Weekly Recap: November 21

So I've seen some posts around that I wanted to give a try and have decided to combine them in a post I'll call Weekly Recap.

Life

So last weekend my family (hubby, son & myself) took a whirlwind trip to visit my daughter at college. It was a great weekend and I didn't even cry when we left Sunday afternoon. That's a major accomplishment for me. We checked out a museum, shopped and ate a lot of good food. After we left, my daughter even sent me a text thanking me for taking her shopping and buying her food all weekend. Here's a picture of the campus.

I took Friday and Monday off of work. I was piled up high when I returned, but I enjoyed the time away. Monday I found a cooking show on the cooking channel called Extra Virgin that inspired me to go grocery shopping. So I spent a good hour an a half picking out groceries on my day off. I normally hate shopping. This show really makes me want to go to New York for all the food. I've only watched 1 1/2 shows. But those 1 1/2 shows have shown me a few great local mom & pop type specialty food stores and really made me hungry. Have any of you ever watched this show?

Reading

So I had hoped to accomplish a lot of reading while on our trip. It didn't happen. I ended up driving several hours on the way up. I read quite a bit on the way home, but should have been sleeping because I was needed to drive the last few hours. But I found it difficult to sleep while it was still light out.

I did manage to make some good progress on two books that I've listed below. The titles are links to the Goodreads page.

Collide by Shelly Crane - This was one of the books I picked in my Tackling the TBR Pile post. I'm liking this book, but can tell it's her first book. It's a little slow going for me right now. I actually like Merrick better than I do Sherry, but most of the book is told from Sherry's POV. I actually thought it would be more action packed than it is so far. As of the time that I'm writing this post (Friday night), I'm 58% finished with the book.

With Visions of Red by Trisha Wolfe - This book isn't for everyone. I know not everyone likes to read erotica, but I do from time to time. I read a review last week sometime by Bookworm Brandee of a later book in the series and decided to check the series out. I found the first book was free and decided to give it a shot. I like that this book combines crime solving with the erotica. So it seems to have some substance to it. At the time I'm writing this post (Friday night), I'm 65% finished with this book.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater - I'm still working on this book; although I haven't picked it up in probably two weeks.

Adding to my TBR Pile

I have added a few books to my TBR pile. It looks like I've added 10-12 books to my TBR list in the last week. Here are some highlights with links to where I found them if possible.

True Love by Melissa Pearl - I originally found this author through a contest. Then I became part of her Fan Club on Facebook and took part in the new release party for True Love Wednesday. I've not read any of her books yet, but this book really sounds good to me.

The Lies We Lie by Emersyn Vallis - I found this one while catching up on my blog emails I get. The description leaves you wondering just what this books is about that I feel I have to read it. The only problem is that it doesn't release until February 2016.

Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between by Jennifer E. Smith - Another email I cleared out and found a book to fawn over. I just hope it has the ending I'd want. I like my Happily Ever Afters. :)

Blog Post Love.

 

Parajunkee is having a giveaway for signed copies of The Casquette Girls and Run/Fight - Both books take place in New Orleans and I LOVE New Orleans.
Rachel at Confessions of a Book Geek and Alicia at A Kernel of Nonsense talk about their Transatlantic Book Project. It sounds like a really neat project. I can't wait to hear more about it.
Rachel also talked about her Bookish Gift Guide with exclusive discounts in preparation for Christmas.
Cait told us 25 bookish facts about her. I love her writing style and I was actually thinking of doing a post like this while on the way to see my daughter. But I've yet to take it from my brain. Turns out this is actually a bookish tag and open to anyone that would like to make a post of 25 facts. I'll give it a try in the next few days.

How was your weeks? Feel free to leave a link to a post telling me about your week.