A Year of Reading

This is one of my goals for 2019 and I'm so excited about it! As soon as I decided on my list, I started filling in all the books. I kept a few slots open so that I could fill them in with any of the books for book club we read in the fall and any others I might happen upon.

Here's a list of books I plan on reading in case you need some ideas. 

1. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
2. Chasing Freedom
3. Emma
4. This is Where You Belong
5. Beyond Basketball
6. A Wrinkle in Time
7. Power to Become
8. Becoming
9. The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs
10. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
11. To Kill A Mockingbird
12. Educated
13. The Lilac Girls
14. When Breath Becomes Air
15. Divergent
16. Wuthering Heights
17. I'll Push You
18. Where the Crawdads Sing
19. Catcher in the Rye
20. Bridge of Clay
21. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
22. And Then There Were None
23. The Lincoln Hypothesis
24. The Smartest Kids in the World
25. The cask of Amontillado
26. A Bend in the Road
27. My Own Words
28. The Keeper of Lost Causes
29. Lord of the Rings
30. The Read Aloud Family
31. The Kite Runner
32. Honor Lost
33. The Great Gatsby
34. 1984
35. The Pelican Brief
36. At Home in the World
37. The Alchemist
38. The Rest of the Story
39. Bread and Wine
40. Just Mercy
41. Make Your Bed
42. Happy Like Jesus
43. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
44. Orphan Monster Spy
45. The Great Alone
46. I'd Rather Be Reading
47. Shoe Dog
48. I Owe You One
49. Peter and the Starcatchers
50. As You Wish
51. The Bright Hour
52. Girl, Wash Your Face

You are totally invited to join in with me!

You can download a printable copy of this list HERE. 

And if you've read any of them or if you read any of them with me, please let me know!! Comment on this post, email me, text me, whatever! I LOVE talking about books! I also keep a running list on the reading list page on my blog so you can look at what I'm reading there.

I can't wait! Happy reading!

NEW YEAR GOALS

I have been so excited about goal-making this year!! I have always been a goal maker but for some reason, this past year or so I haven't really written anything down that I really wanted to accomplish.

But this year, I am ALL IN! Maybe, it's just because I will have nothing to do this summer so I needed something to fill my time or the fact that we've almost lived in our house for a year and I should probably get it all organized and put together.

Instagram has been my latest source for inspiration these days and I love how Janssen from Everyday Reading splits her new year's resolutions into goals, habits, and projects. It's great to have things split up into categories and to decide which things are like lifelong habits you want to create and which are just projects that can be checked off once.

2019 GOALS // HABITS // PROJECTS

goals

• read 52 books in 52 weeks - we're already three weeks into the year and I'm on my fourth book so this one is going great so far!
• bake and decorate a pretty cake - have you heard of Cake by Courtney?? She's amazing! But I'm also super into the food network and love watching their tutorial videos haha! So anyone want a pretty cake for their birthday? I'll try to come through for ya
• try a new recipe once a month - ok, so this week I went through a cookbook and decided to try three new dinners...maybe I'm an overachiever?
• memorize a song on piano and violin - I figured it was about time I added something to my repertoire so that I never have to run into that awkward moment when someone asks me to play, and I'm like, "oh, do you have any music? I'll play anything as long as there is music". Time to be prepared! Bryan has already requested Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera because he LOVES that song, but I think I'm going to add something classical in there as well. Any suggestions??

habits

• get on a cleaning schedule - I know this affects like majoirty of Americans and I can't use it as an excuse, but working full-time just really takes the life out of you and depletes your motivation to clean. ugh! So I've seen some lovely lists on Pinterest that tell you which things you should clean every day, every week, once a month, and once a year and I am all about getting on that schedule so it doesn't feel overwhelming on the rare occasion that I'm in the mood to clean.
• be on time to work - this is such a winter dilemma, but when it's cold outside and dark when you get up, there is basically nothing I would rather do less than get out of my warm, cozy bed. So instead of scrambling out the door to get to school on time, I'm trying to be better at getting up when my alarm actually goes off
• flossing every day - ok, this shouldn't be an adult problem but I hate it!! Maybe it's because I don't feel good at it, maybe it's because sometimes my gums bleed and that's not fun, or maybe it's the flavor of the floss (joking) but this is a hard one for me!

projects

• paint and get new hardware and lamps for nightstands- we got all of our furniture from Bryan's parents/grandparents which was SO NICE that we didn't have to go out and buy/find our own, but I'm trying to make them OURS and there's nothing that a fresh coat of paint can't fix
• jerusalem powerpoint - I've been home for 3 years now, it's fine. But I always wanted to have a presentation ready in case I was ever asked to share about my experience or more importantly about the life of the Savior. I started on this project last year but I'm hoping to finish it up this year, especially because we are studying the New Testament in Sunday School!
• organize/decorate office - this has kind of been our dumping room since we moved in and I am so ready to make it look pretty! I want it to be functional, but cute and also go through all the junk that is in there!

I am so excited about all of these! I'll share how they go either here or on instagram. I would love to know what you're working on this year. Leave a comment below!

book review: the power to become

As followers of Christ, our desire is to become like Him. In fact, we have been commanded to do so. But how? 

In Power to Become, Elder David A. Bednar explores how the Savior makes possible His divine commission, "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect" (3 Nephi 12:48).

Chapters in this thought-provoking book highlight the importance of the Atonement, the spiritual gift of personal peace, the importance of priesthood ordinances, and the responsibility owe have to obey willingly and endure valiantly.

"As we increase in learning about the Savior and His gospel, Elder Bednar writes, "as we strive with ever greater consistency to act in His doctrine, ordinances, and covenants, then we are blessed with power through His Atonement to increasingly become like Him." Power to Become introduces vital tools we all can use to invite these eternally significant blessings into our lives. 

This was the perfect book to read at the beginning of the year! Right when everyone is making resolutions and reflecting on the past year and what they can do better. At our book club discussion, we were talking about how there wasn't a ton of new information in the book but how the whole book was filled with little reminders that we so often need.

Something that really stuck out to me was about OBEDIENCE. He talked about how it's one thing to perform the outward actions of obedience and obey the institution, public, and shared commandments, but a greater thing to respond to the individual, private, and personally revealed commandments. I have definitely seen this in my own life when I have been increasingly righteous and the Lord has revealed personal things for me to do even better so that I can become something greater.

I also loved the reminder that the Holy Ghost is the true teacher and that our responsibility as teachers of the gospel is to preach by the spirit and then the responsibility falls on the students to let the spirit enter their hearts and act on their learning.

Elder Bednar has two other books that he wrote before this one, Increase in Learning and Act in Doctrine. I am looking forward to reading the other two and putting all of insight into practice in my own life!