VictoriaPL's 2015 Reading

Well, it's January and I'm feeling optimistic, so I'm going to put a toe into the 2015 Category Challenge. I did not complete either the 2014 or 2013 but having so many friendly faces here makes me feel at home. I will be doing 5 categories with a goal of 3 books in each for 15 total. This year is a musical theme.

Currently Reading

You're the Inspiration
books that motivate my creative writing

1. A Train In Winter by Caroline Moorehead 1.11.2015
2. Soldiers of the Night by David Schoenbrun 3.6.2015
3. The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes 3.17.2015
4. The Hotel at Place Vendome: Life, Death, and Betrayal at the Hotel Ritz in Paris by Tilar J. Mazzeo 4.23.2015
5. City of Women by David R. Gillham 4.26.2015
6. Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum 7.27.2015

Taking Care of Business
Self Improvement

1. An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield 4.8.2015 Attitude adjustment (read with lindapanzo)
2. Moby Duck by Donovan Hohn 4.15.2015 Consumerism & Stewardship
3. Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses 6.20.2015by Bruce Feiler Spirituality

You're the One That I Want
Shiny books read on impulse

1. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr 2.18.2015
2. First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen 3.20.2015
3. Like a Charm: a novel in voices Edited by Karin Slaughter 5.6.2015 (with RidgewayGirl)
4. Leaving Orbit: Notes from the Last Days of American Spaceflight by Margaret Lazarus Dean 6.26.2015 (with lindapanzo)

Mental Picture
books translated to screen

1. Thunderball by Ian Fleming 2.9.2015
2. The Moon and the Sun by Vonda McIntyre 2.28.2015
3. Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy 8.15.2015
4. Bridge of Spies by Giles Whittell tandem read with/ christina_reads 9.3.2015

You're a Hard Habit to Break
Serial fiction

1. Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor 1.8.2015
2. Windigo Island by William Kent Krueger 5.23.2015
3. Pronto by Elmore Leonard 10.27.2015

Om my goodness, Victoria's here! I had to make sure it was really you lol.

Glad to see you around again.

I think I have A Train in Winter buried somewhere on my Nook.

Got you starred!

Hooray, Victoria's here! I have dropped my star and I am looking forward to following along.

Hi Victoria! I'm glad you're here! Good luck with your challenge.

Great setup! I especially like the shiny impulse and series categories! :)

Glad to see people are finding various ways to stay within the group.

Thanks so much - good to be with you all again.

@jonesli - Lisa, A Train in Winter is proving difficult for me to get through. Obviously, it's not a pleasant subject but I've read dozens of WWII books. It just doesn't hold my interest very well. After it put me to sleep for the third time, I began using it as my 'before bed' book since it works so well, LOL.

Love this meme. Reminds me of Mad Libs.

2015 Meme - Answers Based On Book I Read in 2014

Describe yourself:
The Girl in the Blue Beret: A Novel

Describe how you feel:
Delirium

Describe where you currently live:
City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, Book 3)

If you could go anywhere, where would you go:
Leaving Time: A Novel

Your favorite form of transportation:
Another Man's Moccasins: A Walt Longmire Mystery (Walt Longmire Mysteries)

Your best friend is:
Doctor to the Resistance: The Heroic True Story of an American Surgeon and His Family in Occupied Paris

You and your friends are:
The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story

What’s the weather like:
Diary of the Dark Years, 1940-1944: Collaboration, Resistance, and Daily Life in Occupied Paris

You fear:
Under a War-Torn Sky

What is the best advice you have to give:
And the Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris

Thought for the day:
Talking to the Dead: A Novel

How I would like to die:
Sing You Home

My soul’s present condition:
City of Lost Souls (The Mortal Instruments)

Good to see you in this challenge, Victoria! Perhaps we can talk about reading the last Pink Carnation book later this year... :-D

christina_reads - The last Pink Carnation book? Oh my, I'm so out of touch. Yes, I would love to read it with you - that would only be fitting!

>15 VictoriaPL: Yes! It's finally going to tell Jane's story! :)

>13 VictoriaPL: Wonderful meme answers. And I love MadLibs! They were popular when I was in high school.

Yay! Yay! Yay! I'm glad you've started a thread!

Starred. I love your meme replies. I need to get mine posted. I figured out what they were a few days ago, but I've had so much going on that I haven't managed to post them. I just hope I can find them.

Glad you're here! & who cares about not finishing. It's the journey that makes it worth it, not the bells and whistles at the end. Come to think of it, there are no bells and whistles.

Great to see you here - looking forward to following along! Journey is definitely more important than the destination!

Wow - the gang's all here! I've missed you all....

Finished my first book. This isn't a true review, just some thoughts (baby steps).

1. Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor 1.8.2015
3rd in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy (category: Hard Habit to Break)

My record on "3rd in a trilogy" is not so good... I generally don't like them. And the pattern holds true here.
Taylor introduces some new characters in this book and I was like 'did I forget her from the last book?!?' - very jarring and completely took me out of the mood. It felt like Deus ex machina.
What I love about Taylor's trilogy is the world building. Truthfully, I'm a sucker for world building. Such rich texture and thoughtfulness here. I love what she created but I didn't enjoy what her characters were doing, if that makes sense.
I really basked in her language, she knows how to paint a vivid scene and then when handy, draw you right back into that feeling quick as a snap. That really pays off as she is dealing with the same characters in different bodies, so you remember their prior history pretty well. And I did like how the romantic relationships between the major characters was done.
A mixed bag.

>22 VictoriaPL: We've missed you too.

Happy 2015! Looking forward to book talking with you. :)

2. A Train In Winter by Caroline Moorehead 1.11.2015

Finally finished this book! I fell asleep reading it no less than four times. I just could not keep myself engaged with it. There were so many women to keep track of - I could not keep the names straight, much less their relationships (mother, daughter, sister, cousin, friend, etc). Or maybe it was the endless litany of horrors that were their reality in the multiple prisons, camps and factories they were kept in throughout the war. The brain can only process so much. Such a struggle for the women to survive. In that sense, I found it akin to the book Alive by Piers Paul Read but that novel was much more interesting. I have not read another WWII that was so female-focused though, so that does make this one stand apart.

Glad you started a thread. I need to find a good space program/astronaut book. It seems like it's been a few years since I last read one.

lindapanzo - Hi Linda! You and me both! Do you have any candidates in mind?
Although the Apollo Era is my favorite, this one's been getting pretty good reviews: An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield.
Let me know if you're interested and we can read one together.

Even though it appears to induce sleep, I am adding A Train in Winter to my list. I have a huge interest in this subject.

DeltaQueen50 - Judy, I wish you all success with Train. Are you planning any other WWII books this year? It's one of my go-to genres.

One of my categories is "War & The Homefront" and in February I am going to be reading Night Watch by Sarah Waters and at some point during the year I would like to read Broken Jewel by David L. Robbins. I suspect there will be more as I go along.

Judy,
I am STILL in line for All the Light We Cannot See. I am looking forward to reading that one.

I was in the library line-up for Unbroken for months. I finally gave up and bought it for my husband for Christmas. Now I have to wait for him to finish with it!

I haven't gotten to Unbroken either, LOL.

Where are you on the wait list for All the Light We Cannot See? I'm up to number 41. I do wish the library would spring for a second copy!

Kay,
I am #40 of 217. Supposedly they have 11 copies in circulation.

Yeah, I'm relying on their ebook collection. You'll get to it before I do!

Chiming in on All The Light We Cannot See, I'm number 480 for 80 copies, not going to happen!

Thanks for heads up about A Train in Winter.

>32 DeltaQueen50: >33 VictoriaPL: Unbroken was really cheap on Kindle awhile back. I picked up a permanent copy that way as I was reading the hard copy. I was lucky enough to have a LT friend pass a copy of the hardback along to me when I discovered that the library copy had gone missing and initially wanted to read it. Jeff and his mom both want to read it so I'm letting them use it; then I'll put the copy in the library to replace the book that went missing.

I bought Unbroken for my husband for Christmas too. And I'm something like 230 on 10 copies for the ebook of All the Light We Cannot See. So it will be a while before I get that. Luckily I have a few books in my TBR to tide me over ;)

Let me know when you read All the Light We Cannot See. Mark just recommended that one to me so I've been thinking about it, though it's not my usual.

I haven't heard of that Hadfield book. I'll rummage around a bit and see if I have any relevant books on Kindle and/or anything new-ish that might fit the space program bill.

I'd like to read something about the Apollo 1 tragedy in 1967.

This year, I went and simplified my 2015 categories. History is one of mine for this year.

Welcome back, Victoria!

I've finally started The Prestige, which you recommended back when we would do the first Thursday library sale together. It's started wonderfully and I think I'll enjoy it.

>27 VictoriaPL: An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth looks good, as does Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut. Have you read that one?

lkernagh - Thanks Lori!
RidgewayGirl - Excellent, Kay, I hope you do enjoy it.
lindapanzo - Linda, I haven't read either one. Shall we pick and set a timeframe?

Either is fine with me. In Feb, I have two group reads so how about March or April?

Linda,
March or April is fine with me. You pick. How about The Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth?

>46 VictoriaPL: How about early April for The Astronauts Guide to Life on Earth? Maybe read the other one down the road sometime.

I love baseball books and usually host a Spring Training read so my March is usually pretty busy with that.

Sounds like a plan Linda. Looking forward to it!

Well, I have finished two more books but I really wasn't into either one and admit I scanned a good deal of both, so I'm not officially counting them. Here's hoping something a bit more enticing will come along soon. Both of these are WWII stories. And both had protracted love affairs with spies.... because war has a way of complicating things, you know?

The Time In Between by Maria Duenas
Echoes by Danielle Steel

>49 VictoriaPL: I wasn't a big fan of The Time in Between either. It just dragged on and on…and the WW2 spy stuff wasn't as prominent as I thought it would be.

I had the same reaction Christina. I felt like it just got interesting when it ended!

>49 VictoriaPL: Hope you enjoy your next read better.

I just finished All the Light We Cannot See and I feel that I'm still in it, ruminating. The very beginning and the very ending left me a little lost but all the rest is a captivating, bewitching story. Well worth the wait, for those of you that are waiting patiently in library queues for it.

I'm number 16, so any day now! I'm second in line for First Frost. Have you read that one yet?

Are you staying warm and off the ice?

>54 RidgewayGirl:
Hi Kay! I am 14 of 40 for First Frost. I am so excited about reading it.
I am so over winter! It was 8 degrees this morning (real feel -3). Snow on Sunday.

You're a few degrees warmer than us at night, but we're warmer during the day for now - the snow is even melting! It's so funny that since it now gets up into the low 40s during the day, we all think it's practically spring. I had to stop Max from wearing shorts to school. But, of course, we have snow plows and snow tires and everybody knows how to drive on ice and snow, and the houses are all built for cold and snow, which makes all the difference. I still like shoveling the walk, though. It feels exotic.

I can't wait to compare notes on First Frost and All the Light We Cannot See. I hope we agree on at least one of those.

>56 RidgewayGirl:
Hmmm. We already agreed on The Prestige this year. Do we want to tempt fate? LOL.

Hi Victoria. I've heard from a couple of fans of Garden Spells that First Frost is very good. And I am looking forward to getting to All The Light We Cannot See.

Hi Victoria:

I'm next for First Frost. I'm a little worried that I didn't re-read Garden Spells, but maybe some things will come back to me when I'm reading.

>58 DeltaQueen50: Hi Judy! Let me know what you think of All the Light.

>59 lsh63: Hi Lisa! How exciting! I was wondering if I should reread Garden Spells. I'm considering it.

>46 VictoriaPL: I note that our library has An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth and so I'll probably check in out in the next couple of days so as to have it on hand for our reading of it. I'll probably start it later next week or maybe the week after (March 27 to 30 or so).

Looking forward to it.

>61 lindapanzo: Hi Linda. OK, I'll also request our copy. Should be fun!

I was able to fit in some reading last week and finished two books!

The Girl You Left Behind by JoJo Moyes completes my You're the Inspiration category. I really enjoyed the half historical, half contemporary tale, weaving together two love stories (really, three) around a portrait.

First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen the highly anticipated sequel to Garden Spells. So nice to be with the Waverley clan again. I enjoyed the book but it still didn't quite knock my socks off like its predecessor or The Sugar Queen. I really want to know more about Mary Waverley now.

I just picked up The Girl You Left Behind at the second hand store so good to know that you enjoyed it.

>64 DeltaQueen50: I hope you enjoy it as well Judy!

Hi, just realized that my e-Illinois copy of the book is only on my iPad and not on my Kindle so I'll be reading in the evenings and on weekends. I tend not to take my iPad out and about or to work.

In other words, I'll be reading but probably not at a quick pace.

If I finish my lengthy novel, which I've enjoyed but am eager to finish, I'll start tonight.

>66 lindapanzo: Hi Linda, for the next week I'll be a slow-goer on this one too. A busy time of year!

>63 VictoriaPL: It will probably be awhile before I get around to reading First Frost, but I did enjoy her first book. I probably ought to locate a copy of the second before I try the third.

I'm on about page 70 or so on the Astronaut's Guide. Having mixed feelings. His story is interesting but he really speaks in generalities. Something off putting to me about his tone.

I think I have it from the library for 11 more days so I want to read the last 350 or 400 or whatever pages pretty steadily every evening.

>69 lindapanzo: Hi Linda! Oh good, we're keeping pace, I'm on page 73 as of last night. I am actually enjoying it. I like his pragmatic approach. I think it's quite Canadian to want to be all inclusive and that's why he casts such a broad net. It's quite different from the Apollo-era biographies which are just... because I'M THE BEST. LOL.

I think I'm now up to page 100 or 110 or so (hard to tell since my copy is on my iPad at home) but it started improving for me in the last 25 pages or so.

He's showing more detail and mentioning specific examples, like how they really needed 3 people to fix something but could fit only 2 into the spacelock. There was a part about how he felt he had to finish #1 in pilot training in order to get top pick in training and how he had a very bad flight once.

ETA, now up to page 200. I love the life lessons, like "sweat the small stuff" which was vividly illustrated by how he was blinded during a space walk by something small.

Considering that I read 100 pages last night and I'm really into this book now, I may finish tonight or tomorrow.

Finished it at about 1 am today. Thanks so much for suggesting it. I absolutely loved it. I hope he writes more books about space. He's got a great knack for explaining things.

>72 lindapanzo: Hi Linda. I should finish today or tomorrow. I've enjoyed it as well, thanks for reading it with me!

Finished Moby Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them by Donovan Hohn.
This book is about everything: Ocean pollution, beach combing, commerce, toy trade shows, the industrialization of China, the psychology of modern child raising, rogue waves, oceanography... and it just goes on. I absolutely loved this book and had such a hard time putting it down. Probably my favorite book this year (so far!).

>74 VictoriaPL:
Sounds like a lot to put into one book, but it sounds kind of fun, too. I love the absurdity of it all.

>74 VictoriaPL: It certainly sounds different! I'm sitting here picturing all the rubber duck races they have in rivers going out to sea now.

>74 VictoriaPL: I'll have to look for that one. Sounds like something I'd like.

>76 thornton37814: Lori, in the duck races I've heard of, they catch the ducks with netting at the end of a river, etc. But the release of these toys (there were ducks, turtles, beavers and frogs) was unintentional - their container fell overboard during a storm and they were released when the saltwater loosened the adhesive on their packaging.

>Andrea & Linda, I really enjoyed his writing style. I learned so much and I felt engaged all the way through.

I'd heard about the container going overboard and then about how it's not unusual for containers to fall overboard in rough seas right before all our stuff was loaded into a container to be shipped to Germany. It was information I didn't need to know!

>79 RidgewayGirl: Kay, you're right! According to this book it's not unusual at all. Apparently there have been more than a couple of instances of Nike shoes washing up. Even with all of our technology sometimes the boats cannot outrun the weather. Sometimes large, damaging waves are not in conjunction with bad weather and the problem could also be that the containers aren't balanced properly.

I remember a few years ago we went for a walk along one of the west coast beaches on Vancouver Island and the beach was covered in running shoes! Apparently a container went overboard and fell apart. The shoes were washing up on beaches for some time. Unfortunately they were in the water long enough to sustain salt damage, plus I think it would be impossible to find a matching pair!

>81 DeltaQueen50: Wow, Judy, that would be something to see (not necessarily in a good way....)

I am sure that a cleaning crew was organized quickly and the shoes were gone before too many people had to see the beaches that way. We have had a few shoes turn up on beaches here with the feet still in them, so at least it wasn't that!

>83 DeltaQueen50: Oh my! I think I've heard of a few of those cases.

There seemed to be a spate of them, and for a short while there were rumors of some weird serial killer. But the scientists have explained that in bodies lost at sea, it is quite usual for the feet to become detached at the ankle. If the foot was protected by a shoe, then it would stay preserved until it washed up somewhere. Kinda gross but interesting. ;)

>85 DeltaQueen50: Yes, I know what you mean, LOL ;)

I'm so glad the kids haven't found one when they're shell hunting on Edisto!

I've been meaning to read Moby Duck for some time. I really should push it up on my list!

>88 hailelib: You should! I hope you enjoy it!

The Hotel at Place Vendome: Life, Death, and Betrayal at the Hotel Ritz in Paris by Tilar J. Mazzeo

"Papa, there's a dame here," Pfc Archie Pelkey yelled into the room. Ernest emerged into the hallway, a whirlwind of good cheer, and gave me a welcoming merry-go-round bear hug... Inside the room a couple of his friends from the French underground, who had been with him since Rambouillet, were sitting on the bare floor intermittently cleaning rifles and sipping champagne."

So... Ernest Hemingway, Marcel Proust, Coco Chanel, Marlene Dietrich, The Duke and Duchess of Windsor.... and Hermann Goering. Such a mix it was in the building called the Ritz. The rich and famous, the Royal, the fascinating and the Nazis. Guzzling champagne and lobster while the rest of Paris starved on bread. Supposedly there was more than one Resistance operation going on, one run out of the kitchen and another by the barman. It was mentioned in the intro but then cast aside and I was left with pages of Hemingway's and Mrs Hemingway's antics to get the scoop on the Allied landing, and Ernie's courting of the next Mrs Hemingway. That and the bed antics of the Duke and Duchess. Yawn.... I wanted to hear how the barman took covert messages - did one just walk up and order a martini or what? How did it work in the kitchen? Where there guns under the ice bed for the lobsters? Oh to be denied!

City of Women by David R. Gillham

"They're called U-boats." Ericha tells her. Those in hiding. "Submarines" because they are submerged, and must run silently to avoid detection and destruction."

Most of my WWII reading has centered on Paris but this one takes place in Berlin. In my mind's eye, I had always thought Berlin would be less chaotic than Paris but here the atmosphere is just as dangerous and paranoid.

Sigrid's husband is currently deployed and she lives with his party-member mother. The two women do not get along and Sigrid escapes the apartment as much as possible. She finds herself engaging in more riskier behavior: hookups with strange men, following a duty-year girl whose seems off. Why? Perhaps to exercise a little control in her life. Perhaps to feel alive again. Everyone's doing something against the rules but Sigrid's choices bring her to a place she could never imagine.

The writing is engaging and for the last third I could not tear myself away from it. If WWII intrigues are your thing, I would recommend it.

>91 VictoriaPL: - Hmm, I'm pretty sure my MIL gave me her copy of this book. I'll have to find it and give it a go soon.

>92 LittleTaiko: I hope you enjoy it Stacy!

Hi, just saw a book reviewed in the NY Times today that might be an interesting joint read at some point.

Leaving Orbit by Margaret Lazarus Dean.

>94 lindapanzo: Linda, that does look interesting! Oh! My library has it on order! Thanks for letting me know. Yes, that would be good to read together.

>95 VictoriaPL: Let me know when you want to read it. I think I can get it at my library, too.

>96 lindapanzo: Linda, Our library's website still says it's on order, but it came in! I can start reading it ASAP.

Things have been crazy for me at work and I haven't posted in awhile, my apologies.
I recently finished two non-fiction works.

Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses by Bruce Feiler
Visiting the Holy Land is on my bucket list and reading this one just makes me want to go ahead and pack my bags. Though I doubt I would have the same experiences Feiler had. The setup for this journey was unconventional as it followed Moses through desert and mountain lands. I liked that he explored the connection many modern people who live in those areas still feel to the biblical patriarchs even though they are long gone.

Leaving Orbit: Notes from the Last Days of American Spaceflight by Margaret Lazarus Dean I was born and raised on Florida's Space Coast, watching Shuttle launches and collecting mission pins and patches. Dean's early visits to the Smithsonian's Air and Space museum also left her with a fascination with spaceflight. This book is a lovely elegy to America's space program. Dean witnesses the last launches of each of the orbiters and captures all the complex feelings of many involved in the industry.

So good to see you back here, Victoria!

I agree with Kay, great to see you posting, Victoria!

I need to get back to Leaving Orbit so we can talk about it. I'm glad you liked it.

>99 RidgewayGirl:, >100 DeltaQueen50: Thanks Ladies! I need to do better.
>101 lindapanzo: Linda, I can't wait to hear what you think of it.

Hi Victoria:

I hear you about work being crazy, it's severely limited my LT time lol!

Good to see you posting again though.

So nice to meet up with RidgewayGirl while she was on this side of The Pond and we went book shopping (of course!). Our local Friends of the Library sale conveniently occurs every First Thursday. My TBR shelf has not an inch of room on it. Oh well...

What the Dead Know and I'd Know you Anywhere by Laura Lippman
The Beach by Alex Garland
The Bat by Jo Nesbo
The Other Side of the Island by Allegra Goodman
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

Great haul, Victoria. I know what you mean about your shelves - yet we keep adding more somehow!

>104 VictoriaPL: That was a very modest haul considering what we all had that time I went with you guys!

>106 thornton37814: Lori, this wasn't the same Sale, so we didn't have as much time and honestly, we were having too much fun just talking to seriously hunt.

I misplaced that space book but found it again over the weekend and will get back to it soon.

>107 VictoriaPL: Oh. At least you all had fun!

Technically I finished, but I don't feel that I was very present this year. i'm considering the 2016

I hope you do join the 2016 category challenge. But I'll see you this summer, no matter what you decide to do! Happy holidays, Victoria. Enjoy the music, the decorations and the seasonal treats. Charlotte's just finished baking gingerbread so our house smells fantastic.

Hurray for finishing your challenge! :)

Congrats on completing your challenge!

>111 RidgewayGirl:. Kay, I'm so excited about having you State-side again!

Thanks everyone! I'm trying to carve out regular reading time again.

Happy Holidays, Victoria

I'm hoping to do a better job at joining you for a book in 2016.

>116 lindapanzo: that sounds wonderful Linda!

>117 VictoriaPL: I read a lot of mysteries and quite a bit of nonfiction but, in 2016, I'm hoping to read more nonmystery fiction. Maybe we can find a fictional space travel book.

Congrats on completing your challenge, Victoria. Happy Holidays to you and your family!

>118 lindapanzo: I'm sure we can find one, Linda!
>119 DeltaQueen50: thanks Judy, to you and yours as well!

Congratulations on finishing cour challenge!

Congrats on finishing, Victoria. I only officially finished mine today too. I kept getting distracted by other things I wanted to read and things I needed to read for challenges instead of stuff in certain categories. Hopefully I'll have a more relaxed year next year. I think I'll be doing a lot of flying too so I'll be loading up the iPad with things for those trips.

Yay a Victoria sighting! Congratulations on completing your challenge !

Happy Holidays !

I do hope you will join us next year but we all understand how life can get in the way of reading and visiting LT.

Congratulations on finishing!

Thanks everyone! I do plan to join next year - I love our little family, it just wouldn't be the same without you guys!

>125 VictoriaPL: YAY!

Well done for completing your challenge and I look forward to joining you in 2016!

Congratulations on completing your challenge. I'll look forward to seeing you in the 2016 group!

Thanks! I'll be over there soon!

Congratulations on finishing your challenge and a double YAY! that you will be joining us again in 2016!

>130 lkernagh: Thanks Lori!

Congratulations on finishing the challenge!

>132 -Eva-: thanks Eva!

Belated congratulations!

Congrats on finishing! Looking forward to next year. :)