Happy Saturday Littens! Nothing like a cup of pour over and a book to start the day. A little peace and me time before all the stuff that has to get done today. Thanks to a migraine, I totally missed my 1 year Litsy-versary yesterday! This still is my favorite corner of the internet. Here‘s to many more years 💜

King takes a paranormal and mythological turn in The Outsider. Do you really know the people around you as well as you think you do? Can you reconcile a friend committing a heinous crime? When the clues seem irrefutable, you have no choice. But what if the clues aren‘t exactly what they seem? One person can‘t possibly be in two different places at the same time. So what‘s the real answer? It might be more horrifying than the crime itself

🎆 Andrew and I drank wine, ate snacks and binged the first 4 episodes of The Witcher. It was low key and perfect
📚Unless I‘m doing a readathon that requires me to plan, I never plan TBR‘s. I‘m definitely a mood reader. I hope to get at least a couple done
📙my word for 2020 is: connection. Connecting more with others but most importantly, connecting with my true and inner self that I‘ve kept hidden for far too long

#thoughtfulthursday

Reading/Litsy 2020 goals:
-Be more active in #Litsylove
-Catch up with my backlog of reviews
-Participate in challenges that excite me
-Complete Goodreads goal of 60 books
-Include more diverse authors and subjects in reading
-Read for enjoyment in some way everyday
-Start booktube account

Here‘s my pick for #Chunksterchallenge2020 not *quite* 1000 pages, but other than IT which I started last year and am halfway through, this is the chunkiest book on my TBR shelf. However this is a large book (by paperback standards) in tiny print. Her previous book clocked in at 1054 and is roughly 2/3‘s the size of this one so hopefully this meets the requirements. Also felt like my “soon-ish” sloth mug was appropriate for this challenge 😂

Might seem silly to increase my 2020 reading goal when I barely made it halfway through 2019‘s, but I now what I‘m capable of 💜

Well, I officially finished! Finished three books and got through a chunk of IT via audiobook. Even though I didn‘t reach my reading goals, it feels good to end on a high note. Happy New Year Littens! #24B42020

Forgot to post yesterday, probably because I was up reading until midnight 😬 Thanks to Sunday meal prep, I got a big chunk of IT done. Ended the night with Ninth House which I‘m dying to finish because it‘s getting so good! #24B42020

Today turned out to be busier than expected but still managed to get some #audiowalking in with IT. Then made some time for starting a new adventure with Ninth House before bed. Can‘t wait to have more time to read this tomorrow! #24B42020

Finished my first book for #24B42020 and I can‘t wait to review this one. I finished the first two books in one sitting so I guess it‘s only fitting I finished the last book in the trilogy the same way. Off to bed to rest up for some more reading!

This year brought a lot of new challenges and one of those side effects meant my reading was pretty dismal. Won‘t come close to the goal I set at the beginning of the year, but why not end on a high note going into the new year and new decade? Done working for the week so I‘m going to settle in and get this going! #24B42020

Finally made it home from the holiday family tour lol and the first thing I did was open my #CreepyChristmas gift. Thank you SO much @ReadingOver50 ! I‘ve been dying to read both books, especially been wanting to start the Dark Tower series (I love me a good book series 😂). I can never have enough twinkle lights or elephants and the yeti ornament is so cute! Thanks for hosting a great swap and keeping the creepy vibe alive @teebe

While reading this book I learned, as a 30 year old, things I had never been told about my body. I went into the book thinking this method would be too time consuming or complicated and learned to my happy surprise that neither were true. Whether you‘re interested in utilizing fertility awareness or not, this is a must read for all uterus havers. I only wish I had found this book sooner and perhaps saved myself from more invasive, harmful methods.

Somehow missed this in the chaos of flying to LA for my nephew‘s birth so here goes!
1. Psychological thrillers are probably my favorite
2. The Strangers
3. The Shining. The deterioration of the human mind is terrifying
4. “Necessary” gore, sure. Gore for the sake of gore, nah.
5. Sadly no but trying to change that
6. What horror book have you read or horror movie have you watched the most?

#NBR but who doesn‘t love a baby? Litsy fam, meet my nephew Cooper. I watched him come into this world on Nov 27th at 6:55 am. It‘s amazing how I went from exhausted to exhilarated once you hear “Okay, she‘s ready and it‘s time”. 7lbs 10oz and 20.5 inches of pure cuteness. Can‘t wait to watch this little man grow up and spoil him

My happy place 💜

It‘s not like I don‘t have a huge stack of TBR‘s at home. But when one is passing time during a layover, sometimes things happen 🙃

On my way to SoCal to become a first time aunt and watch my sister and her fiancé become first time parents ? So excitedly anxious that idk if I‘ll be able to focus on my book but I‘m gonna try. Fingers crossed we don‘t end up spending thanksgiving in a hospital ???

So glad I saw this before the deadline tonight! Long live Halloween 🖤🖤🖤 #creepychristmas

Come home from another work trip to a lovely pile of sweet birthday wishes 😍 My heart is definitely full, this community is truly the best. And quite honestly, this feels like more than I deserve because I‘ve been a less than stellar pen pal. Thank you SO much to all my #LitsyLove pals who took the time to send me a special birthday card. And thank you to everyone else who wished me a happy birthday here. Here‘s to 31!

This was a fun, light historical fiction read. While predictable at times, it still made me want to keep reading and find out what was going to happen to our two main characters. This overall light, and at times romantic, feeling of this book is the perfect palette cleanser after something more emotionally heavy or a big series read

At this point I‘m pretty good at picking books I know I‘ll like and it‘s rare for me not to like one. It‘s rarer still for me to bail on a book. That was evidenced in my slog through The Night Circus. But one thing I learned from that is there‘s no reason to force myself to read something I‘m just not feeling. I feel like at some point I will read this and enjoy it, but right now it‘s just not doing it for me and is collecting dust on my table

Apologies in advance for the multiple posts, I‘m going to be attempting to catch up with my ever increasing backlog of books to review!

#friYAYintro

1. popcorn, especially smart foods cheddar popcorn
2. I‘m starting to get more into them but still prefer physical
3. My birthday and my first nephew being born
4. I think like 7?
5. Purple of any shade but I tend to gravitate more towards lilacs and lavenders

What a perfect Halloween package 😍👻🎃 The books, the candy, the Halloween trinkets, it‘s all so lovely! Thank you so much for making my Halloween extra special @EH2018 and thank you @LibrarianRyan for putting on such a great swap! #nightmareswap

Can you tell who did which one lol 😏

Day 3-#7covers7days #covercrush

Post a cover you love for 7 days with no explanation

Day 2-#7covers7days #covercrush

Post a cover you love for 7 days with no explanation

Oops, better late than never! #Forgiveness is as much about you as it is the person you‘re forgiving

#SelfImprovementSept

I normally post pics of the #outdoors in the PNW and deservedly so. But today I decided on this pic from a trail at Lake Del Valle back in my hometown in CA. Different kind of scenery, still beautiful

#SelfImprovementSept

Day 1-#7covers7days #covercrush

Post a cover you love for 7 days with no explanation

#WhatMakesYouSmile All these amazing, wonderful people keep me smiling. Clockwise from top left: my best friends of many years, aka the Wolfpack, at the surprise 30th they helped throw for me, my little sis, my fiancé Andrew, and my family on my mom‘s 50th bday trip to Tahoe ?

#SelfImprovementSept

Feeling like fall on this cozy Sunday morning. Finally got a good night‘s sleep in my own bed after house sitting for the past week. Lit a fall candle and listening to the rain fall outside while I sip on coffee, eat some scones, and dive into this week‘s chapters of The Lost Queen. Happy Sunday Littens 💜

#LiteraryCrew #buddyread

I still have my Five Minute Journal from a few years ago. It was a great practice in daily #gratitude and self reflection

#SelfImprovementSept

My #favoritefood has always been breakfast food. It contains three of my favorite things: eggs, bacon and coffee. How could you not love it?! Pictured here: two over medium eggs from my MIL‘s chickens on Canyon Bakehouse GF bread, bacon and, my life‘s blood, coffee ☕️🍳🥓

#SelfImprovementSept

Here‘s some #Litsyhumor for you on this Friday 😂

One of my favorite “coffee table” books I own is “Letters of Note”, a compilation of various letters of correspondence including a letter from Queen Elizabeth II to president Eisenhower including her scone recipe. But one of the letters that‘s always fascinated me is this one written by someone claiming to be Jack the Ripper

#letters #epistolarynovel #SelfImprovementSept

My only request while in Portland for the weekend 😍

Whole30, and subsequently Food Freedom Forever, are the two #selfhelp books I credit for freeing me of my restrictive ways. The ways I thought I had no choice but to live in in order to be healthy and in shape. I‘d be running on that 1200 calorie, cardio bunny loop endlessly if it weren‘t for these two books and for that I‘m forever grateful

#SelfImprovementSept

1. tagged. Should have bailed but it‘s so loved that I spent over a month picking it up and putting it back down waiting for it to get better. It didn‘t.
2. The Office. When reading myself to sleep doesn‘t work, I fall asleep listening to it almost nightly
3. Eggs scrambled with leftover veggies, a slice of Ezekiel toast and coffee
4. Pacific standard time (PST)
5. Green It 😂

#FriYayintro

Anybody else get excited about new planners/journals?! 🌚📒

#Whatyoulove, this one is hard because there‘s SO many things I could pick. So I decided on this pic from this past Christmas because it has some of the 3 things I love most: wine 🍷 Rose 🐶 and faux fur vests 💁‍♀️ lol jkjk the third thing is Andrew of course 😉

#SelfImprovementSept

Have a bit of a theme here for #somethingnew today. Up top, my Harry Potter shelf got a major update thanks to @Endowarrior21 😍 And on the bottom, HP Ravenclaw edition vans Andrew surprised me with that are doubling as my wedding shoes and my “something blue”. And yet another subtle way we‘re inserting HP into our wedding. Now the hard part is not wearing them until then!

#SelfImprovementSept

I‘m not sure what it is. Maybe the fact that I loved Milk and Honey so much made me expect too much out of this one. But something about this one just didn‘t totally do it for me. There were a number of poems that made me feel all the feels. But if I hadn‘t needed to finish this to complete a readathon, I‘m not sure I ever would have.

A habit I got into when I found myself single for the first time in my adult life 6 years ago was buying myself #flowers. It‘s always nice to receive flowers from your SO, but it‘s just as satisfying to buy yourself something pretty

#SelfImprovementSept

Holy crap @Endowarrior21 I am blown away by your thoughtfulness and generosity!! I don‘t even know where you managed to find all this stuff?! Thank you just doesn‘t seem like enough but thank you SO much!! My Ravenclaw heart is so happy #FAHS

When you live in a place as beautiful as the PNW, and especially with Mt Rainier in your backyard, you‘re almost obligated to love the outdoors. But hiking has truly become another #hobby of mine since moving here. And how could you not with views like that? Makes the 4 AM alarms worth it

#SelfImprovementSept

Never done one of these before but I love me some self improvement. So let‘s start!

Reading Goals: My reading in August, for lack of a better word, sucked. Only read Managed to read 2 books because I finished Cruel Prince in one day. So my goal is simply to read at least a book a week to try and get back into my groove.

#SelfImprovementSept

Went to go “look around” while Andrew was at Home Depot. Oops 🙃 this is why I‘m not allowed in Barnes & Noble unsupervised. My kind of Sunday funday! #bookhaul #barnesandnoble

While the fiancé watched college football, I started and finished The Cruel Prince today. A couple chapters in I thought, “Well, good thing we don‘t have plans today because this is what I‘m doing”. Now I can officially say I read more than one book this month ??‍♀️ This one reeled me in fast and didn‘t let go. Good thing I bought the second book first by mistake lol! Review forthcoming when I catch up on my increasing backlog ?