And book 1 of my cruise has been completed! On to the next!

I‘m so happy… Now, if I can just find time to read it!!

Hi! Just checking in since I have a few minutes to breathe (& read!) this weekend. I hope you‘re all doing well. I haven‘t been around since life, lately, has been pretty much school and work. I‘m in my last 2 classes before I start my dissertation, I should be defending in Dec ‘25 & be done w/my doctorate! Bellatrix is a year old now! Cletus is Cletus. And my sweet Scout is 12 & we‘re cherishing every moment left with her. I miss you all!

I‘m so happy! I had to share with people who‘d understand (and not think I‘m crazy)- I ordered this copy from the UK because I wanted this edition and not the edition that was released in the US and it just came!

Hi all!! Just checking in to let everyone know I‘m alive! After spending most of the long weekend (and very cold weather!) buried in research I am taking a couple of hours for self-care in the form of a book, drink, and a hot bath. I miss you all terribly and hope you‘re all doing well!! The end of this doctoral program can‘t come soon enough!

Winter break is finally is session and I can finally read for fun!!!

Hi friends!!
I‘m getting ready to go on a cruise the first week of November and I want to load up my kindle with some holiday cozy mysteries (brain candy!) since I‘ll be out of school and not reading research for the week! Send me your best recs, please!!

I‘ve been waiting for this since it was announced forever ago!!! I‘m so excited!!!

This looks like fun! Thanks for this @Catsandbooks It looks like a great way for me to make myself fit in some fun reading with all my school reading 😊 I‘ll definitely at least try for 31 hours!

Off to Dallas to see Baylor Neurology again…
Hi friends! It‘s been a while! Life has been busy and stressful. School has been insane and I‘ve changed jobs (gone back to my old company in a new position). Hopefully, things are settling down a bit and I can check in more often. Hope you‘re all doing well!! 💚

Hi all!! Just dropping in to say hello. I haven‘t been around for a while and, well, this is why. My fun reading time is sparse these days, as most of my spare time is spent on research for my doctorate. Hopefully, everyone is doing well! I miss you all!!

An early birthday book haul from my wonderful husband 💚 (My big gift is tickets to see the Chili Peppers at the Alamodome in May!)

Hanging out with my nephew this week while his mom is out of town & finally have a night off of school, so getting some fun reading in.

I got my Alice piece finished last night! She did such a good job bringing my muddled vision to life with her artists eye!

Last day on the cruise! It‘s super bright and I‘m facing the sun, so listening to an audiobook that I‘ve read/heard many times, so it doesn‘t matter if I fall asleep💚

Hi from the middle of the ocean, Litsy fam!! I‘m taking a needed vacation this week on the cruise that I bought my mom for Christmas. I hope you‘re all having a great start to your week!

Happy Christmas to all who celebrate! I hope that everyone is having a nice, relaxing break- wherever you are and whatever you‘re doing 💚

Thank you so much, Sarah!!! @TheAromaofBooks I love all of this! I‘ve had this book on my list since it came out and am really looking forward to diving in to it and the chocolate looks divine! I hope you have a wonderful holiday!!

Thanks @MaleficentBookDragon for hosting this swap!

#jolabokaflodswap

As I posted in my Jolabokaflod swap post, I‘ve been a little distracted this past week. The holiday came a bit early for me, and I was accepted into one of the two post-grad programs that I applied to, so back to school I go! My fun reading life is going to diminish a bit for a few years (again), but worth the sacrifice😊 Now to get through the week of my family crap talking me going back to school….

I stopped by to visit with my daddy on the way in for the holiday today. #daddysgirl

Thanks Book Depository! It got here from the UK just in time for me to take it with me on my trip tomorrow! Freaking late releases in the US…. (The UK cover is better anyway)

So- I‘m the worst swap partner ever this #jolabokaflodswap 🤦🏼‍♀️ I sent the package to UPS with my husband without taking a picture first and just realized that the card that was supposed to go inside of it is still sitting on my desk because I didn‘t finish writing it. It‘s been a hectic few days, y‘all. (I‘ll say why in another post) So- if you receive a package from Lubbock, TX with no card saying who it‘s from… 🙋🏼‍♀️ya girl! #isuck #sorry

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Thank you so, so much, my friend! It got here just in time for me to pack it for my work trip to Toronto! You‘re the best!!

I didn‘t get as much as usual at the B&N Black Friday sale, but I did get this gorgeous signed edition of Song of Achilles, a signed edition of Beyond the Wand, and Ink Black Heart for 50% off. They were also giving away this little reading journal, so I have a nice little journal for the new year. I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving!

After 2 days, the decorations are done! (And Scout says hi!)

I have a long weekend this weekend, so I‘m listening to a holiday cozy and slowly getting my holiday decorations up. I like to have the house decorated when we have everyone over for Friendsgiving (next weekend). I hope you‘re all having a Good Friday!

I got my second covid booster (4th vaccine) yesterday (making sure that I have it and my flu vaccine before I fly to Canada in a couple of weeks) and I‘m having symptoms from it so no reading for me tonight. Instead, I‘m lying here watching Great British Baking Show so I don‘t have to think.

Continuing with my cozies- I‘m starting the next Bakeshop Mystery on my list. As an incentive to get through these, I have a galley of the new one that releases the end of December! (Also Cletus says hi to his Litsy family!)

November is my “cozy mystery” reading month and I‘m super excited about it! So far I‘ve read/listened to a couple of Stephanie Plum books, an Agatha Raisin, and now I‘m listening to a Jana DeLeon while I work. I do love cozy mysteries!

I made it back home yesterday and am just now putting up my books from my trip to Half-Price Books. This was my little haul- a few books to fill out collections, a couple I‘ve been wanting, and a couple of fun holiday books for this year.

This is how I will get through the family visit… This and trips to the gym.

On a trip to see the family and stopped at my sister in law‘s for the weekend. One good thing- the have a Half Price books here!

Midweek break to get my hair done, so I‘m catching up on my spooky season reading!

This long week is over and I‘m finally where I want to be! Happy Friday, friends!!

It‘s been a rough couple of days with a rebounding migraine and a boxer with a pancreatitis flare. I‘m curling up with this anticipated read and trying to pretend none of it exists for the evening! (Said boxer is making himself shown in this picture…)

Help! I‘m getting ready to be on a panel via zoom and I‘ve had to alter the light in my office because I woke up with a migraine. 🙄 Does this lipstick work? It seems a little off to me, but I have an aura so my eyes aren‘t working well this morning. What a mess.

This was a really cute book! A lot of fun for spooky season! 3.5/5

When your husband‘s ICU staff has had a rough couple of nights and you decide to make dinner for him to take to feed all of them…. It takes a lot of pasta!

Husband: What are you doing?
Me: Grabbing my kindle.
Husband: ?
Me: It‘s going to take a while for them to put new tires on my car. What else am I going to do?
Husband: *shakes head* Gotcha….
Now I sit at Discount Tire starting a new book…

I have several seasonal books that I‘m hoping to get through and I‘m still re-reading my HP illustrated editions to work my way back up to the new OOP edition that I just got this week, so I should have plenty to get me through this readathon! Looking forward to indulging in some me time! #outstandingoctober

I stayed up until 12:30 this morning finishing this book and I loved it! This line resonated with me so much!

Hubby went to work and I‘m spending my evening working on this. It has been a long week. Happy almost Friday!

My instagram that I‘ve had for…I don‘t even know how many years….was hacked yesterday and I can‘t get it back. I was just disgusted at the lack of ability to report it appropriately and their lack of help, so I deactivated my Facebook as well, so I‘m down to my Litsy as my only real form of social media (I do have Twitter, but not on it much) and I‘m really not sad about it. At least there‘s not drama here. 💚 you Litsy fam!

This was the first of the three books that I finished on my working vacation last week and it was so fun! I didn‘t wasn‘t it to end!! Misty- Thank you so much for sending this to me! It was just the pick-me-up that I needed!

It‘s here!! (And heavy!!)

On to my 4th full book of my working/mini-vacation in the mountains (aka my little hometown)- so far I‘ve made my way through Go Hex yourself, Crumbs, & Mooncakes (and I finished up Revenge by Tom Bowers this morning). I have the rest of this afternoon, I work tomorrow, and I head home after I finish working tomorrow.

Not feeling my best tonight, so I‘m curled up early with a comfort read. I‘m wanting to re-read the illustrateds anyway since OOF illustrated comes out 10/11.

@kspenmoll Oh my goodness! You spoiled me!! All of these cozies😍😍😍 And H&S Japanese Sencha is one of my favorite teas! The wrap is gorgeous and so, so soft. I just love everything! Thank you sooo much!! #fffs

Misty! You‘re the best!! This was an amazing surprise! Thank you so much!!! Happy Halloween!!! 💚💚💚 #litsylove

Went to brunch with my hubby and dropped by the bookstore to pick up a couple of books I‘ve been wanting to grab. Happy Sunday!