19 in 2019: George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary

I couldn’t let January 2019 pass without knocking at least one thing off my 19 in 2019 list, so on January 13, my friend R and I headed up to Canada to check out The George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary. For just $5 admission, we checked #18 off the list!

After coworkers told me about the sanctuary years ago, I knew to expect a large number of birds when we arrived. What I didn’t realize is just how many species we would see. We saw:

8 Sick-Day Documentaries to Heal Your Cold (or help you take a nap)

I caught the mother of all colds last week and stayed home for a boring and lonely 3.5 days. Usually when I’m sick, I sleep a lot until the cold goes away. This set of symptoms was a different beast though and I didn’t manage to sleep much. I had a terrible headache that prevented me from reading, so watch TV I did. A lot. A whole lot.

Usually my sick day show watching consists of the Price is Right followed by some sort of nostalgic TV show like Magnum PI. Occasionally, I’ll watch a documentary or two. Since this sickness was some sort of extra sick, I decided to do some extra TV watching. So, I present to you: THE GREAT SICK DAY DOCUMENTARY FILM FEST OF 2019!!!

4 Reasons Why My TBR Pile Might Kill Me

It’s not hard to keep a TBR list. Anyone can make a Goodreads account and click the green “want to read” button or keep a handwritten list in their bullet journal. What takes a little more commitment and a lot more space is a physical TBR stack. This is where I find myself now, with a more than three-foot (Yes, I measured) pile of books taller than my nightstand next to my bed. With the paltry shelves of the actual furniture long full, I’ve expanded to the floor.

The Highest Peak of Book Mountain

My TBR stack was created by the following four-pronged fact attack and because of this it will mostly likely tumble over and bury me in a pile of unread books:

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Review

I have never excelled at giving good movie or music recommendations. The problem is that I like too many things. It’s hard to give a helpful critique when I think many movies and music are “sssssooooooooo gooooooooddddd”.

Years ago, I told my friend Jonnie, while we were arguing about a band that I thought he should like, that he didn’t have an appreciation for enough pop culture. I said that if he had a sieve over his head that let in new music, the holes in his sieve would be too small to let anything through. He disagreed and yelled “YOU NEED SMALLER HOLES!” thereby letting the office know that the holes in my pop culture sieve were way too big and let in enough junk to drown me. Then he drew me the following cartoon.

The Dark Side of Choose Your Own Adventure

Do you ever have a tidal wave of memories that crash over you without warning from the recesses of your brain? This happened to me one recent Saturday morning when I had a distinct memories of a family road trip, stuck in the very back bench seat of my family’s silver 1986 Plymouth Voyager as we crossed the hot Eastern Washington desert, reading and rereading a box set of four Choose Your Own Adventure books. I remembered picking out the set at Costco and how special it seemed because my mom was buying me four books instead of just one.

Whatever caused my sudden and unstoppable need for a nostalgia-fueled afternoon of sifting through Choose Your Own Adventure books was now gnawing a small pit in my stomach. It was a thirst that needed to be quenched immediately. Time to track down some of these gems of my childhood!

 WARNING!!! 

The 7 Best Books I Read in 2018

In 2017 and 2018 I set a goal of reading or listening to 100 books or audiobooks. In 2017, I consumed 193 books mainly because I went on a huge children’s literature binge to combat my despair over Trump’s inauguration. That January and February, I went through loads and loads of story books and it was fun. It was a great antidote for the terrible news.

Last year, I ended up consuming 92 out of 100 books even though I started two book clubs and expected to easily meet my goal. I’m not unhappy that I didn’t meet my goal, just surprised. Last year was challenging for me, as I tried to balance the new commitment of spending time with my 92-year-old aunt who we moved from assisted living in California to a facility a few miles from my apartment. It was harder than I ever imagined. I spent a lot of time feeling sad and frustrated and that manifested in playing a lot of games on my phone and doing mindless internet scrolling.

I still read great books though and gave seven of them the coveted 5/5 rating on Goodreads. A mix of non-fiction and mostly YA fiction, they are, in no particular order:

19 in 2019!

Following the lead of Gretchen Rubin and Elizabeth Craft, cohosts of my favorite podcast Happier, I’m embarking on a list of 19 things I want to do in 2019.

1. Restart a blog! I miss reading all the blogs I read in the early aughts. I miss writing silly little posts about the silly things little things I love. To activate my writing muscles, I need to practice writing and I won’t write if I’m my only audience. Blogging gives me the illusion of other people reading it. In 2019, I will publish at least two blog posts each week.

2. Complete a Happiness Project! I’m a happy follower of the work of the aforementioned Gretchen Rubin. I love her podcast and her books especially, The Happiness Project. This year she is launching a yearlong course, The Happiness Project Experience and I’m going to actively participate in this class.

3. Visit a cat cafe! This one doesn’t really need explanation. I like cats. I like cafes. I'm going to go to one.