January Reads

 

This will technically be "books" of the month - I decided to share my reads with you at the end of each month. This will be a way to recommend great books (or tell you what I think you should avoid) and I'll be able to look back at all I've read in the year! 

I made a goal for myself for 2023 to read thirty-five books and I made a pretty great starting effort for the month of January! I read a nice variety of books and enjoyed them all quite a bit!

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Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of The Crown

 - Written by Anne Glenconner

"Discover untold secrets with this extraordinary memoir of drama and tragedy by Anne Glenconner - a close member of the royal circle and lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret."

This book offered an inside look at the life of a member of British nobility that served as a lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret and lived life between the United Kingdom and the island of Mustique (yes - she and her husband are the couple Margaret visits on Mustique - they own the island). The inside look was quite fascinating and the lifestyle her family had was almost; at times, beyond belief. It must be nice to be landed gentry in the UK, ha-ha!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

A Flicker in the Dark

- Written by Stacy Willingham

"When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the Summer, her own father had confessed to the crimes and was put away for life, leaving Chloe and her and the rest of her family to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath."

I really enjoyed this book; it was good to get back into reading a nice thriller and this one delivered. I will say that I saw the twist coming, even with the misdirection that the writer offered. I still absolutely enjoyed reading it and would definitely recommend it!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Bringing Down the Duke

- Written by Evie Dunmore 

"England, 1879. Annabelle Archer, the brilliant but destitute daughter of a country vicar, has earned herself a place among the first cohort of female students at the renowned University of Oxford. In return for her scholarship, she must support the rising women’s suffrage movement. Her charge: recruit men of influence to champion their cause. Her target: Sebastian Devereux, the cold and calculating Duke of Montgomery who steers Britain’s politics at the Queen’s command. Her challenge: not to give in to the powerful attraction she can’t deny for the man who opposes everything she stands for.

Sebastian is appalled to find a suffragist squad has infiltrated his ducal home, but the real threat is his impossible feelings for green-eyed beauty Annabelle. He is looking for a wife of equal standing to secure the legacy he has worked so hard to rebuild, not an outspoken commoner who could never be his duchess. But he wouldn’t be the greatest strategist of the Kingdom if he couldn’t claim this alluring bluestocking without the promise of a ring…or could he?

Locked in a battle with rising passion and a will matching her own, Annabelle will learn just what it takes to topple a duke…."

I confess I started this book back in late October/early November and couldn't quite get into it! However after picking it up this month, I sped through it over the course of a weekend! It was a fun and saucy romance and I was swept up in it!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Night Swim

 - Written by Megan Goldin

"A true crime podcast host covering a controversial trial finds herself drawn deep into a small town's dark past and a brutal crime that took place there years before."

This book was hands down the best read of January! The twist and turns in the book were unexpected and the plot just kept building on itself; it was hard to put this one down! It had a great conclusion and I can see why it has made so many "best of" lists - it's an excellent read!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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I am currently in the process of reading two books! I started The Night Train to Berlin (written by Melanie Hudson) and my women's Bible study group is slowly but surely making our way through Good Boundaries and Goodbyes (written by Lysa TerKeurst).

So - I'm well on my way to knocking out six of my thirty-five books and I can't wait to keep sharing my monthly reads with you! 

January is Zooming By!

Let's try to get back on track now that January is almost at an end! I usually bemoan January because it lasts for what seems like three months instead of just one - but this year, it has felt like January absolutely flew by! I cannot believe that we are a day away from February! The final weekend of January passed much too quickly for me - but then, weekends are always fast!

 

Friday morning I was surprised by a package in our mailbox and y'all - it was the most beautiful thank you gift from our wedding photographer! These are some of my favorite pictures from our wedding and now we have this beautiful keepsake! What a thoughtful and beautiful gift - I know we will treasure it forever! 

Friday night was pretty chill - we had pizza, watched some TV and ended up going to bed at a pretty early hour for a Friday night. We are just an old married couple and honestly - I love it.

Saturday we headed into DC for the day and headed to the Washington Auto Show - because if there is one thing my husband loves (besides me) - its cars! I have heard about the Washington Auto Show but I've never experienced it before this year. I honestly couldn't tell you very much about cars but my husband knows it all! He is incredibly knowledgeable where cars are concerned and he has a very mechanical mind that can look under the hood of a car and see magic, where I just see a mystery!

One portion of the Auto Show featured cars that had been hand-painted by local DC artists and I have to confess that I probably thought they were the neatest part of the show. I did enjoy hopping into the driver's seat of several new, very shiny models and imagining what car I might have in the future.

They had models to peruse from Toyota, Dodge, Chevrolet, Jeep, Subaru, Volvo, Kia, Honda and more... I decided pretty quickly that I was a fan of the Toyota models and that really didn't change after looking at everything. I also noted that I don't want to become a mini-van Mom one day - I think I'd prefer to stick with an SUV... although Toyota did have a mini-van with reclining captain's chairs in the middle row - and that was pretty cool. Yikes - who knows what the future holds?

After spending a nice chunk of the day perusing all the cars (and trucks... and SUVs... and EVs...) we headed back out of the big city and stopped in Chantilly on the way to my parent's to grab dessert for the evening: Crumbl Cookies! My hubby also grabbed me a Nightingale Ice Cream Sandwich to snack on in the car as we made the drive back to the countryside - what a sweetie!

 

We had burgers at my parent's house on Saturday night and visited with them some - we had our Crumble Cookies for dessert and I have to say that; for me, the jury is still out. The lemon cupcake cookie was amazing and the chocolate chip was also pretty tasty, but I wasn't so fond of the Fruity Pebbles or the French Silk Pie. Perhaps they're an acquired taste?

Sunday was a rainy day - we headed to church and then went to lunch with my Dad at Texas Roadhouse and then spent the afternoon and evening watching the AFC and NFC championship games. I made two loaves of banana bread and made Pasta Fagioli soup for dinner. All too soon the weekend was wrapping up! 

The Friday Five

Goodness guys - it has been a minute, hasn't it? The last few weeks have been a little chaotic, a little sad, a little happy and all in all - just a lot to take in! This new year has certainly started off with some memorable moments and so I just wanted to play a little bit of catch-up here on Friday! 

One. Remembering Watson - Ryan and I spent last Saturday (can't believe this was last week already) remembering our little pup! We'd hoped that the weather was going to be a little better - the forecast called for sunshine and a high of 48 but when Saturday dawned, it was cloudy and 44! So we bundled up and made the best of it!

We started our day at Bear Dens, a hike near Bluemont, Virginia - about a 25 minute drive from my parents. The 1.7 mile loop hike has an amazing rock outcrop with stunning views of the Shenandoah Valley and Watson loved this hike! We encountered so many pups on this hike (with their humans, of course) and we scattered some of Watson's ashes from the actual "bears den" outlook. 

After eating lunch in the car, we headed to the Burwell Morgan Mill in Millwood - another quaint location near my parent's house! We have had many a picnic along the banks of the stream here, that flows into a large river. The mill is from the 1700's and has a gorgeous lawn behind it that was a favorite spot for Watson to ramble and roam!

Our final stop was Watson's favorite place - the Virginia State Arboretum! He wasn't ever able to make the three mile loop walk but on Saturday, we took his ashes all the way around the loop and scattered some of his ashes all around the three mile loop. Even with the weather not turning out quite so perfect - we had a great day remembering our fuzzy little fur baby!

Two. A Bedroom Refresh - The start of the New Year had me wanting to do a little bedroom refresh for Ryan and I's room and I wanted to get something to add a little color! We've had an all white comforter since before we got married (it was mine before we got married) with navy, yellow and aqua accents and I just wanted a little more.

January is the perfect month to buy bedding because everything is on major sale in January - and I found this adorable reversible comforter from Wayfair that was on sale for less than $50! It was exactly what I was in the market for, it arrived in record time and we are loving it so far - and no - that's not our bedroom, ha-ha! 

Three. Flowers from My Husband - In the midst of all the chaos and emotional upheaval that has come with the first few weeks of this year, I can attest to the fact that I've been a weepy delight to be around. Ha! And yet, with all my crazy emotions, my sweet husband brought me home flowers after work one day - out of the blue!

It might not have been an out of the blue decision for him - he brought them home to me the day after we made the difficult decision to have Watson put to sleep. I'm certain there was quite a bit of thought behind it for him and they absolutely made my day!

Four. My Wedding Dress - We chose to have my wedding dress preserved after our wedding and it arrived last week and I could not be more thrilled with it! It was stunning to begin with and it's packaged in the most beautiful way - it will be a keepsake to treasure for years to come!

And since it has a 100-year guarantee, I guess I will be treasuring it for the rest of my life and the lives of my children and grandchildren too, ha-ha! 

Five. In Loving Memory - When all was said and done, we chose to have Watson cremated and I picked up his ashes last Friday after work. I have to say - I was so unbelievably impressed with the care and kindness that was shown to our pup!

Not only were we given some of his fur to have as a keepsake, his ashes were packaged in the most stunning wooden box that we will be able to keep for a lifetime and then some! It's so touching to discover that other people are willing to love and care for your pet, even after it's life has ended!

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Can we believe it's almost February? Usually January seems to drag on - but this year, it has absolutely flown and now here we are, staring down the barrel of February! Amazing! Y'all have a great weekend!

Lately - My Watson

January has been quite the month - and it's not quite over yet. In saying that; it certainly hasn't been a bad month, but it's already had quite the emotional toll and it's only the 19th. I wanted to share a little more about our sweet Watson and his final days on this side of heaven. 

Ryan and I had been discussing for the last couple months that perhaps we needed to discuss end of life plans for our precious pup. Watson was fifteen and his quality of life had absolutely declined; especially in the last two-three months. He paced in circles frequently - a sign of dementia in older dogs and potentially a sign of a brain tumor. He continued to lose weight (even though he eats all the time) and he was completely blind and almost completely deaf and also incontinent... I could go on y'all...

  

We took the little guy with us to Asheville a few weeks ago and he gamely conquered an almost two mile hike in the sunshine but beyond that, he was an anxious little mess and kept both Ryan and I on edge the whole weekend. Once we returned from Asheville - we knew a decision had to be made. I called our vet on Tuesday the 10th and had a discussion and scheduled his final visit for January 16th.

 

We spent the little guy's final weekend spoiling him - plenty of cuddles, of course! My Mom made brownies and fed him a bite... after all these years of craving chocolate, he finally got himself some brownie! We gave him bacon biscuits and chicken strips and sips of his very favorite - milk - and just did our best to love up on the little guy.

Monday was the most beautiful day - the weekend had been sunny but so cold and my precious pup didn't have much meat on his bones as it was, so I didn't want to take him to his favorite spot just to have him freeze. Thankfully it was almost 60 and sunny on Monday, so I plopped him in his coat and away we went to the Arboretum! 

 

My Mom joined us and since there were very few people there while we were - we let him off his leash and let him wander in a wide open field. I don't think he can see much except light and dark, bright and shadows - so the bright day and wide open field must have been quite the experience for him. He enjoyed his time in the Winter sunshine and I loved watching him frolic and sniff as he wandered.

Mr. Watson's final vet visit was on Monday afternoon and my husband and I went together to say our last goodbyes to him. He was - as always - the most well-behaved little fella right up until the very end. He left the world after taking a big yawn, so it was nice to feel that he was taking a much needed nap - the sweet little guy.

I know he was welcomed to heaven by my grandma - my Nanny as I called her - and she probably had a corn dog or some scrambled eggs for him. I know he is in a much better place, where he is young and free and can race in the sunshine all day long - but man - he will surely leave a hole in my heart for a lifetime.