Best of 2022

Courtesy of Metro

I realize I didn't blog here a lot this year, and when I did, it was about pop culture. It's been that kind of year, I suppose...

New (to me) TV shows that I enjoyed in 2022 (in no particular order):

Riverdale: Seasons 1-3, Seasons 4-6

I can't wait for season seven!

Heartstopper: I love the graphic novels and this series brings them to life in the most touching and beautiful ways. The two leads are adorable!

Courtesy of IMDb

How I Met Your Father: I was skeptical at first, but this is a fun series and I'm excited for it to return in late January. There are even some cameos from HIMYM.

Maggie: Such a sweet sitcom and I'm sad that it wasn't picked up for a second season. I hope to see Rebecca Rittenhouse in something else soon. 

The Time Traveler's Wife: This series was so much better than the movie. It gave new life to the book and went even beyond that. Three words: Naked Theo James. :)

The Sex Lives of College Girls: What comes between Never Have I Ever and Sex and the City. This is such a fun series and I'm glad it will be getting a third season. 

Courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes

Virgin River: If Schitt's Creek was my sanity saver in 2020 and Ted Lasso was my sanity saver in 2021, then Virgin River takes the title for 2022. I love everything about this show and am eagerly awaiting season five. It's such a comfort show, even with the elements of danger.

I Love That for You: Quirky comedy starring Molly Shannon and Vanessa Bayer. I hope there will be another season. It's really well written!

Reboot: I wasn't sure I was going to like this at first, but then I really got into it and it had more layers than I was even expecting. 

Courtesy of TV Insider

The White Lotus: I still can't stop thinking about this show!

Runners up:

The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem: It's an interesting show but some parts are really gross and unnecessary. It's also hard to like most of the characters.

The Summer I Turned Pretty: This is more for the Gen Z crowd and it's hard to feel sorry for someone who has multiple guys interested in her.

Courtesy of IMDb

Partner Track: I liked it overall, but it was a slow build and Ingrid could be really frustrating. I also didn't understand all the law terminology.

Queer as Folk: I had hopes this would be better than it was, but I felt like I was jumping into the middle of something that had no context and most of the characters got in their own way. 

The Kids in the Hall (reboot): It was nice to see the guys again after all this time, but a lot of the humor was tone-deaf. We did get some good inside jokes out of it though.

Courtesy of IMDb

The vote is still out on Wednesday, as I am still in the middle of it, but I wouldn't say it's a favorite even though it's really well done. It's clever and Jenna Ortega is great in the titular role.

Favorite movies from 2022 (links are to trailers):

Turning Red: One of the few recent Pixar films that had an emotional impact for me.

Better Nate Than Ever: Really cute. Follows the book for the most part, with a few changes. Definitely got me teary-eyed.

Where the Crawdads Sing: First (and only) movie I saw in the theater since the pandemic started. Followed the book really well with great acting throughout.

I Want You Back: Such a cute and fun rom-com! And there's a nod to Little Shop of Horrors.

Matilda: One of the better movie musicals I've seen lately. 

Rosaline: Another cute rom-com set in Shakespearian times. Somewhat made up for not getting to the Ren Faire this year...

Moonshot: I don't think it's available on HBO anymore, so I'm glad I caught it when I did, as it was really good. It helps that Cole Sprouse was one of the leads...

Side note: I don't see a lot of movies so the ones that are currently popular have not made this list as a result of just not seeing them yet.

Books: 

See my top five picks at Chick Lit Central, as well! I read so many amazing books this year (go to my Goodreads page and see all the five-star books) and am sad to have to narrow it down at all. Links are to reviews.

11/22/63 by Stephen King

For the Love of Friends by Sara Goodman Confino

The Friendship Breakup by Annie Cathryn

Playing With Myself by Randy Rainbow

The Maid by Nita Prose

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera

The Book Woman's Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson

Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun

Woman on Fire by Lisa Barr

Theater:

It was so nice to go see live theater again this year. It started out in February with a performance of A.D. 16 at a local professional theater. Since it was written by Cinco Paul (Schmigadoon), my oldest and I were excited to see it. While it was a fun show with good music, my son liked it more than I did. I think I was expecting it to be as funny as Schmigadoon...

In March, I took my oldest to see Rent at the National Theater. We had seen filmed productions of it, but it was so much fun to see it live with him. Most of the cast did a great job, but Roger's voice seemed weak. 

In April, we finally got to see Mean Girls. Here are my thoughts on that performance.

In July, my oldest and I saw The Band's Visit at Kennedy Center. I was excited about it because one of the actors from Shtisel played the lead male character. When we arrived, I was even more excited to find out that Janet Dacal from the Original Broadway Cast of In the Heights was playing the lead female character. The show was decent with some good music, but it was hard to follow what was going on sometimes.

Right before my birthday, we got to see Six. That was amazing!!! Here are my thoughts.

A few days later, my husband and I saw a Second City show at Kennedy Center for my birthday. It was really funny and totally on point with all the commentary about politics and today's society. 

We're supposed to see Beauty and the Beast this week, but it was cancelled twice before when we tried to see it this month, so I am keeping my fingers crossed...

I recently got into the music from Carrie: The Musical, thanks to Riverdale. I'd love to see a performance of this someday!

Famous people I want to meet:

Cole Sprouse. That's all. (Not me being a cougar or anything...)

Courtesy of Puzzle Factory

Highlights from 2022:

* My nephew's arrival in August. He's the cutest little guy and I love seeing pictures of him and doing video chats. I can't wait until the next time I get to hold him again. This is the first nephew on my side of the family and I adore him so much!

* Seeing Rocky Horror with my oldest a couple times. I still remember most of the lines and it was so much fun to shout them at the screen. My oldest thought they were really funny too. Our shared favorite is "I hate celery!" I didn't realize how much I missed the experience of Rocky Horror until I did it again. And it's good to know that most of the lines are universal and don't just apply to one theater in the Chicago suburbs. :) 

* Running blog tours for my job. It's one of my favorite things to do for the company I work with and I get good turnouts each time.

* My oldest getting his license. While I'm going to get a lot more gray hairs from this, I appreciate that I don't have to do as much driving. 

* My younger two kids graduating from elementary and middle school. 

* Seeing my oldest in his school play and musical and seeing my youngest in her camp musicals.

* Celebrating 20 years of being with my husband altogether. (Also 18 years of marriage.)

* Seeing "Will" again on our way to Chicago. 

* Reuniting with some friends while we were in Chicago. 

* Going to Pride Fest. It's been so long since I had last done anything fun to celebrate LGBTQ+ pride.

* Getting to see Liza Wiemer again. She's a fantastic author and if you haven't read The Assignment yet, you definitely should! Along with Liza, I also got to see my friend Kelly again. Liza is the one who introduced us.

* Getting to meet up with some other friends I hadn't seen in person since before the pandemic. 

* Meeting Camille Di Maio in person, as she's an author whose historical fiction novels I really like. She is absolutely lovely in person as she is online!

* Going to Philadelphia over President's weekend. We visited a really interesting museum called Wonderspaces and also got to explore the Franklin Institute. 

* The election having better results than I was expecting. While we avoided a red wave, there were still some disappointments, but we did pretty well as a country, overall. 

On a sad note, this year brought an unexpected loss to our family. In early August, my father-in-law passed away from a sudden heart attack. I am thankful that we saw him over Memorial Day weekend, but I didn't expect that to be the last time we'd ever see him again and forgot to take pictures with him. I'm still processing his passing and I know it has had an impact on my husband. He got to say goodbye to his father in person, even though it was difficult to see him that way. I feel awful for his half-sisters and stepmother, but the upside is that my husband has reconnected with them as a result. 

Anyway, I hope 2023 only brings good things to everyone. 

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Another teenager in the house!

Today is my younger son's 13th birthday. In honor of that, I am doing what I did for my older son and sharing my top ten list from the speech I made at his Bar Mitzvah. 

Given that we're still in a pandemic, it was an unconventional Bar Mitzvah, but it still worked because it was just right for him. He's more of an introvert and wouldn't have felt comfortable doing everything in front of tons of people at shul. So we have the pandemic to thank for this simpler version of a Bar Mitzvah that was still special to him, to us, and to our family and friends. We just had a small Zoom gathering on the Sunday of what would have been his Bar Mitzvah weekend anyway. We also had his favorite food items throughout the weekend.

Without any further ado...my top 10 list about my 13 year-old:

1. He is a very musical child, but in a different way than his brother. He can sit down at the piano and teach himself how to play complicated pieces that I couldn’t even do with actual lessons when I was his age. He loves to play piano and usually it’s classical or ragtime. However, he will “Rick roll” us sometimes. He also sings really well and was in honors chorus in fifth grade. He even composes music on his computer and it’s really impressive!

2. He is affectionate and loves giving hugs and kisses. Usually kids tend to avoid their parents at this age, but he still wants to cuddle with us. 

3. He is a great sibling. Even though he’s in the middle, he finds ways to bond with both his older brother and younger sister. I still remember a time his brother was sad about something and all he had to say was one word to cheer him up. And even though he and his sister tend to fight a lot, I catch them laughing and playing together too. He is even teaching her some new piano skills. 

4. He loves to read. I know I said this about his brother too, but it’s true. I love being able to find him books that he will enjoy, as he is a pickier reader than most. 

5. He’s really funny. Even though he’s not into theater, he was participating in improv games with his siblings and nailing the humor each time. He also cracks me up in the Passover plays he puts on with his siblings. He loves telling jokes and coming up with puns too. We even have some of our own inside jokes. 

6. He’s very smart and does well in school. He’s received star student awards and has consistently been getting As in his classes. 

7. He loves animals. The happiest I’ve ever seen him is when he is playing with dogs or petting a cat. 

8. He’s really good with technology. He also has a curious mind and likes seeing how things work. He has strong video editing skills and has put together some cool videos in the past. 

9. He’s a great conversationalist. As I mentioned earlier, he always has so many questions and I enjoy hearing his thoughts about the way things are in the world.

10. He marches to the beat of his own drum. He’s an individual and doesn’t care what people think of him. He won’t bend to peer pressure either. I mean, he won’t even watch The Princess Bride when I’ve been inviting him to do so all the time. (Is he really my son?) And it’s ironic that his Hebrew birthday is right around Purim because he refuses to wear a costume. Thankfully, photoshop has come to the rescue for our family video this year.

When he was two years old, he would tell everyone “I’m not a baby, I’m a big boy.” His teacher at the time told me how someone said "baby," and he somehow tuned into that word and walked over to tell that person that he’s a big boy. He’s always asserted himself since then and found a way to stand out, even with being the middle child. 

It’s nice to be this confident, even at his current age. 

Happy 13th birthday to my sweet little boy! 

Annual birthday book giveaway!

I love having birthdays, but I also enjoy giving other people gifts. I have a bunch of books to give away to TWO lucky readers! So, enter via the Rafflecopter below and two of you will get a box of random books. US only please, as I have to cover the shipping costs. (Sorry!)


a Rafflecopter giveaway


If the Rafflecopter doesn't work on the blog, go here.

Giveaway ends July 24th at midnight EST.

Annual birthday book giveaway

I love having birthdays, but I also enjoy giving other people gifts. I have a bunch of books to give away to one lucky reader! So, enter via the Rafflecopter below and one of you will get a box of random books. US only please, as I have to cover the shipping costs. (Sorry!)


a Rafflecopter giveaway



Giveaway ends July 25th at midnight EST.

It's my birthday...and you get a present!

I love having birthdays, but I also enjoy giving other people gifts. (That, and my husband thinks I need to clean out my book collection. The horror!) So, enter via the Rafflecopter below and one of you will get a box of random books. US only please, as I have to cover the shipping costs. Sorry!


a Rafflecopter giveaway



Giveaway ends July 25th at midnight EST.

Birthday Book Giveaway

Keeping it simple here...because today is my birthday, I want to give away some books. The gift of reading (and the amazing books I've had the opportunity to read) has been a treasure to me over the past 40 years (maybe less since I didn't start reading until I was three or four years old).

Unlike my book blog, I'm limiting this to US/Canada.

Good luck!

These are NOT the books I'm giving away. That part is a surprise!

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway.  If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on this blog, enter the giveaway here. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway


US/Canada only. Giveaway ends July 24th at midnight EST.

Looking back on a decade....

It's been 10 years since this happened... (Side note: I loved the skirt I was wearing in the first picture and the dress I wore at my party.)



Now that I'm less than a month away from my 40th birthday, I want to reflect upon my thirties. I decided to make a list of thirty great things that happened during these past 10 years. Some are personal and some are from pop culture. And since I obviously can't cram 10 years into one list, so I'm sharing as much as I can think of from the top of my head (in no particular order).

1. My younger son being born
2. My daughter being born
3. Moving to Maryland
4. Two of my kids getting cochlear implants
5. Starting this blog
6. Starting my book blog and watching it grow
7. Book Expo America in 2014 and 2015
8. Seeing In the Heights and meeting some of the Original Broadway Cast afterwards
9. My "reunion" with "Will" after six years apart (separated by the length of our country)...the culmination of it being at Marie's Crisis Cafe
10. Visits from my BFF
11. My job (which I've been at for six-and-a-half years)
12. Making some great new friends (both online and in person...sometimes a mix of the two)
13. Going to Disney World for the first time in about 25 years
14. Going on a cruise (and yes, I still need to write about it)
15. My current obsession with Hamilton (if you are obsessed too, go here)
16. The Mindy Project
17. Orphan Black
18. Orange is the New Black
19. Parenthood
20. Being acknowledged in several books
21. Unique and Value Village (pretty much the same store though)
22. Reaching my 10 year wedding anniversary...and beyond
23. Vanilla Almond Special K cereal (a staple of this past decade for me)
24. My job in NJ (it was flexible, allowed me to get back into the working world after being out of a job for a while, and I got along well with my boss)
25. Seeing Newsies in DC
26. Jamie Cullum
27. The Goldbergs
28. Trying my hand at fiction writing again
29. My local book club
30. Speaking of books...the plethora of amazing books I've obtained and read either because of my blog or because of book club. (I can also attribute some to the library used book store.)

I'm excited for what my forties have in store and hope to make another list like this in 10 years, with room for 10 more items!