What's Samma Reading 2018 Review

Hey There Peeps!!!

I used to do a What's Samma Reading post pretty frequently but it got away from me and well.....I figured I'd just do a year recap in pictures.      These screenshots are all from GoodReads.   If you are on GoodReads then look me up because I love to see what others are reading when I get in a rut.
My goal for 2018 was 35 books and I finished with 41.  This year I upped my number to 45 but I can tell you I'll probably blow past that one and should finish in the 50+ range.  The biggest difference is going to be audiobooks.    I've just recently been sucked into the world of Podcasts....yeah, I'm no trendsetter for sure! haha  I found a great one called Levar Burton Reads and he reads short stories during the podcast.  Most of the podcasts last 45 minutes to an hour so I can listen while I work on things at my desk or during upcoming tax prep work or even while in the car.   However in the car I prefer to listen to My Favorite Murder or And That's Why We Drink, Levar has a pretty soothing voice and I might fall asleep.   Anywho, when you keep track of audio books in Goodreads it counts toward your reading goals plus lots of folks count audio books as "reading", I have mixed feelings about that but any who....    back to 2018!

That was my initial snapshot from GoodReads.

I did read Children of Blood and Bone and it was quite a departure from my normal reading genre's but it was good and I'm looking forward to the sequel coming out this year.   

On this screen snapshot I can tell you that Killers of the Flower Moon was a HUGE genre departure for me but I did enjoy it.  However it made me understand why Hoover is so disliked and very heartbroken for the Osage Indians.  Another note on this page is the Voice Inside by Brian Freeman, it was the 2nd in his Frost Easton series.  The 3rd installment comes out next week and I'm really looking forward to it.  

This screen shot has several good ones:   Killman Creek is the 2nd in the Stillhouse Lake series.  The second one creeped me out much less than the first in the series and I believe there is a 3rd book coming soon.  I LOVED the Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz, it was a bit Agatha Christie-ish to me and I loved that!   

This screen shot also holds some good ones:  MatchMaking for Beginners might have been one of my very favorite books in awhile.   I could honestly read it again!   It's been awhile since Nelson Demille had something new and I enjoyed The Cuban Affair although we did get bogged down a few times in so many details about Cuba.   Children of Blood and Bone, we've already talked about.   The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson was a solid read.  I was very pleasantly surprised!  

This screen had my emotions everywhere:   A Killer's Mind by Mike Omer so seriously grossed me out in a sexually perverted kind of way a few times.  I had a hard time reading parts of the book and did find myself skimming some parts.  Apparently this is a new series for this author but I'm not sure I'll keep reading, the main character Zoe Bentley didn't give me warm fuzzies.  We'll see, maybe if I hit a rut I'll read another.   John Grisham, The Rooster Bar: well, let's just say total disappointment from the author who used to be one of my favorites.  Come on Grisham, get it together and write like you did in the earlier years!   It Ends With Her was a 3.5 star read for me, once again sometimes too sexually creepy and the emotional abuse dredged up some icky memories.   

On this last screen is The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle.  I WANTED to love this book so much but truthfully it took me over a month to read it.   I'd fall asleep out of sheer boredom and I kept telling myself it would get better.  It didn't AT LEAST for me, however I've since discovered that the people who've read this book fall in two categories:  Love or Hate.  I appreciate and respect the incredible intricacy of the storyline but geezum it bored me to tears.   

I'm sitting on 2 books read, 1 audio book completed and I'm at the 90% mark on Discovery of Witches so I'll finish it in the next day or so.   Which is good because that should be just in time for the new Frost Easton to come out or to squish in a cozy mystery or two.  

What are your reading goals this year?   Any good reading challenges you're participating in?

Read on!

Subscription Box - Fall Causebox

Hey Peeps!!!

We're moving from books to the Fall Causebox.  I reported in earlier in the year here or Instagram or somewhere that my love of the FabFitFun box was waning and my Causebox love was growing.  

The Fall Causebox arrived and once again I LOVED it!!!

This is the description for Causebox straight off the website:

Each season, you will receive a limited edition curation of beautiful and useful products from socially conscious brands — each box is filled with at least $200 in value!

Spring will be the next box shipped, although I think they now have a Winter Welcome Box that is available.  The Winter Box I received and will review later was sold out.  

The boxes always arrive beautifully packed with a "magazine" to tell you all about the products and companies involved with the box items. 

Here's everything in the box after it was all opened.

First up is the Kalos Day Dream.  It is a ph balancing and brightening moisturizer.  

After I started writing this I wondered where it had made off to so I went looking to refresh my memory.   I applied some and I can tell you it smells deliciously of fresh oranges!!   I am pretty loyal to my Young Living products but I had actually popped this one in my travel bag.  It's a 2 oz size so it is perfect for taking with me on the plane.   

This was a handmade paper stationary set from Paper Source.  I personally love note cards like this with no pre-printed sentiment.  It's nice to have some pretty notecards to use for any occasion.  I think these are just gorgeous and I'll use them for sure. 

This is a beautiful scarf from Bloom & Give    I love the colors and the feel of the fabric, it's an ultra light cotton fabric and the mission story of the company is heart warming indeed.

You can't see it but there are actually tiny metallic threads woven throughout the scarf which makes it seem special but not overly fancy.  

I've received tons of tote bags from various subscription boxes and hands down this is the nicest and most sturdy of all of them!  This beauty comes from October Jaipur, it is a printed canvas and leather tote which takes over 16 hours to hand make.  It is so roomy and I can't wait to travel with it! 

This next item was not slated to be in the box but boy am I glad it was! There was supposed to be a beautifully crafted cheeseboard and I was super mega excited for that but problems with the company and shipping prevented it from making it to the box.  The curators of Causebox scrambled to include this 30 oz...yes, 30 oz  S'well stainless steel bottle.  I had a rather unpleasant experience with a different glass water bottle in yoga class that left me (and the floor) with a wet behind.   Thankfully this bottle has been a life saver with its SCREW ON top and large size because by the time I leave my Strengthening Flow class I'm one thirsty girl!!  

The last item is from Real Her.   I honestly wear makeup about half the time and eye shadow is something I wear maybe 2 or 3 times a month at best.   This was a beautiful color palette and I'm pretty sure I gave it to MereBear.  If she's reading this and I didn't then I really honestly had no stinking clue what I did with it.  Hopefully she has it because it was a really nice set with a brush to go along with it.   

I "think" I have pictures on my phone of the Winter FabFitFun and the Winter Causebox so hopefully I'll do a review of those.  I can tell you that I did not renew my FabFitFun box this month.  I usually do the annual subscriptions because it's significantly cheaper AND you get to select more specifics on some of the items (color-style-etc), the Winter FabFitFun box was the last of my annual subscription and I cancelled after that.    I have one more Causebox remaining on this subscription, Spring box, and unless it's just a complete miss for me then I'll be doing an annual renewal on that box. 

Take care peeps and hold tight....I've got more posts loaded up and ready to go!

  

Subscription Box - Coffee and a Class October 2018

Hey there Peeps!

I've got another peek at my October selection of Coffee & A Classic subscription box.
This one was from October of 2018 and honestly the last one I have received.  I have one coming for the month of January but I skipped November and December.

Here's the Story Card and you can see I picked Classic Literature once again and this month was Dracula by Bram Stoker, quite appropriate for October wouldn't you say?

Opening the box to get a sneak peak.

This month we had a Dracula inspired candle.  I honestly can't tell you what the scent was because I burned it all and tossed the tin.  That's a good thing right?? 

You can't see this very well but it's a bar of glycerin soap.  No lie, it smelled like dirt. 

Seriously, straight up smelled like dirt!   I couldn't decide if it was cool, weird, gross or a combination of all the above.  I used it to shave with so hey, it was useful!

When I opened this bag of popcorn all vampires within a 50 mile radius disappeared.  SERIOUSLY!! WAY TOO MUCH GARLIC.   We threw the bag out and then had to take the trash out because it was so strong! haha  If you really like garlic you would've loved this!

This was Dracula's Brew coffee.  At first glance I saw whiskey, vanilla and butterscotch and was intrigued.  I'm not a butterscotch fan so I don't have to tell you which flavor I tasted the most?!    Another one in the trash and the next lesson is from now on we get Tea and not coffee as our beverage selection. 

You're gonna get a couple of shots of the glass because it was really hard to photograph.  

It was a cool mug because of the wording and it's perfect for Halloween.

Not my favorite mug for coffee but it'll be a great tea mug for sure.  It's packed away with the Halloween decorations so it won't make an appearance until October.  

See, it's pretty cool looking and a nice heavy glass mug.  

I have a LOT of mugs and seasonal ones get packed away with other decorations.   I tend to "love" them more when they only come out for a little while each year. 

Here is the book and it is a very nice book.   Once again it's the "hard" paperback version but very nicely done and something worthy of a bookcase.  

I've never actually read Dracula so hopefully at some point this year I'll get to this book. 

And there is always a bookmark that goes along with the book which is really nice since most of my books are on Kindle and I don't have a lot of bookmarks laying around.  

Like I said earlier, that's the last of these reviews until late January when the next one arrives.  I'm still undecided on whether or not these will continue.  It's a little pricey for a book, mug and bookmark but if you are interested in building a nice library of classic books then I would highly recommend it!

Subscription Box - Coffee and a Classic September 2018

Hey Peeps!!!

New Year and another try and being a better blogger! haha    Believe it or not I had a few of these posts started so I'm at least going to get a few out of the way and hopefully it'll motivate me to keep on posting.  

This post is about my Subscription Box - Coffee and a Classic from September of 2018.

Once again I chose the Classic Literature selection and coffee for the beverage.

Let's get started:

Once again it arrived double boxed with the inner box being this incredibly nice photo storage box.  

This is called The Story and it's the card telling you all about your box.  In case you don't want to read the tiny print, the book was To Kill a Mockingbird

The lid removed so you can peak at the inside. 

First up is the mug and it's a good mug.  I should know because I'm a self proclaimed Mug Connoisseur !!     This is definitely a good coffee mug.  The coffee....eh, not so much.  I tried it, it wasn't great, moving along now.  

An enamel pin of HAM.  It's pretty cute but honestly I'm not really sure what I'll do with these pins.

Maple Bacon seasoned Pork Cracklings were the snacks for the box.  The first couple were like "oh my gosh delicious" then it was like "oh my gosh..just no".  haha   

Next up is the book....it's a really nice "hard" paperback version.  There is also a feather brass bookmark.  As you can see everything in the box is related in some way to the book. 

This was a pillow cover, it was cute but it was way too small for any of my decorative pillows.  Sadly, it's already made it's way to the donation bin.  

Here's everything in the box all laid out on the table.  Honestly, the mug and the book were the only really exciting things about this one for me.   I'm not sure I'm getting the full value of these boxes.

We will keep going for a few more months before we make a decision to keep going or to cancel.   There's no long term commitment and you can skip any month without penalty, you just have to remember to do it pretty quickly after the first of each month.   

Read on Peeps!