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Thursday, February 7, 2019

January '19 Redux

Snowshoeing in Thompson Pass | Elevation 2,805'
Valdez, Alaska | January 2019


Hello friends, 

I promise that one of these days when I dust off this old blog, I'll share all about our big move, my new job as a youth services librarian, and life in Alaska. Really.

On one hand, it's something I really want to share: 2018 was full of excitement, change, and a peace I'd forgotten was possible. I want to record and savor all of the beautiful and messy moments; I want a way to look back and remember. But on the other hand, the months leading up to our move to Alaska were some of the most difficult and vulnerable of my life. My path to the mountains was both figurative and literal, after years spent in the valleys  silently shouldering burdens that had suddenly became too heavy. 

But I digress. I'll get to all of that one day. Really. 

The purpose of this post is just to share what I've been up to lately. Remember when blogging was a thing, you guys? I still read a handful of blogs weekly, most of them ones that I've been reading for the past 10 or so years. While blogging might be a dying medium these days, I still treasure the connections and friendships that it's allowed me to make over the years. I want to get back to that art of long-form writing, sharing, and connecting--even if that writing, sharing, and connecting is over something as simple as what music and TV shows I'm currently obsessing over and what I did last weekend. I miss that. 

But again, I digress. I'm really getting off topic here. 

I wanted to write a bit about what I was up to last month. Blogging is something I'd like to do with at least some semblance of regularity in 2019. Maybe having something like this to post monthly will help keep me on track? Or maybe I'll overthink everything, panic each month, and watch Mad About You on DVD instead? We'll see. (Spoiler: It's probably that last one, but let's be optimistic, shall we?)

So without further ado, here's what I was up to in January!

I practiced yoga every day! 
My one goal for 2019 is to practice yoga every single day. It's a lofty goal, but I'm stubborn committed. A week into February and still going strong! Yoga with Adriene helps. 

I snowshoed!
Kyle and I snowshoed in Thompson Pass, which was absolutely breathtaking. The first time we tried to showshoe up there at the beginning of the month, it was literally breathtaking because it was -20 degrees F with high winds. In the time it took us to put on our snowshoes we were already losing feeling in our extremities. So we drove back to Keystone Canyon and snowshoed up to the ice cave. This tunnel was blast into the mountain as one of the original routes into Valdez. 


I'd really like to go back and explore more. Although Keystone Canyon was much warmer that day than up in the Pass, the temperature was still hovering near 0 degrees F and I really had to pee, so we didn't spend as much time there as I would have liked. 

A couple of weeks later, we finally were able to snowshoe up in the Pass and it was perfect: bright blue skies, sunshine, in the twenties, and no wind!


I mean, seriously?! I can't believe I get to live here. 

I learned how to play the ukulele!
Valdez maybe be small and remote, but it is anything but boring! I took a 4 week class through the Rec Center with the intent of learning a few notes so that I could play "Wheels on the Bus" and other such jams at Storytime. I wasn't expecting to absolutely love it. Thanks to decades of playing violin, I actually caught on fairly quickly. I've never been much of a singer (and have always felt really self-conscious about it), but playing the ukulele has helped me let loose a little bit and sing for myself just because I enjoy it. Not everything has to be perfect--sometimes the joy is enough. 

Books, Movies, & TV I Loved
The Spy Who Dumped Me
Oceans 8...for the millionth time. 
Moana...for the two millionth time. 
Mad About You season one...again. 
Picnic at Hanging Rock, by Joan Lindsay

Whew! What a month! There were some rough days, some exhausting days, but January really was beautiful start to 2019. Here's to February!

What have you been up to friends?! Tell me everything!

Monday, December 31, 2018

2018 Redux: A Year in Books

2018 was quite the year. I hope to share more in 2019 about our move to Alaska. I've been doing some writing and reflecting and I think I'm ready to begin sharing.

But for now, I want to continue my tradition of sharing what I read this year. It's a weird assortment of mostly graphic novels and MG/YA fiction. Now that my daily commute is much shorter, I don't listen to as many audiobooks, which I really miss.

I read over 100 books this year. Hands down, my favorite thing that I read was Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson. I've loved and admired her writing for 15 years and this book blew me away. This story about the importance of kindness and community deeply resonated with me and is the story that everyone needs right now. It should be required reading, especially in these tumultuous times. 


TOP 5 FAVORITES
Dust Tracks on a Road by Zora Neale Hurston
I Might Regret This by Abbi Jacobson
Calypso by David Sedaris
Phoebe and Her Unicorn series by Dana Simpson
Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson

HONORABLE MENTIONS
Miss Subways by David Duchovny
The Outsider by Stephen King 

What are your favorite books you read this year? What's on your TBR in 2019? 

All images courtesy of Goodreads. 

The Little Book of Feminist Saints
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
The Outsider
I Might Regret This: Essays, Drawings, Vulnerabilities, and Other Stuff
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 9: Teenage Wasteland
Almost Everything: Notes on Hope
Holidays on Ice
Unicorn Theater (Phoebe and Her Unicorn, #8)
Unicorn of Many Hats (Phoebe and Her Unicorn, #7)
Tom's Midnight Garden Graphic Novel
Miss Subways
Dad Is Fat
The Girls
Zora and Me (Zora and Me, #1)
Matilda
Everything's Trash, But It's Okay
Hocus Pocus & The All New Sequel
Lagom: The Swedish Art of Balanced Living
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)
Romeo and Juliet
David Sedaris Live at Carnegie Hall
Harbor Me
Barrel Fever: Stories and Essays
Phoebe and Her Unicorn in the Magic Storm (Phoebe and Her Unicorn, #6)
Goldie Vance Vol. 4
Unicorn Crossing (Phoebe and Her Unicorn, #5)
The Bluest Eye
Goldie Vance Vol. 3
Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World
All the Lovely Bad Ones
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 8: Mecca
Lumberjanes, Vol. 8: Stone Cold
Lumberjanes, Vol. 9: On a Roll
Razzle Dazzle Unicorn (Phoebe and Her Unicorn, #4)
Crazy Rich Asians (Crazy Rich Asians, #1)
My Dog: The Paradox: A Lovable Discourse about Man's Best Friend
The Art of Holding On and Letting Go
The Strangest Story Ever Told
Still Foolin' 'Em: Where I've Been, Where I'm Going, and Where the Hell Are My Keys
Suee and the Shadow
The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses
Lumberjanes, Vol. 7: A Bird's-Eye View
Linnets and Valerians
Christina's Ghost
Unicorn vs. Goblins (Phoebe and Her Unicorn, #3)
Archival Quality
Stories, Songs, and Stretches!: Creating Playful Storytimes with Yoga and Movement
Calypso
The Ghosts of Mercy Manor
Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"
Storytimes for Everyone!: Developing Young Children's Language and Literacy
Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World
Unicorn on a Roll (Phoebe and Her Unicorn, #2)
The Prince and the Dressmaker
The Leaving
Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women
Pashmina
I Kill Giants
Phoebe and Her Unicorn (Phoebe and Her Unicorn, #1)
The Apprentice (Rizzoli & Isles, #2)
Frugal Vegan: Affordable, Easy & Delicious Vegan Cooking
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)
Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow
Heart-Shaped Box
Kristy's Great Idea (Baby-Sitters Club Graphic Novels #1)
The Wendy Project
How Dare the Sun Rise: Memoirs of a War Child
The Altered History of Willow Sparks
Speak: The Graphic Novel
Real Friends
The Breadwinner: A Graphic Novel
I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer
Wilderness Tips
The Alchemist
American Gods (American Gods #1)
Solo
Bingo Love
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter #2)
Notes from a Public Typewriter
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Paper Girls, Vol. 4 (Paper Girls, #4)
Am I There Yet? The Loop-de-Loop, Zigzagging Journey to Adulthood
The Keeper of Lost Things
Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History
The Skull Talks Back: And Other Haunting Tales
Honeybee: Poems  Short Prose
Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter #1)
The Hazel Wood (The Hazel Wood, #1)
The Surgeon (Jane Rizzoli & Maura Isles, #1)
Heart Berries: A Memoir
Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery
The Sun and Her Flowers
White Houses
Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries who Shaped Our History . . . and Our Future!
The Collected Poems
We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy
The X-Files: Trust No One
Star Wars: The Original Trilogy: A Graphic Novel
Anything Is Possible
A Wrinkle in Time (Time Quintet, #1)
Yes Please
Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities
Akata Witch (Akata Witch, #1)
Landwhale: On Turning Insults Into Nicknames, Why Body Image Is Hard, and How Diets Can Kiss My Ass