Books Read in 2010

20. Pretty in Plaid (Jen Lancaster)
19. Olive Kitteridge (Elizabeth Strout)
18. The Hour I First Believed (Wally Lamb)
17. A Member of the Family (Cesar Millan)
16. Vision in White (Nora Roberts)
15. One Nation Under Dog (Michael Schaffer)
14. The Condition (Jennifer Haigh)
13. Blink (Malcolm Gladwell)
12. Standing By (Alison Buckholtz)
11. Population 485 (Michael Perry)
10. Belong to Me (Marisa de los Santos)
9. The Sleeping Beauty Proposal (Sarah Strohmeyer)
8. Still Alice (Lisa Genova)
7. Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen)
6. Summer Sisters (Judy Blume)
5. Coraline (Neil Gaiman)
4. Home (Julie Andrews)
3. The Quilter's Kitchen (Jennifer Chiaverini)
2. Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell)
1. Storm Front (Jim Butcher)

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Movies Seen in 2009

• 42. District Nine (B+)
• 41. Funny People (C-)
• 40. Four Christmases (C-)
• 39. Sherlock Holmes (B)
• 38. Transformers 2 (D)
• 37. Star Trek (B)
• 36. New Moon (A)
• 35. 28 Weeks Later (B)
• 34. Gran Torino (B)
• 33. The Invention of Lying (B)
• 32. The Soloist (B)
• 31. Julie and Julia (B+)
• 30. Revolutionary Road (B+)
• 29. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (A+)
• 28. The Business of Being Born (A-)
• 27. The International (B-)
• 26. Public Enemies (A-)
• 25. He's Just Not That Into You (B+)
• 24. The Women (C-)
• 23. Up (A+)
• 22. Milk (B)
• 21. Taken (B+)
• 20. Bride Wars (A-)
• 19. State of Play (A)
• 18. Sunshine Cleaning (B+)
• 17. Goodfellas (A-)
• 16. Rachel Getting Married (B)
• 15. Australia (C+)
• 14. I Love You, Man (A)
• 13. Role Models (B)
• 12. Changeling (C)
• 11. Confessions of a Shopaholic (B)
• 10. Watchmen (D)
• 9. There Will Be Blood (C-)
• 8. Beverly Hills Chihauhau (F)
• 7. Iron Man (A-)
• 6. The Duchess (C)
• 5. Frost/Nixon (A-)
• 4. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (B-)
• 3. Marley and Me (A)
• 2. Tropic Thunder (A-)
• 1. Into the Wild (B)

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Goodbye 2009...

New promises...
New house...

and a new puppy...



2009 has certainly been a whirlwind...

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I suspect I've finally cracked...

I'm contemplating a challenge for 2010.

In my daily blog perusal, I stumbled upon a blogger encouraging a book challenge. To read 100 books in 2010.

100.

One hundred!!!

I had been pretty impressed with my 2009 list of twenty books, but apparently I had set the bar too low. So for the past couple of days, I've been mulling over this idea of reading 100 books in one year. Was it completely insane? Would it kill my love of reading? Would it simply kill me?

I certainly have 100 books that I'd be interested in reading. (Finding things I want to read has never ever been a concern.) However, I started doing a little math. 100 books in 52 weeks basically means two books a week. Yikes. That's a lot of reading. Even if I cut back significantly on my television watching, and find a way to read while showering, that's still going to be pushing it a bit. NavyGuy will be deployed for six months of the year, and I anticipate a lot of quality reading time while he's gone, but there's something to be said for quality over quantity...

So, now I'm thinking maybe 50 would be a more reasonable goal. Still a challenge - a book a week - but potentially doable. What do we think? Have I finally gone off the deep end, or is this an admirable challenge? Anyone willing to accept the challenge with me (setting whatever book goal you think would be appropriate for yourself)? Any major flaws in my plan that I've overlooked?

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Christmas Jingle Scrapbook Album

I don't have pictures of my finished version, but I have to show off the fabulous mini album that we created a few weeks ago...

(Photo from Andrea Walford, Sunny Stampin')

The album was designed by Andrea Walford, a Stampin' Up demonstrator, but she offered the template to other demonstrators... so my stamping lady taught the album as a fun Christmas class :)


Here's another photo of the album (from Michelle), that shows how the album starts to open up...

And there's the full expanded album! It's awesome. There's space for photos and journaling, and it's just so much fun to open and close it! :) I swear, my version looks just like it. We used a scrapbook kit available from Stampin' Up, so it came with all the coordinating papers, stickers, and add-ons. I haven't ordered any of their kits before, but now I'm pretty interested in some of the other ones.

I haven't decided yet what kind of photos to put in my album. Should I focus on just one year, like Christmas 2008? Or maybe an album showcasing my holiday decorations? Or various photos of Christmases over the years, with cute photos of Sister and I in matching pj's from the early years?

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Christmas Morn

A photo diary of our Christmas morning...



Tally's first Christmas Card from Grandma



NavyGuy's Mom and Dad ready for some present opening



Anti-bacterial wipes... the serious stocking stuffer...



Wisconsin pride!



The book haul...



Another present for the pup



NavyGuy's big gift - a Kindle (cuz he can't pack six months' worth of books when he deploys)



Won't. Last. Until. April. Without. New. Episodes!!!!! This t-shirt from Sister-in-Law will have to sustain me.



More gifts for Tally



Sister-in-Law's big gift - a TiVo... which she's been salivating over for way too long



Tally consumed this bone in 20 minutes. Oops. Perhaps we should have been watching more closely... (don't worry - she's fine. Iron stomach on that one.)



Who knows... I probably have a cookie in my mouth.



No... my new stamp pad holder is not a toy for puppies!

What did your holiday look like?

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Reemergence

I'm slowly recovering from the holidays. Between the non-stop shifts at Starbucks, the multiple food comas resulting from each holiday meal, and the overall hustle and bustle of the season, my body isn't bouncing back as quickly as it used to.

Blogging is still going to be sporadic for the next few days, as I received a plethora of new books under the Christmas tree, and all I'm in the mood for is reading on the couch, with Tally pup on my lap, the fire roaring, and a tupperware container of Christmas cookies within reach. But have no fear - lots of holiday recaps, and other shenanigans to come soon!

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