Recommendations

 I've been compiling a mental list of things lately that I LOVE and would recommend to anyone.  So here it is.  Randomness at it's best.

1.  Mandolin.  This is an app that I have VERY little experience with, but what experience I HAVE had with it, I've absolutely loved.  So, a few weeks ago, my favorite band of all time (Of Monsters and Men) put on FOUR live concerts in Iceland celebrating the 10 year anniversary of their very first album.  Before they performed the first of four concerts, they announced that these concerts would be available on the Mandolin app to view (for purchase of course).  At first I was a bit hesitant, because I have never used this app before and wasn't sure what to expect.  So I made an account, signed in, and purchased 'access' for their four live concerts.  There were options to only purchase one or two or whatever, but I knew I wanted to see all of them.  So I bought them.  And it has been AMAZING.  Basically, OMAM (Of Monsters and Men) performed these 4 concerts in Iceland, and like two weeks later, they were available for viewing on Mandolin.  But not all at once.  So for the past 3 Wednesdays, I have enjoyed these concerts greatly.  The final one is on the 22nd of this month.  The great part is that I can watch it Wednesday night, and then it's available for replay the next day until midnight.

The first two concerts I watched twice.  The third concert I watched 3 times.  And then at midnight it's gone.  :(. Boo.  But it's AMAZING.  Fantastic quality.  I probably will only ever use it for OMAM because I am not a big 'music' person.  But being able to watch them perform their first album (plus more) with different concerts has been amazing.  I would highly recommend it if you love a band and want to see their concert but can't be there physically.  They aren't available indefinitely, it's a set date, and then like the 24 hours after that you can replay it.  But it is still totally worth it.  

Although I did tell my husband that if they ever do this again, I'm flying to Iceland to see them in person again ha ha.  (I'm serious).

It's so funny because their songs are all in English but they speak Icelandic in between.  :). 

2.  Wyze.  I believe they were a kick-starter company that hubs supported a few years ago, and now they have grown by leaps and bounds.  Anyways, we have MULTIPLE products from them and I am a HUGE HUGE HUGE fan.  For example....they have a cordless vacuum that I choose over my Dyson cordless vacuum all the time.  And the Dyson is like twice the cost.  I LOVE the Wyze vacuum.  Our video-doorbell is Wyze.  We have Wyze 'smart' plugs for all of our lamps.  And, probably my most favorite thing is my noise-cancelling headphones which hubs got me.  They are amazing.  Especially for watching the OMAM concerts.  The great part about all of these things is that they are affordable.  I will never buy a Dyson vacuum again.  I think the Wyze cordless vacuum is $149?  Maybe?  The Dyson is like $250?  I will never again by a Dyson.  Anyways...they make great products.  So if you're in the market...just check them out.  They also tie-in with Alexa, so all of our Wyze products are connected to our Alexa app so we can talk to Alexa and tell her to turn on our outside string lights (that are Wyze) and she'll turn them on.  Technology is amazing!

3.  Mint Mobile.  This is our mobile provider.  We don't have Verizon or Sprint or anything.  Well, I take that back. We do have T-Mobile for mine and my mother-in-law's iPads each month...I think we pay $40?  But for all of our phones and everything else...we use Mint Mobile.  It's Ryan Reynolds company.  I'm not kidding.  It's amazing.  And super affordable.  I guess they use multiple 'towers'.  Like it uses Sprint and T-Mobile towers, kind of whatever is available in your area.  We've been using them for years.

What's super funny is that every now and then we'll get random voice mails and actual mail from Ryan Reynolds (he is hilarious).  Our most recent piece of mail was like a 10" cutout of him standing on a platform with a note that said to use him as a replacement for the popular 'elf on a shelf' that is everywhere this time of year.  Ha ha.  Anyways. If you're in the market for a new cell phone provider, check them out. Totally worth it.

4.  Neutrogena Hydro Boost.  Okay I know this is not groundbreaking.  But I have problem skin and always have, and my dermatologist here has recommend Neutrogena Hydro Boost products since I've moved here in the land of no rain/no humidity and my skin is doing great in this incredibly dry climate.  So it's pretty much all I buy, with the exception of this for my 'after-shower' lotion:

https://www.amazon.com/OGX-Creamy-Coconut-Miracle-Moisture/dp/B01MCTTDJS

Not sure if that link will work and I'm too lazy to check, but it's the OGX Coconut lotion.  I get it at Target.  Along with all of the Neutrogena Hydro Boost products.  They are amazing.  Hubs uses them too.  It actually simplifies things greatly by sticking to just one brand.

5. Essence Mascara.  This is like an Amazon cult-favorite.  I didn't believe it until I tried it.  I'm a fan of Benefit products (foundation and mascara and brow products) but after seeing incredible reviews of this $5 mascara on Amazon, I thought I would give it a try.  And I will NEVER again pay $20+ for Benefit mascara at Ulta.  I am a huge fan.  

https://www.amazon.com/essence-Princess-Effect-Mascara-Cruelty/dp/B00T0C9XRK/ref=sr_1_2?crid=15AGGY50AEAOQ&keywords=essence+mascara&qid=1639711870&s=beauty&sprefix=essence+mascar%2Cbeauty%2C127&sr=1-2

I'm still fan of the Benefit foundation and their brow stuff, but I'm never buying their mascara again after using this $5 from Amazon.

6.  Wild Basin.  If you are in to spiked sparkling water, this one is the best.  I've tried them all.  It beats White Claw and Truly and all of the other brands....no contest.  The flavors are unique and actually have quite a bit of taste (for sparkling water).  I believe they are all 100 calories.

That's all I can think of for now.  :)

Hi

Wow.  May 7th was the last time I blogged.  Oops.  I'm not even going to pretend that I have a good reason for the big pause, just life in general I guess.  I've been going through a lot both physically and mentally.  It's been rough, but it's getting better.  :).  Probably won't go into a lot of it, but that's okay.

I finally feel that after 19 months of working from home (how is that possible??), I have my groove down.  Well, I had it down quite a while ago, but I haven't blogged in forever.  Anyways.  It's finally feeling 'normal'.  And I LOVE IT.  I really do.  I feel completely blessed to work for a company that supports their employees 100% and has a fantastic flexibility and so much mental/emotional/work-life support.

I'm working from home full-time.  Hubs is working from home 3 days per week.  He goes into his office here in town 2 days per week.  Occasionally he will go to his Santa Fe office, but for now, he only has to go to this office here in town.  Which is only 2 miles from our house which is awesome.

On the 3 days that we are home together, our work spaces vary.  Most of the time he works downstairs in our sunroom (his choice) and I work upstairs in our joint office.  But sometimes it's the opposite.  It all depends on what meetings we have going on that day.  Like today we both worked upstairs in our joint office for a few hours.  If he has an on-camera meeting, I will grab my laptop and head downstairs.  And vise-versa.  We've made it work.  Thankfully, neither of us has a lot of meetings, let alone 'on-camera' meetings.

I still have a lot to work on as far as my general routine goes, but it's pretty good right now.

I'm still reading a lot, but have obviously failed at updating my reads here.  I'm on Goodreads though!  So all (well, most all) of my reads are tracked there.  I'd like to say I'll go back to the monthly reads blog, but that probably won't happen.  I think it's more likely that if I read a fantastic 5-star book that I will mention it here.  Maybe ha ha.  I have a lofty reading goal for next year, mostly to get my TBR down.  It's too humiliating to mention how many books I have on my shelves to be read.  Yikes.

We haven't traveled at all, mostly because I am paranoid about Covid still.  And I don't think there's anything wrong with that.  I see the horrific numbers and am just still super cautious.  We still have strict mask mandates here.  We are going to Arizona next month (a whopping whole state away) and I'm even a little paranoid about that.  But we really need a get away.  We haven't been anywhere just the two of us since December of 2019.  It's time!!!

Let's see...that's probably all for now.

April Reads (15)

2-STARS 

**Summerwater (Fiction, S. Moss)

Sarah Moss wrote an amazing memoir of her time living in Iceland called 'Names for the Sea'.  So I was excited to pick up this little big.  And then was big time disappointed.  There was ZERO dialogue in this book.  Each chapter was told from a different perspective of a person staying at a cabin park in Scotland.  It's like one giant stream of consciousness.  

3-STARS

***The Girl From the Channel Islands (Fiction, J. Lecoat)

Just....kind of boring.  Or maybe I've just read too many WWII novels lately.

***Dawn and the Impossible Three (BSC #5, Fiction, Ann M. Martin)

4-STARS

****Beezus and Ramona (Fiction, B. Cleary)

Revisiting these books from my childhood!

****Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (Fiction, B. Cleary)

****Ramona the Pest (Fiction, B. Cleary)

****Ramona the Brave (Fiction, B. Cleary)

****Ramona and Her Father (Fiction, B. Cleary)

****Ramona and Her Mother (Fiction, B. Cleary)

****Ramona Forever (Fiction, B. Cleary)

****Ramona the Brave (Fiction, B. Cleary)

****The Mouse & the Motorcycle (Fiction, B. Cleary)

****Mary Anne Saves the Day (BSC #4, Fiction, Ann M. Martin)

****The Berlin Girl (Fiction, M. Robotham)

2 journalists from England head to Germany in the summer of 1938, right on the brink of war.

****The German Midwife (Fiction, M. Robotham)

4.5.  Wow.  A midwife working in the prison camps is called upon to deliver Eva Braun's child.  Yikes.  

March Reads (9)

1-STAR

 *The Secret History (Fiction, D. Tartt)

Donna Tartt has a knack for writing the most UNLIKABLE characters ever.  This was about 6 rich kids (well, 5 rich kids and 1 who pretended to be) who killed one of their own because they were worried that he would run his mouth about another murder they committed.  All 6 of them were so incredibly terrible that I just didn't care what happened to them.  Well, I guess I can't say that because NOTHING HAPPENED TO THEM and that infuriated me.  No major consequences for their actions.

All they did was sit around and get drunk, do drugs, and talk about how smart they were and would throw in a Greek sentence or two (in case we forgot they were intellectual people).  Oh, and they killed people.

The sad thing is that Donna Tartt is an excellent writer.  Had even ONE of these characters been even the tiniest bit likable, this probably would have been at least a 3-star read for me.

*Home Front (Kristin Hannah)

I just need to stop reading books about veterans, the spouses of veterans, and war-related PTSD (and the spouse of someone with war-related PTSD).  Because they never. get. it. right.  Or even CLOSE to right.  

I realize that every person and every situation is different.  But I just could not get past the cringe-worthy clichés about PTSD and veterans in this book.

And the children were HORRIBLE.  Don't get me wrong, I love a book with a well-written 4-year-old and the drama of a 12-year-old.  But these kids were just terribly written.

Kristin Hannah is one of my favorite authors.  But this book was not for me.

2-STARS

**The Hunting Party (Fiction, L. Foley)

This book started off strong for me, but as it went on I hated each character more and more.

3-STARS

***Uglies (Fiction, YA, S. Westerfield)

1st part of a quadrilogy.  Is that a word?  Anyways.  I liked it.  I think.  I'll keep going with the series.  Typically the first book is never the best one.

***The Light in Hidden Places (Fiction, YA, S. Cameron)

I think the biggest problem that I had with this book was that I listened to it on audio.  And the narrator was fantastic....however the book is told from a teenage girl's perspective and the narrator sounded like she was in her 40s or 50s.  If that makes sense.  It just felt so....distracting.

***The Shell Seekers (Fiction, R. Pilcher)

Had this been 100 pages shorter, I probably would have liked it better.

4-STARS

****The Lost Apothecary (Fiction, S. Penner)

ALMOST a five-star read.  I loved this book.  There were parts of it that felt a bit rushed though, so I deducted a star.  But I'm still thinking about it.  So maybe I shouldn't have been stingy with my stars.

****The Art of Making Memories (Non-Fiction, M. Wiking)

From the author of the Little book of Hygge and the Little book of Lykke.  I really enjoyed this one, especially because he stresses the importance of getting out of 'digital photo hell' by organizing and printing off your pictures (whether it be actual pictures or in a printed book from a website).  I sooooooo need to work on this big time.  It's one of my goals for this year.  I'm going to work backwards, so my first book will be for the year 2020.  It will probably be thin ha ha.  Also, Mark Wiking's books are just so cute.  They look adorable all lined up.

5-STARS

*****The Namesake (Fiction, YA, A. Young)

The sequel to Fable, one of my favorite books last year.  It did not disappoint, and I was NOT ready for this story to end!  I want more books!  And these books win all the stars for their covers.

February Reads (7)

Total Books Read:  7 (7 Fiction)

 

5-STARS

*****This Time Next Year (Fiction, S. Cousens)

A light, not-too-cheesy rom-com. 

 

4-STARS

****The Four Winds (Fiction, K. Hannah)

Super depressing, but I didn’t expect it to be a ray of sunshine.  The Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.  But I read this book in less than 48 hours…it was a page turner for me, even though it was difficult.

 

****The Paris Library (Fiction, J. Skeslien)

This was excellent, and based on a true story of the American Library in Paris.  I almost gave it 5 stars, but it was VERY easy to put down, so it lost a star.

 

3-STARS

***Invisible Girl (Fiction, L. Jewell)

Lisa Jewell is hit or miss for me.  This one was just okay.

 

***A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow (Fiction, YA, L. Taylor-Namey)

Had a hard time getting into this one, but parts of it were very endearing

 

***The Age of Miracles (Fiction, YA, K. Thompson-Walker)

It’s been done before.  The Earth slowed down, making daylight extend for up to 60 hours and of course throwing everything else off in the process. An easy audio listen, but nothing spectacular.

 

2-STARS

**Midnight Blue (Fiction, S. Vandervlugt)

2 stars because of the descriptions of Amsterdam, one of my favorite cities.  The story and character development…not great.  It felt like it was trying to be ‘Girl With a Pearl Earring’, but failed.

 

DNF:

All the Bright Places (Fiction, YA, J. Niven)

Ivory and Bone (Fiction, YA, J. Eshbaugh)

January Reads (6)

 

Total Books Read:  6

4-STARS

****The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History (Non-Fiction, A. Greene)

Die hard fans of The Office (like myself) will LOVE this book.  Loads of behind the scenes info about the show, the actors, the storylines, the staff, etc.

****Evvie Drake Starts Over (Fiction, L. Holmes)

This one was a 3 star read up until the last quarter or so.  I liked the way the author handled the mental health portions and therapy.

 

3-STARS

***Watching You (Fiction, L. Jewell)

I’m a fan of Lisa Jewell, but this one was pretty disturbing and creepy.  But I still liked it!

***Call Your Daughter Home (Fiction, D. Spera)

I think if I had read this at a different time I would have liked it more.  It was EXTREMELY heavy.

***To Sleep in a Sea of Stars (Fiction, C. Paolini)

Sci-fi, aliens, and about 300 pages too long.  But still enjoyable!

***Evening and the Morning (Fiction, K. Follett)

My first Follett book, which is good because it’s a prequel to his World Without End Series.  It’s DEFINITELY not for everyone and I wouldn’t recommend it, but I also am still thinking about the first two chapters.  Probably the best ‘first’ couple of chapters I’ve ever read.  

2020 Year-In-Review

I'm only going to focus on the positives because as well all know, 2020 was generally awful.

But here are the 'goods':

• I got to visit my family in Nebraska before Covid hit.
• I started working from home, and most likely will get to work from home permanently.  This is a huge blessing.
• We started having Zoom meetings.  Which for me personally is also a HUGE blessing.  It has done wonders for my in-person-meeting related anxiety.  I can say confidently that I hope it never goes away.  Many people take issue with that, but I can also say I am NOT the only one who feels this way.  Many family members and also my best friend back in Nebraska and a few sisters in our hall have talked to me about it too and feel the exact same way that I do.  There are WAY more people out there suffering from anxiety and depression that we know about.  And Zoom is such a blessing.  Our meeting attendance (personally and as a whole congregation) has skyrocketed.  Our congregation is consistently over 100% attendance.  Unreal.
• We celebrated 10 years of marriage.  
• We saved a BUNCH of money.  Not eating out, not being able to go to stores to just browse, cutting gym memberships, etc.  
• We have a pretty impressive home gym now.  We definitely need to use it more, but it's pretty awesome.  I'll try to do a separate post on it.
• My sister came to visit!
• We took some beautiful day trips around the state.
• Hamilton came out on Disney+.  Yes, this is a big deal to me.
• We cultivated a greater appreciation for our house.  I have always loved our (dated ha ha) house, but now...I love it even more.  We have sufficient space with two full-time offices and with us home ALL. THE. TIME. we are not on top of each other, sick of each other, etc. ha ha.  We had to move some things around, but that also became a good thing.  My library upstairs became my husband's office, and our front room became my library/personal study/relaxing room.  Which has worked out great.  
• I got another great-niece!
• I got a Nintendo Switch and discovered Animal Crossing.  It got me through November, December, and I am still going strong.  It is the BEST distraction and one of the best purchases I've ever made.  Judge me if you want, I can handle it.  If you played it, you would know!
• I got my Matthew-Acts study Bible.
• And last but not least....I got my Covid vaccine.

A lot of goods.  This will be a nice list for me to look back on when I'm feeling sorry for myself.  :)

2020 Reading Review

2020 was obviously a difficult year.  I was in a HUGE reading slump at the beginning of the year, but then pulled out of it.

I track *most* of my reads on Goodreads.  On Goodreads, I reported 111 books read.  In my personal tracker, I recorded 120 books. 

Why don't I track ALL of my books on Goodreads?  In short, because I don't want to offend anyone or be judged by some of my reads.  Are they bad?  No.  But they might not be everyone's cup of tea and I just find it easier to keep them to myself.  Now...I'm talking mostly fantasy/sci-fi/romance here.  And nothing horrific.  If you're okay with Star Wars and Marvel movies, then you SHOULD be okay with these books.  But not everyone is.  And that's okay.  That's why I just keep some of them to myself.

Anyways, I tried to pick out my favorite of 2020, but I couldn't.  I had nine 5-star reads in 2020, and I could only narrow it down to 3.  I tried, I really tried to just pick one.  But I couldn't.  So, my three favorites:

Hamnet (Maggie O'Farrell)

Anxious People (Fredrik Backman)

Fable (Adrienne Young)

All were AMAZING.  And I would recommend them to anyone (and already have).

This year I set another reading goal on Goodreads for 100 books.  I've read 3 so far.  I continue to listen to at least half (if not more) on audio.  While playing Animal Crossing ha ha. 

December Reads (23)

 I might just start doing these in list form because I am lazy and it's a lot to keep up with ha ha.

*Did not like it at all

**It was okay

***Liked it

****Really really liked it

*****Absolutely loved it

*Orphan Island (Young Reader, Fiction, L. Snyder)

***The Secret of Shadow Ranch (Young Reader, Fiction, C. Keene - N. Drew #5)

***The Mystery at Lilac Inn (Young Reader, Fiction, C. Keene - N. Drew #4)

***Shatter Me (YA, Fiction, S. Mafi - Shatter Me #1)

***Unravel Me (YA, Fiction, S. Mafi - Shatter Me #2)

***Wildcard (YA, Fiction, M. Lu - Wildcard #1)

***Prey (Fiction, M. Crichton)

***The Bungalow Mystery (Young Reader, Fition, C. Keene - N. Drew #3)

***The Vanishing Stair (YA, Fiction, M. Johnson - Truly Devious #2)

***The Truth About Stacey (Young Reader, Fiction, A. Martin - BSC #3)

***Legend (YA, Fiction, M. Lu - Legend #1)

***Restore Me (YA, Fiction, S. Mafi - Shatter Me #4)

***Defy Me (YA, Fiction, S. Mafi - Shatter Me #5)

***Virgin River (Fiction, Virgin River #1)

****The Strangers (Young Reader, Fiction, M. Haddix - Strangers #1)

****Cilka's Journey (Fiction, H. Morris)

****Love & Olives (YA, Fiction, J. Welch)

****Miss Iceland (Fiction, A. Olafsdattir)

****Princess Diaries (Young Reader, Fiction, M. Cabot)

****Front Desk (Young Reader, Fiction, K. Yang)

****Ignite Me (YA, Fiction, S. Mafi - Shatter Me #3)

****I Am the Messenger (YA, Fiction, M. Zusak)

****The War I Finally Won (Young Reader, Fiction, K. Bauer)

DNF:  

The Dutch Wife

While We Were Watching Downton Abbey

Total Books Read:  23 (23 Fiction, 0 Non-Fiction)