Top 18 Books of 2018

I'm finally sharing my favorite books of 2018 with you all! It actually worked out that I was able to identify 18 books that I consider to be favorites from 2018, and I'm so pleased that I was able to read so many favorites in one year. 2019 has big shoes to fill! Keep reading to find my list of favorites from 2018 - listed in order of when I read them - and make sure you watch the video above if you'd like to hear my reasoning behind each of my picks!
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch Big Little Lies by Lianne Moriarty Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa 2 A.M. at the Cat's Pajama's by Marie-Helene Bertino Autoboyography by Christina Lauren The Long Walk by Stephen King A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir Nevermoor: the Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid We Are Okay by Nina LaCour Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson Beartown by Fredrick Backman An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green A Heart in a Body in the World by Deb Caletti Orange by Ichigo Takano

Happy Vlogidays 2018! {Vlog Playlist}

Now that the holidays have come to a close and I have posted my final Happy Vlogidays vlog for the year, it's time to share the entire playlis with you! As usual, it was an action packed month full of friends, dogs, family, gifts, FOOD, laughter, travel, and so much love. This holiday season was so much fun and I am so glad I have the memories recorded in vlog form to look back on for years to come! I hope you all enjoy these vlogs and have as much fun watching them as I did making them. 💖

Grandpa Joe Life

Hello friends and Happy 2019! I totally intended to keep up with life updates while I was traveling but that was a huge fail. ‾\_(ツ)_/‾ Regular social media updates and vlogging were enough internet responsibility while I was away. I wanted to enjoy spending time with my people instead of spending time in front of the computer. #sorrynotsorry But don't worry - I took plenty of photos so I could to a big life update for you when I returned home! 😁 Let's take it waaaaay back to before Christmas, shall we?

Brett and I flew out of Boston on the Friday before Christmas. It was a pretty standard travel day, aside from the insane landing our pilot tried to pull off when we arrived in Orlando. 😱 It was extremely windy in Florida that day and our plane was swaying and bumping every which way throughout the landing. Definitely had my stomach tied up in knots with nerves through that landing. #yikes BUT we made it safely on the ground, grabbed our bags, and hopped in my mom's car to head home. We were greeted by Kiwi and Mikey as well as this adorable little snowman sign!

On Saturday my parents, Brett, and I all participated in the Run Run Santa 1-Miler, a 1 mile race where everyone is dressed up as Santa Claus! It was really cool and really funny being surrounded by so many Santas. It was basically the most epic game of Where's Waldo and so tough not to lose each other! 😂 I loved being able to run with my parents and especially Brett who ran his first race and earned his first medal! So proud. :')

After the race we headed over to the beach because SpaceX had scheduled a launch that day! My parents live on the "Space Coast" of Florida, near where a ton of NASA and other space exploration missions launch from and it seems like they get to see a launch about every other week. I was excited that this mission (the Falcon 9) lined up with our visit and I had hoped to see it take off! That day at the beach wasn't our day, and they scrubbed it ("scrubbed" = fancy space term for "cancelled") 4 minutes before launch time, due to wind. Stupid wind!

Luckily they rescheduled it for the next morning so we *still* had a chance to witness it, and good news - we did! We watched the launch from the driveway which was so cool. I caught a bit of it on my Happy Vlogidays video, but if you'd like to see the recorded live stream of the launch, you can find that here.

Kiwi & Mikey were happy to have us around - look at those smiles! 💖

After a bit of Christmas shopping with Brett and my dad, all of us went to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Patriots game, have a few beers, and eat wings! We were getting heckled left and right for our gear, but I guess that's the price you pay for supporting winners. 😉 We know it's all in good fun, though, and it was a blast cheering on our team all the way in Florida. There were even a few people there who were also rooting for the Pats!

It was fairly chilly during the first part of our visit (high forties to high fifties), and we had been trying (and struggling) to get the hot tub to a high enough temperature to enjoy. The hot tub at my parent's house has a dip in the wall that connects to the pool which makes it hard to heat when it's colder out, but we managed to get it warm enough to lounge a bit in the tub when we returned from lunch!

Monday was Christmas Eve and we all woke up early to go to our new favorite festive event, Surfing Santas in Cocoa Beach! It's essentially what it sounds like - a beach party where everyone dresses up, drinks at sunrise, and watches people surf in Santa suits. It's always a blast! My mom made this amazing Christmas Punch (cranberry juice/pineapple juice/orange juice/vodka/ginger ale/grenadine) which we devoured and we enjoyed the people watching for a majority of the morning. We made a Rita's stop on the way home, and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing.

Total side note, but earlier that weekend we picked up this awesome IPA called Bear Lasers and the packaging/name/beer was all amazing. Brett pointed out that this IPA may have called to me because 1. it was called Bear Lasers - both of those things being the mascots of my undergraduate and graduate alma maters, and 2. the can was Lasell Laser blue. It was just meant to be I guess! 😂 I cracked into a couple cans that afternoon and was a big fan of the taste, which of course is the most important part. Seriously, though, I could not get enough the packaging! I had to snap some photos. 😂

After dark my parents and I took Kiwi and Mikey on a little Christmas Eve walk to look at the lights in the neighborhood, then went to a nearby park which was all lit up for Christmas. We drove through the light show while listening to Christmas tunes and it put us all in a festive spirit heading into the big day! I don't have any photos from the light show, but I took a ton of video which you can find in my Happy Vlogidays video!

Then it was Christmas Day! We spent the morning Skyping with my sister, who unfortunately couldn't be there with us as she had to work, and cooking and eating breakfast. Eventually we got around to opening stockings and gifts which is always so much fun. I got some amazing gifts which I'm so grateful for, and everyone seemed to enjoy the gifts I gave as well!

-Under Armour jacket

-Christmas leggings

-Socks on socks on socks

-Patriots bag

-Pokemon cards!

-Harry Potter mug

-Candy!

-Gryffindor blanket

-Elephant string craft, made by my mom!

-Decorative plate

-Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban necklace

-Harry Potter Funko Pop

-Dog sneakers from Bobs

-Headphone beanie

-Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

-An ornament from my great aunt

-Headlamp

-Hat and gloves

-And this ornament that my mom made!

I think my two favorite gifts that I was giver were the dog sneakers and the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban necklace! I'm seriously so obsessed with the sneakers. I've been wearing them a ton over the last few days and being ultra precious with them. They're already a bit scuffed on the toes and I want to clean them!! I've never felt this way about shoes before 😂 And the necklace is just so beautiful and intricate! If you open it up there are actual excerpts from the story. Love it! I took some close ups of each of these gifts - click to get a better look!

We did our Christmas meal in the afternoon, full of all of my favorite holiday fixin's - turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce! I don't think you can ever go wrong with that combo during the holidays. Shout out to my dad for doing most of the heavy lifting on this meal! We ate and chatted outside because that's the only way to do Christmas in Florida if we're really being honest. 😉

The rest of our time in Florida included a lot of lounging, a 5-6 mile bike ride with Brett and my mom, and a run across the Melbourne Causeways - the same route I will be running during the Florida Marathon next month(!!!). It was so cool to be able to run a section of the course *before* race day, which I've never had the opportunity to do, so I'm happy to have some knowledge of what to expect on race day!

Pre-run selfie with the FL Marathon sign! See you soon!

Post-5K victory selfie with my mom. We crushed it!

Pssst... I also helped my mom set up her very own blog, so go and check it out!!!

Then it was time to head up to Pittsburgh to spend the last few days of 2018 with our good friends Erin & Cullen! We got into PGH around midnight on Thursday so we came back to their apartment and quickly jumped into pajamas, but couldn't go to bed before showing them the latest episode of SMACKDOWN! We were going to see Smackdown Live that Saturday so Brett and I were doing some educating on what to expect from the WWE. Basically, just a lot of ridiculousness.

We spent most of the day Friday lounging, catching up, and hitting up our favorite Pittsburgh eateries, including Baby Love Tacos and Industry (which has an amazing giant pretzel that is basically the pretzel of my dreams). We also stopped by GameStop to pick up Mario Party for the Switch because we knew it would be an amazing party game for the four of us to play. I also found a Baby Funko Pop, so Erin suggested I put her in a corner.

I don't think anyone got this joke on my InstaStory haha

Saturday was SMACKDOWN DAY and omg... it was amazing. Unfortunately I was feeling quite sick before we left for the event, but I managed to power through and ended up having an amazing time. We got to see so many of our faves - The New Day, Jeff Hardy, Naomi, and my ultimate fave, Becky Lynch, tagging with FREAKING JOHN CENA!!! I can't believe we were able to be there for that match. It was awesome. We were a little bummed that we only got to see a backstage clip of The Miz, but that just means we gotta go back to Smackdown again in the future. If you want to see the whole show we were there for, you can watch the episode on Hulu. 😉

Sunday was another lazy day that was complete with what we starting to call "Grandpa Joe"-ing. Essentially, Erin & Cullen's couch was pulled into a bed the entire time we were there and the four of us would watch TV under one giant blanket together and we felt like the grandparents from Charlie & the Choloate factory. It became sort of a lifestyle for us during the trip. 😂 We spent the whole day watching football and playing Mario Party, which was the perfect lazy Sunday after a crazy night at Smackdown. 😂

Grandpa Joe Life

OBSESSED with my dog shoes

Then it was New Year's Eve! I spent most of the morning scrambling to get book #150 of 2018 read (which I successfully did!) but in the evening it was party time! We had originally planned to go to a particular bar, but when we arrived there was no space, so we instead headed to a local dive and wound up having SO MUCH FUN playing pool! We even came up with lightening round pool where each player gets 10 seconds to take their shot which was amazing and had me dying laughing. 😂

After a few hours we picked up a whole boatload of Chinese food and headed home to (you guessed it) play more MARIO PARTY! Seriously, it is such a fun game and we spent a majority of the night playing it. We rang in the New Year with drinks and laughter and it was the perfect way to say goodbye to 2018 and hello to 2019! I think it needs to be an annual tradition.

New Year's Day was SUPER lazy, as it was designed to be. We were headed home to Boston that day, so we just hung out and Grandpa Joe-d it up. Erin and Cullen showed us Overcooked on the Switch which was surprisingly fun and a game that I would love to get and play more for myself! Our flight home got delayed until 11:15 (x_x) but it was good to have some extra time to chill with our friends before heading home.

Aaaaand now we're back to reality, but not for long for me because tomorrow morning I'm back on a plane. This time I'm flying across the country to a conference in southern California. It should be really great and educational, but I'm not gonna lie, I just got a taste of my own bed last night and I'm not super pumped to be leaving it again tomorrow. 😂 I will be vlogging my trip to California and of course taking photos for the blog, so stay tuned for updates on my trip! Also make sure you're following me on Twitter and Instagram for real-time updates as well!

I hope everyone had a fantastic ending to their 2018. 

Let me know how you rang in the new year in the comments!

LINKS I LOVED THIS WEEK

"Did You Just Call Me a Mudblood?" Um, Actually S2, E13 from College Humor

Guinea Pig Olympics from Parry Gripp

Baby attempts to eat banana while wearing floaties from Rumble Virals

100 Babies Challenge from Buzzfeed Multiplayer

23 Hilarious Tumblr Posts for Anyone Who Wears Glasses from Buzzfeed

Meet the Dog Who Rides the Bus to the Dog Park from 3MillionDogs

How to Scottish Terriers Become Agility Champions? from Animal Planet

Triangle Solo from The Florida Orchestra

18 Illustrations Every Person with Anxiety Should See Immediately from Huffington Post

Have one on us this holiday season from Humans of Higher Ed

19 Tumblr Posts That Prove the "Harry Potter" Books Are Way Better Than the Movies from Buzzfeed

Playful dog discovers Sea Otters at the Beach from 3MillionDogs

December 2018 Reading Wrap Up & Reading Goals for 2019!

Reading poolside on Christmas Day 🤗

This past month I had one specific goal in mind - finish 11 books so I can say I read 150 books in 2018. My GoodReads goal for the year was 100 books, which I accomplished several months ago, and I didn't really have it in my head to shoot for 150 until November when I knew the goal was within reach, so I decided to go for it. I knew this would be an ambitious task, given the nature of the holiday season, but I'm happy to say I pulled it off! I buckled down during the afternoon of New Year's Eve and powered through the last 130 pages of book #150 (which ended up being Misery by Stephen King) and entered 2019 feeling super accomplished with my reading. I will be doing a more thorough wrap up of my 2018 reading later on this month (my January is just as busy as my December x_x), but for now here's how my December reading went:

READING STATS FOR DECEMBER

Participated in 1 readathon (Christmas at Hogwarts)

Completed 1/10 books from 10 Book TBR #3 (3/10 total)

3,108 pages read

11 books completed

BOOKS COMPLETED

Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty

Physical copy, 5/5

Olivia Takes Ballet by Cordelia Evans

Physical copy, 3/5

One Day in December by Josie Silver

Physical copy, 4/5

Dare to Lead by Brene Brown

Audiobook, 5/5

The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle

Physical copy, 3/5

Warcross by Marie Lu

Physical copy, 2/5

Orange, the Complete Collection vol. 1 by Ichigo Takano

Physical copy, 4/5

Orange, the Complete Collection vol. 2 by Ichigo Takano

Physical copy, 5/5

Haruiro Astronaut by Ichigo Takano

Physical copy, 4/5

Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Physical copy, 4/5

Misery by Stephen King

Physical copy, 4/5

~

Now that 2018 is officially closed, it's time to work on some new goals for the new year! I posted this video the other day and am just now realizing that I didn't share my goals here with you all, so let's fix that! I've rolled over a couple of my 2018 goals into 2019 as I'd still like to accomplish them, but I've also added a couple new goals as well which I'm excited to get started on! Click the video below to hear me talk about each goal a little bit, and keep reading to see a list of my goals as well as my full list of reading challenges for the year!

2019 READING GOALS 1. Continue using the 10 Book TBR strategy 2. Continue to work through my re-read list from 2018 3. Cut my owned TBR pile in half 4. Read 150 books 5. Complete a reading challenge PROMPTS FOR MY 2019 READING CHALLENGE
1. A book with a time of day in the title
2. A book you borrowed or that was given to you as a gift
3. A book by multiple authors
4. A book with alliteration in the title
5. A book by an author who uses a pseudonym
6. A book with pictures
7. A book you bought on a trip
8. A bestseller from 2018
9. A book with multiple POVs
10. A book that is a continuation of a book you've already read
11. A book published in 2019
12. A book set in a fictional location
13. A book with a form of punctuation in the title
14. A book with 5 or more words in the title
15. A book with a one word title
16. A book set in North America
17. A book set in South America
18. A book set in Europe
19. A book set in Asia
20. A book set in Australia
21. A book set in Africa
22. A book set in or featuring Antarctica
23. A book with a shiny cover
24. A retelling
25. A book with more than 600 pages
26. A graphic novel
27. A book with an animal on the cover
28. A book that was published in your birth month
29. A book with a location in the title
30. A book featuring a historical event that happened during your lifetime
31. A young adult novel
32. A middle grade novel
33. A book with an emotion in the title
34. A book that is the first book in a series
35. A book that has been adapted to a film or television series
36. A book by a favorite author
37. A love story
38. A book with magic in it
39. A book with a face on the cover
40. A book that has 100,000 or more ratings on GoodReads
41. A book that was picked out by a friend
42. A book with a black and white color scheme on the cover
43. A book you're nervous to pick up
44. A book with a main character you have something in common with
45. A book from an author that has written more than 10 books
46. A book you will read within 24 hours
47. A book with your initials on the cover
48. A book you heard about from BookTube
49. A book with 150 pages or less
50. A book written by an actor
51. A book that has won an award
52. A book with geometric features on the cover

2018 in Review

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!! It's officially 2019 and this past year has honestly been a WHIRLWIND! Seriously, so much happened that I'm unsure of where to start on this 2018 reflection, so let's break it down month-by-month. I'm excited to take a moment to look back on this past year and talk through just how much went on and all that we have accomplished!

JANUARY

• Brett and I kicked off the new year in Miami with our friends Erin and Cullen, shortly followed by a group cruise to the Bahamas! The weather wasn't exactly what we were envisioning for our Caribbean vacation, but we had a blast nonetheless.

Had to get a photo in front of our ship - the Enchantment of the Seas

FEBRUARY

• Erin & Cullen visited us in MA to watch the Patriots in the Super Bowl. The Pats didn't bring home the W but we were so happy to spend the weekend with them!

Pre-game excitement!

MARCH

• March was fairly low-key with nothing significant to note. I was applying to jobs left and right at this point and starting to land more interviews. I also spent the month reading a ton and training for the Youngstown Marathon.

Post-long run treat at the end of March

APRIL

• Ran the Portsmouth Half Marathon as part of my Youngstown Marathon training. Got to visit Cassie in the process and meet her adorable new pup Abby!

MAY

• Turned 28 and celebrated with some close friends over sushi and drinks!
• Ended my third successful academic year at Mount Holyoke.

Post-birthday weekend exhaustion

Flowers from my favorite end of year Class Board tradition at MHC

JUNE

• SO MANY JOB INTERVIEWS THIS MONTH! My job search really took most of my attention through the month of June.
• Ran the Youngstown Marathon in Youngstown, OH and spent the long weekend with Brett, Erin, & Cullen in Pittsburgh.
• Visited my parents in Florida for Father's Day weekend and got to see their new house.
• Visited Noble in New Jersey for her 30th birthday

Pasta dinner the night before the race!

I'm smiling big in this photo but I felt like death :P 

With my parents at their new home!

Out with Noble for her birthday!

JULY

• Visited San Francisco for ~36 hours thanks to a job interview and got to see the Golden Gate Bridge and a West Coast sunset at Baker Beach.
• After a nearly 9-month job search, was offered and accepted a job at Bentley University!
• Visited Washington D.C. for a conference with my colleagues from MHC.

San Francisco, CA - July 5, 2018

San Francisco, CA - July 5, 2018

Took a little running tour of the monuments in DC!

AUGUST

• Sadly left my job at MHC - a bittersweet ending to the beginning of my career.
• Started my new position at Bentley and ran my first Activities Fair!

Saying goodbye to the gates of MHC...

...and hello to the campus of Bentley University!

My first Activities Fair!

SEPTEMBER

• Brett broke his nose this month which brought a slew of its own craziness
• Worked my first concert at Bentley - Cheat Codes!
• Went to Angela & Mike's wedding
• Saw Aziz Ansari live with my friend Rob
• Discovered I had placed third in my age group at the Youngstown Marathon, despite running the worst marathon of my life to date

Celebrating Angela & Mike in the Seaport!

The most unexpected piece of mail that I've ever received, tbh.

OCTOBER

• Went to Jimmy & Kristen's wedding
• Operation Mystery Birthday for Brett's 30th!

We clean up nice :P

So glad Brett enjoyed his super secret birthday surprises!

NOVEMBER

• Ran the Richmond Marathon in Richmond, VA with the support of Erin & Estee!
• Ran a sub-30 minute 5K in 12-degree weather at the Holliston Turkey Trot!

So great to have friends at the race with me! :)

State #8 completed!

A nice, freezing cold run to kick off Thanksgiving

DECEMBER

• Ran the Happy Holidays Half-MerryThon in the pouring rain
• Brett surprised me with a NINTENDO FREAKING SWITCH
• Ran the Run Run Santa 1-Miler with Brett and my parents!
• Visited my parents in Florida for the Christmas holiday
• Visited Erin & Cullen in Pittsburgh for New Year's
• WENT TO WWE SMACKDOWN IN PITTSBURGH AHGHIUNVIUENLCNS
• Rang in 2019 surrounded by friends :)

Ran 13.1 in the cold, pouring rain!

Still so shocked that I own a Switch!

Dressed up for the Run Run Santa 1-Miler!

Watching the Pats at BWW!

Smackdown Live in Pittsburgh! SUCH A FUN EXPERIENCE!!!

Ringing in 2019 with drinks, Mario Party, and most importantly, FRIENDS. <3

I hope everyone had a fantastic 2018. This last year was so much fun and so full of adventure and it's just gotten me so excited for what 2019 has in store! I hope everyone has an amazing 2019 full of memories, laughter, positivity, and love! 💖