TGIF #6

Happy Friday all! I'm only working a half day today, we are off on a little road trip for KC's cousin's wedding. I am excited because we always have fun with them and it's going to be a big shindig apparently - but in super small town USA, which is a bit of a contradiction I reckon? I don't know. Should be fun.

TBR - Show Us Your Books with Steph & Jana was on Tuesday and I added a bunch of books to my TBR. It's actually been awhile since I have added more than a couple of books on a SUYB day - don't know why, but there were so many books this time that sounded good, so on the TBR they hopped. 

Also, the other day, I went a little nutty on Netgalley, as you do, and if you're on it, the new Jodi Picoult and the new Kate Morton are on there! Fingers crossed the netgalley gods grant me all the books.

Grateful - for our trip next month! Unfortunately I accidentally spoiled the surprise, or KC guessed something was going on and I have the worst poker face/ability to lie when I'm really excited about something. So now he knows we are going to Vegas for our 5 year anniversary. We went to Vegas for our honeymoon and it was great and we loved it. This will be my 5th trip to Vegas, it's my most visited city besides Louisville, Sydney & Melbourne and I don't think any of those count since I lived in all those places. But anyway. I'm excited. If you know me, you know I love to plan like crazy and I have planned zero things for this trip. Besides flight and hotel of course. I just want to go and relax, maybe see a show, do some shopping, eat lots of food. I've been there so many times I feel like I've done the majority of things you're 'supposed to do'. Eating, shopping & hanging out at the pool are my favourite activities anyway. We don't gamble and I haven't been to a club since my first visit. There's so much to do besides drinking and gambling, though yes of course there's plenty of that too.

I made the switch - Blogger was pissing me off so I made the switch to Disqus. If blogger fixes it, I might go back, but the switch was really easy. The only issue I had was importing old comments - it took 8 tries and when it finally worked, I can't respond to them (which makes sense in hindsight). But there you go. I didn't want to switch to Disqus because I like responding to comments via email, but I suppose I still can if I want to, or if I want to have a more private conversation with someone.

Favourite Recipe - I have made cauliflower rice before but it's not enough bang for your buck, I reckon. Heather sent me this recipe a couple weeks ago (I think?) and it inspired me to try it again. Full disclaimer, I took the lazy way in every way.  I used frozen cauliflower rice, a bag of peas & carrots, onions, 1 egg and sesame oil. I don't know if it was because it was so easy that I liked it better than when I made it last time, but I wanted to eat the entire thing. I mean, the cauliflower rice was like 80 calories for the whole bag, so why not. The oil is crazy high in calories though - not that I count calories, but I am always aware of what I'm putting in my food. I just had it vegetarian - protein from peas and the egg in case you're worried about my protein intake, wink. I don't like tofu and shrimp is a pain in the butt to cook (or I just suck at it) so maybe next time I will throw in some chickpeas or an extra egg. KC would not eat this because he'd have to eat 2 chicken breasts with it just to fill him up, so I'd rather use normal rice on him (fried rice is one of our go-to meals). I am not cutting out carbs, don't worry, I just eat a lot of carbs every day, so I figured a little cutting back won't hurt.

Anywho. Happy Friday! Have you been to Vegas? Are you a fan?

10 things I don't suck at

I find it extremely easy to come up with things I suck at but it took me longer to think of 10 things I don't suck at. As in, I started this post right after the things I suck at post and it's taken me this long to find 10 things I don't suck at.

1. Drinking water. I used to hate water and then about 10 years ago just forced myself to drink it all the time, and now I have no issues. I never have to try to get the appropriate amount of water, I never have to trick myself or flavour my water, it's never a goal of mine to drink more water. I like plain tap water, preferably room temp. I will say drinking out of a bottle with the straw so I don't have to tip the bottle up? Genius. Makes an easy thing even easier.

2. Remembering song lyrics. If it's a favourite song, I can probably write the lyrics out on command (and did, during my year 10 exams, who needs to answer questions and write essays? Here's some song lyrics instead). If it's just a song I used to like 10 years ago, I can sing along immediately and be slightly amazed that I can't remember if I locked my car but I can remember the lyrics to this random song.

3. Parallel parking or reversing into a spot. I'm not amazing at parallel parking but as long as there's no angry person behind me beeping, I'm golden. It's kind of a skill you have to learn in Sydney, I think.

4. Typing. I am a fast typer. I taught myself when I had a computer and no internet, just word pad. I would listen to songs on the radio and try to type the lyrics in time with the song.

5. Sleeping through the night. Ha! Like I'm a baby. But seriously. I take longer than I'd like to fall asleep, but once I am asleep, I am asleep. I rarely wake up in the middle of the night, never need to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. If something wakes me, I can usually get straight back to sleep.

6. Flip cup. Okay, I am not the best flip cup player ever. But I only played it for the first time when I moved here, and I am pretty darn good. Not amazing. Definitely not. But 100% times better than my attempts at beer pong.

7. Guessing what people are going to say in movies/tv shows. I find this extremely entertaining, I only do it when KC can hear me because I'd wager it would be annoying. Basically what I mean is I have watched so many movies/tv shows that I know when someone will say something predictable and I say it before they do.

8. Remembering and spouting off weird fun facts even if I've told you them a thousand times. I love fun facts. Did you know 90% of the world's disco balls have been made in Louisville? Did you know Southwest uses their own employees in their commercials? Did you know there is no Q in any of America's state names? Did you know your ears and nose never stop growing? Did you know no number before the number one thousand has the letter A in it? Did you know movie trailers used to be played after the movie? Get it, trailing the movie... I've always called them previews though. I also love sharing American vs Australian fun facts - meaning if something comes up, if there is an equivalent or random Australian story, I will share it.

9. Being on time. On time is late. I will be there 5-10 minutes early unless it is 100% out of my control and then I will apologise 75 times. I can't always control the people I am with though, so I've learned to let go and stop trying to herd everyone like cattle. Apparently it's annoying?

^ did you know she makes like $47 million a year?

10. Giving up on TV shows. I mentioned that I suck at giving up on books, but I do not have that problem with TV shows. Off the top of my head, here are some shows I started semi recently and never finished: beauty and the beast, jane the virgin, game of thrones, parenthood, arrow, supernatural, once upon a time, mr robot, twin peaks, suits, the shannara chronicles, the 100, vampire diaries, orange is the new black, doctor who, greys anatomy, scandal, pretty little liars, new girl, mad men, gossip girl, dark matter, castle, and most recently, ozark. Some of them I definitely plan on one day catching up, but most of them I have no desire to. Further example: I never finished Downton Abbey, recently restarted it a few months ago and have already fizzled out again. It's not intentional or anything against the show, I just have a really short attention span and more often than not, I end up picking up a book. I do want to finish it though, so I will.. eventually.

I am really proud that I made this list and didn't include reading. Because, you guys, I really don't suck at that. High five to me.

What do you not suck at?

Books Lately

Show Us Your Books day with Steph & Jana! I mentioned the other day I've been reading a lot (what else is new) but I don't share everything I read because a) some books don't warrant a mention and b) I read a lot of romance and I know that's not everyone's jam. If it's yours, lets be friends on goodreads!

Not That I Could Tell - Jessica Strawser

woman disappears after a night with neighbours and drinking

This was not 'couldn't put it down' until about 20%, and then I was all in. I really liked the characters and the writing, I didn't see the ending coming. It's not exactly 'thrilling' more of a what the heck happened - though there was one point that I was on the edge of my seat scared for a character - so as long as you don't go into it expecting that, you'll be good. Overall it was really enjoyable.

Received from Netgalley (I also bought it via BOTM before I was approved from Netgalley)

Kate Daniels series - Ilona Andrews

paranormal romance (magic and shapeshifters)

I try not to talk about romance books too much during this link up, but the romance part of this series doesn't start until (highlight for spoiler) book 4. That being said, the hint is there so if that's not your jam, scram. But if you like paranormal romance, I recommend. It was harder to get into than their Hidden Legacy trilogy, but once I got into the second one, I couldn't stop. I am currently up to book #7. The 10th and last comes out in August.

Truly Madly Guilty - Liane Moriarty

something happens at a barbecue, everyone feels guilty

I love Liane Moriarty's books but this was not my favourite. The secret really drags out and then when you do find out, it's a teeny anticlimactic. That being said, once you find out, things start to make sense and I really enjoyed it. Like I said, I love her writing so perhaps I am biased. I will read anything she writes.

This Is How It Always Is - Laurie Frankel

story about a family, youngest child is transgender

This is the one Gina and I decided on this time. I have mixed feelings about this one and I cannot articulate them. It's definitely not an easy book to read. Sometimes I liked the writing, sometimes I didn't. I liked the characters but didn't connect with any of them 100%. I feel like some things were unrealistic. I feel like if certain things were different, this would have been a more 'powerful' story, but perhaps that is unfair of me. I don't know. Overall, I liked it. This would make a fantastic book club book if you don't mind talking about heavy topics. Thought provoking for sure.

The Room on Rue Amélie - Kristin Harmel

DNF. I tried. I don't know if it was the book, me or a wrong time kind of thing. Either way, I exercised my right to give up and give up I did.

Received from Netgalley.

 

Magic Breaks (Kate Daniels #7) & Us Against You

Linking up with Steph & Jana.

If you're a romance fan, here are a few I enjoyed recently:

Simply Irresistible (I love Jill Shalvis so much) / Walk of Shame / Idol & Managed / Making Up

TL;DR - I recommend Not That I Could Tell and This Is How It Always Is.

Before the next link up, Gina and I are going to read Between Sisters by Kristin Hannah if you want to join us!

Read anything decent lately?

May 2018 Recap - What's New With You Link Up

Hello all, time for another what's new with you link up! Thanks again if you join me, I always appreciate it.

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In May:

We used our new grill a bunch:

I did a big closet clean out and watched Millie jump up to the top of my closet 3 times before finally making her stop. By 'jump up' I mean she jumped, grabbed on to my clothes, ripped a bunch off hangers as she struggled to claw her way up to the shelf where she would bite me if I tried to get her down. Ah, cats. Gotta love 'em.

Speaking of cats, I took a lot of photos of them because I really am quite obsessed with them.

^ In the bottom right, you can see Penny's new favourite thing to do while I am eating - she sits on the arm of the couch or on top of the couch behind my head purring as loud as can be, like she thinks she's a dog and I'm going to give her food. Even if I did give my cats human food, which I don't, Penny has the most finicky stomach and would probably puke on my the second I did. She's so weird.

Moving on. We did a couple of house projects - or rather, finished two and started another. The last one really wasn't necessary and more of a 'fun' thing, so when life got in the way we deserted it. I'm sure we will finish it in June, or maybe July. I will share when we do, of course.

^ Backsplash, finally! The middle project is probably the one I'm in love with the most, I get so obsessed with little things when I have an idea and finally do it. I really dislike our bathrooms but they are pretty low on the renovation priority list, so to help out with the lack of storage or just the lack-of-love for the bathrooms, I bought some spice racks from ikea and installed them on the side of what is essentially our linen closet. I put my skincare/hair stuff in them and I love it so much. The unfinished project has to do with the wall in the bottom right, it's behind our back door which is the entry we use daily.

In May, I went running and to the gym quite consistently if I do say so myself.

We also celebrated my brother in law's marriage at a BBQ at his new in-laws place, though I have no photos of said celebration, so here's a photo of another day where we hung out in their backyard and ate 32 degrees.

Finally, I read a lot in May, because what else is new.

You'll notice Penny is the only cat who is ever pictured with me while reading because she's the only one who likes to hang out with me 24/7. If I am sitting or laying down, she would like to be sitting with or on top of me. Chelsea prefers KC (but will follow me around or allow me to pick her up as long as I'm moving) and Millie hates everyone all the time unless you're in the bathroom then she's your bestie.

If you'd like to link up, please do so below.

An InLinkz Link-up

So that's what I got up into May. What's new with you?