I hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving, and because of the holiday, my normal blogging schedule will resume on Monday with story time. Also, please note that I am not doing tags and awards.
#Announcement
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Tag Archives: Random
#FallEssentials/Favorites
No, I am not a lifestyle blogger, and this isn’t a lifestyle blog. However, I do enjoy writing a favorites/essentials post every once in a while. I have nothing against lifestyle blogs, lifestyle blogging isn’t for me. Without further ado here are my fall favorites:
Reading- There is nothing better than cozying up with a good book in the fall, or an entire list of books.
Baseball- If I could watch baseball all year, I would, it’s definitely my favorite sport to watch. I love watching baseball in the spring and summer, but there’s just more excitement in the fall because of the post season.
Tea- Some of my favorites are Pumpkin Chai, and Honeycrisp Apple from David’s tea and Teavana’s Rooibos Chai is always a staple.
Leggings/yoga pants/skinny jeans- These are definite fall staples, all three can easily be dressed up or dressed down.
Sweaters and hoodies- there is nothing better than a cozy sweater or sweatshirt
Footwear- Due to where I live, there are times when I can still wear flip flops late into October, but when it is time for the flip flops to be put away, I turn to my Chuck Taylor’s, Uggs and Beans (those are the classic LL Bean Bean Boots for non-New Englanders).
Flannels- The ultimate fall wardrobe staple
Pumpkin- Like I mentioned above, I love pumpkin tea, pumpkin spice scented oil, and I recently made Pumpkin Pie Frozen Yoghurt and it is delicious. You can find the recipe below.
To make the frozen yoghurt I used the following recipe from the Cuisinart Recipe Booklet:
Simple Vanilla Ice Cream
*1 cup whole milk- I used Fairlife 2% lactose-free milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Pinch salt
*2 cups heavy cream- I used 2 cups of Chobani Plain Vanilla Greek Yoghurt
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
For the pumpkin, I used one can of pumpkin pie filling and pumpkin pie spice. You don’t have to use a full can, you can use as much or as little as you like.
1. In a medium bowl, use a hand mixer on low speed or whisk to combine the milk, sugar, and salt until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the yoghurt and vanilla, pumpkin pie filling and pumpkin pie spice. Cover and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours, or overnight.
2. Turn on the Cuisinart® ice cream maker; pour the mixture into the frozen freezer bowl and let mix until thickened, about 15 to 20 minutes. The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture. If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving.
#FallTBR and Update
#FallTBR and Update
This fall I’m participating in a reading challenge. It’s a stress-free reading challenge, and it’s a challenge created for the Stress-Free Reading Challenges Goodreads group. I set my goal for this challenge at 15 books. Two of the books, marked with asterisks are for review. This TBR is only for the challenge and not all the books that I am going to read this fall.
Here are the 15 books:
Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs- I am currently reading this.
Hollow City by Ransom Riggs
Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
*The Rise of Athens by Anthony Everett
*The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett by Chelsea Sedoti
The Haters by Jesse Andrews
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine
Paper and Fire by Rachel Caine
Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon
Challenger Deep by Neil Shusterman
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Update
Recently I’ve been kind of slacking on some things. I’ve been slacking on both blogs, I’ve just felt uninspired and unmotivated. I’m also thinking of changing up the format of this blog somehow. Does anyone have ideas on how I can switch things up with my blog?
Book blogger blind date #BBBlindDate
Blind date with a blogger was set up by Jillian over Rant and Rave About Books. I first saw it on Twitter and though it would be something fun and different. I also thought that it would be a great way to meet new bloggers. I was paired up with Em over at Keystroke Blog. Both blogs are amazing, so you should go check them out.
Em and I decided that we would send each other different questions, instead of the same questions to make things more interesting. We also sent random facts about each other.
These are the random facts from Emma:
1. I am the second of four children and the only girl.
2. I have moved six times and probably will move some more before I decide to settle down.
3. Most recently I have been living on the Caribbean island of Dominica, which is a small island in the lower Antilles (don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard of it.. not many people have)
4. I want to be a writer, and am working on my debut novel/series called The Gravestone Chronicles
5. My favorite season is Spring, and it is closely rivaled by Fall.
6. The fastest I have ever read a full sized novel (over 350 pages) was in 2 hours while I was waiting at an air port.
7. I want to be a travel journalist at one point in my life and travel the globe #lifegoals
My questions are in black and Emma’s answers are in red.
If you could be any Disney villain, which one would you be and why?
Any Disney villain. Hmmmm. There are so many good (well, evil) ones! I would probably be Maleficent because she can use magic and turn into a dragon. I just think that’s so cool. And, ya know, dragons.
If you could take characters from one book and put them into another book, which characters and book would you choose, and why?
This question is a lot harder than I thought it would be. The first thing that comes to mind is taking the characters from Anna Dressed in Blood and putting them in the pages of a chick lit, just because that would probably be hilarious (although they would all absolutely hate it…. except for maybe Caramel).
What is your favorite thing about blogging, and what advice would you give to new bloggers?
My favorite thing about blogging is probably the amazing people I have been able to meet and work with. The blogging community is really a wonderful group of people, and my advice to new bloggers would be to go on social media and go blog hopping and meet some of the other wonderful people on the web.
What are three book worlds you would want to live in, and three worlds that you wouldn’t want to live in, and why?
Three worlds I would want to live in are Harry Potter (obviously… I mean, who wouldn’t), Percy Jackson (cause, again, who wouldn’t) , and the Gallagher Girls (because I would kill to be able to do half the things the girls in the books can do). I wouldn’t want to live in the Hunger Games world, Divergent, or Shatter Me (so pretty much any dystopian world), because with my luck I would be the first one dead.
What houses do you belong to on Pottermore?- I know this question probably pops up a lot, but I always find it interesting to see the different houses people belong to.
I was sorted into the Hogwarts house of Gryffindor (which I always assumed I was before I took the test, so yay), and the Illvermorny house of Horned Serpent. I’m kind of iffy about the Horned Serpent house, but to be fair I don’t know that much about the different houses yet, so I’m good with it.
I had a lot of fun doing this and hope there are more of these in the future!!
#90sTag
I saw this on Aoife’s blog Pretty Purple Polka Dots and seeing as how I am a 90’s kid, I just had to do this tag.
Favorite Disney Film?– This one is a no brainer, Beauty and the Beast. I have the Diamond Edition and I just pre-ordered the 25th Anniversary Edition. I probably had at least 10 different copies of it growing up.
Favorite Music Artist?– Backstreet Boys, N*Sync, Spice Girls, Christina Aguilera, and Britney Spears.
Favorite Sweets?– Ring Pops
Favorite Game? (Board Game/School Game)– Monopoly, Scrabble and Uno.
Favorite McDonald’s Happy Meal Toy?– I don’t remember any of the happy meal toys that I got.
Favorite Book?– I had a lot of favorite books in the 90’s.
Favorite Clothing Store?– Limited Too.
Favorite TV Show?– Full House, Boy Meets World, and this list could go on and on.
What Show Would You Watch After School?– I don’t remember what I would watch after school.
What Was Your Favorite 90’s Game Show?– Legends of the Hidden Temple, Guts, What Would You Do, and Figure it Out.
Did You Own A Virtual Pet? (Cyberpet, Tamagotchi etc)- Yes, I think I had several Tamagotchi’s.
Favorite Video Game and System To Play On?– Mario and Nintendo
Weirdest Fashion Trend?– I don’t remember any weird fashion trends
Favorite Toy?– Probably Barbie
Favorite Nickelodeon Show?– Rugrats, Hey Arnold, Doug, All That, Keenan and Kel, and so many more.
Beyond the Book- Favorite room in the house
This tag is hosted by KissinBlueKaren
I have more than one favorite room in the house. My three favorite rooms are my bedroom, the kitchen and living room. It’s hard for me to just pick my most favorite out of those three. I love sitting at the kitchen counter, on my computer, reading and commenting on the blogs of others. The kitchen counter is the perfect place to catch up on blogs and snack at the same time. There is a chair in the living room that I love to sit in and watch tv. I love spending time in my bedroom too. Sometimes I’ll go to bed early and watch tv, youtube videos and even do some late night blogging. I’m actually the most comfortable in my room, it’s my personal space, it’s where I go when I need some quiet time and need to be by myself. I feel like my room is definitely my favorite room in the house, and it definitely helps that all my books are in my room too.
My Morning Routine
Some of my favorite videos to watch on YouTube are morning routine videos, so I decided to write a blog post that details my mooning routine.
The first thing I do after I wake up in the morning is check my email and then get breakfast. Breakfast for me is a smoothie that I made the night before or Greek yoghurt and grape juice. While I’m having breakfast I’ll check my email and other websites such as WordPress. When I’m going through my WordPress reader, I’ll read and comment on posts. I also read and reply to comments left on my blog overnight.
After checking my normal websites, I’ll brush my teeth and go through my skincare routine.
Before I decide what I’m going to wear, I check the weather. I usually wear jeans, a tee, if I need it a hoody and I usually wear my Sperry’s or Converse. Right now it still isn’t quite warm enough for shorts.
After all that is done, I make sure I have everything I need in my Mary Poppins bag, grab my ice tea and I’m ready for the day.
Q&A
I’m really close to 80 followers on my blog, so I thought it would be fun to do a question and answer. You can leave comments on this post or leave comments on my blog Facebook page. When I reach 80 followers I’ll do another post with answers to the questions.
Yellow
Yellow is one of my favorite colors. It’s both bright and mellow. Sometimes just seeing the color yellow can make my mood a little better, if I’m in a bad mood. It’s one of those colors that has a calming effect. My favorite shades of yellow are lemon yellow, which is bright, and pale yellow, which is more mellow. I don’t know what it is about yellow, but I just love it.
Nox
Nox is the opposite of Lumos. While Lumos turns on a light, Nox turns out the light. Nox, like Lumos is extremely simple, yet extremely useful. I also feel like it’s such a beautiful spell.
Inside My Minds 