Life Seems But a Quick Succession of Busy Nothings

I know some of you will read that and think what a downer to start the year.

I’m going to hide under the covers with my ice cream

And yeah you can say that life is full of nothings, lots of the mundane and boring.

But you know what, life is also full of fun nothings. Things that aren’t important in the grand scheme of it, but lots of fun.

Like this blog. I know the things on here aren’t that important or ground-shattering. If I stopped writing it wouldn’t really affect anyone that much…but I have a lot of fun doing it.

And I’m not sure what I how I will be posting- every two days, every three days, every four, once a week, etc. But I know I’m going to keep on.

Why start with a Jane Austen quote? Well this will be the year of Jane as not one, but TWO JANE AUSTEN NOVELS CELEBRATE THEIR 200TH ANNIVERSARY!!!!! Northanger Abbey & Persuasion!!!!!!!

So let’s get on with our year in review! This post will only cover a few things, you really should check out the year for yourself. To start at the beginning go here.

The Views

 

This year I had over 58,121 views!

 

The most viewed day of the year was November 29 with 486 views! Although, I didn’t post anything on that day

The Top Five Posts

Here are the top five most viewed posts of the year, although strangely none were posted this year.

I mean you like what you like. I’m just happy people are reading my blog.

5) Tea Time, a quotable post on tea love (2015)

4) A True Princess from 30 Day Challenge:Disney Edition (2014)

3)I Saw Goody Osburn With the Devil: The Crucible (1996), part of Horrorfest II’s 31 Days of Horror films (2013)

2) Carry On Wayward Son, a post dedicated to the song (2014)

1) Fulfilling the List: A Walk to Remember (2002), from Romance is in the Air‘s 14 days of my favorite romantic moments (2013)

The Followers!

So this community has really grown in numbers and I can not describe how pleased I am about that. We have gone from 14 followers in 2012 to 42 followers in 2013, 169 followers in 2014, to 439 in 2015, to 616 in 2016, and now 1021!

Happy 40th Anniversary Star Wars

So last year marked the 40th anniversary of Star Wars. I couldn’t resist posting about it and did the following: A New Hope and Why the Princess Leia Crown Hairdo is Awesome

And a special post comparing Star Wars and Jane Austen characters in  You Put the Jedi in Pride & PreJEDIce

Jane Austen Film Reviews

I reviewed Pride & Prejudice (1995), Emma (1996), Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001), and Death Comes to Pemberley, Episode Two (2013)

Holiday Posts

I celebrated Chinese New Year with 4 of my favorite chickens/chicken moments in Nobody calls me Chicken: Chinese New Year; Saint Patrick’s day post on 17 Irish heroes in With a Little Luck of the Irish: 17 More Irish Heroes; Father’s Day in Dad’s Day; Fourth of July with Let Freedom Ring, Thanksgiving in Are Dean Winchester and Jane Austen Kindred Spirits? and Christmas in All I Want for Christmas.

Book Club Posts

This year I started a book club. We read one book a month, each member having a month where they choose the book (any type), and then we meet and discuss it with good food. So far we have read the books The Darcy Monologues by various and edited by Christina Boyd, The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie, At Home in Mitford (The Mitford Years #1) by Jan Karon, A Light in the Window (The Mitford Years #2) by Jan Karon, The Undoing of Saint Silvanus: A Novel by Beth Moore, A Voice in the Wind (Mark of the Lion #1) by Francine Rivers, and Sandcastle Kings: Meeting Jesus in a Spiritually Bankrupt World by Rich Wilkerson Jr.

How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You: Romance is in the Air, Part V

Once again I reviewed 14 romantic moments from film and TV shows:  Under Capricorn (1949), Sleeping Beauty (1959), Move Over Darling (1963), Back to the Future (1985), Working Girl (1988), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Pride and Prejudice (1995), Picture Perfect (1997), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1999), Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001), Young Justice (2012), How I Met Your Mullet, Raising Hope (2014),Age of Adaline (2015), and Doctor Thorne (2016).

Give Me Some Good Cooking!

So I added recipes last year and continued this year. Check out Apple Pie, Aunt Neal’s Old-Fashioned Tea Cakes, Baked Potato Soup, Cherry-Pistachio Tea Cakes, How to Make a London Fog, and Triple Berry Salad.

Jane Austen Book Reviews

I reviewed What Would Jane Do?: Quips and Wisdom from Jane Austen by Jane Austen; Suspense and Sensibility (Or First Impressions Revisited) by Carrie Bebris; Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife: Pride and Prejudice Continues (Darcy & Elizabeth #1) by Linda Berdoll; The Darcy Monolgues: Part I, The Regency edited by Christina Boyd and written by Various; The Darcy Monolgues: Part II, Other Eras edited by Christina Boyd and written by Various; Prude & Prejudice by Francine Carroll; Prom & Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg;  Too Pretty by Andrea Grigg; A Visit to Highbury: Another View of Emma by Joan Austen-Leigh; Pride and Prejudice Paper Dolls by Brenda Sneathen Mattox; For Darkness Shows the Stars (For Darkness Shows the Stars #1) by Diana Peterfreund, and Reason and  Romance (The Austen Series #2) by Debra White Smith

The End of the Fangirl Posts…For Now

We finally reached the end of the fangirl posts with You Can’t Keep a Fangirl Down and To Fandom With Love; which cover Jules Verne, Longmire, Raising Hope, V, Veronica Mars, Wishbone, Whitechapel, X-Files, X-Men, and Young Justice.

Scenes of My Everyday Life

There was the time I was stopped and checked to see if I was a possible terrorist in An Explosive Trip; a funny time justice was served in Road Rage; and when I was scared someone was trying to break in in Something’s Scratching at the Window.

Phangirl

I brought back my love of The Phantom of the Opera in President of the “I Don’t Like Raoul Fanclub” and Is Christine the Ultimate Femme Fatale?

Tea Lover for Life

If you love tea like me check out I Made My Own Teabags, Perfectea, A Perfect Cup of Tea or Tea for Two, and You Know You Really Love Tea When…, and You Know Me So Well

Painted Portrayals of Christ

This year we looked at The Last Supper by Andrea del Castagno; Triumphal Entry of Christ into Jerusalem from the Florence Baptistery by Lorenzo Ghiberti; “The Crucifixion” from  The Isenheim Altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald; “The Arrest in the Garden” from The Passion Altarpiece by Hans Holbein the younger; and Risen Christ by Michelangelo.

Continuing with Emma

We continued posting on the book Emma with Should We Pity Miss Bates or Strive to Be Her?, TO the Person Who Hated My Review of Emma (1996) AKA the Kate Beckinsale Version, and A Visit to Highbury: Another View of Emma by Joan Austen-Leigh

The Darcy Monologues

So I was contacted by Christina Boyd to do a honest review in return for a free copy of the ebook. I agreed as you know I will review anything Jane Austen. So the book is a collection of monologues or short stories; told from the point of view of Mr. Darcy. Some take place in the Regency time period, some take his point of view of the novel, some after the novel, and some asking the question of what would happen if..? The second half takes the story and shows it in different time periods. I did several posts on it: The Darcy Monologues: Part I, The Regency, I Have Been Remiss, My Deepest Apologies to The Darcy Monologues; The Darcy Monologues: Part II, Other Eras, and Book Club Picks: The Darcy Monologues.

A Horrible Horrfest Hangup

So my charger broke during Horrofest VI, and I tried to catch up but failed to have 31 posts. I know, so sad!!! These are what I did manage to review- film:The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), The Beast Must Die (1974), Silver Streak (1976), Alien (1979), Friday the 13th, Part II (1981), Psycho II (1983), Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Pet Sematary (1989), The Witches (1990), The Addams Family (1991), So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), My Boyfriend’s Back (1993), Hangman’s Curse (2003), Candlestick (2014), Doctor Strange (2016) & The Mummy (2017) –and the TV episodes: Scarlet Night: Archie’s Weird Mysteries (2000), Graveyard Shift, Spongebob Squarepants (2002), & The Cruel Giggling Ghoul: Teen Titans Go (2016)

So what will the new year hold?

We shall see!

For 2016 in review, go to A New Hope

For 2015 in review, go to To Boldy Go Where No Man Has Gone Before

For 2014 in review, go to Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need Roads

For 2013 in review, go to Looking at the Past, Focusing on the Future

For 2012 in review, go to Looking Back, Moving Forward