December Advent Calendar 2015

Besides Halloween, I will admit I still get excited for Christmas time. Things just seem to be more magical in the month of December. Maybe it is because of finally finding the love of my life or maybe it is due to still working in Kindergarten; I do not know. For the fourth year in a row, I am doing an activities Advent Calendar to count down to Christmas after reading some great articles online about it. I am big on traditions so here is an outline. Most of the things will be done either by myself, with George, or with my family. Also, just because there is a date attached does not mean it will happen on that date -- it is more of a checklist.

November 29th: Give George his Countdown to Christmas advent calendar (25 wrapped books. He opens up one a day to countdown until Christmas.)(Done!)
November 30th: Watch the 50th Anniversary Special of Charlie Brown/A Charlie Brown Christmas (Done!)
December 1st: Gather clothes and bring to The Bowery Mission.
December 2nd: Make Christmas mix CD for George. (Done!)
December 3rd: Get holiday cards. (Done!)
December 4th: Wear mistletoe headband.
December 5th: Watch the movie Scrooged.
December 6th: Get some chocolate coins and give them to people who make me smile. (Done!)
December 7th: Wear Christmas ornament earrings, get some hot chocolate at Hu Kitchen & walk around Union Square holiday market. (Done!)
December 8th: Watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
December 9th: Start writing out holiday cards. (Done!)
December 10th: Get a holiday inspired manicure. Make sure one nail is sparkly!
December 11th: Watch A Nightmare Before Christmas.
December 12th: Attend CZW Cage of Death with George. (Done!)
December 13th: Mail holiday cards (Done!)
December 14th: Watch He-Man & She-Ra A Christmas Special
December 15th: Get a holiday inspired candle from Bath and Body Works.
December 16th: Make Star Wars themed glitter snowflakes.
December 17th: Go watch some ice skaters in Bryant Park.
December 18th: Watch one of my favorite movies Untamed Heart and have a good cry.
December 19th: Cozy up in some pajamas and watch the Pee Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special.
December 20th: Give my Funshine buddy her present.(Done!)
December 21st: Watch The Original Christmas Classics (Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, The Little Drummer Boy) on DVD.
December 22nd: Make sure all of my gifts are wrapped. (Done!)
December 23rd: Wear ugly Christmas sweater to work. (Done!)
December 24th: Go Christmas caroling in Washington Square Park. (Due to the weather, I didn't go.)
December 25th: CHRISTMAS!!! Open presents and watch The Muppets Christmas Carol.
December 26th: George visits to celebrate Boxing Day and Christmas. Go and see Star Wars: The Force Awakens, go to dinner, and just celebrate our time together.

I hope all of my readers are enjoying this holiday season! What did you do for the season? Leave a comment below to let me know!

What Am I Reading: November Releases + To Be Read

Where in the heck did this year go? Lots of fun times with my love and lots of great reading happening thats what! But this year is not over yet. Almost at my reading goal (Read 52 books in a year) and this months new releases and to be read will just push it over the edge! Well enough of this, as the great Harold D. Saxon, John Dargo, and Don Swanson would say -- ENOUGH OF THIS PALAVER LETS GET THE SHOW ON THE ROAD!

New Releases for the month of November
1: Winter (The Lunar Chronicles Book 4) by Marissa Meyer

The trend of reimagining/rewriting fairy tales for modern day is still alive and well. I, usually, do not like remakes when it comes to movies/television shows but with books I do not mind a new spin as long as it is original. This series just does that. This book is set to be released on November 10, 2015. Here is the book description: Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana. Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won't approve of her feelings for her childhood friend--the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn't as weak as Levana believes her to be and she's been undermining her stepmother's wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that's been raging for far too long. Can Cinder, Scarlet, Cress, and Winter defeat Levana and find their happily ever afters? Fans will not want to miss this thrilling conclusion to Marissa Meyer's national bestselling Lunar Chronicles series.

2: Until We Meet Again by Renee Collins

Okay time for a Dani confession....sometimes she likes to read cheesy romance novels that have a paranormal edge to them. But this one does not appear to be that cheesy. This book was released on November 3, 2015. Here is the book description: Country clubs and garden parties. The last thing Cassandra wants is to spend the summer before her senior year marooned in a snooty Massachusetts shore town. Cass craves drama and adventure, which is hard when she just feels stuck. But when a dreamy stranger shows up on her family's private beach, claiming that it is his property-and that the year is 1925-Cass is swept into a mystery a hundred years in the making. As she searches for answers in the present, Cass discovers a truth that thrusts Lawrence's life into jeopardy. It won't matter which century he is from if he won't live to see tomorrow.Desperate to save the boy who's come to mean everything to her, Cassandra must find a way to change history...or risk losing Lawrence forever.

3: The Bassoon King by Rainn Wilson

As many of my readers, friends, my love are aware -- I identify myself as a geek girl. It is refreshing to see memoirs coming out nowadays about fellow geeks finding their place in the world. From Simon Pegg to Felicia Day and now this, I am excited! This memoir will be released on November 10, 2015. Here is the book description: For nine seasons Rainn Wilson played Dwight Schrute, everyone's favorite work nemesis and beet farmer. Viewers of The Office fell in love with the character and grew to love the actor who played him even more. Rainn founded a website and media company, SoulPancake, that eventually became a bestselling book of the same name. He also started a hilarious Twitter feed (sample tweet: “I'm not on Facebook” is the new “I don't even own a TV”) that now has more than four million followers. Now, he's ready to tell his own story and explain how he came up with his incredibly unique sense of humor and perspective on life. He explains how he grew up “bone-numbingly nerdy before there was even a modicum of cool attached to the word.” The Bassoon King chronicles his journey from nerd to drama geek (“the highest rung on the vast, pimply ladder of high school losers”), his years of mild debauchery and struggles as a young actor in New York, his many adventures and insights about The Office, and finally, Wilson's achievement of success and satisfaction, both in his career and spiritually, reconnecting with the artistic and creative values of the Bahá’í faith he grew up in.

What I am Reading in November
1: Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix

I have a lot of friends who work in retail -- namely Walmart. Once you read the book description, you will understand why I had to read this, especially this month. Here is the book description: Something strange is happening at the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio. Every morning, employees arrive to find broken Kjerring bookshelves, shattered Glans water goblets, and smashed Liripip wardrobes. Sales are down, security cameras reveal nothing, and store managers are panicking. To unravel the mystery, three employees volunteer to work a nine-hour dusk-till-dawn shift. In the dead of the night, they’ll patrol the empty showroom floor, investigate strange sights and sounds, and encounter horrors that defy the imagination.

2: The Sculptor by Scott McCloud

This graphic novel came as a recommendation from Reagan on BookTube. It is hitting close to home so far. Here is the book description: David Smith is giving his life for his art―literally. Thanks to a deal with Death, the young sculptor gets his childhood wish: to sculpt anything he can imagine with his bare hands. But now that he only has 200 days to live, deciding what to create is harder than he thought, and discovering the love of his life at the 11th hour isn't making it any easier! This is a story of desire taken to the edge of reason and beyond; of the frantic, clumsy dance steps of young love; and a gorgeous, street-level portrait of the world's greatest city. It's about the small, warm, human moments of everyday life…and the great surging forces that lie just under the surface. Scott McCloud wrote the book on how comics work; now he vaults into great fiction with a breathtaking, funny, and unforgettable new work.

What are you reading this month? Let me know in the comments below!