Mood shift hack?!?!
I just posted about this on my Thursday, but wow, giving people a painted rock in person really brightens my day. It happened last Monday at work, this Sunday in the Starbucks drivethrough (which Steven got to witness, so that was special), and yesterday at the post office.
They were all so delighted and thankful for something so small, and in turn, it completely lifted my mood (especially yesterday, when I really needed it).
I should be more purposeful about using this as a little mood hack: always keeping a rock on hand, ready to share when someone (me?!) could use a surprise smile. I’ve oddly gotten out of the practice of always having one on me!
Reading Update (2025 #79–81)
[79] The Blue Bistro by Elin Hilderbrand
Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, saw in “Available Now” on Libby, Audio
Synopsis: Drifter Adrienne Dealey arrives in Nantucket broke and desperate for work, and lands a job at the island’s hottest restaurant, The Blue Bistro, despite having no experience. She quickly falls for the owner, Thatcher Smith, but can’t ignore his mysterious bond with the restaurant’s brilliant chef, Fiona, or the fact that the beloved bistro is closing at the end of the season. As the summer goes on, Adrienne must decide whether to put down roots or move on once again.
Review: This is a book that will make you think “thank f*ck I am not an immature person in my late twenties* who doesn’t have their shit together.” Adrienne’s mom died when she was a teenager and she’s been lost and roaming ever since. Adrienne is in denial that her father is in love with his girlfriend, and refuses to tell people her mother passed. So it’s not surprising that Adrienne has major insecurity with Thatcher’s best friend being a woman. It also doesn’t help that Thatcher doesn’t open up about it much. So really, this book is about some hella emotionally immature people. I mean there is a stunt Thatcher pulls that I will NEVER forget.
All that said, I enjoyed the story on audio. It’s just a summer of drama at a restaurant. You get to know the staff and the regulars and all the chaos of restaurant life and culture. I’m not sure I would have liked this on Kindle. I probably would have skimmed the detailed descriptions of food. But at 1.4x speed on audio, it worked!
*You can be any age and not have your shit together. Adrienne just happens to be 28. Thatcher is 36.
Recommend? Yes
[80] King of Wrath (Kings of Sin #1) by Ana Huang
Fiction / Romance / Billionaires, heard about on Shelf Respect, Kindle
Synopsis: When ruthless billionaire Dante Russo is blackmailed into an engagement with Vivian Lau, the poised daughter of a powerful jewelry family, he plans to end it as soon as possible. But the more time he spends with her, the harder it becomes to let her go. For Vivian, agreeing to the match is a duty to her family, not a dream—but falling for her husband-to-be was never supposed to happen.
Review: This set-up sounded cheesy when I first picked up the book, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much it wasn’t—and by how much I enjoyed it. I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised, since this is enemies-to-lovers adjace, and that is one of my favorite tropes. I loved watching their relationship unfold, especially seeing how the characters grew (a little spoilery: Vivian gains confidence with her family, and Dante softens into someone more caring). The “dark moment” had me wondering how they’d ever get past it, so it was exciting to see how that played out. I am looking forward to reading the next one.
Recommend? Yes
[81] My Friends by Fredrik Backman
Fiction / Literary, green light from Knox on The Popcast, Audio
Synopsis: Louisa, a foster kid about to age out, has always loved the painting The One of the Sea. Determined to see it in person, she sneaks into an exclusive gallery, but getting too close leads to a scuffle with a guard. In her escape, she bumps into the artist himself, and the two share a meaningful encounter. The next day, the artist dies, leaving the painting to Louisa through a trusted friend. Guided by that friend, Louisa traces the painting’s origins, uncovering the story of the deep friendship between the figures immortalized on the canvas.
Review: This is a clever, touching, and heartwarming story about found family and the many ways we express love. It’s also heartbreaking, and at times a little too clever. The exaggerated humor (like how many times do we need to read someone sighed so loud that all the shingles on the roof shook or some other bs) started to feel overdone toward the middle. Still, I get that the playful, over-the-top style was part of the book’s charm, and beneath it all was a truly beautiful, if lengthy, story. And honestly, the fact that the characters themselves keep joking about how long the story is feels pretty fitting.
Recommend? Sure
Random Thoughts Thursday 513
- One of my coworkers is always telling me how much she loves the painted rocks I bring in. Whenever I asked if she’d taken one yet, she’d say, “I haven’t seen the right one.” So every time I brought in a new rock, I’d show it to her and ask, “Is this the one?” She’d smile and say, “Cute! But not it.” I kept telling her I knew what I wanted to paint for her. Last weekend, I finally did, and when I brought it in on Monday, she loved it so much we both teared up. She said I made her day, and I told her her reaction made mine. It was a good way to start the week.
- On our walk Sunday, I told Steven how fun it is to learn A LOT about something random just because someone I know is so into it. He asked for an example, and of course my mind went blank—until I thought of Bad Bunny. Thanks to my gym friends, I know all about his Puerto Rico residency, how odd getting tickets was, the whole experience at the show… and that he’s doing a live concert on Amazon Prime this Saturday. Steven had no idea who Bad Bunny even was, so maybe that wasn’t the best example. Or maybe that made it the perfect one—now he knows too!
- At work this week someone noticed me using a bowl holder and asked what it was. I explained it keeps me from burning my hands when I pull my oatmeal out of the microwave, and that a friend made it for me. They laughed and said I always have the cutest little things and that I’m basically a walking Etsy page. Thanks? (They meant is as a compliment.) I probably didn’t help when I pointed out that my earrings were handmade by a friend, too. BUT WHAT IS LIFE IF I DON’T HAVE CUTE LITTLE THINGS TO BRING ME JOY DAMMIT.
- Do you ever catch yourself using certain people as examples of how you don’t want to act or turn out? Kind of a terrible question, but maybe it’s a common thing? Lately I’ve been wondering what those people would think if they knew they were that example? I wonder if I am anyone’s. Probably! Ha.
- All that said, one of my biggest goals in life is not to turn into a miserable, unfun old person. But damn, there is just constant shit being thrown my way. I’m really getting a lot of practice in not sweating the small things day after day after day (until one little thing trips me up (see: yesterday), and then I have to recollect myself and get back at it). I’m changing a lot though. BUT I AM STILL GOING TO FOCUS ON HAVING FUN DAMMIT.
Reading Update (2025 #76–78)
[76] Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood
Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, green light from Jamie on The Popcast/read the first in the series, Kindle
Synopsis: Maya Killgore is 23, still figuring out her post-college path—and still hung up on Conor Harkness, her brother’s best friend/business partner who came to her rescue when she was 20 and has held a complicated place in her life ever since. At 38, Conor insists their age gap and circumstances make anything between them impossible, and they haven’t spoken in ten months. Then they’re thrown together for a week in a Sicilian villa for her brother’s wedding.
Review: I tend to not care for Ali Hazelwood because she gets too entrenched in the smarty-pants women in STEM weeds. I appreciate the angle, but I lose interest. However! This one wasn’t too bad and! we have actual relationship building here, which I feel is missing from so many romances. It starts off and you’re like “why is Maya calling Conor her best friend? How the hell have they built a relationship that no one knows about?” Then it’s slowly explained and you really understand why she wants to be with him so badly. And I enjoyed that—the building, the flirting, the yearning. However, some of the stuff at the end of the book got a bit ick for me, so it kind of ruined it? Womp womp.
Recommend? Sure
[77] Lock Every Door by Riley Sager
Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense, saw in “Available Now” on Libby, Audio
Synopsis: When Jules Larsen takes a job as an apartment sitter at the exclusive Bartholomew in Manhattan, the rules seem simple—no visitors, no overnight absences, no bothering the wealthy residents. But after befriending fellow sitter Ingrid, who hints at the building’s dark secrets before mysteriously vanishing, Jules begins to uncover a sinister history of disappearances tied to the Bartholomew.
Review: Ugh! I have mixed feelings on this book! It kept me entertained, but was hella cheesy. Jules is a bit of a doofus, and comes off as annoying and pathetic by the narrator (making me wonder if I’d like it better on print) and I was actually rooting for her NOT to survive. Ha. Both those things remind me of how I feel when I read Freida McFadden books. But like I said, it kept me engaged, and I wanted to find out what was actually going on. So… I guess I like books like that?
Recommend? Sure
[78] Wild Card (Rose Hill #4) by Elsie Silver
Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, next in series, Kindle
Synopsis: Gwen and Bash spend a magical night stuck in an airport together, then an incorrectly inputted telephone number keeps them from reconnecting. Then Bash runs into Gwen by chance—but she’s dating the son he just found out he had at the age of 15… over 25 years ago. More time passes and Gwen ends up in Bash’s small town, and they try to keep their distance from one another, until they can’t anymore.
Review: I loved the chemistry between Gwen and Bash from the start. It’s classic grumpy (him)/ sunshine (her). The stuff with the son was a bit weird, though. It’s a huge part of the story—Bash has always wanted to be a father. He’s divorced because his wife didn’t want kids (then he runs into her, pregnant and with a toddler, yikes) and he had no idea his high school girlfriend was pregnant—she stops going to school or talking to him, and he finds out 25 years after the kid has been in the world. So all that said, having a relationship with his son is very important to him, but his attraction and connection with Gwen is overpowering… there is just a lot going on. I enjoyed it, but the parts with the son always made me feel really anxious! Like when are they gonna tell him?!
Recommend? Yes (the entire series)
Annual corn maze flight
I’m going to try something new, where instead of telling you the plans we had and how weather affected them, I will just tell you WHAT WE DID. Let’s see how this goes!
We got to the airport midday and pulled the 172 out of the hangar, with some help. Even though Steven got endorsed on the 182 this week, it isn’t on his insurance yet (nor can he book it in the system yet).
We left the airport and headed west. There was a scattered cloud layer at 2,100 AGL that was easy to get up and through.
A short 15 minutes after we left, we were at our destination—the Richardson Farm Corn Maze!
It’s Back to the Future themed this year, and I had told Steven I wanted to see it from above, because we also did this last year (on the exact same date, with Val!) and it was a lot of fun.
After that we headed north, and Steven asked me if I wanted to fly! Yes, please! That was a nice surprise! So I worked on keeping the plane straight and level and using the rudder. I even did my first ever turns (so fun!) and my first time adjusting the power to descend. I felt very cool.
Then Steven took controls back (well, he had his hand on the yoke and feet on the rudder the whole time) and we flew back!
We only had the engine running an hour, but I had so much fun! I was excited that turning the plane was so intuitive (after he explained the rudder and turn coordinator).
Well there ya go. Probably the shortest flying post I’ve ever written!
It feels wrong. Ha ha.
Random Thoughts Thursday 512
- Steven got his endorsement on the Cessna 182 this week. Yay! It’s bigger than the 172 we normally fly, and can carry more weight. And for my birthday he gifted me a trip in this plane! So maybe that will happen this fall. 🤞 We need a vacation.
- I’m friends with a coworker of mine on DuoLingo. I was telling her I switched from Spanish, which she is also studying, over to German and the way it teaches it is just NOT sticking for me, that I need to know the language rules and have all these questions. Long story long, turns out she MAJORED in German and was able to answer a lot of my questions! How cool and random. So now I am practicing my German with her.
- How often do you have sound turned on when you are scrolling Instagram and AREN’T annoyed by the music people randomly add to their posts? Is this just me? INSTAGRAM, please stop encouraging this!
- Speaking of Instagram, I saw this amazing Ctrl + backspace tip on there. MIND BLOWN!
- And now for the super random—I have been so sensitive to smells lately, but especially this week. Perfume, sewage, marijuana—they actually make me feel ill. I wonder if I should track it and see if it’s related to my cycle or something.
- Okay, a bit more random. Two vague things I’ve been thinking about a lot this week. 1. How it’s nice to go through something with a lot of people and have them get it, but how it’s hard when people react to things so differently. 2. How people don’t know you want something from them if you don’t tell them. As far as I know, people don’t read minds.
Forgotten anniversaries & Saturday randomness
Last month I was talking to one of the cleaners at my office about how my anniversary was coming up on September 1st. She told me her anniversary was a few days later, on the 3rd. I thought to myself “if I see her on the 3rd, I should wish her a happy anniversary!”
Flash forward to September 3rd this week and I see her and say “happy anniversary!”
She’s all “what?” with a confused face, and I immediately think I must have gotten the day wrong.
So I say “Oh! I thought you told me your wedding anniversary was today! Did I get it wrong?”
She’s like, “No, I was married in 1991, on September 3rd.”
Then I watch as she’s like, “wait, that’s today!”
Ha! We laughed quite a bit. I guess when you’ve been married that long, you totally forget. For what it’s worth, later in the week I accidentally told her it was our 17th, not 18th, anniversary.
This story is much funnier in person.
We attended the Northern Illinois Airshow today. It’s close to home—held at the airport we fly out of!
We had beautiful (chilly!) fall-like weather. It was nice to wear a sweatshirt.
Watching aerobatics and seeing the cool old planes and fighter jets never gets old.
And we got to visit with Steven’s old flying instructor, Josh, which was nice! We hadn’t seen him in over a year!
I’m glad we went!
I photoshopped a red spot off my chin in that first photo. A weird scab showed up on my chin Monday the 18th and despite leaving the scab alone, it looks like it’s going to leave a mark. CRY! (I’ve photoshopped it out of most photos!)
I wasn’t planning about posting about it. Slow Saturday night?
And finally, when we got back from the airshow I looked outside at the garden and told Steven I thought I saw some green beans.
So, funny story—these didn’t look like they were growing so I’d forgotten about them. Now we have a ton of delicious green beans! Yum!
My snister’s new cat (!!!!!) Figaro (aka Figgy) sent a hilarious ball launcher toy to our cats—it comes with two plastic guns that you shoot pom poms out of. Our cats have been going crazy for it (and it’s a lot of fun for the humans too). Thanks, Figgy!
Reading Update (2025 #73–75)
[73] The Compound by Aisling Rawle
Fiction / Psychological, green light from Knox on The Popcast?, audio
Synopsis: Lily wakes up on a remote desert compound to compete with eighteen others on a hit reality show. Contestants must outlast one another while winning challenges for luxuries and basic necessities, all under constant surveillance. As the game escalates, Lily must decide how far she’s willing to go to claim the ultimate prize.
Review: This is not fast-paced, focuses entirely on what happens at the compound (the contestants aren’t allowed to talk about their life outside of the compound, as a rule), and barely even hints at what’s going on in the real world. These characters are mostly unlikable, and not just for being so materialistic and vain. All that said, it was very engaging on audio (I bet I would have DNF’d the Kindle version), held my interest, and made me think. And an important note—while it leaned a bit Lord of the Flies, it never got too graphic or violent (I did skip the part where they killed some birds to eat though!).
Recommend? Yeah
[74] Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Fiction / Women, because TJR, Kindle
Synopsis: Joan Goodwin, a reserved astronomy professor, leaps at the chance to join NASA’s first class of female astronauts in 1980. As she trains alongside a diverse, driven group of candidates, Joan discovers unexpected friendship, passion, and love while preparing for her first mission.
Review: Ugh! I really wanted to like this more than I did! The love story was beautiful. The fraught relationship between Joan and her sister made me feel fired up. The writing was amazing, as you’d expect from TJR. But as a sci-fi fan, the space part of the story was just NOT doing it for me (and yes, the cover says “a love story”—so I get that was not the focus)! The plot goes back and forth between a 1984 mission gone wrong and all of Joan’s training and the suspenseful mission-gone-wrong stuff just felt ho hum. Actually, all the space stuff was disinteresting, and there was a lot in there! There is a scene where Joan is pointing out the constellations to someone and I just… didn’t care. I know the focus was on Joan discovering herself, which was a beautiful journey, but the space parts totally made me lose interest. It was a weird reading experience.
Recommend? Nah
[75] These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean
Fiction / Women, green light from Jamies on The Popcast, audio
Synopsis: When her domineering billionaire father dies, Alice Storm reluctantly returns to the family’s private island for the funeral. She hasn’t seen or spoke to her family in five years and intends to leave immediately after. Instead, she and her siblings are forced into a week-long inheritance game of manipulative tasks designed to expose secrets, rivalries, and betrayals, all while being judged by a man Alice thought she was having a one-night stand with but turns out to work for her father.
Recommend: This is completely giving Succession vibes with a dash of effed-up romance (how could he not tell her he worked for her dad?!), so if you liked that show, you’ll like this. It’s less “rich people behaving badly” and more “rich people being entitled and insufferable.” The writing is beautiful, and it’s narrated by Julia Whelan, so I was immediately invested, and enjoyed finding out more and more details about how horrible, selfish and messed up this family is.
Recommend? Yes
Random Thoughts Thursday 511
- A coworker surprised me yesterday with this cute pumpkin she grew herself!
- Speaking of work, I continue to be amazed at the unhinged things coming out of my mouth. I was going to note that I need to work on my filter but, dude, I gotta cope. If that means ridiculous jokes and self gaslighting instead of crying, so be it! (Yes, going off my anxiety meds is going great, thanks for asking! In all seriousness, it has been fine.)
- I had my quarterly color/cut at the salon Friday. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to keep it so blond or go a bit darker for fall. We decided to make it darker in the back but still keep the blond along my face, and I think this is actually the lightest blondest I’ve ever been! It’s not what I was expecting, but I really like it!
- Just so I have it documented, Starbuck’s current full name is: Starbuck Cooters McScooters Bucatini Pew Pew Stacy What Are You Doing? Baby Rain Cinnamon OurLastsName.
- After our flight on Tuesday, Steven and I were discussing Aeronautical Decision-Making (ADM) models—the approaches pilots use to evaluate information and decide on a course of action. Like everything else in aviation, there were acronyms for all the different processes (one is the Three Ps—Perceive, Process, Perform). I told Steven if I was a pilot I would use REGRET to make decisions, as in “Is there a possibility I will regret this decision? If yes, then I won’t do it.” But he told me I needed to come up with a REGRET acronym, so we worked on it together, lol:
Backseat passenger princess
I got to tag along on Steven’s latest 182 lesson yesterday and be a backseat passenger princess!
I haven’t ridden in the 182 since we flew it to Kansas City in December of 2023. It’s so roomy (compared to the 172 anyway!).
Steven’s lesson was to fly to two different airports then fly back.
The first one (KFLD) was all the way in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin—kind of a haul! This plane goes a lot faster than the 172 (I kept peeking at the airspeed indicator and seeing speeds around 140–150 knots 😱), but it was still a long flight (2 hours total time), which I loved, because for most of it I looked like this:
Just staring out the window, taking it all in! It was nice to take a break from paying such close attention. I did follow along on the paper sectional, and eventually got out the iPad, but I was mostly just watching the scenery, trying to follow along on how to use the Garmin, and listening to the radios and all the extra stuff Steven had to do to fly the 182.
Holy crap the 182 is complicated. I’m looking forward to sitting in the front seat when Steven is checked out on it (just a couple more hours to go) and learning more! I learned a lot just from sitting in the back and listening.
We landed on runway 18 in Fond du Lac,
then we did the shortest taxi ever, and did a short field takeoff on runway 27.
We flew to KUNU, Dodge County Airport, a completely new airport to us,
and did a short field landing, then did a short, soft field takeoff.
Then we flew back to our home airport, which was about 70nm away, so we had time to chat.
I was trying to really behave myself and not say much unless spoken to. I think I did a decent job!
Before long we were back at our home airport!
All smiles! I loved tagging along!
Hi! I’m Kim, a 40-something-year-old living in northeastern Illinois with my husband Steven, and our cats, Khaleesi, Apollo, Starbuck, and Eddard aka Ned. My current main hobbies are running, painting rocks, flying, reading, and eating. I follow a vegan lifestyle and work in an account management role. I write about a variety of topics and consider this a “life” blog – a place I can share anything that’s on my mind. Please visit the “About” page to get a better idea of who I am! 🙂
