WEEKLY UPDATES: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

Good morning! Today’s post will link up to The Sunday Salon, The Sunday Post and Stacking the Shelves, for weekly updates.

**Mailbox Monday is hosted at the home site: Mailbox Monday.

And let’s join Kathryn, our new leader in It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?, at The Book Date.

What a week it has been!  I curled up and read FIVE books, with reviews for all of them.  I haven’t had that great of a week in a while.  Yesterday I was reading My First Book of 2016, the event hosted by Sheila, at Book Journey, and visiting other First Books throughout the Blogosphere.  What fun!  This year was the THIRD event, and I look forward to many more.

Today, it’s back to the routine…with Saturday errands, but first I’m posting this, drinking lots of coffee in my new coffee pot that I had to buy midweek when the old one died.  It is just a plain old Mr. Coffee, but it’s RED, which I always enjoy.

 

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Let’s take a look back at this past week…

LAST WEEK ON THE BLOGS:

Sunday Potpourri: Post-Christmas Chat

Let’s Celebrate the Last Monday of 2015!

My Year in Books: 2015 via Goodreads

Tuesday Potpourri: “Behind Closed Doors”

Morning Moments: Excerpted from “Interior Designs”

Hump Day Potpourri: “Don’t You Cry”

Monthly Wrap-Up: December Was Amazing!

Top Ten Favorites for 2015

Review: Straight from the Heart (e-book), by Barbara Delinsky

Review: A Slight Change of Plan (e-book), by Dee Ernst

Review: In the Mirror (e-book), by Kaira Rouda

Review: Like Family: Living in Other People’s Houses (e-book), by Paula McLain

Review: All Dressed in White, by Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke (First Book of the Year!)

 

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INCOMING BOOKS: (Titles/Covers Linked to Amazon)

No books in the mailbox!!

But I downloaded two e-books…

Better Off Without Him (e-book), by Dee Ernst

 

 

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The Empty House (e-book), by Rosamunde Pilcher

 

 

 

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WHAT’S UP NEXT? (Titles/Covers Linked to Amazon)

Currently Reading:  The Black Widow (e-book), by Wendy Corsi Staub

 

 

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The Swans of Fifth Avenue (e-book), by Melanie Benjamin (NetGalley – Release Date – 1/26/16)

 

 

 

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The Opposite of Everyone, by Joshilyn Jackson (Amazon Vine)

 

 

 

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That’s it for my week…what did yours look like?  Mine also included some bowls of popcorn while I read and watched some movies…and a mimosa…OR TWO!

 

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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WEEKLY SUNDAY/MONDAY UPDATES: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

 

Good morning!  Today’s post will link up to Sunday Salon, The Sunday Post,  and Book Journey, for What Are You Reading?

**Mailbox Monday for December will be at Rose City Reader.

What a great week!  Christmas was wonderful…and with the New Year ahead, I can’t think of anything better.

Today I spent time with my granddaughter Fiona, and we saw American Hustle.  An impressive film, with a fabulous all-star cast.

 

 

LAST WEEK ON THE BLOGS:

Merry Christmas:  Straight from the Interior

Friday Potpourri:  Saying Goodbye to Christmas

Enter the Interior for Book Beginnings & The Friday 56

Creative Sparks:  Holiday Moments Continued

Saturday Potpourri:  Connections

Review:  The Runaway Wife (e-book), by Rowan Coleman

Review:  Wishin’ & Hopin’ (e-book), by Wally Lamb

Review:  Innocent, by Scott Turow

Review:  Lies You Wanted to Hear, by James Whitfield Thomson

 

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INCOMING BOOKS: (Titles/Covers Linked to Amazon)

Not a single book came in the mail!  But I received an e-book for review, and downloaded (my purchase) four others.

Twelve Houses (e-book), by Olga Soaje (Author Review Request)

 

 

Pain, Parties, Work:  Sylvia Plath in New York – Summer 1953 (e-book), by Elizabeth Winder

 

 

Whatever You Love (e-book), by Louise Doughty

 

 

A Question of Guilt (e-book), by Frances Fyfield

 

 

Here, Home, Hope (e-book), by Kaira Rouda

 

 

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WHAT’S COMING NEXT WEEK: (Titles/Covers Linked to Amazon)

On January 1st, please check An Interior Journey for the post of my first book read in 2014:  Book Journey is hosting.

 

 

Watch for my Year in Review, including Favorites of 2013 @ Curl up and Read

 

 

The Last Winter of Dani Lancing, by P. D. Viner

 

 

Twelve Houses (e-book), by Olga Soaje

 

 

The Girl Pretending to Read Rilke (e-book), by Barbara Riddle

 

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The holidays interfered with some of my blogging, but the reading was great.  I have now finished reading and reviewing 210 books this year.

What was your week like?  What are you hoping for the New Year?

 

 

 

 

 

TSS: A NEW BEGINNING — NEW YEAR’S PLANS & RESOLUTIONS — JAN. 6

Welcome to the first Sunday Salon in January.  By now, most of you have already joined some reading challenges and written posts to wrap up 2012.

You may have also made some resolutions for the New Year.

Most of my blogging activity this week has been about those very topics.

But before we get started on that, I want to share my celebration of my youngest grandson Noah’s tenth birthday today (Jan. 5).

Here he is having a pancake breakfast with his mom.  She’s not in the photo, as she’s behind the camera.

I feel happy just  looking at his face.  I shared more photos of him over at today’s Saturday Snapshot post.

On the Blogs:

Monday Potpourri:  The New Year’s Eve Edition

Happy New Year!  Ignite Your Connections

Welcome to 2013:  A New Look & New Adventures

The Month & Year in Review:  Wrapping Up

Come Visit My Reading Room:  December Bookshelf Clearing

Serendipitous Resolutions:  Booking Through Thursday

I Have a Story to Tell (An excerpt)

Reading/Reviews – Click Titles/Covers:

Potboiler, by Jesse Kellerman

Ragdoll Redeemed, by Dawn Novotny

Deep Connections, by Rebecca Graf (Review will be posted during blog tour on 2/6/13 @ Rainy Days & Mondays)

And today I started reading this book:

There Was an Old Woman, by Hattie Ephron

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What was your week like?  How are you spending your Sunday?

WELCOME TO 2013: A NEW LOOK & NEW ADVENTURES — 1/1/13

Happy New Year!  And welcome to my refurbished blog.

As some of you know, I enjoy the occasional face lift here, as I do on all my blogs.  But I try to maintain something of the old, the familiar.

Like the hippies images.  Or the free and easy things that conjure up a time and place.  Like the Golden Gate Bridge on the header, or the flower power VW Bug.

I hope you’ll stop by from time to time to see what is happening here.  And I will be sure to return the visit to your special place.

TSS: HAPPY NEW YEAR! — DEC. 30

Welcome to another Sunday Salon.  And with the New Year around the corner, what are your plans?  Any resolutions?

I do hope to spend more time in a “balanced” state of mind.  Less obsessing, more healthy choices.  Later I’ll do an actual resolutions list.

Part of that process is to participate in reading challenges, and I’ve signed up for four.  You can find my choices in the sidebar at Curl up and Read.

But before I get ahead of myself, let’s take a look at last week.

On the Blogs:

Not that great in terms of reading.  I have only finished two books, but probably will finish a third one today.

Here’s my Saturday Snapshot post that shows some Christmas moments.

Monday Potpourri spotlighted my Ten Favorite Books of 2012.

Books Read & Reviewed (Click Titles/Covers for Reviews):

1.   How to Be Single, by Liz Tuccillo

2.  Three Moons Over Sedona (e-book), by Sherry Hartzler

And today I’m reading Murder at Blue Falls (e-book), by Maggie Bishop.

Happy New Year!  I hope you all have a wonderful time celebrating in whatever way you do.  I’ll be reading and watching movies.  Yesterday I watched two movies that I really enjoyed:

Arbitrage, with Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon, etc.

and The Words, with Bradley Cooper and Dennis Quaid.

Have any of you seen them?  What did you think?

TSS: HAPPY NEW YEAR IN REVIEW — JAN. 1

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Welcome to The Sunday Salon, New Year’s Day style.

I hope everyone is feeling somewhat well and together this morning, tired and happy, and full of good plans for the New Year.

Before we get started, grab a cup of coffee and let’s chat.

Yesterday was lots of fun, catching up on family stuff, like spending the day and evening with my granddaughter Fiona.

We shopped, had lunch, watched some movies, took some photos, like these:

New Year's Eve lunch

And here’s another one at my house.

Fiona at Nana's House

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Now for the Year in Review!  Instead of doing my usual post about what I read during the week, here’s the whole year:

YEAR 2011 IN REVIEW

In that post, I included total books read, pages read, challenges completed, etc.

I did a separate post of my 2011 Favorite Books (top ten).

I also included the Month of December Books Read, with some favorites, like Best Kept Secret, The Kingdom of Childhood, and Dirty Secret.

Today I plan to finish reading Balancing Acts, by Zoe Fishman.  I’m almost at the end!  Can’t wait to see what happens next in this unique novel about single women who find a way to balance their lives.

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HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Come on by and chat for awhile….