Author Archives: Heather Shoberg

About Heather Shoberg

I'm many things... I'm a wife, a mother, a book lover, a movie lover, a photography lover, a music lover, a coffee lover, and a chocolate lover. I have cute aggression and I'm an introvert. I love mangoes and my favorite flower is the sunflower. I got married in Converse sneakers and love fairy lights. I love the mountains and when I was little I wanted to be an astronaut.

See you next year!

Since I don’t have to be at work again until next year, I’m going to also take a break from the blog until next year as well. I love starting fresh and what better time to do that than the new year. I’ve got my new 2017 planner ready to go and I’m excited to use it. I get giddy over new planners and quite frankly love a good trip through the office supply area of any store. Though I have no real certainty over exactly what I plan on accomplishing this next year, I am feeling really motivated and excited about things to come. Sorry if my optimism makes you want to gag, but I’m going to make 2017 a great year. 2016 had more downs than I would have cared for and that’s not happening again. Intention set, so let’s make it so, Universe.

So, how about one last photo dump for the year since I really have no recent photos to post and I have these hanging out in my WordPress Gallery that never made it into a post?  Some are too cute to delete, so I’m doing it!  Have a wonderful rest of the year everyone!

2016 In Books

For the past couple of years (with the help of Goodreads) I’ve been setting reading goals for myself.  I’ve always been an avid bookworm, but haven’t found nearly as much time in the past 4-5 years for reading *cough* kids *cough*.  Setting a goal has helped me find my joy again and this past year I managed to read 51 books.  Okay, I’ll be honest, they weren’t all full-sized books, but thanks to Goodreads, I’ve got all the details including a list of everything I read this year.

I’d say an average of over 400 pages per book makes up for the shorter graphic novels I read, not that I have to prove myself to anyone. Anyhoo… don’t ask me what my favorite book this year was because there were too quite a few to choose from.  As far as duds go… there were a couple of those as well. I’ve been reading some YA novels and while some are pretty good and fun to read, some are just not my cup of tea, and admittedly I’m not exactly the target audience, so there’s also that.

Now to come up with a goal for this upcoming year. I didn’t exactly go over my goal by much and while I may get another book or two read (depending on size) before the actual end of the year, I’m not sure how much to push myself in 2017.

Also… should you have any book recommendations for this upcoming year, please give them to me!!!

Currently…

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(Haha – I don’t even have any current photos to use today.  I suppose I should get on that… eventually).

Reading… Still mainly reading A Breath of Snow and Ashes.

Watching… Poldark, The Crown, Westworld

Listening to… Music on our Amazon Dot.

Drinking… Tis the season for Egg Nog!  Sweet delicious awesomeness.

Eating… So many fattening, not very good for you treats that tend to be everywhere this time of year.

Planning… So many things. What to read next year, the massive road trip we want to take, and oh yeah, a New Year’s Eve game night.

Feeling… COLD. The temperatures have dropped and winter is here.  We got around 8 inches of snow over the weekend and lovely hoarfrost everywhere.  I do love the way it looks on the trees.

Exercising… Not even a little bit.  I’m too busy and cold and will get to that next month.

Organizing… my office… again. We are rearranging the downstairs yet again.  What can I say? It’s a sickness. Haha!

Thankful… For a great deal.  It’s so easy to think about what you don’t have or what is difficult, but in reality there is so much more to be thankful for.

Loving… Snuggling up under twinkle lights with a book, baking yummy treats, snuggles with the munchkins who get extra cozy when it’s cold out.

Looking forward to… November 2017. We are registered for Tol-Con and are planning to fully immerse ourselves into Middle Earth.  I’m thinking with so much time I might try and put together both of our costumes completely from scratch.

Let there be light!

If there’s one thing I love, it’s dragging my family out to experience new things, even if it’s cold and I know there’s a decent chance of whining.  I’m a sucker for light installations, though, and knew we had to go to the arboretum when I heard about Bruce Munro’s exhibit going up.  We got tickets for 5:00 on Friday and hoped for the best. The kids seemed excited despite the cold temperatures and were even more excited to get to wander around in the dark. Go figure.

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It was magical and enchanting and inspiring and despite Enzo asking when we were going to go back to the big house and get hot cocoa, I really did enjoy it.  If I had one complaint it would only be that I wish I could have stayed longer and that there had been more displays. At times I felt rushed just because… well, kids, but I’m still glad we took them to see it. Sure they may have been more excited for the hot cocoa and cookies at the end, but I do think they enjoyed it over all.

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As for me… I’ve always loved the ambiance that lights can create and really did enjoy seeing it all. I was filled with ideas and motivation to start creating again and you can’t ask for much more than that.  The pictures really don’t do it justice, but I had to attempt to take a few photos while also not tripping over small bodies or my own feet in the dark. Haha!

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Joy

I sometimes feel obligated to keep up this blog. It’s not as though I’m paid to keep this blog so I can quit at any time I feel like it, but then again, it is an easy way to keep a journal of the things I want to remember and it’s also been a great way to meet new people. Perhaps it’s just the time of year getting the best of me. I’m not depressed, but I feel restless in a way. Unsure of what I want to do with myself because there are too many things I want to do and simply not enough time. Then again, is there every truly enough time?  I wonder if I would still feel there wasn’t enough time if I did somehow manage to get more.  Most likely, yes.  I’m at a point where a big part of me wants to take a step back and lay out the pieces of my life before me and take a tip from Marie Kondo, hold it up and ask if it truly brings me joy.  Granted, what to do if I find too many things bring me joy? Ha!  I suppose I shall then find a way to make time for it all. There’s always time for the things we really love, right?  We just have to learn to make time and more importantly not waste the time we do have. I am absolutely guilty of wasting time, sometimes because I’m exhausted, but other times for no good reason at all.

So, that is what I shall do. I am going to remove all self-imposed obligations for the month of December and rediscover my joys and my “Why.”  If it doesn’t bring me joy, it’s gone. If it does bring me joy then I’m going to make it a higher priority.  Granted, I can’t exactly just stop doing the day to day things that don’t bring me joy, but I’m going to find ways to make it so they don’t take up as much time.  I think decluttering and rearranging is a good place to start. So, if I’m gone for a while, you’ll know why, but I might stop in if I feel like it… and only if I really feel like it.

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