Monthly Rewind: February 2016

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1. I injured my wrist  Gah this was a major bummer of the month. I strained my wrist when I was stretching it a little too far in the beginning of the month and it just pretty much hasn’t been back to normal. It was feeling better and then I was a dum dum and thought I could get back to doing Pilates and some of my more wrist intense HIIT moves and NOPE..made it hurt. I talked about it in this post but it’s been really hard because 1) I had been so pumped with my fitness goals and as much as I’ve tried to modify my workouts to not include any exercises that put weight on my wrist it’s just been frustrating. Plus I have had to limit my blogging/computer time and oh my god it even had hurt to use my hand to write with a pen and paper. It’s not really hurting much anymore but I’m going to still take it easy and ease back into wrist type exercises. Plus we had to miss our planned skiing trip!

2. We bought tickets for a concert I’m super excited about— Our alt radio station puts on a birthday show (these ones aren’t free like the block parties I always talk about but they weren’t TOO bad for the # of people you are seeing). We will be seeing Florence and the Machine, The Lumineers, Elle King, Silversun Pickups, Cold War Kids and Violent Femmes. They are doing two nights but unfortunately we already have tickets for the US soccer game happening the night of the first show because TWENTY ONE PILOTS, AWOLNATION and MUTEMATH!!! Super bummed to miss it but excited about the one I’m going to!

3. Went to a book event for the first time in a while: Susan Dennard and Sarah J. Maas did an event the weekend of Valentine’s Day and some of my book club and I went. It’s been a while since I went to a book event. I feel like we haven’t had many lately..or at least ones that I’m interested in. Was nice to see some of my local bookish friends.

4. I received the new Gayle Forman in the mail– I don’t know that receiving a book has EVER made the 5 things that happened in my life but if you know me then you know how this pretty much made my month. I love Gayle’s books and I’m super excited to see what she can do in the adult fiction realm.

5. I really increased my Spanish practice: I took Spanish all throughout middle/high school and even took AP Spanish. But haven’t really practiced it since then (aka 2004). I’ve had Duolingo on my phone for a couple years (it made my new obsessions list on my June monthly rewind in 2013) and have worked on it here and there but since we booked our trip to Madrid in the fall I really started to do it daily but this month I increased how long I was doing it per day. It’s really impressed me how much my brain has actually retained. I will get vocab words that I’m like omg I actually remember these!!

I put all my Monthly Rewinds in a Spotify playlist so you can listen to them here !

1. Graveyard Whistling — Nothing But Thieves


2. Holy War — Charity Children

3. Surprise Yourself — Jack Garratt

4. Wide Eyed — Cold Weather Company

5. Soundcheck — Catfish and the Bottlemen

6. Don’t Let Me Down — The Chainsmokers & Daya

Honorable Mentions: Give Me Something by Seafret & Wild Child by Cardiknox & Ophelia by The Lumineers

Check out the rest of my February playlist for more of what I was listening to

I read a total of 7 books and 3 trade comics this month!

1. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante: Okay I know this cover is god awful but if you can get past that this book was so so great!! It was a little slow in the beginning but then I was just so immersed — by the Italian setting, the small town life, the friendships and various relationships, everything really. See why I loved it!

2. Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin: I loved this story and the main character!! Plus the romance! I have a book talk coming up so I don’t want to say too much.

3. Losing The Light by Andrea Dunlop: This book kept me up wayyyy past my bed time ! Super addictive! See why I loved it here.

My review of the exceptional Salt to the Sea — a book I recommend to historical lovers and those who shy away from it alike! Ruta is just an insta-buy author for me after this third experience I’ve had with her books!

1. 10 Historical Settings I Want To See More Of In YA — I’m so glad you guys agreed!! Someone please write these! And thanks for the recs!!

2. Ten Songs I Wish Were Novels: I loved sharing some songs that I think would make great books!! Someone needs to get on these!

3. On Meeting Your Heroes & Accessibility To Your Heroes: There’s always these releases each year that I’m like AH I can’t believe I didn’t get to this one!!

4. What I’ve Been Reading Lately: I feel like my mini book talk posts are always hits or miss but this month I was pleased you guys had lots to say/were interested!

5. To Continue On Or Not?: Loved learning your process!

New to the Queue

NOTHING.  Should I just give up?? lol. Blogging is hard and takes me lots of time but it’s in a different way than Youtube…it takes a lot of effort in other ways…like needing to do it when i have good lighting and when Will isn’t here and when I look decent haha

1. How To Find The Good In Others: Ya know, this never used to be a problem for me. And weirdly it became a problem for me in recent years after dumping a friend who used to always see the bad in people in general and then apparently picking up another friend who decided to assume the WORST of me. Like things that weren’t even true — things that were her assumptions based on her lens of me and not actually on fact/things that happened. It made me shut off so much in the past couple years. Like I felt so hurt to my core that I myself just started to assume the worst in people around me because of how I was being treated. And that was SO not me. I think I used to see the good in people almost to a fault previously. But it became hard when I saw how twisted a view of me could be to the point of disbelief — and I say that as a person who is VERY self aware and I could list the things that make me a crap person…and these things were things I actually didn’t do/think. It was shocking to me. Anyways, I really liked this article because it kind of made me confront it in a lot of ways and I’m DEFINITELY going to work on getting back to how I was BEFORE because I had better relationships then.

2. Writing For That Teenage Girl : I just really thought this was a great post!! “That’s the thing about the unspoken sisterhood: when we’re truly honest about how we’re feeling, it’s hard to find anything to fight about.”

3. 7 Creepy Podcasts You Shouldn’t Listen To Alone: OMG I want to start all of these!

4. 12 Ways To Overcome Jealousy on the Internet: I’m not too proud to admit it…I’ve been there. Though I think I’ve gotten *much* better in the past year or so. Pinch of Yum is one of my favorite food blogs that I follow and this wasn’t a typical post for her but I loved her perspective and that she shared it. A lot of her methods are my own. Except unfollowing. I’m so bad at that unless someone is garbage and always negative then I will. I get her reasons for doing it (and totally support bc it helps lots of people) but I just always try to control my own reaction to them before I’ll do something like unfollow. I would maybe mute someone who is making me feel that way but normally I really try to work on my own attitude because it’s not that person’s fault. Plus I don’t think someone has ever made me feel THAT jealous that I’ve had to unfollow.

5. The Story of An Extremely Impatient Twenty Something: YAS.

Bonus: I watched Fuller House and OMG ALL THE NOSTALGIA. Will and I really enjoyed it.

What is a quote that inspires you/motivates you/is your life mantra etc?

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?