September Recap // ft. school being stressful, rereading, & a hiatus announcement!!

Wow. September happened.

Half of me feels like this month flew by, but the other half is pretty sure it lasted about six years. September was a month of school stress (at this point, I don’t think school is ever going to be not stressful), dancing all the time, and pretty much abandoning my blog and books in general.

So, in short, I’m really happy it’s over!

It’s now *almost* my favorite month of the year, and I couldn’t be more excited about that! I’m hoping to channel a lot of the positivity I feel about it now nearly being October into this wrap-up as I talk about what happened this past month and what’s to come in the next month (the title of this post spoiled that, but it’s okay).

Let’s get started!

Does Olivia still read? This is a question I asked myself many times this month.

The answer is…kind of. She reads, but since she’s stressed out with school, she mostly only rereads books from her childhood because they make her heart happy and help her forget about the things she’s worried about.

Okay, I’m going to stop referring to myself in third person now and talk about the books I read in September. 😉

Yes, I read one book that disappointed me immensely and then I followed that up by rereading the entire first Percy Jackson series, which did the opposite of disappoint me- it made my month a thousand times better, actually.

I always forget how much I truly love Percy Jackson. It really is a close second to the Harry Potter series for me. Percy is so sarcastic, sassy, and is a genuinely great character. The writing is hilarious, relatable, and you learn a lot about mythology. Annabeth is amazing, I’ll be shipping Percabeth to my last breath, and the OG trio of Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are seriously iconic.

I’ll never regret rereading the series! My favorite is definitely The Last Olympian, though, or maybe The Sea of Monsters? They’re just all really good, okay.

I read basically all of the Percy Jackson books while doing my hair for dance (this is a special talent of mine, I can do buns and read at the same time), right before bed (I stayed up way too late reading a few times), or at any moment I could catch during the day. Honestly, this month was the perfect example of me making time to read even when there didn’t seem to be any.

How I Did on September Reading Goals:

• Read 5 books✅
• Go to the library❌I went…but only to study, didn’t get books
• Post on bookstagram❌
• Stay active on bookstagram✅❌
• Read a classic❌

October Reading Goals:

• Read at my own pace
• Go to the library
• Stay active on bookstagram (go on at least 4x per week)
• Post at least twice on bookstagram

Blogging in September was essentially nonexistent for me, and that’s why I’ve decided that I will be taking a short hiatus during the month of October.

I know I’ve said this a lot of times, and I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but the truth is that school and dance are taking up all of my time. My days consist of school, dance, and doing homework until late at night, and my weekends consist of dance, homework, babysitting, and trying to find times to hang out with friends.

The only posts I posted this month were pre-written in summer, and it was all I could do to keep up with comments and read a total of probably ten posts from other bloggers this whole month. That makes me really, really sad.

I love blogging with my whole heart, but it’s just not possible for me to dedicate as much time as I want to it right now. That’s why I’ve made the decision to take a step back for now, probably just for October.

I’m not going to be completely gone, though- I have an exciting blogging opportunity happening in just a couple of days, so I’ll be posting then, and I’m hoping to continue to use bits and pieces of my spare time to read the posts in my Reader and work on posts. I’m not taking a hiatus from WordPress, I’m taking a hiatus from feeling pressured to post.

Thank you all for all your support recently, even when I haven’t been able to reciprocate the support on all of your blogs- you all mean the world to me, and I’m so thankful for each and every one of you.

So, to conclude, I won’t be posting (much) in October and possibly beyond? I don’t know where this month will take me, and it honestly all depends on that, but I’ll keep you updated for sure. Thank you again for understanding!

Now that I’ve gotten that of the way, here’s what I posted in September in case you were interested! It wasn’t much, but I did enjoy both of these posts and I hope you all did too.

• August Recap // you know the drill here
• The Levels of Being Obsessed With Harry Potter // how obsessed are you with Harry Potter? I wrote a post so you can find out…
• My Travels in Nashville, TN // basically me freaking out over everything Taylor Swift, because I’m me

I won’t be setting goals for October, since I know I won’t be actively posting, and I already outlined my hopes for my hiatus in the above essay paragraphs. Also I don’t want to see all the red x’s next to the September goals I didn’t accomplish. But hopefully I’ll be back next month to talk goals!

Besides the fact that school is consuming me, life in September actually went pretty well.

• I’m still loving Lover. I just keep getting more and more obsessed with Taylor Swift’s new album! The songs that I originally wasn’t in love with are now some of my favorites, but my favorites are still my favorites…so, essentially, they’re all my favorites, and it’s amazing. There’s a Lover Book Tag circulating the blogosphere that I’m definitely doing at some point as well!
• I finished Stranger Things!! Honestly, I can’t believe I adored this show as much as I did. I never in a million years would have expected to like it, but I fell in love, and now my Pinterest board (and heart) is suffering as a result of it. Mileven forever.

These are all my moods for how much I love this show. Also, aren’t they just too adorable?!

• Dance is nonstop, but going well. It’s literally everyday, but I love it! I think I mention dance in every wrap-up, but it’s such a huge part of my life, I can’t help but always remember it as being a huge part of my month.
• Car rides with one of my friends. I’m driving one of my friends home from school this year, and our car rides home have quickly become one of the best parts of my day. Sometimes we listen to music, sometimes we have deep talks, we always say the best and worst parts of our days, and I always love it.

There we have it, the notable parts of September. Like I said earlier, October is my favorite month of the year for a lot of reasons, so I have high hopes for the notable section of my monthly recap up next month!

The exciting things coming up in October are sweater weather, my birthday, a fun event I’m going to, visiting my sister, and the new season of Riverdale is coming out. Can all these things just hurry up and happen. 😉

That concludes my monthly wrap-up! Thank you all for reading, and thank you again for always being so kind and encouraging to me, it genuinely means so much to me. Even if I’m having a horrible school day, reading a sweet comment can always make my heart a little lighter and put a smile on my face.

I hope you all have the most wonderful October, and that you’re having a lovely day.✨

How was your September? Tell me all about it! Have you ever taken a hiatus? Have you watched Stranger Things? I’d love to chat with you in the comments.

Credits for the image in my featured image >> Photo by Timothy L Brock on Unsplash