Goodbye 2016!

I cannot believe that in a few hours, we say goodbye to 2016!  What a year its been - cheers to the new year!

1)  What did you do in 2016 that you'd never done before?

We bought a house!

2)  Did you keep your New Year's resolutions and will you make more?

I honestly cannot remember what goals I made but yes I am making some for 2017

3)  Did anyone close to you give birth?

Oh boy...well let's see, my stepsister Amanda gave birth to Jase and lots of people announced being pregnant and due in 2017

4)  Did anyone close to you die?

Found out recently that my godmother died.

5)  What countries did you visit?

None this year :(

6)  What states did you visit?

Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio

7)  What would you like to have in 2017 that you lacked in 2016?

Still wishing for my own classroom again

8)  What date(s) from 2016 will remain etched upon your memory and why?

Sept 17 when we went to the chapel and married off my baby sister

9)  What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Staying positive

10)  What was your biggest failure?

Not getting a classroom.  I keep reminding myself that it will happen again but its hard to have a life without your career going.

11)  Did you suffer illness or injury?

Nope!

12)  What was the best thing you bought?

scrapbook supplies, a new house

13)  Who's behavior merited celebration?

Hmm that's a hard one...honestly!

14)  Who's behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Too many to even list!

15)  Where did most of your money go?

Bills, bills, bills

16)  What did you get really excited about?

Our new house

17)  What song will remind you of 2016?

Welcome to my house by Flo Rida

18)  Compared to this time last year, are you:

a. happier or sadder? in the middle

b. thinner or fatter? in the middle

c. richer or poorer? in the middle

19)  What do you wish you had done more of?

Voicing my opinion

20)  How did you spend Christmas?

We had 5 celebrations this time around

21)  Did you fall in love in 2016?

I continue to fall in love on a daily basis

22)  How many one night stands?

Zero

23)  What do you wish you had done less of?

Paying attention to those people who just don't deserve it

24)  What was your favorite TV program?

anything on Bravo, This is Us on NBC

25)  Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate last year?
Oh definitely!  I hate the word "hate" but some people earned it

26)  What was the best book you read?

Hmmm.....check out my Goodreads list, because this is a hard one too!

27)  What was your greatest musical discovery?

Music that goes along with the tempo of spinning class

28)  What did you want and get?

a house!

29)  What did you want and not get?

A classroom

30)  What was your favorite film this year?

Don't have one honestly

31)  What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?

I turned 35 and went to the winery with my family then out to dinner

32)  What was one thing that would have made your year immensely satisfying?

Proving to myself I could get a classroom

33)  How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2016?

Casual chic

34)  What kept you sane?

Reading, blogging, travel & family

35)  What celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Bradley Cooper is still my go-to guy but you never hear about him hardly anymore

36)  What political issue stirred you the most?

It was an election year...enough said!  I did not unfriend friends who didn't vote the way I did.  I'm not like that.  As long as you voted, that is all that matters!

37)  Who did you miss?

My momma day in, and day out

38)  Who was the best new person that you met?

My cousin's now hubby PJ - he's a great guy!

39)  Tell a valuable lesson you learned in 2016?

Live your life the way you want, not the way others want you to.  Because others will not be the ones picking up the pieces if it falls apart - they'll leave you in the dust.

40)  Quote a song lyric to sum up your year:

Cheers!
Happy New Year!

"A Turn in the Road" - Blossom Street #8 book review

This week I read:



Goodreads says:
Six years after he had walked out on his wife and kids, Grant was freshly single again and looking to reconcile with Bethanne Hamlin. To forgive the betrayal was one thing, she did that for herself. To forget was something that she didn’t think she could ever do and she wasn’t sure if she could ever trust him again either. Being willing to at least think about it for the sake of the grown kids, herself, him, she wasn’t sure, but think about it she was. Hearing that her ex-mother-in-law was planning a road trip across the country to her 50th class reunion in Florida was the perfect excuse to get away and do that thinking. With the addition of her daughter Annie, Ruth and Bethanne set out to see America. Even though Ruth had made plans, the addition of Annie added spontaneity to the group, taking them off the plotted course early in the trip. Helping out in a diner for an old friend of Ruth’s was the fist of may changes to come. Then they have trouble with the rental car with only one source of help, and that coming from a group of motorcycle riders they met at the diner. Offering a ride to the nearest town was the best way for Max to help, but the connection they found while offering confessions may make some decisions more difficult.

I say:
I loved this book!  I remember the characters from an earlier one she wrote and I was excited to finish their story.  I am officially done with Blossom Street as I've read #9 and #10 before I knew they were supposed to be read in order.

I gave it 5 stars on my Goodreads list.

What are you reading this week?

5 Christmases!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I know everyone says this all the time but I really can't believe its over and the new year is sneaking up on us!  We had 5 Christmas celebrations this year.  I know, crazy, but it was all fun and it made the holidays shine.

Christmas celebration #1 was at my parents house on Friday night:

Everyone was able to make it and we had lots of food and of course presents!

Our 2nd Christmas celebration was the next day with Keith's parents.

They like to go out to Texas Roadhouse every Christmas so we start there then make our way to Keith's sister's house for presents and whatever with the nieces.

Because we met his family so early, we were able to stop by my cousin's house for Christmas celebration #3:

where played a few games of Taboo,  Quite fun!

On Christmas Day, we woke up early and exchanged presents for the first time at our new house for celebration #4:

We didn't go overboard but we each got what we wanted/needed.  Keith is in love with his Keurig - going to be an expensive present as the kcups aren't cheap but he wanted it so it worked out.  I really wanted a new pandora charm and Keith started giving me a pair of VS pjs each year so he had to keep that tradition up.  After presents, we made breakfast and relaxed the rest of the day.

Christmas celebration #5 was that night at my parents friend Linda's house.  She decked the halls and invited everyone over for dinner:

this was also where we found out that my cousin Jennifer got engaged that morning and is going to be planning a 2017 wedding.  The family continues to grow!

From Keith & I to you, we hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

Cheers!

"Hannah's List" - Blossom Street #7 book review

This week I read:


Goodreads says:
My darling Michael, I know this letter will come as a shock to you….

On the anniversary of his beloved wife's death, Dr. Michael Everett receives a letter Hannah had written him.

In it she reminds him of her love and makes one final request. An impossible request—I want you to marry again. She tells him he shouldn't spend the years he has left grieving her. And to that end she's chosen three women she asks him to consider.

First on Hannah's list is her cousin, Winter Adams, a trained chef who owns a café on Seattle's Blossom Street. The second is Leanne Lancaster, Hannah's oncology nurse. Michael knows them both. But the third name is one he's not familiar with—Macy Roth.

Each of these three women has her own heartache, her own private grief. More than a year earlier, Winter broke off her relationship with another chef. Leanne is divorced from a man who defrauded the hospital for which she works. And Macy lacks family of her own, the family she craves, but she's a rescuer of strays, human and animal. Macy is energetic, artistic, eccentric—and couldn't be more different from Michael.

During the months that follow, he spends time with Winter, Leanne and Macy, learning more about each of them…and about himself. Learning what Hannah already knew. He's a man who needs the completeness only love can offer. And Hannah's list leads him to the woman who can help him find it.

I say:
I started this book & stopped this book so many times that I guess I became bored with it.  I love love love Debbie Macomber's books and when she writes series you have to read them in order to understand what's going on so I knew I had to read it to continue on Blossom Street.  It was good for the most part but I did skip along a bit when I felt like it dragged on and on.

I gave it 4 STARS on my Goodreads list!

What are you reading this week?

Christmas Stuff & Things

~*~ I am officially on Christmas break until January 5th - hallelujah!!

~*~ I seriously can't believe Christmas is almost here.  This year flew by so fast aye ye ye!

~*~ Tonight we are finally going to be able to go to the AB Brewery and see the lights.  Its been rough fitting Christmas activities in this year, and there's 3 I wanted to do that will have to wait until next year but that's just how the cookie crumbled.

~*~  We have 4 Christmas celebrations this year.  My stepmom's a nurse and she has a 5 year rotation of when she's supposed to work and this year is her year.  So my family's celebration is Friday night.  Saturday we will go to Christmas Eve service with my family before going to dinner and celebrating with Keith's family that night.  Then Sunday AM we do our own thing before heading to my parents friend's house who is hosting a big Christmas Day night dinner.

~*~ I got the best Christmas present last Friday when I called the hotel for my schedule, I found out that my area is closed until the new year.  So I truly am getting 2 full weeks off from both jobs - score!  Stinks for the hotel's revenue but its great for me!!

~*~ I still need to wrap!

~*~ Phase 3 in our basement is DONE!  After 6 months of all this non disclosure stuff from the sellers, we have gotten everything finally fixed.  Now to make it the way we wanted it.  Fingeres crossed we find some good sales on the stuff Keith thinks we are getting.

Have a great Thursday!

A snow filled cookie weekend!

STL finally got the SNOW this past weekend!

It wasn't very pretty on Friday night when it took forever and a day for the people of our area to get home.  I had to be at a christmas dinner in Labadie at the Hawthorne Inn and coming from O'Fallon, it took some time but I finally got to a meeting place with my Dad and he drove the rest of the way (yay).  It was a good dinner, I'm glad it didn't get cancelled.

Then on Saturday, the threat of it doing it again was here and the city was screaming "snowpocalyse" and you literally couldn't just run to the store to grab a thing or two.  Everyone was crazy with it.  Missouri people stink with weather, let me tell ya!  I had to go to get supplies to make sweets for my cookie exchange party:

before carefully venturing out to the hockey game that night.  I told Keith that it wouldn't be pretty out there after the game (in which we lost) and sure enough the highways weren't cleared when it was time to get home.  But we did make it fine and stayed inside the rest of the night.

Sunday I had a cookie exchange party with the ladies of my family and needless to say it didn't disappoint:

We had a pretty good weekend I would have to say!

"A Girl's Guide to Moving On" book review

I am majorly slacking on my reading goal for this year and I know I won't make it.  But I'm trying hard to catch up so I think I'm going to start posting reviews again to motivate a bit more.

Recently I read:


Goodreads says:
In this powerful and uplifting novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber, a mother and her daughter-in-law bravely leave their troubled marriages and face the challenge of starting over. Leaning on each other, Nichole and Leanne discover that their inner strength and capacity for love are greater than they ever imagined. When Nichole discovers that her husband, Jake, has been unfaithful, the illusion of her perfect life is indelibly shattered. While juggling her young son, a new job, and volunteer work, Nichole meets Rocco, who is the opposite of Jake in nearly every way. Though blunt-spoken and rough around the edges, Rocco proves to be a dedicated father and thoughtful friend. But just as their relationship begins to blossom, Jake wagers everything on winning Nichole back-including their son Owen's happiness. Somehow, Nichole must find the courage to defy her fears and follow her heart, with far-reaching consequences for them all. Leanne has quietly ignored her husband's cheating for decades, but is jolted into action by the echo of Nichole's all-too-familiar crisis. While volunteering as a teacher of English as a second language, Leanne meets Nikolai, a charming, talented baker from Ukraine. Resolved to avoid the heartache and complications of romantic entanglements, Leanne nonetheless finds it difficult to resist Nikolai's effusive overtures-until an unexpected tragedy tests the very fabric of her commitments. An inspiring novel of friendship, reinvention, and hope, A Girl's Guide to Moving On affirms the ability of every woman to forge a new path, believe in love, and fearlessly find happiness.

I say:
I loved this book!  I'm a big fan of DM as it is, and have it a goal to make it through all her different series.  I picked this up after seeing it advertise somewhere and couldn't put it down.  Its a sad realization when cheating occurs - and unfortunately I have people around me who have been victims of it, and are the instigators of it - and so the book somewhat hit home.  This book is a good feel book, shows you that family is family no matter what happens and you can find love again if you're on the receiving end of something you never thought would happen in your life.

I gave it 5 STARS on my Goodreads list.

What are you reading this week?

Stuff & Things

~*~ 2 weeks from today is the first day of Christmas break!  I am so very ready for it!

~*~ Tuesdays are going to be my least favorite day of the week.  This new job assignment, while its what I'm use to teaching, the kids here are another world.  It might have to do with the admins (who are super nice) and their discipline style but man I needed caffeine big time that day.

~*~ Phases 1 & 2 of our basement issue are complete - yay!  Phase 3 (flooring) should be installed during Christmas break we hope so that by Jan 1, we can fully enjoy our new house.  Not that we haven't before now but this issue shouldn't have happened the day we moved in if the sellers were true people.  Only thing is, in order for phase 3 to happen, I have to pack a lot of stuff up and move it into unfinished parts so they can replace the wet carpet.  Ugh - I literally just might throw it all into boxes and be done!

~*~ Hold your family tight this holiday season.  We just got word from our principal that one of our 4th graders, who has been fighting an aggressive and rare form of cancer this past year, will now be focusing on the quality of life as there is nothing left science can do.  It is very sad, she is quite a spunky kid and you'd never know she was sick except for her loss of hair.  I actually went to school with her mom so I've been following her story for awhile, its a small world that I ended up at the same school as them.  They are hoping to have her come to school as much as possible before she becomes unable to.  Prayers to the family.

~*~ I hope to get all my Christmas shopping done Friday night.  Wish me luck!

~*~ Going to Six Flags for Holiday in the Park on Saturday - after I spend an entire day learning how to code for my tech job.  Busy busy day!

Have a great Thursday!