Image From February
Pho + bubble tea!
February In One Word
The weather, not getting the job, some family things that shook things up for a bit, busy days . CRAZY.
5 Things That Happened In February:
1. I didn’t get the job I interviewed for. BLAH DI BLAH. Over it..on to the next thing!
2. I tried pho for the first time! It was so tasty!
3. We had ONE nice, glorious weekend and went out and did ALL THE THINGS because OMG NO SNOW/FREEZING TEMPS. Seriously, it was amazing and reminded me how grateful I am for Spring after a long Winter.
4. I did a complete overhaul of my shelves. By accident. Because the ice took out our power for a day. It was a good time and I rediscovered so many books which prompted this post and then this new thing I’ll be doing!
5. I went to the library for the first time this year. (I was vowing not to go for a while because I seriouslyyy don’t need to bring anymore books into my apartment). I can’t even tell you how much my mood is enhanced by wandering the library aimlessly by myself for a couple hours!
6 Songs That Were Most Popular On My Ipod This Month:
I put all my Monthly Rewinds In a Spotify playlist so you can listen to them here now ! I also have a February playlist filled with other AWESOME songs that wouldn’t fit on here.
1. Come With Me Now by Kongos
2. The Breach by Dustin Tebbutt
3. I Want To Get Better by Bleachers (This is Jack from Fun’s new project!!)
4. Never Gonna Change by Broods
5. Take Me Higher by Old Man Canyon
6. Keep Together by Hunter Hunted
Honorable Mentions: Green Sea by Fear of Men, Golden by Parade of Lights, Sun by Lost In The Trees, Shadow of A Man by Neulore
Follow my February playlist
Top 2 Books I Read This Month:
1. How To Say Goodbye In Robot by Natalie Standiford
2. The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay
Most Popular Review This Month
Yay! I’m so excited How To Say Goodbye in Robot was my most popular review this month because it’s such a gem from years ago!
Most Popular 5 Blog Posts Overall This Month
1. Why I ALWAYS Carry Much Reading Material With Me — This is why I love you guys more than my IRL friends who do NOT get this “quirk” of mine! One of most popular posts ever!
2. What Has Happened To Me?!— In which I talk about something alarming (to me) as a reader so far in 2014!
3. If We Were Having Coffee : I introduced this post a couple months ago and decided to make it a regular thing to talk to you about LIFE.
4. I’m Hanging Up My Book Reviewer Hat: I’m not going anywhere but I talked about some changes! I’m glad you guys were supportive of my wanting to make a distinction, for myself and my blog, between book blogger and book reviewer. I’ll still be doing “review-like” things but I don’t want to BE a book reviewer.
5. 10 Books That Made Me Cry : ALL THE TEARS.
3 New Obsessions In February
3 Things I’m Looking Forward To In March
3. Hopefully some weather that starts to give me hope Spring will come?!
Favorite Quote From A Book I Read In February
“I keep wishing, reflexively, for a glimpse of the future, so I’ll know what to do. But I don’t kid myself. I have to feel my way forward blindly. I try not to be afraid. Even if you know what’s coming, you’re never prepared for how it feels.” — How To Say Goodbye In Robot by Natalie Standiford
6 Posts I Starred In My Reader That You Should Check Out
1. You Are A Big Deal No Matter How Big Your Audience May Be: This is SUCH a good post! I struggle with this from time to time and I know others do and I think reframing is the name of the game here and I love it! Such a good way to look at blogging!! Alex’s blog is one of my daily favorite reads so I highly recommend!
2. The Fine Art Of Fluff: I looooved this post from Christina! I feel like “fluff” or more lighthearted books get a bad reputation and are easily dismissed. I LOOOOOVE books that make me feel good and actually asked for recs recently because I needed a pick-me-up REAL bad! I agree with everything Christina says in this and her recs are excellent of the ones I’ve read and most are on my TBR!
3. On Changing Your Dreams: You know sometimes when you read something and you just KNOW you were meant to read that? Yep. This post for me. I appreciate Emma’s honesty and it encouraged me because as you know my dreams are quite a mess with this whole wrench called long term unemployment that I would have NEVER thought I would find myself in. I’m thinking a lot about Emma’s story and immediately started journalling after!
4. DIY Split End & Dry Hair Treatment: Oh lordy I need this. My hair + the wintertime = BAD NEWS BEAR.
5. 27 Productive Things You Can Do With 5 Minutes: Some good ideas! I’m that person who will just scroll mindlessly on Twitter or Tumblr when I’m left with a few minutes between things. I’m fine with doing that but sometimes I’d rather be productive and these are perfect and practical!
6. 162 YA Retellings Chart: This is AMAAAAAZING. So in depth and so awesome. My dear friend Margot went above and beyond yet again! Print this out, save it!
What sort of things were noteworthy for you in February? New obsessions? Any new song recs?? Best books you read this month? Great posts I missed on your blog? Tell me! 🙂
alice-jane says
Pho! <3 It's so great to eat it in the winter since it warms me up. BUBBLE TEA <3 <3. Two of my favorite foods to eat, EVER. The warm weekend that we had was *so* nice. While I like wearing knitwear (or used to until this winter…), I'm so ready for spring and warmer temps.
The quote from How to Say Goodbye in Robot is so lovely and I love it! It's something I need right now since the future scares me sometimes! Onwards!
I love how there's floral lining in your Garage moto jacket! It's so unexpected and makes the jacket all the much nicer. Personally, I've rediscovered my love for decor and interesting objects so I've been on furniture sites a lot more… Hm. Must be partially because I decided to do a feature looking at bloggers' workspaces!
While I don't know that much about changing dreams just yet, I loved Emma's post on A Beautiful Mess. Sometimes life hits us with unexpected things and while in the moment it may be bad, in hindsight it might not be and may even lead to bigger and better things. I know for me, it can be a state of mind; instead of thinking about the situation and how bad it is, I try to think about what I can learn from the situation and what I can take away from it. Journalling is so therapeutic and calming! I haven't journaled in a while but I think it's something that I need to start again.
Alice says
Ohhhh PHO! I’ve been meaning to try pho for so long. It looks so, so, SO yummy. *smacks lips*
I’m completely and utterly in love with your jacket as well. <3 The floral lining is gorgeous!
I've also been meaning to check out House of Cards sometime. I'm so glad you're enjoying it! I'll have to look into watching it sometime soon. 🙂
I really adore this February wrap-ups Jamie. I also really love how we get an insight to the other non-bookish blogs you follow. I always love seeing these posts.
Shannon@BooksDevoured says
I am so excited about the VM movie too!! I just got into it this year though, crazy right? I watched the whole series in about 2 weeks. Um, maybe less. Is that sad? ha! I am hoping I get a chance to see it in the theatre too! Now I am off to check out some of the other fun posts you linked to that I missed!
Missie says
I am so excited for the Veronica Mars movie too! I am rewatching the seasons right now 🙂 That Pho looks tasty!
Missie @ A Flurry of Ponderings
Quinn @ Quinn's Book Nook says
I’m glad you spent some time in the library. It does feel good, just being able to wander around for a little while just browsing. I’m sorry about the job. That’s always disappointing.
I’m excited for Spring weather, too. It’s been a miserable Winter.
Sana @ artsy musings of a bibliophile says
I’ve my fingers crossed that you get the job that’s best for you, Jamie. It’ll happen. I got very down in the last week of February myself and I managed to pull through. I always find everything gets better once I distance myself from the source of the stress.
I’ve yet to watch House of Cards and I think it’ll be a good show to binge-watch, right? I finally started watching Veronica Mars only two weeks ago. It’s gonna be good.
That Garage jacket is so cool!
Alright, so I listened to the six songs and wow, they’re all fantastic! I think I like Broods the best. SO GOOD.
Here’s to an awesome March! =D
Annie says
Mmm, pho. My entire family is obsessed w it so we have it at least once a month. I don’t think I’m in love w it quite as much as my dad is, especially since I’m a bit ehh about beef but the noodles and the soup, YUM. And of course bubble tea which I haven’t had in so long. When the weather warms up, I’m definitely going to be having it all the time!
Speaking of the weather, WHO’S WAY READY FOR SPRING. I’m sooo sick and tired of having to pile up the layers to go outside and being nearly blown down by the wind. This winter has been the coldest I’ve had in a while and I’m just so ready for it to be gone. Oh, Mother Nature, have some mercy on us! It’s March already!
I love that post on fluff as well! When I read the title, I knew it was perfect for me! I love light books as well and I definitely am in need of some right now! Also really loved Emma’s post. I’m still a teenager so I’m still mostly reliant on my parents right now but thinking of how uni is in less than three years away scares me. I have absolutely no idea what I want to do and my future is so unsure even beyond the whole school thing but the post was really, really inspiring. And I agree with Alice-Jane, journalling is so therapeutic! I haven’t done so in a long while either but I think it’s a good idea to pick it up again.
Hope you have a great March, Jamie!
Amber @ Books of Amber says
I’m sure you’ll find a better job than the one that you didn’t get! That’s what happened to me, the previous ones just weren’t right for me 🙂 *hugs* I’ve never tried pho, but I’d like to. Even if it looks a bit murky XD
VERONICA MARS MOVIE. I’m so excited, I absolutely cannot contain myself. The wait is torturous!
Sara @ Just Another Story says
I couldn’t help but chuckle when you said “This store called Garage.” At first I was confused cause I’m like… huh? Then I realized Garage is a Canadian enterprise. It made sense at this point. It’s pretty popular here. Anywho… It looks like you had a pretty all over the place month. Here’s to March being better (warmer weather, great movies and just all out good times).
Happy Reading,
~Sara @ Just Another Story
tabithasbookblog says
Come with Me Now by The Kongos… YESSS! I saw it on your February playlist on Spotify, and it’s been on repeat… ALL MONTH. Love it so much. And such a cute jacket!!
Kelly says
Love that jacket!! Is Garage not a popular mall store where you live? We’ve got them in every mall I’ve ever been in NB and NS haha.
I just started House of Cards. My husband watched the first season without me, so I wasn’t going to bother. But he asked if he re-watched it with me, if I’d watch the second season with him. I’m only about 4 or 5 episodes in, but it’s been AWESOME so far!
Alexa S. says
Wow, February sounds like it was indeed a crazy month for you! I sincerely hope that March is better, brighter… and a whole lot warmer, too. Thanks for sharing some awesome posts, by the way! I really liked the one about the 27 productive things you can do in 5 minutes. It gave me some ideas!
Alex @ Life in the Pages says
When I was in school there was an Asian restaurant on campus that advertised bubble tea. I always wondered what it was but was too apprehensive to try it. Is it any good?
Wow! You’ve got some serious self-control staying away from the library for nearly two months! I can barely go two weeks without a trip to the library, no matter how many other books I have at home to read.