Autumn 2018 To-Do List Wrap-Up

Tomorrow is December 1st.  Time to pull the plug on my autumnal to-do list :-)  Let's see how I did!

~ Read Jane of Austin by Hillary Manton Lodge Check!  My review is here.

~ Read 5 other books from my TBR shelves Check!  I read SEVEN others off my TBR shelves:

• Soldier On by Vanessa Rasanen
• A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War by Joseph Laconte
• The Case of the Very Bad Cat by Perry Elisabeth Kirkpatrick
• Return to Gone-Away by Elizabeth Enright
• An Hour Unspent by Roseanna M. White
• Death by the Book by Julianna Deering (review to come)
• Exodusters by Nell Irvin Painter (review to come)

~ Read 3 books for my Classics Club list Check!  I read four:

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
• Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop (review to come)

~ Read 3 books from the library Check!  I read five:

A Song Unheard by Roseanna M. White
Wonder by R. J. Palacio
The Bronte Sisters by Catherine Reef
Night School by Lee Child
Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy

~ Watch 5 movies from my TBW shelves Check!  I watched Rough Magic (1995), Spaceballs (1987), The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016), Red Mountain (1951), and I finished season 2 of Leverage (2009-2010).  Yes, the last is not a movie, but it takes up space on my TBW shelves, so it counts.  Of those, I liked Winter's War, Red Mountain, and Leverage enough to keep.

~ Go see the 2011 Jane Eyre with a bunch of friends Check!  It was super fun :-)  We have a new theater not too far away that holds these "afternoon tea" events once a month -- basically, they show a period drama and feed you tea and treats that are themed around the movie.  I've been to three of them now, and I am firmly addicted.

~ Go see Crazy Rich Asians Check!  It was amusing, but I didn't love it.

~ Go see First Man Fail :-(

~ Go see Bad Times at the El Royale Fail :-(  I went to visit my parents right when both this and First Man came out, and I flew over two different weekends, which meant I couldn't see movies on those weekends, and I totally missed them.  I'm so bummed.

~ Go see Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald Check!  You can read my initial thoughts on it here.

~ Get together with some blogging friends again, somewhere, somehow Fail.  Maybe after Christmas.

~ Make copycat Frankenmouth hot buttered noodles Check!  We made them for an Oktoberfest gathering we hosted back at the end of September (yeah, I know -- but it's totally a thing.  You celebrate Oktoberfest in September if you're good Germans, and I'm half a good German, so hey), and they were FABULOUS.

~ Make apple crisp muffins Fail :-(  I did print the recipe out, but that's it.

~ Take our kids camping in the Shenandoah Valley Check!  And we all survived.  No one got eaten by a bear.  I did mess my knee up again, though.  Grr.

~ Order photos Fail :-(

~ Start writing the first draft of my next book Check!  I'm more than a chapter in, and I love it.  I don't have a good title for it yet, but it's a retelling of Snow White set in the 1870s during a wagon train.

~ Run down to Colonial Williamsburg at least once  CHECK!  I went THREE TIMES!  It was basically the perfect autumn.

All in all, it was a charming autumn.  I'm particularly pleased that I got so much reading done, because it was also a busy season.  But I did NOT let my reading fall by the wayside! 

I'll post my winter goals soon.  How was your autumn?

(All pictures taken by me.  Many got posted on my Instagram account.)