I have been ENJOYING the heck out of the nice weather May brought us. We are outside ALL THE DAMN TIME. I feel like May went by ridiculously fast!!
Photo Captured This Month
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5 Things About My Life This Month
1. We were on the hunt for a new place: I seriously feel like most of May was spent looking for a new place to live! So many showings trying to make Riley look extra cute so they picked us! I think it worked because we signed a lease on a place at the very end of the month finally.
2. It was my last month of working for the family that I nanny for — So bittersweet. I’ve been with them for almost 5 years but it’s time. I have NO idea what comes next but we shall see. Pretty much stressed as hell about it but I’m trying to be optimistic. So, for now, it’s stay at home mom life!
3. Enjoyed my first Mother’s Day which was pretty lowkey: Will’s family does a Mother’s Day brunch every year so we went to that!
4. We took a mini road trip to see my baby sister graduate with her Master’s degree: It was a really nice long weekend seeing family and we are so, so proud of my sister.
5. I purged over 200 books from my shelves: Nothing will make you weed out your personal book collection like a move and I was pretty ruthless. Funny thing is now I’m going to have a whole room for my bookshelves….and I’m downsizing my books?? Ah well. Just more room for more books that might be of more interest for me after the move?? I got rid of a lot of books I’ve owned for years (like 5+) but have never read.
6 Songs I Loved This Month
I put all my Monthly Rewinds in a Spotify playlist so you can listen to them here !
1. No Roots — Alice Merton (lowkey annoyed this is now in a commercial lol)
2. Hunger — Florence and the Machine
3. Sway — Tove Styrke
4. In My Head– James Bay
5. Graffiti — CHVRCHES
6. Empress — Snow Patrol
Check out the rest of my May playlist for more of what I was listening to this month!
Books I Read This Month
I read 3 books this month (minus all the kid’s books on repeat here — like our bedtime books):
Save the Date by Morgan Matson: Morgan Matson is one of my all time fave YA authors and this latest one DID NOT DISAPPOINT. I loved the family portrayed in this one and the wedding weekend shenanigans are great.
The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik by David Arnold: Another hit for me from David Arnold!! He is writing some really great and unique YA that I have been LOVING. This is his 3rd book and he’s definitely on my auto-buy author list.
Every Single Secret by Emily Carpenter: I’ve really been craving thrillers and mysteries and this one hooked me pretty good!
Favorite Quote This Month
I couldn’t choose between these two!!
“I think nostalgia is just a soul’s way of missing a thing, and like long-distance love, nostalgia grows deeper with time until the reality of what a thing actually was gets blurred to the point you miss the idea of the thing more than the thing itself.” — The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik by David Arnold
5 Most Popular Posts This Month
I posted 8 times in May!
1. 24 Books For Your Beach Bag: Tell me you don’t find a good sounding read for your summer reading off this list 😛
2. On Finding Your Way: Talking about finding your way — I’ve had some BIG FEELINGS about finding my way in life, most specifically for me right now, finding my way in motherhood.
3. The Ups & Downs Of Changing Your Blog Direction: A little ~State of the Blog~ post and how I’ve been feeling with all the changes.
4. 32 YA Books You May Have Missed– How many have you read on this list?? I loved shining a light on some great older books that didn’t get as popular as they should have!
5. The Best Bedtime Books (According To Riley haha): This was fun to talk about the books Riley loves reading at bedtime!
Post I Wish Got More Love
Nothing really!
5 Posts Starred In My Blog Reader This Month
1. This New Mantra Will Change Your Days : I really loved this short little post because it helped add to my desire to be more present as a mom. I don’t always enjoy all the moments of motherhood (especially those middle of the night dates though she doesn’t really wake as much anymore) but I’m trying really hard to reframe them at least so maybe HALF the time I’m not counting down the seconds until I can jump back into bed or until I can have ME time and this mantra really hit me. Not just in motherhood but in a couple of other areas in life.
2. Chicken Bacon Ranch Baked Hummus Dip : I am intrigued. Always looking for a yummy dip!
3. It Doesn’t Have To Be Perfect, It Just Has To Be Something: NEEDED TO READ THIS!!
4. Notes on Expectations, and proving them right: This was such a great read that I hit me right now because I had THE WORST COUPLE DAYS and I kept letting it creep into the rest of the week all “THIS WEEK IS TERRIBLE” instead of trying to be like “those couple days were terrible…let’s move on.” I couldn’t shake the bad feelings.
5. How I Consciously Transformed My Friendships: Such a good read!
3 New Obsessions This Month
1. Alice Merton: Between James Bay’s new album and Alice Merton’s EP that’s the majority of what I’ve been listening to lately!
2. Season 2 of Queen Sugar: I watched and begged you all to watch Queen Sugar when it premiered and then I only got through a couple episodes of season 2 before we got rid of cable and then had Riley so I am just now getting to season 2 thanks to Hulu finally putting it up. It is SUCH A GOOD SEASON. Seriously, if you love family dramas like Parenthood and This Is Us…you should be watching this show.
3. My latest Universal Thread haul from Target: I got some awesome pieces AND a new wallet which I desperately needed because the zipper broke on mine months ago.
3 Things I’m Looking Forward To Next Month
Question Of The Month
What’s something that has been looming on your to-do list?
For me, it’s been tackling Riley’s clothes that don’t fit her anymore. They are just sitting here in a bin and I need to do something with them.
Pick a category (or 5… or all of them) and tell me what went on in YOUR life this month!! What sort of things were noteworthy for you this month? New obsessions? Any new song recs?? Best books you read this month? Great posts I missed on your blog? Answer to my question of the month?
Annemieke says
I need to tackle Merijn’s clothes again as well. I’ve just shoved those he doesn’t fit in a closet somewhere so they were out of the way. Last time I gave away 3 boxes to young mothers in need. I’ll see if maybe I can contact that person again hmmm. I just keep putting it of. I also have to go through all our cabinets downstairs and see what we really need to keep and what we can do away with (trying to make room for a new book shelf here, priorities haha).
So glad to hear you have found a new place. So exciting to be able to redo somet things no? But also a hassle because all that arranging. Ugh.
Jamie says
Yes I have to go through her toys and stuff too! Especially with moving!! And yes I am excited to have a new layout and arrange things in a better way but YEAH HASSLE CITY to move. The upside is we don’t have a lot of space simply for being in such a small place!
Lauren @ Bookmark Lit says
I feel ya on the moving stuff. That’s pretty much what this month will look like for me too!
Jamie says
Ahh good luck to you too!
Laura @BlueEyeBooks says
It sounds like you’ve had a great month, Jamie! I also signed a lease and I’ll be moving in at the end of August. The most nerve-wracking part is buying a bunch of new furniture and transporting it there (it’s three hours away by car) but I’m going to try and accumulate things throughout the summer so I’m not so stressed about it. I really need to do a bookshelf purge too: there are a ton of contemporaries that I’ve never read so I either need to get my butt in gear and read them, or donate them or something! There are also a lot of literaryish novels that I had to buy and read for university and I will never read them again so those have to go too.
I hope you have a lovely June, Jaime! Best of luck with the move!
Laura @BlueEyeBooks
Lisa @ Reading, Writing, and Random Musings says
I love David Arnold (he is awesome to follow on IG) and I can’t wait to read his newest!!!!!! What do I need to tackle?…..I moved a year ago and my goal this summer is to finish unpacking those last few boxes that always linger…..
Leah says
I’ve said this before and I’m saying it again: let’s go dressing shopping together please k thanks!!!
OMGOMGOMG JAMIE I got a copy of Save the Date in the mail and started reading it earlier this week – I AM IN LOVE. It’s my very first MM (!!!!!!!) and I actually took a few minutes extra for lunch yesterday shh just so I could finish a chapter.