, Matt has to shuffle off to TKD class or he gets home late so dinner is late and then everything else is, too.

See, this is why I don't normally operate with time - it's just that with school-age kids, they need to be asleep at a decent hour, and I need to be asleep before it's too late or my morning routine won't happen. So I basically took the thing I suck at (sticking to timing and schedules), and jammed it into the part of my day when I have the least stamina. Cool cool cool.

OF COURSE I'm gonna blow it up.

Okay, to be fair - I was still intentional about it. In that I was aware and trying all along. I just didn't force each piece of my routine the way I should have.

I won't get into each of the nightly experiences, but I'll just say that starting with night one it was a disaster. It was the evening before my kids went back to school following their 16 day holiday break and they were putting off bedtime like it was a root canal. They wouldn't listen for shit, and went so far as to throw out a few grumpy, "I'm never going to bed!"s. Instead of flowing through the night with happy effort and self-care, I was stewing. So spicy.

It really didn't get much better. The following night our dinner plans fell through so everything ran late. The next night we had a goodbye dinner for my in-laws and didn't even get home until the kids' bedtime. Ugh. It was a mess.

Through it all, I was still good about cleaning up right after dinner. My sink has stayed shiny all week somehow, so...I guess there's that win. I still did my nightly yoga, I still kept up with my to do list and made time for reading until my eyes got sleepy. But I skipped the little things. I didn't put castor oil on my lashes most nights (did you know it makes them grow like those $$ lash serums?), I didn't do my crystal gratitude ritual. I FOR SURE wasn't asleep by 10:30. It was so easy to let the personally beneficial things go because they didn't make a clear difference to my sleep, my mood, my morning, the following day, etc. The things that didn't have obvious rewards got shaved away by my waning willpower. And, I dunno...maybe I should just let that be okay because I got the big things done - the things that made a difference to the flow of my days. But I kinda wanna subscribe to the good stuff too, ya know?

This battle isn't over, of course. I'm going to keep trying and adjusting as needed because I know that if I can just get my crap together, I'll be so happy with myself for doing all of this. So week 2: technically an overall success, but not a flawless one. A work in progress.

Next week is kind of a change-up. So far I've focused on the flow of my days and myself, and this week I'm looking a bit more outward. My oldest son turns 11 this week, so I decided to be intentional about him. I've got a list of ideas going...I'm pretty excited to make them happen and see how this effects both of us. I'm kind of obsessed with my kids, sooo getting intentional about one of them feels really invigorating and a great way to offset this week's lame-o effort. Onward!

Books I finished 2019 with.

Without a doubt, 2019 was my liveliest reading year to date.

Though more impressively (to me), I actually read a decent amount in December. I'm usually so wrapped up in the holidays that I forget to make time for it - despite the fact that I'm super attracted to Christmas themed books and I tend to collect them. Whoops.

I read six books to wrap up the 20-teens: three of them having holidayish vibes. All of them worthy of good ratings! Here's how I finished the decade...


Well, for starters, one of the books is missing from the stack because I already lent it to my mom. I picked it up as kind of a filler book, and ended up being super surprised by it. You know how YA can be ultra-cheesy, but if the writing is good and the tension is legit, you can overlook the cheese and just melt into the story? Yeah, it was that.


(source)
Whatever Life Throws At You follows Annie and her Dad as they relocate for his new job as a pitching coach in Kansas City. The gooey part comes in the form of her falling for the rookie pitcher and their forbidden relationship and it's so good.

The rest of the stack (in the order I read them):

A Man Called Ove
Emotional and at times intense, I saw the value in this book and particularly liked the last few chapters. But, overall, I didn't love the time I spent on it. It was shocking to me, I think, because Fredrik Backman is one of my favorite emotionally-driven authors, and I felt that Ove's grumpy and stilted temperament got in the way of that. Which means he did a great job as an author - letting his character be who he was. It just wasn't the reading experience I'd hoped for. I didn't love spending lots of time with Ove's negative, OCD nature...it made me feel anxious. Though of course, I loved his mushy heart and the family he ended up creating. It was good...just not what I thought it would be.

Snow In Love
This was a really fun and cute collection of short stories, and I loved reading it when I did because it came in smaller pieces which was perfect for reading over the busy week of Christmas. I liked all of the stories, but the one by Kasie West was the best one by far.

Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe
I've been really into the Pride and Prejudice vibe lately. In reading this, it was kind of natural to sort the characters into their namesakes, but it was at times disorienting to realize they weren't carbon copies. A good thing in the literary sense, in my opinion. It just made my following of the story a little distracted because I was so busy trying to reconcile the characters with their origination, if that makes sense. And man, Darcy was a touch immature for being so successful professionally. That part didn't align so well for me, nor did the terrible advice Darcy and Bingley gave each other regarding their relationships. I thought it was a good book to read at the time I read it, and I like the overall feeling of hanging with the familiar characters (not to mention all the Gilmore Girls mentions), but it was just a little off for me.

One Day In December
This book. THIS book.....was fabulous. I was hoooooked on this and adored every minute of reading it! How awesome to squeak in one more 5-star book before the year ended?? One day right before Christmas, Laurie falls in love at first sight with a guy she's never even spoken to. They locked eyes at a bus stop, but were separated before either of them made a move. She spent the next year searching high and low for him, with the help of her roommate and best friend, to no avail. After a year has gone by and the two friends are throwing their annual Christmas party, Laurie finds out that her friend's new boyfriend is bus guy!!! The book then follows this sticky situation through the next decade, and it's messy and juicy and tense and so-so good!

Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life
I don't know why, but certain books hang out on my "currently reading" shelf on GoodReads for a really long time. Sometimes it's because they're books I just pick up here and there when the mood strikes, but other times it's my unwillingness to just go ahead and DNF a book. I was SO TORN on this one, because while it had a lot of useful information that I enjoyed learning about, it also created some intense anxiousness for me! It was all about the practice of feng shui, and many of the "you absolutely cannot have this" conditions she mentioned were in my house without many options in the way of fixing them! So this sat half-read on my nightstand for most of the year until I decided to plow through it to get something off my relentless currently reading shelf. It left me with some new motivation, and if you can avoid getting caught up in some of the inevitable down falls, this book is extremely informative.

And that was a wrap on 2019! And all of the 20-teens (crazy).

Did you wrap up the year/decade with anything good? Let me know so I can jam them into my already-too-long 2020 list! ;)



This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click through or purchase a book through them, I may receive a teeny tiny commission! It's small, but it helps me keep my blogs running and I SO appreciate that! Thank you so much!

So yeah, that writing journey.

I haven't said much lately about my journey with writing, and I'm sure you're all dying to know what the deal is.

(All 2 of you that have evidently looked at my posts and I don't know who you are but Iloveyouandthankyouverymuch.)

So, to end the suspense, here's the deal.

I'm very much confused about my role in life right now. Midlife identity crisis or some shit. I had side gigs and hobbies, but for the last decade (2009-2019) my main role was Mom. Of course that hasn't changed - it's not like my kids are out voting and buying lottery tickets - but that phase of life was just so mothery. It was diapers and cups full of cheerios and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and getting kicked in the head while nursing.

And now it's just.......sitting in pickup lines and regretting saying yes to the PTA.

I love that I can hold full, comprehensible (and often humorous) conversations with my kids and like, get to KNOW them beyond what foods they absolutely will not eat and which toys they must have or face spontaneous combustion. I love that we have a history of traditions and a familiar flow to how our family operates and heaps and heaps of authentic love for each other.

But my job as Mom now is not so much 24hr caretaker as it is back corner support system. I feel like that person at the corner of a boxing...uh, pen? cage? (what the hell are those things) that squirts water on the dudes and rubs their shoulders when things get tough, but really just stays there in the corner waiting to be called on. My kids can wipe their own butts and pour their own cereal and put their own (poorly matched) outfits on. Which is GOOD! Obviously. But like, what should I be doing while I stand over here waiting in the corner?

I thought I had it pretty figured out, and don't get me wrong - writing is still just a natural function for me. It's a part of my daily (literally daily) life in one form or another, and I feel unsettled until I spend time on it. It feels......very intertwined with my dharma.

It's just that, I don't know...my projects and ideas all have these slow burns to them, and that's fine. Maybe perfect even? Because I get to set them down often to refocus on family and get through busy seasons. It just doesn't feel very purposeful that way. And I get lost in the needs of life.

When this school year started, I thought I'd have all this time and maybe I could actually follow through with plans and focus my efforts on something real, something for me - and it turns out that life is kind of a bitch. Five hours fly by incredibly (shockingly) fast, and kids get sick or forget things for school and suddenly my meticulously planned week of productivity and focus is all stirred up and backwards. And with that momentum all jackknifed, it's super hard to convince yourself that it's okay to jump back in where you are because you're 700% sure it's just going to get all messed up again.

So I'm left in this limbo-y place of not being needed enough and being needed too much.

Fun fact: I do not like transitions. I never have. I'm good on this side or that one and I'll deal with whatever is there, but I cannot stand floating somewhere in the middle. Like March. Frickin' March! One day it's Winter, the next it's Spring - GET IT TOGETHER!

I am in the March of motherhood and I hate its guts.

I'm left feeling like, well, as I said - I'm not completely clear on my role. And I'm torn all of the time. I want to be available to my kids, but I also want to know who the hell I am when they're adults. I want to be in their classrooms and their school communities and I also want my own job to do and my own community. It's just hard, man.

So specifically on the writing front? It's going. I guess. I haven't taken any more of the free writing courses I'd planned on, and I haven't read any of the books I've collected to study it further. But I do add to my projects whenever a life experience calls for it. (They're all non-fiction, and largely memoir-ish.)

AH, that just reminded me of something Lisa Brennan-Jobs said about her book, Small Fry.

"I think I just have always been a writer and I've always been observing and the book was a way to make sense of my own story in a profound way so that I could go and do other stories. I'd actually love to write other books and I was dearly hoping to find another subject before writing this book and I just could not."

I feel exactly this way about my largest project. But when the idea came to me, it was so OBVIOUS that I needed to do it. She went on to say...

"I think with a lot of artists there is this first big project that has to be in some way autobiographical. [...] Certainly with writers - novelists, nonfiction and fiction - who often make their first projects highly personal. Maybe because they have to like, Marie Kondo them before they move onto their next projects."

I think it must be, because nearly all of my ideas are tied up in my life experience and it's almost like the Universe keeps shoving them at me until I finish one of them and clear the pipes. I'm trying, but it's sloooow going. And I just haven't quite figured out this Mom-Work balance thing since I'm currently just re-balancing the Mom side of it.

Anyone else out there in the March of motherhood? Or have been there not-too-long ago? How did you work your passions into your life? Where did you find space for your dharma? How did you keep on track with your own personal goals when half of your identity was still tied up in children?

For now, my writing goals are to simply.......try. I'm going to attempt to schedule a writing day with Matt weekly (well, he works, I sit in the squashy chair in the corner of his office and write, but there's usually coffee involved). I'm going to find time to write when the mood strikes, which sounds lazy, but you'd be surprised how often it strikes. And I also believe in inspired action.

I don't know what else I'm going to file under "try," but I'll post more when I get somewhere.

Intentional 2020: Morning Routine (wk 1)

It's already Saturday again, somehow, and so concludes my first week of living intentionally. (Time makes no sense to me lately. Neither does Justin Bieber's Yummy song.)

If you recall (or don't, it's cool, but you probably should because it's in the title), my first week's focus was on keeping a morning routine. And I'm happy to say that, well.....I slayed. Could I have done any better? Nope, I don't think so. Toot toot. (That's the sound of my own horn.)

Okay, in all seriousness, I didn't just successfully keep a morning routine for 7 days, but I fell in love with it. 


I guess I need a couple more weeks to take it from adoration to habit, but I already sense that it's not going to be a problem. And I attribute this success to knowing myself and working within my nature. One of the most impactful personal development frameworks that I've ever taken on is Gretchen Rubin's Four Tendencies. (Go here to see what you are and what it means.) I've settled nicely into understanding that I am a Rebel that tips Questioner, and it basically means that no one (not even myself) can tell me what to do. It's so annoying.

But not impossible! If you know how to play games with yourself.

I'm tackling this entire year with that in mind, but when it came to my morning routine and YEARS of trial and error to see what works with me, I finally sussed out some elements that it needed to have.

1. No alarm to wake up to. 
Part of it is that I play too many snooze games, but it's also that I'm a yogi and I know that waking up harshly to a sudden blaring sound throws your root chakra out of line all day. I instead installed light bulbs in my room that allow me to use an app to schedule a slow wake up routine. It ever so gently makes my room brighter and naturally rouses my body. That, and my husband is an early riser and never lets me sleep too late. This is a luxury I know not everyone has, but it works for me. We are a good balance for each other.

2. Not too many elements to stick too.
If I over do it, it will feel too much like a chore and rebels hate hate hate chores. It helps if some of the tasks are non-negotiable necessities (like brushing my teeth).

3. It shouldn't take too much time.
I need something that I'm able to streamline into 10 minutes or less. You know how when you first start a job it takes you all day to complete your tasks but after you've been there for a while you consolidate it all into much less time? It's the same with this - it took some time to get in the groove at the start of the week but it's becoming natural to me and it takes me about 10 minutes now. If it takes more than that and I end up in a rush in the morning, I'll say "screw it, there's no time" and I won't stick to it.

4. No constraints on how much time each thing should take.
I can do a routine - as in, an ordered checklist of tasks. I CANNOT do a schedule. I've proven it time and time again. Don't box me into amounts of time...I'll blow it up.

5. Everything on the list has to have high value.
It's gotta make me feel good or inch me towards being ready for the day, or it's just in the way.

+     +     +     +     +
My routine has all of those elements, and it has been perfect for me.

I started on December 29th (because I'm a rebel and that's what felt good), and by the third day I said, "whoa, this is good." It's a simple routine, but it contains elements of preparing for the day ahead, basic hygiene, hydration, moving my body, dwelling in gratitude, and educating myself even while having to drudge through the monotonous tasks of life.

By the time I sit down with my coffee to use my gratitude journal and do some reading, I feel so GOOD. I'm not sure what element (or elements) of my routine get me to that place, or if it's really all of them in tandem, but I really do feel full-body amazing by that point.

I'm totally happy for you to try this routine and even save this image for your phone (it helps me stay on track when I'm extra sleepy), but here's a few notes for you on each of these things.

+ If you aren't familiar with sun salutations, YouTube them. Just make sure you do them in sets of 2 for balance. I was still fighting a cold when I started so I only did 2 on the first few days and it was still enough to wake up my body! Now I do about 6 of them, but it all depends on how I feel that day. Again, as long as I have a guideline and not a rule, I'm happy to work within it.

+ If you're like, "what the heck is a Sakred oil" - well, it's basically frequency infused MCT oil. You know how some people use that in their bulletproof coffee? That's my version. I get them from Sakred and I have all 3 vibrations. I pick the one that I feel I need the most that day, but I most often return to the Love one because I believe it's the highest frequency there is and I like to dwell there.

+ For the reading part - sometimes I only have time for 2 pages. Sometimes I can read for an hour. It all depends on when my body was done resting for the morning. I just make sure to make it something vibey and inspirational so that it leaves me with both good feelings and lessons to carry with me through the day. Lately it's been The Shift by Wayne Dyer and A Course in Miracles.

+     +     +     +     +
So the verdict? I don't want to stop this routine. Like ever. Which was kind of the point - to set up a good foundation to carry me through the rest of my intentional weeks. They (as in spiritual types, including Abraham Hicks) always say to feel good first, then do. Work from a place of high vibration to do the greatest good. This has for sure lent itself to a better overall flow of my days! I can't wait to add in next week's focus to really amp it up: my evening routine.




This post contains a few affiliate links, which means that if you click on or shop through them I may get an itty bitty commission. It's super-tiny, but it still makes me happy and helps me run my blogs! So THANK YOU! xo

20 for 2020

* * This post was originally created and formatted for www.enrychment.com & has been cross-posted. See the original post, here.

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Hey, new year.

I can't help but get caught up in the freshness of you. Last year I finally learned that it's cool to take it easy in Winter and follow my natural inclinations to hibernate. So I hesitate to over-commit myself or dive in too quickly. But I am looking forward to some....focus, newness, self-care.

So I made a list for 2020 - 20 things I'd love to knock out or get in the habit of this year.

I thought about elaborating on my choices, but nah. No one cares to read that. Maybe when I get around to crossing them off I'll share what the deal was. For now, I'm digging concise.


1. Finish subbing paperwork.
2. Pay off Nordstrom card before July.
3. Get current with podcasts.
4. Create a budget + overhaul my spending habits. (I did this in January and that was that.)
5. Read 25 books from my shelves. (32/25)
6. Plan + execute research for my writing project.
7. Convince my legs to be flexible.
8. Update kitchen, modern farmhouse style.
9. Get clear on blogging + commit.
10. Make a book club happen, damn it. (sort of - we had a good few months, lol)
11. Eat more slowly + mindfully.
12. Create a journaling habit - details TBD.
13. Sub enough times to pay off finger printing.
14. Get smart + proactive about groceries and meals (waste less food + money!)
15. Be more datey + romantic in honor of 16 years (and a leap date dateaversary) including weekly date nights.
16. Work on my culturization list at least once a week. (list here)
17. Find a lip color of some kind (any kind) that I feel comfortable in.
18. Pay off library fines + don’t let them build up past $5 all year.
19. Read + study A Course In Miracles.
20. Clean up immediately after dinner every night.

If you've got a 20 for 2020 list, let me know - I love to get inspired by others' ambition.

Happiest of New Years to you! xo

Intentional.

When did the "word of the year" thing start? Sometime in the last decade, I think. And over howevermany years that was, I'm sure thousands of people have already used the word Intentional as their word of the year. I would love to know how that went for them.

Because here I am, years late to the game, finally choosing it.

What were my words in the past? I'm honestly asking - I don't remember. Ha. They must have been good. (snort)

Okay, actually, after quickly looking back in my blog archives I see that two years ago my word was Up, and that's actually pretty darn good. It was about up-leveling and looking up at the beauty of the sky - I used the hashtag #lookup anytime I noticed a pretty skyscape or tree. It's just, I don't think I brought it through the whole year with me. And I definitely didn't use it like a mantra the way I should have. I wanted it to have a Michelle Obama, "When they go low, we go high" vibe.

I clearly failed at all the others, also, because I can't even recall them. I think this year's has some staying power, though.


As 2019 came to a close, the theme of intentionality kept coming up for me. I wanted to just sit and ruminate over the idea in my journal, and it was the topic of many-a-conversation between friends and Matt and all of the other suckers who will willingly sit and listen to the outpouring of my brain. (You guys are saints. SAINTS!)

It seemed to be the element that was lacking in all of my endeavors and efforts.

Where was my purpose?

I'd found it in some things, but in other things - mostly the mundane life things - it was no where to be found. Which is a bit sad, considering that is the meat of our lives. The projects and plans and jobs are the things we do when the life stuff is taken care of. The meals, the clothing, the bathing, the housework, the errands, the chauffeuring, the caring, the cleaning, the maintenance. We do those things to make the projects possible. But why do we (or, to be fair, I) look at them as annoying obstacles or exhausting responsibilities when they are the foundation to everything else we (I) do?

And what would life look like if I gave both the life "things" and the projects the same due diligence?

I said to my friend one day, "I wonder what my house would look like if I did nothing but focus on it for a week. From school drop off til my bedtime, if I efforted on nothing but cleaning and organizing for just ONE week, would my house finally have its shit together once and for all?"

It's an intriguing thought, because the daily "do what's absolutely necessary to get by and nothing more so I have time for all the other things, only to watch it be undone by all the other living beings I live with so I have to re-do it again tomorrow" routine is SOUL SUCKING. And if I just did everything I possibly could to streamline, minimalize, organize, scrub and dust and polish over the course of a week - would that back and forth dance of the vacuum lines being trampled and the empty sink being filled feel more manageable? And would it feel worth it if after that week I could set that effort down and move onto something else pressing or worthwhile?

Total energy flow vibes. It feels like stirring up the chi from week to week, using it to work for me and my life to actually get somewhere good & juicy.

And so my week-to-week idea was born.
I'm gonna intentionally live the hell out of 2020, 7 days at a time.

Okay SO, rules.

(These are for myself, and mostly arbitrary because I am a rebel and break even my own rules but this is January and those are the vibes so roll with me for a minute.)

1. Set a theme for each week to be completely intentional about from Sunday-Saturday.
2. Sunday is prep and plan day. I'll create a simple tracker and list of things to do that will allow me to live intentionally about that week's theme.
3. Set intentional reminders on my phone. If there's something that needs to remain on my mind, I'll make sure my phone is telling me to keep it there so I don't get distracted by shiny objects.
4. Take a week off every 3-6 weeks. This sounds counter-productive, but it's so that I don't burn myself out and to kindly allow myself space to breathe, focus on new habits, and review all that came before it. What would be the point if there was no space to feel the effects of my efforts?
5. Refer back to my 20 for 2020 list every 1st and 15th of the month to make sure I'm squeezing my over-reaching goals into my weekly efforts. This should be an easily triggered activity because we also get paid on those dates.

I'll be documenting it all here and there. (Here being this blog and there being my Instagram.) I don't want to set any rules around that, though, because I like to share when it feels vibrationally appropriate because I'm annoyingly spiritual like that.

So I know you're wondering, what's your theme this week?

Week one started on December 29th, because starting on a Sunday felt better to me than waiting for January 1st, and I chose to focus on keeping a morning routine. I really wanted to start with focusing on an evening routine, because I always find that working backwards sets the present up for success, but I had 2 very late nights right off the bat (one of them being NYE) and I knew I wouldn't be able to follow through.

SO I decided to work with my morning flow instead, and it was absolutely the right decision. It's been a vibe. And I'm so glad that I've been able to concentrate on it while we are all at home together on vacation without somewhere pressing to be in the morning hours. I've been able to really dig in and root into the process so that I can connect with it in a way that will keep it going beyond this first week of effort. I'll share more about it (including what my actual routine is) when I wrap up this first theme over the weekend.

If you're wondering why I went with a week for each of my intentions, it's because my interest attention span only lasts about that long. I'm a passion hummingbird, and all of my previous attempts to land and settle on one thing (or pretty flower) have failed because I haven't taken that into consideration. I love Gretchen Rubin's monthly themes in The Happiness Project, and I admire everyone that is able to stick to ONE thing for 52 weeks straight. I am just not that gal. I get bored. And not because I'm not willing to be mindful, but because I am rabidly curious about this life and I want to touch every inch of it. I don't want to settle into one little corner when there are so many others to explore! So with each new week, I'll set down an intention and pick up a new one. It's like buying new clothes and wearing them for the first time - exciting and fresh!

This little baby blog of mine doesn't have much of a following, but if you're around I'd love to hear your word of the year (or if Intentional has ever been yours and how it went). I wanna do this year on purpose. Hearing others' accounts of goal setting and maybe even success is some damn good energy to swim in when you're gearing up for a year of focused effort. Even if you have to take baby bites because you wanna hit every part of the buffet!

RECAPS

Week 1 - Morning Routine
Week 2 - Evening Routine
Week 3 - Luke
Week 4 - Wake Up at 5:30
Week 5 - Kids' Habits
Week 6 -

A Year In Books ('19 & '20)

* * This post was originally created and formatted for www.enrychment.com & has been cross-posted. See the original post, here.

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This is probably my favorite list to make all year. Christmas lists are fun and all, but book lists are my jam! And this is my longest one yet!

I had another record-breaking reading year (for me) and enjoyed so many good books this year. Every year I think, how will I top this year in books? And somehow I do. Not just in quantity, but quality, challenges, book groups and discount sites...allll the fun book stuff. I love it all!



Here's what I read this year....


1. What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey
2. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
3. The Crimes of Grindelwald Screenplay by JK Rowling
4. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
5. When by Daniel H Pink
6. When I Pray For You by Matthew Paul Turner
7. Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks
8. The Greatest Love Story Ever Told by Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman
9. Fame, Fate and the First Kiss by Kasie West
10. Shasta of the Wolves by Olaf Baker
11. The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
12. Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry
13. Outer Order Inner Calm by Gretchen Rubin
14. Hello, I love You by Katie M Stout
15. One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid
16. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
17. Only a Breath Apart by Katie McGarry
18. From Anxiety to Love by Corinne Zupko
19. Limelight by Amy Poeppel
20. Astrology Through a Psychics Eyes by Sylvia Browne
21. You Can Heal Your Life by Louise L Hay
22. Just Friends by Tiffany Pitcock
23. The Brain by David Eagleman
24. #famous by Jilly Gagnon
25. Life Will Be the Death of Me by Chelsea Handler
26. Whiskey In A Teacup by Reese Witherspoon
27. You Think It, I'll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld
28. Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett
29. The Spirit Almanac by Emma Loewe
30. Educated by Tara Westover
31. Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
32. Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid
33. The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen
34. If I'm Being Honest by Emily Wibberly
35. The Upside of Falling Down by Rebekah Crane
36. The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee
37. Hope and Other Punchlines by Julie Buxbaum
38. Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan
39. Poke the Box by Seth Godin
40. The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman
41. Wild Blue Wonder by Carlie Sorosiak
42. The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary
43. The Magic Path of Intuition by Florence Scovel Shinn
44. The Story of the Beauty and the Beast by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve
45. The UnHoneymooners by Christina Lauren
46. Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg
47. Maybe This Time by Kasie West
48. The Bride Test by Helen Hoang
49. Truly Madly Royally by Debbie Rigaud
50. All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover
51. Summer At Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan
52. Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey
53. Red White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
54. Poems Selected for Young People by Edna St. Vincent Millay
55. City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
56. Pumpkin Heads by Faith Erin Hicks
57. Pride and Prejudice (Great Illustrated Classics) by Jane Austen
58. A Simplified Life by Emily Ley
59. Whatever Life Throws At You by Julie Cross
60. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
61. Snow In Love by multiple authors
62. Pride, Prejudice and Mistletoe by Melissa de la Cruz
63. One Day In December by Josie Silver
64. Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life by Karen Rouch Carter

And if you like numbers, that list is made up of 37 novels, 16 nonfiction, 4 children's lit, 5 short stories (or anthology of short stories), 1 graphic novel, and 1 screenplay. Of those, only 2 were ebooks, and only 1 was an audiobook.


Favorite Reads of the Year
I made GoodReads shelves for all of my favorites from each year (you can see 2019's here), but the ones that REALLY stand out to me are Red, White and Royal Blue, The Flatshare, From Anxiety to Love, and The Unhoneymooners. One True Loves and Evidence of the Affair were also fantastic. I enjoyed many-many others! But those were the standouts, for sure.

Least Favorites
Just Friends was awful-awful. The worst of not only the year, but of many years. I also didn't like Fix Her Up or Truly, Madly Royally. Hot Dog Girl was super disappointing. And Where the Crawdads Sing was wildly overrated. Some of those books still got a decent rating out of me for a good ending, but I wouldn't re-read or recommend any of them.

Pleasant Surprise Pick(s)
I have to give it to two books: Whatever Life Throws At You (I thought it would be kind of a fluffy throw-away YA filler, but I was into it), and The Upside of Falling Down (which was a free Amazon Prime ebook that I didn't expect much from but absolutely loved!)

My Recommendations
Anything on my 2019 favs GoodReads shelf (you can't go wrong with any of those!) but I would say...for fiction go with Red, White & Royal Blue, The Flatshare, and Evidence of the Affair. For nonfiction, From Anxiety to Love & The Brain.


My Picks for 2020!


I say this every year, but my lists never end up being what I want them to be. That's totally okay...because I usually trade my choices for new releases, but I'm going to try really hard to only read from my shelves and wait in the super long lines at the library to hit my reading goals this year.

I broke them up into categories to help me pick and prioritize better, as well as meet some personal goals. Overall, I'd like to read a minimum of 50 books. I always try to leave space for wiggle room....but there's A LOT I'd like to make time for next year! (The books with an asterisk are books I own and are patiently waiting on my shelves!)


Personal Development/Spiritual
1. A Course In Miracles by Helen Schucman*
2. The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down by Haemin Sunim*
3. Atomic Habits by James Clear*
4. The Shift by Wayne W. Dyer*
5. Heal Your Family: Get Love and Life to Flow from Your Ancestors to You and Your Children by Magui Block*
6. Past Lives Future Healing by Sylvia Browne*
7. How to Uncover Your Past Lives by Ted Andrews*
8. Make Time by Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky
9. Raise Your Vibration: 111 Practices to Increase Your Spiritual Connection by Kyle Gray


Writing
10. Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg*
11. Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly by Gail Carson Levine*
12. A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative by Roger Von Oec*
13. Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury


Fiction
14. American Royals by Katharine McGee
15. Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
16. The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams
17. Virtually Yours by Sarvenaz Tash
18. The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker
19. Wild at Heart by K.A. Tucker
20. Say You Still Love Me by K.A. Tucker
21. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
22. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
23. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
24. A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas
25. All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood*
26. Anne + Henry by Dawn Ius*
27. The Boy Most Likely To by Huntley Fitzpatrick*
28. Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
29. The Last Time We Were Us by Leah Kohen*
30. Through to You by Lauren Barnholdt*
31. Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren
32. The Babysitters Coven by Kate Williams
33. You'd Be Mine by Erin Hahn
34. Moment of Truth by Kasie West
35. Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno*
36. Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia*
37. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman*
38. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman*
39. Sea Witch by Sarah Henning*
40. Crosstalk by Connie Willis*
41. The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw*
42. My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren*

Non-Fiction
43. The Book of the SubGenius by SubGenius Foundation, Ivan Stang
44. Millenneagram by Hannah Paasch
45. Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro

In addition to alllll of that, I want to read a few books from my Children's literature list, and possibly sneak in some classics, too. I also tried to leave space for some spontaneous choices (I'm famous for getting distracted by new releases). Ambitious, I know....there just isn't enough time for all the books I want to read!




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