Monthly Archives: January 2014

2013 Resolutions: How Did I Do?

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2013 was a pretty good year,  and I thought I’d talk about how I did with the bookish goals I set for myself way back in January.  I feel like I’m a bit late to the year-end wrap-up party, but now seems as good a time as any to do it!  Like I said, I set these goals a year ago, and though I’d re-visit them to see how I did.

Goal #1: Re-read books on my physical bookshelf

I didn’t really do this, and Goblet Of Fire and Speak are the only books I remember re-reading.  So re-reading the print books I have didn’t really happen…but I did do a bit more re-reading of some of the books I have on my Nook, so re-reading wasn’t a total loss.

Goal #2: Vary my reading a little more

I actually did really well with this!  Netgalley helped a lot, because I found some really interesting non-YA books through them.  I definitely plan on balancing my reading material, but…I did get a little away from YA this year, and I miss it.  So now I just need to balance the two!

Goal #3: Plan what I’m reading a little more

I pretty much ignore this goal, except for ARC’s I was reviewing, so I could have them read in a reasonable amount of time, so the review could come out at a good time (like, around it’s publication date).  I really need to start following through on the Top Ten Tuesday seasonal reading lists.  If nothing else, I should follow through on those.

Goal #4: Actually Finish Series/Get Caught Up On Them

I did okay on finishing, and it wasn’t until later in the year that I started re-reading series to catch up on them.  I definitely need to work on this, because I’m horrible about finishing them…or even keep up on them.  I did start to re-read a few series towards the end of 2013, so I’m hoping I’ll keep up that momentum!

Goal #5: Hoard less books and read them more.

Yeah…having a Nook has turned me into a book hoarder, and while I still need to work on actually reading the books I get, I feel like I have gotten better with this.

Goal #6: Buy less books and use the library more

This one totally didn’t happen.  I did use the library a bit, but not as much as I was hoping.  Still, I have plenty of books to read, so it’s not like I have a shortage of reading material.

Goal #7: Comment more!

I was totally going to comment more on blogs.  I feel like I started off pretty well, but at some point, I just kind of stopped commenting on other blogs.  I really need to do that this year.

Goal #8: Listen to more audiobooks

I did better than I was expecting on this one!  I still have plenty of audiobooks to listen to, but I have been on an audiobook kick lately, and that’s helped!

Goal #9: Use more cookbooks

This one didn’t really happen…can I blame it on pinterest?  Because that seems like a really good idea right now…

Goal #10: Read more classics

I read only one classic- The Outsiders.  And honestly?  I don’t particularly care if I read any this year.  I did attempt to read a few, but I had to DNF them.  It would be nice to read a few, but it’s also not one of my goals for this year.

To Sum Up…

I did better on some than on others, which kind of surprised me for some reason.  I have a post coming about my goals for this year, some of which are bookish, and others…are not.  I have a couple that I may or may not talk about throughout the year, but for now, it seems pretty likely I will be talking about them.

2014 Already?

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I don’t know about anyone else, but I can’t believe it’s 2014 already!  It really does feel like 2013 went by really fast.

I feel like 2013 was a pretty good year, and all sorts of stuff happened.  I went to a few book signings, which was totally awesome, especially because they were the first book signings I have ever gone to! I’ll definitely be going to more, because they were totally fun to go to.

Speaking of books, I read an astounding 183 books!  I had a goal of 150, so clearly I exceeded expectations there.  According to goodreads, that amounts to 50,596 pages, which is a lot of pages. Overall, I really liked what I read, to the point that remembering what I don’t like is easier.  I really feel like I’ve gotten better at picking books I’m going to like, and that if I really strongly dislike something or am very not into something, I’m probably going to put it down and not finish it.  I’ve decided to aim for 160 books this year, and if the last couple years are any indication, then I’ll have no problem meeting that goal!  I don’t have much to add in terms of books, especially because I covered it pretty well in the bookish survey I did.  And my top books of 2013.  Oh, and this post I did my favorite new-to-me authors.

Writing this post is a little weird.  I’m so used to top ten lists and book reviews and Gilmore Girls recaps that writing something that isn’t one of those is really weird.  I definitely want to do more posts where I’m just talking about whatever, because I kind of miss those.  I’m not sure how often they’ll be, but at least one or two a month.

I get the Julep Maven box now!  I love nail polish, so a monthly box that contains nail polish is perfect for me.  There’s a really good chance I’ll be sharing them.  Like now!

January Maven Box

Left To Right: Mona, an add-on, and this months selection, Farrah, Annemarie, and Hope, plus, 2 unidentified orange squares

So, my box had Farrah, Annemarie, and Hope, and I decided that I like Mona (a nail polish included in a different box) enough to add that on to my box.  They also randomly include things sometimes, and I think the orange squares may be nail buffers, but I’m not quite sure…still, it’s always fun to get some mail that’s nice and fun.

Speaking of sharing, I think I’m going to share my crochet projects.  It wasn’t until last month that I actually started taking pictures of what I crochet (well, on a regular basis) because I was doing a few gifts for people and wanted to have pictures of what I made, so I might feature that too.  Even though I’ve been crocheting for a couple years, I still get intimidated, but I’d also like to get over that, so I’ll be trying new things as far as that goes.

Actually, I have a few ideas in mind for some fun posts, so when I hammer out the details, I’ll be sure to share!  There’s so much I want to do this year, both for my blog and in general, so I’ll do a post about resolutions sometime in the next week.  Once I narrow things down and such.  I’m definitely planning on taking a look back on the resolutions I did last year, so I think I want to take a look at that to figure out what to focus on this year.

I’m pretty sure I’m done rambling for today, so I hope everyone has a great 2014!