Wow, I've been neglectful. Let's catch up.
1. I've been on a reading kick lately, in hopes I would beat last year's record of reading 28 books. And I did! So I'm now pushing for 35. (I realize 35 books is a drop in the literary bucket for most, but it's such a big deal for me.) And, hey! If you want to see what I've been reading (so much YA), I keep my Goodreads page and Facebook page updated.
Any books you've loved this year?
2. Mike's been traveling a lot this year--so much I've lost count of how many actual trips he's taken and this is after basically taking five total work trips the entire eight years before--so I told him during his last two weeks away, "Dude, I love you, and I know you have to be gone as much as you're gone, and we're fine at home, really, but you have got to take me away soon, just us."
So, for my birthday, we're going to Broken Bow, Oklahoma, to hang out in a cabin for a couple days and do nothing but sleep and drink and read and then take a few naps. (Kyle's staying with his Nana because he doesn't value sleep as much as we do. It's his only character flaw.)
You may think Oklahoma is a strange mini-vacation destination, but loooooook:
We're staying here.
I can't wait.
3. Kyle was a dragon for Halloween, and in case you want to be absolutely terrified*, here are a few photos.
*He had been practicing roaring all week, and was totally proud of how loud and scary his roars were. I told him to go ahead and roar at one of the houses, and he looked at me in shock and said, "No, no, mom, I don't want to scare them!" Like, lord woman, where's your soul at?
4. Podcasts! I'm sure you've heard of Serial, the podcast that's made my Thursday morning commutes, strangely, one of my favorite times of the week. I've tried to find other podcasts that can keep me as engaged and distracted from the traffic jams I routinely sit in, but nothing comes quite close.
Any podcasts you love and can recommend? (And I'm up for all kinds--business, finance, true crime, travel, whatever.)
5. I don't know if you remember Style Lush and Food Lush, two sites I co-managed for a few years. One thing I always looked forward to during the life of those sites was our annual gift guide.
The uniquely wonderful and lovely Caitlin has carried on the gift guide tradition on her newly launched blog, and it made me endlessly happy to peruse so many gifts. I'm probably buying this, this, and these for myself.
Check out her 2014 gift guide!
6. This is very old news, but I was honored to write a guest post a few months ago for a favorite local Belize blog, San Pedro Scoop. (I devoured this site during time researching our trip earlier this year.) I wrote about why we chose Belize, especially when there are so many other tropical destinations to choose from these days.
7. This is another old reading recommendation, but oh how I loved Leighton Meester's op-ed titled I'm Not A Tart, about her experience in the Broadway role of Curley's wife in Of Mice and Men. I always did like Blair best.