New Year’s Day

I never sleep in after drinking a lot and yesterday was no exception. I woke up at 8:30am and after deciding I couldn’t go back to sleep, I finished the last 60 pages of The One and Only (so cheesy; not Giffin’s best) and then threw on my coat and went out to Absolute Bagel (best bagels ever, they’re all fresh out of the oven) to pick up bagels for Justin and I, along with some Vitamin Water (me) and Diet Coke (him). We spent the day, first, in pain, but after the Advil kicked in and the coffee was made, we were feeling 100% better. Still tired and a bit hungover, but ready for a full day of relaxing.

We went for a walk to grab coffee, more carbs, and lastly to pick up some bread and cheese for the grilled cheese and tomato soup I was planning on making.

Another one of Rachael Ray’s recipes, the tomato soup was tasty but the diced tomatoes that I used never really broke up so it was more like tomato sauce. I’m going to blend the leftovers so that it’s more like tomato soup. I like putting apple and jam on my grilled cheese (try it, it’s so good), but he took his straight up.

As far as the tomato soup recipe: sautee onions and garlic until soft, add tomato paste and stir for one minute; then add two 28oz cans of diced tomatoes, 4 cups of chicken broth, and 1 tsp sugar, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and let simmer for about 20 minutes and: soup. 

Carbs + Homemade Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese = Best Hangover Cure

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My 2015 Reading List

I managed to read 24 books in 2015. I’m currently reading Emily Giffin’s The One and Only and I’m going to try and finish it before January 1st, but for now my number is 24. I’d aimed to read 30 books this year so I missed by… let’s say 5. 

Which books did I love? The Happiness of Pursuit (Chris Guillebeau). Waking Up (Sam Harris). Big Magic (Elizabeth Gilbert). The Art of Asking (Amanda Palmer). Daring Greatly (Brene Brown). 

The only book on this list that could be described as bad would be, you guessed it, Grey. I had fun reading it but it was horribly cheesy and as poorly written as the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. 

What books do I plan to read in 2016? I’m going to finish The One and Only (if I don’t finish it before Friday), followed by possibly finishing A Town Called Alice (a book that my dad recommended that I had a really hard time getting in to).

In the spirit of de-cluttering (thanks, Marie Kondo), I didn’t ask for many books for the holidays this year. Besides The One and Only, I received Griftopia (Matt Taibbi), Revenge Wears Prada (Lauren Weisberger), and Columbine (Dave Cullen). 

My attempt to not gather and hoard books anymore I believe will be proven futile after walking through Strand Books tonight. I saw so many books that I wanted to buy and read. Books like St. Mark’s is Dead, One of Us, Just Kids, The Opposite of Loneliness, and 10:04. I also have a ton more nonfiction novels on my floating book case in my apartment.

So many choices. So many books. So little time. I’m setting a goal of reading 25 books in 2016. I should be able to easily.