Bucket list #257 read 50 books in a year!

Hello, my bucket list, friends! I’ve already mentioned that I crossed read 50 books in a year off of my bucket list . However, I wanted to highlight this item in its own post. I started working on this item at the beginning of last year, but as it got closer to the end of the year, I realized I needed to really focus on it if I wanted to cross it off. I bought a bunch of short children’s books to help me with this goal. I’m happy to say that I was able to read enough books to cross this item off of my list! I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I cross an item of my list, and this item was no different . It was a good item to end the year with. I’ve already started working on reading a hundred books, so I can cross it off this year. What books do you plan on reading this year?

Love – Christina Epperly

New American Girl books!

Hello, my bucket list friends! I’m a big fan of American Girl Books and every year American Girl Comes out with a new girl of the year doll and with that doll they make books! On Saturday after work I went to Barns and Noble and got both of the new American Girl books. The girl of the year for 2021 is named Kira and she helps to rescue wildlife. I can’t wait to read both of her books! I also got a My Little Pony book that is five books in one and a book about Disney World. What books have you gotten lately.

Rock On – Christina Epperly

January 2021 book club pick

Hello, my bucket list friends ! I know I’m late getting this post up but here it is! For this year’s first book club book, I decided to choose a book that I got at Goodwill. It’s called amazing acrobats and it’s written by meredith Costain and illustrated by Danielle McDonald. This book is part of a series called Olivia’s secret scribbles. This is the first book I’ve ever read in this series. However I can tell you that I am enjoying it already and I can’t wait to discuss it with you when I finish reading it.

Rock On – Christina Epperly

Light Heart book club July 2020

Hello,my bucket list friends! I’ve been out of town for awhile but now it’s time to catch up with blogging.  Without anymore delay it’s time to announce this month’s book club pick.

Light Heart book club July 2020

This’s month’s book is going to be Melanie’s Last Ride by Joanna Campbell and Alice Leonhardt.  This book is number #29 in Thoroughbred series. I had never heard of this series before but when I saw this book at the Goodwill it looked interesting so I chose it as this month’s book. Horses are one of my favorite animals and I enjoyed watching the Saddle Club TV show when I was younger. I hope I really like this series because I’m always looking for new books to get into. As an added bonus there is a character named Christina!

Rock On – Christina Epperly

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Book club discussion June 2020

Hello,my bucket list friends! Now is the time to discuss June’s book for the Light Heart book club.This month’s book is Genie wishes by Elisabeth Dahl. There is just one more thing to say before before we dive in to this month’s discussion and activities. The following post contains major plot points ( Spoilers ) for the book . If you want to read the book and haven’t yet, I suggest you wait to read this post until you have finished the book. Now, let’s dive into our discussion.

 

Book club discussion June 2020

My favorite part – My absolute favorite part of this book wasn’t just one part it was reading all of Genie’s blog posts. Her posts are scattered throughout the book. I really enjoyed reading them. I wish she was a real blogger so I could subscribe to her posts.

My least favorite part – My least favorite part was watching as Genie and her best friend Sarah slowly grew apart. Now, this is something that often happens in life especially at this age but it’s its still sad. I liked that it was written as happening slowly and naturally instead of being dramatic.

Other things I enjoyed about the book – I liked Genie’s school it was a private school. It’s seemed like a fun school to go to. I wan’t a fan of school as a kid but I wonder if I would have enjoyed going to this school. It sounded like they got good food everyday and I know I would have enjoyed that. I also know that I would have loved junk food lunch! I also liked how Genie was very creative when it came to her Halloween costume. I would never thought to be a house for Halloween!  One more thing I liked was how Genie and Sophie’s friendship developed.

Overall view of the book – I really enjoyed reading Genie’s story. It’s seemed at times that I was reading about a real 5th grader and her class. The book flowed really nicely and it was easy to read. I would highly recommend reading this book.

Activities

Dream journal – Genie and her class are given an assignment to keep dream journals for a week and to record their dreams for at least four nights. I tried keeping a dream journal once but I didn’t stick with it. I don’t remember most of my dreams but if you haven’t tried doing a dream journal before it might be a fun thing to try.

Wishes –  At the end of her blog posts Genie made a wish that went a long with the content of that post. In total she made 22 wishes in the book. I thought it would be fun to make 22 wishes of my own . Feel free to write your own wishes in the comments.

  1.  That one day I won’t have to worry about money
  2.  To Own my own house before I turn 40
  3.  That this summer continues to be fun
  4. That I get to go swimming soon
  5. That one day I’ll have my own swimming pool
  6. That my 30th birthday is a lot of fun
  7. That I will go full time at work soon
  8. To live in LA
  9. That I cross everything off my bucket list
  10.  That animals would start talking
  11.  That I get to go to Disney World again
  12. That they open a Five Below near me
  13. For my anxiety to go away and never come back
  14. That I start finding more Lisa Frank items when I go thrift shopping
  15. That money will never fall out of my pocket again ( or anything thing else that’s important )
  16. That I get to ride a carousel this summer
  17. That I get around to getting my hair cut soon. It’s getting long and crazy!
  18.  That I can get Coral’s leg fixed soon. ( One of my American Girl Doll’s leg fell off! )
  19. That can get a massage soon! ( My poor shoulders need it badly ! )
  20.  That I get a really awesome birthday cake this year
  21. That I get to go to a Five Below sometime this year !
  22. That  I never have to go back to school again!

 

Rock On – Christina Epperly

 

June 2020 book club selection

Hello, my bucket list friends ! It’s almost June so,that’s means it’s time to announce the book I’v chosen for the Light Heart book club for June 2020. Without further delay this month’s book is Genie Wishes by Elisabeth Dahl. When I read the description of this book I just knew I had to read it for this book club. Not only does it seem like the perfect fun and light hearted read for this book club it also has to do with blogging ! I’m very excited to discuss it with all of you next month. Happy reading!

Rock On – Christina Epperly

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My 2020 reading goal

Hello,my bucket list friends! If you take a look at my bucket list you will see that I have some reading goals on there. Such as reading fifty or a hundred books in one year but for this year I deiced to do a smaller goal of 25 books.  ( You can see my progress HERE )   I have read eight books this year so far and I’m starting number nine today.  I have so many books in my room that I haven’t read yet. Doing a reading challenge is giving me a good opportunity to read some of the books I’ve been wanting to read for a while.  I’m kind of surprised at how many books I’ve already read this year! I’ll try to keep all of you updated as I make progress. Happy reading everyone !

Rock On – Christina Epperly

Light Heart book club discussion May 2020

Hello, my bucket list friends ! It’s time to discuss this month’s book club pick . This month’s book is Finally by Wendy Mass. ( You can read more about it HERE )  I’m excited to discuss this book with you and tell you about the actives I’ve chosen to go along with it. Now, just one more thing before we get going . The following contains major plot points ( Spoilers ) for the book . If you want to read the book and haven’t yet, I suggest you wait to read this post until you have finished the book.  Now, let’s dive into our discussion.

 

Light Heart book club discussion May 2020

This fun read focuses on a girl named Rory.  She is very excited that she finally gets to do all the things that her parents told her she had to wait until she turned twelve to do. Rory has been keeping a list over the years of all the things she wanted to do. Now Rory is ready to make her dreams come true but as most of us know in life not everything goes according to plan.

My favorite moment in the book – During the book a movie is being filmed at Rory’s school. She is very excited to be chosen as an extra in the movie. Unfortunately Rory suffers a few mishaps while crossing items off her list but one of those incidents ends up landing her a bigger part in the movie. I was happy for Rory that some good came out of her eye injury.

Funniest moment in the book – There were so many funny moments in this book but one of my favorites was when Rory stayed home alone for the first time. She decided to take a bath while listening to music. Well this caused her to not be able to here the phone ringing. Her parents were so worried that something  had happened to her that her dad kicked a hole in the bathroom door! This is one of those things that is not funny when it first happens but becomes funny when you look back on it. I think we all have moments like this .

My Least favorite moment in the book – I felt really bad for Rory when she discovered that she was allergic to the makeup that she tried on at the mall. It cut her fun day short but she did get a cool pair of sunglasses .

My overall opinion if the book –  I really enjoyed reading this book. The story flowed very well. There was so much that happened in the book that I haven’t even wrote about a lot of it above.  It was so action packed with many memorable moments and surprises. It would be a very long blog post if I wrote about it all. This book is funny and interesting all at once. I recommend adding this book to your shelf .

 

Activities to go with the book

Arts and crafts – For this book’s art project I did a foam bunny craft kit that I had in my room. I had a fun time putting the foam bunny together. There are plenty of easy bunny crafts that you can do if you don’t want to buy a kit. You can make a paper plate bunny face or a paper bag bunny puppet.  In the book one of the things on Rory’s list is to get a pet and she chooses a bunny. Unfortunately things don’t exactly work out and the bunny gets returned to the store. Maybe Rory would have rather had a foam bunny instead.

 

Making your own list – Most people know that I have a bucket list for my lifetime but I also have a 30 before 30 list ( You can Read it HERE ) of 30 things to do before I turn 30. It’s kind of the opposite of Rory’s list since her’s was of things to do after a certain age  and mine is a list of things to do before I turn a certain again  but they both follow the same idea.

I really liked reading this book ! If you read it let me know your thoughts in the comment section .

Rock On – christina Epperly

 

Book club pick May 2020

Hello, my bucket list friends ! I’m excited to announce the book I’ve chosen for May 2020. This is the second book in the Light Heart book club and that book is Finally by Wendy Mass. I have so many books in my room that I have not read yet and this is one of them. I’m about thirty pages into the book and I’m excited to see what happens next. I’ll write a post discussing the book in detail sometime in mid or late May. During the discussion I will be answering questions about the book and suggesting activities to go  along with the book if you have any questions of suggestions let me know in the comments.

Rock on – Christina Epperly

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Light Heart Book club April 2020

Hello, my bucket list friends and welcome to the first official light Heart book club discussion !  ( You can learn more about the book club HERE )  This month’s book is an American Girl book titled Lanie by Jane Kurtz . I really enjoyed reading this book and I came up with a few questions to help us discuss this book. Feel free to answer the questions in the comments! One more thing before we get into our discussion, The following contains major plot points ( Spoilers ) in the book . If you want to read the book and haven’t yet, I suggest you wait to read this post until you have finished the book.  Now, let’s dive into our discussion.

 

Who in the book did I relate to the most ? This book is full of some great characters but the main charter Lanie is who I related to the most. Lanie has a passion for nature and all things outdoors. Her best friend Dakota also shares this passion with her but during the book Dakota is off on her own adventure on the other side of the world. Lanie’s family  has what she refers to as inside genes meaning they do not love the great outdoors the way she does. I could relate to Lanie’s frustration as she struggled to share her passion with others.  I think at one time or another most people have been disappointed when their excitement about a topic they are passionate isn’t shared by the others around them. I loved how Lanie did her own camp out in her yard. Sometimes you have to explore your passions on your own. This part of the book was a good reminder of that.

 

What was my favorite moment in the book ? I loved the part of the book when Lanie took her pet rabbit Lu Lu out for a walk. It was funny to hear about her neighbors reactions to seeing her walk her rabbit down the street.

 

what was my least favorite moment in the book ? – My least favorite moment in the book was when Lannie’s aunt left unexpectedly overnight due to a last minute job offer. Lanie was very excited when she found out that her nature loving aunt was coming to stay with them. Lanie and her aunt both have what Lanie calls outside genes. Lanie loved having her aunt around they even started planting a garden together. I could feel Lanie’s disappointment when she woke up and discovered that her aunt had left.

 

What did I think for the book overall – I really enjoyed reading this fun and light hearted book! Another one of my favorite parts was at the end of the book when Lanie and her younger sister Emily went bird watching. Throughout the book Emily had shown some interest in the outdoors but she struggled with a fear of bugs. I loved reading about their outdoor adventure together.

Actives to go with the book

The art activity I chose to go with this book was painting a garden rock. It’s a very simple art project . All you need is some paint and a rock. I used an art kit that I got from the Dollar Tree . The rock that came in the kit had the shape of a carrot outlined onto it.I had fun painting the rock and adding some glitter that came with the kit onto the carrot. I think Lanie would love to have a rock like this in her garden.

Another fun activity that you can do with this book is an outdoor scavenger hunt. You can find plenty of scavenger hunt lists online or you can come up with your own.

Recommended reading – There is another book about Lanie called Lanie’s real adventures I’ve already started reading it. If you enjoyed Lanie’s first book I recommend taking a look at her second book.

There you have it the first discussion in the light heart book club ! I’m so excited to chose the next book and discuss it with all of you ! Rock On – Christina Epperly