The Sunday Post #45 – Weekly Wrap-up
Welcome to my Sunday Post. Thank you to Kimba over at The Caffeinated Reviewer, who is hosting this weekly event. It is the perfect opportunity to share what happened here on my own blog, as well as some of the happenings elsewhere in the Blogosphere.
We arrived back home in Geneva on Thursday evening, having decided we might as well leave our little haven in Spain before planned, as the forecast showed only rain and thunderstorms. Not much to do in a beach town when the weather is bad. The last week was really good, as we went to Girona one day to visit the old town, and another day, we went to Figueres to visit the Salvador Dali museum. Both were great! Now, I’m back home after almost seven weeks away, and it feels kind of weird, but good. I hope I’ll be able to finish up on some accounting for my husband’s business next week, so that I can also prepare for the kids going back to school on the 24th, which is also the day I’ll be back to teaching – if only for two weeks. What have you been up to? Apart from reading and blogging, that is 🙂
This week’s posts:
- [12 Aug] Waiting on Wednesday #58 – Illuminae
- [13 Aug] Thirsty Thursday and Hungry Hearts #28 – Rock Courtship
- [15 Aug] STS # 96 Bought Borrowed and Bagged #46
- [16 Aug] The Sunday Post #45 – Back home with one week to spare
This week’s reviews:
- [10 Aug] Taking the Heat by Victoria Dahl ★★★★★
- [11 Aug] The Secret Sister by Brenda Novak ★★★★★
- [12 Aug] The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold ★★
- [13 Aug] The Distance Between Us by Kasie West ★★★★
- [14 Aug] Immersed by Katie Hayoz ★★★★
Elsewhere in the Blogosphere:
Laura and her friends @ Laura Plus Books have a great post where they share 5 Crazy (Not Really) Things About Me, and I love these kinds of posts where I get to know the bloggers better 🙂
Rashika @ The Social Potato shares 12 Ways to Tell You Are Actually a Bookworm.
Brandee @ Bookworm Brandee asks How Dark is Too Dark in her bookish babble this week…
Lola @ Lola’s Reviews wonders How and When do You Write Your Blogposts?
Sara @ Deadly Darlings shares her 5 Deadly Book Sins.
Cait @ Paper Fury has a post named 17 Ways to Care for Your Resident Bookworm.
So far in the COYER Summer Scavenger Hunt challenge, I’ve read 42 books! That’s something I’m very happy with. Not all of my books read count toward the scavenger hunt list, but some do. I haven’t reviewed all those books yet, either, I need to get on that pronto!
What have you been up to this past week? Don’t forget to leave me a link so I can come visit your Sunday Post as well.
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you’ve enjoyed your weekend, and that next week will be filled with awesome!
The bookstore looks so CUTE! I’m dying of envy over here!
Yeah, but they only had books in Spanish, so I didn’t buy anything. My Spanish is not good enough to read novels 🙂
Wow, seven weeks away. I can imagine it´s both good and weird to get back home. Nå sitter jeg her i morgensolen mens resten av huset sover og det er ekstra godt at minstejenta er vel i havn. Det ble langt på natt før vi kom oss i seng, for hun hadde jo så mye å fortelle. I morgen begynner skolen, og det er iallefall rart. Hvor ble sommeren av? 🙂
Ja, men det er litt hjemme der også, Anette, siden det er vår egen leilighet – med gode senger og våre ting 🙂
Kan tenke meg minstejenta hadde masse å fortelle. Her begynner barna på skolen om en uke, så vi har tid til å komme inn i en slags rutine før det 🙂 Sommeren har gått fort, og her i Geneve bare regner det…
Must be nice to be back home though, I love getting away and out of routine but coming home is always good too. Sounds like you had the best summer! Love you pics especially the shop called ReRead, love that name! Am now following you on IG too 🙂
I agree, Trish, it’s just that I think I’d love living close to the sea, like I did growing up. It is nice to be home, to get things ready for the back-to-school week and all.
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
That bookstore does look great. Why do things in other countries often look so cute?!
Hope everyone is nice and settled and the return to school plans go well.
Deb
I have no idea, but I totally agree, Deb! The bookstores here in Geneva are pretty boring 🙂
Wow I can imagine it feels a bit weird to be home after almost seven weeks, but it also must have been nice to have such a long vacation. And your house in Spain probably feels like a second home now after you spent there so much time.
You’re doing great with the Coyer challenge! I slacked a bit with reading this week, but I hope I can get more read this week. And thanks for linking to my post! I really enjoyed Brandee her topic about dark books, such an interesting topic and it’s often hard to determine for me what is too dark and what not.
Yes, our place in Spain does feel like a second home now, and I’m kind of homesick 😀 It is definitely nice to be back in Geneva, but it feels like leaving the beach, I also left summer behind.
Yes, I have been doing well with COYER, most of my books are e-books, and so practically all the books I have count for the challenge.
Dark is difficult to gauge for me as well, Lola, and I know that it’s a lot harder to shock me with a story now than it was a few years ago 🙂
Thanks for the info on the 5 Deadly Sins post. I learned something there!
When you are at your vacation place do you keep a car there or rent one?
I thought the 5 Deadly Sins post was very interesting, because I agree with most of those 🙂
We actually drive down to our place in Spain, Steph, it’s only around 7 hours by car from Geneva, and that way, we have everything we want and need with us in the car. It also makes it a lot easier to go on visits in other towns around where we are.
Twitter: limabean74
7 weeks is great and I can see how it would be weird coming home after all that time. The routines have to change and no more beach 🙁 Will you be going back in the cooler months? or is the house closed till next summer? We go to my parents shore house until September but they continue until Thanksgiving weekend. After that they wait until the spring to go down.
Your kids go back to school early, Julia starts on Sept 2 and Ryan on Sept 8, he is very late this year but he is heading to a different school.
42 books for COYER is great! You guys are all doing so awesome with over 400 reviews!
Have a fantastic week, Lexxie! Happy Reading! ox
Yeah, it’s the beach I’ll miss the most, Michelle! I always feel so good when I’m close to the sea 🙂 We’ll go back for the October vacation, and possibly for New Year’s as well. It’s an apartment in a small building, and people live in the village the whole year. It’s really nice in October, because there are hardly any tourists at all, and the beach is almost empty!
My kids have 8 weeks off school, so maybe they started their vacation a little bit earlier? My sister’s kids in Norway start school tomorrow, but they had 8 weeks of vacation, too.
Thanks for stopping by, Micelle, have a great week yourself 🙂
Twitter: teamwork
Glad you had a great time away, love the pics. Congrats on 42 books that’s awesome. Have a great week.
Thanks Megan 🙂 I’m quite happy to be such a fast reader. But I have read much more books this year than I had anticipated. And that is always a good thing 🙂
Sounds like a fun vacation but getting home is always wonderful! Have a great week!
Yeah, it was very nice to be so close to the sea!
Welcome home! Sounds like you had a splendid summer. I love our local used book store. I go there with plenty of time to browse and sift through the books. And I love the smell! LOL
The smell is the very best in used book stores, Laura 🙂 So good!
How wonderful that you had such a fabulous time away….but that you’re enjoying coming home, too. I always love the “coming home” part, as I miss my routines when I’m gone.
As you probably know, my son and DIL have been visiting from Berlin, and spent all of July here…now they are up north, but will return in September before going back, this time to Prague. My DIL is Czech and speaks and reads English, but some books are harder than others for her. She spent time going through my shelves to find books to read.
They spent their honeymoon in Spain two years ago, after marrying in Gibraltar.
Thanks for sharing…and here’s MY WEEKLY UPDATES
I didn’t truly miss my routines while gone this time, I think that was partly because I was in my own space, even if I wasn’t at home 🙂
I’m so happy you got to spend so much time with your son and DIL! And that you’ll be able to see them again before they go back to Europe.
Twitter: kimbacaffeinate
Love the pic of the bookstore. It is always good to come home..but getting back to the daily schedule not so much.
Ha! That’s so true, Kim! I’m glad we have this whole week before school starts again, that way, we can slowly ease back to a normal sleeping schedule before we have no choice 🙂
Wow, 42 books is great! And I can’t believe you were away from almost seven weeks. That’s awesome – it sounds like you had a great time!!
-Lauren
Yeah, I’ve been doing very well with the COYER challenge 🙂 Spending all that time near the beach was like heaven, I can’t wait to do that again 🙂
Isn’t it nice t ofind a used bookstore on vacation? always love that. Glad you got back OK, and hope you have a good rest of the summer. It has gone by fast… 🙂
If only I was better in Spanish I would probably have gotten some books there, too 🙂
Wow you have had a long break but it must be nice to be home!
Have a lovely week!
Yeah, I did 🙂 It felt very good, too!
Twitter: bmreviewsohmy
Nothing going on over here in my neck of the woods besides reading and blogging…lol. 🙂
Have a great week!
Stormi
Reading and blogging are both good things to be busy with, Stormi 🙂
Sounds like a wonderful holiday away, would imagine Spain is amazing to visit. Good food?! I bought The Secret Sister by BN after rounds last week of this meme and am looking forward to it – five stars I see you gave it, so awesome.
Yes, definitely good food, Kahryn! I love fresh fish and seafood so I was in heaven 🙂 I hope you’ll enjoy The Secret Sister! I thought it was very well done 🙂
Twitter: Mollykatie112
I can’t imagine living near the beach for 7 weeks at a time. The ocean is my very favorite place to be. I am actually on vacation and staying with my sisters in Kentucky after finally getting to come finally. Supposed to have been here in May, but illness and surgery kept me away. The children here in KY went back to school last week, and I think they get maybe 10-12 weeks off. Love the pictures you posted!
The sea is amazing, I love being close to it as well. It was truly like heaven! I’m glad you finally got to see your sisters, Lorna. Thanks for stopping by.
7 weeks in a beautiful location is something I would love to do. Welcome home and I hope you enjoy the extra time to relax. You are doing great on COYER! I also have read some books that don’t count for the scavenger hunt but it feels good to finally get it off our TBR. Have a great week!
It was so nice to be completely disconnected from ‘normal’ life for such a long time. I agree, the scavenger hunt items are like an added bonus, just reading and being able to get some books off that pesky TBR is amazing 🙂
That’s a long time away from home! It does sound like you all had a wonderful time though.
In answer to your question on my blog, no, I don’t teach summer school. It’s a combination preschool/daycare so we are open year round. I have been covering teacher vacations; I’m a substitute teacher. Our new school year starts in September, when the children move up to their new classrooms.
http://www.magic-garden.org/about-us/
Oh, so you have the younger kids in summer, and teach during the year when you can 🙂 I am a substitute teacher, too, I hope I’ll be able to be a full-time teacher in a year or two.
Glad you had such a wonderful vacation! Love the Dali pic!
Thanks Nicole 🙂 We usually go to that museum every year 🙂
I was gone four weeks and it was a bit too long. I can’t imagine 7. Glad it was a great time away. Have a great week.
It was awesome, Nise 🙂 thanks for stopping by!
It feels weird when I return after 2 weeks, so I bet 7 is even weirder. What a cute bookstore! Glad you had a good time, now get to crunching numbers! 😉
Yeah, I don’t feel like crunching those numbers at all.. But I kind of have to 🙂
I know what you mean about it being weird to be home, Lexxie. Hopefully you’ve all settled in now and can enjoy your last week before school begins. I LOVE the photos! Sooo lovely! 🙂 Today is my official on a new ‘schedule’ ~ we’ll see how being on a schedule helps me. I’m hoping to be more productive. *ha* I’ll have to add in chat time though. 😉 *BIG HUGS*
I’m getting used to being here again, Brandee, and Geneva isn’t the worst place to live, for sure 🙂
Let me know how the schedule works out, my dear. I hope we’ll be able to chat later *BIG HUGS*
These days, I’m not even looking at bookstores, they’re evil ! Temptation not only with a capital T, but written entirely in capitals, lol ! It must be hard going back to Geneva and accounting, especially after 7 weeks away. I hope you get back to normal life smoothly, bisous 🙂
It was OK for me to look at that bookstore, Iza, because I don’t read in Spanish… also, a lot of the books were in Catalan Spanish 😀
Thanks for stopping by! Bisous
I LOVE Salvador Dali !!! his art is like the sci-fi of art 🙂 glad you got to visit his museum, lucky you 🙂 I just finish school supplies shopping 🙂
OH, I agree, Daniela! I’ve been to his museum several times, and I am always amazed 🙂 I’ve been shopping for school supplies today – I hope we’re all ready now 🙂
Looks like you’ve had a lovely time away!
I’ve just got home too, but I wasn’t away anywhere fancy, just staying with my boyfriend and his family for a month. It was lovely getting to know them all better 🙂
I stayed in our home away from home, and it was so nice! With my own comfy bed and all 🙂 I’m glad you got to know your boyfriend’s family better, Lauren 🙂
The Salvador Dali Museum seems amazing!! I would love to go. Good luck with the start of school 😀
It really was, Jaclyn! His art spans over so many different genres, and it’s so incredible that the same person made all those different paintings, sculptures and jewels 🙂
Wow… cool pics! A shame you cut the break short, but the time at home should be good!
Naomi @ Naomi’s Reading Palace