Welcome to the first #WeekendCoffeeShare post of 2016! May we continue to share our worlds over delicious beverages throughout the year! I think the picture of the sun rising over Haleakala crater in Maui (taken in August of 2004) is a fitting way to open this post, and I always love to share this photo, so there’s that!
If we were having coffee, you would see that the sun is bright out today but looking out from inside, it can be deceiving because we’re sitting at 27 degrees with a “feels like” of 18 degrees. Let’s see, what is the conversion…-2.7 degrees actual and a feels like of -7.7. That’s pretty chilly, any way you look at it! Even with the heat on inside the house, it’s chilly! How is it in your neck of the woods?
If we were having coffee, I would tell you that this past week has been very busy doing not a lot! I’ve been spending a lot of time with my daughter and the boys which has, most nights, kept me over at their house late into the night…or late into the morning, actually! This coming week, on Tuesday, I will be packing up the car and heading for Seattle to house sit for my son…and dog sit…and cat sit…while he and his wife go to Hawaii as their last vacation trip before the baby comes in May. It will guarantee me alone time. I used to go up there and just stay in the house while they were gone but the last couple of times I have been there I’ve ventured out a bit. I can now get to anyone of several breweries, to the Seattle Center (Space Needle plus), Pikes Place Market, Discovery Park (lots of hiking and beautiful views of the Sound), and other places. I’m hoping for dry weather, even if it is cold, so I can get out and take some pictures and go for a hike or two. I will be there for a full week.
I’m currently reading several books which is new for me as I tend to concentrate on only one at a time. I’m reading Searching For Malumba by Luther Siler, which is a collection of essays around the theme of education. I’m also reading One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia, which is a middle grade novel that I am reading for the 2016 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge, and Witch Is Where It All Began by Adele Abbott, a YA mystery novel. Are you participating in any reading challenges this year? Which ones? I am also doing a personal challenge on Good Reads, challenging myself to read 75 books in 2016.
Do you make resolutions? Did you? I don’t like to make them and don’t. I like to “work toward” doing certain things during the year, which for me is much more forgiving than a resolution and so much more doable than resolutions which practically set one up for failure. My “work toward” for this year is about enjoying life and doing what I like to do or would like to do and taking on personal challenges. I’m also going to go back to last year’s word…Create…because my creativity was halted when I got sick. That threw everything off. I’m going back to Create this year. You? Do you have a word for 2016?
If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I finally wrote my About Me post. I said at the beginning of 2015 that I would write it and I finally did…on December 30…and used it as my first post of 2016. It will go into an About page that will be created this weekend. You will, most likely, not find a lot of new things there if you’ve followed my blog. No surprises. What you see is what you get!
I am fighting against time here because the battery on the laptop is about to die so this is a good place to end this coffee share. Please let me know what you are up to! Plans for the week? Any travel coming up? New projects? Tell, tell!
I’ll leave you with a great song to start the year:
How wonderful to house sit in such a great area! It’s like a free vacation as long as you don’t mind having some animals for company! My husband’s step-mom is doing the same thing for her daughter and son-in-law at this very moment! She is in Hoboken which isn’t much in itself but she is brave enough to travel the short distance into NYC and explore. Have fun! I will be making my coffee share post tomorrow since today is a bit full!
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I always think of it as a free vacation and it saves them a lot of money. For Christmas, it cost them over $500 to hire someone for 5 days! They have 3 dogs and 3 cats and two of the dogs require medication a couple of times per day. I’m happy to do it for them. Change of pace and place for me!
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Is the movie “One Crazy Summer ” based on that book? Doesn’t seem like it would be…
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Oh, and since we recently talked Beatles, I forgot to mention the song 🙂
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The book is about 3 little girls who travel from NY to Oakland, CA to meet the mother who abandoned them. It’s a Newberry Honors book and takes place in the 60’s.
Oh! Guess who bought the unborn grandson’s first Beatles t-shirt yesterday? I couldn’t resist. He has to get started off on the right foot, at least musically! 🙂
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The movie was a silly teen movie from the 1980s. It takes place on Nantucket. The female lead was a teenage Demi Moore!
You are great role model for your unborn grandson musically speaking 😉 Notice my coffee mugs this morning?
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I’ve always wanted to visit Seattle, but I haven’t had the chance yet. It seems as though there are lots of interesting things there. Hope you have fun with the house and dog and cat sitting. 😀
I’m looking forward to the reading challenges in 2016!
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Great choice of song! I;m almost finished with Joe Hill’s “Nos4a2” it’s not part of a challenge but I really am enjoying it.
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Love the song! 😉 how nice of you to sit for your son’s house and pets! It IS a vacation of sorts, and some time to travel are around or, if you prefer to stay in and write, and read. I’ll be thinking of you when I’m slaving over my desk at work!
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Have fun in Seattle. The cats and dogs will keep you occupy. Good luck on your reading challenge. Take a moment and PRAY/ASK FOR WORLD PEACE.
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I’m not sure how I feel about resolutions (for me!), but my husband and I are going to work on setting some SMART goals for ourselves this year. (Of course, he’s not calling them SMART goals, but that’s what they are no matter what they’re called!) We’ve thrown around a few the last few days, but haven’t managed to write a single one down yet. The plan is to do so tonight, but … in what I hope is not foreshadowing … it’s easier to plan the time than actually use it! I hope I’m awake long enough to do so. And if we don’t get around to it? I hope we do make good on our goal of having a date night once a month. Once every three or four months is not cutting it!
Happy new year!
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Hi Corina, how nice of you to house/pet sit! And you’re lucky it wasn’t planned for the last week in December, I have it on good authority (well, from a Floridian who was there, so maybe she was a bit biased) that it was REALLY COLD in Seattle then. Maybe you’ll have some milder weather. When you’ve gone there before, have you visited the Chihuly Gardens and Glass? It’s adjacent to the Space Needle and I thought it was spectacular. Best viewed on a sunny day, if that is possible. Enjoy!
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We were colder here in Portland than Seattle was for the last three or so weeks! We got snow yesterday.
I finally made it to the Chihuly Museum last September on another dog sitting trip! It was fabulous. I may try to go again this time around and hope to get fewer tourists. Last time I was there, either someone was walking into my pictures or I was walking into theirs. I think if I make it this time, I will leave the camera at home so I can really enjoy it!
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Happy New Year, Corina.
Thank you so much for reminding me what the sun looked like with that stunning photo from Hawaii. Even though it’s mid-Summer here in Sydney, is been raining since Christmas Day more on than off. My son is actually on a Scout Jamboree camp tenting in that. Yikes. I also enjoyed; “Here Comes the Sun”. I turned the volume up on that so the sun could get the message and do it;s thing!
Following up on a previous comment, I had to look up SMART Goals as it’s been awhile. I did know the letters meant something about getting on with it!!
So, while I haven’t chosen a word or set any goals as such, ACTION could be very appropriate.
On the other hand, I have written New Year’s resolutions for both my dogs. They actually turned out better than I thought. Here’s a link to the first one: https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com/2016/01/04/a-doggy-new-year/
Have a great time in Seattle and I look forward to some photos!
xx Rowena
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Happy New Year Corina. It sounds as though you have a lot to be looking forward to in 2016, including a new grandchild. I hope you enjoy your peace whilst housesitting and stay warm. It sounds cold. We are hovering between 25 and 32 degrees but ours is centigrade so we are actually perfect to warm. I have given up on resolutions and also in trying to have a target number of books to read. I know I don’t do it. I am hoping to have more time this year and that will see me reading more books (for pleasure) and I am hoping to do a few reviews as well. Loved your photo. Very fitting to see the New Year in.
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