This is going to be a grouping of a bunch of things, books I read in November, some favorite things, highlights, poetry pieces, etc.

Books

• Hollow City – Ransom Riggs – Miss Peregrine’s (2nd book)
• The Scorch Trials – James Dashner – The Maze Runner (2nd book)
• (I will most definitely be reading more this month, so I will add more eventually)

Highlights

One of my favorite things done this month was our trip to the mountains. On the 1st of November we drove for an hour and a half to arrive in Canmore. We went to Craig’s for breakfast, just in time before the snow arrived, which was some of the first snow I’d seen in about 2 years. Needless to say, I was very happy and content to watch it for a while. After an amazing breakfast we decided to go to the hot springs next, so we drove for another while, to go to the Upper Banff Hot Springs. After that we decided to go into Banff, to go shopping and to go to a coffee shop for a little while. We ended up at the Jump Start cafe with cafe lattes in our hands. We went shopping afterwards, ended up only getting some candy. On the way out we saw a Caribou, just sitting on a small little hill right by the road. At first we did think it was a statue, but it moved its head. It was a fun time and I loved all the snow.

Favorites

Just some things I have been loving.

• Outside the Lines – A coloring book I bought with some of my birthday money, that has a lot of contributing artists therefore it has several different styles of art to color in, a very thick book.
• Sweaters – I don’t have any zippy outerwear, so I have been using a lot of sweaters, most are from the thrift store. My absolute favorite is a wool Christmas-y sweater.
• Poetry – For my birthday, Daelynn and Danaya bought me Erin Hanson’s 2nd poetry book, autographed by her. I love this, and have already written several in my journal.
• My journal – From my amazing friend, Ashley, I love this. Half of it is lined, and the other half is not. I use it practically every day and I stick everything in there, cards, brochures, and paint chips are a few.
• Washi tape – At Michaels, I picked up a set of three washi tapes. I have been using these a lot. I also had to describe what it is to Layne and Elissa, and that is not as easy as it sounds, and it sounds pretty lame when described as ‘decorative tape’.
• Sleep and Coffee – Layne will agree, I can sleep like a hedgehog, and I don’t get up unless woken up by him. I don’t wake up to alarms for some reason. And coffee. Not only does Layne have an espresso machine, we picked up a nice coffeemaker at Goodwill, for regular coffee. So now I get coffee every morning!!

Things (Learned, changed, etc.)

First off, Layne is a big brother. That means that he relishes in annoyance of his little sister. He has been trying to find my ‘Level 1o’ thing that really gets me upset. He has found it. One finger on the back of my neck is enough to make me squeal. It’s also very annoying during school, as we sit back to back in the office, meaning he can reach back at any given point.

Second, I am a hermit. I can be anti-social. I accept it and embrace it. People are exhausting. Big crowds, more than 6 people, anything requiring social skills really. I have been able to be by myself for a day, and I love it. That and evenings by myself are amazing, because I can relax and hold a little huffy pinecone on my lap.((Hiccup, the hedgehog))

love, mikaela joy.