Hi there

Sitting in my hotel room, with some Lifetime holiday movie on tv behind me, and all the lights on because hotel rooms can be so dreary.

I bought this book, Where the Crawdads Sing*, because the hardcover was cheaper than the kindle version, and I've been seeing everyone read it so I figured it must be good.

Oy, this was a hard book to get through. Even at the end, I wished it was about half as long. Honestly, if you can get it under $5, then it's worth it. It was very wordy, had a very lonely feel (which, I suppose, is a compliment to the writer, who can solicit such emotions), but overall dragged. In the first third of the book, I got tired of reading about grits. In the middle, I was actually engaged. The last third, I skimmed to get the overall gist. It killed a few hours of otherwise boring hotel time, so I suppose it served its purpose. Overall, I give this book a B-.

This week did not go as planned, which resulted in a LOT of adaptation. Long story short, the holidays are coming up and I am homesick and I am going to try to go home tomorrow afternoon.

Christmas will be very lean this year. I don't have the cash flow to be extravagant, and I don't have the time or energy to put into gifts. Years like this always end up the happiest, because I get to focus on the fun of being around family and friends instead of stressing over the gifts. I'm on PTO December 24th- Jan 1st. Nine days of relaxation, partying, a WEDDING (squeal and OH, I have to get my dress steamed *texts Ashley* and also I'll probably cry the whole time so I need to get tissues and waterproof mascara), and general merriment.

*Also, I grew up thinking that book titles should be underlined, but now apparently they should be italicized? Suzy, I depend on you to keep me current. Which is it?