I did a fun thing a few weeks ago. I reread all of my blog posts, starting from the beginning. It’s been almost three years since I started writing here, and I honestly couldn’t even remember from week to week what I wrote, so I wanted to make sure I stood by what I’ve said over the years. I’ve also been thinking about sharing this blog with more people I know IRL, so reviewing my posts was important to me.
Well, we’ve made it through another year, which means it’s time for an annual recap. Here’s the highlight reel from 2019! Want to see how far things have really come? Check out 2018 in review to compare.
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Read more about my affiliate philosophy here.
Financial Security
I’m not sure how to assess this category. My net worth went up significantly this year, and I’m now a homeowner. I have a very healthy emergency fund. But at the same time, I just left my job with a stable paycheck and haven’t replaced that income yet. I’m confident I’ll get there, but it’ll be a little nervewracking until that point. But that is also the whole reason for an emergency fund that can cover the better part of a year’s worth of essential expenses (things that can’t be put on a credit card short-term: mortgage, student loan payments, health insurance premiums, utilities).
And I mean it about the credit card. I know that the general rule of thumb is that “debt is bad,” especially credit card debt. But I’m starting a damn business, here. If it takes a few months to generate an income that will support my monthly expenses, I have no shame about putting groceries and gas on my credit card until then. The interest paid will be well worth the wiggle room it gives me to get this business off the ground.
I know I’ve been happy in the past year. There have been some really wonderful moments. But there have also been some really hard ones. Despite those, I’m so happy that I’ve found a new career path that I’m passionate about, and that I’ve moved to a new city where I think I have a better chance of building a sustainable life. I’ve met some wonderful people, and I’ve reconnected with some old friends. I’m happy that I’ve been able to spend lots of time with family this year, and that I now live in the same city as my BFF Lyra (and HER NEW DOG, aka COMET!).
Travel
This year, I got to visit two countries that were very high on my bucket list: Morocco and Kenya. They were both amazing, and I’m really glad I had that opportunity through work. But so many people asked me if I would miss the work travel when I left my job, and the answer is a resounding “no.” Why? When I travel for work, it’s work. I don’t have full control of the itinerary, my time is often limited, and I always end up sick by the end of the trip because of how stressed I am. Instead, in 2020, I’m looking forward to traveling at my own pace. To not having to ration my vacation time, and to not having to attend meetings or lead a group. It’ll be grand.
If you’ve read this blog for more than 2 seconds, then you already know that I am completely unashamed to be a Cat Lady. SunCat has been with me for 15 years, and she’s my best friend. She’s more affectionate that StarDog, she sleeps with me every night, and she’s gotten me through some pretty horrific times of my life. This fall, she was diagnosed with two different types of cancer, one of which has metastasized. I was devastated, and the diagnosis came in the middle of me buying a house and right before I left for a 2.5-week international trip. To say I was stressed is an understatement.
Thankfully, things have improved since her initial diagnosis. The goal here isn’t to cure her; that’s highly unlikely given the types of cancer she has. However, the chemotherapy treatment she’s on acts in a palliative capacity; it minimizes the symptoms of the cancer and slows its spread. Since starting it, she’s gained weight and gotten her energy back. I’m so glad that she did well with the move to Cleveland, and I plan on spoiling her for whatever time she has left (though let’s be real, that’s nothing new).
LOOK AT THOSE TOE BEANS! SunCat is a huge fan of my new heated blanket.
Health
It’s been a tough year. I completely pivoted my career trajectory, and in the midst of that, I’ve had to deal with the reality of leaving my job, starting a business, and moving somewhere new. The stress has definitely gotten to me at times, especially in these last few months when it felt like one hit came after another came after another. That being said, I’m really happy with where I’m ending my year. I think I’m in a good place to be healthier (mentally and physically) in 2020, which I wouldn’t be able to say if I was still in Washington, DC and in my previous job. Hopefully, this prediction proves true in my 2020 recap!
2019 in Numbers
blog posts: 25…I guess averaging 1 every two-ish weeks isn’t bad?
I list every book I read, but some are better than others. Here’s a list of all the books I rated DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) this year. Out of the 85 books I read, I loved these 23 the most. I swear I didn’t plan this but turns out female authors swept the list this year:
Quick recap: I’m moving to Cleveland, and I started the home-buying process…with a whole lot of internet research. But two weeks ago, things got real, and it’s official…I’m buying a house!
It’s that time of the year again! This is my third quarterly recap of books I’ve read in the last three months. Separated below into fiction and nonfiction. I hope it gives you some new book ideas! To read previous book review posts, check out Q1 2019, Q2 2019, 2018 nonfiction, and 2018 fiction.
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. That being said, my first preference is for you to check any recommended books out from your local library! Read more about my affiliate philosophy here. You can also check books out in e-book form and download them to the Kindle app, which means you don’t even have to put on pants and leave the house to get your book. Isn’t technology grand? Occasionally, books I read and review are also available for free through Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program, and I make sure to note if that’s the case.
Rating Categories
Ok, here’s how I rate the books. It’s a super scientific method based on my own subjective opinion. If I trashed one of your favorites, I’m sorry…but not really. My blog, my rules, my views.
Drop everything to read this book (DEAR for short)
Highly recommended (HR)
Good book (GB)
OK
Meh don’t bother (MDB)
Non-Fiction
The Scar: A Personal History of Depression and Recovery by Mary Cregan. HR. Major trigger warning on this one. Cregan writes about her experiences with melancholic depression, and specifically her suicide attempt in a psychiatric hospital after losing her newborn. It’s wrenching and real, and she uses her personal experience to tell a broader story about the search for treatments for depression and some of the science behind it (which, turns out, doesn’t really give us a lot of answers). I think the more we’re exposed to stories of mental illness and their very real victims and consequences, the more we as a society can de-stigmatize those illnesses. This book works to do that.
The F*ck It Diet: Eating Should be Easy by Caroline Dooner. GB. This is one I read while thinking more and more about diet culture and its major problems. Dooner approaches dieting from the perspective of a serial dieter that struggled with weight cycling throughout her life. In the book, she explains that the biggest step for her (and one she recommends) is putting everything back on the table in terms of what’s allowed. You can have whatever you want. The idea is that yes, you might eat way too much chocolate for a bit, but eventually, you’ll tune back into your body’s natural cues and find a healthy balance. Restricting food is what puts us back in a mindset of scarcity, which can lead to those famine responses from our bodies. Basically, this seems to me like a more millennial-friendly version of Intuitive Eating. Worth a read if this is a topic that interests you.
Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out, and Just Plain Fail to Understand about Weight by Linda Bacon, PhD and Lucy Aphramor, PhD, RD. DEAR. I reference this book in my post about fatphobia in the FIRE movement. It’s a short read, and it packs a lot of the science around weight loss into one book (both in the narrative and in the references). If you’re someone who still thinks that losing weight is all about self-discipline and “calories in versus calories out,” then you need to read this and seriously examine your preconceived ideas on weight. Bacon and Aphramor do a wonderful job of explaining the issues here.
100 Questions Every First-Time Homebuyer Should Ask by Ilyce R. Glink. HR. If you’re a regular reader of the blog, then you know that I’m planning on moving to Cleveland and buying a house in the next few months. This is absurdly exciting for me but also a bit overwhelming. I’ve never owned my own home before, and I know that there are things about this process that I don’t even know I should be worried about. That’s where this book comes in. Glink does an amazing job of documenting all of the things you need to consider in the home-buying process, including what hurdles to expect and what problems to prepare for. Even though it’s a pretty thick book, it was a good read and is broken up into digestible questions and sections. After reading this, I feel like I can at least kind of have an intelligent conversation about home-buying where I’m asking the right questions.
The Holmes Inspection: Everything You Need to Know Before You Buy or Sell Your Home by Mike Holmes. GB. Again, I’m trying to read up on homeownership now before I actually have a house to deal with. Specifically, I don’t really have any experience living in older homes (which is primarily what I’m looking at in Cleveland), and I wanted to know what I should be looking for during an inspection. This book was a decent primer, though I wish it had more examples of good versus bad when talking about different housing elements. But, it’s pretty quick to read, and I definitely learned a few things.
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo. DEAR. For those of us that aren’t a minority, I think we have a particular responsibility to not only educate ourselves about racial issues but also to do so in a way that doesn’t place the emotional burden on those marginalized groups. I’m hoping to read more on this topic because as a society, we’re at a tipping point. I want to make sure I know what I’m talking about when racism shows up (because it does) but also that I know when to shut up and just listen since this isn’t my story. Anyway, everyone should read this. And if you have other recommendations on the topic, please let me know in the comments!
Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson. Both 100% DEAR. These are two of my all-time favorite books that I recently re-read. Seriously, Lawson is one of my favorite human beings of all time. She’s hilarious, and raw, and real. She writes about her struggles with mental health in a way that is approachable. It’s simultaneously accurate and disarmingly funny. Please make sure you read this ASAP. In fact, if you don’t want to read them, I can also highly recommend the audiobooks–Lawson narrates them herself, and there were points while I was driving when I was laughing so hard that I probably should have pulled over…
*side note about Lawson. I’ve gotten in the habit of picking up copies of these books at library sales because I always seem to give my copy away. Well, when I went to read the copy of Furiously Happy that I bought, I saw that the title page was already autographed. Which led to some wonderful twitter banter:
No need to change it. Just tell everyone that Andy is the cool nickname @TheBloggess gave you because you are just that tight.
This wasn’t the best quarter for fiction reading. I think I watched more TV for entertainment than I read. I read a few books, but it was a mixed bag in terms of quality IMO.
The Darkest Star by Jennifer L. Armentrout. OK. Basically Twilight but with aliens. And there were a couple of twists, but they were only meh. The general premise is that aliens are among us, but there are also extra special aliens…and there’s a love interest…and the girl is super special for some mysterious reason…whatever. Turns out this is actually a spinoff in the same world as one of Armentrout’s other series. That one might be better, but I’m not sure I care enough to find out. Maybe when I’m really bored at some point.
Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout. GB. Slightly better than the above by the same author. At least it’s a semi-original premise. This one is a teen love story but involving gargoyles! Like from cathedrals. And demons. Another spinoff from a previous series. If I hadn’t already checked this one out from the library before finishing The Darkest Star, I don’t know that I would have read it. But it was a decent read if you need something light.
Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin. HR. This was lovely. It’s a fantasy novel involving the persecution of witches. One of the things I absolutely loved about it was the super unique magical construct. The attention to detail and nuance in developing her magical system gives Mahurin major points in my book. And from a debut author! If you like YA fantasy, this is worth a read.
Siren’s Song by Mary Weber. GB. This is a good series with an interesting plot. It’s only GB because the second book in the series was a little weak…and there were some holes in the plot where things didn’t seem to make as much sense as they should have. the magic aspect got a little vague at points, but the overall plot was fun.
Ok, that’s it for Q3. Only one more quarter of reading to go! I’ll probably include a tally for the year at the end of the next post.
Anything I should add to my reading list? I’d love to hear your suggestions!
Y’all, I have good friends. Friends who are more than happy to enable my laziness. A few weeks ago, Lyra wrote a guest post for me about her move to Cleveland. This week, continuing with my series of posts about home-buying, my friend Nova volunteered to write a guest post about her recent experience selling her home, which might be useful if you want to sell your house. It also means I don’t have to try to write a post right after returning from Cleveland! Bad news for you guys because you have to wait a week to hear about how that visit went 😉
I’ve made a horrible mistake. When considering cities to move to in my wonderful Locations Spreadsheet, I completely neglected one of the most important factors when evaluating a city.
Well, you all know that I plan on moving. I’ve wanted to for a while, but now it’s happening. Soon. I wanted to write an update on my thought process, choosing a city, and next steps (like thinking about buying a house). Because things are happening quick. Which is both exciting and terrifying!
