Tag Archives: lifestyle blog

Ireland Diaries: A Perfect Ireland Train Trip to Cork and Cobh

Welcome back to another post in the Ireland Diaries. If you’ve missed the others you can find them HERE.

Getting to go on a train trip was one of the things I was most excited to do when I went to Ireland. I told my grandpa that he could choose whichever trip he wanted as long as there was a castle to see. The trip we chose went from the Heuston Station in Dublin to Cork, then a van ride up to Cobh, and a train ride back. It takes about 3 hours by train to get from Dublin to Cork and the ride there didn’t seem as long as I expected. Though it may have been because I dozed part of the way.

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Monthly Favs- February 2024

An extra day in February gives me the extra wiggle room to help get a blog post out without feeling last minute. Phew. This month went by so fast. I blinked and now I have to change my classroom bulletin boards. (The worst moment of the month, yuck)

While it was a bit crazy I also got to spend a week with a college friend who I haven’t seen in almost two years so it was awesome! Yay to February break. Here are some of my favs from the month!

Best from the Calendar: Girls Week! including Pride and Prejudice watch.

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Monthly Favorites- January 2024

And just like that month 1 of 2024 is gone. A whirlwind of a month jumping back into another semester of teaching, the end of the holidays, and lots of SoCal rainy days. Let’s just say the first week after break having no outside time is NOT conducive to calm, attentive classroom behavior. Ha. 

A new series I am adding this year is Monthly Favorites! (Thanks Melissa for the recommendation *waves*) Anything from random things I’ve bought that month to interesting trends on Social Media can be discussed. So tune in every month for something new! 

Currently Watching: The Way Home on Hallmark

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2023 Revisited and 2024 Goals

2023 crawled and flew at the same time. Now I’ve blinked and we are in the middle of January 2024! How crazy is that? To start the year let’s take a look back at 2023 Highlights and talk about some goals for 2024!

2023 the Best of

Turned 24 

and was surprised with a Downton Themed Birthday outing you can read all about it here

Choreographed a Waltz

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Welcome to Downton | Celebrate with Me

“Life is a game, where the player must appear ridiculous.” – Violet Crawley

Or as close to it as you can get in Southern California, which is apparently in Pasadena.

I turned 24 this weekend. A very strange feeling as I told my cousin, I still feel like it was just yesterday we were playing Hide the Wii remotes on my 13th birthday but here we are. My mother likes to say I have Peter Pan syndrome so the past few years of birthdays realizing I am, in fact, growing up have been very bittersweet.

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Tahoe Times

Summers spent in Lake Tahoe have always been some of my favorite memories. I got to go up with my family last week for a few days and spend some time with my grandparents. I am always quick to recommend checking out South Lake Tahoe because there is so much to do.

There are always certain nonnegotiable items on the to-do list but this year we tried some new things too!

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2021 in Books- 50 in 52 Weeks Results

Happy New Year!

I can’t believe I am already writing the wrap up of all the books I read in 2021. If you read my first post last year “50 books in 52 weeks,” then you know I had a goal to read 50 books with at least 40 of them being new books (since I always just reread a ton of books every year).

In Total for 2021 I read:

Total Books- 55

9 Rereads     –     46 New Books

* Indicates reread

5 more than my goal and actually succeeded with reading way more new books than rereads this year, which I am pleasantly surprised with.

I think that 55 books may be a tad bit too many to write a review on each one individually. Can you imagine how long that post would be?? So instead I am going to give you a list of everything I read each month with their ratings, and choose one from each month to write a short review on. 

I hope this gives you some ideas of books you can add to your own reading list for the new year!

January

Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien 3.3/5

I wanted to totally love it. The Lord of the Rings is the series I get told to read the most and I was ready to be enamored. But I wasn’t and I’m sad about that. The book just took SO LONG TO READ, it isn’t even that long of a book at all, the writing style is just one that takes more time to go through and I wasn’t prepared. I even sent a text to my friend when I was about 3/4s of the way through saying “Do they do anything besides WALK and describe the setting???” I plan to finish the series in 2022, and maybe it will go smoother now that I know what I’m getting into… We will see

*Enchanted by Alethea Kontis 4/5

February

*Hero by Alethea Kontis 3/5

*Dearest by Alethea Kontis 3/5

Love and Olives by Jenna Evans Welch  3.7/5 

I’ve read her other books Love and Luck and Love and Gelato and this one was a fun enjoyable read but not my favorite. It was pretty long for what the plot was and some of it felt a bit tedious but I liked the characters and think it’s a good easy read.

Nancy Drews and The Clue of Whistling Bagpipes by Carolyn Keene 3/5

Nancy Drew and The Phantom of Pinehill by Carolyn Keene 4/5

March

*Cress by Marissa Meyer 4/5


Walking with Mary by Edward Sri 5/5

Fairest by Marissa Meyer 3/5

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott 3.5/5

The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel 3.8/5

Renegades by Marissa Meyer 4/5 

After binge reading Meyer’s the Lunar Chronicles in November of 2020 I was excited to read more of her writing. From the get go this book was darker than the Lunar Chronicles but the premise is really fun and I dove into the characters’ lives gladly. Highly recommend it. 

The Magician by Michael Scott 2.5/5

April

Archenemies by Marissa Meyer 4/5

The Anti-Mary Exposed by Carrie Gress 3.5/5

*Winter by Marissa Meyer 4/5

Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli 3.5/5

Supernova by Marissa Meyer 3/5

May

To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo 2/5

 What Once was True by Jean Grainger 0/5

So, so utterly disappointed with this book to the point that I had to force myself to finish it. I hated all of the characters. The plot sounded great and just felt poorly executed to me. 

Tell me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum 3/5

June

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig 3/5

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis 3.7/5

Heartless by Marissa Meyer 4.5/5

This may be my favorite Marissa Meyer book. I was skeptical of how a story focusing on a backstory of the Queen of Hearts would go, but I loved it. Though my friend and I are incredibly angry at certain events that transpired towards the end… I would read this again. It was well done. 

Prince Caspian by C.S Lewis 3/5

The Liar’s Dictionary by Eley Williams 1/5

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran 3/5

July

The Horse and His Boy by C.S Lewis 3.5/5

The Voyage of the Dawntreader by C.S Lewis 3/5

Kisses and Croissants by Anna-Sophie Jouhannaeu 2.5/5

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie 3/5

This was the book most outside my reading comfort zone. Aside from Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys I never read murder mystery but I thought it would be fun. While I was reading it my grandpa who apparently has read a lot of her books said this is his least favorite and her worst one. As I have only read this one I can’t vouch for how her other books are but I will say the ending was severely underwhelming. I think I will have to try another one to make a case for my like or dislike of her novels.

August

*The Magician’s Nephew by C.S Lewis 4/5

I think this is my favorite Narnia book. I love that it is the backstory of everything. Of Digory Kirke and even of the White Witch, Narnia and the Wardrobe. It helps everything that comes about later in the Narnia series make sense and I liked it even more this second time reading it. 

*Disney After Dark by Ridley Pearson 4/5

The Silver Chair by C.S Lewis 4/5

September

*Disney at Dawn by Ridley Pearson 4/5

The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coelho 4/5

The Last Battle by C.S Lewis 3.5/5

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo 4/5 

I didn’t think jumping ahead to this book would be that big of a deal. I read (and loved) the Six of Crows duology which I’ve reviewed before and assumed I could read this too without reading the original trilogy. The only reason certain aspects of the book made sense was that I watched the show over the summer. So if you want to read this book don’t follow my lead. Go read Shadow and Bone first (but after Six of Crows cuz if you don’t you probably won’t think you want to read this book). But anyway aside from that I really really enjoyed this book. Nikolai is a great character and I still can’t believe it, but I love Zoya too. I couldn’t read fast enough, I had to know what was going to happen. So read if you enjoy witty characters with seemingly impossible odds. 

October

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo 3/5  

I have seen a lot of mixed reviews on this series, and especially with the show having come out, there is discussion that the show actually fixed some of the book errors. I would agree to that. It is a decent series, especially the first book, but the writing in this debut novel is very weak compared to the other series’. I think her use of first person narrative was a detriment to the story and I found I liked her characters more in the show than the book. I wanted to punch them multiple times but reading this helped everything make sense in the final duology so it is necessary if you want to read those. 

Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo 3/5

Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo 2.5/5

Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo 3.7/5

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers 4/5

The Book of Three by  Lloyd Alexander 3/5

November

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow 3/5

The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander 3.7/5 

I have always enjoyed watching the movie version of this book. I didn’t know until recently it was a book. Obviously I then had to read it. This is actually the second book of the series, The Book of Three being the first one. The movie is the first two books put together and after reading the books, I think it was a good move, though of course the book is better. I enjoyed this better than the first book because it had more adventure. Gurgi and Fflewddur Fflam are my favorite characters and I would read a book just about them. Overall, a good book. 

Go Bravely by Emily Wilson 4/5

Gilded by Marissa Meyer 2/5


Worthy of Wearing by Nicole Caruso 4/5


December

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins 2.2/5

The Martian by Andy Weir 4.5/5

This book was just the script for the movie. The only difference is the  movie took out all Mark Watney’s extensive cursing and most of the math. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was fun seeing any differences. The writing is well done, the voice of Mark is engaging and pulls you in from the get go. Despite it being almost entirely written in basically journal entries it isn’t hard at all to imagine everything that is happening super clearly and for the plot to flow. Two thumbs up from me. 

*The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan 5/5

Curses by Lish McBride 2.5/5

Augustine’s Confessions by St. Augustine of Hippo 4/5

Would you like me to do more book challenges on the blog this year?

Tell me in the comments how many books you read and let me know what your favorite book of all time is so I can add it to my reading list for this year!

If you have read any of the books I did this year and have things you want to discuss don’t hesitate to message me, I LOVE to talk about books! 

OVERVIEW

Total Books- 55

Total Pages- 18,858

Least Favorite Book-  What Once was True by Jean Grainger 

Favorite New Book- Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Month with most books read- March with 7 books 

Author that I read the most books of- Marissa Meyer with 8 books

Series Finished- 5. Shadow and Bone Trilogy. The Rule of Wolves Duology. Chronicles of Narnia. The Renegades Trilogy. The Woodcutter Sisters. 

Longest Book- *Winter by Marissa Meyer with 827 Pages

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RED TV at a Glance

RED (Taylor’s Version), or RED 2.0, as I have been calling it, came out today. I thought I would write my first impressions review as there is no way for me to have a full opinion of the album as a whole until I have listened to it a bazillion times for a week straight. 

Before we get into it, the background context on my relationship to RED, the original. 

It is my favorite Taylor Swift album. For sure, the one I have listened to the most. The one with my favorite Taylor Swift song. It was also the album for which I went to my very first concert at the start of my freshman year of high school. I have distinct moments attached to songs from when it came out my 8th-grade year. Thus, I am sure I will have a lot to say as the album is very near and dear to my heart. So here we go, a non-comprehensive first impressions reaction review, as I listen to the rerecorded songs for the first time.

Songs I Listened to First:

Here are the first 5 songs I listened to in the order I listened to them. In between each one, I then listened to the original version for comparison.

All Too Well 10 min version

  • “It’s supposed to be fun turning 21” may be my fav new lyrics in the 10 min version. It made me actually pause the song to process those first 5 minutes.
  • This will probably be an unpopular opinion- remember all my opinions are subject to change with continued listening- I was… underwhelmed? I don’t know I didn’t love it like I thought I would love a 10 minute of this, one of my all time favorite TS songs, but I didn’t. 
  • My favorite parts of the song were all the ones from the original version. Is this because I don’t like change or because I don’t think all the extra lyrics bring anything that makes the song better than the original condensed version. We will find out after I listen some more.

The Last Time feat Gary Lightbody

  • This is my favorite song. It started and my breathe caught in my throat.  I just sat with my eyes closed and listened to it to soak it all in. Is it… more beautiful than before somehow. The opening chords feel echoey and I love it. I think the strings underscoring the song are amped up to extra stunning. Whatever the new drum sound thing going on at the beginning I could do without but yes to the extra strings.
  • Is Taylor’s part slightly different?? Sounds great though.
  • The harmonies are on point. I have nothing further to say for this song at this time. 
  • “You break my heart in the blink of an eye” Yes yes you do song. 

Treacherous

1 minute in, is the very subtle harmony voice new?

Upon review it is just more noticeable now.  

The maturity of her voice now really changes the tonal quality of this song. The softness of the original isn’t there but there is a different depth to it. “This slope is treacherous and I I I like it”

Although I really miss the more airy quality of the original bridge, it sounds more full in this version which isn’t bad at all just different. 

All Too Well 

  • This is the 5 and a half minute version. 
  • The way she sang the end of the first verse hooked me, too good. 
  • Ooh… the subtle echo part before the first chorus… I don’t think I like it. 
  • “Maybe I asked for too much” The emotion. Strong. Great. Love it. 

Short and sweet review. I still love this song.

State of Grace (acoustic version)

Again the drums. Scale it back, this is too harsh.

This song had a lot more of the airy softness that is in the original album. Which when listening you can tell the main difference is just how much her voice has strengthened but hearing her purposely add it into this song was lovely. 

This song so far has given me the most OG RED vibes. I really enjoyed it. “And I’ll never be the same” 

Then after this I went back to the beginning of the album and listened to them in order.

With the new from the Vault songs the album is now 30 songs long totalling 2 hours and 10 minutes. The album came out for me at 9pm PST meaning I did the first five song listen and then went to sleep to prepare myself for a 2 hour intense listening session in the morning.

Red, the song, sounds exactly the same, so does I Knew You Were Trouble.

Opening of 22 sounds more pulled back, original her voice and the drums are on an even plane but now drums are in the background for that part. 

I may like We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together better now, while Stay Stay Stay is not as good on this version. I also don’t think I like Holy Ground 2.0 as much either… I can’t tell why yet.

Everything Has Changed Feat: Ed Sheeran 2.0 is slightly slower than the original and Ed’s vocal lines are also a bit different on his verse and some of his harmonies. I’ve seem them sing this live and I think the new version has more of that “live” quality versus the original recording. 

Begin Again still perfection. The harmonies sound like they may be crisper too. It’s gorgeous. 

Girl at Home is a completely different song. Now it sounds like it could have been on 1989 instead of RED. I like it. I love the original but this is fun.

Songs ‘From the Vault’ Surprises:

I really liked Nothing New feat: Pheobe Bridgers. 

Message in a Bottle felt like something I could see in a movie soundtrack.

Forever Winter  and Run Feat: Ed Sheeran are beautiful. Will be playing on repeat for a while.

The Very First Night is a great song to have as the last one before All Too Well 10 min. It is incredibly catchy and is like a mix between Lucky One and Starlight. A song you can dance while doing your makeup too.

Overall First Impressions After Listening to the Full Album:

The original RED to me seems like a more raw scaled back version compared to the Taylor’s Version which has a more produced feel. There is a lot more added tonal qualities in the accompaniments coupled with a juiced up drum section that I am not sure I like better than how it sounded. 

All of the songs have a fuller sound than before, much to do with her voice and how she sings the lines. There are fewer lines she throws away when she sings- a good adjustment, it helps with understanding the lines. 

This album is still so so good. Dancing around my room, belting the lyrics alone in the car, adding songs to your party with your friends playlist good.

Alright that is all I have for you from my first impressions. This was a tad bit longer than a quick first glance post that I expected it to be… Hope you enjoyed. Do you have a favorite song from RED?

Let me know if you would like me to do more music reviews.
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