2015 Reading Challenge [Closed] discussion

Or, what are your other hobbies?

Personally I've got really into blogging. I have managed to post every day for the last year, which isn't easy considering we don't have proper internet at home.

I also like taking photos, as I live in a beautiful part of Scotland and I have an energetic labrador I get plenty of opportunities to do that.

I'm also pretty crafty and I love to knit. At the moment I'm having a sock phase though normally I make toys. I've also just relearnt how to cross stitch and have been having fun doing that.

How about you guys?

I would love to go to Scotland! I have a novel I'm working on that takes place in Orkney ;)

When I'm not reading, I'm usually writing, cooking/baking, or chasing after my son. I also enjoy arm-knitting and am trying to learn regular knitting.

I have a blog, but it has been sorely neglected. Hoping to change that

Lora wrote: "I would love to go to Scotland! I have a novel I'm working on that takes place in Orkney ;)

When I'm not reading, I'm usually writing, cooking/baking, or chasing after my son. I also enjoy arm-kn..."

I'm on an island just off the west coast, which is lovely though sometimes it seems like everyone knows everyone else's business (or thinks they do, hehe). The only other island I've been to is Skye, I'd love to visit the Orkneys.

I've never tried arm knitting. Knowing my luck I'd just get going and really need the loo, or to answer the door or something! It looks cool though.

Scotland? Wow! I'm jealous.

When I'm not reading I am attending university (last year!), researching my family tree, blogging, and spending time with Taylor. :)

Jessica wrote: "Scotland? Wow! I'm jealous.

When I'm not reading I am attending university (last year!), researching my family tree, blogging, and spending time with Taylor. :)"

Hehe, we have gale force winds forecast for tonight and tomorrow. It's impressive but not much fun when they hit!

Luckily on New Year's Day the ferries don't run anyway, but last time we had gales at this time of year we got a five-day power cut. All my books that I'm planning on reading for this challenge are on my Kindle so I'm in trouble if that happens again!

Scotland is awesome, green and beautiful. People are really friendly but there are evil midges which are really not friendly :p

I like reading (obviously), taking photos, going to the ocean, travelling and exploring green places. I like writing too and I'm not bad at it but for the moment my brain is unable to produce some interesting story.

When I'm not reading, I'm in classes (my last semester is in the spring, wooooo!), studying, spending time with Jessica, or doing one of my more infrequent activities such as playing xbox, geocaching, whittling, or watching Netflix (most recently I've become a fan of both Parks and Rec and Attack On Titan). Oh, and my roommate has a puppy named Sawyer who I view as my own child, so playing with him is a must.

Playing the piano, spending time with people, baking, surfing in the internet, of course going to school too and doing required exercises, writing or drawing sometimes/rarely, being in the nature, making cards, and daydreaming.

Cait wrote: "Lora wrote: "I would love to go to Scotland! I have a novel I'm working on that takes place in Orkney ;)

When I'm not reading, I'm usually writing, cooking/baking, or chasing after my son. I also..."


Wow that's awesome Lora ! Good luck with the novel !

As for me, when I don't read, I'm as well writing,cleaning, helping friends with their bachelor's degree or taking pictures of nature or animals.

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of, no shortcut.”
Stephen King

When I'm not reading, I'm writing. I'm a freelance writer. I also spend a lot of time with my friends, husband and cats. I don't exercise much. Only some yoga. Besides that my hobbies are social and cultural.

I have a job that has long hours and shift work, so I try to read when I can at work, and often before bed.

I have a very eclectic assortment of hobbies and interests. I'm a martial artist and have been practicing for 17 years attaining the rank of Sandan (third degree black). I like rock climbing and cycling, have gone skydiving and scuba diving, enjoy travelling and have backpacked across Europe, and I've been to Australia. I am also a geek at heart and love board games, tabletop games and strategy games, and I'm a big movie buff and will watch almost any type of movie, but my favourites are ones that make you think.

I work retail so I have constantly changing hours. I'm also married so I do stuff to keep house. I have recently gotten into card-making (I made all my Christmas cards this year). I also play silly games on my Kindle and watch done shows online. :-)

I like to cook. A lot. I also like buying crappy furniture off Craigslist and at garage sales and up-cycling it. I'm a total Pinterest junky. I love to write, but I don't get to do it as much as I'd like to these days. I don't watch much TV, what I do watch is binge watched on Netflix. Last, but certainly not least, planning adventures with my mister and sometimes our fur-kids. We have created wildly inventive back stories for them because, in case I haven't mentioned it enough, we're a strange couple. Our pug is Joseph the Archduke of Squish. He's as eccentric as he is regal. He spends his days vigilantly defending his duchy from the clutches of his political rival and nemesis, our Norwegian Elkhound Ms. Demeanor. We have quite the life, haha.

For the next seven moths all i do and will do is to learn to pass my exams and finish highschool . Exept from that i love to make 3d origami figures , sweets and spend time on tumblr ^^ :)

When I'm not reading, in my free time, i'm probably sleeping. :)

I work as engineer and I'm currently doing a master in computer science, so mostly of my time i'm working or studying or writing articles.

In weekends i usually go to my parents house and do all the lazy stuff, like sleep a lot, watch TV series, and like Michele i'm a total Pinterest junky!! Also i walk and play with my beautiful and cute shih-tzu <3 happy days! :D

Michelle, what have you watched on Netflix. I'm currently working thru Midsomer Murders (started with my mom last year). Can't remember which season I'm on. Lol! I am also a Pinterest junkie and love to cook!
My husband works at midnight on the nights he works, and I have made him something dinner every night since we've lived here. Actually I might have missed one or two nights. His coworkers are super jealous. Lol. What's most difficult about it is that he is vegetarian and I am not. Lol!!

That's so sweet! I'm sure your husband appreciates that immensely (especially working nights). I work nights too, Britteny, and I work 12 hour shifts. It is hard to get a good meal in the middle of the night, haha.

It can put a kink in our dinner schedule when I have to work (6pm-6am) so I've been doing the slow cooker thing on those nights. It's been a fun challenge, trying to adapt recipes for the slow cooker or find new and exciting slow cooker recipes. Surprise, surprise - there's a ton of slow cooker recipes out there for soup, chili, and roasts. Pinterest helps, at times, but you've really got to dig for variety in slow cooker recipes. We try to minimize the processed foods (we're not perfect, but we try) which makes the search for good recipes that much harder. My fiancé and I both eat meat, so that's good. I can't imagine how challenging that must be for you! My fiancé is Asian and loves Asian food which I never made before we got together. If he had his way, we'd eat that every night! :)

As for my Netflix binges, lately I've been watching Mad Men. I'm on Season 3 now. Before that I binge watched The IT Crowd which I've seen a dozen times but it is awesome so I watched it again.

That's it, field trip to read at Cait's house in Scotland! I'm from boring Ohio!

In my other time, I'm a wife, mom who homeschools her 10 year old, children's pastor, and director of a mentoring program for inner city kids.

I love to knit and walk our crazy 6 year old pit bull. My life is full of being a Girl Scout leader and 4H volunteer to make sure my daughter is able to pursue her dreams of being a fashion designer (all those wonderful sewing projects) or a dog trainer!

I'm retired so theoretically my time is mine to do with as I choose. My wife still works unfortunately so I spend a good bit of my day on chores: cooking, cleaning, shopping, yard work and such. We have a mix breed dog who turned seven today. I begin my day by walking with her to the nearest dog park where she plays with her doggie friends and I visit with the owners. A diverse group of people who I never would have met otherwise. The highlight of my day. I also play tai chi and try to find a group somewhere in town every day. I have always been a gardener but here in the desert that is somewhat problematic. I do continue to try. Also have been an avid hiker but am slowing down on that front due to physical limitations and the extreme heat we have here in summer. Summer in Scotland seems like it would be lovely.

I live in boring Ohio too, Patty. But I am from Chicago, IL. I like to think I'm just displaced, not permanent. But I love my job and I just got a house so, yeah, it's probably more permanent than I like to pretend. :P

That's awful sweet, Guy! Dogs are the best! I love my canine companions to pieces! I wish we had some local dog parks, I think they'd like that. As it is, we take them around our friend's dogs from time to time for socialization but it is usually only a few times a month.

I cook (went vegan a few months ago, so it's a whole new thing for me...don't worry, last time I'll mention being vegan, lol), spend time with my kids, spend time with my girlfriend, and I also enjoy hiking, going to the gym, some videogames (Civilization and ones like that), and whatever other interests in interested in at the time. I commute on the train for work, so that is my usual reading time outside of home as well.

Hey Bruce.. how do you know someone's vegan? They tell you! :P Haha, jk! There are a lot of group members here who are vegan as well!!

Hehe, we'll have a summer reading holiday here then shall we? Weather isn't great right now though. Very glad I'm inside where it's warm and dry.

Michelle, Archduke of Squish is just adorable!

We don't have TV or internet at home so we kind of binge watch TV series too. We're on The Dukes of Hazzard at the moment and will start on The Mentalist soon. Before Christmas it was Criminal Minds and Ripper Street.

I play with my dogs (or cuddle them when I am reading). I like working out, mostly yoga and kickboxing. I also volunteer doing a lot of social justice activism type work (we'll leave it at that, no need to get deep into religion or politics here!)

40 hours a week I work a desk job and listen to a lot of podcasts! Sometimes audio books, but it's much easier to pause a podcast and not worry if I miss a couple minutes while distracted.

I am a Walking Dead and Game of Thrones junkie.

Cait wrote: "Or, what are your other hobbies?

Personally I've got really into blogging. I have managed to post every day for the last year, which isn't easy considering we don't have proper internet at home.

..."
Oh Scotland, one of the places on my bucket list *dreamy eyed*. Well besides working full time at a desk, I'm going back to school again part time and I'm a mother to a teenage boy and 2 fur babies. I am a Pinterest Junkie as well and love to bake, Netflix binge *currently working on Being Human UK version*, craft, diy, cross stitch, thrift, read (ofcourse), I took up running this past spring, it's not so fun in the winter though. I'm saving for a DSLR camera to start taking pictures of nature and I thought of trying my hand at sewing and arm knitting. I like to think of myself as a jack of all trades, master to none :)

Wish that I could be reading! :)

When i'm not reading i'm taking care of my 22 month old, 3 yr old and 3 month old puppy. Otherwise i'm cleaning, cooking, sleeping or do other necessary things that need to get done.

Thanks Cait! We have entirely too much fun with our dogs. Haha. I'm sure I could if I had to, this is just something entitled jerks like me say, haha, but I can't imagine not having Internet. Cable, bah, I'd barely miss it. I need my Internet. /junkymode

I'm a mom of 3 (ages 10, 12, and 14) and work part-time. Two of my kids are in competitive swimming so I'm at the pool 5 times a week (plus meets) and the other is cycling a couple times a week. I spend a lot of my time organizing meals and schedules around being a swim taxi service. When the mood strikes me, I do some crocheting and I also try to find some time with my husband.

When I'm not reading, I'm working on different online IT Projects. And of course, the normal activities for living... like eating, sleeping, etc. :)

Michelle, I do have internet access on my phone, so I can get my online fix. Luckily my in-laws are very generous with their internet access and we're there fairly often as well so I'm not totally deprived.

We might get broadband next year, but we've been saying that for the last three years, hehe.

The longer we go without live TV, the less I feel like we miss it.

I watch a lot of tv shows and asian dramas, I love movies, I tweet and tumblr everyday, read and write fanfics occasionally.
I go to my friend´s a lot, she has a kid who's 20months old so I get my fix of cuteness with him.
I love to hike and try to use my bycicle as much as I can when I go to town. I live in a city so there are many cycling roads. I started geocaching last year and it´s so much fun and also a nice way to be out and get some fresh air.
I love to travel, I've been a lot to London and enjoyed many musical shows and theater. I've been to Scotland and it was amazing I just love this country.
And I'm saving up to go to Korea this autumn.

In addition to reading and working as a librarian, I play in a few concert bands, sing in a choir, and going to grad school part time (1 class a semester) in order to get my Masters in Library and Information Science.

Netflix, video games, and cross stitch, mostly. I just got a new 3DS for Christmas, and I'm super obsessed with it.

I also like to obsessively plan upcoming vacations to the point where it can count as a hobby, I think. We're going to Vegas in February, and there are definitely not enough hours in the day for everything I want to do while we're there. :[
But I love looking at restaurant menus and tours and happy hour specials, even if I don't get to do everything I want, haha.

Long distance running, swimming, bootcamping. I love sports :)

Postcrossing and Postcrossing meet-ups, penpalling (although I'm awfully behind with answering letters at the moment), travelling, watching the games of my favourite soccer team Bayer 04 Leverkusen (unfortunately rarely live at the stadium), way too much of surfing the internet...

Math, yoga, binge watch TV, drink.

Grad school life.

Well, until February the only thing I'll be doing is eat, sleep and study. And spending most of my time on Goodreads when I reaaaally shouldn't.

When I am not reading, I usually love to watch a good movie, do art and crafts, a bit of cooking and baking and I enjoy walking in the countryside. I also love postcrossing and penpalling as well, but I am frightfully behind with those too!!!