A goal for my Mission 101 is to read 50 books each year. Although that won't be too difficult, I've also made it a goal to review those books and keep my Good Reads list up to date. This is to document the books and the dates I read them. (Let's hope I can keep this updated!)

 
1. Super Sekrit ARC that I can't even mention - 1/03/10 (ok mentioning it now since its been out awhile)
The Golden Spiral by Lisa Mangum
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
( My Review )




2. Frostbite (Vampire Academy #2) by Richelle Mead - 1/10/10
Frostbite (Vampire Academy, #2) by Richelle Mead
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
( My Review )






3. Blaze of Memory by Nalini Singh - 01/23/10
Blaze of Memory by Nalini Singh
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
( My Review )


4. Witch & Wizard by James Patterson - 02/06/10
Witch & Wizard by James Patterson
Rating: 3 of 5 stars
( My Review )




5. The Shelters of Stone by Jean M. Auel - 02/17/10
The Shelters of Stone by Jean M. Auel
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
( My Review )


6. How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier - 03/08/10
How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier
Rating: 3 of 5 stars
( My Review )







7. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead - 03/11/10
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
( My Review... )


8. Lover Mine by JR Ward - 05/08/10
Lover Mine by J.R. Ward
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
( My Review... )

9. Life of Pi by Yann Martel - 07/25/10
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
( My Review )




10. Gone (Dreamcatchers #3) by Lisa McMann - 08/22/10
Gone by Lisa McMann
Rating: 3 of 5 stars
( My Review )

11.  Mockingjay (Hunger Games #3) by Suzanne Collins - 08/26/10
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
( My Review )

12. Shadow Kiss (VA #3) - Richelle Mead - 08/30/10
Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy, #3) by Richelle Mead
rating: 4 of 5 stars
( My Review )
13. Blood Promise (VA #4) by Richelle Mead - 09/01/10
Blood Promise by Richelle Mead
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
( My Review )
14. Spirit Bound (VA #5) by Richelle Mead - 09/03/10
Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
( My Review )





15. Only the Good Spy Young (Gallagher Girls #4) by Ally Carter - 09/05/10
Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
( My Review )




16. Ethernal Kiss of Darkness by Jeaniene Frost - 09/05/10
Eternal Kiss of Darkness by Jeaniene Frost
Rating: 4 of 5 stars
( My Review )
17. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - 09/12/10
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
( My Review )

I was recently asked to be a host for a challenge blog that I've been participating at, and my challenge is now up! So go check it out! ;)

Finally Friday

I came up with the challenge topic and then created my card, along with making up my own (silly) bio. What do you say on those things?! It was fun though, so go take a look at the challenge blog linked above, and you can also see a bonus card I made on my Krafty Blog.

OH WOW! Pop on over to the CARDS Magazine Blog for a little surprise! This TOTALLY made my day! As if my Friday could have been any better?! Had dinner at Ruby Tuesday's and ate my favorite...quiche with the salad bar and a raspberry lemonade, went to Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs in 3-D, and then came home to find this little surprise! See that card at the very bottom announcing the new challenge on the blog? That one is mine! That my friends, is actually my very first published card that is in the November CARDS Magazine!! WOW! Thank you SO, SO, SO much to Paige and the Cards Peeps!!

(P.S. I was so sad when I saw in the november mag that my little card must have had its little corner bent in the mail. *sadface* oh well, but this was so exciting!)

Ever since I was a little kid I've been a huge reader. I loved The Boxcar Children, The Baby-Sitters Club, Amelia Bedilia, and anything else I could get my hands on really!  My love of reading has certainly not diminished over time, and I love that my family always read a lot when I was growing up. Both my Mom and Dad are avid readers as well, so it was natural to pick a book of our bookshelves and start reading. They introduced me to sci-fi and fantasy, and later on Mom introduced me to romance books. It kills me that Jake could care less about reading, but he will always listen to me as I rant or rave about a book I just finished. He's been there when I was bemoaning a forever away book release, and then he was there when I finally got that book and then ignored him and the fam for several hours while I devoured said book. I love discovering a new book or series, and getting lost and caught up in that world. I love that my sis Shae, shaebay is always recommending new books to me! It makes me laugh that she refused Romance books forever until I got her to read the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. After that she was hooked, and has since repaid that recommendation with some superb ones of her own! (Nalini Singh Psy-Changeling series to name just one!)

I also love finding friends that have the same book passion as I do. I love talking books and hearing about new books to read. I love speculating plots for a sequel with someone else who has been reading the series, and hearing their ideas. I seriously love, love, love meeting people that share this interest with me. Sometimes I may go a little overboard with it haha! So on Friday night we had our group stamp party and a girl named Holly came from Jake's work. Steph (stephldunn ) and I started talking books and I asked Holly if she was a reader too. Yay she was! We started talking different books and she gave me a recommendation for The Hourglass Door by Lisa Mangum. Apparently, she and Jake work with the authors husband! How cool is that?!  She couldn't really tell us much about it because she didn't want to give anything away, but she also said it was hard to explain haha. I thought ok cool I'll check it out. So then last night we were at a housewarming for a lady Jake works with and she had a copy of the book. (I think she'd borrowed it from Holly). So we start talking about it and I asked if I could borrow it. She's like oh of course just send it with Jake when you are done.

So this afternoon I settled in to start and maybe read for an hour or two....3.5 hours later I had devoured it! It starts out a little slow with setting up all the characters, the back story and the plot. But after awhile it just draws you in and you have to know what's going to happen! Think Twilight but no vampires. A mysterious stranger that's drawn to a high school girl. He has his secrets and can actually hurt her if he's not careful. He's centuries old and is practically immortal, he disappears for long periods of time, and shys away at touching her.  But what's his deal, right?! Then enter the protagonists and odd happenings, throw in a few surprise twists and turns, and you're left guessing at the end how in the hell the story will come out in the next book. (summer 2010)  I'm a series kinda gal, always have been, and I'm so looking forward to this one. This book was really interesting and I'm wondering if the next might be even better because you already know most of the back story at this point. 

So if you are looking for something new to read, check it out! Hope you all like it as much as I did! 

Jake has been watching these programs all about the Mayweather vs. Marquez fight for the past few weeks. They follow the fighters around for weeks or however long before the actual fight. Its pretty interesting honestly! Last night before bed I swore I heard something really strange (as I was dozing off) so I had to confirm it with Jake to be sure this morning.

Mayweather weighed in 2 pounds over the set weight, so now he has to pay Marquez $600,000 dollars!!!! WOW!! Talk about a severe penalty. Holy Crap! One, I can't imagine even having that kind of money to pay such a fine, and two, dumb ass, you couldn't watch your weight before the weigh in and now you lost that much money for two pounds? ;)

Anyway, I just found that interesting!

Here it is! The New Haircut...cut and color that is! Its taking a bit to get used to, but I'm liking it. I don't regret cutting it at all. My hair is really thin, and as every stylist tells me, very fine (which is why it breaks an has split ends so often...), so its better short right now. I don't really have the patience to maintain long or highlighted hair at all now. Anyway, I don't know if these really show off the cut very well, but its layered around the face and through the rest of it.

( Picspam )

Oops - somehow I deleted the whole section I had on here about getting my halloween treat things done...oops!

I've been debating cutting my hair these past few months, and finally decided today was the day. I cut off 9 inches and dyed it a dark(ish) brown. Yep, a HUGE change from my medium length blonde highlighted hair for sure!! Its about shoulder length with a little layer. I'll be taking pictures tomorrow when I get ready for work so you can see it all then!

K, this seriously made my night. I was dying laughing when I saw this.

So our HR manager at work was talking about this site called www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com and so tonight I finally decided to check it out. This picture caught my attention because I was trying to figure out what the deal with it was...why was it awkward?! And then, well it hit me...



Here is the original post on the site, and here is the pic on flickr in case you need it bigger. (haha and bigger is better in this case so you can see it!)

Hey everyone!
Some of my favorite three piece sets are:
- Of the Earth
- Morgana
- Just Beachy

So its been about 3 weeks since I've posted on here, a record or something I think!

The kids have been in school for 2 weeks now, and I'd like to say I could blame it on that, but really, I've just been a crazy/lazy lady. Either things are so hectic when I'm home, or its been hectic and all I want to do at home is just veg. Ugh, vicious cycle!

There are probably lots of things I could talk about, but for now just a quick hello to everyone!

Oh also, something that I'm insanely proud about at the moment...tomorrow Gwynie will start taking violin lessons! :) We took my old violin to Riverton Music on Saturday, and a cleaning, stringing, and new bow...(and $116 bucks later) she is all set! I started playing at her age in 5th grade, but we moved to Idaho after 5th grade and the only teacher in teeny tiny Montpelier moved after I'd only been with him for 3 weeks. So that crushed me, but I am so super excited for Gwynie now. She is in love with it and kept calling it my violin, but I told her its hers now so she is over the moon about that! Really makes me want to get back into it because I truly did love playing it and I miss it even though that was *ahem* 17 years ago! However, time constraints make me realize now is not the time, haha!

Anyway, hope to finally catch up with life and LJ in general this week/weekend!