2015 in the Books

New Year's resolution...actually work on the blog as I go so I don't have to wrack my brain to remember what these stupid books were about!

#114 read Eragon by Christopher Paolini
#115 read Eldest by Christopher Paolini
#116 read Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
#117 read Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

These books run in the same vein as Lord of the Rings- dwarves, elves, dragons, etc. They're big books, but they read really quickly since there is a lot of dialogue, as well as a lot of action. I really enjoyed them and it's crazy to know that the author became a New York Times bestseller at the age of nineteen.

#75 read The Book of Hours by Davis Bunn

My sister-in-law Kelli has lots of great book recommendations (she also recommended the Eragon books). This is a fun, easy read with mysteries to be solved and lots of twists and turns. It's also a great story of hope and God's healing power.

#140 go to 10 Pacers games (5 done)

A big thanks to First Financial Bank for the invite to watch the Pacers game from their suite. There are a lot of fantastic people that work there! This game featured a Veterans' Day tribute that was so sweet. They had a bunch of veterans march out onto the court and each one had a sign with a picture from when they served, their name, and what war they served during. So grateful for everyone who has served our country!!

#96 read The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Anytime my brother Travis gives a book recommendation it should be taken seriously. Because reading is not his favorite. Unless it's Davy Crockett. Or Barry Sanders. Or has lots of pictures. If you enjoy the movie version of this, you will enjoy the book too since the screenplay follows it really closely. William Goldman writes this as an abridgment of the original Florinese version as he remembers his father reading it to him. The hilarious thing about this book that you should know going in is that he weaves truth and fiction throughout. There is no S. Morgenstern that originally wrote The Princess Bride, Goldman's father wasn't from Florin (it's a made-up place), he doesn't have a son...but he puts enough real moments from his life (he really did win Oscars for All the President's Men and Butch Cassidy) that I had to go online to read what's true and what isn't. He's hilarious!

#35 read As You Wish by Cary Elwes

This was an amazing follow-up to reading The Princess Bride. Cary Elwes walks you through the entire process of making the movie (which is fascinating in and of itself) to get an inside look at what goes into that. There are quotes and memories from all of the actors, as well as the director Rob Reiner, all throughout the book. It gives you such insight into the people that made these characters come alive. Perhaps the most interesting part is reading about the months of rigorous training and studying that Cary and Mandy Patinkin underwent in preparation for their epic duel. It is incredible that they did not use any stuntmen for the actual sword fighting and no camera angles used to hide any deficiencies.

#285 buy something over $700

Sadly, this was not something that I wanted to cross off my list so soon. But right before Christmas, my old car died and I was forced to find a new one. As most of you know, car shopping is the thing that I hate more than anything else in life. Luckily, one of my former high school students and her husband were looking to sell a car. So I am now the proud owner (at least trying to be excited about a car) of a dark gray 2011 Camry. Sorry there isn't a better picture, but at least it was semi-clean here.

#118 read The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

My friend Ashleyne recommended this book and I loved it. It was so incredibly clever in how it was written and there are wonderful illustrations throughout it. It's a story about a boy who travels through the Phantom Tollbooth to the Kingdom of Wisdom. He visits the cities of Dictionopolis (all about letters) and Digitopolis (all about numbers) as he searches for the Princesses Rhyme and Reason. So many great plays on words such as when he visited the Island of Conclusions...which of course you can only reach by jumping to. There are also some great little nuggets in it such as:

"But why do only unimportant things?" asked Milo, who suddenly remembered how much time he spent each day doing them.

"Think of all the trouble it saves," the man explained..."If you only do the easy and useless jobs, you'll never have to worry about the important ones which are so difficult. You just won't have the time. For there's always something to do to keep you from what you really should be doing, and if it weren't for that dreadful magic staff, you'd never know how much time you were wasting."

#178 buy a bike

My roomie thinks this is cheating, but the (sometimes) extremely strict Blogmaster Holly says that being creative is part of the fun of my 300 list. I decided I don't really want or need a bike. Since Sarah has one she's getting rid of, I officially bought it from her for $5...and then sold it back to her for $5. #178 buy a bike? Check. : )

I just want to give all of you a heads up on one that's happening next month. Kelli had my name for Christmas this year and because she loves me so much, she's helping me cross off a hard one. Since we both have Monday, February 15th off for Presidents' Day (assuming she doesn't have a snow day in between now and then), we are going to tackle sitting in Starbucks from open to close. Do you know how long they're open?!? 17+ hours! Keep an eye out on Facebook as we get closer and I'll let you know what location we've decided on. We're going to make it a fun day of having people stop by to hang out, play games, and hopefully make the day go more quickly. It will be a day filled with lots of caffeine for sure!