I’m alive!! Took some much, much, MUCH needed time off for Christmas after the craziness of the busiest time of year for work and for life too. Went down to my own little piece of paradise in Florida and basically did nothing for 17 glorious days except for sit in the sun, read a ton and eat my bodyweight in delicious food. It was freaking great!! Everyone’s been asking me for an updated book list since the last one I did was a while ago. You can find the last book list here. So here goes… (and if you know me, you know I have fairly varied tastes- so my list is kinda all over the place. Horror, mystery/thriller/stalkers, supernatural, MC (motorcycle club), a little p*rn, autobiographies,  and some war/guns.) Books are listed in no particular order.

Lone Survivor- amazing, true story of Marcus Luttrell a Navy SEAL and his story of survival in Afghanistan. Cannot believe the will to live and the never give up attitude in everything he did. American Sniper- had to read Chris Kyle’s story before seeing the movie, which I have not seen yet. Another amazing Navy SEAL. So interesting. (I actually liked Lone Survivor better of the two, but loved the whole sniper aspect of this book.)The Magpies- reading this one now, about halfway done. Story about neighbors from hell. I’m getting a little Rosemary’s Baby feeling from it, which of course, I love. Penpal- creepy as shit. The story jumps around a little out of order so its hard to always tell what event happened before or after but it was really good. Love how the narrator described things, especially when he was describing things in his childhood- I remember feeling some of those things as a kid. You can definitely put the pieces together of whats going on and how each smaller story/event interconnects, but it is so creepy and disturbing you almost don’t want to. This one I won’t forget. Not horror/supernatural. But horror/thiscouldreallyhappenandomgpeoplearefuckingcrazyscary.
Because She Loves Me- same author as the Magpies. Basically about a stalker girlfriend- got shades of the movie “Swimfan” a bit. I liked the overall premise of the book and the writing was good, but I was kinda surprised it was written by a guy. The guy’s point of view in the story seemed kinda “girly”- like the thoughts in his head didn’t seem like they were written by a guy but written by a girl that was trying to sound like a guy. Still good, but the twist didn’t make much sense, at least to me. Don’t want to give anything away though, so I’ll stop there. Still worth a read- probably good for the beach. Remember Me Like This- a story of child abduction and his return to his family and the price they’ve all paid/how their lives changed. Told from his brother’s, mother’s, father’s and grandfather’s viewpoints. Wish it included the kid’s viewpoint too. A little shades of “Deep End of the Ocean” going on with this one. Good read.Heart Recaptured- a MC book, the second in the Hades Hangmen series. The first book in the series was about the President of the MC and his girl, this one covered the VP and his girl. The girls are from a completely bizarre religious cult and have absolutely no way of functioning in the real world and get hooked up with an outlaw MC. Makes for an interesting story. Some good s*x, unlikely couples. My only complaint was by the end, I wanted to smack the girl. She was a whole ‘nother level of psycho. Revival- none of my booklists would be complete without a book by SK. A great read, always love his characters. I wish we were more in the head of the “preacher” to see his “why”. Diary of a Submissive & No Ordinary Love Story- if you liked 50 Shades, these were the real deal- not fiction, but her actual account. Written by a woman in England about her life as a submissive. Interesting and of course, filled with p*rn.Wild- another one I wanted to read the book before seeing the movie (haven’t seen in yet). Story of a woman who basically loses her shit and decides to hike the pacific crest trail on her own to get her shit back together. Really liked it, kept the pages turning. There is so much going on in her head the whole book, don’t see how a movie can do it justice. The Wicked Girls- if you like Laura Lippman this was a great one. I was trying to read it during busy season so it would’ve been a lot faster had I waited because I had to read it so piecemeal. A story of two young girls who are accused of murdering another little girl and then where they eventually end up in life. Not 100% sure that the ending “matched” the rest & pace of the story, but still really good.
The Signal Bend Series – every once in a while you get a series of books that for whatever reason you just freaking LOVE, ya know? This was it for me. So much so, I’ve read the whole series (7.5 books) twice and keep contemplating a 3rd reading. Really, so hard to explain to make them sound as good as they were. Basically about a MC (the Night Horde) and all of their members. Each member gets his own book, (except the first two books are about the president) with his love interest. But the overall story of the MC and the shit they’re in (and they’re in sooooooome shit) flows thru the whole series and the characters all make appearances in the others books. The author is really an amazing writer. I was so surprised- who woulda thought!?! I figured a trashy, easy read, with hot MC guys, lots of s*x (oh, there was that for sure!!) and stupid plots. The s*x was hot, the guys were so hot (love me a bad boy with a soft heart and a brotherhood he’s so dedicated to), but the plots were actually great and interesting (and page turning!) and she really made you care about the characters. I cried the ugly cry more than once thru the series (ok, a bunch of times but one time was really, really bad. REALLY bad. And if you read the series and fall in love with them like I did, you’ll do the ugly cry too). She’s starting a new MC series with ties to this one (she said this one is done) so I cannot freaking wait to start those next!! (YOU MUST READ THEM IN ORDER!)Dancing with Myself- got to see Billy Idol in concert this past year (yeah, that was awesome!!) and even got to meet him like the fangirl I am since I’m 15 (even awesomer)!!! Love that Rockville Centre got a mention (did you know that he lived here for a short time when he was a little kid?! When I met him one of the things I told him was that I’m from RVC too. I actually knew that before the book). He led an interesting (of course VERY rock-n-roll with s*x, drugs like crazy, women, etc) life and I loved all the other bands he discussed in the book too. Lots of backstory of him growing up and how he got involved with music to start. If you like him, you’ll like the book. He’s a lot smarter than I thought. Don’t Try to Find Me- another good one. Teenaged girl runs away and her parents try to find her. Where and how she ends up where she does (not giving it away) is very interesting. If you liked “Reconstrucing Amelia” you’ll like this. Got another bunch in my queue and lots of time to read in the next few months before busy season starts again in the spring. So hoping to post another list in a few months with a lot on it. Stay tuned…

If you are familiar with the show thats alluded to in the title of this post, you’ll know whats coming up. A few shots of my favorite things in the neighborhood for Halloween today & tonight. Pictures of the kids coming soon, just wanted to get these up tonight before I’m too drunk to function. Which should be really, really soon. (I earned my wine hard today and must’ve walked no less than 10 miles today. No, really!)

Love everything about this spooky picture, but especially the shadowy black figure in the background.

Every year this house does something fabulous for Halloween, usually scary guys, zombies, creepy clowns, etc. This was the first year they did anything with The Walking Dead. And if you know me at all, you know I was freaking thrilled beyond belief!! The characters look like the characters, even down to their stances. I mean check out Michonne in the background. And Carl. Rick even has his bandaged hand. And all Daryl is missing is his wings on the back of his vest. Ok, the moon isn’t from tonight but it was perfect to include anyway. So there you go. Now I’m gonna go polish off my 3rd glass of wine. Happy Halloween!

Known these awesome people since Jack & Patrick were 3 months old at Gymboree. Who ever would’ve predicted that 15 years later (!!!) we’d all still be friends. Not to mention throwing another ton of kids into the mix! Ray and Maureen were nice enough to host a summer BBQ for all of us. Celeste and her girls flew up from Georgia, and the only ones missing were Maureen and her crew but they just couldn’t make it in from Michigan (luckily, 2 days later the boys and I went to Michigan to visit for a few days so we did get to see them too). Hopefully some year we’ll ALL be together again at the same time in the same place.

The original 7. (new picture. top row: jack, patrick, beau. bottom row: molly, kerrin & ryan. old picture, the same except Connor on top left.) They still look exactly the same, only huge.

Jack, Connor, Beau, Ryan, Kerrin, Molly & PatrickAnd in 2014, its pure chaos! From left, back row: Ali, Kerrin, Molly, Jack, Patrick, Beau, Mac, Ryan & Peyton. Middle row: Johnny, Joey, Timmy, Eli. Front row: Teddy & Luke. (not pictured in this one: Bridget)Utter chaos.We always said these two look kinda alike. The girls.The boys. The moms!! These are my girls. Love them so much!!!And a picture from Michigan. Jack, Connor, Katie, Patrick, Timmy & Spencer.