Wicked Weekend

After years of wishing, 1 full year of anticipation, 6 months of having tickets and a hotel room reserved...Drew and I finally saw Wicked this past weekend! I posted a few months ago about getting our tickets if you're interested in reading about that {grin}.

We got to Houston about 12:30 on Sunday {showtime was at 2:00}, checked into our hotel, freshened up, and headed to the venue.

The view from our room - love the Texas lazy river!

In the merch line

Love the Pride month playbill

Trying the specialty drink - The Ozmopolitan, yum!

Welcome to Oz!

The Gurley girls!

The verdict was Drew LOVED it! She sang along, grinned throughout, told me multiple times how much she loved it, it was as good as I could have hoped for! There was 1 specific line in a song she had wanted to understand for years, and I wouldn't tell her {it was a spoiler} and she said 'I can't wait to understand what ... means.' and when she figured it out, she gasped - it was so cute!

We walked back to our hotel after the musical ended and got in our suits to hit up the lazy river. Unfortunately, Texas summer hasn't really hit, and it was a bit chilly, so we didn't stay in too long. But then we ordered poolside dinner and had fun sitting out visiting and enjoying our time together.

Best hamburger she ever had, ha

We stayed up late gabbing and playing Skip-bo, and in the morning we lazed about watching tv, reading, and relaxing. After lunch we headed back to Austin, and all 3 agreed it was a trip for the record books!

Drew made this, so funny

Until next time, Broadway {which is 2 weeks for me ha}!

May 2023 Book Review

It's book discussion day, yay! Cannot believe it's June 1, summer vacation has started...it's a great day. {grin}

I read 10 books this month. 3 audiobooks, 2 physical books, 5 e-books. 3 by authors of color. 2 books from my 'oldest 10 TBR'. This brings my total for the year to 58, 17 books ahead of my goal to read 100 books.

Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby [audiobook] - I don't remember why I put this on my TBR, but I listened to this and thought it was awesome. It was a dark story of a criminal turned family man who decides to do 'just 1 more job' when everything goes wrong. The story was so fast-paced, the writing was sharp, the narrator was awesome. Definitely want to read more by this author!

The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes [audiobook] - I finished up this YA trilogy suggested by my friend Kathryn. It was fun, and I was mostly happy with the way it wrapped up.

Pride by Ibi Zoboi - We read this for my work book club, and it was a modern-day telling of Pride & Prejudice with characters of color set in Brooklyn. It was really fun, I liked comparing how the author changed the story or kept it the same to put this plot in present-day. I really liked the main character and thought the writing was great!

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver - This was one of the 'oldest 10' on my TBR, and we read it for Blog Friend Book Club...and it was a very controversial book/discussion amongst us. It follows 4 daughters whose father moves them to Congo in 1959 to be missionaries and what happens to them while there and in the decades to follow. I thought the writing was excellent, I loved how the author gave each daughter a voice and personality that was distinctly theirs, I enjoyed watching their growth {or in one sister's case...their lack of growth}. It was just ridiculously LONG. I want to read other books by this author, but I can't decide if I would recommend this one or not, ha.

These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder - Drew and I are keeping on with this series. I think this has been our favorite? She LOVED listening to Almanzo and Laura fall in love!

Outdoor Kids in an Indoor World by Steven Rinella - I'm always looking for inspiration to get the kids outside. I like being inside but recognize how important nature is for kids. I thought that was what this book would be about...and while it was, it also wasn't. The author and I were on such different planets about time in nature, I almost quit this one several times. The book itself was entertaining, the author had great stories that kept me engaged...but it was not at all what I expected, and I can't say I enjoyed it, but this was my fault and not the author's. Womp, womp.

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant - Another of my 'top 10' oldest books! I remember my sister reading this a million years ago, but it didn't sound interesting to me - the story of Dinah, Jacob's only daughter in the Old Testament. I read another book by Anita Diamant probably 5 years ago and decided to give this one a try and really enjoyed it! It's a beautiful story...although very slow-moving.

The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett [audiobook] - My in-person book club read The Mothers years ago, and I didn't love it {more so the topic than the book itself}, so I was curious to give this one a listen. It follows Black twins who are white passing and what happens when one starts living as if she is white and separates herself from her family. It was a fascinating character-driven story, and I cared very deeply for a lot of the characters! I was really invested and loved it...and then it just sort of ended? It could have been a 5-star read for me, but I just didn't think the ending did the rest of the book justice and fell flat.

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan - So many people raved about this book, that I gave it a try...even though I'm not sure if I'm a Jodi Picoult fan or not. This ended up being my favorite book of the month, but I'm still not sure I'm a fan of hers or not? I don't want to say a lot about this book because I don't want to spoil it, but it follows 2 characters as one {the mother of a boy accused of murdering his girlfriend} moves the story forward and one moves it backwards {the girl who was murdered}. Within 1 chapter, I was hooked and thought it was incredibly well-written and engaging. It got a smidge tedious about 2/3 of the way through and then the ending felt rushed. Overall, though, an excellent read!