Random Music Things...

So I recently posted about my trip to WV to visit my grandmother.  While we were traveling, I put my entire music library on shuffle, and some pretty interesting songs came up.  Just thought I'd screenshot and share some of them, because why not?

First of all, she has an amazing voice.  AND we share the same first name.  Kismet.

This is a completely instrumental song.  I love it.

Kari Jobe is my spirit animal.  I know that makes no sense, but it is what it is.

They have the coolest/weirdest music.  I like it.

We ARE forgiven - praise GOD!

I mean, come on.  Gregorian chanting - is there anything better?

Another solid instrumental.

Freaking Switchfoot.  Gotta love 'em.

I recently discovered this CD by Relient K - even though it's years old.  SO GOOD, though.

BEAUTIFUL classical orchestral piece of music - you should seriously check it out.

This girl can sing.  She's like Mariah Carey...only younger and SLIGHTLY less hoochy.

Another instrumental - SUCH a gem.

I kept this just for the randomness of it.  lol

Rend Collective is a new favorite group of mine.  They have such amazing worship music, and a lot of it incorporates instruments you wouldn't usually hear in a church service...more like on the hills of Ireland or the moors of Scotland.

Classic beauty :)

Acapella punk rock - because why not?

What can I say?  I'm a 90's girl!

Yes she did!

Honestly, not quite sure how this ended up in my music library, but I don't hate it :)

This IS my year!!!!

James Darren - he will forever be "Moondoggy" to me!

Such a great song - this guy is super talented.

Well, that about sums it up.  Thanks for sticking around!  Which of the above songs do you love (or hate)?  Do you have a random playlist to share?

The Big Apple

Well, for the second time in my life, I visited the Big Apple - New York City.  And I have to say, this experience was definitely better than my first time when I was in high school.

First, let's go over the cruddy parts of the trip, and then I'll review the best parts!  Probably the cruddiest part of the trip was my flight out there - it was with American Airlines, and after arriving at the airport a whopping 4 hours before my flight, a huge storm apparently struck a bunch of planes with lightning, and all the flight schedules got thrown off.

So my 7:50 pm flight didn't end up taking off until 9:30 pm.  That was awful.

The second cruddiest part of the trip was the musical we saw on Friday night - Cats.  It was a definite let-down.  Did you know it's JUST songs & dancing?  There's no actual dialogue or distinguishable plot.

The costumes were pretty cool, though.

ANYWAY, on to the best parts of the trip!  My flight back to Orlando, I flew with Delta AND I got to volunteer to sit on the Emergency Exit row next to the window.  It was awesome!  Just look at all the foot room I had:

Aren't my shoes so attractive?  And I may or may not have drank (have drunk?) 2 mini-bottles of Bailey's Irish Cream with Ginger Ale on the plane.  So I was pretty happy when I got home.  haha

Second awesome thing - I saw a celebrity in New York in front of the Neil Simon theater!  I was just standing in line waiting to watch Cats, and I saw this woman walk by:

She obviously didn't look this celebrity-perfect when I saw her, but she looked pretty good!  Ten bonus points for you if you know what show she's from!  *Hint* It's on Netflix, and it has a woman's name in the title of the show.  It took me about 30 minutes to remember where I had seen her before, but I finally did.

And even though Cats wasn't the greatest, I still had fun sitting in between these two ladies:

On the left is Christina and on the right is Charesse.  They are two of my co-workers.  I had a blast getting to know them better during my time in New York.

Also, the few hours I had before I had to be at the airport on Saturday to fly home, I got to go hang out in Central park, because the hotel I stayed in - the Courtyard Marriott at Central Park, as pictured below - was only 6 blocks from Central Park!

Enjoy the pictures :)

The lobby of the hotel - isn't it swag-ilicious?

I totally wish I had taken this picture, but isn't it beautiful?!

I totally walked down this sidewalk, and I immediately recognized it from movies like "Maid in Manhattan" and that one movie with Ryan Reynolds where he tells his daughter how he met her mother.

I definitely stopped and watched some people playing volleyball.  It was so nice :)

Here I am, just chillin'. 

Anyway, so that's a little bit about my trip to NYC.  Have you ever been to New York?  What did you like about it?  What did you hate?  Would you go back again?  Let me know in the comments!

Summing Up "Twice Upon a Time" (Bk 2) & "Ever After" (Bk 3)

Why I Chose This Book: Because the first one was so good (despite the occasional awkward sentence structure and grammar fails) that I wanted to check out the sequel!

Book Rating (1-5 Stars): I give it 4 stars. I believe this may have been self-published, so if it was ever picked up by a publisher and cleaned up a little bit, it would be 5 stars for sure!

Setting of the Book: Athelia & Earth... Mostly Athelia though.

About the Author: Aya Ling is a mystery wrapped in an enigma sprinkled with a little bit of unknown.

Plot of the book in one sentence: Kat gets transported back to Athelia after the wedding with her memory gone - can the Prince win her heart again?

If I Could Rename the Book: My creative juices are too dry at this moment.

Genre: YA

Point of View: First person - told from Kat’s POV

Favorite Character: Still the Prince

Least Favorite Character: Still Bianca... Ugh

Other (Main Characters):

Kat - 22 year old who is transported back to Athelia with her memories of the first time she was there having been erased

Prince Edward - just married "Katriona," the woman whose body Kat was inhabiting in the first book. Has to win her heart again when she's once again transported to Athelia & doesn't remember him.

Elle - the Cinderella character from book 1 who's really good friends with Kat and who wants to marry Henry

Henry - Edward's cousin who is also studying to be a doctor

Bianca - Katriona's evil sister who wants nothing more than to see Kat destroyed

Katriona - Kat's twin whose body Kat inhabits in the first book. However (plot twist), Kat doesn't take over her body in the second book, she merely arrives in Athelia and Katriona ends up in another country wearing a wedding dress and a wedding ring with no memory.

If the Book was made into a movie, who would play the main characters?

Been there, done that

Favorite Scene of the Book: when Kat regains her memory (spoiler alert)

Least Favorite Scene of the Book: when Katriona comes back and confronts Kat

Did I like the Ending? No, because once again, Kat has to leave Athelia. Ugh.

Which of my friends could I see loving this book? Hillary Duff

Which of my friends could I see hating this book? Bill Nye

This book left me feeling: Frustrated

How Long Did It Take Me to Read It: 3 hours?

Why I Chose This Book: I had to know how it ends!

Book Rating (1-5 Stars): Still 4, because of the grammar and sentence structure.

Setting of the Book: Athelia & Earth (once again)

About the Author: Idk

Plot of the book in one sentence: Kat returns to Athelia a third time, but because Edward is officially married to Katriona who doesn't want a divorce, things get in the way of them being together.

If I Could Rename the Book: Third Time's a Charm - Hopefully, Because this is Starting to Get Old

Genre: YA

Point of View: First person - it actually goes back and forth between Edward & Kat

Favorite Character: Amelie

Least Favorite Character: Bianca... And Liam

Other (Main Characters):

Same as the second book, with some additions- 

Bertram - Edward's bodyguard who has a thing for Amelie

Amelie - Kat's maid

Liam - grew up with Edward & wants to overthrow the peerage system

If the Book was made into a movie, who would play the main characters?

You already know.

Favorite Scene of the Book: Edward when he appears in court *sigh*

Least Favorite Scene of the Book: when Kat gets thrown in jail

Favorite​ quote of the book: "The End." Lol

Did I like the Ending? Yes, I was satisfied.

Which of my friends could I see loving this book? Christy Carlson Romano

Which of my friends could I see hating this book? Wolverine

This book left me feeling: Finished!!!!

How Long Did It Take Me to Read It: ehhh, idk.

Vegas, Baby!

Hey, y'all!

So at the end of June, I went to Vegas with my boss and her mother to attend HD Vest's annual financial conference.  I wrote a blog post about it for work - you can read it here: https://lyncotax.wordpress.com/2017/07/24/what-happens-in-vegas/

And yes, I just linked to my work blog.  #SEO #Marketing #Followtheclicks

This was my first time in Vegas, and I had a BLAST!  (Although I did miss my hubby like cray and sometimes I wished I had more than $10 to blow on video poker, but c'est la vie.)

For the first two days, we stayed on the strip at a hotel named Harrah's - the conference we attended was a short walk away at the Wynn/Encore (pictured above).  I did a little shopping when I first got there and bought this really cute outfit for .... way more money than I'm used to spending.  And then, of course, when I got home, I accidentally washed and dried the pants that were hand wash only, and they shrank about 2 sizes and 3 inches in length  :'(

But that's okay, because life happens.

Aaaaaand, did I mention we got to see Sugar Ray Leonard speak?!  That was a pretty cool day for me.

After the first two days, we moved to Sam's Town, which is a little bit off the beaten path as far as Vegas is concerned, but I absolutely LOVED the whole hotel!

I went and saw a movie by myself FOR THE FIRST TIME!  I'll give you two guesses as to what movie it was - either "47 Meters Down" with Mandy Moore or "Despicable Me 3" with the minions.  Which do you think it was?  Because honestly, until I walked up to the ticket booth, I was still going back and forth.

Other fun things I did whilst in Vegas - gambled $10 (I lost it all...oh well), went to Fremont Street (it was during the day, so I wasn't that traumatized), and ate some kick-butt buffet dinners (I may or may not have gained a good 5 lbs on the trip).  Oh, and I got to take a picture with a million bucks.  No big deal.

Anyway, so that's pretty much it.  What do you think?  Have you been to Vegas?  What was your favorite thing you did while you were there?

Aforementioned Changes in My Life

Hello again,

In my last post, I mentioned a new part-time job.  Even though, earlier in my post, I had just written that I was still in the same job I've been in for the last 3 1/2 years.  Confused yet?

Let's travel back about 3 1/2 weeks...  *cue the flashback music*

My husband and I have been planning to pay off our debt and buy a house ever since October of 2016, but it's been slow-going.  And whenever I would think about how much a mortgage payment would be and how permanent signing a mortgage is, I would break out in a sweat.  It just didn't feel right to me, and I was dreading it.

One afternoon, Tyler showed me a You Tube (YouTube?) video of a school bus that had been converted into a camper.  At first, I was like, "That's cool...moving on...."  But then I really started to think about it.  One of my best friends lives in a camper with her husband and two children.  It's sooooo much less expensive than a house.  AND it's a project for my husband and me to work on together.  So why not pursue it?  Then, we could travel until we're ready to start having kids - or even after we start having kids.  Or maybe even travel and never have kids - who knows?

All I know is the more I've thought about it and the more we've talked about it, the more sense it makes for us right now.  So that's big change number 1.

Obviously, if my husband and I want to start traveling more, we can't have full-time jobs holding us down, but we need to make enough money to continue paying back my student loans and finance a bus-to-camper conversion and travel expenses for our future life.  Which means eventually, we'll need to get online/virtual jobs.  I wasn't planning on approaching this step until we actually moved in to the camper, but my chance came a little sooner than that.

About two weeks ago, I just put some feelers out there to a financial advisor who I know already.  She has a completely virtual team, and she was looking for additional help.  After I talked to her, it wasn't long before she offered me the job (part-time to start), and I began working for her last week.  In addition to my full-time job.  So you can say it's been a little crazy.  (Big change number 2)

Also, up until a few weeks ago, I was the choir director at my church.  But due to some changes happening recently, there is no longer a choir - hence, no need for me to be a choir director anymore.  Which actually works better for me, because it gives me more time to adjust to these life changes.

LOTS OF CHANGES, Y'ALL!  Oh, and I'm pregnant.












...Just kidding!!!  But that would be pretty crazy on top of everything else, right?  Anyway, thanks for reading this far and loving me (for those of you who do) or tolerating me (for all the rest of you).  Maybe soon I'll write about my recent trip to Vegas and post some pictures.  Yes?  No?

July New Year's Resolutions Recap

Well, hello there! It's been awhile, hasn't it? I have been going through a lot of changes in my life lately - specifically in the last 3 weeks. So obviously, I didn't post a May or June recap about my progress towards my New Year's Resolutions, and that's because in May and June, there weren't a lot of updates to address. I fell off the weight loss bandwagon, I stopped reading and blogging about it (obviously), and I've been working the same job as I have been for the last 3 1/2 years. Boring, right?

Except let me just get real for a second.  Because I just admitted I wasn't moving forward to any of my goals during the months of May and June.  Which means I was either a) stagnating in my current position or b) digressing (moving away from my goals).  And if I'm being honest, I'm gonna have to go with option number 2.  I hardcore got off the healthy eating/exercise train and gained about 7 lbs.  I started coming home and laying in bed watching Netflix by myself, because it's so much easier than trying to be productive in my life and my marriage.  I started falling back into the old habits that defined me around last October when I realized I needed to begin making changes in my life.

Why is it so easy to go back to the "bad places" in your life when you start to progress toward the "good places"?

And because I was digressing, I began to get depressed.  Something had to change.  I'm going to be 30 this year, and I can't keep "waiting around" for my life to change in the ways I want it to - I need to start acting now.

So my goals are changing from what they were in December.  Out with the old, in with the new.

1) Lose another 20 lbs by my birthday.
2) Finish paying off all debt (besides my student loans) by the end of this year.
3) Become more efficient at my new part-time job (more about that in an upcoming post).
4) Become more spiritually mature in my marriage (this is a very vague goal right now, because I'm not quite sure what this is going to look like, but I'll keep you posted).

So there are my new goals.  I know, I know, I didn't mention anything about being a faithful blogger or writer, but right now, those things are on the back burner.  I might dabble here and there (for fun), but I have so many other more important things to focus on.

Forward & progressing,

Yours Truly

Summing Up "The Elite" (Bk 2) & "The One" (Bk 3)

Why I Chose This Book:  I had already devoured the first book in less time than I care to admit, and I languished for a few days, because I couldn't find the last two books in the series to read for free, so I bought the paper copies (they were actually less expensive than the Kindle versions - can you believe it?!)

Book Rating (1-5 Stars):  Once again, these two books did not disappoint!  5 stars!

Setting of the Book: America & Canada in the future - called Illea, and split into 35 provinces, instead of 50 states...and however many Canadian provinces there used to be (Also, it has royalty, not a president, and people are separated into "castes" which is basically like your career and income and life is pre-determined by how well you marry and how much your family has always made.)

About the Author: Her name is Kiera Cass, and, as we already established, she has a B.S. in History and hates salads.  Just in case you were wondering.

Plot of the book in one sentence:  America Singer remains in the competition along with 5 other girls to compete to become the next Queen (they will be chosen by the prince), but (plot twist) the boy she's been in love with for the last two years is assigned to be her personal bodyguard while she's in the palace.  Also, there are Northern & Southern rebels who regularly invade the castle, putting everyone's lives at risk.  No biggie.

Genre: YA Fiction

Point of View: Exclusively told from America's POV - first person.  I like it.  Although there are novellas written from the queen's perspective, the guard's perspective, and the prince's perspective (they are all a part of the extra book "Happily Ever After").

Favorite Character: Okay, there was a girl that was pretty horrible to everyone in the first two books, but by the end of the third book, she has a change of heart and becomes a pretty good friend to America (spoiler alert!)

Least Favorite Character: The king.  For sure.

Other (Main Characters): the prince, America's boo-thang from her past, the King, the Queen, the other girls (there's one other contestant who America has become friends with)

If the Book was made into a movie, who would play the main characters?
America would be played by Annelise van der Pol (Raven's sidekick from "That's So Raven")
Maxon (the prince) would be played by Chace Crawford (Nate from "Gossip Girl")
Aspen (the guard) would be played by Liam Hemsworth (because eye candy)
The King would be played by Josh Brolin (he could definitely pull it off)
The Queen would be played by Bridget Moynahan (from "Blue Bloods")
There are also 3 maids that tend to America during all three books, not to mention at least 6 or 7 girls repeatedly mentioned as contestants, but I'm not about to "cast" all of them.  Get it...cast...caste...?  Ehhh?  Ok, nevermind.

Favorite Scene of the Book: The last attack at the end of the third book - it was a nail-biter.  And honestly, I did not see it coming, and THREE of the main characters die, can you believe it?!

Least Favorite Scene of the Book: When America's friend is caught in a compromising position with one of the guards (who she is in love with) and, as a result, is publicly caned.  It tore up my heart.

Did I like the Ending? Yes, although some of the characters that died during the last attack...not cool.

Which of my friends could I see loving this book? I've already let my sister borrow the entire series, and, just as I predicted, she's already read them ALL.  lol

Which of my friends could I see hating this book? Chuck Norris

This book left me feeling: Content :)

How Long Did It Take Me to Read It: The second book only took me 3 1/2 hours on a Sunday afternoon.  The third book took about 4 hours.