What's Making Me Happy - 8/19

I can assure you that while I haven't been blogging what's making me happy I have actually been happy. It's just been quite the month. Also, the thing that was making me happiest was public knowledge, so I felt weird not sharing.

But now I can!! The happiest news is that Dustin and I bought a house!! We'll be closing three weeks for today, and we are so excited. House hunting was certainly an adventure (absolutely nothing like HGTV), but we're done, and we've found a place to call our home. Packing has begun, and we're looking forward to the future of home ownership.

While I usually blog books in fours, I just have to take a minute to share how great this read was. I had put Liane Moriarty's newest book on hold not too long ago. I had meant to pause my turn at the library because things are busy, but forgot. And then, I nearly opted out of checking out the book. I am glad I did neither of those things because this book is awesome.

This is my third Liane Moriarty (and I'm actually starting my fourth), and she is such an incredible storyteller. I read this book (all 400+ pages of it) in one day because I just had to know what happened. Without revealing all, you realize something has happened, and you don't know what, and she leaves out just enough to make you wonder. 

And finally, there's obviously the Olympics - ALL of the Olympics! It's been a great two weeks, and I've been trying to watch as much as I can. It's also been extra fun because I've been running an Olympics pool. I'm doing miserably, but writing daily recaps has been fun.

Until next week!

2016 Reads - #81 - 84

Turns out my stress is directly correlated to when I'm not reading. July was a month full of lots of travel and lots of stress and not books. However, I did make it through these.

Party of One is Dave Holmes' (yes, THAT Dave Holmes) autobiography. I've loved Dave ever since he was on I Wanna Be An MTV VJ. I still am annoyed that Jesse Camp won, but I'm glad that they also let Dave join the network. He's always been one of my pop culture faves. The book was really well done - very Dave Holmes - which is actually what I was hoping for. 

The Bees was an intriguing read. It's about a literal bee hive. It's told from the perspective of a worker bee who realizes she has extraordinary powers. I was a little unsure if I would be engaged in this story, but it was so well done and beautiful. 

All the Missing Girls was a surprise ARC. It's a story about a crime told in reverse. So, it starts at the final day (Day 15) and goes all the way back to Day 1. With each day, you learn the effect before the cause, and the outcome before the details. I was a little worried it would be hard to follow, but it made the story way more interesting. If you're a fan of thrillers, it's worth checking out.

Eligible was wonderful. Here's the thing - I love Curtis Sittenfeld. She's written some of my favorite books, and this was so great. It's a modern retelling of Pride & Prejudice set in Cincinnati, Ohio. Admittedly, I'm not over the moon obsessed with P&P, but remembered many of the details. At the same time, this read like a modern romance that I was reading for the first time. It is so, so worth the read. 

The ABAB of Teen Angst

Now that Dustin and I have bought a house, the process of packing has begun. Tonight, I decided to open up a box that mostly just takes up space and gathers dust at the top of my closet. 

Upon realizing what was actually in this box, I found myself just saying, "OMG!" over and over and over again. These notebooks (and decoupaged popcorn tin with Ben Covington pictures?) contain the most embarrassing and now somewhat amusing things I've ever written (but mostly embarrassing to be clear). I was mostly surprised to find that I have been moving poems I wrote about my high school crush and my unrequited love for him for the last 15 years. 

Most of what was here got shredded. I don't remember where, but I once heard that rather than keep this kind of stuff you should shred it to ensure people don't just stumble upon it. So, tonight, while I took the awkward stroll down memory lane, I also kissed this stuff goodbye. I kept a few miscellaneous pieces that wouldn't be so terrible to revisit and two journals chronicling my *NSYNC adventures (no shame there), but everything else met a fate in the cross-cut shredder.

Also, if you were friends with me from the ages of 15 - 25, thank you for putting up with me. If this stuff is any indication of what I was like to deal with, I owe you for seeing that I had redeeming qualities that outweighed the emotional mess that was my love life.