Jenny's Favorites: October Edition

1. I've signed up for Plated in an attempt to try out new foods for dinner. Would I walk into a grocery store and buy duck or quail? No. But I will order it on Plated and successfully cook up a gourmet meal with it!

2. This trusty backpack (which I originally bought for Jason and have since commandeered, oops!)  has been the perfect sized carry on for my little adventure this month.This is the first time in forever that I'm traveling without carrying on 30 lbs. of camera gear. On my way here I was skipping with joy all the way to my gate after I breezed through security.

3. I'm ashamed to admit how much time I've spent watching Gilmore Girls since it came out on Netflix at the beginning of October. There's something about it that's very autumn-ish about it: School themes, lots of coffee, etc. It's been the perfect show for me to watch while catching up on busy work on my computer that got pushed aside during the sunnier months. Added bonus: I'm talking faster and including more obscure pop culture references in my daily life.

4. I bought this little Josie Maran lip & cheek duo on a whim before I left on my trip and I've been loving it. It's really moisturizing for your lips and both colors can be used as a cheek stain as well. Multipurpose products are the best.

5. You're looking at a stack of books, because that's what I read in a week of vacation. Only my stack was virtual because most of them were on my iPhone. I love books tend to devour them while laying in the sun.

I'd highly recommend:
One Plus One: An adorable story of humanity, helping strangers and love.
Heirs & Spares (The Realm Book 1): Historical fiction that's not boring! Set in a European kingdom at the time of the Reformation, there's some history but also romance, deception, plotting and backstabbing.
The Boys in the Boat: A scrappy underdog type of story about the UW crew team who won Olympic gold in front of Hitler in 1936. So much of this book takes place within walking distance of my house, I loved reading about what my neighborhood was like in the 1930's!
Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography: If you loved Choose Your Own Adventure books as a child and find Neil Patrick Harris even remotely interesting, you'll enjoy this book.

These we're OK...Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed them, but didn't feel like they quite lived up to the hype/reviews I'd seen: 
Eleanor & Park: This is a cute story of first love. It takes place in 1986 which also wins points with me, but I'm seeing on lists of all-time best love stories and toted as the next The Fault in Our Stars, which it is not. 
Me Before You: Good book, but I liked Jojo Moyes' One Plus One a lot more, see it above.
The Hypnotist's Love Story: I'd recommend Liane Moriaty's The Husband's Secret over this one.
(book photo via)