Book challenge 2017

Happy New years guys!!!

I hope this year brings you only joy and happyness, and just everything you want.

And for those who made a list of goals to achieve till the next 31st of December - good luck to you all!

Well, I am certainly the kind of girl who makes couple of challenges for herself. While I'm still finalising the list of my must-do things, I present to you one challenge I always take up - the book challenge.

Now a thing about me - I absolutely love reading books, and I absolutely love buying books. I have almost 400 books of my own! I seriously can't be let in a cheap bookstore - the last time I did it only proves this fact. I had extra twenty minutes before my meeting, so I decided to look through one cheap bookstore in hope to find a travel book for my aunt. As soon as I came inside, I saw books which were sold for one euro, two, and even thirty euro cents! So I started searching for great deals, and I only woke up when five minutes were left, and I was standing with five books in my hands... Well, I quickly made a decision and walked out with three new books....

Unsurprisingly, a pretty big chunk of the books I own I haven't read. And some of them I have tried multiple times to, but failed. So every year I make a list of twelve books I have owned for more than a year and still haven't read. And, well, try to fix that!

Here is the list for this year, and heck, it will be pretty rough:

*as I will be reading some of them in Lithuanian, I can't exactly tell you the correct name of the novel

1. Jeannette Walls - The Glass Castle

2. Susanne Mischke - Nixenjagd (The Mermaid Hunt)

3. Markus Zusak - The Book Thief

4. Gaynor Arnold - Girl in a Blue Dress

5. Michael Barbery - Elegance of a Hedgehog

6. Malgorzata Saramonowicz - Lustra (Mirrors)

7. Tom G. Palmer - Peace, love and liberty

8. Alberto Varquez Figueroa - Tuareg

9. Herta Müller - The Hunger Angel

10. Jean M. Auel - The Clan of the Cave Bear

11. Michael Connelly - Lost Light

12. Sébastien Japrisot - Trap for Cinderella

So that is it for today! I hope you enjoyed my post and I encourage you to make your book challenge list,

xoxo Emma

Bye 2016

You will not be missed for many reasons.

Politics. I guess this is the main thing for the most people. Shocking political events of this one single year. And I'm not only talking about America or Britain, no - there has been a pretty dissapointing election right here, in my country. And the consequences are starting to show - bad consequences.

Taizé

Winter. Oh, Winter. I feel like this word should be written with a capital letter, because you have no idea how much I hate it. Well, to have an idea, you should come and experience it together with me, which I do not recommend, unless you love super slippery roads, tons of snow and freezing weather from the very very very first day of November (!!!). Two months down, three-four more to go....

Our school's event

Failures. For example, I lost my new pencil case, which arrived after three months of waiting the day before, during the very first lesson of that day. Lucky me, right? I also managed to break my contact lense before wearing it to school for the first time. And I'm not even gonna go into cooking, because I'm looking at a party healthy cake, which I made from scratch, and which, I have to admit, does not look very yummy - the taste is good, but the way I decorated it....

Bye 2016. You will be dearly missed.

Politics. While everybody around me were mad about the results, I was very calm. I knew, they weren't what I wished for, but because of this election, I found a new part of volunteering - volunteering at the parties. I supported the one I wanted to win not only by words - I went door to door agitating, showed up in a TV show, spread fliers. So I knew that I did something, I did my part. So I wasn't angry, because I knew, I have done everything I could. And I'm sure when the time will come, I will do it once more.

Summer. Oh, the amazing things I did and discovered this very summer. I travelled to Taizé and made so many great memories there - I can't wait to come back! I visited Vienna, Monaco, Lyon, Macon, Leipzig and more, talked to complete strangers and played hide and seek in three am. I travelled to Greece and Turkey, where I relaxed and learned few greek words which I soon, sadly, forgot. I connected with my friends more, and we took up new challenges together. Yes, the summer was definitely amazing.

Greece, Zia

Turkey, Bodrum

School. Yeah, school. It was a time, when I remembered just how much I love my class and my gymnasium, we welcomed few new girls, which soon became my good friends. I had a chance to participate in projects, some of them being totally unplanned and only more fun because of that, and leave the building with a big smile.

New opportunities. I got into an activity, which I always wanted to do - to be a part of a youth organisation. Currently, I am an active member of three, and I feel accomplished and valued. I am already taking up new challenges there, ones I thought I will never be able to do.

Tallinn

Riga's beach

Cooking. I discovered many new recipes and new dishes, sides, vegan cooking channels - it's impossible to count them all! And I finally started to create my own recipes, which I wasn't able to do before. I started bringing my own lunch to school. But I still have to manage how to make cupcakes, haha.

Challenges. There have been many challenges along the way, and this right here is one of them. I have started a few blogs in my past, including this one, but they never lasted, But I'm gonna make a difference, and hopefully see you all again, on the last day of 2017. No, not hopefully, definitely.

Thank you for reading, and happy new year!

xoxo Emma