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Show Us Your Books: January/February 2016

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Book Review for January 2016

Hello All! I made it back to the blog for Show Us Your Books! I’m combining two months for this post, and really most of these were read in January. Much like blogging, reading has also gotten a bit of a bump when it comes to prioritizing time. However, reading is one of the few activities that really relaxes me (ie I can focus on it and only it), so I do try to get some reading time in at night or in the morning. This is what I’ve been reading lately…

The Silent Land by Graham Joyce

It was a good read. I sort of figured out what was probably going on midway through, but it was a well written, well developed story. I feel like it’s a good pass the time read, but not too fluffy either.

 

Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling

I have so enjoyed both her book. I find them laugh out loud funny, like I was reading this one at the airport laughing out loud. I can’t say I like one over the other one, I enjoyed them both. I did like how this one really got into her career and how she got The Mindy Show. Here were a few of my favorite quotes:

“We will never come home to each other again and we will never again have each other’s undivided attention. That version of our friendship is over forever.”

“If you’ve got it, flaunt it. And if you don’t got if? Flaunt it. ‘Cause what are we even doing here if we’re not flaunting it?”

“People get scared when you try to do something, especially when it looks like you’re succeeding. People do not get scared when you’re failing. It calms them.”

FanGirl by Rainbow Rowell

Loved, loved this book! I love all of her books 🙂 Her character development is what makes her books. I’m always so surprised at how much I enjoy her books, most of the time reading the summary, I think, nope not for me and then I get sucked right in and LOVE it. I didn’t even mind the fan fiction. I have to say I’m not hugely drawn to the concept of Carry On, but I’m totally going to read it, because well I’ve learned my lesson. Just for fun I decided to rank her books: 1. Eleanor & Park 2. FanGirl 3. Attachments 4. LandLine. It was a bit a toss up between 2 and 3. What has been your favorite?

Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor

I was not a fan. I kept thinking that it would kind of come together, and was disappointed. I could not get into the story, the writing rhythm totally threw me off. I like books where I can get lost in the story and this was not it. It is interesting that it started as a podcast though. One day I will learn just to put books down that I don’t really like, but it doesn’t seem like that will be anytime soon 🙂

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

This book was one of those that got you hooked immediately, and I stayed up way too late reading. This book was all kinds of crazy, and twists and turns (though lots that you saw coming). It is a bit on the long side, but I would rather get more closure than less.

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica 

Meh. I don’t have anything much to say with this one. I just felt very blah about it overall, not the worst book, but didn’t really love the characters, the plot, or how it was presented. I wasn’t a fan of the jumping back and forth in time either. Also, the side story on the mom and detective was more annoying than sweet to me.

Thank you to Steph & Jana for always keeping us well stocked in the reading department!!

Life According to Steph

What have you been reading lately? 

Clear The List: March 2016

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Clear the List Goal Setting for March 2016

Hello All!! It’s me Mariah, the blogger who only posts once a month now 🙂 February was good, and you guys know the drill by now, it FLEW BY. I really don’t know what else to say about it. I’m still working so hard on BHG, I spend so much time at the computer that it is really hard to find the energy to spend more time at the computer to do the blog:( I’m exhausted by the end of most days, and have been going to bed around 9:00 or 9:30, figuring out, learning, interacting with new people, is HARD. This week I worked most days from 6:30 am to bedtime. Of course the whole month was not all work, and I’ve been out to meet Shannon and with P on weekends, it’s just seemed intense this month. I don’t feel like there is enough hours in the day, and have felt some of the stress of feeling that no matter how hard I work everything takes longer than expected and I’m not getting it all done. I hope all of you are doing well!! I know this time will pass and things will get easier, but for now I’m working hard because that is the only way to see if I can make BHG work

Before I get into my goals, I want to welcome another #childfree lady to the Childfree Are We Bloggers List!! Cece of Mahogany Drive wrote an amazing blog post, “We Don’t Want Kids”, about her (and her husband) choosing to be childfree. I don’t talk about it enough here, but I’m so glad other women are talking about their choice to be childfree. Honestly, in the past month I’ve interacted with two women who were truly shocked (and not in a bad way) that there are couples who choose as a lifestyle to be childfree. Their responses were centered around not realizing or knowing any couples who chose to do that, or that is a path other’s choose. Thank you for sharing Cece!!

Now onto Clear The List. I can’t wait to hear what you are working towards. Join me and my co-hosts, Esther from Local Adventurer, Lindsay from Lindsay Does Languages, and Shannon from Eurolinguiste in encouraging each other in reaching our goals, and #clearthelist. Linkup your goal setting post below and cheer your fellow bloggers on with their goals.

February

This month was much better in terms of me remembering to track fro my daily habits, so I feel good about that. Weekly habit sheet not so much, and part of that is b/c P was doing a lot of those items for me (umm dog and cleaning), I did record some of his cleaning mainly so I could reassure myself the cleaning was getting done. Sam walking I only record if I do it during the day. I did get two hikes in this month, even though I thought for sure that would not happen, I’m very proud of myself for making it a priority (and for P also making it a priority). The title picture above was from one of our hikes, it was a cool landscape…both hikes were great. One day I will share more pictures of them :o. Also you will notice that I’m throwing the towel in on taking a vitamin daily (at least for now).

Daily Tracker for February

Weekly Habit Tracker for February

March Goals

I’m really going to focus on reaching my daily step goals this month. I know I’m not being active enough. To be honest it is hard to pull myself away from the computer and commit to the time it takes me to get the 5000 steps in. We will see how I do on this one this month. I say it’s a focus, but honestly above all else I want to work on, BHG is #1. I’m feeling good about March, and looking forward to getting a handle on all my to-dos for BHG. I’m also determined to join back in for Show Us Your Books this month and share what I read in January and February. I do take notes after reading each book, but it is just getting the post together. I would like to get the Portland trip post up this month too, but no promises 🙂 Besides being super focused on the business, here are my weekly and daily habit trackers.  You can get a blank tracker for printing here.

Daily Habit Tracker for March

Weekly Habit Tracker for March

Share your goal posts below if you got one!! If not let me know what you are planning for March!!

Clear The List


Clear The List: February 2016

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February-2016-Clear-The-List

Hello!! I’ve missed all of my blogging peeps! January was an awesome month, it flew by. Of course, when have I not said that about a month? It did seem to be over quickly, but not in a hazy way as some months. More like each day was filled full and I was kicking-ass. I’m so scared about losing the motivation I had in January, because January felt good. I’ve been super focused on BHG. I’ve been so busy, and feeling like I don’t have enough time to do it all but in a good way. This is why I’ve been quiet here 🙁 but I need to focus and not split my energy for now. When I get some more of my projects/ideas completed then I will have more time to be here. The really funny thing is that my pageviews have doubled in the last several months, isn’t that just how it works out. I do miss you guys and hope you do not think I’ve abandoned you all.

It’s the beginning of the month so you know what time it is, Clear The List time. Join me and my co-hosts, Esther from Local Adventurer, Lindsay from Lindsay Does Languages, and Shannon from Eurolinguiste in encouraging each other in reaching our goals, and #clearthelist. Linkup your goal setting post below and cheer your fellow bloggers on with their goals.

But first, let’s talk January.

January was an excellent month in terms of motivation and productivity. Was my habit tracker filled out perfectly? No, but I feel good about what I was able to get done and my focus. We also took a super awesome last minute trip to Portland Oregon this month. I LOVED Portland, and eventually I will share our trip in a post…especially since we had such awesome food 🙂

Below are my filled in sheets. Though one of the problems with the weekly sheets is I totally forgot to fill it in, oops. I’m sharing it but it is not really a true accounting. I’ve got to get better at using it, but regardless it is a good reminder of what I should be doing. The “get out” on the weekly is working from outside the house (like at a coffeeshop), which I really have been enjoying. Just wanted to clarify in case you think I only left the house twice this month LOL. Though again even that was more than twice I just didn’t fill it in.

The Daily Habit Completed January
The Weekly Habit Completed January

The use of the daily journal is working pretty well, but I do find it hard to remember to document my day, everyday. I’ve been really focused lately, so I don’t feel like I’m wasting as much time day to day, or find myself trying to figure out what I should work on. I’ve found a good direction/focus (at least for now).

I’ve found that if I don’t get my yoga done in the morning then I usually don’t find time to fit it in later, so that is something I’m going to try to be more conscious of next month. Sidenote: Yoga with Adriene this past month released a 30-day Yoga Camp series, which I am loving. If any of you are thinking about trying out yoga, her videos are such a good place to start (I know I’ve said it before and I’m going to keep saying it) 🙂 Just getting started and into a routine is half the challenge and I think her videos just make it so easy, especially the 30-day series, since you don’t have to “find” the next video to try.

February Goals

Guys I hate to disappoint you but they are basically the same as January. I’m just working super hard on making BHG work. I know February is going to feel like a very short month, and honestly most of it is already booked. I would love to get two hikes in, but we only made it once in January and that is very likely the case for February too 🙁 The weather was not great on many weekends in January, and I know we have limited availability on weekends this coming month. On the tracker I’ve included social media, and the reason that is there is to: 1. make sure I’m being consistent 2. using social media intentional (ie not random scrolling). Again, broken into daily and weekly sheets. Here is a blank tracker sheet if you want to start your own.

February-Daily-Habit-List
February-The-Weekly-Habit-List
My main goal for February (in addition to the above routines), is to stay focused and try to maintain the same motivation I have felt throughout January. A big part of that for me is making sure I schedule out my day the day before, and I reach my top three daily goals.

Clear The List

What are your goals for February? Do you have any big plans for February? Link-up below or share in the comments.


Show Us Your Books: December 2015

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Show-Us-Your-Books-December-2015

Had a great reading month in December!

The first thing I must share is that, Miriam (Farm Girl), finished and published her very first book!!

How To Be You

I am SO proud of Miriam for following through on a dream and putting herself out there. I was beyond thrilled to get to push buy on Amazon and read her book. I was smiling ear to ear reading it, and crying a little too. Nothing I can write here will do her justice. I don’t push you guys much here to do anything, but I demand you go buy this book 🙂 GO NOW, PRESS BUY!! Seriously, it’s your lose if you don’t listen to me.

In other December reading news, I had several books that really got me thinking and are changing my daily actions, which I love. As always when we talk about books it’s with Jana & Steph 🙂

Life According to Steph

A Good Marriage by Stephen King

I just randomly picked this up between books. It’s more of a short story than a novel, and this edition contained the story 1922, which was actually longer than A Good Marriage. Both were ok, but not my favorite King writing. A bit more old school thriller/mystery as in the lines of Hitchcock. Apparently they made a movie of A Good Marriage, I’m going to have to look it up. That is what drew me in to choose this book, as I was waiting on holds 🙂

Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon

LOVED this book. Very quick read, but so many good tidbits. Sometimes you need to hear out loud (read out loud) things that are common sense, but click when you see them on paper. I felt like there was so much good advice in this book. I get really overwhelmed with the idea of originality especially with spending so much time online, so this resonated with me to get out of my own head. I pulled a few of the passages that I really felt rang a bell with me…

“What a good artist understands is that nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original.”

“If we’re free from the burden of trying to be completely original, we can stop trying to make something out of nothing, and we can embrace influence instead of running away from it.”

“You are, in fact, a mashup of what you choose to let into your life. You are the sum of your influences. The German writer Goethe said, “We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.”

“…if you try to devour the history of your discipline all at once, you’ll choke. Instead, chew on one thinker–writer, artist, activist, role model–you really love. Study everything there is to know about that thinker. Then find three people that thinker loved, and find out everything about them. Repeat this as many times as you can. Climb up the tree as far as you can go.”

Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin

Loved, loved. This is a book that I can say 100% changed actions and something I’m still working on applying today. I took like five pages of notes and it really got me thinking about how I set goals, and daily routines. This is one of my top books for getting me thinking and putting things in a different mindset for myself. Very thought provoking, but also very actionable. Prior to this book, I had not read The Happiness Project. Embarrassingly enough I didn’t even realize she wrote The Happiness Project, though she referred it often in Better Than Before (however she never said “my” book). She breaks down personality into four types when it comes to building habits and approaching goals: Upholders, Questioners, Obligers, and Rebels. She then goes through different approaches to building habits and how the different types can best use these approaches. I just loved this book, and had so many good ideas while reading it. I’ve been struggling with getting a daily routine together, and this book was wonderful for me.

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

Of course after reading Better Than Before, I checked this out immediately. The books certainly flow into one another, though I think I might have looked at Better Than Before with a more fresh view of the author than if I had read The Happiness Project first. I really liked this one too, though it felt less actionable than Better Than Before. Honestly, it’s hard to separate the two completely in my mind, once I finished this one. The Happiness Project reads to me much more of a personal story, where Better Than Before is a bit more scientific based. I liked The Happiness Project too and it had some great lessons about being more mindful. I love the idea of building your personal commandments and really evaluating what do you enjoy, versus what you “wish” you enjoyed. This is an exercise that I am absolutely working on and bringing into my life.

Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin

Nice fast-paced plot that draws you in quickly. I think the “love” story was so superfluous to the story, it could have so easily been left out. It seemed so silly to add that in and not tie it better to the plot or emotions of the character…other than hook-up scenes and a splash of jealousy here and there. I felt like the ending was presented in a clunky manner, and super rushed. Honestly they could have cut out some of the “love story” and added to the end instead of cramming it all into the Epilogue. Good entertainment value but overall the characters and plot could have used some refinement as you got further into the story.

The Expats by Chris Pavone

I hated the back and forth jumping in time of this book. Often times jumping around does not really bother me, but in this book it did. I considered giving up on it half way through, because I was so annoyed. To me it was hard to really get into the plot. Of course right about when I thought about giving in, they stopped jumping around quite so much. The plot is interesting but I was not blown away with this one.

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson

What an interesting read! I really enjoyed how he organized the book and found it very intriguing and engaging. I enjoyed this book much more than I expected. I thought the topic was interesting so I thought I would give it a try, and found the author very witty and engaging. Not a dry book, so if you have an interest in psychology at all, I think you would enjoy it.

ReWork by Jason Fried

I like how straightforward this book was. I think there was some good advice there for anyone in business. I would have loved to share some that knowledge, but my kindle did not save my highlights 🙁 I’m so sad.  

What books are on your 2016 reading list?

P.S. As a total side note, I’m really focusing on building my business this month. January has started off great. Anyway that is why I’ve been quiet over here, I just need to put all my attention and energy to get BHG off the ground 🙂 So sorry for the lack of interaction lately….don’t worry I’ll be back when things get smoother.