my 2017 in books!

School is closed today due to freezing temperatures in my area, so I thought I'd seize the opportunity to complete Jamie from The Perpetual Page-Turner's annual end of year reading survey. My reading life took a dive last year as I got shaken up in so many ways: instead of my usual 40-50 books, in 2017 I completed 25, not counting a few additional pregnancy nutrition books. 

After accepting my new position as an instructional coach last spring, I had two jobs until the school year was over, so when I wasn't actively teaching I was working on plans for the new school. This summer was travel-heavy with a big business trip for work and our trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This fall, I realized how much of an impact those Mondays and Fridays reading with my students had made on my TBR pile when I didn't have that time anymore. And in my first trimester of pregnancy, I was too tired and lazy to do anything after work but watch TV or play games on my iPad. One thing that did help me get my reading groove back a bit was joining the Creating & Co. Book Club on Facebook, and I hope to continue to 
make more time to read in 2018.

2017 Reading Stats:

Number Of Books Read: 25
Number of Re-Reads: 1 (A Wrinkle in Time)
Genre You Read The Most From: YA, with the most-read categories being paranormal/fantasy and contemporary

Best in Books:

Best Book You Read In 2017? 
Best YA: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (also the most amazing debut I read in 2017, and the book that made me cry this year - that list of names.)
Best Nonfiction: Helping Children Succeed by Paul Tough
I highly recommend both of these for every educator, especially those who work with teens.

Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t? 
The Girls by Emma Cline, which is kind of a fictionalized version of the Manson family forming - the main character, Evie, becomes infatuated with an older girl who draws her into a cult led by a charismatic man. I have a weird interest in cults, but in reading this book I realized that I'd rather read memoirs about cult survivors than a fictional account.



Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?  
Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen - and I don't want to spoil why it was so surprising for those who haven't read it yet, so I'll just say I thought I knew what genre I was reading until I realized I really didn't!

Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?
Probaby a tie between The Hate U Give and Becky Albertalli's Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda - I recommended both to all of my middle school teacher friends.

Best Series Ender read in 2017?
The Dire King by William Ritter - I loved the characters first introduced in Jackaby and didn't want to leave them, but the ending and epilogue of this book were perfect.

Favorite new author you discovered in 2017?
Emma Donoghue - after reading Room on my mom's recommendation ("book recommended by your mom" should be a category in every reading challenge, IMHO) I was excited to read her historical novel The Wonder, and definitely wasn't disappointed. The Wonder had a compelling main character who reminded me a little bit of Claire from Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series in her tenacity, and a few plot twists I definitely didn't see coming.

Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
For me, it was Jennifer Donnelly's Revolution (my review is here)- I started empathizing so much with the main character and got so interested in the secondary plot set during the French Revolution that I had to know what happened to both heroines. It was also the most beautifully written book I read this year.

Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2017 to finally read? 
Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote. The movie has been one of my favorites since college, but when I decided to be Holly Golightly for Halloween this year, I was like, okay, I have to read the original short story now. Turns out the original Holly is a much more terrible human being than the Audrey Hepburn version...

Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2017?
Shortest: Lumberjanes Volume 1 by Noelle Stevenson (graphic novel)
Longest: The Crimson Crown by Cinda Williams Chima

Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year
Elle and Sage's friendship in Geekerella - I saw a review that described Sage and her mom as Elle's "fairy godfriends" and don't we all need a few of those in our lives? I liked that Elle's realization that Sage had really become her best friend was almost as big of a deal as the romance storyline.

Best Book You Read In 2017 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure:
Daring Greatly by Brené Brown appeared in my mailbox at school - that's how my best friend recommends books, by thrusting them upon the intended reader. She thought it would be inspirational to me in starting my new job, and it certainly was - I basically highlighted something on every single page. If you need to be fired up about a creative endeavor or professional challenge, definitely recommend this one.

Other Books Completed in 2017:

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Blogging/Bookish Life

Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?
The Creating & Co. Book Club's RIP (Read in Peace) Readathon - the photo prompts were probably my favorite part because I got to pretend I was a bookstagrammer for a week.

Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year?
Finding time and passion for either - I love my new job and I'm so proud of my school, but work ate my life for most of this year. I took a hiatus from August-November and I feel like I've come back to blogging much happier and not feeling like I owe anyone anything or like I need to participate in a popularity contest.

Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?
Fashion: My December 2016 Stitch Fix Review
Life: I'm Back... With News!
Pinspiration: Easter in the Garden
Roundup: Galentine's Day

Post You Wished Got A Little More Love? 
I really enjoyed curating my June Pinspiration post, "Pride and Pineapples." Looking at it now has me longing for warm weather!

Looking Ahead

Books You Didn’t Get To In 2017 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2018? 
I got Sarah J. Maas' Empire of Storms, the fifth Throne of Glass book, for Christmas and can't wait to dive in even though it's a doorstopper. I saw a lot of buzz this year around The Alice Network, which sounds right up my alley with its WWI and post-WWII settings an female spies! I also want to get to Dress Codes for Small Towns by Courtney C. Stevens - love that more YA authors are featuring LGBTQ+ main characters.

Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2018 (non-debut)?
After reading Jamie's post about upcoming YA releases, I'm excited about Caleb Roehrig's White Rabbit- mystery is not usually my jam but I'm always ready to find a good one.

2018 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?
Melissa Albert's The Hazel Wood sounds so good with dark fairy tale vibes. I also want to check out the 2017 debut The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui and Samantha Mabry's A Fierce and Subtle Poison from 2016 - have any of you read either of those and loved (or hated) them?

Sequels You Are Most Anticipating in 2018?
I'm looking forward to Leah On The Offbeat by Becky Albertalli, which features Leah from Simon and the Homo Sapiens Agenda and will be out in April, Julie Murphy's Puddin', the companion to Dumplin', which is coming in May. Some sequels I didn't get to this year were The Boy on the Bridge  by M.R. Carey (sequel to The Girl with All the Gifts), The Astonishing Mistakes of Dahlia Moss by Max Wirestone (loved the first geeky mystery featuring Dahlia)

Things You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2018?
Read books I'm actually interested in instead of just reading whatever I can get for free as a reviewer - I think doing that contributed to me getting burnt out on both reading and blogging. I always told my students it was okay to abandon a book they weren't loving, but I have a very hard time doing that myself. I also want to actually read the physical books I have on my shelves that I haven't gotten to yet because I'm usually reading library books from Overdrive on my Kindle. 

year in review - favorite posts of 2015

Along with the most popular posts of the year, I always like to shine a little spotlight on my personal favorites. Here are the posts I enjoyed creating and writing, the ones I enjoyed re-reading the most, and the posts that were most meaningful to me in 2015.

Inner Bookworm: My TBR List - I'm a sucker for surveys that encourage me to reflect on my reading preferences and behaviors - which is no surprise, since I'm constantly asking my students to journal about their goals and progress. I practice what I preach, y'all. I wrote a little here about how I use Interactive Notebooks at school, and I completely changed the way I use those this past semester, so I'll probably write a post about them on my classroom blog soon.

A Letter to My Younger Self - This was a really great topic from The Circle link-up. I decided to write to myself as a first-year college student. I'd also like to write to my middle/high school self and add the advice, participate in P.E. class and learn how sports work.

Style: My Second Stitch Fix - Not my most successful Fix, but it did include my favorite dress, which I refer to as my "Fleetwood Mac dress" because it was perfect concert attire.

If I Could... - Totally ripped off the idea from Micah, Holly, Erin, and Katie, but this post ended up being more personal and insightful than I imagined.

16 Weird Ways to Celebrate Star Wars Day - Once in a while I come up with a really oddball idea for a blog post. I still love this post. It truly was the year of Star Wars.

Retro Summer Style: Aquamarine and Gingham - One of Pantone's colors for summer, a major pattern trend, and a TV show/book that were right up my alley all came together to inspire one of my all-time favorite style boards. Nicole called it "daintiest little inspo board" and I think that comment was right on target - I found myself adding little '60s touches to my outfits throughout late summer and fall. I need this kind of inspiration more often.

Travelogue: Charleston, South Carolina - We had an absolutely lovely, though short vacation to Charleston this summer, and I was so happy to finally be in the city I'd read and dreamed about. It was every bit as beautiful as I'd imagined. We're so lucky to have so many amazing places within driving distance, and I'm hoping we'll have the time and budget for even more travel in 2016. I think the biggest lesson I learned from Charleston was that vacations don't have to be long or obsessively planned - exploring random streets and following friends' recommendations or random Yelp reviews can be just as memorable as a scheduled tour or complicated reservation.

Midsummer According to Instagram - I participated in several Instagram style challenges this summer, primarily to keep myself from defaulting to pajamas every day (#teacherproblems). I did not expect so many compliments from real-life friends who genuinely liked seeing my outfits every day and thought they were creative - one friend even asked if I was buying new things just for the challenges (I wasn't!).

#ROANOKESTRONG - This post was very meaningful for me to write, and I wish I hadn't had to write it. My community experienced tragedy this year that I will never forget, and for a while I wasn't sure we'd ever be able to return to normal life. Seeing Alison Parker and Adam Ward's family and friends out and about, experiencing and enjoying life after such an excruciating loss, has been really inspiring. 

#5FandomFriday: Favorite Fictional Teachers - My topic suggestion got picked for October, and I knew exactly who my list would include.

Halloween Recap: Our Adventures as Cap and Peggy - This was my favorite Halloween ever. Peggy Carter is my favorite Marvel character, I love history, and I love dressing up. It was perfect, and I have the best husband in the world.

Holiday Craft: DIY World Map Ornaments - I'm so happy with how these turned out, and really hoping some other crafty folks will use this idea! When my mom came over for Christmas Eve, I asked her if she liked my new DIY ornaments, and she looked at our tree and said, "I don't see any handmade ornaments." Crafting win!

Bloggers, what were your favorite posts from 2015? 

Share your links in the comments!

clicks of note: you're moving on the backroads by the rivers of my memories...

get your week off to a colorful start...

LISTEN.

• I've been a fan of The Band Perry since they played Roanoke's Festival in the Park back in 2010.  Their new single has a very traditional sound - Glen Campbell actually made this song popular in the 1970s, but TBP gives it a bluegrass twist.  I'm linking up with Musical Mondays at My So-Called Chaos.

SWOON.

• Loving this reading nook project at Apartment Therapy.
• A garden fete with a rich color pallete (Snippet and Ink)
• More rich colors at this Southern Wedding in Texas.
• The cutest anniversary session from SMP (with dogs!)

SMILE.

• Audrey's first style challenge for 2015 is one we can all do.
• A fun looking thrift store art project from Honestly WTF.
• Jimmy Fallon could have dated Nicole Kidman - hilarious.
• Lily Pulitzer's bright, cheery patterns are coming to Target.

LEARN.

• Elite Daily's resolutions you actually need for 2015.
• Helene has 30 winter blog post topics if you're feeling stuck.
• From the New York Times: can we make ourselves fall in love?
• Interesting: Wikipedia's top searches from each day in 2014.

FLASHBACK.

• Last year I chose my favorite styles from the Golden Globes along with hair and makeup, continued to work through Lara Casey's goal setting series by reflecting on what didn't work in 2013,
• Two years ago, Sunday Social was all about blogging.  I picked my favorite Golden Globes looks, collected ideas for bridal portraits, and shared my January blog loves.
• Three years ago I rounded up side braid hairstyles.

year in review: favorite posts of 2014

Yesterday, I shared some of the most popular posts on Beyond the Aisle from 2014.  Today, I'm celebrating the end of a great year with a little hat-tip to my personal favorite posts.

My January in Entertainment - I really started the year strong with my media choices - I read Tina Fey and Mindy Kaling's books, my all-time favorite memoir about Christianity, and started a YA series that I loved.

Valentine's Day Party Ideas - Even though none of my party ideas were that innovative or fancy, I really had fun throwing a Valentine's Day party for my girlfriends.

If My Blog Was an Outfit - This was just fun.  I love ideas that circulate the blogosphere and help me be more creative.

Goal Setting: What Fires Me Up! - I come back to this list when I need a reminder.

On Wednesdays We Wear Pink - I love my weird posts, and my idea to create Polyvore outfits for each of the main characters in Mean Girls was definitely weird.

Photo an Hour - I think that when I've been teaching for 10, 15, or 20 years it will really be interesting to come back to this post to remember what a day of teaching eighth grade in 2014 was like.  Four 84-minute class periods of up to 30 kiddos each, interactive white boards, journals, and bulky metal laptop carts are all so normal to me now, but who knows what's to come in my teaching career.

My Early Summer in Entertainment - I can't believe I got to see Delta Rae, Willie Nelson, and Alison Krauss this summer.  Still not over it.

Our Williamsburg, Virginia Vacation Part 1 - A.K.A. the vacation I thought would be lame that ended up being totally fun.

My Late Summer in Instagram - Instagram round-up posts really remind me how special and beautiful my life really is.

Letting My Geek Flag Fly! [Geek Girl Tag] - Since no one chased me with a pitchfork after I posted this one, expect things to get even more geeky around here in the future.

My Fall in Instagram - In which I was a pony for Halloween.  NEVER FORGET.

DIY Cardinal Christmas Wreath - Probably my favorite craft project of the year; I really do love making wreaths.

Happy New Year's Eve!

year in review: most popular posts of 2014

We've come to the last few days of 2014, and it's time to reflect.  Google Analytics, Blogger, and Pinterest are handy tools to use to see what posts were popular this year and where visitors to Beyond the Aisle were coming from.

Here's a peek at my stats from 2014:
Visitors - 16,991 (up over 1,000 from last year!)
Unique Visitors - 15,351 (up over 3,000 from last year!)
Pageviews - 23,260 (up over 2,000 from last year!)

Visitors from these countries visited Beyond the Aisle in 2014:
1. United States
2. Canada
3. United Kingdom
4. Australia
5. Germany
6. France
7. South Africa 
8. Philippines
9. Brazil
10. Mexico

These cities are home to Beyond the Aisle readers:
1. Charlottesville
2. New York
3. Chicago (up from #7 last year!)
4. London
5. Washington
6. Baltimore
7. Hialeah
8. Toronto
9. Los Angeles
10. Houston

Most popular posts:

10. Sunday Social: Beauty Edition - I really miss the Sunday Social link-ups - the questions often got me thinking.  While beauty doesn't seem like a really in-depth topic, I think we all know that women are actually very interested in each other's routines.

9. Patriotic Washi Tape Decor for Independence Day - let's be honest, this was the easiest DIY ever!  I still wanted to share my little burst of creativity with the blog world for one of my favorite holidays, and I'm glad people liked it!  My candleholders and vases made a few appearances on Pinterest as well - easy crafts for the win.

8. My May Favorites - Another now-defunct link-up, but I'm still posting my favorites each month - and I still love everything I've posted in these!  A bit of sad news for 2015, though, is that my favorite jewelry company, Lia Sophia, is going out of business.

7. Light It Up Blue for Autism Awareness - We did a big Light It Up Blue week at school and I enjoyed bringing that over to the blog.

6. eShakti Dress Review - One of my favorite posts of the year because Mr. Q helped me with all of the photos and we had fun.  It also brought one of my real-life friends to the blog through eShakti!

5. Winter Style: Classy in Cranberry - You're going to be seeing a lot of burgundy and maroon shades this year since Marsala was chosen as Pantone's Color of the Year for 2015.

4. Inspiration for a Dreamy Mint and Baby's Breath Spring Wedding - Dream wedding round-ups are still one of my favorite things to do here on the blog.

3. Series: My Favorite 2014 Golden Globes Looks, My Favorite 2014 Golden Globes Hair and Makeup, Oscars Style: My Favorite Hair, Makeup, and Accessories - Clearly, you all are award show junkies just like I am!

2. The Boy Behind the Blog: Mr. Q's Turn to Post! - His answers were short, sweet, and to the point.  AND YOU OBVIOUSLY LOVED IT.

1. Rock and Roll 50th Birthday Party Ideas - My best work friend worked so hard on her husband's birthday party and Mr. Q and I were happy to help out by lending our photography and DIY skills.  I'm still really proud of my chalkboard project and it has become popular on Pinterest as well!

goal setting: what i learned from 2013

If you've been following along with my goal setting posts this year, you know that I've been really grateful for Lara Casey's helpful series and questions.  Recently, Lara encouraged readers following along with her series to reflect on what worked and what didn't work in 2013 and to draw some lessons from those experiences.  Here's what I've realized:

What I learned from what worked:

• My coworkers might as well be family at this point, and I am so blessed to be part of a supportive team.  I am respected and loved at work and my co-workers know my strengths and weaknesses.  The eighth grade team worked hard this year to welcome a group that had a reputation for being difficult students, and they've become one of our favorite groups ever.

• My 4-H friends (former camp coworkers, current staff members, fellow adult volunteers, and teen leaders) inspire me with their energy and compassion for youth. The people I was on camp staff with know me so well - they were there for me through one of the most difficult periods in my life.  When you think someone has changed, they may have just grown.

What I learned from what didn't work:

• Even though I don't always feel it, the administrators at my school do have a lot of confidence me as a teacher.  I can make suggestions and ask questions without feeling like they are going to judge me or get irritated.

• I need to consciously make time for the things that matter to me - writing, exercise, cooking real food, spending time with friends and family.

• I need to stop comparing my life to other people's - bloggers with beautiful wardrobes and houses, friends with babies, college classmates with more glamorous careers.  Mr. Q and I are in a really awesome phase of our lives right now and I need to just stop and appreciate being one half of a happy, young married couple.  And my goals, be they small (cleaning the guest room) or large (buying a house), are always going to be a lot more achievable when I share them with the other member of this team.

What did you learn from 2013?

goal setting: what didn't work in 2013

I wrote a little bit at the beginning of the month about how Lara Casey's goal setting series is helping me plan for the new year.  Today, I wanted to come clean about what didn't work for me in 2013!

What didn't work in 2013:

• Health wise, I totally failed at keeping a low GI eating plan.  I just took a look at the "avoid" side of the list the nurse practitioner who diagnosed my PCOS gave me, and sure enough I have eaten bananas, potatoes, bread, instant rice, candy, corn chips, Chinese food, and had soda in the past week. 

• I'm also still having minor depressive episodes from time to time and though they are infrequent, I dream of a panic attack free life.  When I am busy and not living in my own head - like at work where there is no time to daydream and I'm accountable to 52 little people - I do not have panic attacks.  I have them at home, usually on the weekends.  When I have too much free time I guess I start overanalyzing myself.

• Taking other people's behavior in my workplace personally.  Slowly but surely, I think I'm learning to take more time to process other people's behavior and realize that if an administrator, coworker, student, or parent is unusually rude to me, it often has absolutely nothing to do with me - something else in their life is causing them to act that way.

• At work, my whole department was basically blindsided by the new state tests.  Now that we know what is being scored, we can change the way we teach to help our students be more prepared.

• Not spending enough time with my mom.  Usually when I find myself getting grumpy or depressed, spending a day with her can make everything better.  She is my best friend and living an hour apart is no excuse for not spending time together in person.

What are you determined to change in 2014?

goal setting: what worked in 2013

I really appreciate the way Lara Casey's goal setting series is encouraging me to reflect and think deeply about where I am right now as I set goals for the new year.  I thought I'd share my ideas about what "worked" for me in 2013, and I hope you'll share yours in the comments!

What worked in 2013:

• Making my "work friends" part of my social life.  I was kind of hesitant to do this - I think I was worried that if I spent too much time with my co-workers outside of school, we'd get tired of each other.  Mr. Q and I have been spending more time with some of the other teachers in my department and their husbands, and I've started inviting them to more outings with my friends, and it's been awesome.  My friends love my coworkers and vice versa.  When I was student teaching, something that really made an impression on me was how close the third grade team was - they were clearly there for each other no matter what, knew each others' families, and spent time together outside of school.  It helped them function even better as a team, and I think it will do the same for my department.  

• Giving students a clean slate.  At the end of the 2011-2012 school year, the sixth grade teachers passed a box of party noisemakers to the seventh grade team leaders.  In the 2012-2013 school year, the seventh grade teachers were frustrated, depressed, and worn down.  Veteran teachers were writing referrals, yelling, and developing health issues they'd never had before.  We eighth grade teachers were kind of living in fear over June and July.  In August, we met as a team and decided that the most important thing we could do for our students was to never mention their reputation.  We had a grade-level assembly that I tried to make as much like a summer camp opening assembly as possible - high energy, welcoming, positive.  Yes, this group is kind of needy.  But we have had nowhere near the types of discipline issues these same students' teachers dealt with in previous years.

• Scheduling exercise.  I signed up for a weekly yoga class this past semester through our local parks and rec department.  I was the youngest person in the class, but I ended up absolutely loving it.  I hadn't done yoga in a class since college, and this class is so great - no pressure, no competition, no intimidation, just a guaranteed hour of time to do something that is good for my body and mind.  I have learned over the past two years of so that forcing myself into exercise I don't enjoy - like going to a gym - is NEVER going to pay off.  Making time for what I do like - yoga, walking, dance, biking on the greenway - is so important.  I was worried that I wouldn't have time for my yoga class, but I've never felt like that hour could have been better spent.  I am definitely signing up again this month!

• Meal planning.  Using the weekly savings as a guide to look for recipes and plan at least three real meals every week has saved money and time, and I've gotten a lot more confident in my cooking skills.  I also tried brussels sprouts for the first time this year and they are one of my favorite foods now, so there's that.

• Being available to volunteer opportunities.  Spending a week at the 4-H camp where I used to work as a volunteer this summer was so wonderful.  The first few years in the adult volunteer role were kind of awkward - I felt left out of what my friends who were still on staff were doing, missed teaching a class and leading songs.  Now enough time has passed that the people on staff were campers when I was a staff member and they were great to work with.  I also felt like my knowledge about camp was really valued by our camp directors.  I tried to be really flexible - I offered to bunk with another county's campers because they were short on volunteers, and to help with horsemanship because no one usually wants to, and by offering to do both of those things I was able to forge some great new friendships.  I also agreed to help with state 4-H Congress this summer and got to spend an afternoon with two wonderful friends.

• Saying "yes" to being weird - sure, I'll dress up in a Goodwill grandma sweater for wacky tacky day at school, go to a cat circus, have colored cornmeal thrown at me.  Why not?

Your Turn!

What worked for YOU in 2013?  What were your greatest successes?  What surprised you?  What are you most proud of?  I'd love to hear it in the comments :)

Linking Up:

Be. You .Tiful at Love Me Dani Marie
That's Fresh Friday at Glitz n Grits