September Favorites

I say this every month. Heck, I say this just about every day, time is going by so fast. I can't believe October is here and it's time to get ready for the holiday season.

We lost all of our Fall/Autumn/Harvest/Halloween decorations in the flood so we have to shop for new stuff this year. This is the second time I've had to replace these decorations. The first time, movers lost our box. Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something. 

September was rather uneventful if I stop and think about it. Lots of job searching going on for both myself and the Mister. His official last day as an active duty Marine is today, September 30th. We're still figuring out health insurance, retirement pay, VA benefits, etc. Making this transition is daunting to say the least. Anyway...

Books and TV

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is by far, my favorite read for September. I remember when this graphic novel was first published and EVERYone was talking about it. I read the synopsis out of curiosity and didn't like the sound of it at all. It sounded all political and dull. This year, I decided to read it for Banned Books Week and because I'm trying to find graphic novels that I like. I love this. Persepolis is a story that is going to stay with me a really long time. 

It's about an Iranian girl and her family and how they experienced, lived, and survived the Islamic Revolutions. It's a first person memoir told from Marjane's perspective from the ages of six to fourteen. As an American, I see the news reports on the Middle East and the places that we are bombing and the terrorists that we're fighting against and it makes it very easy to forget that normal people and families have to live this life. Marjane tells her story without any "woe is me" despite the hardships and losses she and her family experienced. Can you imagine being a teenager in the early 80's and being assaulted for wearing a jean jacket with a Michael Jackson button on it? If that had been happening here in America at the same time, just about every teenager would have been accosted on the street. Marjane brings these realities to life in her memoir and makes her experiences relatable to all her readers. 

I also remember thumbing through this novel ten years ago and not being very impressed with the artwork. You have to read the story to appreciate the artwork that goes along with it. I can be a real numskull sometimes. The artwork, in its black and white simplicity, is poignant and portrays the emotions of the characters and the starkness of living in a city under attack without taking your focus away from the words. 

As for TV, basically, I got caught up on The Big Bang Theory and watched its season premier and watched the season premier of The Goldbergs. Frankly, TV holds very little interest for me these days unless I'm watching old sitcom reruns on Netflix. Since we've been back in our house, we've probably watched less than 24 hours of new TV. Not counting sports and news. I really wonder why we continue to pay for cable.

Health and Beauty


After many years of looking, I have found a liquid foundation that I can actually stand to wear! It's L'Oreal's Magic Nude Liquid Powder Bare Skin Perfecting Makeup SPF 18. It's a medium coverage foundation that applies very easily with a brush and feels so lightweight. It comes out of the bottle as a liquid and dries to a powdery finish. I LURRRVE it! I also love, love, love my Tarte Smooth Operator Finishing Powder, which I apply on top of my foundation and the combo leaves my skin feeling soft and smooth. There are other liquid to powder foundations out there that I plan on trying just to see if they're any better than a drug store brand, but I'm pretty happy with this one.

The Internets

Another booktuber I'd like to tell you all about is Sanne from booksandquills. Sanne is fantastic. It really helps that I don't think I have completely disagreed with any of her book reviews that I've watched so far. Also, she can be so funny. She's originally from the Netherlands and occasionally, she'll do a video on Dutch "speakwords" and I find them very entertaining. Sanne is living the life that I want, in London working at a book publishing company, so I hate her just a little bit. Don't let that stop you from checking out her channel.

Food and Drink

I have to tell you all about another wine that the Mister and I discovered at the Vine. It's the Grand Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon. Omg people! This is such a great wine. "Lifted aromas of blackcurrant, blackberry and vanilla are accompanied by vibrant, dark berry fruits on the palate. The finish is long with fine-grained tannins from sixteen months maturation in a combination of new and older French oak hogsheads. Although drinking well now this wine may be cellared for up to ten years from vintage." I love the blueberry notes in this wine. Yum. This is such a good wine, that the Vine can't keep it in stock. I have no idea where you can buy this wine. Sorry. A "specialist" at www.wine.com says this wine is similar and this wine too but I haven't tried either so I can't say one way or the other.