not necessarily in this order

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers By Jesse Q. Sutanto  4⭐️ The first few chapters were just meh to me, but not enough to not finish. I’m so glad I stuck it out! This book was the definition of cozy. It was cute and funny and sad and lovely. A perfect light mystery to keep your mind busy with a smile.  Big Little Spells 3.5⭐️ By Hazel Beck I did like this book better than the first in the series. Rebekah seemed more of a fully conceived protagonist than Emerson - and the deepening of the sister’s prophecy and connection made much more sense. I did have a bit of the icks when I thought too hard about the love story’s origins (teenage girl, immortal and significantly older magical man) and how lightly magical consent is discussed. I’m trying to decide if I’m more meh about the series or wanting to know how it ends.  Colton Gentry's Third Act By Jeff Zentner 3⭐️ This wasn’t totally my jam. It was sweet and I appreciated how it was like a take on a country song, but...

  The “recent” is probably not accurate in this case; it’s been a bit since my last reading roundup. But, here’s some thoughts from the last few months’ worth of books! Marple: 12 New Mysteries  3.5 ⭐️ When they worked, they worked. I really wanted to like these more than I did. Agatha Christie’s Jane Marple books were formative in my lifelong love of mysteries. I love the idea of 12 women authors putting their spin on Miss Marple as she ages, but it made me miss Christie’s specificity in places. These were written for the twist and I think that’s what let some of them down.  The year of living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country  by Helen Russell  3⭐️ I liked the first half better than the second half… The conceit was so compelling (burnt out writer goes freelance in Denmark and explores what makes Danes so happy), but the execution got bogged down in balancing the memoir aspects with reporting on the reality of Danish life. I’m gla...

I expected this week to be frantic, but I didn’t expect it to be so messy. Oof. A quick roundup of what’s been up over here via  middle school  edition of the  Friday   Five .   One: Team / Class Assignment Day In preparation for the school year to begin, we usually receive homeroom/team assignments the middle Friday in August followed by class schedules in the parent app the following week. This is quite the stressful day for Lil Momma; she has never ended up on a team with a friend and it’s always a lot of feelings, made more feelingsful this year because of the move to middle school. The assignments were supposed to  come out at 5pm . My plan was to pick LM up from YMCA camp at 3:45, go get dessert first, and then to navigate the feelings together as the Mr. and I checked each team’s post on social media for friends in her classes (or, as is the way with tweens, frenemies and nemeses, too).   BUT,  PLOT   TWIST : the email came out  a...

  I have so much blog catching up to do. Lil Momma turned 11 and starts middle school on Wednesday. The Mr. and I celebrated our 19 year anniversary. Summer kind of spiraled and so did I with the stressful work situation ( which should be resolving in the next few weeks ), getting ready for school and after school activities, and looking at all the things I wanted to get done this summer that just didn’t happen.  I keep trying to write about those things, but I get brain freeze. It’s all just so heavy and so much   Instead, I’m just going to allow myself to move on and talk about what I’m doing in September. I was talking to one of the women on my team who has just bought her first house and I reminded her to take care of herself alongside of everything on her list. I think I was super cliché and told her to treat herself like a plant and remember that she needs sunshine and water and someone to say nice things to her every now and then . And that’s exactly what I need to...

We really did have a great time in NH. We did everything on our list: We saw waterfalls! We went on rides! We went out to breakfast! But, as a lot of things do right now, the whole thing felt so shaky and precarious. We are in one of those weird seasons where everything feels so wrought with meaning because it’s all the firsts – our first NH vacation where we didn’t have to wait for a call about my mom or have me on the phone with an ER or nurse. It puts a weird “supposed to” energy on things because we no longer have this elephant in the room, but we also are still finding our balance in this next part of life. So, when the boarding place called to say Bella might have a UTI but they weren’t worried about it, it was like muscle memory to start worrying.    <<this part isn’t too graphic, but it just talks about pet ick a bit, so SKIP THIS NEXT PARAGRAGH if you need to, but know Bella was sicker than a “don’t worry about it”, sigh.    A few months ago, Bella had...

  Today started off with an oof as the breakfast place we went to (and had gone to when LM was younger) is now a Mexican restaurant now. So much for nostalgia! We grabbed egg sandwiches from Dunks and headed to  Santa’s Village , this wild mix of holiday nostalgia, rides, Christmas music, and Scandinavian storefronts. The Mr. and Lil Momma love Christmas and rides, so this is a must on our New Hampshire vacations. While not as much my jam, I do very much love seeing how much they love it here. We got to ride the new rollercoaster, ate  gingerbread, and had a great time riding rides and humming random Christmas carols. I even pushed myself out of my comfort zone and tried out the Ferris wheel again after having a full on panic attack so bad they had to stop the ride 5 years ago. (True story.) On our way out, sigh, the Mr. had a text saying Bella (our 10 year old Morkie who is being boarded back home) may have a UTI, which sent me into a bit of a tizzy. We are headed home t...

  Last year, we were supposed to take the  Cog railway  up Mount Washington (6,288 ft), but we ended up bailing out on the vacation early and drove home in a downpour. Not this year! We grabbed a hotel breakfast (and then better coffees at Starbucks; Lil Momma got her favorite hot chocolate with a shot of caramel) and then headed to the train.  It was a whole experience! They have a tour guide who both “narrates” your summit ride and return with what you’re seeing on the mountain including the NH range, flowers and trees, the Appalachian Trail, etc. We also had unusual clearness and could see Maine and Vermont!, but also about the railway itself: its history, how the biodiesel and steam engines differ, and how the tracks were built. It was so cool! Even the seats were at an angle to handle the up to 37% grade.  Once you summit, you have an hour to explore the extreme weather museum, take a picture with the summit sign, and even have lunch! We wandered about aft...