2015 - My Year in Books

Hi friends,

Today I was thinking I'd write a couple book reviews for you all, but I realized it's been a while since I looked at my reading challenge for 2015.  Last January I challenged myself to read a book every week, 52 in all.  Along the way I also started working on an overlapping list of 52 specific kinds of books as shown further down in this post.  And the results are in:

2015 Reading Challenge!

Books Read:

(Click any link in the list to see my review!)

1. Fables Volume 19 Snow White
2. Fables Volume 20 Camelot
3. Fables Volume 21 Happily Ever After
4. Fables Volume 22 Farewell
5. The Ancient Magus Bride Volume 3
6. Wren's War
7. Wren's Quest
8. Ms Marvel Volume 3
9. Hexomancy
10. Wayward Volume 1
11. Ghosted Volume 1
12. Figment Volume 1
13. A Brides Story Volume 6
14. Dead New World
15. The Torment of Rachel Ames
16. Alice in No-Man's-Land
17. Top 12 Places to Visit in Texas
18. Battling Boy: The Rise of Aurora West
19. The Master of Formalities
20. The Death and Life of Mal Evans
21. Spell or High Water
22. Off to Be The Wizard
23. Princess Ugg Volume 1
24. A Walk in The Woods
25. Velvet Volume 1
26. The Ancient Magus Bride Volume 2
27. Lumberjanes Volume 1
28. Bride of the Water God Volume 2
29. Bride of the Water God Volume 1
30. The Ancient Magus Bride Volume 1
31. Avengers & X-Men - Axis
32. Secret Wars
33. The Two Princesses of Bamarre
34. Wild Magic
35. Wolf Speaker
36. Emperor Mage
37. Wren to the Rescue
38. Captain Marvel Volume 3
39. Captain Marvel Volume 2
40. Captain Marvel Volume 1
41. Ms Marvel Volume 2
42. Batgirl Volume 1
43. Fuse
44. Burn
45. Gifts of the Blood
46. The Swap
47. Cipher
48. Waistcoats and Weaponry
49. Manifest Destiny Volume 1
50. Amulet Volume 2
51. Amulet Volume 1
52. Thor Goddess of Thunder Volume 1
53. The Sculptor
54. Rat Queens Volume 2
55. Rat Queens Volume 1
56. Celebromancy
57. Geekomancy
58. The Long Mars
59. The Long War
60. The Reluctant Midwife
61. Pride and Prejudice
62. Price and Prejudice and Zombies
63. The Weekend Homesteader
64. Call the Nurse
65. Paradise Lot
66. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
67. Injustice Gods Among Us Volume 2
68. Injustice Gods Among Us Volume 1
69. Wildflowers and Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachians Mountains and Piedmont
70. Midnight in Austenland
71. The Permaculture Handbook
72. Unlocked
73. Lock In
74. Ms Marvel Volume 1
75. Landscaping with Fruit
76. The Johnstown Flood

I think this is the full list, I may be a missing a couple more recent books, but this accounts for everything I can remember from a good go of looking at my records.  76 is better than I thought I'd do, so I'm quite happy with how my challenge went.  And I'm only a tiny bit surprised that 35 of the titles are comics, manga, or graphic novels!  Thanks to Fight or Flight Comics for that.  They opened almost a year ago and Bryan and I have found our perfect local comic book store in them!

As for the more complex challenge here's the worksheet all filled out:

I didn't want to double count anything, though I did read some books that would count under more than one of the headings in the checklist.  And I may have even missed something that might count, but I spent a good half hour trying to figure out what I read that could be added, and that's plenty!  I feel pretty good about all I ended up reading and can't wait to see what I read this year.  I'm not following any particular challenge, but I'm excited to read things I've been meaning to for a long time or have been recommended multiple times.  So I've started off the year with Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell and have many more to come.  I'll try to get in a good book post at least once a month too keep you all posted about it too!

Favorite Reads

I kind of hate picking favorites, but I have to say that some of the books I enjoyed most from this past year would be Lock In by John Scalzi, a sci fi novel, The Ancient Magus Bride fantasy manga series by Kore Yamazaki, The Ms Marvel series featuring Kamala Khan by Willow G Wilson and a team of very talented artists, and Call the Nurse a memoir of a nurse working on a remote Scottish island in the 1970's by Mary J. MacLeod.  (Links above are affiliate links.)  I recommend all of them very strongly and I'm looking forward to all the great new picks this year will bring as well.

That's all for today.  Sorry I didn't get this post out sooner, but sometimes stomach viruses happen.  Yep....

But I'm ready to tackle a video unboxing for a great new subscription box, so be on the lookout for my review of the new Enchanted Beauty Box, the beauty box for Disney fans!  Have a great week!

New Years Resolutions or All The Lists

Hi friends!

It's a brand new year and I'm excited to hit the ground running now that the last Christmas celebrations are completed (The first weekend of January we had an extended family shindig).  In past years I haven't done much in the way of making resolutions, I've never believed in diets or going cold turkey to change your life.  But this year I'm going to try at a couple that I know will make my life better in healthy incremental ways that I wait to keep up for the rest of my life.

New Years Resolutions

1. Make smaller attainable goals for my life each month, to improve my motivation levels.
2. Not be discouraged by my failures, but learn from them.  Mostly the not be discouraged part though, 'cause seriously...I fail at my goals so often because life and mental health issues just happen.
3. Celebrate the good stuff no matter how small, to cultivate gratitude and boost my positive thinking.
4. Exercise daily, which is a habit I will build gradually.  But eventually I want to have at least 5 minutes and ideally 30 minutes spent doing something that's not sitting on my butt.
5. Do some of the things I've had my list forever, and by this I mean fun things like that book I've meant to read, tackling Steam games I've had for over a year without trying, and new foods or travel experiences.

To get things started off I'm going to go over some of my January goals here, because writing about them makes me feel more motivated to take them on.

January Goals

1. Write or post videos here 3 times a week.
2. Get in exercise 2-3 times a week consistently this month.  Learn to love it along the way.
3. Play 2 new Steam games, read 5 new books, listen to new music every week.
4. Do one of those new things every day, because they're fun!
5. Try cleaning my house for 15 minutes each day.

January Blog Related Goals

I almost didn't share this with you guys, but I feel like it's a really important part of what I'm doing that needs to be seen.  Bloggers work hard too, especially when we're making it our job.  And that's my main goal these days, which is hard sometimes, but all my successes get me excited.  I really want to share that with you all!

1. Meet my new monthly goal of over 5,000 visitors here.  Last month I was down a bit at 2134, but in November I had 3630.  I can do this!
2. Post to social media daily and increase followers to the specified numbers - Facebook page 125, Twitter 350, Tsu, empowr, and Instagram 500), and post to YouTube weekly to work my way to 50 subscribers.
3. Blog about the cool new things I'm trying out.  Seriously, this is the fun part that I get to share with you guys!  Also I want stick with my planned post schedule at least 60% this month.
4. Contact some companies that I love or want to try out and review them here in partnership posts.
5. Give my blog a beautiful facelift with the help of some great branding advisors.

Here's a peek at some of the font tests, a bit of which I'm already starting to implement!

This Week's "Menu"

1. Start the cleaning and exercise routines mentioned above.
2. Start the post routines on social media.
3. Plan time for fun new things daily and make it happen.
4. Write a book review post Wednesday.  (Let's see how I did on my 2015 reading challenge!)
5. Finish creating my Winter 2016 Capsule Wardrobe. (So excited about this one!)
6. Prep for and then talk to my branding advisors.

As you can see things are looking good, and I'm hoping for a fantastic year of growth in many areas of my life.  And to top things off, this past week Bryan and I had our third anniversary.  We have yet to really sit down and celebrate it, but we're going to try to do something special soon.  This week we're opting for a normal date night, which I don't mind since we're just getting back into the swing of things after all the busyness of the holidays.

I hope all you readers had a great holiday season, let me know what your resolutions are in comments.  Or better yet tell me how you've been able to keep up with the resolutions you've made in the past!  Tips are always welcome when you're just starting out in any new endeavor.

Happy New Year,