Time flies when you're having......a lot of work to do?

Somehow it's the middle of February. 2015 has flown by remarkably fast so far! It could be in part because work has kept me fairly busy. I've become that person that goes into work extra early, stays late, and still brings her laptop home in the evenings and the over the weekends. It's not exactly something I'm proud of. I enjoy hard work and being busy. I'm happy to put in the extra effort when need be. However, I'm also a fan of finding a work/life balance. And lately that balance has been skewed.

I've had quite a bit more on my plate in 2015. With my boss quitting, it meant her work was spread between several of us. I am involved in some of the bigger, time-consuming projects. Plus February is home to the 2 biggest events of the entire year for my office. And most of the committees I'm on have also stepped it up a notch. Plus, I still have all my normal tasks I'm required to do. All of this to say, work has become a focus while things like reading and blogging have fallen to the side.

So far I've read about 1 chapter of a book this year. While I'm not necessarily proud of this fact, I'm ok with it. Work requires me to focus so much that in my spare time I just want to relax and catch up on current shows and classic Doctor Who. I have also been striving to keep up with my friendships. To feel comfortable leaving work behind and going out with friends for drinks, food, movies, etc.

I've been told before how people admire my ability to keep a work/life balance. I think a prime factor of my ability to do this is compartmentalizing. To know exactly what my primary focus is, and putting all other areas aside for a bit. So when I'm out with friends, I don't check and respond to email constantly. When I'm at work, I try to avoid Facebook. It's one of the ways I've stayed sane and stayed happy at my job for so long. It may be a reason why I wouldn't make it as a VP where I work as well. But to live a triskele life means to be in harmony. To not let one area fully take over another, and to be satisfied with all components of life. Sure, I'm not 100% in harmony right now, but I'm making strides. And after all, realizing this and continuing to strive for harmony may be the most important thing of all.

2014 in Review

Lately I've been thinking about how 2014 has been for me. I partially blame facebook for this because they automatically put together little video reviews for people to look back at the year (I'd like to point out that as a society we have reached the point where technology feels the need to automatically put together a 1 minute clip to remind you of what you've done over the past 364 days so you don't forget *shakes head*). I never watched my video. It was when I realized that I didn't watch it because I didn't want to be reminded about the year that I started really thinking about 2014.

Good things did happen. I want to start with that and remind myself of that fact. Good things did happen. I explored new places, met my Goddaughter, saw all 7 of my nephews, met my goal of reading at least 1 book a month (grand total ended up being 42), and successfully donated blood 6 times which was my unspoken goal for the year. Of course I had plenty of fun with friends and good times as well.

I'm not sure why these things all tend to fade when trying to get a full feel for the year. Perhaps it was just that the couple losses I had impacted me more than the good times. The loss of Robert had a bigger effect on my life than I expected. Obviously the sudden loss of someone is always a shock. But it reached beyond that and made past demons, so to speak, reappear. I now feel further from the church than I have for several years. I also experienced the loss of friendship this year. It's this type of loss that makes me question my friends and those around me. That makes me remarkably cautious around all my friends.

Of course I had other down days or days things weren't going my way. Those are the norm though. I think it was the fact that the couple bad things that occurred really shaped my mindset and outlook. On the one hand, I had good things that were great, sure, but were just experiences that were passing. I hope to have plenty more times were I see my Goddaughter and nephews, and meeting goals that made me feel accomplished, but are not necessarily life changing. On the other hand you had moments that made me question the bigger aspects of my life-my friends and my religion.

Part of me thinks I should go back and watch the Facebook video. Because honestly, it'll probably all be pretty good things they incorporate since I'm not one to complain via facebook or twitter. But more than anything it makes me look forward to 2015. It makes me want to focus more on some of those bigger aspects of life and open up more conversations about those key areas. I don't want to forget the bad or the good. I just want to grow from it all.  To really strive to understand myself more and how I can better myself from 2014.

December Book Recap!

Woohoo! Another successful year of actually sticking to my new years resolution!
My original goal was to read at least 1 book a month. For almost every month I went above and beyond that with reading multiple books! December has turned out to be one of the more successful months!

There are some books that as you start, they introduce you to the characters, set the scene, and it's very easy to follow. Others seem to throw you into a story and you have to try your best to understand what's happening. The latter is how Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta is. At first I worried I wasn't going to piece together everything, but figured I'd just keep reading and hoping it all fell into place. And boy did it! I ended up really loving this book and not wanting to put it down! Set in Australia (which was awesome to begin with although it did have me googling Australian slang a couple times to make sure I knew what a character was saying) and based around Taylor Markham who is trying to figure out who she is just as much as the reader. It's a fun story of how people who shouldn't really get along, end up putting their differences aside, and how their story is connected back to a similar group of teenagers 20 years prior. As the reader you are able to figure some things out before Taylor does, but you are still left wondering how everything is going to resolve itself.

Next up was Night by Elie Wiesel which I have heard quite a bit about, but never read. Night is the story of Elie Wiesel's time as a 12 year old Jew and being taken to concentration camps during WW2. It is a fairly quick read, but has so much to it! This is his story following him over the course of a couple years being in a ghetto, transported by train, what it was like at various concentration camps, and being marched for miles in the snow. Some of what I found most interesting is when Elie would reference his faith. As a devout Jew he studied and asked questions to learn more about his religion as a child, and during the book you almost forget that background until he makes a couple passing remarks from hating God for allowing this cruelty, to moments when suddenly a prayer of praise comes to his mind even in the darkest of times.

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah was just a quick spur of the moment decision. I had read other books by Hannah and figured why not read another. I didn't expect this book to go as deep and pull me in as much as it did. Even though I swear I didn't know-this book also takes to WW2. This time however you learn about what it was like in part of Russia. A fascinating part of this book was looking at the familial relations between a mother who was always very cold and distant to her 2 daughters. This is a family that is held together by the father who passes away and leaves the rest of the family trying to figure out how to relate to each other without him. My mother was not cold or distant, but the conversations that the mother and daughters end up having with each other in this book are inspiring and something I hope to have the courage to begin having with my family.

I always knew this month I would read at least 1 book because every year when I'm at my parents for the holidays I read my favorite book A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. I always love the adventure and science fiction. The characters travel to other worlds, meet different species, and stand up to The Dark Thing which is trying to take over planets. Oddly I don't own this book myself. It keeps me from reading it constantly and getting worn out on it. Just reading once a year is like a present I give myself. Didn't disappoint this year either. Still love it!

This next book took all of no time to read as it is written on a elementary school level, but I'm a sucker for The Boxcar Children! As part of my Christmas present my sister gave me The Animal Shelter Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner which is #22 in the series. As a kid I couldn't get enough of these books!! Four kids going around solving mysteries and basically being awesome. Granted they were far to independent for their own good. And I question their grandfather for letting them go off on their own so much, and the responsibility everyone around them gives them. But that's just my adult self going a bit to far. My inner child was enjoying the story and figuring out who done it.

The last full book of 2014 was The Children Act by Ian McEwan. Found this one by googling top books of 2014. I honestly am not sure which list it came from, just that it caught my eye. It was a good book to pass the time, but not one that I found awe inspiring or touching. Focused around a High Court judge and a specific case that has longer lasting effects then when she makes her decision. I was drawn in because this case was one in which the family doesn't want to pursue medical treatment for their son due to religious beliefs, but by not pursuing the treatment, the child would die. Does the judge side with religious wishes, or deciding to save the kid. Meanwhile just to add to the drama, the judge's marriage is also on the rocks. It was an interesting story and enjoyable, but I don't know if I would have put it with the top books of 2014. 

Books Read in 2014:
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
The Fault in Our Stars  by John Green
Burned by Ellen Hopkins
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
A Grief Observed by CS Lewis
The Monument Men by Robert Edsel
The Nazi Officer's Wife by Edith Beer
Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass Isak Dinesen
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Looking for Alaska by John Green
When Life Comes Undone by TJ Addington
Number the Stars by Lois Lowery
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Where There's Smoke by Jodi Picoult
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster  
Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen 
The Peppered Moth by Margaret Drabble 

The Maze Runner by James Dashner
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver 

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Larger than Life by Jodi Picoult 

The Death Cure by James Dashner
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Who Will Run the Frog Hospital by Lorrie Moore
Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson
The Kill Order by James Dashner
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline 
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks
Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult
Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Night by Elie Wiesel
Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle 
The Animal Shelter Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner
The Children Act by Ian McEwan

November Book Recap!

While I feel as though I've read enough college essays submitted by high school students to fill a book, sadly they don't count. I have however read a couple other real books this month!

First up was The Magicians by Lev Grossman.This is a book that I honestly probably would have never thought to read except a member of my book club was pretty excited for it. I went into it thinking it would be a more "realistic" version of Harry Potter. As the name suggests, there is magic - and not slight of hand and pulling rabbits out of hats. It centers around a guy named Quentin who suddenly discovers he has the ability to do real magic and goes off to a magic boarding school. He is also obsessed with a children's book series in which four siblings travel to this other world to be kings and queens. If these sound familiar to you, you're not alone! The story covered many years quickly, but with minimal character development and maturity. More than anything I found myself constantly saying "Ok that's just like Harry Potter" or "oh that's just like the Narnia series", which took away from the book. Probably my favorite part was a random trip to Antartica that was more original. This is part of a series, but odds are I won't be moving forward with finishing it. 

Next up was Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks. Once again I find myself reading a book based in WW2. Such a good time period for books to be placed. This is kindof a mix between girl power and true love. The main character is Charlotte, a woman who moved to London from Scotland, and fell into love very quickly with a pilot in the war. He ultimately disappears while on a mission over France which prompts Charlotte to take on a task which puts her in in France in some dangerous situations but potentially closer to finding her love. This was a book that was a bit of a slower start for me. I admit I wasn't really in the mood to really sit down and read after work when all I had done at work was read so that may be part of it, but it seemed like it really picked up about halfway through when Charlotte was in France. At that point I was totally on board and interested to see what would happen. While I really liked Charlotte's courage and determination, part of me wishes that it didn't take a guy for her to get involved though. 

Lastly was Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult. I'm a sucker for Picoult's books. This is her latest which I have been looking forward to for a while. Picoult had previously released two short stories written from the perspective of two of the characters in this book as prequels (both of which I mentioned earlier in the year as I read them). I felt the prequels actually did add to the book, especially the one from the perspective of Serenity. I loved Leaving Time as I do most of her books, in part because this one dealt with the mindset of elephants and if you add in animal behaviors my interest will automatically be peaked. It's about a tragedy that separated a mother and daughter when the daughter was only 3, and the daughter's search for her mother years later. One thing I enjoyed was the seamless story telling between the present day and 10 years earlier when the incident took place. There wasn't really a dull moment. It was captivating and yet another one of her books I enjoyed.  

Books Read in 2014:
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
The Fault in Our Stars  by John Green
Burned by Ellen Hopkins
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
A Grief Observed by CS Lewis
The Monument Men by Robert Edsel
The Nazi Officer's Wife by Edith Beer
Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass Isak Dinesen
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Looking for Alaska by John Green
When Life Comes Undone by TJ Addington
Number the Stars by Lois Lowery
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Where There's Smoke by Jodi Picoult
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster  
Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen

The Peppered Moth by Margaret Drabble 
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver 

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Larger than Life by Jodi Picoult 

The Death Cure by James Dashner
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Who Will Run the Frog Hospital by Lorrie Moore
Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson
The Kill Order by James Dashner
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline 
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks
Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult

October Book Recap!

For a month where I'm never home this was a surprisingly strong month of books! I first read Who Will Run the Frog Hospital by Lorrie Moore. This was another book club book and was a very fast read. You could easily read it within one day if you are looking for something to pass the time. Unfortunately the book is rather disjointed where you have the main character as an older woman reflecting back on one summer of her life as a teenager. The issue is that you really don't get a feel for the character as an adult so the parts where she is talking about "present day" seems out of place and awkward. Also, the flashback is just that-a flash-it felt like stepping into a story midway through and not fully understanding the characters. Not my favorite read of the year.

Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson has been sitting on my shelf for a while. A quick trip to Colorado provided me about 10 hours of flying time and thus plenty of time to focus on reading this book. It was a bit slow to start but really grew from there! Reading the story of the 1908 hurricane that completely devastated Galveston, Texas was both interesting and frightening. There are a number of people mentioned in the book who come and go quickly so it can be difficult keeping them all straight at times, but even just going along for the ride and understanding the overconfidence that quickly turned into fear amongst all the people is quite strong. Also, since this is a book based on as much fact as possible, I also felt like I learned something!

I finally got around to finishing the Maze Runner series by reading The Kill Order by James Dashner! Kill Order is actually the prequel to the series. It's always a bit weird to me when the last book is actually the first chronologically. Maybe it's that I know what ultimately happens that it takes away from the book a bit. Don't get me wrong, just like all the others in this series, this is still a great book. Full of action that's for sure! Makes you hate the government a little bit as well. You are following a completely different group from the rest of the series and taking place directly after the "sun flares" that are talked about in the other books. Scary to consider how society could go downhill pretty fast.

Lastly I read Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline. So good!!!! My bookclub almost read this book earlier in the year, but now I'm thinking I should bring it up again as another potential! The orphan train's were real from the early 1900s where orphaned children (typically immigrants to the States) were shipped to the Midwest on trains and people could literally just come to the different train stops and pick out a kid to take home. As you can imagine these kids didn't always have the best of lives. While the characters in the story are fictitious, they are still remarkably realistic. I love that this book bounces between the early 1900s and 2011 seamlessly. Joining together two characters who have a lot more in common than they may think. I love that this book also has very strong female characters. This was a book I both didn't want to put down, and didn't want to end. Highly recommended!


Books Read in 2014:
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
The Fault in Our Stars  by John Green
Burned by Ellen Hopkins
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
A Grief Observed by CS Lewis
The Monument Men by Robert Edsel
The Nazi Officer's Wife by Edith Beer
Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass Isak Dinesen
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Looking for Alaska by John Green
When Life Comes Undone by TJ Addington
Number the Stars by Lois Lowery
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Where There's Smoke by Jodi Picoult
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster  

Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen
The Peppered Moth by Margaret Drabble 
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver 

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Larger than Life by Jodi Picoult 

The Death Cure by James Dashner
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Who Will Run the Frog Hospital by Lorrie Moore
Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson
The Kill Order by James Dashner
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

September Book Recap!

September saw the start of me traveling for work and thus getting worried that I wouldn't be able to make it through as many books, but I still made it through 3! Not gonna lie, I was pretty pleased!

First was a classic I had read many years ago, but had forgotten the details of so figured it was time to take it up again. This would be Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. When people saw that's what I was reading a lot were taken aback and almost made me question wanting to read it again. But I'm happy I did. It's good! Granted, I never quite connect with some of these classic novels where the dream guy is in fact rather brute or rude. At least this time the guy shows more kindness and attention to her. I liked Jane's calmness and rational thinking though!

Next up was The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. I enjoyed Brown's other books, and a friend mentioned this one was also really great. Oddly it brought a fun memory where a girl came up to me at a college fair years ago looking for noetic science (which is highlighted in this novel) and when I asked what that was she seemed annoyed and said something along the lines of "it's from the new Dan Brown novel!!!" However now I'm ready! The end kindof dragged for me as the 'bad guy' had been taken care of and the rest just tied up a little bit about Mason symbols, but I still enjoy the rabbit hole Brown takes people down with conspiracies, symbolism, and action. Plus this one takes place in DC which I appreciate since it's a place I've actually been. It always shocks me though when you realize his books pretty much just take place over a few hours or a day!

Lastly I read Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Surprisingly I had never read this before! Which is a bit disappointing because I enjoyed it! Who doesn't like a book about an adorable little boy who suddenly finds himself thrown from rags to riches but still remains just as kind and generous as he was before. I do appreciate good manners and thinking of others.

Books Read in 2014:
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
The Fault in Our Stars  by John Green
Burned by Ellen Hopkins
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
A Grief Observed by CS Lewis
The Monument Men by Robert Edsel
The Nazi Officer's Wife by Edith Beer
Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass Isak Dinesen
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Looking for Alaska by John Green
When Life Comes Undone by TJ Addington
Number the Stars by Lois Lowery
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Where There's Smoke by Jodi Picoult
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster  

Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen
The Peppered Moth by Margaret Drabble 
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver 

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Larger than Life by Jodi Picoult 

The Death Cure by James Dashner
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett

August Book Recap!

Was finally able to pick up the pace with reading again this month! It may have helped that a fair bit was young adult books so the big words and hidden symbols were kept to a minimum.

Last month my book club read The Maze Runner by James Dashner which was remarkable good! I really enjoyed it and looked forward to continuing the series. Well this month I definitely did that by reading both the 2nd and 3rd books in the series, The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure. There is a 4th book to the series which is actually a prequel to Maze Runner. If the library has this easily available I may read it, but I find it sometimes weird to go back and read the beginning when I do know what already happens. Of the entire series, the first book was probably my favorite. But then again, it could be because it was fresh and new and that first spark of something new is often times the most exciting. Scorch Trials is a very obvious second book in that it does keep the pace going and new plot lines emerge, the readers are introduced to more characters, and ultimately more questions are formed than answered. Luckily Death Cure does a good job of answering a number of those questions and you do get a formative ending. You don't get all the details, especially regarding Teresa, and I would have like liked the chancellor to be a bit more present with more details, but such is any good book. It leaves you with a fair amount of answers, with just a few questions left. Definitely a good overall series and one I suggest. I typically don't pick up young adult series, but I'm happy I picked up this one! Who knows, maybe I'll eventually pick up some of the other popular series too!

My book club this month selected to read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Going into this book, I had heard it was good, but never really knew what it was about. To be honest, I didn't even read a summary of what the book was about, just merely jumped in and started reading. That was a unique way to read as normally I have at least a general feel for what the basis of a book is. If I had to describe this novel I'd probably say it was predominately about two screwed up people who happen to get married and ultimately end up ruining each others lives. Gone Girl certainly keeps you guessing and going back and forth between the two main characters as to who you like and who you hate. Friends had told me that there's this crazy twist you don't see coming and it's going to be amazing! Well, I got to that point, and I had guessed it already. Or at least hoped for it. So it didn't shock me, but what did shock me was the psychotic things you learn of after that twist. I liked the whole story up until the very end. At that point there was a strong chance I ended the book by saying "seriously?!?!?" out loud. It left me feeling pity for pretty much all characters involved.

Lastly, I read the short story Larger Than Life by Jodi Picoult. This is another precursor to her next novel that comes out next month and introduces you to the mother of the main character in her upcoming book, Alice. She researches and studies animal memory, at times feeling more sympathy toward the animals than she should. I actually found myself hoping that the book would continue and I'd learn more so I guess it did what it's supposed to! Then again, any book that is about humans and animals creating a bond that surpasses the differences of species is pretty much guaranteed to get my seal of approval.  Even more to the goal of Picoult is it got me more excited for her book that comes out in October!


Books Read in 2014:
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
The Fault in Our Stars  by John Green
Burned by Ellen Hopkins
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
A Grief Observed by CS Lewis
The Monument Men by Robert Edsel
The Nazi Officer's Wife by Edith Beer
Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass Isak Dinesen
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Looking for Alaska by John Green
When Life Comes Undone by TJ Addington
Number the Stars by Lois Lowery
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Where There's Smoke by Jodi Picoult
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster  

Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen
The Peppered Moth by Margaret Drabble 
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver 

The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Larger than Life by Jodi Picoult 

The Death Cure by James Dashner