Twenty Eighteen, oh hello!

Oh hello Twenty Eighteen! How are you doing!

I rang in the New Year with family in Montana (Yellowstone NP, Big Sky, Bozeman) and I'm still holding on to the last few days of January since it was a such wonderful month with family and fir trees on all sides of me. I mean, will you just look below? It was such a gift to be in the geology and ecology of Yellowstone on New Year's Day.

Suns up on 2018 though, and it's time to get busy with my resolution. I'm keeping it simple this year, and instead of a lengthy list, 2018 will be a year of learning for me. I'm looking forward to trying all manner of new things or getting better at old things. I'm going to be stuffing as much as I can through my learning filter*. I can't wait to tell you all the books I've already smashed into January! All the new things I've learned! Come with this reader, woman, mother and yes, still coffee drinker, and let's learn.

*What did I learn today? Never, ever, ever, ever send an email when you're cross. I wasn't on the giving or receiving end of an angry email, but I was reading some you-can't-take-that-back kind of communication unfold in real time as part of a larger group. Today was an amazing example of how poorly it looks to be involved in an email drama. No, I don't tend to send emails when I'm fired up. But I do tend to find people and their behaviors fascinating in general, especially when they believe they are justified in what they've dished out with furious finger pecks! 

recent reads

Ta-Nenisi Coates' Between the World and Me & Hope Jahren's Lab Girl:

Still thinking about it ^^^. Powerful the same way the plates adjust the mountains.

I sent this one to my sister for Christmas but had to read it -- and I'm so glad that I did! Trees, loyalty, science, feminism.

currently reading

Been looking forward to The Association of Small Bombs for quite some time...

audiobooks

From USA Today: Celebrity readers help audiobooks grow.

They've certainly changed my recent life as a reader! I've been listening to them for a decade, but post-children they are a luxury to help me get through books faster. "That's cheating." What? Are you serious? Reading is reading.

With my library card I have access to thousands of free audiobooks that I download and stream in my car, via Bluetooth speakers as I fold the laundry, do the dishes, etc. It is for this reason that I don't use Audible, but I love the idea that by joining it sort of socializes the reading process and encourages you to listen to more books by earning badges, etc.

Some favorites:

To Kill A Mockingbird read by Sissy Spacek
Rebecca read by Anna Massey
Secret Life of Bees read by Jenna Lamia
The Goldfinch read by David Pittu
Bossypants read by Tina Fey
Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea read by Chelsea Handler

looking back - 2016 in photos

the good, the bad & the ugly

January 2016

 Blue nails.

 In the scrub with husband.

South Florida Fair.

February 2016

We were outside all month.

One Friday night, we took the local commuter train. We road it a bit and then stopped off for dinner, and turned around and road home. The kids loved the adventure! 

By a park near our house. Because in February, we really were outside all month.

March 2016

Oh hey there selfie portrait. 

Celebrated my alma mater's success in the basketball tourney! March Madness fever at work. 

And the joys of Easter at the backyard hunt.

April 2017

the ugly:

Allow me to translate: Please don't scream at me Mom. Ouch. Noted. Also the chipped nail polish. Double ouch. 

Behold that beauty.

And finally, Helen turned 3. April is her month. P.S. the 3s are hard with this one.

May 2016

George won a medal for reading 100 books; kindergarten is mostly a wrap at this point.

Mother's Day. A card from my mom that made me cry.

This book also made me cry. I loved those green nails.

June 2016

My girl.

This boy turned six.

And as we have done for the past two years, we spent his birthday in Gainesville at the Florida Museum of Natural History (what a wonderful place!).

July 2016

We hosted a small gathering for the Fourth.

There was a family reunion in Mt. Dora, FL. A fast and fab weekend.

During the third week of July, we flew out to my home town - Portland, OR. George is riding in the back of my grandpa's tractor.

And then we headed to the Oregon Coast.

And delighted in nights on the beach.

August 2016

Our trip spilled into August. And I'm not exaggerating when I say this trip was a much needed boost to my heart.

School started! AKA the first grade and pre-k. It marked Helen's departure from daycare.

September 2016

Labor Day in Sanibel (link here)



Read this beast of a book. So great.

October 2016

Hurricane Matthew threatened our county with a direct hit as a Category 4 storm. We buttoned up and then waited...only tropical storm force winds arrived - and for every last one of them, we were grateful.

As Hurricane Matthew interrupted the start to October, it also put Halloween and all things autumn in a holding pattern.

I roasted tons of veggies. ^^^Turnip for what?

Fennel!

 

Pepitas!

And finally, we arrived at Halloween. Frankenstein & Elsa were the costumes of 2016.

November 2016

After I wiped away tears and woke up to the reality that my country chose, I read this. Kindness overload.

The husband made apple pies for Thanksgiving!

The turkeys were turkeys.

December 2016

These kids have never been on Santa's lap. We're OK with it.

Our home all festive.

Oh yeah. We did the jammie thing!

latest reads

The Argonauts: firming up my belief that all you need is love.

The Hopefuls: Well, it's a quick read that has turned into an epic saga for me...can't seem to finish it timely enough, though I'm hooked. Weird.

latest reads

That moment when you bop around the memoir genre circa 2007 and you realize yes, it is now time to read The Liar's Club by Mary Karr and nothing stacks up to it until you read her third memoir, Lit. The Art of Memoir is like being in an Ivy seminar (only free because library). I have no intention of writing a memoir. But oh, help me read them better.

I'd never read Frankenstein! It was a real true case of Art imitates Life. I read it at the exact right time, Election 2016. Look at that final letter from Walton to his sister, Margaret!

Been Reading

By far, have enjoyed Homegoing most of all.