friday favorites #25: week of june 10, 2016

1. Lois & Clark

I started rewatching Lois & Clark while I was yearbooking.

Long yearbooking night ahead, and I'm going old school with my entertainment. I was SOOOOO in love with Lois & Clark (and #deancain). Watching the pilot now. Look, it's the original Jimmy and the soon-to-disappear Cat Grant! #yearbookadvisor #90snostalgia

A photo posted by Becky Ritta (@beckyritta) on May 24, 2016 at 8:34pm PDT

I got completely hooked ... to the point that one night, after watching about four episodes, I dreamed I was planning my wedding to Dean Cain. It is seriously the celebrity crush that never dies!

I'm currently in season three, and I'm loving it! Also, watching Lois & Clark just brings to light how much the TV landscape has changed in the last 20 years. For example, Lois & Clark don't sleep together until after their wedding; in fact, Clark is a virgin when they marry. When was the last time a TV couple saved sex for marriage? I can't think of any examples. (I'm sure they're out there--so let me know in the comments if you think of one!)

2. NBA Finals
I'm absolutely 100% pulling for the Golden State Warriors. I couldn't care less about the NBA during the regular season, but I always enjoy watching the playoffs, and I just love the Warriors!

Game 3 wasn't much fun to watch (you Cavs fans probably disagree with me), but hopefully it gave the Warriors the push they need to wrap this thing up in two more games.

3. Reading for the INSPY Awards

I can't really talk about these books yet, but I'm immersed in the five selections I'm reading as a judge for the contemporary romance/romantic suspense category of the INSPYs. When I do INSPY reading, I try to block off a chunk of time when I can read one whole book, so I can just immerse myself in the author's world. (It helps that I'm a very fast reader!) You can see the short listed books in all of the categories here. I've read many of them, and I can't wait to find out which books win!

4. Gardening
I know, I know--this was a favorite last time. But I'm SO enjoying my plants!

Please ignore the grass that so obviously needs to be mowed and the weeds that need to be pulled!

I even had my first cilantro a few days ago!

This week, I decided to branch out in my gardening, and I purchased some hostas (and a couple other plants)! They came in the mail today, so I know what I'll be doing this weekend!

Here's hoping I can be more like my father than my mother when it comes to keeping plants alive! (My track record isn't so good.)

5. Anchor in the Storm by Sarah Sundin

Sarah Sundin is one of my top three authors. I absolutely devour everything she writes, and her latest book, Anchor in the Storm, released last month. It is fantastic. Set during World War II, it follows a young pharmacist who uncovers a drug ring that seems to be centered around the pharmacy she works at. Plus, there's great romance. Here's part of what I said in my review:

Anchor in the Storm is a book that will captivate you from beginning to end while transporting you into the fascinating world of Boston during World War II. I loved every second I spent reading it, and I almost wish I could start it all over again!

Go here to see the rest of my review.

As usual, I'm linking up with Erika, Christina, and Karli. What are some things you've been enjoying this week?

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catching up

Speech officially ended on Friday with the state meet. I had three students compete, and one, a freshman extemper, got fourth place! (I think extemp is the most challenging of all our speech events because you draw a topic one hour before you speak and write a speech about it, using articles you've previously clipped from magazines or printed off the internet. Most topics are political in nature. Almost all the extemp speeches I listened to yesterday--and I heard twelve--were on the US economy or the recovery efforts in Japan. Since he made it to finals, Scott had to write three 5-7 minute speeches yesterday!)

Here's a look at the people I've been spending countless hours with for the last three months!

I have been doing a few things other than speech ...

• I read my first non book review book since, well, I can't even remember when. I bought Dining with Joy a few months ago, but I always had just one more book review book to get through. On Tuesday, I read the last one I had, so then I picked up Dining with Joy. To be honest, I bought the book for its cover. I had read books one and two in the series, and while they were decent, I didn't love them, and I had no intention of reading any more of author Rachel Hauk's novels ... until Amazon started recommending Dining with Joy. It was the cover. Seriously, I've never been one to be influenced by a book's cover (though I've been embarrassed by one before--click on over here to see it!), but now it's happened twice--first with The Mountains Bow Down and now with this! Fortunately, the book was as enjoyable as the cover. I finished it yesterday ... the same day I got another book review book in the mail.
• Last week, I got an invitation to join the Amazon Vine program! This is Amazon's product review program, and you must be invited in order to join. I guess posting all those book reviews paid off :-) I've received and reviewed my first two products--a Jamba Juice energy drink and Lost and Found, a graphic novel by Shaun Tan. Here's a link to my review of Lost and Found. I may eventually start reviewing Vine products on my blog, but it's not a requirement of the program, so I'll wait for now.
• I now have five (yes, five) living plants! This is something of a victory for me, as you may recall. Granted, the aloe plant isn't looking too great, but it's still kicking. My newest plant I bought today--"Royal Hustler" Ivy. I've never had an ivy plant before ... let's hope it's pretty hearty!
• Thanks to Netflix, I've caught up on Parks & Recreation. If you ever enjoyed The Office, you'll probably like Parks & Rec. Many people (read: critics) say the first season is pretty rough, but I thought it was hilarious from the beginning. If you don't have Netflix, you can watch the most recent episodes on Hulu ... and I'll be happy to fill you in on any background you need!
• I've been asked to transition into a slightly different role at my job. I'll have more to say about it later, but I'm really anticipating the change!

I think that's about it! I'll have another book review coming in just over a week (the sequel to Hand of Fate, which I reviewed last year). I guess I've procrastinated long enough ... time to hit the taxes!

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short weekend, short week!

• My school had its annual benefit auction on Saturday night; as a result, I worked for seven hours Saturday afternoon and evening! (Fortunately, my job was fun, fairly stress-free, and with great people, so it didn't actually feel like seven hours.) That left me with a shorter weekend than usual ... however, one of the benefits of working at a Christian school is that we take time off for Easter, so I have a four-day weekend coming up!
• Once again, I seem to be in the business of killing plants. Stacey gave me an aloe vera plant around Christmas. It looked great for a long time, but recently it's been looking a little peaked. It's probably because it hasn't gotten much light ...
• I finally got some data pulled off the hard drive of my fried computer. I bought this external hard drive enclosure from Newegg.com, and it works really well. I was concerned it might not be compatible with Windows 7, but I had no problems at all ... even though the installation instructions were quite obviously not written by a native English speaker and I had to fill in the blanks! (Example: After plug the external box into, the system will remind you there is a new hardware of USB Storage Adapter adds into. After for a while, click "My Computer", USB HDD will appear the relativity on the PC.) I pulled off the things I needed (my 2008 tax return) or wanted (my iTunes download of Dr. Horrible) and left everything else alone--it seems to be working well, so why fill the hard drive of my laptop if I don't need to?
• Blendy and I cleaned my apartment because one of my students will be staying with me over Easter. She then actually updated her blog, so you can read about our weekend here!
• I am totally caught up on my reading! I have two reviews due the week of April 5 and another due the next week--and I've read all the books and written one of the reviews already! So what am I doing with my spare time? Reading! I just got the newest Karen Kingsbury book, Take Three, and I had a really difficult time putting it down last night.
• Speaking of my book review books, I have a whole bunch of giveaways coming up, so keep checking the blog! 
• I got my free copy of Emma today. Perfect timing, as the last movie I reviewed on my other blog was the Gwyneth Paltrow version of Emma. If you click over there, you'll notice the blog has a new look ... one that's much more "me"!
• Spring has finally come to central Nebraska! As I dove home from work today, I noticed the other drivers; nearly every one had the driver's window open. I immediately opened the windows in my apartment once I got home, and I'm thoroughly enjoying the warm breeze.
• The weddings are coming up! I bought my dress for Jen's wedding last Sunday, and Melissa's aunt is altering my dress for Melissa's wedding ... which is now less than two weeks away!
• Right now, I'm watching the new season of Dancing with the Stars. Missed it last week because of a work thing, so I'm seeing the changes--the new opening, new co-host, new dancers--for the first time. So far, I don't have a favorite ... but I do have someone I'm hoping gets kicked off first: Jake Pavelka, the Bachelor himself. Does ABC really think America still loves him? And if Vienna's sitting in the audience looking all googly-eyed, I may just have to hurl.

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two weeks later

I realized this morning that I haven't posted anything in two weeks. Here are some of the things keeping me busy, in (roughly) chronological order:

1. Working through my next Book Review Blogger book--Faith and Pop Culture (Christianity Today Study Series). This is meant to be done as a group Bible study, and I'm working my way through each chapter before writing my review. So far, I'm really enjoying it, and I'd love to do it in a small group setting.
2. Finishing the school year . . . and (sort of) completing the yearbook. I sent off the last pages, and I'll get proofs back in a few weeks. Then I'll need to make all the final corrections; I'll probably need to do a lot of work because I got so sick of staring at pages that I just quit proofing!
3. Seeing Wicked in Omaha! My mom, sisters, sister-in-law, and I all went together. It was amazing! I didn't take many pictures, but here's one of Susan, Steph, me, and Val in front of the sign (Susan and Steph didn't know they were in the pic):
   
4. Admiring the beauty around me. On the way to Lincoln to pick up SIL Susan for Wicked, we came through a crazy rain storm. Just as we got through the storm, we got our first view of the capitol building . . . and it was positively glowing! This picture doesn't quite do it justice--it was beautiful!
   
5. Cooking with my sisters. We attempted to make a "real" dinner one night last week. (By "real," I mean something that required a recipe, not one of our old standbys that we learned to make from Mom. I'm not saying her food isn't real, but it's not very adventurous.) We made Rachael Ray's Garlic & Oil Spaghetti with Greens, with a few modifications. Seems the local Hy-Vee doesn't carry swiss chard or scallions, so we substituted arugula. As I don't normally eat greens (ever), I have no idea if swiss chard and arugula are even remotely similar . . . but I know they're both green! Here are the results:
   
6. Hanging out with friends. A bunch of us got together to say farewell to Tricia, who is moving to Lincoln to go to UNL. We went to Carlos O'Kelley's (the greatest Mexican chain restaurant!), watched a movie, and just had fun being together.
7. Killing my African Violet. I'm not sure how it survived the Great Plant Holocaust of 2008, but I managed to keep it alive for over a year. Take a look at the "then" and "now" pics:
   
   I already have its replacement, a Sansevieria. Supposedly, it requires little light or water . . . so hopefully I won't kill it!
8. Taking some time off work. I realized at the end of last week that I still had five vacation days left, to be used by the end of June. So, I took last Friday and this morning off. Yay for vacation time!
   
   
   

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my plants, 9 days later

See for yourself; I am death to plants.

My dad is good with geraniums; perhaps he can revive mine. As for the impatiens, well, I should see if Aunty M's offer to take them off my hands is still good.

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what's wrong with my plants?

I definitely don't have a green thumb. It's closer to black, kinda like my mother's. I currently have four plants. One, I have amazingly kept alive for nearly 2 1/2 years. Of course, it's one that doesn't require much water or sun, so that helps! I've had my second plant, an African Violet, for about three months. It's on my table, so I see it all the time and sometimes remember to water it. My newest two plants I received as gifts about two weeks ago. They both aren't looking so good! I'm not sure what to do for them--I water them (I don't think too much), but the only place in my apartment that gets good sunlight is in the entryway right outside my door, and it gets really hot there. Any suggestions?

These are geraniums with something else thrown in for good measure. The person who gave them to me didn't know what they were, either. See those little buds? They were there two weeks ago, too . . . and they've never shown any signs of opening.


These are some kind of impatiens. The tag said they need lots of sunlight--not ideal for my apartment! They're looking pretty sickly!

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