NYC: December 2017

My best friend, Alex lives all the way across the country in Arizona.  We get to see each other once a year - twice if we're lucky.   Mid November she called to tell me she would be at her parents house in DE for a few days and wanted to meet up in NYC.  I hesitated for a minute because getting there would be a pain in the ass and I'd spend 10 hours on a bus in one day.   I said yes though, because who knew when we'd be on the same side of the country again.

We were both being dropped at the same bus stop within 10 minutes of each other, but Alex missed her first bus and ended up getting there an hour later.  I went to a coffee shop and read my book while I waited, which was just fine by me (I was reading Evelyn Hugo).  We had no real agenda, but we decided pretty early on that we wanted to do Top of the Rock and see the awesome views from up high.  We went straight there, but they didn't have tickets until 5pm.  That was, unless we wanted to do the Rockefeller Center tour, in which case we would be able to go up at sunset, so that is what we did.   We had a bit of time before our tour and just wandered around in the general area of Rockefeller Center.

Neither of us was that impressed by the tour, but it was only an hour long, and the views were more than worth it!  I'll give our tour guide credit, she was really out going and seemed to really enjoy her job.  Once we got to the top, we probably stayed up there for a good hour taking in the views (there is no time limit at the top!).   As far as views go, I'd definitely recommend Top of the Rock over the Empire State, because you can see the Empire State from Top of the Rock.

Once we were done we decided to go to Shake Shack for some dinner and just walked around for a bit before ending up in Times Square.   After looping back to Rockefeller center to see the tree, we sadly had to call for a Lyft to take us to our respective bus stops.   I'm so glad I went on this trip and had such a great time with my best friend!   I can't wait to be back in NYC in June for BookCon (#nerdalert)!

Erin's Challenge Update

Since we're about half way through this challenge, I figured I'd share how I'm doing so far.  I've read some great books for this challenge and managed to also tick some off of my 50 States list. 

• 30 points: Read a book that was originally published in a different language than your own

  Bear Town by Frederik Backman (01/7/18)

• 30 points: Read a book where most of the action takes place on a form of transportation:
Open Road Summer by Emery Lord (01/8/18)

• 10 points: Read a book that has a (mostly) red cover:
The Royal We by Heather Cocks (01/19/18)

• 5 points: Freebie – Read a book that is at least 200 pages:
Carnegie's Maid by Marie Benedict (01/31/18)

• 15 points: Read a book with a character’s name in the title:
Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally (02/04/18)

• 20 points: Read a book from this list: Book Riot’s 100 Must-Read Books with Plot Twists:
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (03/04/18)

TOTAL POINTS: 110

Book Reviews: February

Unfortunately this was a bit of a slow month for me as one of the books took forever for me to get in to.  I'm determined to make it up in March, though!

There isn't a single book by this author that I haven't loved!  Her character development is great, her stories are realistic and interesting, and for a YA book, the writing is great!   This wasn't my favorite in the series (it's a series but all books can stand alone), but it was still a solid read and I flew through it.  Highly recommend ... 4/5.

Read for Book Challenge by Erin

Read for 50 States Challenge (Tennessee)  

I think I went into this book with my expectations just a little too high.  I'd heard nothing but great things and it fell a bit flat for me.  The book is split into two parts and the first part took me a week to get through - I found it really slow.  I read the second half in one night because I just wanted to get through it.  I had figured most of it out by then, but there was one twist I didn't see coming.  The second half saved this book from getting a lower rating from me, but overall I just wasn't impressed.  I seem to be in the minority with that opinion, though, so if you like thrillers I'd check it out ... 3/5 
Read for 50 States Challenge (Pennsylvania) 

I enjoyed this book.  It is basically just reinforcing what Dave Ramsey teaches with a few other tips and tricks added in.  This one was written in a way that made the reader feel like they were having coffee with a friend, which made it more enjoyable.  My favorite part of the book was the first part where Rachel explores the "keeping up with the Jone's" game in a world of social media and highlight reels.  I'd definitely recommend this if you are on Dave's plan and looking for reinforcement or encouragement ... 4/5.

Life Update: February

So remember in my last update I said that I'm glad I didn't do monthly updates in 2017 because it would have basically said "I worked and walked the dogs"?  Well that is pretty much how February went for me.

Although I don't love my new job (I will never love a restaurant job), between it and Friday's I'm making good money and paying off debt, so I'm going to stick with it.   I worked at the hotel for one last weekend because of an event that brings in a lot of people.  When my manager asked if I'd be willing to come back for that one event, I totally said yes for selfish reasons - I really wanted to see the Ice Bars! 

Paying off debt is going great!  We thought we'd get a small tax refund but we actually ended up owing Maryland :( Fortunately between our federal refund and extra savings, we have the money to cover it, it's just a bit of a bummer.  We also spent a good bit of money on Josh's ASU's.  He has to go to the board next month and needed a new jacket, new rank, a bunch of new medals and a few other odds and ends.  Luckily it fell on a good week for me tips wise and we had no issues covering that.  This debt free journey has been so helpful when things like this pop up!

It's been surprisingly warm for February here in NY!  I've starting working really hard on leash training the dogs since the snow has cleared up.  Bolt's husky-ness really shows when it comes to leash training - he is super stubborn and has a mind of his own!  I've seen three different trainers and nothing has worked.  Belle is hard because she is not treat motivated at all, so I have to stop every 10 seconds and wait for her to come to my side which is also frustrating.  I'm not enjoying this at all! But it needs to be done, especially since we plan to do quite a few hikes this summer and would like to take the pups.

I finally started working out again with a home workout program.  I started at the end of the month and it's a 30 day program.  Hopefully I'll be telling you how great the program was during my next update - fingers crossed.

Other than being on a Harry Potter kick (I've watched the series twice this month), nothing really exciting is going on around here.  Hopefully I'll have more to share in March.

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