Tim and Olive's Blog
Olive’s Top 5 Reads of 20232023 was a decent year for reading for me. I made more space in my life for doing puzzles but still managed to read a total of 52 books. Quite a few were books I read at bedtime with my kids, including the Chronicles of Narnia series, the Hobbit, and the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy (which I consider an accomplishment in itself!). It was actually not too hard for me to choose my favourites for this year. In case you missed last year’s list, you can find my list from 2022 here.
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Tim’s Top 10 Books, Shows, and Podcasts of 2022It’s taken me a while to get this post finished (I’ll blame COVID, which negated about two weeks of productivity in January). In the past I’ve just shared my top 5 books of the year, but this year I thought I’d also share a few of my favourite TV shows and podcasts.
Olive’s Top 5 Reads of 2022Here we are at the end of 2022. It’s been a good reading year for me – finished 52 books and found many gems along the way. It’s a difficult task to boil it down to 5 top reads, but I will try! (In case you missed it, here’s my list from 2021). I’ll also include a list of honourable mentions at the bottom of this post. I’ve linked the books to Amazon here, purely for convenience of reference. If you’re able to support your local bookstore or get these from your local library, please do so.
Blue Day Conversation GuideEarly on in our marriage, we realized that most of our everyday conversations were superficial in nature but we didn’t often get around to talking about the deeper things that mattered most to us. We decided to address this by booking off a day to discuss these topics. After all, businesses and organizations have annual planning retreats, why couldn’t we? That’s how Blue Days were invented. Over the 13 years we have been doing Blue Days, many people have asked us what we talk about. We put this post together to outline the topics we cover.
Tim’s Top 5 Reads from 2021It’s become an annual tradition for Olive and I to share our top 5 reads of the year (here’s her top 5 reads from 2021). Here are my five favourite books that I read last year, three of which are memoirs, as well as a few honourable mentions.
Olive’s Top 5 Reads in 2021It was down to the wire. With two nights remaining until 2021 was over, I parked myself on the couch after the kids went to bed and got to work. I had a deadline to meet. I wanted to be able to say that I finished 40 books in the year that I turned 40. And I did it. (Yay!) Of the 40 books I read, some of them were older books that I’d had on my to-read list for years, others were re-reads of books I had loved and wanted to read again. 14 of them were audiobooks that I borrowed through our library and listened to while painting, knitting, or puttering around the kitchen.
In keeping with our tradition of posting a Top 5 List (in case you missed it, here’s my list and Tim’s list for 2020), I’ve chosen books that were new to me this year. Since they’re difficult to rank, I’m listing them by category. I’m also including an Honourable Mentions list as well as a list of top books that my kids enjoyed listening to me read at bedtime.
What We Are Learning in Our 0th Year of MarriageThis is a guest post written by Andrew Lee, who just got married this past year. I (Tim) met Andrew in Zoom because he reached out after reading our blog. We instantly connected and it’s been fun giving him feedback on his writing. Andrew is an Asian American based in the San Francisco area, a developer at Dayspring Partners, and graduated with a computer science major from Stanford.
Marriage is a gift. Marriage is also difficult and full of never-ending challenges. But always, marriage is a journey.
Reflections on Turning 40Originally, I had hoped to host a phenomenally epic 40th birthday party and invite tons of friends and family to celebrate. If you’re reading this blog post, you would have likely been invited. As an extrovert, I get energized by being with people. For my birthday last year we hosted a chicken-wing tasting party and I invited our entire church to come. When I turned 30 we had a 30-hour birthday party and friends and family dropped by whenever they wanted over the course of two days.
Tim’s Top 5 Reads from 2020
The Book that Changed My Year (and Probably My Life)The first book that I read in 2020 ended up changing my life. Sounds dramatic? Let me explain and I’ll let you decide. In January, I picked up Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life (affiliate link) by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. It was a book Tim had asked for last Christmas but its pretty teal cover called to me and I stole it before he had the chance to crack it open. Little did I know what would come as a result.