the giraffe life

I think the only thing better than dreaming up goals is checking them off :) Finances Put at least $2000 toward mortgage prepayment  - Yes! We actually paid $2600 by September.  Save for daycare  - Change of plans! My employer doesn't provide paid maternity leave so I figured we'd kill two birds with one stone - practice paying for daycare and use the money to pay bills while I was home with a baby. Since we now know we'll need medical intervention to have a baby, this savings account will instead be the start of our fund for that. I'm super glad we have this moolah set aside!  Personal   Finish my degree  - Probably my proudest moment of the year! I turned in my final project in April and graduated in May :) Read 50 books  - Success! 73 books in all. I'll have a post about my favorites soon. Marriage Travel at least twice  - Yes! We traveled to California to celebrate our anniversary in June and to NYC for a day in November. Learn something ...

You should follow Renee - she rocks!   I hope you enjoy the holiday! Mr. G and I have a few days off and we're starting the celebration tonight with a walk around the neighborhood to enjoy the lights followed by a bottle of wine ( Moscato of course, because I like my wine super sweet). 

The short answer:  not much. The long answer:  I started four books this month, only finished two. The ones I managed to complete . . El Deafo by Cece Bell - Delightful. A graphic novel about a girl (rabbit) who is going through the journey of growing up coupled with the challenges of being deaf. I also enjoyed Cece's book Rabbit & Robot: The Sleepover though it's written for a much younger audience. Firebug by Lish McBride - A new series about Ava, a firebug (set in the same supernatural world as Lish's other books, so the two can eventually intersect), trying to escape her magical boss, Venus. I think I like these books so much because all the characters seem so effortlessly cool, even when they're floudering. This will be my last Lish McBride book for a while - I have to wait a few years for her next one to be published. I left The BIG Disconnect unfinished (I know the author's trying to make her point about limiting technology, but every anec...

Side note: Thank you so, so much for your comments last week. I truly appreciate all the love and kindness - it warmed my heart. Mr. G and I visited NYC over the weekend. We are lucky to live close enough to make day trips there by bus. In the past, we've taken some very early buses. But getting up at 3:30 in the morning is AWFUL and the sleep deprivation makes me hungry (and a little cranky) all day. Not worth it.  This year we took a later bus and didn't get into the city until 11. We had a little less time but I felt like a normal human all day! Three cheers for sleep :) The bus let us off at Radio City Music Hall, so we decided to visit Central Park first. Central Park holds a special place in my heart because that's where we got engaged (on another November day trip). Mr. G tricked me into standing on this rock with him to take a picture and then when we got up there, he proposed :) After our trip down memory lane, we walked to Doughnut Plant , home of the C...