I have a funky story to tell about our recent trip. So every year we go over to Florida for the annual family Christmas on hubby’s side. There’s the giant party with everyone where we do secret Santa and then we go visit people we rarely see and have a smaller Christmas with us, hubby’s parents, and his sister and her new family. Well, this year while we were visiting one of our cousins, we ended up adopting a dog. We’ve been wanting to get another dog for a little while but have been putting it off cause getting a dog from a breeder is expensive and all the vet bills for a puppy are a bit too much for us right now. But Dixie is 6 now and it is a good time to have her help train a younger furry friend. So when Katie told us that a lab mix puppy had been hanging around her house for the past week before we arrived, we thought we’d check that out. She already has 4 dogs and this one was so scared and skittish that she was afraid to have him around her one year old twins. She was planning to take him down to the Humane Society but since there isn’t a huge demand for stray dogs in that small town, she was sure he would get put to sleep. Well, after playing with him for a little bit, we had him up on hubby’s lab and were hand feeding him, so we are sure we can get that skiddishness out of him. We think now that he’s a boxer mix. He is about 40 pounds but he is very strong and solid. We’re pretty sure he’s going to outweigh Dixie pretty soon (she’s 60 pounds). We named him Diesel It fits him very well because he is so strong (and we wanted another D name since both our current pets have D names).

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So in 2010 I managed to read 36 books. For 2011 I decided to try the Goodreads reading challenge and challenged myself to read 50. Then when I quickly reached that goal, I increased it to 100. Thanks to audio books, and short stories, I have reached and exceeded that goal.

2011 Reading Challenge

Julie has

completed her goal of reading 100 books in 2011!

hide

112 of 100 (112%)

view books

So that widget thinger links to all the books I read in 2011, and all my ratings and reviews (if a review was posted). Many people have been listing their top 10 reads for the year, so I figured I would also list my favorites.
In no particular order, here are my top 10 favorite books (or series) I read in 2011.

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Happy Thanksgiving to all. We have a lot to be thankful for, even if sometimes things don’t seem perfect, when you look at the important stuff you see what really matters. We have each other, our family and friends, a comfortable home and I have a job that helps sustain our lifestyle. I’m hopeful that this coming year will bring my husband a good full time job, but in the mean time we still have a lot to celebrate.

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Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love to dress up and to decorate the house with fun and spooky things. Hubby didn’t let me buy the zombie babies from Spirit Halloween but those were awesome. We hosted a party again this year cause last year was so much fun. This year I had some fun with the menu. We made pumpkin chili (theme appopriate!) and a king ranch chicken casserole but for funsies I made some demon eyes. The weird thing is I guess my guests were kinda freaked out by them cause few were brave enough to try them. It was just food coloring and olives added to regular deviled eggs, chickens!

I dressed up as a Saloon girl and hubby dressed up as a Cowboy. My costume turned out to be pretty cool. I bought it online cause I was able to find one non-hoochy costume (where the dress sort of reaches the knees!).

I tortured the pets as well

Angriest kitty vampire ever:

Doggie was a pumkin:

Most of the guests brought dessert, and it was quite awesome. One couple was really creative. Karie dressed up as a hippie and baked brownies with some green flakes in them cause they were “that kind” of brownies. Her hubs Robert was a cop and brought donuts. Fun. More photos are on facebook (not linking it here to protect the privacy of my friends).

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These two weekends in a row I have agreed to so outdoorsy activities.

Last weekend we went camping at Inks Lake State Park (outside of Austin) with our neighbor friends who just got engaged. Yes, their celebration of engagement was going camping. It was an interesting experience, had some ups and downs. It turns out hubby had a really nice 4 person tent and we had an air mattress, so we were able to get a somewhat comfortable set up for sleeping. The engaged couple brought food for everyone for the entire time, as well as a propane stove and metal dishes. Yea, they’re super campers. Their family members and some of their friends made it out too. We had about 8 people (some left early, others came later). I had an issue on Saturday with dehydration which was kind of unfortunate. We went hiking after breakfast, but I hadn’t really had a chance to drink a lot of water yet, and even though I drank from hubby’s camelback the entire time, I still got really headachey and dizzy. And I also had a flare up of my plantar fasciitis from all the walking on uneven ground and rocks. My foot is doing better now but it wasn’t nice to me then. I’m not hanging out with athletic people anymore, it’s just not safe for my health to try to keep up. So that was not fun, but otherwise it was a nice trip. Neighbor lady really planned the meals nicely and I was impressed with all the variation for each meal and all that little stove could do. Dixie also had a great time swimming and walking around and sniffing things. Though she was a bad dog when it came to hanging out at the campsite. Dogs had to be on leashes, and she whined the entire time. She is ok with her leash when she is walking with us, but at home she is free to walk around and follow us so when she is tied to a tree and we are not right beside her, she whines like an annoying monster mouse. Yea, I was not happy with her. Neighbor lady’s sister brought her dog and that dog was so well behaved. Gah, Dixie can be a pain sometimes. I took some photos of the pretty state park scenery and got some photos taken of us as well. Heres’s one. More on Facebook.

Yesterday we had a horseback riding lesson. I bought one of those daily deal coupons and the stables are super close to our house. This was my first time on a horse, ever. They had a staircase for us to climb up to the saddle but then we still had to swing our leg around. Well I had nothing to hold onto (this is english style riding, so the saddle didn’t have anything to grab onto) so I almost fell off but I grabbed onto the horse’s great big neck and got myself steady. I had some balance issues cause I already don’t have good balance when I’m on the ground but here I’m in the air with no seatbelt or anything to hold onto. The instructor had to be super careful with me and hold onto my food to make sure I wasn’t falling. But I got the hang of sitting up on the horse toward the end of the lesson and the leading techniques are pretty easy. I’m thinking this might be something I might be willing to continue to do. I definitely need a lot more lessons to get fully comfortable on that beast of an animal and be able to move faster than a walk. Hubby never had official lessons but he rode horses as a kid (just the get on and stay on method) so he didn’t have any issues. So I might need more lessons than him to get us to the point where we can go rent a horse and ride some trails together. But it sounds fun. Though this morning I am super sore. Wow what a workout!

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So last weekend hubby and I went camping with some friends. More on that later, but I just wanted to ponder some ideas of what people consider comfortable. We had a 4 person tent and an air mattress and I even brought a pillow and comforter from home, but I still had trouble sleeping and could not get comfortable. The friends that we went with, the couple that lives in our subdivision, they slept in very late. Apparently my friend is super comfortable and relaxed while camping so she gets to sleep in. I have a hard time understanding that since once the sun is shining through the tent and the birds start their obnoxious chirping, there is no sleep to be had. So when I normally sleep in till about 9 on weekends at home, here I was waking up around 7. Our air mattress was good, but it wasn’t anything super special. It still had a plastic sound every time you moved, and if one person got up, the other person sank to the ground. So it was only comfortable when both of us slept perfectly still, which come one, no one sleeps perfectly still. Now what would really be cool would be if we could get some fabric sofas for home-like comfort in a tent! But if we’re gonna go there, let’s just get an RV or even a hotel. That would be perfect for me.

Yes I know I am a princess. But it is interesting that if you put the money into it, you can make camping a lot more comfortable. My friend’s air mattress had separate compartments so it doesn’t shift when you move around on it. It cost a lot more than ours though. And of course a little googling can find some great articles on making camping comfortable. This website has a nice list of what you should spend some money on to add to the comforts. I like the idea of the camping heater and fan, but are those really battery powered? Cause there’s no source of electricity unless you have your car idling the entire time lol.

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I’m hosting a girls movie night in a few weeks and it got me thinking about my seating options. We have a decent amount of couch space, as long as people don’t hog half the couch to their lazy stretched out selves. We have a recliner chair, a (pull out bed) couch that should seat 3 comfortably (maybe more if all the smaller people sit on the couch), a love seat that has two separated reclining seats with an arm rest in the middle where you can put food, and a round piece that connects the couch part to the love seat part (that is where the dog sits). For just the two of us and the dog, that is plenty of space. We usually just sit on the couch but sometimes use the love seat if we want to recline while watching a long movie. The couch is nice, but it is old. It shows wear and has doggie slobber stains all over the arm rests. I know, animals are gross. But I figure we can at least fit 7 or 8 people comfortably and the others that might show up will need separate chairs or maybe pillows if they will sit on the floor.

Someday we will get around to replacing our couch. I think we might look into a corner sofa from Fashion4Home or some other place. I like the corner couches because they are larger and have more space to lay down. I’m such a couch potato. We do spend a lot of time in front of that TV.

I’ve also been looking at some ideas for a future purchase, and I noticed that ehow has some really awesome articles. There’s an article with tips you can bring to the store with you to help you make decisions. There’s also another article that talks about things to look for to make sure you are getting a quality couch. It is pretty amazing how many good tips are out there if you know where to look.

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I got this meme from the I Am A Reader, Not A Writer blog. I bolded the books I have read from the 2011 and 2010 lists of top 100 YA books. I’m not sure who compiled the list.

Top 100 YA Books (2011 version)
1. Alex Finn – Beastly
2. Alice Sebold – The Lovely Bones
3. Ally Carter – Gallagher Girls (1, 2, 3, 4)
4. Ally Condie – Matched
5. Alyson Noel – The Immortals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
6. Anastasia Hopcus – Shadow Hills
7. Angie Sage – Septimus Heap (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
8. Ann Brashares – The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (1, 2, 3, 4)
9. Anna Godbersen – Luxe (1, 2, 3, 4)
10. Anthony Horowitz – Alex Rider (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
11. Aprilynne Pike – Wings (1, 2, 3)
12. Becca Fitzpatrick – Hush, Hush (1, 2)
13. Brandon Mull – Fablehaven (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
14. Brian Selznick – The Invention of Hugo Cabret
15. Cassandra Clare – The Mortal Instruments (1, 2, 3, 4)
16. Carrie Jones – Need (1, 2, 3)
17. Carrie Ryan – The Forest of Hands and Teeth (1, 2, 3, 4)
18. Christopher Paolini – Inheritance (1, 2, 3, 4)
19. Cinda Williams Chima – The Heir Chronicles (1, 2, 3)
20. Colleen Houck – Tigers Saga (1, 2)
21. Cornelia Funke – Inkheart (1, 2, 3)
22. Ellen Hopkins – Impulse
23. Eoin Colfer – Artemis Fowl (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
24. Faraaz Kazi – Truly, Madly, Deeply
25. Frank Beddor – The Looking Glass Wars (1, 2, 3)
26. Gabrielle Zevin – Elsewhere
27. Gail Carson Levine – Fairest
28. Holly Black – Tithe (1, 2, 3)
29. J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
30. James Dashner – The Maze Runner (1, 2)
31. James Patterson – Maximum Ride (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
32. Jay Asher – Thirteen Reasons Why
33. Jeanne DuPrau – Books of Ember (1, 2, 3, 4)
34. Jeff Kinney – Diary of a Wimpy Kid (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
35. John Boyne – The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
36. John Green – An Abundance of Katherines
37. John Green – Looking for Alaska
38. John Green – Paper Towns
39. Jonathan Stroud – Bartimaeus (1, 2, 3, 4)
40. Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl – Caster Chronicles (1, 2)
41. Kelley Armstrong – Darkest Powers (1, 2, 3)
42. Kristin Cashore – The Seven Kingdoms (1, 2)
43. Lauren Kate – Fallen (1, 2, 3)
44. Lemony Snicket – Series of Unfortunate Events (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
45. Libba Bray – Gemma Doyle (1, 2, 3)
46. Lisa McMann – Dream Catcher (1, 2, 3)
47. Louise Rennison – Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
48. M.T. Anderson – Feed
49. Maggie Stiefvater – The Wolves of Mercy Falls (1, 2, 3)
50. Margaret Peterson Haddix – Shadow Children (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
51. Maria V. Snyder – Study (1, 2, 3)
52. Markus Zusak – The Book Thief
53. Markus Zusak – I am the Messenger
54. Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
55. Mary Ting – Crossroads
56. Maureen Johnson – Little Blue Envelope (1, 2)
57. Meg Cabot – All-American Girl (1, 2)
58. Meg Cabot – The Mediator (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
59. Meg Cabot – The Princess Diaries (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
60. Meg Rosoff – How I Live Now
61. Megan McCafferty – Jessica Darling (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
62. Megan Whalen Turner – The Queen’s Thief (1, 2, 3, 4)
63. Melina Marchetta – On the Jellicoe Road
64. Melissa de la Cruz – Blue Bloods (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
65. Melissa Marr – Wicked Lovely (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
66. Michael Grant – Gone (1, 2, 3, 4)
67. Nancy Farmer – The House of the Scorpion
68. Neal Shusterman – Unwind
69. Neil Gaiman – Coraline
70. Neil Gaiman – Stardust
71. Neil Gaiman – The Graveyard Book
72. P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast – House of Night (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 )
73. Philip Pullman – His Dark Materials (1, 2, 3)
74. Rachel Caine – The Morganville Vampires (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
75. Rachel Cohn & David Levithan – Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
76. Richelle Mead – Vampire Academy (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
77. Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson and the Olympians (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
78. Rom LcO’Feer – Somewhere Carnal Over 40 Winks
79. S.L. Naeole – Grace (1, 2, 3, 4)
80. Sabrina Bryan & Julia DeVillers – Princess of Gossip
81. Sarah Dessen – Along for the Ride
82. Sarah Dessen – Lock and Key
83. Sarah Dessen – The Truth about Forever
84. Sara Shepard – Pretty Little Liars (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
85. Scott Westerfeld – Leviathan (1, 2)
86. Scott Westerfeld – Uglies (1, 2, 3)
87. Shannon Hale – Books of a Thousand Days
88. Shannon Hale – Princess Academy
89. Shannon Hale – The Books of Bayern (1, 2, 3, 4)
90. Sherman Alexie & Ellen Forney – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
91. Simone Elkeles – Perfect Chemistry (1, 2, 3)
92. Stephenie Meyer – The Host
93. Stephenie Meyer – Twilight Saga (1, 2, 3, 4)
94. Sue Monk Kidd – The Secret Life of Bees
95. Susan Beth Pfeffer – Last Survivors (1, 2, 3)
96. Suzanne Collins – Hunger Games (1, 2, 3)
97. Suzanne Collins – Underland Chronicles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
98. Terry Pratchett – Tiffany Aching (1, 2, 3, 4)
99. Tonya Hurley – Ghost Girl (1, 2, 3)
100. Wendelin Van Draanen – Flipped

Top 100 YA Books for 2010

1. The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
2. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (Sorceror’s) Stone – J.K. Rowling
3. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
4. Speak – Laurie Halse Anderson
5. Northern Lights (The Golden Compass)- Philip Pullman
6. The Truth About Forever – Sarah Dessen
7. The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
8. The Outsiders – S.E. Hinton
9. Twilight – Stephenie Meyer
10. This Lullaby – Sarah Dessen
11. Looking for Alaska – John Green
12. Just Listen – Sarah Dessen
13. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling
14. Little Women – Louisa May Alcott
15. City of Bones – Cassandra Clare
16. On the (Jellicoe Road) – Melina Marchetta
17. The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
18. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J.K. Rowling
19. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
20. Along for the Ride – Sarah Dessen
21. Shiver – Maggie Stiefvater
22. Vampire Academy – Richelle Mead
23. Graceling – Kristin Cashore
24. Thirteen Reasons Why – Jay Asher
25. Sloppy Firsts – Megan McCafferty
26. The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
27. Alanna: The First Adventure – Tamora Pierce
28. Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card
29. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling
30. Uglies – Scott Westerfeld
31. A Great and Terrible Beauty – Libba Bray
32. Tomorrow, When the War Began – John Marsden
33. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks – E. Lockhart
34. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
35. The Westing Game – Ellen Raskin
36. Paper Towns – John Green
37. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling
38. Catching Fire – Suzanne Collins
39. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn – Betty Smith
40. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian – Sherman Alexie
41. Lock and Key – Sarah Dessen
42. The Amber Spyglass – Philip Pullman
43. Evernight – Claudia Gray
44. Sabriel – Garth Nix
45. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – J.K. Rowling
46. Beautiful Creatures – Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl
47. Forever – Judy Blume
48. I Capture the Castle – Dodie Smith
49. Ella Enchanted – Gail Carson Levine
50. The Princess Diaries – Meg Cabot
51. Stargirl – Jerry Spinelli
52. Howl’s Moving Castle – Diana Wynne Jones
53. The Dark is Rising – Susan Cooper
54. Hush, Hush – Becca Fitzpatrick
55. Saving Francesca – Melina Marchetta
56. Second Helpings – Megan McCafferty
57. Dreamland – Sarah Dessen
58. Eclipse – Stephenie Meyer
59. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist – Rachel Cohn, David Levithan
60. Fire – Kristin Cashore
61. The Chocolate War – Robert Cormier
62. Weetzie Bat – Francesca Lia Block
63. The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank
64. Looking for Alibrandi – Melina Marchetta
65. How I Live Now – Meg Rosoff
66. City of Glass – Cassandra Clare
67. Keeping the Moon – Sarah Dessen
68. Breaking Dawn – Stephenie Meyer
69. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging – Louise Rennison
70. If I Stay – Gayle Forman
71. The King of Attolia – Megan Whalen Turner
72. Wintergirls – Laurie Halse Anderson
73. Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast – Robin McKinley
74. The Blue Sword – Robin McKinley
75. Feed – M.T. Anderson
76. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants – Ann Brashares
77. Go Ask Alice – Anonymous
78. Wicked Lovely – Melissa Marr
79. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
80. Someone Like You – Sarah Dessen
81. The Forest of Hands and Teeth – Carrie Ryan
82. Jacob Have I Loved – Katherine Paterson
83. The Knife of Never Letting Go – Patrick Ness
84. Poison Study – Maria V. Snyder
85. Shadow Kiss – Richelle Mead
86. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle – Avi
87. An Abundance of Katherines – John Green
88. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
89. A Ring of Endless Light – Madeleine L’Engle
90. Glass Houses – Rachel Caine
91. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party – M.T. Anderson
92. Walk Two Moons – Sharon Creech
93. Whale Talk – Chris Crutcher
94. Perfect Chemistry – Simone Elkeles
95. Going Too Far – Jennifer Echols
96. The Last Song – Nicholas Sparks
97. Before I Fall – Lauren Oliver
98. Hatchet – Gary Paulsen
99. The Pigman – Paul Zindel
100. The Hero and the Crown – Robin McKinley

Popularity: 7% [?]

Last weekend my favorite indie bookstore, Murder by the Book, had Rachel Vincent as a guest for her book signing. She was there to sign her newest book in the Soul Screamers series and her first book in the new Unbound series. She’s really sweet and fun. Also, she’s awesome because she interacts with her fans, and she recognized me as one of her stalkers.. er.. followers.. online. She does lots of giveaways on her blog and I won a signed ARC of the first Unbound book, Blood Bound. What I find really awesome about her (other than that she lives in Texas and her first two series take place in Texas) is that her books are paranormal, but her creatures are not the common creatures (i.e. vampires, werewolves, witches).

Here’s a little about her books:
Her Shifters series is an adult series about Werecats. They feature a kick-ass female main character who doesn’t take crap from anyone and fights for what she believes is right. I did all these in audio and really liked the narrator too. Excellent series. Great character building.
Her Soul Screamers series is a YA series features a female main character who is a banshee – which means she knows when someone is about to die and wails for people’s souls. With her wail she can hold onto a person’s soul and a male banshee can place it back in the person’s body – for a price (someone else’s soul). She can also cross into the Netherworld using her wail and all kinds of crazy things happen with various creatures. The cool thing about this series is each book is one of the deadly sins, and there will be 7 of them. Book 5 just came out (and I got it signed at the book signing).
Her new Unbound series sounds really good too. I haven’t read the first book yet but from what I understand the series is about being magically bound to your word. What if your word was a contract, signed in blood, and you are compelled to keep your promise, even if you don’t want to? It sounds like a neat concept, and there are some interesting abilities involved. I’m looking forward to reading this series.

Here’s a photo I took with Rachel Vincent at the signing.

Also, Rachel took a picture of the crowd and posted to twitter, and look there’s me in the first seat of the second row.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Here’s the list of the top 10 banned books from last year, 2010. I list in bold the ones I have read.

1. The TTYL series by Lauren Myracle. Reasons given: Nudity, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group, drugs.
2. And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson. Reasons given: Homosexuality.
3. The Perks of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Reasons given: homosexuality, sexually explicit, anti-family, offensive language, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group, drugs, suicide.
4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Reasons given: Racism, offensive language, unsuited to age group.
5. Twilight (series) by Stephenie Meyer. Reasons given: Sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group.
6. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger. Reasons given: Sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group.
7. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Reasons given: Sexism, homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group, drugs, suicide, violence.
8. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler. Reasons given: Sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group.
9. The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Reasons given: Sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group.
10. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier. Reasons given: Nudity, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group.

Popularity: 8% [?]