Time to show off all the fancy chocolate sculptures one can find! Books, dragons, and more have been made of chocolate across the world, so share them here for us all to go 'oooo' 'aahh'

Happiest of New Year's to you as well!!

Same to you @Cairos! my kiddo got to open all of his gifts from me yesterday as we're headed to my parents today to do more presents, which are, of course, my soon to be 8year olds favorite part of the holidays lol

Same to you! Hope you've been able to enjoy lots of delicious foods!!

I've heard NYC can be fun! Expensive, but fun lol I'd like to see a couple broadway shows up there as well!

That all sounds like so much fun @Cairos! I start year 12 of teaching on Tuesday - classroom is mostly ready, lessons are definitely ready, my kiddo is beyond stoked to start 2nd grade. But year 12. Wowsa.

SO MUCH HAM in Spain! Mostly cured. Fun fact - my host mom kept a cured pig's leg in her kitchen and would shave slices off whenever we'd need them. That thing lasted the entire time I was there (approx 4 months) For Seattle we did the classic stuff - boat trip in the Puget Sound to see whales and orcas, day at the space needle, and visited Mt Rainier National Park (and were all sore from all that hiking for the following three days lol but the views we got were worth it)

I went to athens with my mom back in 2011 and it was cool to see the different islands and all of the ancient architecture that they've preserved, though it was rainy and quite chilly while we were there lol And I adore Rome - been there 3 times now and I love experiencing its history and culture! I studied abroad in Granada, Spain and hit up a decent number of cities! Next time I head across the ocean I'm planning to finally see some of Germany and France. This past week here in the states I went up to Seattle, Washington area with my mom and sis and we even did a day trip up to Vancouver - we had legit picture perfect weather almost every day and it was SO pretty and now I'm sad that I'm home lol

Those juniper book jackets are SO COOL! Perhaps someday I'll also splurge and get a set but most of my extra monies goes to travel right now lol Gorgeous set up for them @ThorkinBarrimore!!

Wait a minute... you haven't finished it yet??? *gasps* I'm going to lock you in a closet (with a light, don't you worry) and make you finish this series! Go on, go finish those books! I distinctly remember reading the last book during my first summer off as a teacher. Told myself I'd read one or chapters a day and then I hit the infamous 200 page chapter and thought it'd take me a few days to finish it. Nope. I read that in almost one sitting because I couldn't stop - only did stop for snacks lol

It amazes me how differently readers use audio - I'm the opposite in that I have to do the physical read first because my listening retention for audiobooks is subpar and is a skill I'm now working on, thus why I'm finally listening to the audio versions! I need to start doing more cooking/baking again - it can be cathartic! And I look forward to seeing your book set-up and am pre-jealous before having seen it haha I'm just glad I snagged the hardbacks with the original dust jackets before they changed those a few years back

Redecorating is so much fun - I've been repainting the house (getting rid of all the paint colors the ex husband chose 😉 ) And I'm doing a reread too, my first journey through by audiobook and it's been so fun! I'm about halfway through The Shadow Rising so not far from where you're at lol Oooo that set does look awesome - you'll have to show off your display once you've got it set up!

Middle of July???? *does a mad dash around checking all of the calendars* So soon? But why? HOW? What HAPPENED to summer break??? ok that was too dramatic but in all reality - time sure does fly when you're having fun lol Kiddo and I have kept busy with lots of different fun summer activities 🙂

I'm on there - post about the books I wrote and books I read - username is dragonheartbookworm

I have survived another year as a teacher in America and for some crazy reason agreed to return again in August lol I know many hear and read horror stories of teaching in America and yeah somedays it's a bit rough but I can't imagine doing anything else Also, my son has decided he wants guinea pigs so guess what we're doing this summer? lol