July Recap // ft. Lots of Reading, Sunsets, & Folklore (+ Ask Me Questions for a Q&A!)

It’s August, my friends!

I’m not sure why, but I’m actually so happy that we’re officially in August of 2020. I think part of me thinks this year is going to drag on forever, so making it to another month feels like an accomplishment. We’re also a little bit closer to fall now, my favorite season- and the return to school (and dance for me) is here, too. I usually dread August, but I’m trying to go into this month with as much positivity as possible.

Even though I didn’t really do much at all in July, because I had absolutely no commitments and the COVID situation where I live just keeps getting worse and worse, I still…did things? I might have not traveled anywhere or even left my house more than a few times, but I still had a productive month in the sense of reading and accomplishing some personal goals.

I’ve noticed in the past that July is always one of my more productive months in terms of blogging and reading, probably because it’s a full month of summer vacation for me and I usually don’t have any plans. Adding that to me being in quarantine (is it even still quarantine? I don’t know?), and I had even more free time on my hands! This resulted in worse mental health, but more free time spent on my hobbies and goals.

June Recap // Failing At Goals, But More Reading, New Music, & A Survey For You!

Another month of 2020 is over.

I feel like this is cause for celebration. We’ve made it to the seventh month of this horrible year, and that has to count for something, right? If there’s anything that this year has taught me, it’s that each day is a gift and I need to recognize how lucky I am to have every day that I do, so with that mindset, July is definitely a celebration.

In honor of the new month, I’m going to recap everything that went on this past month! June was a strange haze of watching the news, scrolling mindlessly through social media, reading library books, and spending most of my time either at home or driving around aimlessly listening to music just to get out of the house.

It was one of those months that at the end I’m torn between wondering where it went and being glad that it finally ended- and I don’t have much more to say without mentioning everything I’m about to recap (I’m great at intros), so without further ado, let’s get into the actual post!

May Recap // Ending My Reading Slump, I Forgot How to Blog, & The World is Scary

We made it to the halfway point of 2020, and that in itself is a success.

As much as I wish this year had turned out much differently than it has so far, since we have to work with what we got, I’m very grateful that it’s already June. After this month is over, we will have made it through half of 2020, and I really just want this year to be over!! Preferably like right now but unfortunately that’s not how it works.

I do have to admit that at least for me, months after March have been going by moderately quickly, which is something I’m very grateful for. May passed in a series of walks, bike rides, online school and tests, zoom dance classes, and nights spent up late reading. I can only hope June will pass in the same way.

Despite me neglecting my blog this past month (I know, I’m disappointed in myself too), I still wanted to do a wrap-up post about what I read, what I did while being in quarantine, and the zero that I blogged, because it just seems like the right way to start off a new month!

April Recap // Time Flew, I Read Books, Watched Gilmore Girls, & Now It’s May?

Not to be a broken record, but I don’t know how it’s already May.

Not only is it already May, but it’s already almost a week into May? I don’t understand where this month went exactly, but I’m very grateful that it went by faster than the year and a half that was March. I think almost every recap post I’ve read so far this month said the same, so I know I’m not alone in this feeling- but I still can’t believe we’re in the fifth month of 2020 already.

I’m also very excited to be writing a recap post again, because upon looking in my archives, I realized I haven’t written a proper one of these since September! That is absurd, and it just shows how off on my blogging game I’ve been. I hope I never go that long without writing a recap post again, because I love them.

Anyway, now that we’re here (thank you for being here), I’m going to talk about what I read this month (more than March! unsurprisingly, it can’t be difficult to beat March), the little that I blogged, and the even littler that I did in real life, and some goals for May!

A Little Life Update :) // ft. Minimal Reading + Online School, But Also New York City!!

Hi! It’s me again.

So…I’m back? I think? I genuinely can’t believe how long it’s been since I last wrote a blog post- the last one I published was in January, and I’ve only been on WordPress two or three times since then. This was definitely the longest unannounced, accidental hiatus I’ve ever taken??

I didn’t exactly mean to take a blogging break, it just happened. And while one hundred percent of me needed to take it, I also missed you all so, so much! I’m kind of going to be making this post just be a catch up for everything that’s happened in the past few months, essentially since the beginning of 2020. Does anyone else also feel as if this year should most definitely be over by now.

I don’t really know if I have a good explanation for being so absent the past three months, but hopefully this post serves to be some sort of evidence that I was doing things and not just ceasing to exist over the last few months??

2019 Recap // The Best of Books, Blogging, Life Events, & My Goals for 2020!!

Happy New Year, everyone!

While part of me doesn’t quite feel like it should already be 2020 (kind of still feel as if it’s 2015, anyone else agree?), another part of me is incredibly excited that it’s a new year. I have a good feeling about this year and about this decade in general- somehow, I think it’s going to be a year to remember.

On top of all the new year feels, I’m very excited to be doing a wrap-up post for 2019! This year has (mostly) been good to me, and I’m looking forward to taking a look back at what I read, what I blogged, and what’s happened in my life since we last did a full-on recap back in January of last (!!) year.

I also want to take the opportunity to acknowledge the goals that I set in last year’s recap and hold myself accountable for what I did and didn’t accomplish, as well as set new goals for 2020. Literally, this is crazy. Twenty. twenty. I’m also going to be thanking you all for being the most amazing, wonderful blogging friends that could ever have existed- but we’ll get to that later. 😉

For the first time in 2020, let’s get into the post!

The 10 Best Books I Read in 2019 // Me Being a Basic Book Blogger, But For A Good Reason

2019 was a lot of things, and one of those things was a good reading year.

I discovered many new favorites, went out of my comfort zone with books (a little), experienced book hype, and found new authors I love. Yes, there were slumps and disappointing books, but at the end of the day, I look back on what I read over the last twelves months and feel satisfied and happy with it.

So even though this is a very typical book blogger move, today I’m going to be talking about the ten best books I read. My hope is that this post can give you a few recommendations (because don’t we all need our TBRs to grow larger) and allow me to scream one more time about the books I loved in 2019.

There are a lot of books I wish I could include on this list, but I only reread them in 2019, so I don’t feel as if I can count them here. I also wish I could pick an exact order and rank the books accordingly, but I genuinely can’t pick an order, so this post is not necessarily in an order of how good I felt the book was.

Enough of me rambling, on to the books!

I’m Back From Hiatus, So Here Are Some Life Updates!! // ft. no reading, meeting chris colfer, & pizookies

Hi, it’s me again!

I can’t tell you how happy I am to be typing these words again. It’s been over two months since I last wrote a blog post, and I hope I don’t go that long without writing a post ever again, or at least not for a very long time. I also haven’t interacted in what feels like years, and I missed reading posts and talking to everyone just as much as I missed writing posts. Moral of the story, I’m so excited to be back!!

I wanted to ease back into blogging with a life update post of sorts! It will serve as somewhat of an October and November recap post, since I don’t want to do full separate posts for each of those especially since I didn’t read or blog in either month.

The past couple of months have been the most stressful and busy months that I can ever remember having (thank you, school), but there have also been high moments, happy memories, and a lot worth sharing. So get a cup of hot cocoa, settle in with some blankets, and let’s catch up!

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!

August Recap // ft. school and stress, but also taylor swift and stranger things!!

I have a love-hate relationship with August 2019.

Part of me loves it, because it has some summer memories attached to it, there are new Taylor Swift songs to obsess over, and I started watching a show that I now love. But the other half of me only associates this month with school starting, and that’s where the hate part comes in.

August was an odd month filled with a strange mixture of good and bad, so much so that I honestly can’t decide if I liked this month and am sad to see it go or if I disliked it and am glad it won’t be around for another year.

From somewhat reading, to somewhat blogging, to somewhat having summer vacation, to somewhat starting back at school, to somewhat confusing myself at this moment, August was interesting. Let’s recap it, shall we?