Let's Bust a Recap : 2019

2019 is almost history, and it's time for the yearly roundup of my reading successes and failures. If you don't mind, I'm going to reflect for just a bit and then we'll get down to what I actually read. 

2019 was my fifth year creating an annual book list for myself, and this year I structured it quite a bit differently than I have in the past. Instead of just making a straightforward list to work through, I decided to incorporate Modern Mrs. Darcy's Annual Reading Challenge, and I also put a bunch of random titles (not from my list) in a little jar to pull throughout the year.

I kindof bombed. I only completed 6 of the 12 categories for the reading challenge (one of those categories being "three books by the same author"), and I pretty much ignored the jar altogether only pulling one slip from it all year.

To sum up: 

from my Base List I read: 10/14

from the Reading Challenge I read: 8/12

from the jar I read: 1 book

So what I've learned is: reading challenges and mystery jars just aren't for me. While I was the one who chose all of the books to read for the challenge and to put in the jar and I was initially excited about both ideas, they completely fizzled for me. I ended up feeling obligated to draw from the jar whenever I needed a pick me up and when I finally did draw one (halfway through the year) it wasn't a pick-me-up kinda book. I didn't buck my own system and re-read something just because I wanted to until October. Y'all. That's not how I operate. I've done a comfortable re-read right out of the gate every other year of making these book lists and you better believe that's how I intend to start 2020. After the amazing reading year I had in 2018, 2019 felt very slow and long and like there were a lot of slumps. 

Long story long: 2019 wasn't my greatest reading year, but I learned a lot about myself and the way that I like to read, and that will definitely help me as we move into the next decade. All said, I ended up reading 32 books this year and that ain't bad. Here's what they were.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling : completed 1/11

Finally decided to join the rest of the known universe in reading about The Boy Who Lived. 

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling : completed 1/19

This book turned out to be my second favorite of the series. 

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling : completed 1/29

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling : completed 2/12

I couldn't put this one down, but the ending was very upsetting for me. Also, Rowling can really write an ending. I was always up way too late finishing these books even if the book had initially been slow for me.

As You Like It by William Shakespeare : completed 2/18

Really weird to read this in the midst of the Harry Potter series. Not my favorite of Shakespeare's comedies. 

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling : completed 3/11

The book that wouldn't end.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling : completed 3/23

Did not even want to finish the series when I got to the end of this one. Ugh.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling : completed 3/30

Best book. Would have started over again immediately. Will definitely read all seven again.

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis : completed 4/19

Not what I was expecting, but I still appreciated it. Par for the course with Lewis.

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline : completed 4/23

Some hard content but great payoff.

Sisterchicks on the Loose! by Robin Jones Gunn : completed 4/29

Always a pleasure.

The Last Founding Father by Harlow Giles Unger : completed 5/23

Worst presidential biography I've read to date. By a longshot. 

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier : completed 6/26

The one book I read out of the jar!

The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis : completed 6/30

My Bedtime Anytime Storybook by V. Gilbert Beers (read aloud) : completed 7/25

Not great.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein : completed 7/29

Worst book I read this year, by far.

Humility by C.J. Mahaney : completed 7/31

King Lear by William Shakespeare : completed 9/1

No recap on this one yet (haven't decided if I'm still going to try to eke one out or not) but the best bit of name calling I've seen from Shakespeare yet. I really enjoyed my Shakespearean tragedy this year.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas : completed 9/30

No recap of this yet either. (My blogging definitely fell off this year. I blame the Instagram.) Four months well spent.

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi : completed 10/24

The one book not pictured because a friend lent it to me.

Clouds by Robin Jones Gunn (re-read) : completed 10/28

Finally got over my mental block and just read something I wanted to! Definite turning point in the year.

The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul : completed 10/29

Again, no recap for this one yet. This one was weighty and so good.

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis (re-read; read aloud) : completed 11/12

My husband and I have been talking about reading these aloud together for a long time and we finally dove in. The best!

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (re-read; read aloud) : completed 11/15

It's just always a good idea to visit Narnia.

Anne of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery (re-read) : completed 11/18

Needed this on my birthday weekend.

The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis (re-read; read aloud) : completed 11/19

The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne (read aloud) : completed 11/30

So lovely. 

Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis (re-read; read aloud) : completed 12/15

We watched the most recent movie adaptation after reading this and I have to say, after really hitting a homerun with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe adaptation, Disney really struck out with Prince Caspian. 

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith : completed 12/21

Another one I haven't recapped. I enjoyed A Tree Grows in Brooklyn but not as much as I expected to. It was good, but not a new favorite or anything. *shrugs*

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder (re-read; read aloud) : completed 12/26

I started reading this one aloud to my nieces last year, and today I started Farmer Boy aloud with my oldest niece. My mother read these books to me and my siblings and it's really sweet reading them with my nieces. 

My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers : completed 12/28

Overall, this was a helpful devotional, but I will say there were some days I didn't agree with what Oswald was saying and some days that just seemed to go over my head. Definitely a devotional worth re-visiting in the future. 

Becoming Us by Robin Jones Gunn : completed 12/28

This was the first Robin Jones Gunn novel I have ever been hesitant to read and the first one in several years I didn't preorder as soon as that option was open to me. My sweet husband got it for me for my birthday and when I read it, I discovered I had nothing to be worried about it. Robin Jones Gunn never disappoints.

So there you have it. I'd love to know if you're interested in recaps on any of the ones I haven't gotten around to writing about yet. I want to get back into a better blogging rhythm next year. This year I was definitely trying to figure out the blogging/Instagram balance and I'm not sure if I've found it yet, but I plan to keep working on it. In the meantime, I'd love to hear about what you read in 2019 and what works and doesn't work for you as a reader. Thanks for sticking with me!

Happy New Year & Keep Reading the Best Books First!

Kentucky

The state we took off for the day after we got home from Hawaii was Kentucky for the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby! Odd sequence of events? Maybe. But in truth, this trip to Kentucky was planned long before the Hawaii trip came into being. We decided several years ago to attend the Kentucky Derby the same month as our seventh wedding anniversary (Lucky #7!) and we purchased our tickets well in advance of even considering a two-week cruise to the islands.

So after only one night in our own cozy bed, we hit the road for the 14 hour roadtrip to the Gold Vault Inn in Radcliff, Kentucky. 

Where we promptly crashed. We decided to let our jet-lagged, road-weary bodies take it easy all day on Friday at the hotel. We had the huge indoor pool and hot tub to ourselves. We made a couple last-minute Wal*Mart runs for things like rain ponchos (weather forecasts predicted a muddy Derby day) and ate at the lunch buffet at the Pizza Hut next door to our hotel.

Saturday morning we rose with the sun, dressed to the nines, and donned our big hats then made the 45 minute drive from Radcliff to Louisville and Churchill Downs. 

(Note my cute dress and hat paired with sensible footwear because no way was I spending a 12-hour day trekking around in heels or sandals.) We spent the first few hours of the day exploring Churchill Downs then staked out a good bench. I'll tell you something: Churchill Downs on Derby day is possibly the best people-watching venue I've ever experienced in my life. We literally saw it all, from people in cutoff jeans and ratty tank tops, to celebrities being escorted by security to their private boxes, to Miss America in her dress made out of real red roses. We watched people cheer in excitement when their horses won or curse and tear their betting slips in half when their horses lost. By the end of the day, the terminal was littered with torn betting slips. I nursed my mint julep (because you have to drink a mint julep at the Kentucky Derby) and watched people for hours. 

When the big race (the 12th race of the day) finally came, we placed our bets and waited with bated breath through the National Anthem and all the other preliminary stuff that comes with each race. Y'all, I kid you not when I tell you I watched and researched these horses for the full year leading up to this race. I was pulling for Game Winner and Cody liked Improbable. 

~yes, I pinned my button to my fancy hat~

We lost. Improbable came in 4th and Game Winner was right behind him in 5th. But it was a record-setting Derby and when people say it's the greatest two minutes in sports, they're right. My heart was pounding and adrenaline was at an all-time high. Maximum Security crossed the finish line first but ended up being disqualified making him the first horse in Derby history to be removed from first place for an on-track infraction and leaving Country House (the long shot with 65-1 odds) the big winner. 

We trekked back to our car in the mud with the other 150,000+ people that showed up for the big day. When we made it back to the Gold Vault Inn, I promptly threw my shoes away (there was no salvaging them after all that mud) and Cody and I got a good night of sleep before checking out in the morning to make the 14 hour drive back home. It was a whirlwind of a weekend but one I'll never forget.

Kentucky : done. 

Have you ever been to the Kentucky Derby? What's the most exciting sporting event you've ever witnessed?

Hawaii

Why are we starting a post about Hawaii with photos from cities getting farther and farther away from the islands? I mean, Canada?? Wrong direction! Valid point. But for our amazing trip to the state that broke us into the double digits in our quest to #SeeAll50, we flew from Orlando to Cleveland, from Cleveland to Denver, and from Denver to Vancouver where we spent the night before boarding our cruise ship. 

That's right. To get to the islands we spent a full week at sea cruising down from Vancouver, British Columbia on the Celebrity Eclipse. And yes, it was just as wonderful as it sounds. We ate great food, spent lots of time reading, went to amazing shows, and enjoyed the most gorgeous sunsets. Oh, and aside from the excellent staff on board the ship, we were probably the youngest people there by a solid 40 years. 

After seven glorious days at sea, we made it to Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii where we hopped on a shuttle to go pick up our rental car and explore Volcanoes National Park. 

This day was an interesting mix of sunny and rainy, clear blue skies and thick fog. The weather on the Big Island would change in a matter of seconds throughout the day. Being the Florida girl I am, I thought I knew how unpredictable tropical weather can be but this was something altogether different than what I'm used to in my Sunshine State. We did a good bit of hiking and a fair amount of driving as well. This park is huge, and everything was sort of devastatingly beautiful. Pictures can't do it justice, but here are some anyway. 

~Cody in front of some of the natural steam vents~

After hiking around where all the natural steam vents are, we drove out to find the Holei Sea Arch (pictured above). 

I was really intrigued by the way the basalt looked as if it was still flowing down the island through the greenery. It was amazing to drive through these desolate lava fields but then straight back into the lush, green, tropical areas. 

~the middle of a lava field~

We then hiked down into a crater which was surreal. When the trail opened out into the crater, there was a small sign directing you to follow the ahu (stacked rocks) through the crater. Without these piles of rocks, it would be very easy to get lost and wander around for hours in the fog looking for the trail back out of the crater. What a wonder to see these beautiful living plants growing out of this seemingly impenetrable black death (I'm sure there's a spiritual analogy in there somewhere). 

We decided to spend the second day at Hilo in a couple of cozy hammocks overlooking the water rather than trying to explore because we got some hard personal news from family at home and needed time to process it. 

A day together, laughing and crying, reading and journaling was the best thing and I will never forget that time.

That evening we sailed around the island to the port at Kailua-Kona where we spent the next day exploring all the fun shops and the street market and eating the best food. 

Our first stop on Kona was at Mokuaikaua Church, Hawaii's first Christian church established in 1820. 

~shrimp and kalua pig tacos and sandwich for lunch~

~the best donuts~

~that's our cruise ship in the background~

On our tender boat ride back to the ship that evening, a whole pod of dolphins were swimming and jumping right alongside our boat. So fun!

That night, we sailed from the Big Island to Maui. Maui was the island I was looking forward to visiting the most because I've wanted to go there ever since I was a teenager and started reading Robin Jones Gunn's books. In one of her Christy Miller books, Island Dreamer, Christy goes to Maui for her 16th birthday and through a series of events ends up driving the Hana Road which gave her the confidence she needed to take her driver's test. So it's been a Bucket List goal of mine to go to Maui and drive the Hana Road. 

As we started to plan this trip, I just didn't think we'd be able to make this happen. Driving the Hana Road is an all-day endeavor and even though we'd have two days on Maui, the logistics of getting a rental car early enough in the day and being able to return it on time before the rental places closed seemed like an impossibility. So I kindof gave up on making that dream a reality on this trip.

But my husband.

Y'all. He booked us a hotel for that night on Maui, reserved us a rental car that we could pick up the day we arrived on Maui and return the following afternoon, and he let me drive the whole Hana Road all by myself. He made every single detail of my 15+ year old dream come true right down to the 2-door, cloth-top, open air, red Jeep Wrangler we drove. It was perfect.

I really can't brag on him enough. It was the best day. We had great weather and, contrary to all odds, we didn't see very many other cars at all the whole day (thank goodness! the road was as crazy as I imagined it would be). We checked out of our hotel and got on the road by about 4:30 AM. We stopped several different places along the road including the Haleakala National Park where we did lots of hiking. And we made it back to return the Jeep before the rental place closed. 

~Waianapanapa Black Sand Beach~

~Kaihalulu Beach~

Cody captured this gorgeous waterfall and rainbow in the moving Jeep while I was going over one of the many precarious bridges on the Hana Road. It's our favorite photo from the whole trip. I still can't believe he got this picture. 

~Haleakala National Park~

The sign in the lower left corner of that collage was near the Waimoku Falls where we hiked and the waters there are described "he wai makamaka 'ole", water that recognizes no friend. We took this trip in April and the waters were dangerous and flooding. When we entered the park, the ranger told us that we were absolutely not to swim anywhere. We couldn't get to the very end of the hike to the falls because the water was too dangerous to cross. But we still got a great view. Click on this next photo to really appreciate the panoramic view!

~Waimoku Falls~

~hiking through bamboo : Haleakala National Park~

~Cody proposed to me under a banyan tree : this one was gorgeous~ 

~our little red jeep on the Hana Highway~

Other fun things we managed to fit in on Maui included browsing the Friends of the Library bookstore in Lahaina Harbor (of course) and Ululani's shave ice (twice because once was not enough). 

Still with me? We're not done! We have one more island and about 20 more pictures to go! After our two days on Maui, we sailed for Oahu where we left our cruise ship for good...

...and were picked up by one of my best friends from college days! She graciously met us at the Honolulu seaport with fresh flower leis and her two small sons in tow and whisked us off to Pearl Harbor. 

We weren't able to walk onto the USS Arizona Memorial, but we spent hours exploring the Mighty Mo. 

USS Battleship Missouri

~we basically decided we could never be in the Navy~

You can still see the slight damage to the battleship where a Japanese dive-bomber crashed into the side of the ship during the Battle of Okinawa. This story was particularly moving as the commanding officer of the USS Missouri, Captain William M. Callaghan, ordered that the body of the 19 year old Japanese pilot found among the wreckage on board be prepared for a proper burial at sea. 

~teak deck~

Our last stop in Pearl Harbor was the USS Oklahoma Memorial which may be one of the most beautiful and sobering war memorials I've ever seen. 

Jen came and picked us back up and took us to her home where we spent the evening talking and eating and enjoying catching up since we haven't seen each other (other than FaceTime—God bless technology) in years. The next day, we did all kinds of fun stuff starting with snorkeling in Shark's Cove where we fed bright green frozen peas to lots of colorful fish (another fun Christy moment for me) and saw a gigantic monk seal which swam just a few feet in front of Cody, eating at food trucks, mailing all our post cards to nieces back home, and ending with the Dole Plantation for fresh Dole whips (yum!). 

Later that evening, Jen dropped us at the airport and we took an overnight flight from Honolulu to Houston to Orlando where my Dad picked us up the next afternoon. We spent one night in our own bed and then woke up early the next morning to hit the road to check off our next state. You'll never guess where. 

Hawaii : done.

But hopefully we'll be back! Have you ever visited any of the Hawaiian islands? Any guesses as to which state we went to next? Hopefully I'll have that post ready tomorrow or Friday!