Every year my goal is 30 books. This is the first year in ages that I haven’t read at least that many. I’m ending at 22 and my middle schooler is very disappointed in me. 🙂 He realized back in August that I wasn’t pacing for the year and was quite bothered that I didn’t care all that much!

It’s just been that kind of year. I had one book that took me AGES to get through… like almost 2 months. I should’ve given up on it. We had summer guests for over half the summer. I got a new job that leaves me with much less free time. Blah blah blah. It doesn’t matter. I read 22 books and I feel good about it! One thing I did read more of this year were good books. In 2021, I read a ton but had a hard time picking my top 6 for the year because there were plenty of meh reads. Today I will have a hard time picking my top 6. Here they are in no particular order!

1. People We Meet on Vacation: I don’t know where to start with this book. It was my first read of 2022 and I don’t remember a lot about it. What I do remember is that it was so good and the author mastered the tension of this story. I could not put it down. It had romance and humor and real human connection all wrapped up for a really good read. I can’t recommend this enough!
2. Ask Again, Yes!: This story had tragedy and love while tackling really hard topics with no easy answers. Mental health and addiction were the themes of this story and I felt drawn into the characters from the beginning.
3. The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell: What a book! We read this in my book club and everyone felt that it could’ve been an autobiography, it read so true. The story was amazing and I couldn’t put it down! Just read it!
4. The Invention of Wings: This historical fiction is set in the south and looks at history through the eyes of 3 women: a slave owner, her slave and the slave’s mother. It’s beautiful, intense, tender and heart-breaking. I loved this book and read it in a few days. I found the story pulled me in very quickly and didn’t let me go!
5. It Ends With Us: This BOOK! All I can say is… read it! I don’t really want to say too much that gives it away but it’s a powerful story about hard choices in relationships and what kind of story we are handing down to our children.
6. We Begin At The End: This book was part mystery, part love story, part tragedy all wrapped into a perfect book. The characters were so unique and compelling. I felt a little on edge through this story (the author meant for this!) but I liked how it all played out. It’s definitely a story worth reading!

Notable other read: Every Summer After… I read it in a day and goodness, it’s steamy! I loved it and have recommended it to many friends who have also loved it. If you need a good vacation read or an escape from whatever is ailing you, read this. You’ll feel better.

I kept it short and sweet this year but every one of these books is worth your time. You won’t be disappointed!

xo Bon

I am not very good at rest and moving slow. I am a list maker, a planner and a get ‘er doner. It feels unnatural to do life any other way and most of the time, I’m actually happiest when I’m productive. Do you relate? I have friends who do and some who don’t! However you’re built, there’s not a right or wrong way to do life! But for myself, I tend to be happiest on my feet and moving most of the time.

Strangely, I’ve been feeling a very strong pull these days to make rest a priority in my life. We’ve always planned ‘rest days’ as a family but I’ve often felt a lot of anxiety on those days as I tried to REST. My eyes would roam the room, seeing all the things that could be done. Even if I resisted the pull to do something, my mind would be running a hundred miles an hours with future tasks and plans. Resting has been a stressful endeavor for me!

After 6 years of being self-employed, running my little business ‘BonHome’, flipping houses, I decided to become an employee for a change. The real estate market has been a little topsy turvy this past year (I’m sure you’ve noticed!) and I wasn’t really feeling the fire doing generic remodels anymore. There was only so much room for creativity with my projects. After my last project, I told my husband it might be the last one. So I’ve been on a new adventure with a job that has set hours and an early start… 7:30am everyday! It’s definitely been an adjustment (not a morning person!!) but I like my work and after 6 weeks, I feel like I’ve found ways to fit in the things I had plenty of time for before… workouts, time with friends… it’s not enough time but it works for now. During this last month and a half, I’ve noticed that I’ve needed to be more conscious about taking time to rest. Not having an abundance of time to schedule how I choose has left me feeling like I need to budget my off-work hours more carefully.

As the holidays were sneaking up on us and we looked at the calendar, I started to feel panic at how full things were getting. We are notorious for filling our calendar TO THE BRIM in our everyday life and for the most part, not sorry about it. But this year, I knew I needed something different for the holidays. It may be the big life changes that have shaken up my routine or maybe just wisdom as I’m getting a little bit older but I’m listening. I’m taking time to sit on the couch when there’s plenty to do. I’m reading another chapter when I have a pile of mail to go through.  And the more I do it, the easier it’s getting. It’s almost like working out. At first, it’s really hard but as you get stronger, it starts to feel good and you even crave the movement. That’s how I’m starting to feel about rest. It feels good. I’m craving it.

For the first time in my adult life, my holidays are not jam packed and I am not exhausted 3 days before Christmas. I could almost cry at this realization. How sad that it’s taken me this long to even attempt to slow down during the holidays.  There will always be dishes, laundry, errands, mail to open, invitations, appointments… you know the drill. The list never ends. For whatever it’s worth, I hope you feel inspired to take a break.

I’ll leave you with this. It’s my wish for all of us.

I wish you quiet nights, warm drinks, soft blankets and good movies. I wish you laughter in the company of people you love and feel safe with. I wish you good food that you enjoy without a single thought about calories… eating for the joy of it! I wish you time to sit and take a moment to feel how you feel. I wish you really good sleep in comfy pajamas. I wish you good books and good music. And most of all… This Christmas I wish you the slowness of the holiday season. It does exist and it’s there for you to find!

xo Bon

In November of 2021, my son got Covid. It was back when everyone had to stay away from others for 10 days so we all stayed home. We canceled our trip to Florida. We canceled Thanksgiving. And then my husband also got Covid and it turned into 3 dreadful weeks of just being home. I’m sure many of you experienced this same story at some point… probably even the canceled trips or holiday plans.

I can tell you I didn’t have the same attitude I did when Covid entered our lives in 2020. I didn’t clean out the closets and start trying new recipes. I just went on Instagram. A lot. It was my window to the outside world and a way to connect with people while I was stuck at home. When everyone was recovered and the kids were back in school, I found myself checking Instagram so many times throughout the day and even picking up my phone for no reason whatsoever. Apparently I’d hit a new level of photo addiction and it didn’t feel good. I knew it was time to break the habit.

Little side note: I don’t do Snapchat or Facebook. Facebook got deleted years ago because of all the drama. The articles people post, the arguments people have… It ruined my day enough times that I just didn’t want to spend time there anymore. I post my blogs and sell things on marketplace and that’s about it.

Okay, back to breaking the social media habit. Deleting Instagram felt a little bit scary for me because I’ve relied on it to help prop up my social life through Covid and it had started to feel like an essential part of maintaining friendships and even, making them. If you know me, you’ll know friendship and community are really important to me. I invest a lot of time and heart into cultivating a sense of belonging. I was nervous that stepping back from social media would isolate me. The first few days were hard and I noticed myself picking up my phone with nowhere to go. Eventually, I stopped picking up my phone as often.

I didn’t delete Instagram with any expectations other than to stop being so glued to my phone but over the 30 days I was off of it, some really big things happened.

1. I began to be more present in my actual life. The more distance I put between myself and all online interactions, the more grounded I felt. It was even a physical feeling. I would think about Instagram and then realize I wasn’t going to check it and I could feel my thoughts settle back into my body and away from an “out there” digital space. My body started feeling present in the spaces I was physically in. It’s hard to explain but it felt good.
2. I took less photos. This might sound like a negative but it’s not. I still took photos but they were purely for my own enjoyment. Capturing the moment for our family instead of my 500 closest friends helped me just take the picture without trying to make sure it was great. And then we’d move on to the next moment. No food pictures, not a single photo where I was thinking about what I’d caption with it when I posted it. Just the memory and then back to living in the present moment.
3. My phone usage went down A LOT. With my phone spending more time on the counter, I used it about 30% less. That adds up to a lot more time living life. I read somewhere recently that people spend about half of their waking hours on their phone. That’s half their life. Half their LIFE! It’s something to think about.
4. This last one was a huge surprise. I felt less lonely. It’s ironic that staying off a media tool built to create connection actually lead to feelings of loneliness. I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about this very thing last week that talked about how women are “often online and increasingly lonely” and I related. And it’s not like I don’t see people or have friends. I work really hard to maintain my relationships. I think what happened was that I didn’t see all the fun things others were doing, the highlights of people’s lives and who was hanging out with who. I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything. It was the most unexpected part of my social media break.

Since that 30 day break, I’ve deleted half the accounts I followed. I’m going to delete more. I’m down to design/decor, a few celebrities I like and friends. I add and deleted the app about once a week because I don’t have the self control to just leave it alone when the app is on my phone. I still like to check in, post a photo and see what’s going on but that month break was such a reminder of how life used to always feel and I want more of it. I want to be engaged in my real life… the one that’s being lived away from a phone screen. I want to feel present and grounded. And I like feeling less lonely. Real friends will check in, regardless of your social media presence. I know people use Instagram for work and business so I know not everyone can just step away for huge periods of time. But take a break. You might be surprised by how good it feels!

xo Bon

It’s been a year since I started this blog. I haven’t written on a schedule but it’s been something fun to do when I feel like it! I hope you’ve enjoyed it! Just like last year, I’m sharing my top 6 books of the year. I read 31 books last year and listened to 2 audiobooks. I didn’t include the audiobooks in this list but Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey was excellent and he reads it so if you’re a fan, it’s a must listen!

1. The Four Winds: This book was amazing!! The story is set in the Great Depression during the dust bowl in Texas. The main character is a woman who endures incredible hardship and finds her way during a terrible time for so many. I cannot recommend this book enough.
2. Our Italian Summer: I read this book while on vacation in Hawaii. It was funny to be immersed in this fabulous adventure with all the sights, sounds and flavors of Italy and then put my book down and see the swaying palms and tropical everything of Hawaii. If you’ve ever wanted to visit Italy, this book will get you planning. The story centers around 3 generations of women who travel to Italy together. They all have their reasons for agreeing to the trip and in the end, they all get more out of it than they’d expected to. This book just made me happy!
3. The Rose Code: This book was excellent!! I love historical fiction and this one is set in WW2. It’s a story about code breakers, many of whom were women. The book had a good pace and held some mystery that I couldn’t quite figure out until the author spelled it out. My only criticism is that the author should’ve ended the book earlier than she did. Sometimes it’s better to let the reader imagine the ending, rather than tie up all the loose ends.
4. The Paper Palace: The author explores the tensions between a love from youth next to the love of a long marriage. It was well written and the story pulled me in quickly. This story had so much tension, an intense love story and honestly, some pretty awful childhood trauma so that’s a trigger warning for sure. The ending was perfectly executed.
5. The Last Thing He Told Me: The pace on this book was really good and the story was tightly wound. One of the reviews said it was heartbreaking and I kept waiting for it. The story itself kept me engaged but I kept waiting for the promised moment it would feel tragic. It’s the ending… the last sentence on the last page that broke my heart. It was a beautiful and well written story that I read in just a couple days. That’s always a good sign!
6. I’m torn… see below! 🙂

Ok first let’s talk about ‘Taste’ by Stanley Tucci. In my mind, he will forever be Julia Child’s husband in the movie Julie & Julia and also the endearing but also look down his nose assistant from The Devil Wears Prada. I started this book already admiring his work and the characters he’s played in so many good movies. His stories of a food-filled childhood, the family recipes he shares and the challenges and losses he’s experienced throughout his life made for a heart warming, thoughtful and delicious read. I really liked it. It made me feel good and it was a nice break from the stresses of my own life. Tucci also built a good case for giving a dirty martini another chance.

The Book of Two Ways was a deep, intense story of love and loss. The themes were complex and I felt that she went very in depth into a couple of them… almost too in depth and I understand why she did it but it did make it hard for me to keep going at times. That’s the only reason I didn’t make this my final pick. With that said, it was SO GOOD. Once I got through some of the technical jargon, the actual story was so incredibly good, the characters were filled with tension and the ending was exactly what it should be.

So maybe we call these two 5.5 & 6. They’re so different but I’m into them both for my last pick.

What are you reading right now? I’ve already read one good book that will probably be a top pick and I have a stack that I can’t wait to get to!

xo Bonnie