New Year's Resolutions - 2014!!!!

Well, it's 2014. Another new year, and another time for resolutions and goals.

I have decided not to make resolutions, because making them is setting myself up to failure. I have however, decided to change some things in my life and improve in many ways. That’s not the same thing as a resolution, even if it did make this decision on Jan 1… right?  Some things I am improving in my life:

Read 18 books
 Learn to say NO
Use less electronics
No facebooking in the evenings (more time with family)
No stalking (checking out useless sluts on social media sites just to get myself worked up)
Volunteer with C.A.S.A.
Stay POSITIVE
Leave work at work
Learn Spanish

I've heard setting resolutions is a way to set yourself up for failure... Probably right.  but we'll see.

CIAO!

Vision in White

Have I mentioned before that I absolutely LOVE love Nora Roberts’ sweet love stories?  Vision in White is nothing short of what I expected.  

4 best friends own their own wedding venue. They handle everything from the location, coordination, flowers, cake, and photography.  Macenzie Elliot, the photographer of Vows, Has never known what love is from anyone other than her three best friends.  Absentee father, self-centered selfish mother, she learned to lean on and depend on her friends to show her the meaning of love.  When Carter accidently stumbles into her workspace, she is in for a whirlwind.  She learns how to be loved, how to accept being loved, and maybe she can one day learn to love back.   

This has a great happy ending, as does the other books I have read from Nora.  And I have already started on the second book in the Bride Quartet series, “Bed of Roses”. 

2013 - Year in Review

As I did last year, this year I am going to do my 2013 year in review.  I didn’t have any many milestones this year as last, but it was still a pretty great 2013!!

-        Turned dirty 30…

-        Got MARRIED!

-        Gained 3 awesome step-kids

-        Started our own Family Traditions

-        Held the same job all year (If you ever heard me complain, you’ll be as surprised as I am :o )

Wow, can that really be it for this year?!!  My life has finally slowed down a bit this year.  Now, Let’s bring on 2014!!!!!

Divergent

I hopped on the wagon to read Divergent.

This book is comparable to the Hunger Games trilogy, so I thought I’d give it a shot. My step-daughter read this book in less than 2 days. She said it was absolutely amazing. It took me a bit longer, but that is because it was the Christmas break, we had lots of family and events going on, among other things in life. I managed to make this my 12th book of the year (which was my GOAL for 2013) by finishing it on December 30. I was really pushing it.

The nation is divided into 5 factions. When children turn 16, they must select which faction they will devote the rest of their lives to; whether staying with their parents in the one they grew up in, or choosing a new one and leaving their family behind. Divergent stars a 16 year old girl, Tris, who decides to leave her home faction of Abnegation to live among the Dauntless. She trained with the Dauntless, learned their way of living and fell in love. However, Tris is keeping a secret from everyone she knows. If her secret is revealed, she will be killed by her new family and friends of Dauntless. Can she keep this a secret while going through rigorous training that is meant to tell the leaders who holds this special secret?

 This was definitely an interesting book. It didn’t hook me until I was about 75% through with it. It was very slow at the beginning, leading up to all the action. I do plan to read the second book of this. I would rate this a 3 out of 5 due to the slowness of more than half of the book.

Catching Fire. Again.

Book Review: Catching Fire.

This has the same review as the 2nd review I did for the Hunger Games. It’s still a great read even the second time around. The movie does NOT do it justice!!!

The Hunger Games. Times 2

Book Review: The Hunger Games.

I already read this book once, but I re-read it the week before the second movie was released. Me and Bo both re-read this book, then we watched the movie. I have to say, don’t read a book and then watch the movie based on the book and not expect to be disappointed. We were pointing out all kinds of flaws. They left out so much that was so important throughout all three of the book series. They didn’t focus on the more important moments that hang throughout the other books, they minimized key points. The book is definitely way better than the movie!!

It's September already

Wow- it’s the middle of September already.  I remember just the other day it was early Spring and I was delaying wedding planning til August, because I didn’t want to get too ahead of myself. August came and went, and I didn’t accomplish all that I needed.  I’ve been busting my butt on the weekends lately, and Hobby Lobby employees know me on a first name basis.

 

There’s so much to do, yet I’ve done so much already.  Most of my projects are half-done which makes it harder to pick up where I left off on so much.

 

I’m so glad that Bo is willing to help me out some as well. So much would not have been completed already if he wasn’t there to help make some decisions, and do some of the grunt work along with me.

 

We decided on our first dance song! YAY!!! I started out with a long list, maybe 30 songs. I listened to them, crossed a few out.  2 weeks later I listened to the ones I didn’t cross out, and then crossed a few more out.  This weekend I took the songs home and Sunday night me and Bo listened to each song on the list that he didn’t already cross out.  We narrowed it down to 3 songs.  How do you decide from there?  Well, we wrote the names on a piece of paper, and tossed the paper into the other room.  Whatever one we picked up would be our song.  Sunshine took joy in selecting the song for us.   So, there we have it. Our first dance song forever will be credited to Sunshine.