The most sophisticated people I know -- inside they're all children. We never really lost a certain sense we had when we were kids. -- Jim Henson
I've been reminded of this during the summer with the boys. Such a good thing to keep in mind.
Music Monday -- Favorite Covers V
While sifting through all our music, I came across a ton of songs (over 1000) that I wanted to add to my 101 Favorite Songs list. I had to narrow it down. As part of my narrowing, I decide to delete all covers from the list. But those are some great songs, ones I really love. So, I decided to give them their own series on Music Monday. If you like covers, stay tuned for some good ones. Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV.
Sixpence None the Richer "Don't Dream It's Over"
Original -- Crowded House
Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theater Orchestra "Polly"
Original -- Nirvana
Michael Buble "Fever"
Original -- Peggy Lee
Letters to Cleo "Cruel to be Kind"
Original -- Nick Lowe
Jack Johnson "Imagine"
Original -- John Lennon
High Summer Readathon -- Finish Line
Goals:
- Finish A Storm of Swords √
- Start and possibly finish another book √
Page Total: 588 (A Storm of Swords) + 308 (The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor) + 38 (The Bleeding Dusk) = 924 pages
Woohoo! Look at all the progress I made this week. I really didn't think that I would get much reading done this week, but I exceeded all my expectations. I finished my giant novel, start and finished another novel, and started a third. Lots of good focus on reading this week.
Day Zero Project Update: Week 91-97
Instead of daily posts, I thought it would be a lot easier for me and you if I did weekly update posts. These will track my progress each week. I will highlight what I’ve done, what I want to do, and any interesting tidbits. Sometimes I’ll add pictures and/or links. Hopefully these posts will keep me accountable to me list…
What I Did
5. Make a playlist of my favorite 101 songs (74/101)
24. Keep a journal for this project
27. Make a list of 101 inspirational quotes (95/101)
32. Finish 30 reading challenges (28/30) -- I finally finished my first of the 2013 reading challenges. I finished my library loan challenge of reading 24 books. Now I need to focus on some of other challenges I've fallen behind on.
37. Pass 250,000 pages read for my 1,000,000 pages challenge -- another 2996 pages to add to the totals (138,710/250,000)
60. Try 30 new recipes (27/30)
- Pulled Pork -- A good basic recipe, but next time I really need to kick it up a bit. We definitely would prefer it more spicy.
- Lasagna -- I tried a low calorie version that was pretty decent.
Overall Progress
29/101
The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga
Title: The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor (Walking Dead Series #1)
Author: Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonansinga
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books 2011
Genre: Zombie
Pages: 308
Rating: 3/5 stars
Reading Challenges: T4MC - J First Name; Zombie; 52 Books - W3; Bingo - 5 from TBR
How I Got It: Library Loan
In the Walking Dead universe, there is no greater villain than The Governor. The despot who runs the walled-off town of Woodbury, he has his own sick sense of justice: whether it’s forcing prisoners to battle zombies in an arena for the townspeople’s amusement, or chopping off the appendages of those who cross him. The Governor was voted “Villain of the Year” by Wizard magazine the year he debuted, and his story arc was the most controversial in the history of the Walking Dead comic book series. Now, for the first time, fans of The Walking Dead will discover how The Governor became the man he is, and what drove him to such extremes.
I picked this up at the library largely due to the fact that I love the comic series. But this book just didn't really do it for me. It was too brutal, too full of villains, too much. I just couldn't get past my utter revulsion at Philip, Brian, and Nick. The only one I could feel for was Penny, but we all know how she ends up. I thought this would be an interesting side story to the comic series, but turns out I really didn't want to know how The Governor became The Governor.
Walking Dead Series
- Rise of the Governor
- Just Another Day at the Office
- The Road to Woodbury
- The Fall of the Governor
High Summer Readathon Update #4
Reading Progress: 238 of The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor
I finished A Storm of Swords yesterday and felt the need for something a bit less heavy (topic and size), so I picked up my last remaining library book. I love me some zombie books. I dove in today and have almost finished the book. It's a quick read. I'm sure I will finish it by tomorrow night.
High Summer Readathon Update #3
Reading Progress: 287 pages of A Storm of Swords
I finally finished A Storm of Swords. So excited about the book today and my overall progress this readathon. I've read close to 600 pages all while working, taking care of the boys, and doing the usual household stuff. Tomorrow I hope to start my next book, but we'll see how the day goes.
A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
Title: A Storm of Swords (Song of Fire and Ice #3)
Author: George R.R. Martin
Publisher: Bantam Books 2000
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Pages: 1177
Rating: 5/5 stars
Reading Challenges: T4MC - Animal on Cover (I have the version with a dragon on the cover); Genre - Fantasy; Mount TBR; Bingo -- 2 from everyone but me; NPR Scifi and Fantasy (Perpetual)
How I Got It: I own it
Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the wars rage as violently as ever, as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey, of House Lannister, sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the land of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, the victim of the jealous sorceress who holds him in her evil thrall. But young Robb, of House Stark, still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Robb plots against his despised Lannister enemies, even as they hold his sister hostage at King’s Landing, the seat of the Iron Throne. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenerys, mistress of the only three dragons still left in the world. . . .
But as opposing forces maneuver for the final titanic showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings arrives from the outermost line of civilization. In their vanguard is a horde of mythical Others—a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable. As the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords.
I'll admit, this one started off a bit slow. Mostly because I thought I knew what was going on... but after about 150 pages, I was totally engrossed in the novel. I couldn't wait until I had time to read more about the inhabitants of Westeros (and other realms). That's not to say that there weren't times I wanted to throw the book across the room. Martin has killed even more characters in this volume, and many of those dead I really liked. The cast of characters from the beginning of the series had dwindled to but a few. We meet lots of new characters, some good, some bad... We also catch up with some thought lost at the end of the last book. I finished this volume in a flurry of reading this afternoon and can't even imagine where Martin will take us next, but I'll be sure to go with him.
A Song of Fire and Ice:
- A Game of Thrones
- A Clash of Kings
- A Storm of Swords
- A Feast for Crows
- A Dance with Dragons
- The Winds of Winter
FF #23: The Rainbow: Blue
I love the color blue, every shade of it. I went into creating this outfit, but thinking I wanted to mix patterns and shades of blue. I'm really happy with how this came out. I would actually wear this outfit in a heartbeat. It's just gorgeous. And if I actually had a ton of extra money, I would snap up that Tory Burch bag (love her stuff!).
$49 - oasis-stores.com
zara.com
allsaints.com
jcrew.com
toryburch.com
$7.72 - dorothyperkins.com
The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
Title: The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus #3)
Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Disney Hyperion 2012
Genre: Children's Fantasy
Pages: 604
Rating: 5/5 stars
Reading Challenges: YA/MG Fantasy; Seriously Series; 52 Books - W30; Bingo - 2 from everyone but me
How I Got It: iPad read
In The Son of Neptune, Percy, Hazel, and Frank met in Camp Jupiter, the Roman equivalent of Camp Halfblood, and traveled to the land beyond the gods to complete a dangerous quest. The third book in the Heroes of Olympus series will unite them with Jason, Piper, and Leo. But they number only six--who will complete the Prophecy of Seven? The Greek and Roman demigods will have to cooperate in order to defeat the giants released by the Earth Mother, Gaea. Then they will have to sail together to the ancient land to find the Doors of Death. What exactly are the Doors of Death? Much of the prophecy remains a mystery. . . . With old friends and new friends joining forces, a marvelous ship, fearsome foes, and an exotic setting, The Mark of Athena promises to be another unforgettable adventure by master storyteller Rick Riordan.
The boys and I started reading this before bed at the beginning of the summer. And we just finished... Can I tell you how much I love Rick Riordan's writing? Each one of these books are ones that everyone in the family enjoys. I don't feel like I'm reading a children's book. I'm reading a well crafted adventure story full of great characters and death defying action and even a few introspective moments. The boys and I get a kick out of guessing which mythological creature or god will pop up next. We gasp along with the cliffhangers. We get excited when the heroes succeed. We've all fallen in love with his characters. As soon as we finished this one, the boys were asking when the next one will be published (October 2013 if you care). You best believe I will be buying that as soon as it's released. The hard part will be to not read it before I'm with the boys.
Heroes of Olympus:
- #1 The Lost Hero
- #2 The Son of Neptune
- #3 The Mark of Athena
- #4 The House of Hades
- #5 The Blood of Olympus
Quote Wednesday -- Oz
Whenever characters become self-important or sentimental in The Muppets, then there's always another character there to blow them up immediately. -- Frank Oz
I love Oz's take of identity. Be careful... if you get too self-important or sentimental, there may be a Muppet around the corner waiting to blow you up.
High Summer Readathon Update #2
Reading Progress: 221 pages of A Storm of Swords
I was a reading fool today! 221 pages in one day is crazy for me, especially attempting to take care of the boys (feeding, conversing, laundry). I am getting close to the end (about 250 pages to go) and Martin is absolutely killing me. In that, Martin is killing all the people I like.
High Summer Readathon Update #1
Reading Progress: 80 pages of A Storm of Swords
I jumped back into A Storm of Swords. I am determined to finisht his book over the course of this week. I started this readathon already having read 589 pages read (mass market paperback). That means that I only have 588 pages to read (not counting today's page count). I think I can do it, I think I can do it...
Music Monday -- 101 Faves Love Songs Edition
As part of my ongoing Day Zero Project, I've made a list of my favorite 101 songs of all time. To help cut down on the possibilities, I took songs only from my iTunes account. Each edition will include ~5 songs with a theme. Enjoy!
Joshua Radin feat. Schuyler Fisk "Paperweight" -- First encountered this song on the Last Kiss soundtrack. Fell in love with Joshua Radin right then. His music is just gorgeous.
Relient K "Be My Escape" -- A slightly odd choice, but I really love the lyrics to this song. Relient K was on heavy rotation in my classroom a few years ago. I always had requests and even got some students singing along. Regular and acoustic versions for your enjoyment (I think I like the acoustic version better...).
Dido "Here with Me" -- One of my absolute favorites. I adore this song so much. Every time I listen, I return to the late 1990s and it makes me feel happy.
Tyler Hilton "I Believe in You" -- A fairly new discovery. Nevertheless, I love Hilton's voice. A couple of different versions for you to enjoy.
Josh Kelley "Two Cups of Coffee" -- The only way to listen to this song is the acoustic version. I saw Josh Kelley sometime around 2005? and he debuted this song as an acoustic version. I immediately fell in love with it. I had to include an acoustic version for you.
High Summer Readathon -- Starting Line
Usually for readathons, I have a huge TBR pile and list of goals. Unfortunately, my life is so busy right now that expecting a huge amount of books read this coming week is just crazy. Therefore, I am scaling back my goals to something much more realistic. I still want to focus on reading this week and want to accomplish something.
Goals:
- Finish A Storm of Swords
- Start and possibly finish another book
Sunday Sunset #25
Book finished: Rises the Night
Reading: A Storm of Swords; The Mark of Athena (with the boys)
On the Nightstand: Gun, Germs, and Steel; And the Mountains Echoed; Rise of the Governor
Making Lists: School supplies. I love this time of year. I love shopping for school supplies. Unfortunately, attempting to get the boys' supplies back to Indiana takes some planning. I finally broke down and ordered a ton of the heavy stuff (paper, tissues, wipes, etc) from Walmart because they had free shipping over $45. And I definitely spent more than $45 on those things, mainly because the school was asking for 2 reams of copy paper per student. It was cheaper to buy a box of 5 reams and ship it than shop around and then attempt to ship to there separately. I didn't add the little things (pencils, index cards, etc) because the prices were so high. I'm waiting for Target to have their big sale and then the boys can transport it all back in their new backpacks I already bought (last week's sale at Target). Even with all the hassle, this year should be easier and cheaper than last year.
On the Job: Super duper big changes this week. I am still reeling from the news. Basically I am now head of my side of the project... and I'm really scared about what that means. I don't feel confident enough with where the project is going or what's happening on the other side to make the big decisions. Plus, I won't be in office next week as it's the boys' second to last week here. I'll be working from home without any real supervision or direction. I'm planning on just doing what I was doing and figuring it out in the next few weeks, but wow! I did not see all this coming.
Crafting: No actual crafting, but I did buy some supplies and organize my stash. I was looking for cute baby themed accessories, but overall I'm always disappointed. I finally found some stickers and basic sentiment stamps that I'm okay with. I plan on making thank you and arrival cards for baby Arthur. I want to get started on the design now so I just have to fill in the details and written notes when the time comes. A group of crafting friends are all going in on a table at a local crafting resale. None of us have enough for a whole table, but put it all together and we could potentially make a but of money while getting rid of tired supplies. I spent two hours today organizing my stash and weeding out the sale stuff. About half a smaller tote bin full of sale items. Now I just need to figure out prices and get tages. Thanks Pam for putting the idea together! This coming week I'm looking forward to doing some actual crafting. At least I need to finish my stamp club homeword for Thursday. I also want to finish the embellishments on my scrapbook pages from last year. Ultimate goal: to completely up to date by the time Arthur arrives.
Watching: Nothing much, but we did introduce the boys to Back to the Future. Now they want to watch the sequels...
Pregnancy Update: Feeling uncomfortable on a daily basis. That's normal, right? I get out of breath easily. I have a bit of indigestion. Most of shoes don't fit on my sollen feet. And I have a very active baby. He loves to kick and roll right after I eat and apparently when we play Rock Band. All normal pregnancy issues (except maybe the Rock Band part). Getting a bit impatient with how slow time seems to be moving with this one. I want to be done with this pregnancy now.
Shopping Scores: School supplies and some baby clothes. Nothing too exciting...
FF #22: The Rainbow: Green
This outfit feels very retro to me like something out of the late 1950s or early 60s. I love the simple lines on the dress paired with the pop of accessories. Overall, green in another color I tend to stay away from. Not really sure why as it's gorgeous. Maybe I'll look for green pieces next time I'm out shopping. Side note: After notating a few weeks ago that I don't wear orange, I ordered more maternity shirts from Old Navy (they were having a sale). Out of the five shirts I bought, four are orange or coral. Guess I'm embracing the color!
stylebop.com
Diane Von Furstenberg high-heel shoes
couture.zappos.com
tillys.com
$15 - rarelondon.com
saksfifthavenue.com
15 Day Book Blogger Challenge: Day 12
Continuing the meme, here's Day 12...
Day 12: How do you fight blogger fatigue?
I tend to blog in spurts, so sometimes I get a bit of blogger fatigue. It happens to us all. But, I always try and make myself relax and take a bit of a break if I need to. I would think that anyone who actually reads my blog would understand if I need to take a small break. And sometimes I keep blogging, but scale back on memes and weekly routine posts. I try and focus on personal posts and book reviews. All of this helps me get my blogging energy back.
Quote Wednesday -- Shelley
My imagination, unbidden, possessed and guided me. -- Mary Shelley
I want to live one day by my imagination. It sounds so freeing...
15 Day Book Blogger Challenge: Day 10
Continuing the meme, here's Day 10...
Day 10: How do you choose what book to read next?
Every December I start to lay out my next year's reads. I find reading challenges that look interesting, or just pull from previous challenges. I make lists of potential books for those challenges out of my overflowing TBR stacks. I might also throw in a few new releases I know I want to read. Once I have my master list fairly complete, it goes into the new year's reading challenge page on my blog. I also keep a paper spreadsheet in my reading folder. This is my master list of books to read during the year.
Then, I try to break my master list down into monthly lists. I usually try and space out my genres throughout the year. Sometimes I have reading challenges that are month specific (like this year's Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge). Usually I just try and divide my reads across the month. Once I get these monthly lists set, I then grab January's stack and put it into my ottoman in the living room. These are my go to reads. The upcoming months are taken from the boxes and put into my short bookcase.
When I need a new read, I dig into the ottoman and find something that strikes my fancy. On the crazy off chance that none of those books sounds good, I go to the short bookcase and grab something off there.
This sounds like a very methodical process to approach my next read. And in most cases, I follow it. Of course, there is always the chance that I stop by the library for some unexpected read, or grab one at a book sale, or snag one from an Amazon free deal. But for the most part, I go into the year knowing what I want to read in the coming year. To help keep me on track, I have also started doing a Monthly TBR post.
Looking at changes in my life this year (work and baby), I am thinking about scrapping this entire process for 2014 and just reading whatever I feel like. No challenges, no monthly TBR pile, no big plans. But there's a little part of me that loves the structure of my big plans. We'll see how I feel come December.
I'm sure I'm not the only one that has a huge reading choice process...