Recent(ish) Romance Reads Worth Reading

As I was thinking of a book post to write for this week I was also, separately, thinking of books I'd recommend to my sister who I just newly discovered is on Goodreads.  Judging by the books she had logged and some others I know she's read, my mind went to romance books.  I was scanning through my list of what I read in 2022 and realized I had really picked up my romance reading.  I like to think I read fairly widely but sometimes it's just nice to dive into a good romance, a genre I can usually get through rather quickly.  And sometimes my brain likes not thinking so hard or reading about tough situations (I just finished Kindred and woah, that was a tough read at times).  I also knew I had been awhile since I did a romance list on the blog (nearly two years, here) and volia...today's post was conceived.

These are nearly all of the romance (or romance-esque...I know the romance genre is typically defined as books that have a Happily Ever After or HEA.  I'm not sure all of these qualify by that standard by all have pretty predominately romantic story lines.) I've given 4 or 5 stars to on Goodreads since I wrote that last post 21 months ago.  In no particular order...here we go!

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, links for which are included within this post, at no additional cost to you.  Thanks for helping support this blog!   Of course, utilize the library or shop used or from an independent bookstore if you prefer!

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
I, like many people, was introduced to Emily Henry via Beach Read in 2020.  I enjoyed that one so much that I bought this one before reading it.  I think Beach Read remains my favorite of hers but this was still a fun, travel based romance about two former best friends who would take a trip together every year.  Then there was a falling out and the book goes back and forth between the present day when they are taking one. last. trip. together and flashing back to their prior trips, leading up to the one where everything went wrong.

Very Sincerely Yours by Kerry Winfrey
This book is about a young toy store owner who crosses paths with a local Mr. Rogers, if Mr. Rogers was many decades younger (basically, the host of a public television show for children featuring puppets).  Then add romance.  It sounds less weird than you might expect.  The toy store owner seeks the advice of young/hot Mr. Rogers and this carries on for awhile.  SPARKS FLY. (You can assume that sparks fly in all of these books.)  Again, less weird that that description sounds. 

Float Plan by Trish Doller
I loved this story about a woman who takes a sailing trip solo that she was supposed to take with her fiance (I believe he died?).  Turns out, sailing in the Caribbean is HARD and she needs help.  That help comes in the form of a professional sailor who joins her and is also dealing with his own stuff.  Will I ever sail a boat solo through the Caribbean?  I mean, never say never but this feels like a pretty safe no.  However, I sure enjoyed reading about someone else doing it.

The Suite Spot by Trish Doller
The follow-up to Float Plan, featuring the sister of that one's protagonist.  She needs a job change and ends up on an island in Ohio (yes, Ohio has at least one island, this one in Lake Erie) at what she thought was another job managing a hotel but ends up to be developing a hotel with the prickly owner.  Can she handle the job and the owner? This one mentions Cedar Point multiple times which I was tickled by every time. 

How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
Katherine Center is going to feature heavily on this list because I really dove into her books in the past 6 months and I've enjoyed all of them (so much she just got her own post recently).  This one involves an ill fated plane flight, lots of rehab time, and a hot Scottish physical therapist.  Like all of her books, I flew through this one.

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center
I very specifically remember reading this, in a hotel room in San Antonio, all settled in near the mini kitchen while my kids slept and Matt was at his conference.  It was a delightful and quiet time.  This one has a disgraced firefighter (for standing up for herself again a former attacked) who transfers from Texas to Boston to care for her ailing mother and to escape the disgrace in Texas.  She's at the bottom of line at her new station in Boston, except for a rookie who turns out to be her competition for a job only one of them can keep.  Sparks fly.  If you guessed there is also real fire...you are correct.

The Beach Trap by Ali Brady
One of my sister-in-laws recommended this to me and I quite enjoyed it.  It's starts a reverse Parent Trap where two girls become BFFs at summer camp only to discover they are half-sisters they each didn't know existed.  They are no longer BFFs and have no contact until their father dies and jointly leaves them a beach house in desperate need of repair.  They have to find a way to fix it up and decide, together, what to do with it.  Good thing they know men who will work for free. 

Just Another Love Song by Kerry Winfrey
This one I ALSO read next to a hotel sink while my kids slept but this time my husband was doing wedding party things for his nephew's wedding.  I've really enjoyed all of Kerry Winfrey's books but this might be my favorite, about high school sweethearts from a small town who fell apart and then one them feels like she fell apart.  The other went on to become a successful musician who, a decade later, decides to settle back in their hometown.  They can't help running into each other.

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
This is the book that started my Katherine Center deep dive last year.  A woman bodyguard in Texas gets hired to be a bodyguard for a big name actor who is in town to help see his mother through cancer treatments.  He doesn't want his family to know there are threats against him so she poses as his girlfriend while also protecting him.  Turns out, there isn't a lot to protect him from on a big Texas ranch. 

Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
I loved this childhood sweetheart story about two young kids who meet at the lake.  She is only there in the summers.  He lives there year round.  For many years their friendship is just in the summers and then that friendship turns into something more before it all falls apart.  I am a sucker for a childhood sweetheart story.  Flew through this one.

Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan
This one was so much fun.  A woman is scorned my her (now) ex-husband and turns her pain into a screenplay (maybe a book first?).  They decide to film some of it at her actual house and then the very attractive actor playing her ex-husband in the movie needs a place to stay and ends up in her guest house.  It all is a bit less far fetched as I may have made it sound.  Delightful kids (hers) and just a really fun romance read. 

Something Wilder by Christina Lauren
I am always amazed when I remember exactly where I was when I read a book, in this case, our cabin in Maine.  I thought it was fitting I unintentionally brought a book largely set at a national park while we were visiting a (different) national park.  This one was a departure for these authors (two best friends who co-write under this pen name).  It involves the previously mentioned national park, a treasure hunt, bad people, guns, and romance.  It was a wild ride.  (Our national park trip involved very little of those things.)

Book Lovers by Emily Henry
There was a period last spring when it felt like EVERYONE was reading this book.  My sister even caught someone else in car line with it.  Emily Henry has become a must-buy for me but also it's fun to just buy a new book every year.  A literary agent takes a month away with her sister in a small North Carolina town only to keep bumping into a book editor she knows from the city.  And not a book editor she gets along with.  They both love books.  Will they love each other?!?!?!? 

Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman
A magazine writer is doing an article on a big name movie star.  Their interview is extended to include some actual hanging out and then they don't see each other for 10 years.  Movie star is doing another big press push and requests magazine writer to do a second piece on him.  Will they have to address what happened 10 years ago?? (Supposedly based on this GQ article written about Chris Evans in 2011.)  It was fun.

Lease on Love by Falon Ballard
A young woman is passed over for a well deserved promotion and ends up, after some alcohol, on the steps of a gorgeous brownstone.  She's much more interested in the real estate than in the man that comes with it.  He is grieving the death of his parents but offers her his spare room for cheap, which she needs since she left her job after not getting that promotion.  They are opposites but we all know opposites attract. 

There you have it!  Fifteen recent-ish romance books that I enjoyed!  If you are looking for an enjoyable read but a book you can't put down...one of them might be for you!

Things I Like - February 2023

I always enjoy hearing what works for other people and I like sharing things I like, it's part of the reason I have a blog.  I've been doing these monthly posts for 10 years and they also provide a nice little snapshot in my life at a moment in time! See more here!  Some affiliate links may be included!

 

1) Target Satchel Handbag
Did I just feature a different Target handbag in a similar color last month?  Yes.  I did.  Did I need another purse?  One could argue no, I don't (although I did recently get rid of one!).  However.  It's long been established that I am drawn to nearly everything in this shade of blue-green and want to buy it all.  So when Target gave me a $10 off $60 purchase, I bought this purse (as well as #2 and a third item that I thought I wanted but have since returned!).  In real life, this purse is darker than the picture above but still a beautiful color and it's just a perfect size.  Easily holds my wallet, keys, phone, lip balm, etc. but can also fit in some books for church and such.  I have other satchel purses that are a bit bigger (such as the green one here that I still own and use!  Actually still own & wear #1 on that list and just found #5 today!) and this one is just the perfect size for holding some extras but still being not huge.  And I am DELIGHTED that the two purses I rotate between right now (depending if I want hands free purse or not), are nearly perfect shades of teal.

2) Target small woven canister
This was the other item I had been sale stalking for awhile.  It's super cute and now holds a whole bunch of extra lip balm (why do we have so much??  I don't know.) sitting on our buffet.  I love sneaking hidden storage like that around the house (I also have a pineapple cookie jar in our front room that holds little lotions).  It brings some nice texture to the space and is something different from all the ceramic we have around.  There is also a larger size I like but I wish the blue went higher up like in the small one.  I haven't bought the bigger one (yet). 

3) Spirited
Yes, this is a Christmas movie.  In late February.  I forgot to mention it last month but I loved it so much that I don't want it to never be on here.  We had another free trial of Apple TV for upgrading our phones which, luckily, was over Christmas and I talked Matt into watching this on Christmas evening with me, after the boys were in bed.  I loved it so much I watched it again 5 days later when he went to his nephew's birthday party without me (We didn't have a sitter plus I dislike costume parties.)  It was a DELIGHT of a movie.  There was singing, dancing, a lovely moral, laughs.  I was very impressed with how much work they put into the dance numbers.  So many extras!  It really was a spectacle.  I bought the soundtrack and listened to it often until it was too far into January to be listening to Christmas music, even for me.  Just a delight of a movie.  (Matt didn't love it as much as me BUT he did laugh out loud, many times, when we watched it together.)

 

 4) Everything is Made out of Magic puzzle
This was another puzzle I asked for for Christmas and received.  I liked that it has a peacock and Sam liked the fox.  Enough different colors that it was fairly easy to do even at 1000 pieces.  I'll probably do it again this winter/spring before my puzzle table comes down in a few months.  I really have liked the couple I have from this brand!

5) Glass Onion
This was the movie Matt & I watched on New Years Eve and it was just a delight, in a very different way from Spirited.  Just a solid mystery movie where I certainly didn't figure out all of the twists ahead of time. I think it was better than Knives Out but it's been awhile since I saw that one.  Maybe it was just that the tropical setting seemed pretty nice in the dead of winter!

BONUS PICK
My sister alerted me earlier this week that my favorite boots from Target are now on clearance (although still more money than I paid when I bought them on Cyber Monday sale).  I bought a second pair.  I've done that a few times before, bought a backup of a favorite item for when the first wears out and I've never once regretted it.  I've only regretted the times I thought about doing this and then didn't.  I love these boots and I am already a bit sad about soon packing then away for the year (even though that means warmer weather).  

What have YOU been liking lately??

Book Love: Tranquility by Tuesday by Laura Vanderkam

Time is one of our most valuable resources and like nearly anything valuable, it's hard to use it well.  Same with money, it's nearly impossible to use every dollar well and nobody uses every minute of their life well.  It's just a fact.  

However, many of us would probably like to improve how we spend both of those things.  And at this stage in my life (after years of budgeting, and continuing to budget), I am more concerned with spending  my time well.  It's the most cliche parent thing to say but these years with my kids at home seem to be FLYING by.  I don't know how we've been parenting for nearly a decade and now we're well over half way to our oldest being an "adult".  IT'S CRAZY.

Laura Vanderkam has been my (to borrow a phrase from The Lazy Genius) time management guru for many years now, 8ish?  I read one of her books when Luke was little and then have read every one since and listen to her short daily podcast Mondays-Fridays.  We lead different lives, she has 3 more kids than me and works full time while I hardly work at all, but most of her philosophies and ideas work for me too.  I recently read her latest book Tranquility by Tuesday: 9 Ways to Calm the Chaos and Make Time for What Matters and I think it's my favorite of hers.

This is not a book of time management hacks like clean your whole kitchen while you have something in the microwave or scrub the shower while you are in it.  These are strategies for really making the most of your life.  None of us want to be frazeled and feel like life is just speeding by us and her strategies can help your life feel calmer and fuller.

I don't remember where I was first introduced to the idea that changing up routine and doing new things expands your memory but it was either Laura or Gretchen Rubin.  It's how the first day of vacation in a new place can feel SO LONG because your brain is experiencing all new things.  When we just go through nearly the same routine at home: take kids to school, clean the house, pick up kids, go through homework, sports, showers, to bed - day after day after day...things just start to blend together.  Your brain doesn't need to remember yesterday's school pick-up from one last week.  However, your first day at the beach rental is a novelty, even if it do it every year.  It's still something out of routine from normal and that makes so much more of it stand out when looking back.  It's easy to stick to routine (I LOVE a routine) but also will make your life feel fuller if you stretch and change a few things.

We can't go on vacation every week but we might be able to fit in some smaller adventures every week, which follows one of her 9 rules: one big adventure and one small adventure every week.  She defines "big adventure" as lasting about 4 hours or an afternoon and a "small adventure" as taking an hour or two, such as lunch with a friend.  We aren't perfect about this, at all, but it does make me think differently about our weeks.  I will FOR SURE count our dates as one of these (depending how long it lasts).  Even a long walk to look at fall foliage would count or an afternoon at the zoo, even if it's something you do fairly often in the summer.  Just getting out of the house and making some of those new memories for your brain.  

Adventures can cost money (but don't have to, leaf looking is generally free unless you're paying to enter a park) but some of her tips are much cheaper, starting with number 1: Have a bed time.  Who else tends to stay up too late in order to "get something done". **raises own hand**  Those post putting kids to bed hours are PRECIOUS and I often sacrifice sleep in order to "get things done".  It's a terrible habit which makes me tired and less focused the next day.  And when I'm tired I make worse choices in terms of food (more junk) and tend to stare at my phone longer.  Sleep is SO GOOD FOR HUMANS.  I even tell myself "your tomorrow self will thank you for being well rested" and it hasn't helped (much) yet.  But I do know that I make better choices about so many things when I am well rested. 

These are just two of the 9 strategies in Tranquility by Tuesday but all of them gave me something to think about.  I've been reading about time management for many years and I do think I've made strides in many ways here but there is ALWAYS room for improvement.  Especially as we are entering the sports years with our older son, life is certainly busier and I am on the lookout for ways to stay more tranquil (which is hard when you are eating supper at 8pm after double wrestling events).  Really, I should start with giving myself that bedtime and sticking to it but, even as I struggle with that one, there are others I can work on too.

If you are a busy parent looking to make more out of the years your kids are home or an empty nester or someone who doesn't even have kids, I think there is something we could all get out of this book on how to calm chaos and make life even a little more enjoyable and memorable.  Time is so precious and it's worthwhile trying to use it better!

 

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, links for which are included within this post, at no additional cost to you.  Thanks for helping support this blog!   Of course, utilize the library or shop used or from an independent bookstore if you prefer!

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Travel: Grand Haven, Michigan

 

It's February.  Which means it's high time I talked about our trip last....July.  I am always (rarely) very timely on these travel posts.  That's usually because they take some time to pull all the pictures, edit them, and then write out the many details of our trip.  I don't really have that excuse this time though because this was a super laid back trip where we didn't do much of note.  I just haven't gotten around to posting about it until now.  It was lovely and I look back on this week fondly!  I love a good "do nothing" trip!

Where:
We are BIG fans of the deluxe cabins at KOAs.  We stayed in one in Maine, earlier last summer.  As well as in Alabama in July 2021 and near Traverse City, Michigan, in June 2014.  Then we also did two other weekend stays at one of these cabins after this one in 2022.  We LOVE them and some day I will write a whole post about why.  The short explanation is that they are just perfect for our family at this stage.

I looked at a few different KOAs for this trip but we ended up in Allendale, Michigan which is just a few hours from our house.  It was also not too far from Lake Michigan and we were going one of the few weeks of the year that the lake could actually be tolerable to swim in.  They had cabins with a loft which our boys LOVE and a layout we hadn't had yet (and I think ended up being the favorite we've ever had).  There were enough activities at the campground to give us something to do on our lazier days but also not too much to do that we couldn't be lazy.  Just the right balance.  We stayed for 5 nights.

What we did:
Not a whole lot.  But, also, only had one day where we didn't leave camp at all which, in retrospect, we should have planned better.  

The boys swam every day of this trip, either in Lake Michigan or at the campground pool.  We took our bikes and did rides around the campground.  Matt & I each ran twice (also around the campground).  We did campfires and read (mostly me) and the boys watched really old Scooby Doo's on DVDs from the library.  We ate popcorn and marshmallows and played Farkle on the picnic table.

This was the first campground where we tried "gem mining" which we had seen at other campgrounds, most notably Jellystone, but it always seemed rather pricey.  However, this one seemed more affordable and since we weren't really paying to do much, we bought a bag for each of the boys.  It's a bag of sand and gems or shells that you dump into a screened tray and dip into a little stream (made for this) and then your dig out your treasures.  The boys LOVED this.  LOVED IT.  It was a solid hour of entertainment there and then we spent much more time back at our cabin going through their treasures.  We ended up buying them each another and then sharing yet another.  It was a perfect activity for our boys' ages.

  

 

We drove to Grand Haven one night specifically for the sunset over the lake.  That was about 30 minutes away and then we were not prepared for how busy that little town would be in July.  We got turned around and lucked out with street parking to watch the sunset for free.  It was all gorgeous and we ate pie on the Grand Haven pier before walking out to the lighthouse and back.  This was one of the highlights of the week for me!  It was just gorgeous.

The day after we went to the sunset, we went back Grand Haven to spend the day at the beach.  It was sunny and as perfect as weather as you could ask for in Michigan in the summer.  This was in the few month time that we had an inflatable paddle board (which has since been recalled, returned, and refunded).  Matt & I took turns taking it out to get selfies with the lighthouse we had walked out to the night before.  And then we took a full family ride out too (it was a big paddle board).  That was a delight.  Otherwise we swam and played frisbee when the crowd thinned out a bit and Luke tried snorkling.  It was a lovely beach day!

Another night we went into Holland to go out to eat (we ate at camp the rest of the time, other than a picnic we packed at the beach).  We unintentionally drove past the B&B where Matt & I had stayed for our 10th anniversary 6 years earlier!  We ended up waiting 45 minutes or something to eat outside but it was still a lovely evening for that!

That was pretty much it!  It was a "do nothing" trip with family bonding, sufficient sleep, and just getting away from our normal routines for a bit!  It was wonderful to try somewhere new with lodging we loved, not too far from home.  5 out of 5 stars, would definitely repeat this trip again, with just a little better planning on not driving 30 minutes away 3 of our 4 full days!

Author Love: Katherine Center

When I find an author I like, I tend to stick with them.  Part of the reason my TBR keeps ballooning is that I will try to read every new book by an author I have enjoyed in the past.  It means that I am never out of books I want to read but also means that my TBR seems to keep growing!  

Last year I started highlighting some of the authors whose books I've read all of or nearly all of (Sara Ackerman, Kristin Harmel, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Beatriz Williams, Elin Hilderbrand).  Those are all authors I will read their newest book of, often putting it on hold months in advance and then bumping it up the line once it comes in.  

Before 2021 I had read one Katherine Center book (What You Wish) and I enjoyed it.  I didn't think much about her back list, I have plenty of books to read!  But then she had a new one come out last year (The Bodyguard) and I really enjoyed that one too.  When we were getting ready to go to Texas last fall, I was looking for a book set in Texas and ended up with Things You Save in the Fire.  It barely takes place in Texas but I had had good luck with two other books by her so I put it on hold and took it (as well as 3 other books...and I actually finished 3 and was about halfway through the 4th when we got home!).  Well, that was an enjoyable reading experience so when I was trying to figure out what book to have Matt give me for Christmas and there were no newer releases I was super interested in...I went with a back list of Katherine Center's.  In January I was looking for a contemporary set book that didn't have a wait list at the library and I read another one.  And as I write this I have ANOTHER one sitting in my library book basket to read soon.

She's become a very reliable author for me in a rather short period of time!

What I like about her book is that they all have an intriguing romance story that will suck me right in.  I'm usually sold by page 20.  The characters are interesting and not just cliches or tropes.  The stories are always a little more complicated than the type of book that could be a Hallmark Christmas movie with a meet cute and small town problems before falling in love.  There just seems to be a bit more depth to Katherine Center's characters but written in a very relatable way.  Very easy to pick-up and just get lost in.  I've read 5 of her books now and they've all been chaste romances as well.  Plenty of romance but no details on what is going on.  

I put Things You Save in a Fire on my best of 2022 list but now I might be leaning back towards The Bodyguard being my favorite of hers I read last year?  I don't know, I really enjoyed them both.  Things You Save in the Fire was the very slightly Texas based one before moving to Boston (another place we had tagged along on a work trip with Matt).  A female firefighter who uses self-defense on stage on a man who assaulted her in the past.  Well, that doesn't go over well and she takes a leave from her Texas fire station to move to Boston and be near her mother (who I believe was named Diana) who is in ailing health.  Now she's the newbie at a fire station there and starting from the bottom even though she's very capable.  There is another rookie, a real rookie, as well, and they are pitting against each other when the station can only keep one.  Also, sparks fly.  It was fun and a bit complicated with family relationships.  I learned quite a bit about being a firefighter! (Excuse me for remembering next to zero character names.)

The Bodyguard is about a female bodyguard in Texas who is hired to take care of a famous male actor who is back in Texas to be with his mother while she undergoes cancer treatments.  Although he doesn't want his family to know that he needs a bodyguard so the have a fake relationship which might turn a bit real since they do spend a lot of time on his family's ranch where there aren't usually any threats.  Sparks fly!  Then something happens.  I forget what the thing was but it was intriguing!  

In How to Walk Away there is a plane crash and rehab and dire circumstances that probably don't happen in a Hallmark movie (I've never actually seen one).  Considering most of the story takes place in a hospital, there was still a lot going on.

What You Wish For is the first one I read and I don't remember a lot of the details but I know it takes place at a school and there was the dreamiest sounding library.  The library part really stands out but I'm sure there was romance too (I read a lot of books, I can't remember the details for them all!).  

Don't let my half done descriptions detract you.  I might not remember the details but I know I have enjoyed every one of my reading experiences of these.  Some really stand out (Things You Save in a Fire was largely read in a semi-dark hotel room, next to our tiny kitchen area, with a cup of tea I snuck down to the breakfast area to get while the boys were still sleeping) but they were all books I looked forward to picking up and breezed through them, enjoying the characters and the story.  

Katherine Center has become a very reliable author and one I'm always excited to pick up.  I can't really expect much more out of a story!

Have you read any of her books? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Looking Back at January 2023

 Happy February and the final weeks of winter (according to me and only me).  I am writing this though with the porch door open, it's 50° outside, and Matt WALKED to school pick-up, the first time either of us have done that since November.  However, I am fully expecting some more snow before March.  And probably in March too.

I just watched a story on Jenna Fischer's Instagram where she was talking about how she expected this new year to be less hectic than the Christmas season but that has not been the case.  I can completely relate to that.  We are deep into our first wrestling season with an intense 4 weeks ahead of us.  I am on FOUR committees at church/school (had 4 meetings for those in January).  One is wrapping up very soon for the year although maybe not soon enough for my sanity (there was a day this week I just texted Matt: "I am so stressed. I am so stressed.").  Life is BUSY but looking forward to about March when many things will settle down...other than birthdays and the parties that come with those and you know, general life.  There is value to our kids doing sports, just didn't realize the stress it would give me!

Anyways, life is good but full.  

Looking back:
1 year ago: Author Love: Sara Ackerman
2 years ago: Things I Like - January (I still wear #1 all the time)
3 years ago: Book Love: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
4 years ago: {18} Winter Picture Books (solid list, we've read or have on hold all of these for this winter too)
5 years ago: Book Love: The Power of Moments by Chip Heath and Dan Heath (I've actually thought about this book A LOT lately)
6 years ago: Basement Pantry - Organized
7 years ago: Book Love: Big Magic (and why I think you should blog)
8 years ago: A big project: Photography organizing (I still do this almost identical to what I outline here!)
9 years ago: Office renovations
10 years ago: Things I Like - January (I actually still have 4 of these!  I reference one below!)
 

1) Puzzling!  A lot of puzzling in January.  Happy to have my puzzle table back for now. (It is taken down in the summer and fall, no time!)
2) Family fun day before Luke went back to school after Christmas.  It's an adventure!
3) Checking out Electric Works downtown and even the bathrooms were nice and redone!
4) Electric Works food hall, this whole place was cool and it feels like Fort Wayne will be getting some recognition for this.
5) My annual Christmas break frozen coke.  Mmmmm.  I used to get one every week but now it's only a handful a year and I treasure each one.
6) The saddest part of Christmas - taking it all down.  This isn't even all the bottle brush trees I had just in our bedroom...
7) Scone and reading on a Friday.  It's delightful.
8) I hate taking down Christmas but I appreciated the simplcity of this view once it was done!
9) January date with Matt.  Delicious tacos that fed me for 2 days.
10) More puzzles with Waitress.  I watch this movie every January and this was my first time watching it since I saw the musical last spring!
11) A snow day with e-learning.  This was cup of tea number 2 for the day.  It was A DAY.
12) The snow just kept coming.  There was a lot of it. 
13) Headed out on a walk in the snow with the family.  My moon snow boots are ridiculous but I've had them 14 years or something and have never regretted that purchase.
14) Coming home from somewhere...I don't often see this view in heavy snow because I am trying to leave my house as little as possible...
15) Blue skies and snow!  I love when this happens.  Also because it helps clear up the streets.
16) I bought these plate hangers from my sister a year ago, at least.  Finally used them to hang the plate Luke colored me in kindergarten and the plate Matt colored his mom when he was in kindergarten.  And then also an Alamo plate our goddaughter gave us for Christmas.
 

Books finished: 14, a respectable start to the year!
Miles ran: 0.0  Too cold and snowy/icy!
Currently watching: I've started Valentine's episodes and am still trying to catch up with The Office Ladies podcast.  Matt & I are back to the Marvel tv shows on Disney+ after catching up with Star Wars.  She-Hulk isn't great.
Most read post this month: Still Stripping: Laundry Style and then {9} Things Saving Me This Winter
Luke's current favorite song: "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns n Roses.  This one is fully thanks to our Guitar Hero 3 for PS2 that we have in the basement that Luke really loves getting to play sometimes. 
Sam's current favorite song: "Bad Boys" as in, the theme from Cops.  A show he's definitely never seen.  But he's dancing to it next to me right now as I play the Youtube video.

February brings the end of winter, SO MUCH wrestling, and Valentine's Day!

Reading Recap - January 2023

Happy 2023 to my reading year!  Had a pretty good reading January, even if a few longer/harder books slowed me down a tiny bit.  Still, overall pretty happy with what I read.  Had a few snow days/2 hour delays where I got to read first thing in the morning with my hot tea while my kids were asleep which was wonderful.  Those are my favorite reading moments when they happen! (And very hygge I believe).

I'm very active on Goodreads here, somewhat active on Instagram here, and linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy on the 15th!    

How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
This was one of the books that I picked for Matt to give me for Christmas.  I read a couple Katherine Center books last year and have really enjoyed them so I'm working through her back list.  The protagionist here was in a plane accident even though she REALLY didn't like planes and didn't want to go on a this plane trip.  Most of the story follows her time in the hospital and the ways her life has completely changed in the meantime.  Also, romance.  It wasn't my favorite of hers but I enjoyed it.  3.5 Stars

The Good Girls of Shipwreck Lane by Kelly Harms
This was the other book I picked for Matt to buy me, since I have enjoyed this author in the past AND was sold on this taking place in Maine.  Two women with the same name from the same Midwest town (I think in Iowa) find out they have won the knock-off of HGTV's dream home which is in Maine.  One is obviously the actual winner, the other has a very close e-mail address.  They both end up at the house and some disagreements ensue but then it's about them settling into their new community, finding jobs, and settling in.  It moved a little slow but mostly enjoyed it. 3 Stars

The New Design Rules: How to Decorate and Renovate, from Start to Finish: An Interior Design Book by Emily Henderson
I have enjoyed many design books and this one had so many pretty pictures, maybe I think that because a lot of them featured blue things/wall/accents/furniture.  This was more the nitty gritty of how to design a house or do a big remodel, a bit more nitty gritty than I was looking for but I did appreciate all the pretty pictures. 3.5 Stars

Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen
This had some unreliable narrator, a plot device I do not always appreciate but did her.  One woman gets sucked into an old friend's counterfeit purse buying/selling scheme.  Interspersed with police interviews once they are found out.  Interesting, I don't know anything about the counterfeit purse business (nor do I own any).  Was under 300 pages but still seemed to drag a bit at times. 3 Stars

Feed These People: Slam-Dunk Recipes for Your Crew by Jen Hatmaker
I've read many of Jen Hatmaker's memoir-esque books and have heard her on podcasts here and there so even though I read a paper copy of this, I could "hear" her reading the whole thing to me.  She's a bit more irreverant and likes A LOT more spice and flavor than I do.  I think there was maybe 1-2 recipes in this whole book that I thought I might eat.  But I still enjoyed her very casual style and her storytelling.  3.5 Stars

On Gin Lane by Brooke Lea Foster
The cover of this looked like a Beatriz Williams novel to me and it was set in a time period that she frequents.  However, this was a lot slower than most of hers and sometimes I just got annoyed with the protagonist.  Felt like she should have been based on a real person going off some of the stories but I don't remember seeing anywhere that it was.  Rich people living somewhere near the beach near New York.  Hamptons or something.  It was ok. 2.75 Stars

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
This was our loose book club book for January.  Really, more of a buddy read with 2 of my sisters and my sister's BFF.  I did these about half a dozen times last year with those 2 sisters and I don't think there was ever once we were all reading the book at the same time.  And this book all 4 of us did overlap!  I had read it before, not too long after it came out, but had forgotten nearly all the details.  I liked it better this time!  (Also, when I was checking it out, one of our librarians told me her husband went to grad school with the author and she went to his wedding!  Random!) 4 Stars

Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center
Picked up another of her books when I had a little bit of extra reading time this month, I expect hers to be reliably readable and this one was too.  A woman who is a bit lost goes on a three week backpacking trip through the woods with mostly strangers.  Her brother's BFF who apparently has had a crush on her forever is there too.  THINGS HAPPEN.  I will be doing a 3 week backpacking trip.  I like toilet paper too much.  3.5 Stars

Spare by Prince Harry
Oh man, this one.  I finished it a week ago and I feel like I am still processing all that happened in it.  It was A LOT.  400 pages and well told (he had a ghostwriter who did a great job).  The first section was about losing his mother which was tragic and terrible and he tells of the unresolved grief he dealt with for years due to that.  It was the most sympathy I felt for him during the book.  His life would have been so different if his mother had lived and provided that staple force in his life.  He said (paraphrased) that "Pa (Prince Charles) wasn't ready to be a parent and really wasn't ready to be a single parent".  It seems the boys were bounced around a lot between Princess Diana's death and their being on their own (although Harry writes of still living with Charles when he met Meghan).  Anyways, then a section about being in the Army and then the last about meeting Meghan.  The last 4 years was condensed into about 60 pages which was A LOT.  It felt a bit rushed and it seemed to me to be where he really went after his family.  We won't really ever know what went down in those discussions.  I'm glad I read it.  It made me have both more and less sympathy for his story.  I still don't know completely how I feel about him now.  4 Stars

When We Had Wings by Ariel Lawhon, Kristina McMorris, and Susan Meissner
This book took me forever to get through.  Part of that was because I was reading Spare during the day and just picking this up for 10-15 minutes at a time before bed.  My reading on it was very scattered and then after 5 days I just wanted to get it done and read the last half in one day.  The story of the first female prisoners of war during WWII.  Nurses in the Philippines (where my Grandpa was stationed!).  Interesting but my disjointed reading didn't help.  Took me a while to tell the nurses apart but then I did appreciate hearing their story.  Based on real women.  3 Stars

My Hygge Home by Meik Wiking
A quick read about making your home more "Hygge" - cozy, welcoming, and homey.  It made me want to have a reading nook and more days I could just curl up away from the cold and read and do puzzles and drink hot tea.  But, alas, school and children.  It was a nice light read after some heavier ones! 3.75 Stars

Read with Luke and/or Sam
How Winston Came Home for Christmas by Alex T. Smith
We've read How Winston Saved Christmas by the same author I believe the last 3 Decembers.  A new one came out in 2022 but we couldn't get it until Christmas break...so we read 3-4 "chapters (25 of them, one to read each day in December leading up to Christmas) a night to get it done before it was too far into January.  It was fun to read more of Winston's story and boys like it.  3.5 Stars

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling, illustrated by Jim Kay
I had long planned to start reading these with Luke on his 9 ¾ birthday which is what we did!  I bought the illustrated Starsversion over a year ago just to wait for that moment.  I have read the whole series 6ish times through (although, not all 7 every time because they weren't all out when I started reading them) and it was a DELIGHT to share them with Luke.  He LOVED it and was completely into the story.  We just finished last week and he was immediately asking when we'd start book 2.  Less happens in this book than I remembered?  But we were also only reading a chapter, or even half a chapter, at a time.  You all, a full chapter could take 30 minutes to read.  That's a lot on a school night!  But I LOVED sharing this with him. 4.5 Stars

What have YOU been reading lately?

{9} Things Saving My Winter - 2023 version

Apparently today, February 2nd, is the half way point between the winter and spring solstices.  I.E. one definition of what is "winter".  I personally prefer what I believe is the meteorologic definition which is December - February is winter even though that doesn't match what it says on the calendar and the tricks eggs can do on the first day of spring (??).  (I've never tried those tricks.) I FIRMLY believe spring starts on March 1st and I plan my week so that I can switch out the house from winter to spring that day.  That is the day I am officially over winter.  Even as I accept that there will probably still be snow in my life for awhile.  

However, early February could be about when I am getting tired of the cold and wet and mud and cloudy days.  And I am always for thinking of things that are making life easier or better or just the good.  Remembering life isn't always cloudy days with wet snow really can help change a mood (mainly, mine).  

Modern Mrs. Darcy has done a link-up on this day for many years of things saving us this winter.  Here is my list of things saving me these last 27 days of winter.  Spring is coming.  It's coming.  

1) My comfy boots
These were something of an impulse purchase over Thanksgiving weekend and now, 2 months later, I still get excited every time I get to put them on.  They are comfortable, so comfortable that I forget to switch back to my slippers when we get home.  My wardrobe became MUCH more casual during lockdowns and these work wonderfully with the sweatshirts I now wear almost daily.  They are my favorite clothing purchase since my beloved sweatshirt over the summer.  (Which, ok, wasn't that long ago.)  (Limited sizes of those on clearance...if they had my size in stock I would be very tempted to have another of hand for when these wear out.)

photo by Sam, hence the finger

2) Crewneck Sweatshirts
I think I am up to 5 that I own and when I pulled out the one I always wear for our lazy Sundays at home, I realized it was at the bottom of my stack, meaning I had worn ALL the others at some time in the previous week.  I used to wear sweaters all the time but now that's mostly things like church or work and I wear sweatshirts the rest of the time.  They are comfy and warm and I like all the ones I have.  I'm wearing them all every week!  (I have this one from Kohls which I have no problems wearing inside all winter.  And Matt got me this one from Merrell for Christmas.

3) Working with my sister
Not literally working together, we're not getting paid, but when I was asked to join the dinner-auction committee at school to run the social media...I immediately suggested my sister would be better at that.  And then we decided to do it together.  It has been quite a bit more time than I think either of us expected and more than once I've told Matt that the project was pushing my sanity BUT...I definitely would be much more stressed and frustrated if not for working with my sister.  I haven't done many projects with my sisters as an adult and it has been so much more fun to job share this one.  The number of times I have laughed non-stop is much more with her than without. (And it always has to do with us replying to ourselves from the auction account to our personal accounts...it makes me laugh so hard, every. single. time.)

4) Tea
I don't know where my tea drinking really came from but now I am a dedicated tea drinker; I have a mug of tea nearly every single day, summer - winter.  Sometimes caffeinated (usually) but not always.  I delight in the habit of it, anticipating it and then wrapping my cold hands around the hot mug.  Occasionally burning my tongue.  My favorite way to drink tea is while reading but that's not a feat I can accomplish often, given kids and school schedules.  Although last week when we had 2 e-learning days (the bane of my existance) followed by a 2 hour delay...I had 3 blissful mornings in a row where I got to drink tea and read, a total of 4 hours or something.  It was wonderful.  And, besides vacations, I do make myself drink 24 ounces of water before my tea which means that often by 9am I've consumed 40 ounces of liquid which, yes, means I use the bathroom often.

5) Puzzles
This saves me every. single. winter.  I love doing puzzles and am on the second winter in a row I've had a puzzle table set-up in my office.  I do puzzles during family movie nights and when watching things with Matt (it's either I do a puzzle or I fall asleep).  Even though I do many, many, of the same ones year after year, I LOVE it.  It's so satisfying to find a piece that fits on the harder ones and just a lovely way to spend some time.  Although sometimes it does cut into my reading time in the evenings.

6) Reading
How did it get me so long to get to this???  I don't know.  These last 3 things are always saving my winter - puzzles, tea, and reading.  Although I do 2/3 of those year round.  I love kicking off a new reading year and finding books to read and enjoying a good book.  Reading saves my sanity day after day.  I know there are days I will feel much better if I just take 20 minutes to read.  It really can reset my brain and make moving through the rest of the day much easier.

7) Getting rid of things
I am on a quest to get rid of 1000 items from my home this year and I have a very active text thread going with 2 of my sisters to keep each other accountable (and they are both currently beating me in how fast they are getting rid of things).  I ALWAYS want to have less in my house and that got re-ignited last fall with joining a buy-nothing group for my neighborhood.  I love being able to pass off things to people who can use them!  I lament that I did so much of it last year when I wasn't counting...I could use those items added to my list now...yet...I always appreciate more open space in cupboard, cabinets, drawers, closets, etc.  Trying to get through more parts of the house as time allows!

8) Winning at Memory
Our Saint memories are still in very high rotation around here and every time I win I feel a little better about my sanity.  I only beat Sam about 25% of the time but I really try!  And may also depend on my recent sleep and/or caffeine consumption.  We've spent countless hours playing saint memory and it's been so fun.  Even when I lose.  (We have all 4 Saint sets and the Christmas set too, although that is packed away for now.)

 

9) Dark Chocolate butter cookies
I first posted about these on the blog in February 2020, ahhhhhh...the innocence of that time.  I still love them, 3 years later.  Most days I eat ONE after my lunch.  They are the perfect blend of cookie and chocolate and I still thoroughly enjoy every single one of the hundreds I've had in the past 3 years.  A box is about $3 at my Aldi and I nearly always have a small stash (2 boxes right now) in the basement.

What's saving YOUR winter?  You are allowed to say the same things every year!

Winter 2022 List
Winter 2021 List

Winter 2020 List
Winter 2019 List
Winter 2018 List
Winter 2017 List