2025 Goals

As you may know, I am a girl who likes some goals. Here's what I've come up with 2025. I tried to lean into more fun goals this year, but those always seem to be the hardest for me to do. 

Health

1) Spend 1000 hours outside. I'm hoping this will encourage me to take my lunches outside when the weather is nice, take more leisurely sniff-walks with Hannah, and do more yardwork.

2) Do something in the yard every week. In the winter, that might literally be just filling the bird feeders, but something. 

3) Do at least five yoga poses a day. Imagine if I just did mountain, forward fold, plank, child's pose, and a twist every day. It would take like two minutes and feel so good. I have always hesitated to do daily yoga practices because even 10-15 minutes a day on top of my daily routines feels like too much, but just five poses? That seems doable.

4) Go to a new-to-me fitness class. 

5) Drink 20 ounces of water a day. Sometimes I will sit down to dinner and realize I haven't  had water at all that day. It's not hard. I just need to do it. 

6) Exercise for 30 minutes at least 80% of days.

7) Only eat dessert Thursday - Saturday (or special occasions like holidays and birthdays). No, just making it through Tuesday at work does not count as a special occasion.

Connection

1) Message my accountability buddy every day and M/T/T at least once a week.

2) Do two Cool Blogger Book Club sessions.

3) Send at least one fun piece of snail mail every month. Track snail mail. 

Adulting

1) Figure out a will or whatever. I really should have this done.

2) Order new checks. I don't actually write a lot of checks and I think I've had 100 for the last five or six years, but I'm down to my last pack, so I'll have to order them this year.

3) Limit my clothes buying to the following: two new dresses/season, new mary janes, anything that was on my Christmas wish list that I did not get, necessary bras/underwear/workout gear/replacement leggings or tights (one-to-one replacements on those).  

Home

1) Paint the porch and garage.

2) Hem the stupid pants.

3) Consult an architect/contractor for our bathroom remodel. We got an extra bit of cash over Christmas and we've had increasing problems with the upstairs bathroom, so this needs to be a priority for us. 

4) Clean and organize my closet and dresser and keep them that way. 

Fun

1) Learn three new hairstyles: French braid, an elegant low knot, and something else TBD.

2) Have one day a quarter where I take off work with no plans. 

3) Watch at least one makeup tutorial every quarter. 

4) Go on a girls trip.

5) Go to at least four new-to-me museums. (Ideally it would be once a quarter, but you know I'll probably do it all in Q4.)

6) Once a month dates with my husband. Only he can't know that's what I'm doing. He gets antsy if it feels like "forced time together." It can be as easy as just playing a board game together or something, as long as it isn't just us watching television/reading. But this is TOP SECRET from him.

7) Actually train Hannah at least three times a week. 

8) Read big books. This is the year of the Big Book. I want to read at least twelve books over 500 pages this year. Some ideas that I have that I may or may not actually read are:

Moby Dick

Anna Karenina

A Little Life

Gone with the Wind

The Stand

Crime and Punishment

Middlemarch

Wolf Hall

Maybe there will be a new Cormoran Strike book in 2025?

9) Make six new-to-me cookie recipes.

10) Do a 30-day project each month. TBD what that will be. 

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Does this all seem crazy to you? I suspect it may very well be, but let's do it!

2024 Q4 Goals Update

This post is so long. Feel free to skip to the tl;dr at the bottom. 

Here are my goal updates for Q1, Q2, and Q3. 

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Area I: Professional
1. Do a networking event on campus at least once a month 

October: Easily done with workshops and a book club. 

November: Easily done, especially collaborating with other units on a new software rollout. 

December: Yes! There were lots of holiday social gatherings on campus I went to. 

2. Maintain fifteen or fewer emails in my work inbox 

October: Yes, I went through on 10/30 and it was below 15 emails. Everything else was moved to proper folders. 

November: Yes, I went through it right before Thanksgiving and it was down to 13. 

December: Yes, I had 14 when I left the office on 12/30.

3. Take off one mental health day for myself as a do nothing day during the quarter

Well, I took off a random Wednesday in November, but I still had a couple of appointments and ran a bunch of errands. Er, 50% credit? I did take off December 23, 26, and 27 and I was suuuuper lazy on the 27th, so does that count? Egads. 

4. Do at least one "professional development" activity a month - a webinar, lecture, etc. - this might be hard in December, but let's just go with it

October: I attended a webinar and went to a lecture on campus. 

November: Ooops. I forgot this was a goal. 

December: Another month when I just ignored this. 

Area II: Pets
1. Continue to track the number of times I walk Hannah, as well as the length of the walks

October:

Better than August and September. We went just over an average of 2 miles a day (63.87 miles total). 

Number of Walks	Number of Days
0	2
1	2
2	11
3	13
4	3

November: We did much better here. We were at about 2.59 miles a day - Hannah really does enjoy the cooler weather and the fireworks seem to have stopped. 

Number of Walks	Number of Days
2	8
3	22

December: We were okay here. Our average was about 2.44 miles a day - there were a couple of days below one mile, though - Hannah wasn't feeling well one day and it was cold and rainy on a day when Hannah just refused. 

Number of Walks	Number of Days
1	2
2	12
3	17

2. Grooming of some sort for Hannah every week (bath, nails, etc.)

October: 2/4 weeks 

November: 1/4 weeks - Eeks. 

December: 4/4 - weeks - We rebounded for December and her nails are looking pretty good. 

3. Weigh Zelda at least once every two weeks to keep an eye on her weight

October: We did do this on 10/12 and 10/20. She did get her treatment in late October, though, so now we can't really weigh her because she's radioactive. I made this goal when her original appointment wasn't until January. 

November: N/A

December: N/A

4. Do the prep work for Zelda to be ready for her big treatment in January - N/A. She unexpectedly got that treatment in October. 

Area III: Health
1. Formal exercise of at least 30 minutes or more on 80% of days 

October:18/31 (58%) days of working out for 30 minutes or more - COVID fucked this up majorly.

November: 21/30 (70%) - Blech. 

December: 26/31 (83.9%) - Got back on track in December. 

2. Meditate at least three days a week 

October: 14 times. I did it. 

November: 14 times. I did it again!

December: 12 times. Yes!

3. Go outside for at least 24 minutes a day 

October: 29/31 days (93.5%) - I missed a couple of days when I had COVID. 

November: 30/30 days

December: 31/31 days 

Area IV: Reading
1. Read at least one non-fiction book a month

October: I read a couple of memoirs, The Memory Palace, and a book for my work book club. 

November: Love Letters, Nuclear War: A Scenario, and Revolutions. Three!

December: All the Beauty in the World and Rental Person Who Does Nothing

2. Read at least one book I already own this quarter

I read The Memory Palace (I received an ARC) and The Color Purple in October. In November, I read Revolutions and Wrapped in Ink. 

3. Keep my reading spreadsheet up to date

October: Done.

November: Done. 

December: Yes!

4. Read at least one book every month to complete the top fantasy books by women authors list 

October: Nope. I'm also doing this relatively late in November and realize I don't have anything on tap for November, either. 

November: I snuck in The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo right at the end of the month. 

December: I read a Mercedes Lackey book (Exile's Honor) in the Valdemar saga. 

Area V: Fun stuff
1. Hem my husband's pants

October: Nope

November: Nope

December: LOLOL. You know the answer, don't you? 

2. Go out of Wisconsin at least once (trips to Michigan and Iowa don't count unless I don't see family)

October: I never even left Wisconsin.

November: Nope, just a trip to Iowa. 

December: Nope, just to Michigan and Iowa. *sigh*

3. Track number of pieces of snail mail sent

October: Three postcards, fourteen Halloween cards, a thank you note, and one more letter for a total of nineteen pieces of snail mail

November: Three birthday cards, thirteen postcards, eleven Thanksgiving Day cards, and a bill for a total of twenty-eight pieces of mail

December: Christmas cards (I sent 92, but a couple of have been returned and I need to figure out what to do with those), two birthday cards, one bill payment for a total of ninety-five pieces of mail - Canadian folks the USPS still isn't accepting mail to Canada and as soon as they update this policy, I'll send your cards out!

4. Do at least one thing outside of my work, household, grocery store, or public library every week

October: I did until the last week of October when I got COVID. I'm counting it as good. 

November: Two weeks. Eh. I was not really supposed to go out for the first couple of weeks when I was still testing positive for COVID. 

December: Three weeks. Ha. 

5. Continue tracking expenses

October: What I Spent

November: What I Spent

December: I'll do this sometime in the next week or two. 

Q4 Fun Stuff
6. Not necessarily "fun," but work on increasing the percentage I'm putting into savings.

October: Nope

November: Not a tiny bit. 

December: I didn't even consider it. 

7. I have three photos from my mom's house that I'd like to deal with - originally I had "get framed and displayed," but I honestly don't know if I want to do that for complicated personal reasons - I guess I just want to make a decision about this and then act on that decision even if the decision is "put the photos in a photo album"

October: I look at the photos every day. Does that count?

November: I actually found some frames I want and put them on my Christmas wish list. If they don't get purchased for me for Christmas, I will buy them myself. 

December: I did not get those frames for Christmas. I'll need to buy them soon. 

8. Send mail to two people at least once a month outside of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas cards.

October: Done

November: Done

December:  Done

9. Go to a new-to-me museum

October: Nope

November: Nope

December: No

10. Go tot a new-to-me fitness class. This is a bit of a stretch goal for me because I'll probably have to leave my town to do this, but let's give it a shot. 

October: Nope

November: Nope

December: Nope

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2024 Cumulative Goals

Area I: Professional

1. Create and implement a system for onboarding online students by the end of the year ✔

Yes! I onboard students now and it has been very effective. My name was even mentioned in a survey of our online students in a question asking about what has been most helpful for them. Woot woot!

2. Have lunch and/or coffee with someone on campus at least once a month ✔

3. Do a quick refresher course on Excel ✔

I did a course in February and March. 

4. Maintain fifteen or fewer emails in my work inbox - the rest must be filed appropriately ✔

I'm quite satisfied with my performance in my professional goals this year. 

Area II: Pets

1. Continue to track the number of times I walk Hannah, as well as the length of the walks ✔

Hannah and I did 887 walks this year for a total of 859 miles. 

2. Grooming of some sort for Hannah every week (bath, nails, etc.) ≈

On average we did something every week, but like one month we'd trim nails or brush her nine times and then in September and November only once. Both Dr. BB and I are trying to implement Nail Trim Sundays, so hopefully we'll be more consistent in the future. 

3. At least one brief training session for Hannah each day ✖ 

I think one of my 2025 goals should be to just enjoy my girls instead of trying to figure out how to make them perfect.

Area III: Health

1. Formal exercise of at least 30 minutes or more on 80% of days ✖

279/365 (76.4%) - So close and yet so far. 

2. Meditate at least three days a week ✔

I'm going to say that I met the spirit of this. 

3. Go outside for at least 24 minutes a day ✔

353/365 (96.7%) - I'm going to give myself credit for this. 

So close to being great.

Area IV: Reading

1. Read at least one non-fiction book a month ✔

I smashed this. I have 26 non-fiction books and 3 memoirs on my list for the year. 

2. Read at least one book I already own every quarter ✔

I read six books I own this year (!) and an ARC I was given.

3. Keep my reading spreadsheet up to date ✔

4. Read at least one book every month to complete the top fantasy books by women authors list ≈

I read ten, which isn't quite to goal, but it's still a nice list to go to when I need a diversion. 

I'm happy with this!

Area V: Fun stuff

1. Finish the dress I'm currently sewing and complete at least one more clothing project ✖

2. Take at least two sewing classes ✖

3. Go out of Wisconsin at least three times (trips to Iowa don't count unless we go and don't visit any in-laws) ✖

4. Track number of pieces of snail mail sent ✔

5. Learn to play chess ✖

6. Do at least one thing outside of my work, household, grocery store, or public library every week

7. Go back to tracking expenses ✔

Q1 Fun Stuff

8. Photograph the cows ✔

9. Get both pairs of my Mephisto sandals resoled ✔

Q2 Fun Stuff

8. Figure out the earbud situation. ✔

    I have some Google Pixels. I don't love them, but they're fine.

9. Not necessarily "fun," but I need to figure out my finances ASAP. ✔

10. I have three photos from my mom's house that I'd like to get framed and display in my office.✖

    

Q3 Fun Stuff

8. Go on a weekend adventure with my husband ✔

Well, we went on a one-night adventure! I'm going to give myself credit for that. I think it was in the spirit of the assignment. 

    

9. Visit at least one of the following museums in the quarter.  ✖

    Wisconsin Historical Museum

    Madison Museum of Contemporary Art

    Milwaukee Public Museum

    Charles Allis Art Museum

    Grohmann Museum 

    Milwaukee Art Museum

    National Mustard Museum

10. Clean up my RSS feed. Add three new-to-me blogs to follow. ≈

I just did a blog roll and I use that now! I am hesitant to add new blogs to follow, though, because, to be honest, I am struggling to keep up with my current bloggy friends!

   

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I'm happy with some of the my progress, but there's still work to be done. Stay tuned for 2025 goals!

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What is something on your to-do list for this weekend?

December 2024 Accountability Buddy

Sunday, December 1
30-minute upper body TLC yoga

Monday, December 2

30-minute yoga at the student union during lunchtime

Tuesday, December 3

45-minute body blast class at the community center after work

Wednesday, December 4

30-minute total body dumbbell workout

Thursday, December 5

30-minute yoga at the student union during lunchtime (this video - I worked up a good sweat)

Friday, December 6

Day off

Saturday, December 7

Day off - I donated blood and planned on doing a bit of yoga before bed, but then I just was too tired.

Sunday, December 8

30-minute walking workout 

Monday, December 9

30-minute yoga at the student union during lunchtime

Tuesday, December 10

45-minute body blast class at the community center after work - last one for the year :(

Wednesday, December 11

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime*

30-minute Pilates workout - really good mat workout - in typical Pilates way, you do little movements and before you know it, your muscles are super sore

Thursday, December 12

30-minute restorative yoga video

Friday, December 13

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

Saturday, December 14

45-minute upper body yin yoga with Kassandra

Sunday, December 15

20-minute shoulder workout (Caroline Girvan - Advent Day 1)

10-minute standing abs with MadFit

10-minute upper body yoga stretch with Kassandra

Monday, December 16

35-minute yoga at the student union during lunchtime

Tuesday, December 17

30-minute Werq (dance) class

Wednesday, December 18

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

20 minute core workout (Caroline Girvan - Advent Day 2)

Thursday, December 19

30-minute yoga at the student union during lunchtime

Friday, December 20

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

Saturday, December 21

20-minute full body complexes (Caroline Girvan - Advent Day 3) - Really good full body

10-minute standing ab 

10-minute full body stretch

Sunday, December 22

20-minute cardio complexes (Caroline Girvan - Advent Day 4)

10-minute upper body (Caroline Girvan)

10-minute cooldown

Monday, December 23

45-minute vinyasa yoga with 2Birds

Tuesday, December 24

35-minute full body Pilates

15-minute back, hips, and glutes stretch

Wednesday, December 25

Day off

Thursday, December 26

45-minute "wrist-free" vinyasa with 2Birds

Friday, December 27

35-minute low-impact cardio + strength 

15-minute vinyasa flow with Adriene

Saturday, December 28

20-minute full body dumbbell workout with Caroline Girvan

45-minute upper body yin yoga with Kassandra

Sunday, December 29

30-minute bodyweight cardio with Fitness Blender

15-minute full body stretch

Monday, December 30

50-minute yoga at the student union during lunchtime - it was just me and the lady who runs it, so we did an extra long video today!

Tuesday, December 31

35-minute upper body yin yoga practice with Kassandra - I drove all day, so did a bit of hotel room yoga to stretch out after driving all day

Totals: 26/31 (83.9%) of days 

13 days of yoga

13 days of strength/cardio

4 short 15-minute stretch classes at lunchtime

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*Our local healthcare organization does free stretch classes virtually three times a week. Sign up here! It's free. It's fun. It's a delightful break in the middle of the day. You do not have to have your camera on. 

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What's your favorite trick for unkinking your upper body after a long drive?

December 2024 Book List

So much reading (listening) in December! Woot woot! I loved having so much free time this month. Things will not look like this next month. 

12/1: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter #4) by J.K. Rowling (audiobook narrated by Jim Dale, 2000) - Look, sometimes you have to comfort listen to a book you know you're going to love. 5/5 stars

12/1: Rainbow Black by Maggie Thrash (library book, 2024) - Is this a murder mystery or a gay romance novel? I'll let you decide. I found it to be a real page-turner. 4.5/5 stars

12/5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter #5) by J.K. Rowling (audiobook narrated by Jim Dale, 2003) - Delightful. Also, some of the best lines in Harry Potter come in this book.  So many hats! 5/5 stars

"Yes, but the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters," said Sirius with a smile. (page 302)

"Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean all have." (page 459),

It seemed impossible that there could be people in the world who still desired food, who laughed, who neither knew nor cared that Sirius Black was gone forever. (page 844)

12/7: A Dangerous Fortune by Ken Follett - A book that was available immediately on Libby. Batshit insane historical fiction. Lots of hats. 5/5 stars

12/10: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter #6) by J.K. Rowling (audiobook narrated by Jim Dale, 2005) - These books really hold up. 5/5 stars

12/11: Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti (university library, 2024) - Sometimes you read something really weird and you fall in love with it. 5/5 stars

12/15 X (Kinsey Millhone #24) by Sue Grafton (library, 2015) - A reread for me. It's always fun to go back and hang out with Kinsey. The ending of this book was not as stellar as I wanted, though. 3.5/5 stars

12/15: Rental Person Who Does Nothing by Shoji Morimoto, translated by Don Knottings (library, 2024) - Good enough. I think this book had room for more introspection, though. 3.5/5 stars

12/18: Innocent in Death (In Death #24) by J.D. Robb (library ebook, 2007) - Reading these books is like slipping into the coziest of clothes. 4/5 stars

12/23: Exile's Honor (Valdemar: Alberich's Tale #1) by Mercedes Lackey (library, 2002) - These Valdemar books really are just the same story over and over again, but who am I to say that's not the story I want to read? 4/5 stars

12/23: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter #7) by J.K. Rowling (audiobook narrated by Jim Dale, 2007) - These books really are good. 5/5 stars

12/27: How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang (library, 2024) - I really liked the peek into what a writer's room for a television series looks like, but as a romance novel, this was not my style. These two joke about being trauma bonded, but that's what's going on. Neither of them have dealt with their trauma and it makes me worried for both of them.  It did lead to me finding this HILARIOUS Goodreads review, so there's that. 3/5 stars

I can't figure out how to link to individual comments on Goodreads anymore, but this is from Lit with Leigh. 

12/28: All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Patrick Bringley (library ebook, 2023) - Bringley takes a job as a guard at the Met after his brother dies and he wants a job with pretty low stakes and plenty of time to think. He's at the Met for a decade. This was fine. There were some great observational moments, but I mostly wished it had been slightly more interesting. If you want some behind the scenes of this job, it's worth a read. 3/5 stars

Total: 13 books

Average star rating: 4.23/5 (bolstered greatly by so many Harry Potter rereads)

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Are your reading habits going to change at all in January? 

2024 Reading Stats

2022 Reading Stats
2023 Reading Stats

Another year, another roundup of how I spent all my free time reading. I don't think I'm going to finish another book in 2024, so this should be relatively accurate. Everyone should account for the fact that this 100% assumes my spreadsheet is correct, so....who knows?! Stephany sent me her spreadsheet template a few years ago and I have been following it ever since, so blame her for the nitty-gritty details below. Feel free to skip this if the numbers bore you! 

Number of books read: 149 (12.4/month)

Total number of pages read: 53,570 (4479/month) - If I take out audiobooks, it goes down to 37,784 (3149/month).

Average star rating: 3.67/5 stars

Format: 47.7% physical books, 27.5% ebooks, and 24.8% audiobooks - My audiobook reading dramatically increased this year. 

Audiobook stats: I listened to 37 audiobooks this year! That seems like a lot. That was 474 hours and 17 minutes. LOL. Everyone asks how I do it and basically I am always listening to something - working out, walking the dog, cooking, cleaning, etc. My earbuds are as crucial to my life as food.

Book source: As with previous years, the vast majority of books I read are from libraries. 

Source	Count	Percentage
ARC	1	< 1%
Own It	6	4%
Public Library	130	87.2%
University library	12	8.1%

Recommendation sources: I did not track who or where I got book recommendations from for all books because I frequently forget by the time I read the book and put in on the spreadsheet. However, for those that I did track, here are the biggest sources.

    Podcasts - I get a lot of recs from Books Unbound, Sarah's Bookshelves, and occasionally from Pop Culture Happy Hour. 

    Bloggers - Birchie, Jenny, Stephany, Kim, Maya, and Tobia were listed in particular in my spreadsheet. I am 100% certain there are other bloggers I have gotten inspiration from and if I didn't name you, I am SO SORRY. My spreadsheet is unreliable on this data point.

    Pop Sugar Reading Challenge prompts - So many books I read just for the PSRC. 

    Reddit list - I'm trying to get through a list of the 100 Top Fantasy Books by Women Authors.

    Other things - Book clubs, award winners, and for The God of the Woods, I just wrote "the world." 

Big Five Genres:

Genre	Count	Average Star Rating
Contemporary fiction	21	3.45
Romance	17	3.14
Fantasy	32	3.73
Historical fiction	17	3.9
Mystery	10	3.95

Very strange. Most strange is how few romance novels I read this year. I need to go to a library book sale and buy a brown paper bag of Harlequins for next year, I guess. 

Star Rating Breakdowns (out of five stars): 

People say I'm a harsh judge of books, but I don't think I am. It definitely skews towards more data points at 4 and above!

Money spent: I spent $0 on books to read myself this year. I did buy about a dozen books as gifts this year. I know how everyone loves how my library tells me how much money I've saved, so here it is. I think this just calculates physical books I've checked out, though. Imagine if you added in the ebooks and audiobooks!

Books per month:

There's no real discernible pattern here, is there? 

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Bits and Bobs:

• 20.1% were debut novels.
• 34.2% were part of a series. I read a lot of romance and fantasy, which tend to be serialized. 
• 80.5% had female authors, 18.8%, and just 1 (<1%) was nonbinary.
• Fewest number of pages was Serious Concerns, a poetry collection. The most number of pages was Edge of Eternity (which I listened to as an audiobook). If you don't count audiobooks, the longest I read with my own eyes was All the Colors of the Dark. 
• Oldest book was Black Beauty (1877).
• 17 (11.4%) were published in 2024.
• 16 (10.7%) were books I reread. This honestly probably increased my average star rating considerably because I don't reread books I don't love. 
• DNF: I have 22 marked on my spreadsheet. Just because these aren't books for me doesn't mean they aren't books for you! For Kyria: I have a separate tab on my spreadsheet for DNFs, so they aren't in my data anywhere else except for this bullet point. 
• 18 (12%) had LGBTQ+ characters as main characters and I have an additional 7 with important, but not primary gay characters

I tracked how many authors I read from countries other than the U.S. and it was dismal. 

Canada: 5

Ireland: 1

Italy: 1

Japan: 3

New Zealand: 1

Norway: 1

South Korea: 1

Sweden: 1

UK: 27 (bolstered by my J.K. Rowling and Ken Follett)

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Hats:

I tracked number of hats on my spreadsheet this year. I KNOW!!

The average number of hats was 6.9. 

37 (24.8%) had zero hats

16 (10.7%) had one hat

22 (14.8%) had two hats

44 (29.5%) had three - nine hats

The highest number of hats was 78 in Fall of Giants. 

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And that's a wrap, folks. Did any of this surprise you? Do you track something that I don't track? What genre did you read most in 2024? 

2024 Blog Stats

Every year, Stephany does a round-up of her blog stats for the year, so I've completely ripped her idea off and here we are. I did it last year, too. 

The Stats (for the last twelve months)

331,000 pageviews
8820 comments
295 posts (as of 12/28 - I might sneak in another post before the year officially ends)
85 book reviews

Most people come to my blog via other blogs. Ernie, Elisabeth, Allison, and J are my top referral sources.

People from around the world view my blog, but especially people in the US, Canada, Hong Kong, and Singapore. 

This year I did two Cool Bloggers Book Club (CBBC) editions: My Brilliant Friend in the spring and I Capture the Castle in the fall. 

This year I also did a 20th Blogiversary Extravaganza that included TWENTY guest posts and lists of twenty things and it was so much. But let's all agree that I'm not going to do a big bloggy project in 2025, okay?

Other fun tidbits: one author commented on my blog this year and I had an email exchange with another author to get an ARC of his book. 

Top Five Blog Posts of 2024

(Blogs written in 2024, in order of number of pageviews.)

1. I Said I Was Chill, But I Was Wrong - Very recent post makes it to #1 for the year. If you want a follow-up, I just brought a salad. 

2. Tell NGS What To Do: Advice Needed for Basic Adulting - Updates on that post. 1) Kim turned me on to this product from Dove and I have been using the brown sugar and coconut butter and it's been life altering. 2) I still don't have a yoga bag. 3) The bloodwork was fine. 4) Kim's magic product fixes this issue. 5) We still don't use any garlic. 

3. 20th Anniversary Countdown: Guest Post #16 (written by Kae) - I don't know why some of these guest posts have more traction than others, but congrats to Kae!

4. Week 1: My Brilliant Friend CBBC - This one makes sense to me because a lot of people started with MBF, so week one was pretty popular. 

5. 20th Anniversary Countdown: Guest Post #7 (written by Lisa) - Congrats to Lisa, too!

My All-Time Top Five Blog Posts

(Total number of pageviews.)

As with Stephany, my top five all-time posts have remained the same. 

1. The Duke and I (with second epilogue) by Julia Quinn - I stand by this book review. Rape is not sexy.

2. A Holiday Survey - I answered questions about how I celebrate the holidays (totally copied from Lisa).

3. November Physical Activity Accountability Buddy - I post one of these every month. Why is this one so popular? (I bet it has to do with all the photos of Hannah.)

4. Thanksgiving Gratitude - From 2021. I do this every year, but this is the one with the most views. 

5. Is C.C. DeVille Gay? - I wrote this in 2006!! I have NO IDEA if he's gay or not, but the post only got two comments and people were outraged that I even suggested it. I'm sorry, Mr. DeVille, for speculating about your sexuality. But why did you and Bret get into a fight?

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Do you ever look at your blog stats? What's the most surprising to you?

2024 Five Star Reads

This year I have nineteen five star reads.  I'll do another post later this week that details how many books I read, average stars, and the like, but let's start with the books I loved this year. (NOTE: I'm currently reading an ebook and listening to an audiobook. Unless something dramatically changes with these books as I finish them, they will definitely not be five star reads for me.)

Three of my five star reads are The Century Trilogy by Ken Follett and four were books 4-7 in the Harry Potter series, so nine of my nineteen five star books were long audiobooks that I binged and loved. I'm going to do a top ten list of books for the year and leave these books out of it, but I want you to know that deep inside, these are in the top ten.

#10: A Dangerous Fortune by Ken Follett - Insane soap opera of a book. Obviously, I loved it. Hey, maybe I should watch soap operas? 

#9: Swordheart (The World of the White Rat) by T Kingfisher - Fantasy at its best. 

#8: Mammoths at the Gate (Singing Hills Cycle #4) by Nghi Vo - I like that fantasy is represented on this list. It's a wonderful time to be a fantasy reader right now. 

#7: The Memory Palace: True Stories of the Past by Nate DiMeo - Turning footnotes into the focal point of a story is DiMeo's bread and butter and I'd like to have tea with him every day. 

#6: A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich - Ulrich took a rich primary source and made it even richer. 

#5: The Color Purple by Alice Walker - It's as good as people say. Why didn't I read this one before 2024? 

#4: The Wager by David Grann - The first book in my 2024 spreadsheet! Batshit story of a shipwreck. So good!

#3: Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera - The audiobook made this for me. It sounded just like a podcast, complete with terrible intro music and everything. 

#2: Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacbosen - The most terrifying thing I've ever listened to. I still highly recommend it. The research is impeccable. 

#1: Love Letters by Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf - This book is officially my personality now. Do you want to talk about Vita and Virginia? Because I do! I actually asked for this as a Christmas present and is one of two new books I got as presents. I suspect a reread will be happening soon. I have my own book! I can write in the margins! I can underline!

If you're super curious as to the rest of my five stars, they were Alphabetical Diaries by Shiela Heti and My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. 

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Have you read any of these books? What was your #1 book of 2024?