Aside of the Dresden Files book, I'm actually enjoying what I'm reading again. When She Woke is probably one of the most feminist things I've ever read and while I don't read to be preached at (I get more than enough of that on Facebook), it did give me several thoughts to chew on mentally, which I liked a lot. Angelfall was somewhat different than a lot of the young adult lit I read in its premise; yes, it was another dystopian novel, but the apocalypse was brought on by angels, so it's not a "man destroys himself" storyline again. The story lost me on the romance aspect though. I hate reading romance and shoehorning it into storylines for what should be a very good adventure series. It makes everything predictable and is one of my biggest pet peeves in YA (or any other) literature.
The Magicians trilogy has stayed kind of flat for me, so I haven't made any plans to read the final installment, though the TV series was very good from what I saw. The side-story of The Magician King, in which we find out what the main character's best friend had been up to after he left her to go to Brakebills in the first book, completely overshadowed the primary story line to me. Julia's journey was so much more intriguing than whatever Quintin was complaining about this time, so I feel the book failed its readers in this regard. The last novel seems to be following whiny Quintin yet again, so I'm not interested in seeing what happens anymore.
Now that I'm all caught up with the Game of Thrones television series, I'm even more happy to have started the Song of Ice and Fire book series. They are hefty stories and I don't think I'd have as easy a time comprehending them if I hadn't seen the show and already had some idea of the relationships between characters. So far, A Game of Thrones has been very much like the first season of the show, with a few differences here and there, so I'm looking forward to how the written story progresses from what I've seen in the TV series. Tyrion is as sarcastic as ever, so at least there's that.
Brian and I also had the idea to take steps to start the process of revamping our master bathroom. We bought a vanity on sale about a month ago (it has drawers!) and decided a paint color and bought a couple gallons last week, along with some hole repair supplies. Really all we have left to do is decide what type of flooring we want and acquire it. Neither of us have ever done a full remodel like this and we are anticipating the entire project, once we actually get started on taking things apart, to take a couple of months of time. But we are trying to buy the materials we need as we can afford them with the idea of not rushing into it and not going into debt doing so. It's a very small room though, so probably a good idea to start with to see how the process will actually go when we decide to re-do something else, like the bedroom or living room.
I will miss this one particular paint blob though. It kind of looks like a thoughtful cow...
I never got into actually gardening this year, aside of buying a $2 clearance mint plant on a whim at HEB. We started the process of building a flower bed out front sometime in May or June, but it was just too freaking hot to finish. Though we went and spent $200 on a tiller that has yet to leave the garage, we are going to try to hit it again once things cool off. Hopefully around the same time we will be able to spread some weed and seed on the lawn for fall too. I'll be damned if I let these stupid weeds - parthenium hysterophorus - take over EVERYTHING again. Geez they were relentless...
Fall also means Ren Fest is coming up. According to a video shared on Facebook, the fairgrounds were not horribly damaged by Harvey, so there's no good reason to expect the festival to be delayed. I have grand plans for a costume this year. Like, real plans: I've pinned and priced a few pieces from a costume site that is relatively affordable with great reviews, so here's hoping not to be rocking just the hat this year, but a full on outfit - and maybe persona?
And so there's a small "hello" and look into what's been going on lately. It doesn't include everything (I'm sure you were all here to hear about our trip to Oklahoma last month, my dabbles in Pilates or how much Supernatural we've been watching), but I missed the blogging experience and just wanted to get back to it again.
Here's a picture of Inky and I to send you off with:
