whatcha readin'? {goals 45 - books 21-25}

5 more to add to the list…

21. One Golden Summer - Carley Fortune
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
I read this book in May and I have fond memories
of it because I bought this book to read
while staying at a sweet little cottage in Mill River.
It rained the whole weekend but I was
nestled in to this adorable little spot
with soft blankets, lamp light and
chocolate covered strawberries….
and the book was perfect.
Sweet and funny, the dialogue and banter,
the story line, I was fully engaged
and maybe crushing on Charlie a little bit.

22. The Last Letter from your Lover - JoJo Moyes
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
A book that I grabbed off a sale table
and didn’t really have any expectations
but ended up being enthralled in the love story
and bit of a roller coaster mystery…
and I just realized there is a movie now
(adding to my list!)

23. All the Colors of the Dark - Chris Whitaker
❤️❤️
I remember reading a book by this author before
and really liking it (We Begin at the End)
but this one…I didn’t love this one.
at times, I was interested to see where it was going to go
but mostly, I felt like I was forcing myself.
Sometimes, I felt confused or uncertain, like
this seems like it was a pivotal moment
but I am not really sure what happened…
like there was too much going on, trying to cram in too many
subplots and connections and story lines.
I was not a fan.

24. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone - Lori Gottlieb
💙💙💙💙💙
I was fully intrigued by this book.
Found some parts of it hard, but still, loved it.
It was not just a how-to but how-she-did-it
at the same time…

25. Powerless - Lauren Roberts
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
I had heard so much about this book
via Booktok and instagram
I wasn’t sure about it at first,
the writing felt young (it is YA so that
totally makes sense)…but once I got into it,
I really loved it. It reminded me a bit
of Hunger Games but not in a bad way.
I will read more of this series.

:) Happy reading!!

wordless wednesday

whatcha readin'? {goals 45 - books 15-20}

Here are a few more books that
I did finish so far this year…
still trying to get caught up on the posting.

15. Life in the Fasting Lane - Fung, Mayer & Ramos
🔉🔉🔉
I did enjoy this book and got a lot out of it.
I did it as an audio book via Everand.
I found it helpful to have the different point of views.
Now I just need to put it into action.

16. The American Girl - Kate Horsely
❤️❤️❤️
This was a bit of a puzzle…a mystery..
it kept me pretty interested all the way through.
A good fast paced read.

17. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
😍😍😍😍😍
This is a definite re-read for me.
I read this book at least once a year…
and sometimes I go back through
the whole series. It’s a comfort thing for me.
Oh. And this cover. I adore this cover.

The artist is Elly MacKay and I am enamored.

18 & 19 - Fable & Saint - Adrienne Young
4 ❤️’s for Fable; 5 ❤️’s for Saint
These are part of the World of the Narrows series
and I loved them. They are YA but so frigging good.
I can’t wait to read Drift now too
and check out her other titles!

20. Sylvanus Now - Donna Morrisey
❤️❤️❤️
I read Kit’s Law by this author years ago
and remember loving it…I picked up this one
at a book sale and I did enjoy it
though I found it a little heavy on the
fishing and sea for me…I got a little bogged
down in the description…but otherwise,
I liked it.

And here’s a “little free library”
I came across while driving around
Canoe Cover area (to be honest, it may
not even be close to that. I never know
where I am, haha)
I left 2 books and took 2! :)

"curiositas academy" (of one)...

I came across a tiktok
late at night
that fired up the little
butterflies in my belly…
there is a girl on there
(parmesan princesss / elizabeth jean)
who talked about
how she creates a
monthly curriculum for herself
and I was all
I WANNA DO THAT TOO!!!

(surprisingly, even though I was
awful in school, I actually love
learning new things…I just didn’t love
school as a place that I had to be…)

anyway! so I decided (with the help of
chat gbt) that I would narrow down the
thirty two ideas I initially had
into the following:

• Subject - trees 🌳🌳🌳

• Related creativity project - paper mache

• Side hustle project - create a calendar with illustrations

• Side quest - find a recipe book for “single person cooking” (yeesh, doesn’t that sound sad, haha) and COOK ONE THING A WEEK FROM IT

I am so excited.
I am going to study trees
for three months (I am doing it quarterly instead of monthly)…
this might sound like a little nutty 😁
but there are lots of things
I can do to fill that 3 months…
I have a list of books to read,
a crisp new notebook and school supplies,
a glue stick…
there are leaves to press,
and pictures to be taken,
drawings to make,
bark rubbings!
field trips!

and because I am 110% dorky,
I named my curriculum project
the “Curiositas Academy”
cause latin sounds geeky-awesome-professional

the new notebook!

Drogo gave me a full lesson plan…this is the first week. :)

so yeah.
I am pretty excited about this.
So….expect to hear more about this…
whether you wanna or not.
Just be happy you don’t live with me.
Pugsley is already sick of hearing about trees.

This was exactly the distraction my brain (& 💔) needed.

the truth is...

I feel lost in the land of in-between.
I am trying to make sense
of life without my mom…
while still processing life without my dad…

The strange thing about loss…
loss so big and gaping and bloody
that sometimes
I feel like my insides
must be on the outside,
that I must be dragging my
broken cracked heart behind me
by a vein…
there is no way all of this is happening
inside of me…
but the strange thing is
regular life keeps moving.

And you have to, too.

And you know this…you know you do.
You know why you know?
Because after dad, your mom sat you down
and said “you have to get back out there,
you have to go on adventures, you have to do silly things,
dad wouldn’t want this, dad loved your adventures.”

So I did.
Even when my heart wasn’t in it, I did it
because I didn’t want mom to worry about me.

But there is no one here now to tell me that now.
No one that I would listen to.
The logical side of my brain tells me
what mom would say
but the illogical side of my brain is louder
right now. It won’t always be.
But right now, it’s winning.

All this to say, that I am going to try.
To accept joy, to find my spark,
to live the life I have left
with wonder and excitement and silliness
alongside the memories and the
moments of heartbreaking sadness/loneliness/grief…
I will try…so mom doesn’t worry about me.