Wednesday, June 1, 2016

May // axe throwing + blogversary + home again

This month. I can't even begin to explain what a whirlwind this month has been. I finished my study abroad program, met my family at the Copenhagen Airport, boarded a ship for Norway, cruised around Norway and Scotland, flew home to Chicago, and cleaned out my closet.

Yep, that ending was a little anticlimactic, I know. But it was an epic accomplishment. I haven't done a full closet clean up since maybe seven years ago. But you're not here to hear about my housekeeping glories, are you? (Wait, you're not? You don't want to hear about how many giant bags of clothes I'm donating to Salvation Army? WELL THE ANSWER IS FIVE.) You're just wondering about the post title and how the words "axe throwing" somehow snuck in there.

Well I'll tell you.

On our cruise, we stopped by to the Isle of Skye and (after a 1 hour walk that was supposed to be 20 minutes according to a kind and apparently untrustworthy Scot) ended up at a axe throwing, archery, and rifle shooting place. My mother had done Research and this was apparently The Thing To Do. 

So now I know how to throw axes and shoot rifles (with mediocre accuracy), so you better watch out. This is all, of course, part of my giant plan to become a badass YA heroine which started when I realized I had been born with green eyes.

ALSO THIS MONTH, this baby blog turned three! Did you miss that gloriously glitter-ful post of cake and giveaways (three of them!) and games? Well, you won't want to pass up this opportunity to win lots of books! (One of the giveaways is INT! The other two are US only, unfortunately.) The giveaway was supposed to end tomorrow, but I've extended it for another week! Click here to join the party...

(photos link to instagram)



Over the course of the semester, I ended up having some books (and bookish goodies) sent to my Chicago house while I was in Denmark. Soooo, this haul is going to be a four-month haul, instead of a monthly one. :-)


Uprooted by Naomi Novik - my last #OTSPSecretSister gift from back in January from the lovely XXXX! I just read it this month and ADORED it - review coming soon!

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doehrr - this popped up on my family's bookshelves at some point during my four month absence and no one can explain how it got there. If you sent it, thank you! I have a crappy memory so maybe I entered a giveaway and forgot?

Mercy by Jussi Adler-Olsen - my Danish host mother gave this to me for my birthday in February! I'm saving it for when I'm feeling nostalgic for my Scandinavian Crime Fiction.

THAT GLORIOUS MUG is from the Society6 shop of the ever-lovely Cait (Paper Fury)! I can't wait to use it :-)

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These I picked up at a used book sale in Copenhagen which had an abnormally large collection of English books and a deal of 6 for 500 kroner (not the best deal but books are AWFULLY expensive in Denmark). 

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - just finished and loved it!

The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie - read earlier this month! review to come!

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - read coincidentally at the same time as my sister - maybe she'll pop by the blog to review it with me?

Dracula by Bram Stoker - I've read this one before but I'm about to start a reread!

The Code of the Woosters and Right Ho, Jeeves! by P. G. Wodehouse - I still haven't read any of Wodehouse's books but I really want to!

How was your May? Read anything interesting? I feel like I've been out of the bookworld loop since I've had no wifi for two weeks, so tell me what I missed! And have you entered my giveaways yet? :-)

9 comments:

  1. That sounds like an amazing trip! I've never been to Scandinavia.

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    1. I loved Scandinavia! (Just don't go in January without a lot of thick coats and scarves :P )

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  2. I've always wanted to visit the isle of Skye, mostly just because we share a name.

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    1. Haha I've always wanted to go to the Hagia Sophia in Turkey for the same reason :-)

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  3. I've heard of (but not read) most of these books, with the exception of All The Light We Cannot See, which was nice but a bit too heavy on the luscious descriptions. I met someone from the Isle of Skye, but I was fortunate enough not to be attacked with an axe. (Maybe it's because he was 14 and quite nice. Who knows. Maybe the axe hadn't made it thorugh customs) And cleaning out your cupboard sounds difficult if not exciting :)

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    1. The folks we met in the Isle of Skye were the NICEST but also the most dangerous. Perhaps it's good that they were nice? One of them drove us back to port in the back of his white van and let us out the back door. Our visit was filled with sketchy things done for completely non-sketchy reasons :-P

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  4. AHHHHH YOU HAD SUCH A CRAZY BUSY BUT EXCITING MONTH AND I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOUUUUU! Also yay for cleaning out your closet! It's definitely an accomplishment! HAPPY BLOGOVERSARY AGAINNNNNNN :D

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  5. YOU CAME TO SCOTLAND! That's so exciting. I love love loooove Skye. Going there on holiday in August <333 (though I have definitely never partaken in any axe throwing!)

    I would love to actually read some Wodehouse. I've watched the (wonderful) Fry and Laurie Jeeves & Wooster but that's all. ALSO SO JEALOUS ABOUT ALL THE LIGHT. My best book of 2015 and my so-far best of 2016 were both Pulitzer prize winners so I have decreed to read ALL THE PULITZER WINNERS and I'm pretty sure All the Light won in 2015? Or 14? Or something. Anyway. I'M DESPERATE FOR IT. I keep visiting it in Waterstones and, like, stroking it, but I've not bought it yet. (I'm nursing hopes to find it secondhand.)

    I also got a Paper Fury mug last month, it says "You can make anything by writing" ~ CS Lewis and I drink from it while writing <33

    Happy June, Sophia!

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  6. Such a very interesting and very useful information in your blog about the axe trowing i really like it.
    ontario

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