Books and Backpacks

     In the first of our two weeks in Palm Springs, we spent more time outside than we had in the past two months back home. Day one of our trip was... Chaotic, to say the least. The night before we left we went to bed by 9 to wake up at 4:00am the next morning, and at the airport for 5:15 am. However, while we went to bed nice and early, there was very little sleep for us. We nearly immediately fell asleep, but, by midnight both of us had re-awoken. We tried to get back to sleep.... And tried... And tried. By 3:00 am, both of us had given up on our dreams of a good night's sleep and just started getting ready, and rapidly consuming caffeine. Eventually, we got to the airport, through security and customs, and were stopping for another coffee and breakfast at the airport's Starbucks.  Once we were on the plane, Carl immediately fell asleep. Awaking about 15 minutes later, asking "have we taken off yet?", completely missing the city lights twinkling far below us. Afte...

     For our 5th Christmas-versary, my boyfriend and I did something a bit different from previous Christmases-- we travelled across the continent, away from the harsh Canadian winters and towards the balmy Californian climate. Since we turned 18 (and were allowed by our parents to travel together), we've spent most of our Christmas vacations away from home. In 2019, we brought in the New Year in Phoenix, Arizona. Where we hiked the mountains in Sedona and rode camels at the Phoenix zoo... The next year, in 2020, we jetted around the West coast. Making stops in Rosalind, BC to hike some more... And another stop in Seattle to bring in the New Year shopping... Then came 2021, where everything was locked down, and COVID-19 had left us in a place where we weren't even allowed to have Christmas dinner together at each other's house. So we got stuck in the Canadian cold and barely had a Christmas at all. But that only left us more motivated this Christmas. My boyfriend was in s...

    As Goodreads  published its Year In Books, I've been thinking back to the 177 books I've read this year. Overall, my year was pretty successful, in terms of reading, at least. I had 14 favorites of the year, but many more 5 star reads. As an English major, I do read a lot for school, however, when I only include the books I read on my own on my Goodreads challenge. So I spent the first few months of 2021 reading only for school. As such, t he bulk of my reading occurred during the last 3/4ths of the year, which leads to the first question of this post.  What was the first book you read this year?  My first read of the year was Stephenie Meyer's Midnight Sun. With the Twilight Renaissance currently occurring online, this book felt as good as any to start my year off with. If you haven't heard of it, it's essentially a retelling of Meyer's 2005 novel, Twilight . While Meyer has done Twilight  retellings before (namely, the gender-bent novel, Life and Deat...