4 for 2024: Flying Lessons Learned
4 for 2024 continues!
1️⃣ All flights deserve the same amount of planning
During our October Missouri/Arkansas trip, we encountered two situations where the airports we landed at didn’t have fuel when we needed it. With so many airports around, it seems like it should be easy to just hop over to one for a quick fuel stop, right? However, because the airports were so close together, we didn’t have enough time in the air to properly discuss crucial details like pattern altitude, pattern entry, weather, and more. We should have reviewed these aspects more thoroughly on the ground before taking off, even though it was only a 10-minute flight.
[Original posts: fuel stop 1, fuel stop 2]
2️⃣ Don’t trust skydivers
We’ve flown to two active skydiving airports, and our first visit went much more smoothly than the second. On the second trip, Steven was diligent in speaking with the skydiving facility owner to confirm it was okay for him to take off, and he also checked with the other pilot on the radio (the one who had dropped off the skydivers), who assured him there would be at least 5 minutes before the skydivers landed. So we took off, but shortly after becoming airborne, I spotted a skydiver spiraling down fast in 360s, and Steven had to turn at a much lower altitude than he would have liked to give the skydiver ample space. Despite all the communication with the owner and the other pilot, the unpredictability of skydivers once they’re in the air became clear. It’s better to wait until they’re on the ground before taking off or landing.
[Original posts: successful skydiving encounter, scary skydiving encounter]
3️⃣ Finding a “new-to-you” airport is a lot harder than you’d think
Small airports are surprisingly tricky to spot from the sky. They don’t take up much space, and are sometimes tucked between things or right on the edge of something, making it challenging to locate them from 10 or even 5 miles out. This year’s award for the hardest-to-find airport goes to 58C – a tiny grass strip in a field!
I really want to get better at this in 2025. A good starting point will be studying satellite images and familiarizing myself with the surrounding landmarks. That way, if I can’t spot the airport right away, I’ll have reliable reference points to guide me.
[Original post here]
4️⃣ Don’t rely on ForeFlight
This is a special lesson, just for Kim, which I apparently need to learn quite a few times before it sticks. The lesson is USE YOUR FREAKING EYES TO LOOK OUT THE WINDOWS KIM, AND JUST USE FOREFLIGHT FOR REFERENCE AND WHEN ASKED. The examples are too embarrassing for me to share here, but let’s just say I’ve said some dumb stuff because of something I saw on ForeFlight. I’ve gotten a little better with it as I’ve learned the app and flown more. I know what is important to share with Steven (airport elevation, radio frequencies, weather, pattern altitude, runway numbers, other planes nearby close to our altitude) and what isn’t. But the truth is I have a lot of improving to do. Good thing I’m not the pilot in command MUAH HA HA.
Honorable Mention: We need to meal plan better on long flights!
Christmas 2024 Highlights
Some highlights from our trip to Iowa for Christmas! (We were there Christmas Eve evening through the morning December 26th – short trip!)
Christmas Eve
- Obviously, being with all my family!
- Crunchwraps for dinner being a huge hit
- The sweatshirt our nephew William gave me
- The holiday photos book my snis made us. She had every family photo we’ve done from the last 40 years printed into a book and gave us all one!
- Pawning my painted rocks off on everyone
- Playing Kahoot trivia with the family (really getting into inside joke territory but I have to share because this made me laugh – on the first round my brother Nick put his name as “Steven” so Steven wrote “the real Steven” and on the second round Steven wrote his name as “Nick but smarter” but the game cut off the r and it was just “Nick but smarte” and gosh, that really made us giggle. For the record, I had had one alcoholic beverage and everything seemed quite funny.)
- My hair looking so cute. Ha!
Christmas Day
- Sleeping in past 6:30
- My snister’s kids showing me all the cool gifts they got
- Eating sugary treats all day long
- Steven surprising me with a necklace (even though this was a “no gift Christmas” between us!)
- Me insisting to my dad that he let me carry the presents up the stairs since his knee was bugging him, him telling me they were heavy, then me telling him “I bench pressed 2 45s this week” and him hearing I “benched 245.” Ha. No. Not quite. I’m maybe at 135?
- Seeing everyone open their gifts – we were especially excited for my dad to open his AC/DC tickets, and for my mom to open the custom puzzle we had made for her
- Eating the vegan lasagna Steven made. I had a whole rant written about running out of meat lasagna and it looking like we were trying to get people to eat our vegan one since that is what was left but I will keep that to myself.
- Playing games and building legos with William
- Edited to add: When William said “Aunt Kim! Aunt Kim! Guess what I figured out? Your cats are like your kids!” Ha ha ha.
- Laughing like crazy with Snis, Mom, Dad, & Steven about I can’t even remember what! All I remember is that we had ribbon candy in our mouth and it made laughing even funnier!
Dec 26
- Building a Mini Blocks set with William
- Visiting the new cafe attached to the bookstore in town
- Playing “the floor is lava” with Ella
- Making it home after driving home with 1/4-1/2 mile visibility due to fog for the entire 4 hour 45 min drive. Ugh! We had reserved the plane for these three days and we may have made it there Tuesday but we knew we would not make it back due to that fog! And we were right.
- Giving the cats their Christmas gifts (from my snis and their sitter)!
Reading Update (2024 #82-84)
[82] The Housemaid’s Wedding by Freida McFadden
Fiction / Thrillers / Psychological, loan from Sandra, paperback
Synopsis: Set between books two and three of The Housemaid series, this short story follows Millie on her wedding day.
Review: I had no idea this short story even existed until my gym friend Sandra loaned me her copy. Unfortunately, it was bad. Completely unnecessary. Nothing really happens, and the prologue doesn’t even make sense (like… did it actually happen or was it a dream sequence?). It was one of those books where as soon as I finished I immediately went to Goodreads to see if others disliked it as much as I did.
Recommend? No
[83] Ready or Not by Cara Bastone
Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, rec from Tiff, Snis, & Val, audio
Synopsis: When Eve discovers she’s unexpectedly pregnant after a one-night stand, her carefully predictable life is thrown into upheaval. Her once-rock-solid friendship with her best friend Willa grows strained, while Willa’s dependable older brother Shep steps in to support her in ways she didn’t anticipate. As Eve navigates the complexities of her relationships – including with the conflicted baby’s father – she begins to question whether she’s been holding herself back from the life she truly wants.
Review: Stephany’s Goodreads review summed it up perfectly: “This book was a goddamn delight.” The audiobook was fantastic, and despite my usual reservations about friends-to-lovers stories (as mentioned in my last post), I absolutely loved this one. Watching the lovable characters fall in love without any unnecessary dark moments was so satisfying. I didn’t think I’d care much for the plot, but it completely won me over. This was such a feel-good read!
Recommend? Big YES!
[83] The Housemaid is Watching (The Housemaid #3) by Freida McFadden
Fiction / Thrillers / Psychological, loan from Sandra, paperback
Synopsis: Millie moves her family into the dream home they can barely afford, determined to leave her troubled past behind. But her new neighbors are far from welcoming. One is overly nosy and judgy, while another seems suspiciously interested in Millie’s husband – despite having one of her own. As Millie struggles to settle in, she keeps feeling that something in the neighborhood just isn’t right.
Review: These books must have something going for them if I read all three, right? And they do – they’re entertaining, addictive pageturners, whose super simple writing makes it easy to read longer than you intended. But by the end of the series, I was completely over the author’s writing style, Millie’s personality, and the over-the-top twists.
Recommend? I mean, I read all three, so sure?
Random Thoughts Thursday 479
I forgot I had this post drafted! I started editing it as a recap of Christmas in bullet point form but yeah, that was getting long and obnoxious. I’ll write a full recap if I feel like it!
- We just got back from seeing my family in Iowa for Christmas! It was a fun trip with lots of good food, laughs, and opening gifts. I love watching everyone open gifts, and was super excited to see my dad’s reaction when he opened the AC/DC concert tickets I got for him and me. And I adore this custom stationery my snis made me of our cats!
- Ha, before Christmas my snis and I each bought something for ourselves from the other’s wishlist – she bought a silk bonnet from mine and I bought lip gloss from hers (and we got them for each other as well).
- While we were out with Jen and Troy last weekend, we talked about my FAFO post. They mentioned they had to look up what it meant – ‘f*ck around and find out.’ They said their search showed it originates from the military and conveys a ‘come at me’ or ‘try me’ attitude, and they were kind of surprised that was my MO. I explained that is NOT how I interpret it, and for me it’s literally ‘don’t plan and see what happens’ or ‘play stupid games win stupid prizes.’ Ha. It doesn’t involve anyone else.
- A small town magazine asked for permission to use a photo of mine saying they would give me photo credit in in the article. I said yes and sent it, and… they did not credit me. It completely does NOT matter, but part of me is annoyed and thinking about saying something to them.
Happy Birthday Steven!
We had a lot of fun celebrating Steven’s birthday this weekend!
On Saturday night we went to HuHot and Cold Stone Creamery with Jen and Troy. It’s always so fun to catch up with them!
On Sunday (his birthday) we started the day with presents, then we flew to Janesville, WI for brunch, then we made homemade döner kebabs for dinner.
We’ve been craving vegan döner ever since having it in Germany in April. I’ve tried an American version in Seattle, and we both tried it in Chicago, and both were meh, so Steven decided to make it at home.
First he had to figure out the bread – I won’t get into the technicality of it but it’s a special thick but not dense bread. Something about the water/bread ratio? Who knows. I’m horrible in the kitchen (but will enthusiastically try whatever he makes me!).
Steven researched and combined two recipes and pretty much nailed it after three tries:
He also made homemade seitan, and we got a ton of ingredients (the crappy part of his birthday – grocery shopping) to make all the toppings (all vegan) – garlic sauce, hot sauce, sweet onion with some special spice, shredded lettuce, shredded red cabbage, tomatoes, and cucumbers.
They were delish and the closest to the real thing we’ve had! Obviously we need to go back to Germany (maybe Berlin?) to have more, but this is a good substitute until that happens.
This is such a perfect example of who Steven is – he sees a challenge, figures it out, and makes it happen. Like tackling this complicated bread so we could have homemade doner kebab! He’s like that in every arena of his life. Every day I feel lucky I have a partner who’s always up for a challenge and makes things happen.
And now for the sappy part (ha, no, that last paragraph was not it!)! This has been an incredible year for Steven, and while he’s too humble to brag, I’m not! He got his pilot’s license, grew his small business in amazing ways, and still balanced it all with taking a few trips and making time for us. I’m always proud of him and in awe of everything he accomplishes.
Happy Birthday, Steven!
Ha, did you think I was not going to share a few details from our flight? THINK AGAIN!
First of all, how lucky are we that the weather was nice enough on December 22nd to fly?! Woo hoo!
It was cold though, and things operate a bit differently when it’s cold.
But first I am going to detour from THAT thought so say things were also operating differently because the school moved kind of back to their old location and was on a different side of the airport. Which we only knew because Steven called the day before to add an hour to our flight. He specifically asked what to do and how to get the plane and got the response of “someone will be there.” Let’s just say it took us a while to find that someone. It’s a good thing we added that extra time!
Okay, back to business.
Once we got to the plane I was excited to discover we got to do preflight in the heated hangar!!! Since it’s so cold out, all the planes stay inside unless they are being used. It was my first time experiencing this and me likey. If the plane had been outside, we would have done some of the typical engine off preflight checklist later (flaps and lights) after the plane had warmed up AND I WAS SO READY TO REMIND STEVEN OF THIS AND PRETTY PROUD OF MYSELF FOR REMEMBERING but I didn’t need to. I’d say “next time” but it was lovely to preflight in the hangar so I’m good if I never get to do that reminder.
I also learned while cleaning the window to always clean in the direction of the wind, not in circles. If you clean in circles and the window gets scratched, the way light refracts makes the scratches more noticeable than if you clean with the wind in straight lines. Good to know!
So our plan was to fly to Janesville and have brunch at Bessie’s Diner, an on airport restaurant. I knew they didn’t have any vegan options spelled out, but figured I’d order hashbrowns or toast or something.
The clouds were high and it was a beautiful moody day:
It was my first time seeing patches of snow on a flight!
Our flight there was uneventful. We did have someone on our same path headed straight for us out of Janesville, but everyone followed the rules – we both went to the right and they maintained their lower altitude and we stayed at our higher one. I love it when everyone behaves.
I was very proud of myself when Steven was getting into the pattern at Janesville and asked me what his final (final is the last part of the pattern before landing) altitude was and I told him “13” without missing a beat. I AM TRYING SO HARD TO BE A GOOD UNOFFICIAL COPILOT.
Anyway.
It took us a bit to figure out HOW to get to the restaurant, cause we are us, but then we got in, and…
Santa was there and they had a fixed buffet menu! So Steven ate and I didn’t want to pay $25 for potatoes and fruit so I just chatted with him knowing I would eat my fig bar back in the plane (yes this bit me in butt later and I had a meltdown after grocery shopping that I tried to keep to myself since it was Steven’s birthday and he already deals with me melting down over something every day).
It was a cute little restaurant and I was excited to check out someplace new!
I talked to Santa and told him what I wanted for Christmas. For a sign claiming he “flew in there” he did not seem amused when I told him I wanted a plane. No matter. Ha.
So was it the stopping to talk to Santa or Steven talking to another pilot on the ramp that made us run a bit later for our 12:30 return? We’ll never know but thankfully we had a tailwind, and Steven came in hot at Waukegan and we were on the ramp just a few minutes late! And no one was waiting for us, so alllllll good. I can’t wait for our next flight!
4 for 2024: Manis
Really reaching, right? Ha! But here are my four fave manicures from the year!
I’ve been going to my wonderful nail tech, Lorena, since 2018, and we’ve become good friends over the years. She’s actually the friend I see in person the most – we spend two hours together every other week, chatting the entire time. She even goes to my gym! Lorena is amazing.
Anyway, Lorena did all these manis!
1️⃣ Alternating Hearts
2️⃣ Pink Textured Flowers
3️⃣ Purple Leopard
4️⃣ Pink Holiday
Honorable Mention:
Okay, I love the one I just got. In case you didn’t see it in Friday’s post!
And this is the one I got the most compliments on. Oddly, it’s always the simple ones that get the most compliments!
Having my fingernails painted brings me a lot of joy (and keeps me from chewing them and picking at my cuticles). I’m grateful it’s something I can afford and fit into my schedule.
Reading Update (2024 #79-81)
[79] Variation by Rebecca Yarros
Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, because I love this author, Kindle
Synopsis: Allie is a renowned ballerina sidelined by an injury, and Hudson is a rescue swimmer for the Coast Guard. Their paths first crossed in high school when Hudson saved Allie and her sister from a sinking canoe. Eleven years later, they’re no longer in touch, but fate brings them back together for the summer when Allie returns to Hudson’s hometown to recover from her injury.
Review: Well, that recap made the book sound a little dull, and honestly? It kind of was. While the writing is solid, the story felt underwhelming. There was no spark between the characters, and the big reveal about that summer – the reason they stopped speaking -doesn’t come until the very end and didn’t feel worth the buildup. I’m not usually a big fan of second-chance romances, and this one obviously didn’t change my mind.
There’s also a subplot about the parentage of Hudson’s adopted niece that was confusing and resolved in a way I couldn’t quite follow. Add to that a lot of ballet talk that went over my head, and it just didn’t click for me. I was so excited to read this when I remembered it had come out, but in the end, it was just… meh.
ALSO, Yarros mentioned Smartwater specifically three times and her characters getting water out of the fridge OFTEN. What is with her bottled water from the fridge obsession?
Recommend? Sadly, no
[80] Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison
Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, saw in “Available Now” on Libby, audio
Synopsis: Stella’s Christmas tree farm has been hit with a string of bad luck, and she’s struggling to keep it afloat. In a last-ditch effort to save the farm, she enters a competition hosted by a social media influencer, hoping to win the $100K grand prize. There’s just one problem – she lies on the application, claiming that she owns the farm with her boyfriend. The catch? Her best friend Luca isn’t her boyfriend at all. Enter the fake dating trope.
Review: Although this book has Hallmark movie vibes, it’s wasn’t that cheesy, which surprised me! That said, it’s slow-moving and dull. The influencer doesn’t even show up until the last 30% of the book. And (spoiler!) we have the classic “I thought we were just pretending and didn’t really love each other, even though we’ve been friends forever” dark moment, and… I think I need a break from that trope. And I loved the narrator for Stella’s voice but the way she voiced men was cringe. I wonder if I would have liked this better on my Kindle, but I also think I would have been too bored to finish it.
Recommend? No
[81] Holiday Romance by Catherine Walsh
Fiction / Romance / Holiday, saw on Amazon ad, Kindle
Synopsis: Molly and Andrew have become friends over the years, taking the same flight from Chicago to their home country of Ireland every Christmas. This marks their 10th year in a row, but a snowstorm throws their plans into chaos. As they navigate the challenges of getting home, a kiss under the mistletoe sparks something more between them.
Review: Similarly to the last book, this was not overly cheesy, it just didn’t have a spark that kept me engaged. At least in this one, they were honest about their feelings for each other and the “dark moment” was something else! But overall, not doing it for me.
Recommend? No
A realization
Ha, so, ALL of these books were friends to lovers trope (with the first being second chance as well) and it’s very clear to me now I should avoid that trope for a bit!
Make sure you avoid trauma
I saw my vascular doctor* for my annual appointment yesterday. First things first – he told me everything looks great and to keep doing what I’m doing. Good news. It’s been nice to be in a place where I’m getting consistent INR* readings and my meds have been the same for months. MY PHARMACY EVEN FILLED THEM CORRECTLY LAST TIME. What a wonderful surprise that was. I AM SO SICK OF ADULTING, and doing things like harassing my pharmacy to fill my prescription appropriately.
ANYWAY.
When the doctor was leaving the exam room he said “make sure you avoid trauma.”
And me, being a smartass, said “emotional trauma?” even though I absolutely knew he meant physical trauma (because of the blood thinners).
But then we actually had a nice conversation about the importance of therapy and building a toolkit to handle our emotions/feelings/etc., because even though we think we have control of our bodies, we really don’t. OH I KNOW.
Like I said, actually a nice conversation to end it on. I had no idea my doctor was so pro therapy.
[Side note: I’ve been thisclose from losing my s word for a couple weeks and went to schedule a therapy appointment but of course my therapist has taken time off for the holidays. Good for them! I’ll just try this.]
There were also some interesting detours in my visit, like him venting to me about the medical network spending money on medical system upgrades and not on patients… and I was wondering how much of that commentary was spurred by the UnitedHealthcare CEO murder.
He also went on a tangent about how disorganized the VA is, but that is my fault because I told him I work for the federal government and he mentioned he has friends who work for VA and I asked about it – specifically that.
And finally, for my records, we discussed brain bleed vs blood clot strokes and the signs to look out for. Basically reassuring me that my struggle to find words is not me having a stroke but probably me just being stressed. Phew.
*I have Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS), a condition where your immune system mistakenly creates antibodies that make your blood more prone to clotting. Fun, right? I manage it by taking blood thinners and regularly getting my International Normalized Ratio (INR) checked to monitor my blood’s clotting speed and adjust my medication accordingly.
This is the whinier part of the post so proceed with caution. I will end it on a positive/grateful, I promise! But speaking of being sick of adulting…
My car has over 100K miles on it and I’ve been paying (closer) attention to how it’s driving because the timing chain and brakes are about to go to shit.
So I’m leaving for said appointment yesterday (over 40 miles away) and my car feels noticeably wobbly under my feet at low speeds. I text Steven to tell him, asking if he noticed when he drove it to get pizza the night before. He says no, but he wasn’t driving slow. Ha. He says we’ll drive it over the weekend and check it out. Perfect.
And I’m thinking, should I take the four-lane 70+ mph highway to my appointment or the two-lane 55 mph but people drive 70 mph highway to my appointment? I’m thinking if I break down I want to be on the two-lane one.
I take the four-lane one.
And don’t worry, I didn’t break down. Not even sure why I’m including all that.
So I get to my appointment, leave it and drive to another city where I do a UPS dropoff, get food, do a Kohl pickup, try to buy eggs for Steven, get hugeass tortillas at a grocery store, and stop at Tarjay where I have a HORRIBLE time trying to buy Starbucks giftcards (never again, I will remember this time! get them at a regular store), then finally go to my nail appointment where I get the most adorable mani:
We’ve taken such a detour on this story. Welcome to my brain.
It starts snowing while I’m at my mani. People are driving home much slower than they need to, but whatever. I’m listening to an audiobook and so happy to be on my way home.
I almost slide past our driveway (oops!) but make it and finally pull into the garage. I park and turn the car off and hear a strange hissing noise.
I open my door to listen better and wonder if Steven had the air compressor in Dragonstone (our other garage) on for some reason and accidentally left it on?
Then it dawns on me.
That sounds like a tire.
Mother effer.
JUST WHHHHHHHHHHHY.
So over it.
Sigh.
I feel so bad telling Steven about all my problems. He has so much going on at work and in our personal lives and every other day I am like “can you do this?” “can you fix that?” “can you look at this?”
TO MY CREDIT I try to troubleshoot and fix some things. But as I told Steven last night when we were talking about when we’d put the spare on and he asked if I was going to try on my own (because I was making it sound like it) – “I have a vagina and I don’t want to.”
Ha.
So he said, “let’s do our chores and change it!”
So we did.
He did.
It looks like a previous patch was no longer… patching?
SO I AM SPENDING MY MORNING AT THE TIRE PLACE! That’s why I have so much time to write this long-ass story cause I’ve been here for an hour and they haven’t made it to my car yet.
Okay, I promised I would end on a brightside. A few things:
- Thank f*ck that didn’t blow on the highway. GAWD. I probably would have totalled my car with the amount of traffic out yesterday. And I’ve totalled my car on the highway here before. Let’s not repeat that EVER. The garage was the perfect place for it to happen.
- When I got into the spare tire compartment I found something I’d been looking for since last summer. No idea how it got there but now I know where it is!
- I have the day off and can sit at the tire place ALL DAMN DAY.
- And finally, I’m so grateful Steven takes care of so much for us/me. At work this week, I was telling some coworkers how great he is and how he figures out and fixes everything for us/me, and they asked if Steven can do that for them too. Ha.
If you made it this far (and I really hope you didn’t, don’t you have something better to do?), thanks for reading my whiny rant about an ordinary thing that happens to people all the time and isn’t a big deal but just kind of feels like the last small thing that is threatening my sanity.
I do feel better writing it all out. So thank you!
Random Thoughts Thursday 478
- We had a cute new cat visitor this weekend. Snow Jr is being a jerk and scaring them away. Probably for the better and that’s how nature is, etc. etc. but it’s hard to see/hear.
- Look at this fun necklace Carrie W sent me! It says “be kind” on top then if you pull that up it says “…of a badass.” I had been looking at these types of necklaces and hadn’t mentioned it to her at all, and it just showed up at the house! I love it!
- Have crewneck sweatshirts been making a comeback? Or have I just fallen in love with them over the past few years? I used to be a hoodie sweatshirt girl but I’ve just been digging the crewnecks!
- Ha, just another reminder to fact check ChatGPT. I was asking it to help me summarize some of my flying blog posts for lessons learned and it came back with “Lesson Learned: Prepare for the unexpected, like how the door popped open during takeoff, and have a plan to stay calm and address issues safely.” THAT NEVER HAPPENED and hopefully NEVER WILL. We thoroughly check the doors EVERY flight.
- And another reminder – it’s really never appropriate to comment on people’s weight gain or loss. I know someone who lost weight unintentionally due to health issues and they’re getting lots of compliments on it. They’re actually trying to gain the weight back.
- And now for the whiny stuff – I’ve complained about this before but WHY WHY WHY does Google contacts delete birthdays? Like, a contact’s birthday will legit go missing from their contact card, and therefore, from my calendar, which I use to plan for birthdays. So I get to the end of December and realize I haven’t planned anything for Lindsey’s birthday because it’s *POOF* gone. And every time I try to google this it just comes up with ways to turn my birthday calendar back on. Thanks, but I know that. HOW CAN I STOP CONTACTS FROM EDITING ITSELF?! (What I do is make a recurring calendar appointment for their birthday along with having it on the birthday calendar so it’s doubled up.)
- I’ve been feeling so overwhelmed and uncommunicative lately. I find myself not sharing information just so I won’t have to follow up on it or answer questions. Not healthy. I should add – this is for digital communication only. I’m mostly fine if it’s in person.
- I was about to hit publish then saw a note on here for “lady hurt PO Monday.” I wasn’t sure if I was going to share that, but whoa, when I got to the post office Monday to drop off packages this woman had just fallen and smacked her head and there was A LOT of blood (she was on blood thinners, and I was like YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED TO HAVE A SCAN TO MAKE SURE YOU DON’T HAVE A BRAIN BLEED – and that was the second thing the EMTs talked to her about after they arrived). Poor thing. I stayed to help as much as I could, and heard from the postal worker that night that the lady was back home and okay.
4 for 2024: Books
I decided to make 4 for 2024 into a series! You’re welcome!
Here are my top 4 books of 2024 – the ones I couldn’t put down, still think about, or find myself recommending over and over!
1️⃣ In the Likely Event by Rebecca Yarros
Unputdownable romance
Izzy and Nate’s lives become forever linked after surviving a plane crash together. Though circumstances pull them apart, their paths cross over the years – including where the story begins, 10 years after the crash, in Afghanistan
The alternating timeline and chemistry between Izzy and Nate had me completely hooked. I finished this book in under a day, couldn’t put it down, and have recommended it many times this year. I will continue to put this one in as my suggestion at book club!
[Original review here]
2️⃣ The Women by Kristin Hannah
Historical Fiction I can’t stop thinking about
Frankie joins the army as a nurse to serve in Vietnam, where her life is profoundly shaped by her experiences, the bonds she forms, and the struggles she faces after returning home.
This book is heartbreakingly sad but left me with so much to think about – especially around the ‘don’t talk about it, just get over it‘ mindset and the strength of friendship. It also taught me a lot about the Vietnam War, making it both an emotional and enlightening read.
[Original review here]
3️⃣ Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Romantasy that will make you feel all the feels on Graphic Audio
Against all odds, Violet is determined to become a dragon rider and make her mother – the commanding general of the army – proud. She’s set on bonding with a dragon and surviving both the grueling training and the people who want her dead because of her mother’s position. Chief among them is Xaden Riorson, her wingleader and a son of the separatists – a group harshly judged for their rebellion.
This year, I discovered Graphic Audio – immersive audiobooks with a full cast and sound effects (thanks, Snis!) – and it completely changed how I experience stories. Listening to this action-packed, gripping book in that format made me feel all the feels. I can’t recommend this series enough on Graphic Audio!
[Original review here]
4️⃣ Falling by T.J. Newman
Addicting thriller
A pilot on a commercial flight from LA to NYC is faced with an unthinkable ultimatum: crash the plane, or his entire family will be killed. The story alternates between the tense events aboard the plane and his family’s fight for survival on the ground.
This is an incredibly high-stakes, edge-of-your-seat thriller. It starts off intense and never lets up. While I found some of the violent scenes involving the pilot’s family difficult to read, I was still captivated for the entire book.
[Original review here]
I had such a hard time choosing my final pick that I’m going to cheat a little and include an honorable mention!
Honorable Mention: To the Gorge: Running, Grief, and Resilience & 460 Miles on the Pacific Crest Trail by Emily Halnon
Touching memoir
This book follows Halnon as she runs the entire Oregon section of the Pacific Crest Trail in honor of her late mother. Along the way, she shares her journey through grief in a deeply human and touching way. It’s a beautifully heartfelt story that stayed with me long after I finished reading.
[Original review here]
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! 🙂
