Happy Arbor Day! Go give a tree a hug! They do so much for us and they always look beautiful!
Friday, April 30, 2021
Have You Hugged A Tree Lately? #NationalArborDay ! Read #MenareFrogs Under a Shady Tree! #netgalley
Happy Arbor Day! Go give a tree a hug! They do so much for us and they always look beautiful!
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
On MBSR, Sometimes You've Just Gotta *Choose* to be Happy
This is a series of posts about post-cancer treatment life. I post them on Thursdays, and this is post #4.
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
Cozy Review for Wednesday #ReservedforMurder from #NetGalley
Before I share my review for Reserved for Murder by Victoria Gilbert, I must show you a picture of the breakfast muffins I made. These muffins were supposed to be Blackberry Breakfast Muffins, but I didn't have blackberries, so I used blueberries. I also added about 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts to the mix, which was a very good call on my part! The recipe is from the back of the book Color Me Murder by Krista Davis. The muffins are 5 stars and I do recommend them!
Now on to today's book review. Reserved for Murder is the second book in the Booklovers B&B
Sunday, April 25, 2021
#CozyMysteryBookClub I'm Going To Be On The Live Stream!
A bit of a bucket list item, though, I'm not keen on the whole bucket list item, so I'm going to say that getting to be a co-host on the Cozy Mystery Book Club live stream tomorrow is the fulfillment of a New Years Resolution/Goal :-) That's much better right?
Join us! We will be talking about Color Me Murder by Krista Davis. It is the first novel in the Pen & Ink Mystery series and the added bonus is that if you buy the book you can color the cover. Our amateur sleuth Florrie Fox draws coloring books, with a concentration on coloring books for adults and she is the manager of the Color Me Read bookstore in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington D.C.
This area is also where Krista Davis's Diva series takes place and in both series, the descriptions make me want to book an AirBnB and stay in a historical home in Georgetown. For now, I'll live vicariously through these books. I borrowed my book from the local library, so no cover coloring for me.
The book takes some interesting twists and turns, but my favorite part of the book might just be the three recipes in the back of the book. There is a recipe for Raspberry Quick Bread with Vanilla Glaze that seems pretty simple to make and I am sure delicious to eat. I just need 2 pints of fresh raspberries! You can find the recipe in the back of the book if you purchase or borrow it, and it is also available at the great website Mystery Lovers' Kitchen the website is run by a collective of cozy mystery authors who post recipes from their books. A great resource for foodies who love cozies!
Saturday, April 24, 2021
The Sunday Post! This Week I Make My YouTube Debut!
Thursday, April 22, 2021
My Introduction to Alexis Hall writer of Boyfriend Material
This is my first book by writer Alexis Hall. Alexis Hall has written a bunch of books including a paranormal investigator series that I think I will check out sometime later this year. Boyfriend Material is the first book in a new romance series. This was picked as our book club read for April and I was excited to get to read it.
Well, as I tend to do for this book club, I didn't 'read' it, I listened to the audio. For this book that was a good choice as the reader, Joe Jameson, has the most delightful accent - I assume it's a London accent. Is that a thing? In any case, he really helps make the book that much more enjoyable.
Luc is so hard on himself and right from the beginning you just want good things for him. Unlike most of the Romance books, I've read lately this one is not told from both Luc and Oliver's point of view. This one is only from Luc's POV and I did enjoy that change.
One (fake) boyfriend
Practically perfect in every way
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
On Mindfulness- Based Stress Reduction, Dumb Things My Brain Tells Me
The entire reason I took the online Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction class in March was that I’ve known since January I would need to have a surveillance CT scan before April 6th. The MBSR class was another tool I was pretty desperate to add to my mental health toolbox. And as I have writing about previously, these measures have actually been helpful, which is fantastic because CBD oil and THC doesn’t work for me—a bummer since here in Illinois pot is legal and I would definitely get some cannabis gummies if they would reduce my anxiety.
There are four days until the scan and currently, I rate my scanxiety as a 5 on a scale of 1-10. The kicker is that it’s not the actual scan that completely melts my brain, it's the time between when the scan is done and when I hear the results. Ack, just typing that sentence moves me up to a 6 of 10.
The scanxiety will really ramp up on the night before the scan and the day of the scan, then once the scan is over it will drop. The worse time will be during business hours after the scan. At any moment my phone might show the doctor’s number as an incoming call and I won’t be able to hardly breath. Fun fact, since I won that Fitbit from the library, this time I will be able to see exactly how much my blood pressure spikes before the scan and when I get the results.
As I was writing this post, I found my brain created a new trick to slip past some of my new coping mechanisms. Now my brain is telling me, I should be worried about the scan, because maybe worrying about it is what will make me have good results. In other words, I need to mentally suffer in order to earn a clean scan. How bonkers is that! I mean, top-notch terrible rationalizations there from my brain. So I am noticing this thought and I am allowing it to float on by as I remind myself:
Thoughts are not facts. Say it again: Thoughts are not facts.
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Lark and the Loon, by Rhiannon Gelston- A Virtual Book Tour
I’m delighted to be participating in author Rhiannon Gelston’s blog tour for her latest release, LARK AND THE LOON.
◊ Genre: Memoir with a Twist
◊ Publisher: WiDo Publishing (July 17, 2020)
◊ Print & eBooks
◊ Paperback: 284 pages
◊ ISBN-10: 1947966251
◊ ISBN-13: 978-1947966253
Lark and the Loon follows
the adventures of a tentative boy named
Lark, as he is catapulted out of all that he
knows, into a courageous journey beyond his wildest
imagination.
Upon receiving a special gift
from his Gramps, Lark embarks on a reflective journey of self-discovery as the
innovative story weaves the true-life memoir of his mother (the author) in with
a fantastical journey. With some special new-found friends, Lark travels back
and forth from a symbolic tree to his mother’s true memories of life and death
moments, and simple moments, found everywhere from wild Africa to their very
own living room. Lark and his friends must ascend this tree and gain the
important life lessons offered along the way if they ever hope to find their
way out. Within this journey, Lark finds these lessons, and ultimately himself,
in the space between imagination and truth in this wild tale.
The story explores friendships,
philosophies, and everyday challenges and joys, both from a child's perspective
and from a parent's perspective. This memoir with a twist results in a coming-of-age
story that ultimately leads to a new understanding of self, others, and the
world that surrounds us.
LARK AND THE LOON is available at AMAZON * Barnes & Noble * WiDo Publishing. Also, be sure to add it to your TBR List on Goodreads.
Meet the
Author
RHIANNON GELSTON loves to lose herself in all things creative. She enjoys writing, painting, live music, traveling, sports, being outdoors, exploring, playing, spirituality, and energy work. She has a BA in English and an MS in Occupational Therapy with a pediatric focus. Rhiannon just had her first novel published. It is a memoir with a twist called, LARK AND THE LOON, available wherever books are sold.
Rhiannon grew up on Spa Creek in
downtown Annapolis. Home for Rhiannon will always be the sound of the halyards
hitting the masts on a breezy day, a pile of crabs saturated in Old Bay,
raft-ups with friends as kids cannonball off of the stern, and time with family
and friends, in, on, and around the Chesapeake Bay.
She lives in Annapolis with her
husband, their five lovely and lively children, and their black lab, McNasby.
Connect with Rhiannon on Facebook and Instagram.
Be sure to enter the tour wide giveaway. It ends May 3. The grand prize is a $25 Amazon Gift Card and an eBook of LARK AND THE LOON. The second-place winner has to be a US resident as the gift is a signed copy of LARK THE LOON. The third-place prize is an eBook that two winners will receive. If the Rafflecopter widget doesn’t work, you can still enter by clicking HERE.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks for stopping by today.
Doesn’t this sound like an intriguing memoir?
Sunday, April 18, 2021
Starting Off The Week With A Free Short Read and Another Rom Com from The Mystic Bayou!
I've read and listened to a few shorter stories so I thought I'd give some reviews here. But before I do that, I have to share this great spring picture I took on my run the other day. I'm working on increasing my mileage so I am working on expanding my running routes. This is on a four-mile route I do most often during the summer, why? Great question! In the winter if there is snow, too much of the route isn't shoveled and I don't like trying to run in drifts of snow. But in the spring, it's a good route and has some of my favorite trees.
Since I enjoyed running with Love and Other Wild Things, I decided to go right into the next book in the Mystic Bayou series. This one is called Selkies Are A Girl's Best Friend, and like the other books in this series, the readers are Amanda Ronconi and Jonathan Davis.
This time around it's Sonja--Gillian's best friend who's come to Mystic Bayou. She's the office manager and more for the league office and her dander is up from the moment she meets the new Doctor in town Will Camody. Yes, this is starting off with an enemies to lovers vibe! As I've said before this series is nice to listen to while working out or cleaning. The readers seem to be having fun acting out these books so you stay engaged in the story and the romance is comedic. It's a light and fun escape listen!
In case you aren't aware, selkies are seal people. When they are in the water they are seals and when they are on land, they are people people.