010114 BOOKS

Books I read in 2013:

(*means re-read)

Books finished in 2013

1.  Timeless- Gail Carriger

2.  Safe Haven- Nicholas Sparks

3.  Reached- Allie Condie

4. Stardust- Neil Gaiman*

5. How To Be A Woman- Caitlin Moran

6. Before I Fall- Jennifer Brown

7. Beautiful Creatures- Kami Garcia

8. Beautiful darkness- Kami Garcia

9. Beautiful chaos- Kami Garcia

10. Beautiful Redemption- Kami Garcia

11. Horns- Joe Hill

12. Paper Towns- John Green

13. The Fault In Our Stars- John Green

14. Second Shift- Hugh Howey

15. Third Shift- Hugh Howey

16. An Abundance of Katherines- John Green

17. The Last Song- Nicholas Sparks

18. Will Grayson, Will Grayson- John Green

19. Looking for Alaska- John Green

20. East of Eden- John Steinbeck

21. Clockwork Princess- Cassandra Clare

22. The Girl Who Would be King- Kelly Thompson

23. Frost Burned- Patricia Briggs

24. Secret Diary of a Call Girl- Anon

25. Under The Dome- Stephen King

26. The Long Walk- Richard Bachman*

27. Requiem- Lauren Oliver

28. Carrie- Stephen King

29. Shantaram- Gregory David Roberts

30. Persuasion- Jane Austen*

31. Anansi Boys- Neil Gaiman

32. Death at Pemberley- PD James

33. The Ocean at the End of the Lane- Neil Gaiman

34. Naked- David Sedaris

35. Abandon- Meg Cabot

36. Underworld- Meg Cabot

37. Awaken- Meg Cabot

38. The Interestings- Meg Wolitzer

39. Catching Fire- Suzanne Collins*

40. Sisterland- Curtis Sittenfeld

41. Red Moon- Benjamin Percy

42. Sea of Monsters- Rick Riordan*

43. Witches of East End- Melissa De La Cruz

44. The Longings of Wayward Girls- Karen Brown

45. Dust- Hugh Howey

46. Austenland- Shannon Hale

47. Room- Emma Donoghue

48. The Shining Girls- Lauren Beukes

49. Firestarter- Stephen King*

50. House of Hades- Rick Riordan

51. Close to You, Wrong Ways Down (both short novellas)- Stacia Kane

52. The Selection- Keira Cass

53. The Elite- Keira Cass

54. Fangirl- Rainbow Rowell

55. Divergent- Veronica Roth*

56. Insurgent- Veronica Roth*

57. Allegiant- Veronica Roth

58. Look at Me - Jennifer Egan

59. A Wizard of Earthsea- Ursula Le Guin

60. Etiquette & Espionage- Gail Carriger

61. She's Come Undone- Wally Lamb

62. Curtsies & Conspiracies- Gail Carriger

63. Eleanor & Park- Rainbow Rowell

64. The Count of Monte Cristo- Alexandre Dumas*

65. Hate List- Jennifer Brown

66. Beautiful Ruins- Jess Walters

67. The Death Cure- James Dashner

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Remember how I said I was doing that NaNoWriMo thing?  Well I finished!!

I hit 50k in 30 days, and I feel pretty awesome about it.

The story I'm working on isn't quite finished, but I'll keep writing and then go through and edit the whole thing.  Maybe after that I'll let someone read it.

I just wanted to share my enthusiasm, because I'm pretty excited about it :)

111213

Picture update!  I haven't put up any pictures in ages, so here are some, complete with captions!

One of many pics from the World Series

Fenway madness!

Another view of the Fenway craziness

My halloween costume (Butthead without a Beavis)

Cat likes to hide in my closet

And lay on my chest when I'm trying to work

Before Rugged Maniac!

After Rugged Maniac!

The mini beast

My headshot for work

The original with my hair messed up (I photoshopped it out of the other one)

Megan and I working on our exercise balls 

I make faces at people

Sharks warming up!

Sara and I at the game

View from our seats

More Sharks warm up pics

Vlasic just for you Missy!

James and I at Jackie's wedding!!

I cut my hair!

 

Cat finds another inconvenient way to sleep on me

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So, what has happened since I last posted?

We had a house party, someone stole a painting off our wall- I think I posted on here about Sara and I doing the Urban Art Bar where you go and paint the same thing and drink and its fun?  So we had both our paintings up in the hallway, and at some point in the night we noticed that one (mine) was missing.  And it has never been recovered!  We also thought someone took our bath mat, but it was just hidden.

We went to Salem this weekend, it was neat but SUPER packed.  I bought some tarot cards to play around with.  Sara and I brought stuff to change into to be in costume, but we never put them on.  It was really cold and Sara left her red contacts at the apt, so neither of us wanted to change.  We ended up at Teresa's friends apartment watching the Red Sox game.

I still have to take pics of the apt, I swear I will do that soon.  I just want to do it when it's clean, and I always forget about it.  

Work is going ok.  I have this crippling fear of being fired, though I feel like I am getting results.  Today for some reason everyone is ignoring me and it's pissing me off, but other times I have good days.  I'm out of the hallway for now, back in the office I started in last year!  Don't know how long it will last, but I'm glad- I can control the heat in here!  I share with Megan which is good since we talk a lot anyway- now I can stay sitting in my chair, I just have to turn around.

I don't know how to control the heat in the house and it's bugging me.  I'm constantly cold.  The radiators go off randomly, but don't let enough heat in to make a difference.  We need to call the landlord.  We wrote a list of things to be fixed when we gave him our rent last month, and he sent a handyman to come fix some of them... but only some.  He replaced the blinds in the living room, but we asked to get screens in windows where they are missing and... they are still missing.  We can't open those windows because the cat will jump out.  She already has once!  Now it's getting colder so it's not 100% necessary, but still.  Should have been fixed when he was out the first time.  

Sara, Teresa, Elise and I joined a bar games league for the winter, it should be pretty fun.  This week is cornhole, other activities include Battleship, Pictionary, Pub Trivia, etc.  I'm excited, it will give us something to do on Tuesdays until next year.

I am in the middle of Sarena's Advocare challenge.  The first 10 day cleanse part I was super disciplined and didn't cheat or anything at all- this second section I've already cheated :/  I had two beers Saturday night and Mac n Cheese (at least it wasn't Kraft though!).  I'm being good again this week, so it prob won't be too detrimental.

Sara and I saw 12 Years A Slave last week, it was good.  Sad, but really good.  It will probably get a bunch of award nominations.  This week I have passes to see About Time, the new Rachel McAdams movie.  

I can't wait for Ender's Game, Catching Fire, or Thor 2- which all come out this month.  

I've been thinking about starting NaNoWriMo this year.  I signed up for it last year but didn't do anything, this year I actually want to try.  Approx. 1600 words a day for 30 days= short novel.  I might be able to do it, I just have to make sure to stay motivated.

090913

So, update.  I was gonna do another video, but haven't found the time recently.  When I'm in my room at the new place, I am either still putting stuff together or sleeping.  Also, our wifi is wonky and Comcast is coming later in the week to fix it.

Dad came to help us move, I tried to make it enjoyable, but don't think I succeeded (there was a lot against us).  We got everything in, but not without problems.  Dad had to wake up early to move the truck out of the overnight parking spot that expired at 6 am.  It was pouring rain in the morning.  The girls moving out of the apt were STILL moving out when we were moving in.  The apartment was not clean, and the cleaning ladies came after we had moved everything inside already.  The cleaning ladies threw away the condiments we had saved AND a brand new unopened bottle of champagne we bought to celebrate our first night.  Our new roommate's car was lit on on fire and totaled.  Yes, that really happened.

We got the cat shaved like a lion, she looks totally goofy and super cute at the same time.  We like our new roommates and haven't had any problems (except lack of a linen closet and no pantry space in the kitchen).

The house.... it's old, like everything else here.  The screens are ripped and missing in a lot of windows, not all the smoke alarms have batteries, and there is a nasty fruit fly problem that we can't seem to get rid of.  Half the lightbulbs were out around the apt- we have sat down and wondered alout how the girls who lived there previously could function in the dark with all the bugs.  It was really kind of gross.  We've been making it better, got new light bulbs, cleaned the floors, got curtains for the bathroom, etc.  But it still needs work.  We're making up a list to send to the landlord so as to get it all taken care of.  The smoke alarm batteries and screens for the windows high on the list.  There is laundry downstairs, but it super gross down there.  Washing is $2, not bad- but the dryer is $2 as well, and doesn't dry the clothes all the way.  You can't add only a few more quarters to make it go a few minutes longer, you have to put in a fill $2 more, making it the most expensive load of laundry I've ever had to do.  I was so excited about having laundry downstairs, but now, not so much.

I'll take pics to show everyone soon, I'm waiting until we put up some artwork on the walls and until Im done getting my room set up.  Also, we still need to buy another couch for the living room.

Onto job news.... I feel like since I've been hired on full time I have had less and less to do.  It's weird, and it makes me feel kind of useless.  It's also been the summer, and a lot of clients slow down and take vacation, but I'm hoping it ramps up soon, I want to be busy.  I want to show that hiring me was a good thing to do (I have dreams about something going wrong and them changing their mind).  I just want to do a good job, to feel successful and happy.

I finally signed up for my 401(k), but I had no idea what to do so I just kind of clicked on stuff.  I know I set it up for 5% pretax (my company matches 4% so it will be 9% total) and then I had to pick the funds and how much for each and I just randomly clicked on two and put 50% in each.  I have no idea how this stuff works.  I finally have my dental card, but never got my medical.... I'll have to check in with Bill to see where that is.  Also, I've been waiting for delivery for some jeans from American Eagle for 3 weeks.   Time to call the post office again!

I've spent so much money lately, it's ridiculous.

Jackie's wedding is on Friday!! I am so excited.  I have a feeling this trip is going to be a blast, despite its short length.  Saturday I'm going skydiving with Kourt and Dad!  It's gonna be great.  I'm super excited.  Sunday is maybe a cousin's get together (minus Sara who will be in PA).  Followed by another redeye on Sunday and going straight into work Monday morning.  Fun times.  I don't know why I keep signing up for those, they really wreak havoc on my brain.

Next week I get to come back and buy groceries!  I've been living off mac n cheese this past week, I don't want to go to the grocery store and buy a bunch of stuff that is going to go bad before I can eat it!

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 I know, I know, I fail at this.  But I wanted to pop in and say....

I got hired on full time at my job!  Now I will be an Account Executive at BackBay Communications and I'll finally have health insurance!

I'm super excited, I've been wanting to work full time and get benefits and not be so poor.   It will be nice to fully feel like part of the team, since I kind of always felt out of the loop before.

I stopped and got champagne on my way home from work, and Sara got tiramisu to celebrate.
 :)

Listen to my favorite band in celebration!

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So I wrote a whole blog post yesterday and it didn't load and didn't save :( so here's a quick version as I try to fall asleep!

This weekend Sara was in DC so I had the apartment to myself. I would like to think I was pretty productive!

Friday night I went and saw Monsters University. Saturday I wrote 1 work paper, finished season one of Elementary, Caught up on Defiance, went to the gym (cardio and strength training), watched 21 Jump street, watched some Continuum, took out the trash and cleaned the stove. 

Today I wrote another work paper, finished season one of Continuum, went and saw Man of Steel, and that's it. I was planning on going to Trader Joes, but by the time I got out of the movie I just wanted to finish my paper. 

I was going to go to a bar with Jeff Sat night, but he bailed around 11 so I put my Pjs on and took off my makeup. Of course, 15 minutes after I got ready for bed, he changed his mind. Too late though. 

Only a few more days until I get to go home for a week, I'm pretty excited! 

Lazy bones!!