December Rewind

» This month I.... «

▫ Spent the evening I was supposed to be participating in our church's Christmas musical in the emergency room.

▫ Celebrated my twenty-sixth birthday!

▫ Had my first ever Root Canal. -_- It actually hurt way less than I thought it would. Getting my wisdom teeth pulled was a far more painful experience!

▫ Celebrated Christmas with my family.

▫ Went to Barnes & Noble for the first time in forever (and was disappointed).

December Snapshots:*

*I don't take nearly enough pictures and the ones I do usually feature animals. Whoops!

 

» Book(s) I've Been Reading «

» Movies/Shows I've Been Watching «

 CBS' Scorpion

I received the DVD of The Scorch Trials for my birthday!

» Other Favorites «

I am still completely obsessed with The Sims 4 house builds and recently discovered The Sim Cache on Youtube. Their videos are AMAZING.



I began following Dear Scarlet a few years ago. Basically, two parents have dedicated a blog to their daughter, Scarlet, and it is adorable. My love for Dear Scarlet has been reignited and I have enjoyed spending the majority of December catching up on Scarlet's crazy-cute life.



I have also been obsessed with coloring books, particularly the ones by Johanna Basford. "Enchanted Forest" is the one I am currently working on; these books are great for stress relief and are a lot of fun (they also make great gifts)! I am hoping to pick up a few of the others soon.

» What I've Been Up to On Youtube «

The 12 Days of Christmas Book TAG

▫ Book Recommendations | Winter 2015

▫ Top Ten Books of 2015



What have you been enjoying this month?

2015 in Review: Bookish Challenges & Stats

2015 Stats

▫ Number of Books Read: 40
▫ Number of Pages Read: 14,440
▫ Average Rating: 4.0

Best and Worst in Books

1. Longest Book: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling; 870 pages

2. Shortest Book: The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe; 36 pages

3. Favorite in Fiction: Winter by Marissa Meyer

4. Favorite in Nonfiction: Adulting: How to Become a Grown-Up in 468 Easy-ish Steps by Kelly Williams Brown

5. Biggest Surprise: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

6. Biggest Disappointment: The 100 by Kass Morgan

7. Favorite "New-To-Me" Author: Morgan Matson

8. Favorite Character: Kell from A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

9. Newest Fictional Crush: Bellamy Blake from The 100 by Kass Morgan (mostly talking about the TV show Bellamy here).

10. Favorite Book Covers:

2015 Reading Challenges

✓ Read three books that have been on my physical TBR shelf for more than six months.

1. Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson; 14 months
2. Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson; 12 months
3. Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay; 6 months

I'm sure there were others, but I stopped keeping track after I completed this challenge.

✓ Reread three books (not including Harry Potter).

1. The Maze Runner by James Dashner
2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I then managed to reread a few extra books as well!

4. The Scorch Trials by James Dashner
5. The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

✓ Finish five series/trilogies.

These did not necessarily have to be started in 2015.

1. Ignite Me by Taherah Mafi; the final book in the Shatter Me trilogy
2. The Nightmare Charade by Mindee Arnett; the final book in the Arkwell Academy trilogy
3. Hollow City by Ransom Riggs; the final book in the Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children trilogy
4. The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin; the final book in the Mara Dyer trilogy
5. Winter by Marissa Meyer; the final book in the Lunar Chronicles series

✓ Finish rereading the Harry Potter series.

 

           [06.13.2015]                   [11.02.2105]                     [12.10.2015]

. . . .

2015 was a pretty great reading year, despite the constant reading slumps. Here's to an even better 2016!

The 365 Project

This project isn’t the first of its kind. In fact, it’s probably a few thousand down the list of similar projects beginning January first of 2016. Basically, it’s a 365-day journal.

Looking back, I have realized how few pictures and journal entries there are documenting the special, fun and ordinary moments throughout my life, simply because I didn’t have the time or energy to write a post or take/be in pictures. This is a way to remedy that. The 365 Project is a challenge I am creating for myself and will consist of pictures, videos, journal entries, music and random musings that make up the next year. It doesn’t necessarily have to be an every day thing (though I will certainly try my hardest to make it so), but it needs to be something. Something my future self can look back on and say “That was a really fun day!” or, “Maybe there is such a thing as being too obsessed with Bellamy Blake…” (there isn’t).

It is so easy to get caught up in the muddled, hectic occurrences of every day life; I sincerely hope that, by creating this blog, I will be creating something fun, memorable and personal that I can revisit again and again with the knowledge that I challenged myself to better document my adventures for later nostalgia purposes, and succeeded.

Here’s to a great 2016.

Bout of Books 15

!!!!!!!!

"The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 4th and runs through Sunday, January 10th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 15 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team"

See you there?