The books on my list that I already own.

For the past two years I have been challenging myself to read more books. In 2013 I completed 38 books and this past year, 2014, I read a few less at 35. The first year I tried this, I enjoyed the challenge and discovered some great books like Ernest Cline's "Ready Player One" and Chbosky's "The Perks of Being a Wallflower". I read all three Hunger Games books in as many days and I indulged in the second installment of Margaret Atwood's incredible MaddAddam trilogy. The idea of repeating this challenge at the beginning of 2014 was thrilling, and I was hoping I would enjoy it as much or more as I had the previous year, but unfortunately this wasn't the case. Although the beginning of the challenge was enjoyable, by the end I was reading, or (probably more accurately) skimming, the shortest, quickest reads I could find in order to get my numbers up; In essence, it took all of the joy out of reading. That being said, I also read some amazing books such as Patrick Rothfuss's King Killer Chronicles (the ones that have been released that is), Zadie Smith's "White teeth" and I was able to complete the MaddAddam trilogy. Near the end of the year I decided to re-read the entire Harry Potter series, which I accomplished in about a month, and was really enjoyable but by no means a challenge. By about Christmas, with 5 more books to complete the challenge before the new year, I gave up.

For 2015 I decided to do the reading challenge a little bit differently, focusing on the quality of the read instead of the quantity read. I settled on 25 books for the year, so I can read about one every two weeks, with a little bit of wiggle room since I am a full-time Pharmacy student and life can become very hectic. Choosing the books was the next step in creating my challenge, and I scoured, blogs, GoodReads and Amazon for great books that I haven’t read yet. Some great friends on Facebook also sent me some recommendations to help out. I was trying to generate a list of books from across multiple genres and with some of my favourite authors. While devising this master reading list I decided that my challenge needed to have a few guidelines:

1. No re-reads

In 2014, nine of the thirty-five books were re-reads; seven of which were the Harry Potter series

2. No two books from the same author

I put this rule on in order to increase the diversity of the list

3. Own physical copies of the books

I am not sure if this rule will stick, but I love owning the books, and there are quite a few on the list already in my library

4. No young adult or children's books

In an attempt to complete my 2014 challenge, I resorted to reading some YA books as well as some children's series (although they are some of the best children's stories we have). This rule can also be expanded to short stories, novellas, manga and graphic novels.

The first book to add to my list was easy to choose: "A Dance With Dragons" the fifth of the Song of Ice and Fire series which needs to be read before the sixth is released. I had no problems making the book list until I had about 14 on it, then I got a little stuck. I looked through lots of book lists online, asked my friends and searched through top sellers on amazon. Once I got the ball rolling again, filling up the rest of the list was easy, the only challenge was deciding which books made the cut.

The final list ended up as such:

1. A dance with dragons- George RR Martin (owned)
2. Fahrenheit 451- Ray Bradbury (owned)
3. Wicked- Gregory Maguire (owned)
4. Gone Girl- Gillian Flynn (Owned)
5. L'etranger- Albert Camus (Owned)
6. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his years of pilgrimage- Haruki Murakami (Owned)
7. Frankenstein- Mary Shelley (Owned)
8. The Drawing of the Three- Stephen King (Owned)
9. The Kite Runner- Khaled Hosseini (Owned)
10. The Diary of Anne Frank- Anne Frank
11. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?- Philip K. Dick (Owned)
12. I am Malala- Malala Yousafzai
13. Shogun- James Claveli (Borrowed)
14. Neuromancer- William Gibson (owned)
15. NW- Zadie Smith (owned)
16. Player Piano- Kurt Vonnegut (owned)
17. Invisible monsters- Chuck palahniuk (owned)
18. The Queen of the Damned- Anne Rice (Owned)
19. Guns, Germs, and Steel- Jared Diamond (owned)
20. Catch 22- Joseph Heller
21. A Prayer for Owen Meany- John Irving
22. Cloud Atlas- David Mitchell (Owned)
23. Alias Grace- Margaret Atwood
24. American Gods- Neil Gaiman
25. The China Studay- T. Colin Campbell & Thomas M. Campbell (Owned)

I already owned 18/25 of the books I had chosen, so I didn't have too many to find. I tried out one of the local book stores but they either didn't have them in stock or they were overpriced, so I turned to Amazon. Since I was away visiting family for Christmas when January first rolled around, I began with one of the books I got for Christmas, "Gone Girl" which seemed like an appropriate choice given the buzz about the recently released film based on the book.

I think the way I am going to tackle this list is by reading a certain amount of pages each day. The page total of the list is 11, 043, so I will have to read about 30 pages each day to complete the challenge by December 31st 2015.

All in all I am very excited about this new and improved reading challenge for the year, and I am going to embark on a new journey of reading books and writing about them. 

A not so minimal update

photo by me / quote from the Tao Te Ching

My biggest struggle in my recent journey into a minimalist lifestyle has been my car. Although I have been complaining about and have been dealing with stress directly caused by owning it, I am still finding it very difficult to part with. It feels like I will have less control and freedom without it, so I am hesitant to let it go. When I think about it rationally, I have no trouble at all saying "get rid of it" but it is always circumstantial. I need to learn the bus routes, I need to buy a bike which I can't afford, ideally I would like to replace it with a small moped so I can still visit my favourite places. But even faced with another $400 payment to repair the fourteen year old Honda, I am still holding out, telling myself that once all of the snow is gone I will let it go. I hope I am being honest with myself in that, but I am thinking the best idea may be to put it up for sale as soon as possible, and pick myself up a bus schedule. I can put the would be gas money towards a new bike for spring.

Another of my big struggles has been to purge all of my electronics: game systems, dvds, old mp3 players, games etc. I wanted it done fast and dirty by taking it to a local electronic thrift store, but after they priced it very unfairly and even rejected some of the perfectly good systems, I have decided to take them back home and try to sell them on kijiji for a more fair price. I guess that will teach me to accumulate seven game systems with games and over a hundred DVDs that never get watched.

In theory, my minimalist life is a dream come true, but getting there has proven a difficult journey that will take much longer than I had anticipated. Hopefully my realization of this will help me stick to it, and reap the benefits in the end.

*An accomplishment*
Recently, I was faced with a decision between getting a new computer or a trip to Cuba as a present from my mom. I wavered back and forth for a bit as I had my eye on a laptop for some time, but in the end I rationalized with my new found view of life and decided that experiences are more important than objects, and there is nothing wrong with my current computer, so I opted for the trip and I am now looking forward to it very much.

I am or I own?

In the midst of a rather crazy move, I have been thinking more and more about adopting a minimalist lifestyle. As someone who has always appreciated owning stuff, it seems quite a difficult task for me, but having a record for moving on average once every two months is motivation enough. Even though I don't plan on moving again so soon, having a clutter-free environment to live and having significantly less to move when the time does come sounds like too good of an offer to turn down.

Another reason for the change is my tendency to identify with the things I own, I no longer want to have an emotional attachment to stuff.

So here are a few goals outlining how I plan on going about becoming a minimalist:

1. I hate doing dishes, so I am going to reduce my kitchen wares to:
1 plate
1 bowl
1 glass
1 mug
1 frying pan
2 pots (1 small, 1 medium/large)
1 strainer
1 spatula
.....You get the drift.....One of everything I need and nothing more. Of course, since I have a room mate, these aren't the only dishes we will have in the house, just the ones I will use. We will have plenty for company.

2. Buy an EReader.
I have had my eye on the Amazon Kindle for a little while now, and I have finally decided that it is the right thing for me to switch from paper copies to electronic copies, and the latest version of the Kindle has made it so easy.

3. Use Electronic Storage
I am a bit of a pack rat when it comes to personal items. I currently have a tupperware container full of old movie tickets, pictures, journals, play bills, posters, and trophies lurking under my bed. I want to digitize all of it by scanning it into my computer and saving it on my hard drive. Also I have piles of old C.D.s and DVDs that never get open because I have access to the electronic versions, so I am going to back them all up on my hard drive and get rid of them. My 1TB hard drive can fit in my coat pocket and store all my pictures, music, and movies.

4. Purge old clothes that never get worn and replace them with a few long lasting, versatile outfits.
I have been saying a lot lately that I am sick of being a T-shirt and jeans kind of gal, so why am I keeping them all around? If my closet only contains a few nice, fashionable and versatile outfits then I will look nice everyday, and I won't even be tempted by the old Tee's. One pair of lounging clothes is a must though.

I have a few more goals in mind, but this post has dragged on far enough, and I already have my work cut out for me. It is going to be hard work, but in the end I know it will be worth it. Wish me Luck!

Spring Fever

Polka dot mini dress by carnivorousdeer
Cocktail party dress by thevintagestudio
coral pink crochet sweater by skivvyluluvintage
sweatheart dress by gogovintage
red stain bow pumps by ladygolightly
turquoise typewriter by brooklynretro

I have spring fever! The above are a few vintage spring looks that I love (etsy.com). I wish I could by them all. The type writer isn't a look of course, but I fell in love with it. I have always wanted a typewriter, and who can resist it in turquoise? This site makes me want to start my christmas shopping already!

Since my apartment isn't quite ready to move into yet, and I had the weekend off work, I decided to pay my parents a visit in Northern N.B. Their new house is looking great, and today we headed out to Wal Mart to buy some final touches. Ignoring my dislike for Wal Mart (and large companies in general) I managed to enjoy myself and pick out accessories for their living room and a new set of work clothes for myself. On our way home, we stopped at a small boutique in Woodstock called Barb's dresser drawers where I found myself a beautiful Spring coat.

This coat, along with a few lingering feelings of longing for longer days and warm sunshine, gave me a bad case of spring fever. I cannot wait for it to be warm enough to wear this beaut.

I may have to start updating my spring wardrobe, as quickly as my paychecks will allow! I am aiming for something a little different than my usual t-shirt and jeans, and starting school in May will offer a great occasion to show off the new looks (once I get them that is).

Bring on Spring!!!