20. Read 10 classics. (5/10)

I read Bram Stoker's Dracula in October for a bit of spooky, Halloween-related fun.  I continue to be surprised by how much I enjoy books that I think I will hate.  Dracula is quite good.  I wrote about it on the book blog here.

19. Read 5 biographies/memoirs. (5/5)

Complete!

In April, I read Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent.  Burpo tells the story of his four-year-old son Colton's trip to heaven during emergency surgery.  To be perfectly honest, I am often skeptical of these types of books.  However, this book seemed genuine.  There are many details that appear too difficult to fake.  The Burpo's story was engaging and kept me turning the pages.  I sincerely hope that it is true.

Last month, I listened to Tina Fey's memoir, Bossypants.   She narrated it herself and that made all the difference to me.  It was hilarious!  I highly recommend the audiobook.  I wrote more about Bossypants on my book blog, which I'm trying to keep up with again.

92. Get a Kindle.

Complete!  I got a Kindle for my birthday last week.  My family came up and took me to lunch on Saturday.  Then they gave me this baby: 

I love being able to download all those classics for free.  I love being able to read comfortably in bed because I don't have to hold open the book.  I love that I will easily take my Kindle with me as I start traveling for work.

I still love printed books.  I love looking at them on my shelf and there is just something about holding a book in your hands that can't be replaced.  I see my Kindle as a convenient extension of my book collection.  I am very happy with it so far.  (Minus the fact that it tries to scare me sometimes with pictures like the one below.  Love Emily.  Just wasn't expecting to see her gazing up at me like this...)

Updates from February

5. Gangster (5/10)
I watched Little Caesar.

10. Romantic Comedy (8/10); 13. Watch all the movies in AFI's 100 Years 100 Movies list. (50/100). 
I watched It Happened One Night and loved it!  I highly recommend it!

37. Learn to knit.
Complete!  I took a knitting class at a local yarn shop.  I haven't progressed to making anything fancy, but I believe I have mastered the basics.  I'm currently working on a scarf with some yarn that I love.

81. Donate blood three times. (2/3)
I gave blood through the American Red Cross at work again.  This time I got pretty woozy and had to lie down afterward, but I survived to donate another day.


98. Read another 20 books. (20/20)
Complete!  I recently read The Giver by Lois Lowry (loved it!), Juliet by Anne Fortier (also loved), and This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson (interesting to me, but probably not for everyone).

(all book cover photos from goodreads)

2010 Catch Up

I'm playing bloggy catch up with 2010.  I neglected/forgot to blog about some things I did (hence the pictures from Halloween in this post).  I also need to mention my two year-long tasks that I completed on December 31.

64. Attend 5 community events. (4/5)
Back in October, I returned to Harrisonburg to help with the Harrisonburg Fire Department's booth at the annual Trick-or-Treating on Court Square.  I brought the Safe Kids pumpkin I had carved earlier in the week (which, I am proud to say, was featured on the Safe Kids national website).  In addition to handing out candy, we passed out reflective bags and safety information.  Trick-or-treating was followed by a costume contest.  The kids were adorable and the some of the costumes were very impressive.

I also feel the need to share that this dog had on a squirrel costume!

18. Read the Bible in a year using a daily reading guide.
Complete!  I used The Message version of the Bible and a beginning to end reading guide.  It was sometimes hard to read beginning to end because the first nine months of the year are spent on the Old Testament.  To increase chances for success, I think I would recommend one of the other reading guides that provides passages from the Old and New Testaments each day.

34. Make a list of memorable events and favorites at the end of each year. (2/3)
For the most part, I added events as they happened last year, which saved me from my bad memory at the end of the year. 

42. Project 365: Take a picture every day for a year. 
Complete!  Honestly, this is much harder than it sounds.  The majority of my days are the same, so finding something new to take a picture of each day can be challenging (especially if you are feeling lazy or can't/won't leave your home).  Thus, I came to appreciate the days when I traveled somewhere new or the clouds were unique on my way home.  The bottom line is that I have some pictures from 2010 that I love, while most are nothing special or just plain bad.  I added my favorites from the rest of the year to my Project 365 page (located on the right sidebar). 

4. Fantasy (5/10)
I finally watched Miracle on 34th Street, which is clearly one of the classic Christmas movies.  Not sure how I managed to not watch it for approximately 23 years.  No worries though; I'm now a fan.

Next Up: A post with statistics from 2010 (cause I'm nerdy like that)

A Very Bookish Update

Obviously, I have become very bad at posting on the blog.  So here are some updates... with pictures!

19. Read 5 biographies/memoirs. (3/5)
Yesterday, I finished Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun.  Rubin presented a lot of research concerning happiness, which I found very interesting.  Although I would not undertake every resolution that Rubin assigned herself if I were doing a happiness project, I greatly admired her drive and organization.


20. Read 10 classics. (4/10)
At the beginning of November, I finished my audiobook of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien.  I had unsuccessfully tried to read this book before and I picked up the audiobook from the library on a whim one day.  I enjoyed it so much more as an audiobook.  Although, previously seeing the movies definitely helped me because I already knew the characters' names.


I also finished Brave New World by Aldous Huxley in November.  One of my coworkers gave me a funny look when I said that I was reading this for fun.  I guess I'm just crazy like that.  Brave New World is probably the strangest dystopian work I have ever read. 






48. Make 10 pieces of jewelry. (6/10)
We did a Secret Santa at work this week.  I made a lanyard (for daily id wear) as part of my gift for my coworker.  I stuck with a classic red, white, and blue color scheme.  Now I just need to get around to making one for myself. 


49. Take a cake decorating class.
50. Bake and decorate a cake using fondant. 
I discovered that I can some fun classes at my local Michael's store.  I'm planning on signing up for the basic cake decorating class soon.  I'm excited that they also have a class specifically designated for fondant.

(all book cover photos from goodreads)

Updates...

Oh hey.  I'm still alive.  I've been doing bloggy things.  I promise.

62. Find a job. - COMPLETE!
So, basically this is the reason I've not posted anything.  I found out I got a job.  I found an apartment.  I moved.  And I started my job.  All in two weeks!  I've finished the fourth week of my job now and everything is going well.  The unpacking?  Not so much (as in, I still have a room full of boxes waiting to be unpacked...)

98. Read another 20 books. (17/20)
In September, I finished The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley, Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris, and The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.  I also read Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich the week before last.

22. Read/Reread all six Jane Austen novels. (1/6)

I finished reading Persuasion by Jane Austen this week.  This was a new read for me and I loved it.  If you asked me right now, I would probably say I like it more than Pride and Prejudice.  I'll have to wait for my reread of P&P to say definitively.

13. Watch all the movies in AFI’s 100 Years 100 Movies list. (49/100); 5. Gangster (4/10)

I'm proud to say that I sucked it up and finally watched The Godfather.  As in, the whole movie, not just the first twenty minutes or so.  This has been a struggle for me for quite some time.  I consider myself to be an avid movie watcher, so having not seen The Godfather created a bit of inner turmoil for me.  I've tried to watch this movie many times and I always failed.  I just couldn't get into it.  The opening wedding party scenes seemed to go on and on and on forever and I couldn't stand it.  I am shocked to say that I actually liked it this time!  Yes, I said like.  Maybe not in an "I want to own this movie and rewatch it soon" kind of like, but at least an "I don't feel like poking out my eyeballs" kind of like.  This is definitely a great example of how important it is to find the right time to watch a certain movie.  I never thought I would say I like The Godfather, but with the right timing, maybe you can like your personal "Godfather" too!

81. Donate blood three times. (1/3)

I donated blood through the American Red Cross earlier this week.  I had some bruising, but it's mostly gone now.

I believe that is everything.  I guess I'm up to date now!  As I get more settled in to my new life, I hope to pick up the pace and knock some of the biggies off my list.  (It's crazy to think about, but as of December 11 I will only have a year left....yikes!)

98. Read another 20 books. (13/20)

I read Mockingjay last Tuesday.  It is the final book in The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.  Although it wasn't quite as amazing as the first two books, I still enjoyed reading it.  These books are fantastic!  Go read them. 

19. Read 5 biographies/memoirs. (2/5)

I read Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert a few weeks ago.  I enjoyed reading about a life so different from my own.  I also now wish to go eat pasta in Italy.  Yum.  As a side note, I have always loved the cover of this book.  Upon discovering the format of the book, I swooned a little more.

98. Read another 20 books. (12/20)

Oh hey, I finished two books this week.  It only took me six months to read A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.  Not at all embarrassing.  And not at all a reflection of the book, either.  It was actually a really fantastic book about science.  I enjoyed the humor and wit that Bryson injected into topics that sometimes seem boring in textbooks. 

I also finished Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2009.  Olive Kitteridge is not a typical novel in that it is told in a series of short stories centering around the people of Crosby, Maine.  Woven throughout the stories is Olive's story, which is rather sad.  Although the format of the book took some getting used to at first, I appreciated the dimensions it added to the story.  I would compare it to watching a television series rather than a single movie, which I sometimes prefer. 

98. Read another 20 books. (10/20)

I've been in a bit of a reading slump lately, but I have read two books so far this month.  Stephenie Meyer's The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner was a quick and easy read.  It was interesting to gain more insight into a character that is only briefly mentioned in Eclipse.  I liked Bree's story and was sad it had to end the way it did.  Last week, I read Janet Evanovich's new Stephenie Plum book, Sizzling Sixteen.  I love this series, but I only liked this book.  As usual, the characters were ridiculous.  (For example, this book introduces a pet alligator named Mr. Jingles.)  Overall, a fun summer read. 

19. Read 5 biographies/memoirs. (1/5)

I finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot last night.  It was an incredible book and a true story!  Here is the link to my post about it on my book blog.  I'm counting this in my biography category because I can because this book tells an amazingly personal story that has never been justly told until now.  Go read it.

98. Read another 20 books. (8/20)

I devoured The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.  They are the first two books of a young adult trilogy that takes place in the future North American country of Panem.  The two main characters, Katniss and Peeta, are sent to fight in the yearly Hunger Games, a fight to the death organized by the government to keep the districts under control.  I love the characters Katniss and Peeta.  I can't wait to finish reading their story.  The final book of the trilogy, Mockingjay, comes out on August 24, 2010.

98. Read another 20 books. (6/20)

Yesterday, I finished The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  It was fantastic!  I'd heard people raving about it for a while and I finally got a copy from the library last week.  I was hooked from the first few pages.  Go read this book right now!

98. Read another 20 books. (5/20)

I also finished four other books within the last week, three of Anna Quindlen's short, nonfiction books and a novel by Samantha Harvey. 

Harvey's novel, The Wilderness, is about a man with Alzheimer's Disease.  Since I want to work with the older population, I'm trying to learn more about Alzheimer's Disease.  While I understand the basics as presented in my gerontology classes, I really want to gain a more in depth knowledge of the topic.  I'll soon be starting a four week internship with the Alzheimer's Association, which I will complete before starting my public health internship for the rest of the summer.  So, when I saw the description of this novel, I knew it was something I wanted to read.  The Wilderness was very moving and sometimes sad, but about as close as I can get to understanding what it might feel like to have Alzheimer's Disease.  More of my thoughts can be found here. 

The three Anna Quindlen books I read were A Short Guide to a Happy Life, Being Perfect, and How Reading Changed My Life.  I loved them all and my book blog post is located here. 

Since I'm trying to read more, I might increase this  book task to more than 20 books.  This is already an added task since I finished the first general book task.  I'll see how it goes. 

20. Read 10 classics. (2/10)

Now that I have my book blog to keep track of my reading, I sometimes forget to update my reading tasks here.  Oops.  I read Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll one day this week.  It's the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and was just as enjoyable as the original.  My full thoughts can be found here. 

20. Read 10 classics. (1/10)

I read Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland last week.  I really enjoyed its uniqueness and cleverness.  It was most refreshing.  More of my thoughts can be found here on my book blog. 

98. Read another 20 books. (1/20)

This is slightly delayed, but I read Nicholas Sparks' The Last Song on March 25.  I saw the movie when it came out the next Wednesday.  I liked both, despite the previous Nicholas Sparks ban I self imposed.  My thoughts on the book and movie can be found on my book blog: click here for the book and here for the movie. 

21. Read 10 other books. (10/10)

Complete!
I finished reading Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke today.  It's the first book in the Hannah Swensen mystery series.  It was a fun read.  I liked that it had recipes throughout the book.  I plan on trying several of them!  I picked up this book because I saw on goodreads that it was similar to Janet Evanovich's Stephenie Plum series, which I adore.  While Janet remains superior, I am interested in continuing the series in the future. 

Since this little 10 book task is complete, I think I may add another reading task since I still have space to fill at the end of my list.  I have other reading to do, but it is all categorized.  I need another fun, fiction reading goal since that is what I'm most likely to read right now and I like checking things off my list!

96. Read 10 books for spiritual growth. (3/10)

I finished reading Beth Moore's Breaking Free.  I started it with my last Bible study, but we never finished it.  So, I've sort of randomly been reading it since then and now it's done.  It would probably be more beneficial for me to read it completely though again in a more reasonable amount of time, but it was still a good study.  I know I identified with a lot of Moore's points throughout the book.  I'm looking forward to reading more Beth Moore in the future.