This check-in is for August 31st – September 6th. What an exhausting long weekend! In 3 days, I managed to bring my step count up to what I needed for the whole week.
I got back home from New Orleans last night. Have you ever needed to recover from a vacation?
That’s how I feel right now, and that’s why there was no Monday’s Minutes post yesterday. However, I didn’t want to leave you hanging until I get back into the swing of “normal” life again, so below is what you’ve got to look forward to throughout this month.
#FitReaders Check-Ins will continue as usual starting today.
Uprooted review – I finished Uprooted by Naomi Novik last week before I left for New Orleans.
Thursday’s Things #9
The Vampire tour of New Orleans – As I mentioned in my Packing for New Orleans post, the Boyfriend and I came up with our own tour of New Orleans based on Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. While we didn’t get to see every place, we saw enough for me to write a whole post about it.
My long weekend in the French Quarter – I’ll share the food we ate, the stuff we bought, and the non-vampire related places we visited or came across in our wanderings. It may end up being a two-parter, and it will definitely contain tips that will save you a lot of stress and money.
The Never-Ending Anne Rice Reading Challenge
Tuesday’s Tunes, Wednesday’s Words, Friday’s Fairy Tales – I’ve got a ton of great ideas so I’ll get these features written and posted throughout the rest of the month.
RIP X – Vampires, Ravens, and Chthulu, oh my! I’ll be posting my RIP X related reviews.
Harry Potter Discussion and Link Up – I’ll be posting the discussion post for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on the 30th. You could be featured, so be sure to get your HP related posts linked up before then!
As promised, here are the books that the Boyfriend and I are taking with us to New Orleans to celebrate our 2nd anniversary. I don’t know how many of these we’ll get through since we’ll be busy eating all.the.food. and seeing all.the.things, but the 1st two are audiobooks to try out on the drive there and back.
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams – This is a full-cast recording that I found at the library when I did a catalog search for books set in New Orleans.
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole – This is an audiobook I found under the same search terms.
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice – I know it’s cliché, but it’s been well over a decade since I read The Vampire Chronicles, and I’ve wanted to re-read them for awhile now. The Boyfriend just finished this one, and he demanded that I not start it until we’re in New Orleans. He’s now reading The Vampire Lestat. Yep, we’re both big into vampires, as long as they don’t sparkle.
“Drabblecast”, “Hypnobobs”, and “Pseudopod” podcasts – In the spirit of RIP X, the Boyfriend and I will listen to these gothic, horror, and weird short story podcasts if the audiobooks don’t work out. Isn’t it awesome that I’ve found someone who loves these kinds of stories as much as I do? I’m one lucky gal. I might write a sort of review of them at some point or give a Top Ten list of the best short stories.
We are also taking along my copy of The Vampire Companion by Katherine Ramsland, which covers The Vampire Chronicles up to Memnoch the Devil. All of the currently offered vampire tours in New Orleans seem a bit hoaky, so the Boyfriend and I have decided to make our own. We’ll be combining our crappy photography skills so hopefully I’ll having something to show you when we get back.
Andiand Heather, of the Estella Society, are taking over as hosts for RIP X, and this is the 1st year that I’m participating!
It officially started yesterday, September 1st, but things have been so crazy busy since the Fall semester started that I feel like I’m I always running just a little bit behind and forgetting to do things. The challenge is for two months (ending on Halloween), and this is the time of year when I love to read Horror and Gothic literature, and there is a reading “Peril” for everyone. Perhaps it will help me feel a bit more grounded and get me into the spirit of Autumn.
I will be doing Peril the First: Read four books, any length, which fit the definition of RIP literature.
I don’t know what other books I’ll be reading, but the 1st one will be Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. I’ve been itching to re-read the series for years, and now I’m finally going to do it. I also want to read some Classic Horror like Edgar Allen Poe or H.P. Lovecraft, but I’m not going to lock myself down to anything specific right now.
I may also participate in the group read of The Quick by Lauren Owen, but I haven’t decided yet since it overlaps with my read-along of The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.
Are you participating in RIP X? Are you reading any Horror or Gothic titles that you think I should add to my TBR? Let me know in the comments!
This check-in is for August 24th – 30th. What an exhausting week! I thought the 1st week of school was supposed to be easy to give everyone the chance to get back into the swing of things?! I think I’m going to scratch the 10-Week Mindful Diet Plan for Healthy Eating for now, especially since I’m about to go to New Orleans.
Now that I’m back in school, I’m moving around a lot more. Monday and Tuesday wiped me out to the point that I didn’t even have the energy to get up in time to do yoga on Wednesday. The rest of the week just added to the exhaustion, so I slept and binge-watched the latest episodes of “Once Upon a Time” on Netflix.
I didn’t meet my step goal (average 8K steps per day), but I did really well Monday through Thursday, and I surpassed my Active Minutes goal. I’m hoping all the walking around New Orleans will allow me to knock my step goal out of the park.
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