Again, in no particular order..

3. No more studying! Did I mention that my exam took place last Monday? I may have mentioned it on twitter, but I don't think I said anything here. I feel really good about it though. The essay and short-answer questions seemed fair and I was pretty well prepared for it all. But! Now I'm finished, and apart from this thing in August (something making me very UNhappy) I don't have any studying to do until September! All this free time :) Don't know what to do with myself (except watch the football!)
4. Author events! I haven't been to many author events, but, wonderfully, there are two in the near future that I plan on attending. The first is being hosted by Tales on Moon Lane and has four very fab authors that I cannot wait to meet! 28th June, details in the link above.
Keris Stainton, author of Della Says OMG! (OMG! I ADORED this book. And have followed Keris's blog for years now)
Luisa Plaja, author of Split By A Kiss, Extreme Kissing and Swapped By A Kiss. (I LOVED Split By A Kiss and have her other books on my pile to read next. She reviews over at Chicklish, one of my favourite YA book blogs)
Simmone Howell, author of Notes From A Teenage Underground and Everything Beautiful. (Just read Notes From A Teenage Underground, and ADORED it, have had Everything Beautiful on my wishlist for months!)
And Sarra Manning, author of Let's Get Lost, Guitar Girl, Pretty Things, Diary of a Crush series, Fashionistas series and Nobody's Girl! (One of my favourite authors ever. I have a post coming up entitled 'On Sarra Manning' where I do a lot of gushing.)
I am SO excited.

5. asamum reads - I really love the Internet sometimes. Especially when things conspire to bring people together, like me and the lovely lady who blogs over at asamum reads. We met on a book swapping website, but now email each other regularly about all sorts of things. And what's wonderful is that we read and are excited about the same sort of books. So it's become this wonderful book-sharing partnership. Not only is it fantastic to have someone who I can email personally about all the wonderful books I'm reading, but also two people on a hunt for similar books means twice the success. Everyone wins. :)
6. My birthday. I'm not normally excited about my birthday. But this year feels different. It's a little more than a month away... I used to hate my birthday being in the middle of summer. It meant I was never able to bring cupcakes into my school classes for everyone, nobody really remembered it, nobody would be around to celebrate, etc etc. But things have changed. Whilst N might not always remember how old I'll be (N a few days ago: How old will you be on your birthday this year? 26? ... 25? Me: *dies laughing*), he at least always remembers the date. I'm actually going to be excited this year about birthday cake and balloons and the boys singing Happy Birthday to me. I've finally embraced the little girl in me who loves being the centre of attention.
7. Plans for summer - The summer holidays are almost upon us! And come September, my Eldest boy will start primary school and my Youngest will start at nursery two mornings a week! Ahhhh! My babies are growing up so fast, this summer feels like it should be momentous! Something celebrated and made the most out of. So I'm planning the activities. Weekends mean trips to Legoland and Blenheim Palace and Pooh Country, the zoo. But weekdays are for me to organise. Teddy bear picnics, scavenger hunts in the park, play dates with friends. I'm hoping it's a great summer.
8. Ice lollies. Or strawberries and icecream. Need I say more?

10. Books. And what kind of list would this be without books? Here are the two ambitious piles I have on my bedside table that I'm most looking forward to. The first are adult books, which I haven't been reading much of lately (but I've really wanted to!):

The Invention of Solitude by Paul Auster
Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman
Blindness by Jose Saramago (shame he had to die for me to bump this one up the list :( )
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon
Matrimony by Joshua Henkin
Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth
And the second pile is mostly YA with one sneaky adult book:

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallace
Unhooking the Moon by Gregory Hughes
Extreme Kissing by Luisa Plaja
Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Wintercraft by Jenna Burtenshaw
Wasted by Nicola Morgan
Fire by Kristin Cashore
I'm hoping to have a better balance of books by reading alternately between these two piles. Unless that doesn't work, in which case, I won't! :)
What's been putting a smile on your face lately?
You've made me cry *in a good way* Thanks :D
ReplyDeleteHmmm Jaffa cakes *yummy*
Children make you both happy and sad :D especially whne the hormones kick in, just count yourself lucky you haven't got girls - I am willing to share my 3.
Glad your looking forward to your birthday :D
Great list! So many things to be delightfully happy about. I'm especially fond of your adult book stack. I want to read the Auster so bad I can't see straight.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lovely list. Yes, it's important to make the most of summertime. I love taking long walks and discovering new parts of the city where I live.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy meeting John Green. I went to a reading of his in February and he is hilarious. Love him.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous post. I might pinch this idea, if you don't mind. I hope you enjoy your author events - I am envious!
ReplyDelete