Monday Musings

Sunday night at the beach.

My week: It was a pretty good week here! (That's a sea change from the past few weeks -- see, I knew August would be better!) One of Jarrod's friends from his deployment several years ago just moved to Hawaii with his family, so we had them over for dinner on Monday and that was fun. Wednesday afternoon we took an impromptu trip to the beach, and it was so nice to go on a weekday when it wasn't crowded! We also went to the beach on Sunday late afternoon and got to see a gorgeous full moon rise over the water.

Reading: I finally finished "Dragonfly in Amber," the second Outlander book! Woo hoo! It was looooong, and though I did really enjoy it, it wasn't nearly as good as the absolutely fabulous first book in the series. Then I blazed through "First Grave on the Right" by Darynda Jones, the first book in her Charley Davidson urban fantasy series. I had picked it up a couple weeks ago but was instantly turned off by the banter-y, sarcastic writing style and knew it just wasn't what I was in the mood for at that moment, but it proved to be the perfect quick and easy palate cleanser after "Dragonfly."

Despite having a gazillion other things to read, I brought home "This Savage Song" by Victoria Schwab after someone returned it at work the other day. I love her Shades of Magic adult fantasy series and I've been wanting to try some of her other books, even though they're mostly young adult. This one was ok... not nearly as enthralling as Shades of Magic, though, and it definitely felt and read like a YA book -- I guess I was hoping it wouldn't.

At the beach on Sunday I read "The Lemonade War," this month's book for the 4th and 5th grade book club I help out with at work. It was cute enough, and mercifully short, but I didn't like it nearly as well as last month's "Walk Two Moons" by Sharon Creech. Now I'm back to "O Jerusalem," the fifth Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes mystery by Laurie R. King. I started it a few weeks ago in the midst of my reading slump and set it aside about 50 pages in. I'm much more in the mood for it now!

Watching: The season finale of "Grantchester," which was bittersweet because it sounds like it's uncertain if there will be another season. (Sniff, sniff!) I also started season 2 of "Outlander" after finishing "Dragonfly in Amber." And Jarrod and I finally watched the first two episodes of this season's "Game of Thrones." Also: "World of Dance," "Deadliest Catch," "Turn." Movie-wise we watched "Office Christmas Party," which was pretty dumb but it made me laugh out loud several times.

Buying: The Target "miracle" swimsuit. It's a black one-piece with diagonal mesh inserts across the belly and it's purported to look good on everyone. (I don't know if it will look good on me yet -- I ordered it online and it should be arriving today!) Before we moved to Hawaii I bought a new swimsuit, but it has a skirt bottom (to cover up the "fluff" I've added on the past few years) but it's just not working out for me. It's impossible to wear shorts over it, and it's just too much wet fabric whenever I actually get in the water. I bought a pair of (rather wild) board shorts recently and just needed to find a black top to go with them -- then I saw a picture of a girl on Instagram wearing board shorts over that same suit and I figured I'd give it a shot too!

Receiving: My Goodreads Giveaway win of "Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore"! I've won several Goodreads Giveways, but this is the first time I've gotten a nice, non-ARC hardcover copy and I was so excited!

Blogging:
Monday Musings
Turning the Page on June & July 2017
How I Choose My Books (Book Tag)
I Judge Books By Their Covers: See What I Have Done
Book Review: First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

Looking forward to: "This is Us" starting back! I know it's still almost two months away, but I saw something about it recently and it got me excited  (plus a friend just started watching it this week!). I wasn't sure about the show when it premiered last year so I recorded it all on the DVR and binge-watched it in the spring -- and I'm so glad I did! It's SUCH a fantastic show and totally different from anything else on TV, and even though it tackles some tough issues I always feel good and happy after watching each episode. If you haven't watch it yet, do!

*I'm linking up with Kathryn of Book Date for It's Monday! What Are You Reading?