G's Good Reads of 2017

It's that time of year again, folks. Christmas trees and decorations adorn our house, family and friends are visiting (or are being visited), and B has allowed my one post a year on "our" blog. She really is quite generous, don't you think? :)

So, the moment I know you've all been waiting for all year, the one blog post without which the year would not be complete: G's Good Reads of 2017. Without further ado, here they are, in no particular order.

1. Terra Incognita: The Edge of the World, by Kevin J. Anderson.

This one is a bit of a departure for me, as I'm not much for fantasy novels. The Edge of the World is the first book in Anderson's Terra Incognita trilogy, a sweeping, large-scale story about the religious and political conflict between the nations of Uraba and Tierra, both of whom are convinced that their particular interpretation of their shared faith is the only correct version (sound familiar?). There are many characters and many locations, but Anderson does a good job of weaving all the individual threads of the story together into a great tapestry. I listened to this one via Audible, and the narrator did an outstanding job portraying each of the characters.






2. Invasion Rabaul, by Bruce Gamble.

Most of us are probably somewhat familiar with at least the generalities of World War II's Pacific Theater: Pearl Harbor, Midway, the island fighting, the bombings of Japan. Invasion Rabaul focuses on a small portion of this conflict--specifically, the Australian garrison of Rabaul in the Southwest Pacific, the Japanese takeover of this strategic location in early 1942, and the Australians' fight to survive in the jungle while being hunted by the Japanese. Rabaul became a key logistics and operational base for the Japanese during the conflict in the Pacific, and Gamble does a fantastic job of illuminating this (to me) little-known theater of the war. This is also the first book of a trilogy; I've already read the second, Fortress Rabaul, and intend to finish the trilogy in 2018.


3. The Short Victorious War, by David Weber.

Weber continues to deliver in this, the third book in his Honor Harrington series. The People's Republic of Haven has decided that they need a "short, victorious war" to shore up their economic problems back home, and end up in a fight with Manticore in the process. Honor Harrington, now commander of a heavy cruiser, is (as usual) right in the middle of the action. I continue to thoroughly enjoy Weber's description of space combat, even if it is a real departure from other sci-fi stories like Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica. Weber always adds a good layer of political intrigue (and in this case some social/political commentary as well), which gives depth to the fleet engagements.





4. Abbadon's Gate, by James S.A. Corey.


The continuing adventures of James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante find them dealing with the fallout of the titanic events at the end of Caliban's War. Holden (haunted by a ghost from his past who drops obscure hints about what is going on and what it means) and a few new faces are confronted with a new situation that affects all of humanity and could either increase or relieve the pressure between Earth, Mars, and the Belt. I know this all sounds vague, but this is a good series and I'm really trying not to drop any spoilers. If it sounds interesting, start at the beginning with Leviathan Wakes.







5. Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942, by Ian W. Toll.

It never ceases to surprise me how much I think I know about World War II, and how little I actually know. While I feel that I have a good handle on the Pacific conflict, Pacific Crucible illuminated and connected some events in ways that I had never considered. While the main focus of this book is on the actual combat between the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway, Toll also delves into the Japanese political and military situation that led to the Japanese attack on U.S., British, Australian, and Dutch holdings throughout the Pacific in December 1941. This is another book that I listened to via Audible, and again the narration was top-notch. In particular, Toll's description of the fight at Midway is superb, and had me on the edge of my driver's seat several times (even though I know how it ends). This is the first book in a planned trilogy; I plan to read (or listen to) the second book, The Conquering Tide, in 2018, and the third book is coming out later in 2018.




There you have it! My good reads for 2017. In 2018, I'm looking forward to finishing Gamble's Rabaul trilogy, advancing the story in The Expanse series and the Honor Harrington series, and trying to finish the Temeraire series. Oh, and the next Gaunt's Ghosts book is finally here--The Warmaster, by Dan Abnett. Definitely need to see where Abnett is taking the Tanith First-and-Only in this latest adventure.

Happy New Year!

When GRLZ Weekend Meets BOYZ Weekend

We've left the family behind and are now with friends! This is our Christmas gift to ourselves that keeps on giving! You know you're with friends when they pretend they're still listening while you remind them - maybe for the 4th or 5th time - about your first class experience.

You've read about our GRLZ and BOYZ Weekends before, but the last time the four of us were together at the same time was, I dunno, years and years ago.

I would love to regale you with all the stories of our exciting adventures, but the truth is that we spend an inordinate amount of time in our pj's, coffee (or wine) in hand, staring at the tree.

Meet Virgil the sloth. He's our spirit animal this weekend, and, if I'm being honest, most of the rest of my life.

The guys may or may not be playing XBox all the time. I don't really know where they went. I looked up from the latest episode of The Crown and noticed they're not here, so... 

Here's to spending the rest of 2017 in style. More soon, my friends. These pj's are so comfy...

Best Christmas Present Ever

First Class

So.

I think it's fair to say that while there are still many, many countries and locations on our Travel Bucket List, we've pretty much seen all there is to see transport-wise. We've done subways and ships and jets and cars and taxis and buses and safaris and hot air balloons and gliders and hiking tours and trains (and high-speed trains!) and bicycle tours and sleigh rides and, once, an ill-fated mule ride down some sea cliffs.

But. We're staying with G's family for Christmas and guess how we got here? We flew FIRST CLASS!

Now, that was a new experience. And we did it on the United Dream Liner because, hey, if you're gonna do it, do it right. We don't mess around.

We alternate between calling this our first class flight and our photo shoot because, well, we took quite a few pics. And honestly this post is redundant because I've texted you guys most of these already, but, oh let's look just once more. Shall we?

This would be my Prosecco. PRE-FLIGHT.

Um, please don't interrupt this celebrity while she tries to read, thanks.

Can you even see my feet? Way, way down there? On a FOOT REST?

 

During the final boarding phase (for the plebes, not for us, we had been seated, comfortably, for a while) when the pilots and crew went through the final pre-flight checks, when I usually begin my "pleaseGods," I was, instead, deciding which of the many reclining positions I wanted to try out first.

I mean, look at these options!

 

You guys. We had dinner. On like actual plates, and drinks in real glasses. I was like, am I on Singapore Airlines again?? This is the delish white wine that I had with dinner. Oh, yeah. I did it. I did it.

G was all, this may or may not be more comfortable than our bed...

Our seats were so far apart that we had to LEAN IN to talk to each other. It was so, so nice. I don't know how I'm going to back to *real* life again. And *real* travel. This was a one-time deal.

Our flight back, though, is in economy-plus, to help ease the transition.

The Requisite Wall Staring

Hello, loves. I bid a sweet and joyful adieu to the fall 2017 semester. Grades are submitted; I aced both my final literature classes; I survived another semester as a writing consultant. Time to stare at the wall and binge Netflix like the good introvert that I am.

Showdown at the Christmas Corral...

It seems that every semester I end up taking on odd jobs - grading for the Film department, TA'ing various classes for the English department - and this one was no different. I ended up as the Research Assistant for a new faculty member who's working on a book. It was a great opportunity and I ended up asking him to be on my graduate thesis advising committee!

Ahem. Which is next semester. "All" I have to do is write my MA thesis and put together my teaching portfolio. I've spent the last few weeks brainstorming about my topic and nailing down my committee members, and I'm going to use this break to do research and focus my ideas a bit.

My absolute favorite holiday pic this season.

We haven't done many of the traditional Christmas things - life just took over. No German Christmas Market, no driving around looking at the lights, no special dates or productions. We've been in survival mode and I have to say, it's enough just to stare at the wall and enjoy a break from the hectic pace.

I did manage to deep clean the library over Thanksgiving break. And I mean deep clean. I weeded out and organized all my books, arranged them, bought two new shelves (the ones on the floor under the bay window, behind the tree) and made two trips to Goodwill. It looks like actual adults live in the house now.

Also, like all of my students this semester enrolled in my Comp II class next semester. It's precious and I love them all and now apparently I have to up my game because they survived the first round. So. There's that.

We've got some adventures coming up in the next few days (no big trips - lower your expectations) and some silly times that I must tell you about. Meanwhile, I'm chain-reading books for fun. 'Tis the season.

Black Friday TGIF, people!

A Buntraditional Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, peeps!

I came across this card from a few years ago and had to include it. It makes me happy and pretty much sums up the day. Although, G and I were watching the Macy's parade this morning and he busts out with, "So, what do you think that an immigrant from, say, Somalia, thinks when they watch this?" Seeing it through those eyes, as like, one jumbled up and totally nonsensical commercial, was the best. I'll never look at it the same way again. Which is not to say that I had a certain way of looking at it to begin with. But when the Ninja Turtles came on, I lost it all together.

Speaking of nonsensical chaos, here's how our lil turkey spent the last few days.

It's hard work, all this laying around, you guys. She clearly hasn't missed many meals. Much to our surprise, she hasn't jumped up on the new furniture yet. It's much higher than our old saggy brown dilapidated mess, so maybe she's not putting two and two together that this thing replaced that thing?

We overshot on the size of the couch we'd need in the living room and ended up with an extra piece, so this morning we redecorated the side room. Not bad, right? It's getting cozy in there! Plus, we feel like we're livin' the high life since we got the carpets cleaned. We don't even want to go upstairs anymore because it needs to be cleaned so bad up there. In fact, the whole upstairs needs a massive makeover, but that's for the Christmas break, I guess.

Speaking of breaks, I finished a book I was reading for fun, sighed, and picked up my homework again. Which means my Thanksgiving break is officially over. I've been ignoring paper grading and that's got to start up again too or I'll have a riot on my hands next week. G says I can't mope about my break being over since I technically have two days of it left. He says I can't mope until Sunday when I have to go back to work.

Meanwhile, he volunteered at his job today. We were going to do Meals on Wheels but they didn't need any more volunteers (which is great!). His workplace is understaffed today so he rolled in for a few hours while Roo Roo and I sighed and did our school reading (and drank perhaps one mimosa).

Hope your day is filled with food and love and cuddles and TV and movies and relaxation and then more food. Oh! And naps!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Year In The Making: Before & After

Remember how last Christmas we said we were going to get new furniture? We said that brown is a great color for people, and even animals, but not so much for All The Components of the Living Room?

Well, here we are a year later and we made good on our plans. I present to you the long-awaited Before and After in the living room!

Before

After

It's going to take a little bit to get used to sitting in a different configuration, closer to the kitchen and not to the hearth. Roo Roo has done some laps around the ottoman and for now is giving us a wide berth, but I know from experience that this is short-lived. She'll be up in our laps before bedtime.

Merry Christmas to all! From last year! And for now, let's gear up for Thanksgiving.

More Than a Funny Friday Blog

Hello, loves.

We are alive and well over at dawrighthouse. Things are currently a mess because WE FOUND NEW FURNITURE! So they have taken all of the old furniture away and we had the carpets cleaned and now all three of us are staring at each other in the bedroom because we can't go into the living room. So we'll be camped out together, upstairs, until the new furniture arrives on Tuesday.

Praise the Lord, though, no more brown.

This is the only brown I'll allow in the house.

Yes, we found her the perfect Thanksgiving turkey. And by "we" I mean "I was trolling around on Amazon while G rolled his eyes and played dorky video games." Roo Roo loves it and cuddles with it and grooms it like the little extrovert that she is.

You will be happy to know that I will indeed graduate in May. I've been a busy bee, forming my graduate committee and solidifying the topic of my thesis and figuring out which classes I'll be teaching next semester. All is arranged. I can now breathe.

Also, I'm not sure how much I've talked about this on the blog, but I work on Sundays this semester and it is insane how much that jacks up my entire weekend, which is to say my entire life. The good news is the time goes by fast and I like my job. The good news is also that I so will not be doing this again in the future. Weekends are The Precious.

This week is my fall break (i.e., Thanksgiving break). I'm taking the ole bike in for a full tune up and otherwise laying around in my pj's staring at the TV in between reading and napping.

'Tis the season.

TGIF, people!

TGIF, people!

Why I Still Bike to Work

With fall coming on in full force, the temps drop close to or below freezing at night now. Which makes for the chilliest of mornings when I bike to work. Which I'm still doing by the way.

My initial goal was to bike to work all summer long. Check.

Then I thought, why drive once school starts? I thought, if I keep riding my bike, I don't have to worry about traffic or parking costs or finding a parking spot or paying for gas. Conservatively, I figure I save between $50-$70 dollars per week by not driving.

So, we're nine weeks into the semester and, check.

This picture has nothing to do with biking and everything to do with fat lil cuddles while I try to grade. Notice that I'm down on the floor with her instead of at the standing desk, slaving away. You can see her individual toes. I mean, I literally cannot. Cannot.

Riding my bike is beneficial in the following ways:
--It gets me outside everyday for at least an hour
--It reduces my stress because I don't have to deal with traffic
--It's a good workout that challenges me and keeps my heart rate up
--It makes me breathe. Deeply and regularly.
--It helps me experience Denver in a brand new way
--I'm able to work out the stress of my day by the time I get to work and again before I get back home

What do you think, Roo? Should bunny mama keep biking?

There are some downsides, though, like the following:
--Really, really planning my weekly meals and materials. I can only carry so much, and I try to minimize it, and this takes an incredible amount of organization.
--Maintenance. Like, actual maintenance. Every other day I check the tire pressure and give the whole bike a once-over. And by this, I mean that I wake G up early and he does it for me. All I'm going to say is that I don't do this when I get in my car and go somewhere. It's a new paradigm.
--New gear. This is more of a learning curve than a downside, but so far I've bought bike lights, winterized gloves, a pant strap, and regular maintenance on the bike itself.

I was cruising along - in a huffing and puffing kind of way - until a few weeks ago when my right elbow began to really bother me. What had been a slight pain for a few months became an overwhelming and nauseating pain that caused a few trips to the doctor. It's OK, just an extreme case of tennis elbow, but even a steroid shot didn't work and I had to lay off physical stress for a while and focus on the elbow rather than the biking.

So, I drove to work for a full week. Honestly, I worried that it would get me entirely out of my biking habit (it really was a habit by then). But! The time off, and the other rehabilitative work I was doing on my elbow, really worked! And I'm back to biking a solid three days a week. Even in the cold! Even in the rain! And, so far, even in the snow!

Roo likes nose kisses. This means I spend an inordinate amount of my time laying on the floor. God bless that Roomba.

Having to take time off the bike made me realize something significant.

The biggest benefit of all:
***Stress and Anxiety Relief. Biking to work has reinforced a lesson I learned about myself a few years ago, which is that physical exercise - specifically cardio - reduces my stress and anxiety significantly.

Even though I know this about myself, I rarely dedicate time to exercising, and now I realize that it is every bit as important as doing my homework or prepping my meals or grading. It's one thing to say that, and another thing to change my lifestyle. So, now, on the days that I drive, I run on the treadmill. And I no longer look at that time as negotiable: it's mandatory.

My goal is to keep biking! But if I can't, or when it gets too cold, I'm hoping to make stress-management a daily priority in my life, specifically through exercise.

What works for you? Any realizations in your own life?

More Fall Fun

I think if I had to name a favorite month, hands down it would be October. We all know how I love the fall decor and the crisp transition from summer to fall (which is a quick one in Denver, let me tell you). And despite the basic girl memes that make their way around the internet this time of year, poking fun at the pumpkin spice latte, I persist. I will not be discouraged. I just love this season.

And it just so happens that October is often the craziest month of my year. School is in full swing and there's barely a moment to breathe between grading, teaching, planning lessons, reading, reading some more, working, researching for side hustle #1, reading some more, writing for side hustle #2, and writing my own papers.

Then we get visitors. Honestly, I don't really know where the month of September went and here we are smack in the middle of October. I want to take a minute to reflect upon and enjoy all the fun fall-ness of late. It has been spectacular.

I think my GRLZ WKND recap finished with the Botanic Gardens last weekend. The monarch butterflies were migrating south and the gardens were full of them! Plus, it was a gorgeous day to be outside.

Let's not forget the candy staple around our house this time of year. I have no shame in admitting to you that I've made three batches so far.

 

I recently moved all the cacti inside the house for winter. G swears he sees little black bugs and I swear he makes this up. There are no bugs. Our house is only getting cleaner and cleaner, what with the Roomba and all. When A-peep was here, we spent a lot of time in this cozy room, reading and catching up. She advised me to occasionally rotate the succulents. I am wisely following her advice. So far so good! They seem to be acclimating to the indoors with no problem!

You guys. The brunches. I have no words. A-peep looked so cute in her jean jacket that I copied her for two full days. I have no shame.

We also went to the Denver Art Museum. I'd never been before and I'd heard such great things and A-peep knows her art and can help me know what to look for and what is significant. The architecture of the building is awesome! We spent some quality time in there before moving on to the necessary boutique shopping (Hello! Fall!) and the requisite afternoon nap and relaxation period.

At said shopping I may or may not have picked up a few more goodies for decoration. Aren't they cute? You can't really see it in this picture, but the owl's legs are painted in stockings, and he looks very grumpy and imperious, which reminds us of Loo Loo Bell. It's so cute.

We aren't the only ones enjoying the fall decor, by the way.

This past weekend, G's cousin visited and we tried to get out and about as much as we could. More on that later because this introvert is basically dying. Too much reading. Too much homework. Needy students with their needy needs.

But! Get this! I meet with my advisor this week to start to talk about my final graduate thesis and portfolio. Like, final, ever. I can't believe I'm in the planning stages of my last paper. Hallelujah and praise God and His Heavenly Host forever.

Hope you're enjoying this season, too!