The Minimalism Challenge (Game)

Hey everyone, I hope you are all having a nice day ❤

I saw a few (or a lot) youtube videos about minimalism and now, I know a lot about it and I know that it is not for me, hehe. Both I and my husband are some sort of hoarders (in a small scale of course). I collect lots of books, pens, and notebooks 😀

In my last post, I talked about creating 6 habits before 2019 and one of the habits is decluttering. I am working on decluttering my home, my computer and even my blog Don’t know if you’ve noticed btw, but I’ve changed the blog header picture and I am so happy with how it turned up. The blue picture worked great and I love it but I wanted a cleaner look to my blog, and it came out nicely ❤

This is the old one

Anyway, back to the challenge…

Even though we will never live the minimal life, we still have too much stuff and I want to declutter our home, so I thought this minimalism challenge game could be a nice and fun way to declutter. Basically what you do is on the first day of the month you declutter 1 item, on the second day, you declutter 2 items and so on, until the end of the month. So overall you are decluttering 465 items in 30 days. Now that sounds like a lot and it is a lot but I need this decluttering in order to get back into my habits of organizing and decluttering.

I just started this game a week and a half ago, lol, but I already decluttered 172 items. This month I am cleaning out our entire closet room, so I know I will find more things to declutter. I want to do this next month as well and after that, I will do a daily declutter so that way, we’ll only keep the things that will bring us joy and happiness and not keep any item just for the sake of keeping it, or because someone has gifted something to us that we don’t even like.

I am even going to declutter my pens, notebooks, and books, I know that there are some books in my bookshelves that I will never read ever again and that I barely enjoyed them on the first time I’ve read them, so they can go to a new home 🙂

Wish me luck with all the decluttering and feel free to join if you want 😀

How do you declutter your home when you need to?

As always, thank you so much for reading ❤

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November MoodBoard

Hey all, I saw the November Moodboard over at Aloma Writes, and I knew I just had to do this ❤ I asked her if I could do this post and she kindly said yes (yay me ).

If you don’t know who is Ashleigh or her gorgeous blog, go check it out and don’t forget to say hello:D She is such a kind and sweet person and her blog is so pretty and fun, I know you’ll love her posts.

November reminds me of rain, a good book and yummy hot drinks (mostly coffee and spiced teas, hehe). My favorite colors in autumn are brown and pastel colors ❤ And I will hang twinkly lights everywhere (already started on that) 😀

My mood has changed completely, lol. My goal is to be more relaxed and not feel so overstressed as I do on most days. I’m drawn to tarot cards such as the Medicine animal and the Animal spirits, even my mood in music changed and I am more into chill music and rain sounds 😉 ❤

As always, thank you so much for reading ❤

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Pictures are from Unsplash: Photo by Eaters Collective , Photo by Kira auf der Heide , Photo by Marcus Wallis , Photo by Shehran Syed , Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger

The rest are from Pixabay.

19 Before 2019

Hey everyone, I hope you are all having a great weekend ❤

I am feeling tons better and it finally rained here and a lot. It was amazing, our first real rain storm and it felt great. I love the smell of rain and how everything looks so beautiful and crisp after the rain.

We have only 2 and a half month before 2019 and I truly want to do a few more things before the end of the year. I saw this 19 before 2019 circling around the internet and I thought I would give it a try. Now I am sure that most of you know just how much I love a good list (hehe) and so of course, I’ve made myself a list of 19 things I want to finish, do, or continue doing before 2019.

Here are my 19 things I want to do before 2019

1. Read 10 books 😀
2. Finish outlining the series, enough with the dilly-dally.
3. Declutter the entire kitchen (I can’t wait to do this, maybe even this Tuesday) 😉
4. Declutter the entire closets room (I am so dreading this one).
5. Start doing yoga (again – daily).
6. Win Nanowrimo.
7. Write in December.
8. Let go of any toxic, unsupportive people in my life (started on this already, it feels amazing).
9. Blog 3 times a week (already on it) 😀
10. Journal daily.
11. Drink more water (2L) I started a monthly challenge to drink 2L of water everyday 🙂
12. Consum less and create more (I’ve taken a break from my social media for a bit so I can write and edit more).
13. Meditate every evening before bed (already started on this).
14. Sleep more (at least 6-8 hours a day).
15. Once a week, pick a day to pamper yourself and do some self-care (oh how much I need this) ❤
16. Pick after myself every day and put things where they belong.
17. Try coloring again or just doodling, I missed it.
18. Continue learning a language or two (I took a small break but I already continuing learning) 😉
19. Be a better friend to other and be kinder to myself ❤

Well, this is my very long and a bit weird list, lol. Hope you all got inspired and maybe even make your own list of things you wish to accomplish before 2019.

What would you like to accomplish before 2019 is here?

 

As always, thank you so much for reading ❤

Let’s chat on:

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August…. Wow!

Hey everyone, did you noticed it’s already August?

WOW!

I wanted to share with you how was my July and how August was so far, and maybe even try to set some simple goals 😀

Well, let’s start with July,

July went by as fast as a bullet, I am not kidding… It flew by so fast that I barely had a moment to realize, wait… It’s July. I was so busy with my mom and my husband’s family that we had no time to take a deep breath and rest before jumping back into the deep water, called August.

I barely had time to write though I have written over my monthly goal, which is great. I wrote 6.3K and my goal was 5K, so yay for that 😀

I didn’t edit a single word or blogged as much as I planned and I didn’t finish my newsletter 😦 I still have time to finish things with the newsletter as it will go out on the 28th.

A happy news of something great that happened on July was that I’ve reached 1000 followers on Coffee n’ Notes. I am so happy to see my blog grow, thank you so much (again) to you all ❤

August so far:

From the end of July, my mom felt super bad and we went to the ER where she had a CVA like episode. When I arrived at the E.R. my mom was paralyzed from the neck down and even her mouth was closed tightly. I could only communicate with her through her eyes and after a few hours with a very hushed whisper, it was scary seeing her like that, but I knew she will get better and luckily she did ❤

Only when she was hospitalized they said it might not be a CVA but it was something else. The doctors started to run around like headless chickens (do headless chickens really run? but that’s a question for some other day), so after I had enough of them, I’ve suggested to do an EEG and see what is really going in her brain and that way will know everything (well… mostly everything). The next day we saw her neurologist in the hospital and he did the EEG and he saw something.

That something was Epilepsy (that might have been there for a while now – maybe from her last CVA). A few more days went by and she got treated for Epilepsy and she didn’t have any episodes since.

My mom is out of the hospital. She’s still feeling a bit weak but I hope she’ll feel better soon. This is the short version of what’s been going on with my mom and our family.

My goals for August:

1. Rest as much as I can (we have a lot of doctor appointments this month and I’m starting this month with already feeling exhausted).
2. Write 6K.
3. Edit. For the love of god… Do some editing.
4. Post the book reviews and finish the blog posts for this month.

How was your month?

As always, thank you so much for reading ❤

Let’s chat on:

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1000 Followers: Thank You So Much 🎉💕

Hey everyone, I hope you’re having a wonderful and productive day.

OMG, Thank You Everyone 😀

I feel so blessed and grateful and this made my week even with the anniversary my husband and I had 2 days ago, for our 14 years of marriage ❤

As we sat down and eat our anniversary cake I saw on my app that I’ve reached my first 1K, how amazing is that:D

I will not start from the beginning, as we already been there, but I will say that I’ve been blogging on and off for 3 years and I still love it. Since I am helping my mom with her health life became immensely hectic and stressful as you all know, but I still want to push myself and to be a better blogger – After all you deseve that from me ❤ A few months back I planned what I really want to achieve and with everything that is going on, I mapped out how can I achieve my goals. one of my big goals for July I kept secret, I wanted to reach my first 1000 followers and have a stronger communication with you all ❤

I am so happy that my efforts are shown and that feels beyond amazing. Breaking this first 1K wall was very hard for me and mostly because I didn’t put the time to do something about it. I want not only to publish my first book (which means finishing my editing, hehe), but also grow this blog and feel like we are in this together – In life and in achieving what we want 😀

Thank you again for being so amazing and staying with me even when my life got too hectic to post. You are truly my inspiration and part of the reasons I get up every day ❤

 As always, thank you so much for reading ❤

Let’s chat on:

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Summer Is Here: Why I Will Never Be A Summer Person

Hey everyone, I hope your day is going well ❤

It’s the first week of July and we already have extream heat like 38°c (about 100°f) and we’re just at the start of summer. In August, we have a few weeks of 45°c -49°c (about 113°f-120°f) That’s TOO MUCH! Too much heat to be going outside and doing things.

It’s like walking on the sun – Well not actually, hehe but it feels that way. Most of my friends and family love the summer, the beach, the people, traveling outside, the sun itself, and they feel happier and more energetic during the summer. I will never understand how they can stand this heat but I guess for some it’s wonderful but for me, it’s not. For me, summer truly ends in October. Every year I wish, hope, and pray for the winter to come and for the rain to wash all this heat and dust away. Thank you for letting me vent out and now for the actual post 😉

Here are my 10 reasons why I really don’t like summer 

 

First, the heat, hehe

Going outside and be in over 40 degrees and no air con in stores – Is just a crime. I am sweating like a pig (do pigs sweat?) but only on my face – now that’s charming. I hate that. And sadly, most of our summer is a huge heat wave.

Dark skin

Due to my illness, I get a very dark skin, even darker than normal. Now I know some people may find this a nice effect but I really hate it. Especially when people around me associate my dark skin with me being sick or stressed. Now I know I am over stressed but this sun is making me even darker. Ahhhh.

No Makeup

I can’t put any makeup on me – ever, because it will just melt away (yay for that).

Car from hell

Getting into my cars feel like hell itself, and that’s even before trying to put on the seatbelt without being branded for life. For how long must I endure this never-ending torture (wow that was a bit too dramatic, sorry, lol) 😀

Give me shade

I feel like a vampire, hunting down every bit of shade I can find, so I can hide underneath it and trying to close off even the smallest light that can get inside our home.

No more soup or hot coffee

I love hot drinks and soups, I like cold drinks but I love more a hot cup of coffee or tea and I will miss it.

Never ending summer

Why summer comes back so fast and seems to last for a year?

 

Bugs are everywhere. I mean everywhere.

I live in the countryside and during this season we have bugs everywhere, from big to small they are everywhere and I really hate bugs.

Anxiety

I already suffer from huge anxiety the moment I step out the door, but during the summer you truly can’t go outside without being surrounded by huge amount of people that really enjoy this heat and can have fun outside, but for me that means even more humans outside  – Too many people everywhere I go, even just to my local supermarket. Every place I go becomes too crowded and I get panicky and start to cry in the car.

The wonderful sandstorms & dust

Every year, we seem to have in the summer huge sandstorms and dust in the air. Going outside is on your own risk, lol. But seriously we have 2-5 small sandstorms and dust hazes, that you really don’t want to go outside, it’s so unhealthy and the yellow-brown dust is covering everything. If I do go outside during this I always seem to get a rash all over my skin.

Every year I try to like summer and enjoy it like others do, but I can’t. I guess I’m just a winter person 😀

What do you love or dislike about summer?

 

As always, thank you so much for reading ❤

Let’s chat on:

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* Go book shopping at http://www.bookdepository.com/?a_aid=GalitBalli 🙂 I am a Book Depository Affiliate! If you buy books using my link, I receive a small referral commission, and I will be immensely grateful 🙂

Reading Habits Book Tag

Hello everyone, and happy Tuesday to you all ❤

Yesterday was a crazy busy day with my mom. We went to Jerusalem, in order to grab some meds for my mom and after over 13 hours out and most of it in a car, I came home exhausted. it’s been a long time since I was this dead tired.

Anyways… I saw this great book tag over at Chanelle and I had to do this cute tag 🙂 If you don’t know who is Chanelle or her amazing blog chanelleheley go visit her blog and say hello, she would love that. Her blog is about beauty, life, books and so much more. I get inspired everytime I pop my head over her blog and I am sure you will too ❤

Now, onto the tag:

Bookmarks or random pieces of papers?

Well,  I am more of a bookmark kinda of a girl but I will use random paper or anything if I need to. however, I will also write a note on my phone which page I am in and not use bookmarks at all 😉

Stop reading randomly or after a chapter/certain amount of pages?

I love stopping after I hit a new chapter but if I am tired I will stop after the end of a paragraph or if the sentence end at the end of the page I will stop there.

Do you have a certain place at home for reading?

Not really, but I do most of my reading on the couch, so maybe I do 😀

Do you eat or drink whilst reading?

In most cases no, I am too afraid to spill something on the book, but sometimes I will drink something, and when I do I will put the book far from me and then have a sip of my drink and get back to my reading. I will never eat though whilst reading.

Multitasking: Music or TV when reading?

Nope. I don’t mind when my Ralfi (my husband) is watching TV but I love to read the book in quiet.

One book at a time or several?

Okay, this one is a bit hard. In most cases, I love reading one book at a time. However, sometimes I’m in a mood where I can’t read just one book, lol. Like the last two months, I’ve read 3 books all at the same times, hehe. This month, I can’t even think of doing that.

Reading at home or everywhere?

I read a lot of Ebooks while my mom was in the hospital through an app on my phone, but I love reading at home and feel comfortable.

Reading out loud or silently?

LOL,  there are parts of the book where it has a more fast dialog or fights, I love reading out loud but in most cases, I love reading in silence. I don’t listen to many audiobooks, I guess that really shows that I love reading the book on my own and silently 🙂

Breaking the spine or keeping it like new?

OMG, NOOOO! It even hurts to write the question, lol. I hate breaking the spine. 99.9% of my books look new even though I read them a lot of them more than 6-30 times, hehe. All my books are paperbacks and there are a few books that I broke the spine and it hurt seeing them there, so I try to never do that (yeah I know, I sound crazy, hehe).

Do you write in your books?

OMG! What a monster thought of these cruel questions, the horror, lol. Nope. Never.

 

That is all for this tag 😀

To all the BookDragons or BookUnicorns out there, feel free to grab this tag and consider yourself tagged. If you feel like answering one or more Questions from the tag I would love to see your answers in the comments below 🙂

BTW, I did a similar tag to this also called: The Reading Habits Tag 3 years ago, feel free to give it a look ❤

As always, thank you so much for reading ❤

Let’s chat on:

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* Go book shopping at http://www.bookdepository.com/?a_aid=GalitBalli 🙂 I am a Book Depository Affiliate! If you buy books using my link, I receive a small referral commission, and I will be immensely grateful 🙂

Book Review: Graevale (The Medoran Chronicles #4) By Lynette Noni

Author: Lynette Noni
Pages: 403 Pages
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Publication Date: February 1st, 2018
Publisher: Pantera Press

Blurb

“Light or dark, only one can win. This world cannot survive in shades of grey.”

Now that Aven Dalmarta sits upon the throne of Meya, Alex must race against the clock to save the rest of Medora from the Rebel Prince’s wrath.

Haunted by an unspeakable vision of the future, Alex and her friends set out to warn the mortal races. But making allies out of ancient enemies proves difficult.

With her nights spent deep in the Library under the guidance of a mysterious new mentor, Alex is desperate to strengthen her gift and keep all those she loves safe. Because in a world where nothing is certain, she is sure of only one thing:

Aven is coming.

Review
5 Stars

Omg… NOOOOO… Omg.

I will need to keep this review very short as every time I try to put a little more details, I give up spoilers, lol, and because my reviews are spoilers free – I must keep it sweet but short.

I just finished reading Graevale, the fourth book in The Medoran Chronicles and wow… Lynette Noni truly gets better with each book she writes, omg. I am struggling to put words together to form any sort of normal sentences, as my brain is in complete moosh right now 😀

Things get darker fast in this book, from the plot, the characters, and the amazing adventures the group takes… (I wish this series would never end) ❤

This book continues from the ending of the third book and from the start we go with Alex o other lands that only makes things harder for her to overcome Aven. Every book in this series is building up to the epic finale and it hurts that we are now closer to the end.

From the start, you can feel the tension and the slow but awesome build-up to the final battle. The places and other races we encounter and to the gang itself, trying to get stronger in their abilities and the darkness truly looming over Alex and Medora.

Alex is preparing for war by going around the lands, trying to convince them of the importance of joining this war, but Alex realized that this is not an easy task. Alex keeps training for the upcoming battle and traveling to the other lands of Medora, and I loved how she gots even stronger and more clam of what is needed to be done. Even the other characters are so well thought of and so well developed, that made Alex her group stronger than ever.

At the end I was left in tears holding my tablet tight for comfort, I was a wreck… I need the next book, NOW!

This is by far my favorite book in this series.

You can find the book over at:

Goodreads / Amazon

As always, thank you so much for reading ❤

Let’s chat on:

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P.S. I received a free copy from NetGalley for an honest review.

If you want to read my reviews on the previous book in this series here they are 😀

Akarnae

Raelia

Draekora

❤

Book Review: Draekora (The Medoran Chronicles #3) By Lynette Noni

Author: Lynette Noni
Pages: 404 pages
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Publication Date: April 1st, 2017
Publisher: Pantera Press

Blurb

“I swear by the stars that you and the others slain tonight will be the first of many. Of that, you have my word.”

With Aven Dalmarta now hiding in the shadows of Meya, Alex is desperate to save Jordan and keep the Rebel Prince from taking more lives.

Training day and night to master the enhanced immortal blood in her veins, Alex undertakes a dangerous Meyarin warrior trial that separates her from those she loves and leaves her stranded in a place where nothing is as it should be.

As friends become enemies and enemies become friends, Alex must decide who to trust as powerful new allies—and adversaries—push her towards a future of either light… or darkness.

One way or another, the world will change…

Review
5 Stars

Before I’ll start I will just say that I loved Akarnae and Raelia so much, that I really was looking forward to reading Draekora 😀

Draekora is the third book in the Medoran Chronicles. I will keep this review short as it’s so hard to review this book without spoilers (I’ve tried, lol).

The book started with tons of action, sweeping you immediately to a new place with new characters, full of danger. From the start, Alex and her gang are trying to find out if Jordan’s brother was alive or not. Alex goes to Meya to train and learn more about her abilities. There, she has one of the best adventures in this book 😀 And I think the author only gets better and better with each book she writes.

There are a lot of new characters that we meet in this book, but you are drawn to them from the start. I love that we got to see more of Medora and even though this book has a more serious tone to it, we still experience the fun and excitement that we loved so much in the previous books. Draekora is by far the best book in this series (so far) ❤

You really get involved with the characters and the author did a wonderful job with them, you can’t help yourself but fall in love with them. I did miss the old gang a lot but it didn’t make the story any less enjoyable to read. Alex has to go through so much that with each dangerous event you keep asking yourself how will she ever get out of this situation. I won’t say much of the other characters as it will definitely spoil things for you, but I will say that the Draekon character is such a great addition to the story, I loved it.
The villain also is well thought of and you really love to hate him, the author did an amazing work with him, omg.

The ending of this book… Omg. I can’t really say much here but let me say that I couldn’t stop crying, and I so happy that I have the next book to read immediately. At the end of this book, things get even more crazy and dangerous and we know that war is coming and as I said I am happy I already have Gravale (book #4) because I must know what will happen next with Alex and her gang.

This book has everything you want in a great book. You got dangerous adventures, friendships, time travel, dragons, magic, and love. How can you not love this book ❤

P.S: The cover is gorgeous and I would truly love if I could visit Draekora.

Book 4 here I come ❤

You can find the book over at

Goodreads / Amazon

As always, thank you so much for reading ❤

Let’s chat on:

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Book Review: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (Manga Classics)

Author: Charlotte Bronte and by Crystal S. Chan (Adapter)
Pages: 324 Pages
Genre: Manga Classics
Publication Date: November 15, 2016
Publisher: Udon Entertainment 

Blurb

As an orphaned child, Jane Eyre is first cruelly abused by her aunt, then cast out and sent to a charity school. Though she meets with further abuse, she receives an education and eventually takes a job as a governess at the estate of Edward Rochester. Jane and Rochester begin to bond, but his dark moods trouble her. When Jane uncovers the terrible secret Rochester has been hiding, she flees and finds temporary refuge at the home of St. John Rivers

Review
5 Stars

This is the first classic adaptation I’ve read and Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books. At first, I was a bit anxious about taking this book, but I really wanted to know how this great book full of life struggles, dark moments and love will be portraited in a manga… I am so happy I did take this book ❤

This was made brilliantly and the story of Jane Eyre shines beautifully here. The artwork shows the emotions of the story in an incredible way, making the reading even more powerful and emotional. We also get to see the Victorian era come to life in the clothes and the homes, all wonderfully drawn and they really made this small details in their art which made reading this adaptation, even more, fun. The illustrations are just so charming and captivating and it captures the essence of all the characters brilliantly.

Overall, I was truly impressed with this adaptation and I can’t wait to read more of my favorite classic adaptions ❤

You can find the book over at

Goodreads / Amazon

As always, thank you so much for reading ❤

Let’s chat on:

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* I received this copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.