January Loves

I love getting recommendations for almost anything; I think that you have to feel strongly about something to recommend it to your best friend or mother.  That's how I've found some of my favorite books, restaurants, stores, products and so many other things.  At the end of every month I'll be posting my "loves of the month", my favorite books, music, movies, food, and anything else I think you just shouldn't live without knowing about.

I spent a lot of January reading and I was trying to get away from the young adult books (since I'm about 10 years out of that age bracket), but I read some great reviews about the book Divergent by Veronica Roth so I decided to give it a try.  I had that book and the sequel, Insurgent, done in less than a week and found myself sad that I'd have to wait months for the third book.  The book has a very Hunger Games feel and similarly has a dystopian setting.  For me, the book was an insightful look into community, finding oneself, and an ultimate choice between right and wrong and it was a nice change from some of the other young adult books that have one main focus.

If you're looking for something a bit more serious, I Couldn't Love You More by Jillian Medoff is also a great read.  I was sucked into this book as well and found myself on the couch reading whenever I had a free minute.  This book ultimately dealt with the impossible choice when a parent must pick which child to save.  Entertwined through the book are stories of family relationships, dealing with the past, and moments that change lives forever.

Lastly I have some amazing music to recommend.  I downloaded The Lumineers album for my flight home over Christmas and I fell in love with it instantly.  The Lumineers are a folk rock band although most people would probably label them alternative.  Once mainstream music picks up alt songs that's usually about the time I become sick of them, but I'm still in love with this album, even the very overplayed song Ho Hey.  This has quickly become the playlist I throw on when I'm cooking and I seem to find a way to play it almost daily even when I'm not cooking.  The songs are catchy but soulful and the album has a very unique feel; going from sweet with the cello playing the background to a rockish feel that always seems to lead to me dancing in the kitchen with Coconut or a spatula (Coconut gets sick of dancing with me sometimes).  

If you have any books, music, unknown movie, amazing website, or anything else you'd like to recommend, I'd love to hear about it!  You can always share your recommendations in the comments section or on my blog facebook page and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the books or album if you give them a shot :)

Happy 2013!

2012 was full of small joys, new experiences, some sad and trying times, some friendships made deeper and some that didn't stand up, the familiar presence of family and friends, and a lot of the everyday routine that comes from working, cooking, cleaning, and sleeping like any normal human being.  As I was reading friends' posts on facebook, I realized that 2012 was a slightly uneventful year for me.  We had some celebrations and milestones, but if I'm being honest, I'd say I was a bit lazy/comfortable in 2012 actually.  

Mr. C and I spent the afternoon of January 1, 2013 being lazy so I certainly hope that's not an indication of the year to come.  I don't really believe in resolutions because they seem to just be set to be broken.  They're overdone and every year it seems that the same resolutions come up, proving that not much came of them the year before.  However, every year around January 1 I get a burst of energy and decide I want to organize everything, eat super healthy, take walks daily, do my devotions, get plenty of sleep, and spend time focusing on the people I love while maybe making some huge changes like moving to China or saving a million dollars (still working on the lottery for that one...).  I follow that up with thinking, "this year (insert year) is going to be the best EVER!"  Then life kicks in and I find myself driving the same way to work, groggy and eating my not-so-amazing breakfast I grabbed on my way out the door as I power-walked faster than I have in months since I haven't been taking daily walks.  I glance at the calendar, and realize holy cow, it's December 31st and I've forgotten all my resolutions.  This is the relationship between resolutions and I.  It's not that I don't love my life; it's pretty great in so many ways, but we all have things we want to change, and resolutions are the hope that in the new year we'll do just that.  Sometimes life becomes too full of things that we forget to stop and take some time to do something that makes our day extraordinary or just appreciate everything we've been blessed with.  So no matter how I try to give up, I can't stop that excitement that hits me when I realize it's a new year.  This year I'm not writing specific resolutions but I have ideas in my head about things I'd like to work on, and this year I'm going to attempt to do just that.  Without setting myself up for failure, I've decided that this year is going to be the best year ever (I used lowercase letters to show how I wasn't letting myself get caught up in this new year's thing).  I hope the new year holds amazing things for you and I'd like to thank you again for caring enough to let me share a part of my life with you through my blog, even when I've had a lazy year and become a bit of a blogger slacker :)  One of my resolutions is to be a better blogger!