Eric’s release party was at the coolest venue — Tattooed Mom
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1. Will & I froze our butts off at Winter Jam: Our alternative radio station in Philly puts on free concerts sometimes (I talked about the Summer Block party we went to in August before). We snagged the free but limited tickets to see Andrew McMahon, Walk the Moon, Cold War Kids and The Gaslight Anthem. It was outside & COOOOOLD. Seeing Andrew McMahon was a dream because I was a huge Something Corporate fan back in the day and Walk the Moon was fun! Love CWK and it was fun but the first two stole the show. We left before Gaslight Anthem because Will’s layering game wasn’t as good as mine and he was too cold to handle it anymore.
2. We went to Eric Smith’s release party for his YA debut Inked — I was thrilled to celebrate this exciting day with Eric and FINALLY meet his lovely fiance. Will and I didn’t know anybody really but the venue was SO awesome and everyone was really nice. (Check out Eric’s guest post here on the blog)
3. Genevieve turned 3: I seriously can’t believe she is THREE!!! It was so cute because my sister said she woke up at 5am and said “IT’S MY BIRTHDAY TODAY!” so it was the first time she really UNDERSTOOD it. Had such a good day with them and then her party was fun.
4. SICKNESS PART 2– I was sick a lot in December and OH MY GOSH I CANNOT STAY HEALTHY in 2015 apparently. Nannying = GERM CENTRAL. I was doing so good. I got so lazy with trying to keep the germs at bay so THAT WILL TEACH ME.
5. I had a weird reading slump in January: It had nothing to do with what I was reading. I was reading good things. GREAT THINGS. BUUUUUT. It was like more like I didn’t read at all for the first 10 days of the month?? I just haven’t had a burning desire and think I may have gotten burnt out so I just let myself wait it out and figured I’d pick up a book when I wanted to.
I put all my Monthly Rewinds in a Spotify playlist so you can listen to them here now !
1. Shake It Off – Us The Duo (love this cover!!)
2. Big Guns — Ruelle
3. Kamikaze – Young Brother
4. Fits & Starts — Daniel Ellsworth & the Great Lakes
5. Under the Influence — Elle King
6. Trustful Hands – The Dø
Check out the rest of my January playlist
I only read 5 books this month so I’m just going to go with my TOP book I read and then list the other ones I read!
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas — AMAZING
1. A Darkness Strange & Lovely by Susan Dennard — awesome sequel!!
2. The Boy In the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds — so underrated!
3. The Girl With All The Gifts by M.R. Carey — book club pick that I really loved!
4. The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie E. Hall — I thought this one was a quick, fun read but I’m dying for book 2 after the way that ended.
I was so happy to share this one with you guys. GOD I LOVED THIS BOOK!!
” But this game here, I-DEE-clare war, is how life really goes down.”…. “I flip a card, then you flip a card,” he explained, and waited for me to turn my first card. A six. His was a ten. “Sometimes I win” — he raked the cards off to the side, close to him — ” and sometimes I lose.” He flipped another card. An eight. This time I turned a queen and beat him. “And sometimes,” he continued while flipping another one, “I can lose and lose and lose and I don’t know why. But there’s nothing I can do but just keep flipping the cards. Eventually I’ll win again. As long as you got cards to keep turning, you’re fine. Now, that’s life,” he said, pushing another hand I won over to me. ” — The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds
1. Ten Series Starters That Should Be On Your Radar For 2015 — SO MANY GOOD SOUNDING SERIES.
2. The Five Best 2015 Books I Read In 2014 & Highly Recommend: These should be on your radar for SURE.
3. 2015 YA Debuts Novels I’m Most Excited For: Where am I going to find all this time??
4. 2014 Releases I Meant To Get To But Didn’t: Which ones are priority??
5. Reformed Book Buyer…Apparently: Habits change I guess!
Hmm the post where I talked about enjoying life for what it is or my review of I Was Here by Gayle Forman just because I know it has been a very polarizing book amongst fans and would have loved to discuss it!
I STILL didn’t do anything on Youtube this month. I blame getting sick so often. No fun to be snotting all over the place while filming. (this is why blogging is so much easier because being film ready is HARD haha)
1. Four ways to pursue new friendships – I am notoriously bad at pursuing new friendships — it’s a combination of fearing rejection, getting set in my ways and also just really enjoying my own time so much I forget to let others in. This was really SUCH a great post about friendship with four easy ways to be more intentional! BUT FOR REAL WHY IS THERE NO TINDER FOR FRIENDSHIP?
2. The Possibility In Blank Spaces: “Don’t see the emptiness in your blank spaces, see the possibilities.”
3. How To Forgive Someone Who Has Hurt You: Oh dear god I needed this post. I really try to be a person who doesn’t hold grudges because it’s clutters up too much and life is too short for it most of the time. Plus, I want people to be gracious with me, as I am only human, so I try to do the same and give second chances/forgive (when it’s not an unhealthy situation). But when someone really DOES hurt me deep down I really struggle to let go. I internalize. I cry. I try to forgive and let go. I fail. I feel awful. IT SUCKS. This post is PERFECT and practical and makes so much sense.
4. Today Is Not Over Yet: I saw this post on a day where I had slept in and messed around on the computer for HOURS getting NOTHING done. I was just SO frustrated. SO FRUSTRATED. I had resigned myself to the fact it was a waste of a day now. Somehow I had gotten into my blog reader and this was the first post I saw. Funny how you sometimes see the things you need to, huh? GREAT reminder.
5. Realistic Advice On How To Save Money To Travel: I’ve been in a situation I’ve hated for the past couple years of getting laid off. The financial struggles that brought made travel happen less for me and I can’t tell you how much it hurts my soul. For real. But I really do want to, as we rebuild our finances, want to prioritize and save money for travel. This article had some great things to think about plus linked to other resources!
What’s something you’ve been wanting to do but haven’t because something has held you back?
(This question is something I have been thinking about A LOT for my own life because I can recognize things I want to do but haven’t and there are a number of things that have held me back — fear, not believing in myself, sometimes it’s my own fault such as laziness or something)
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?
Trina says
My favorite read of Jan was A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray. I haven’t had a 5 star read yet this year though (I did rate a self help book 5 stars, but it was about grief so I wouldn’t say it was exactly a happy read). My favorite quote from a book this month was:
“You’re the most important thing in this universe. You; This vessel; The people of this planet; Lovers, warriors, artists, leaders, dreams more numerous than stars. Each mind unique, each thought created for an instant and then broken apart to form new ones. You don’t understand the unbearable beauty of being you.” from This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner
I don’t know, it just really put things into perspective for me and I love quotes like that.
A thing I’ve been holding myself back from is travel. We didn’t take any trips last year with the intent to save up to be able to take a longer trip this year. So now we’re dying to get away since it’s been so long but my husband started a new job last fall and hasn’t hit his 6 months yet so he has more limited vacation time. So just, time, money, job, and then I have fears about what if accidents happen while away from home and wouldn’t I rather just sit here and order pizza and have a movie marathon weekend from the comfort of home instead? lol I’m getting to a point where I think it’s ok to maybe let go of my travel bug a bit. So I’m keeping a journal of all the places books take me this year! (Still planning a trip though.)
Frannie Pan @ In Clouds of Pages says
So jealous for ACOTAR! I have no trouble believing it was the best read of your month 😛 And I didn’t know The boy in a black suit, I’ve added it to my WL!
About your question.. that’s such a great question! I guess that my answer would be.. learn how to seize the day. i’m shy and I care about what other people say even though I wish it wasn’t true. This means most of the times I don’t do what I really want or hold myself back from doing crazy but funny or unique things for fear of… I don’t know what exactly. But I do want that to change. I want to feel free to be myself and if others won’t like that self… well, that’ll be their problems cause I’ll be happy!
Katherine says
There are so many things that I really want to do – move out is a big one, specifically out of state. I’d really like to pursue all kinds of different activities though, even though I think I’ll probably be bad at most of them. I need to get used to seizing every opportunity I’m being given.
I’m really excited to pick up lots of the books you reviewed this month, like a Court of Thorns and Roses, I Was Here, and I’ll Meet You There! Plus, meeting Lauren Oliver sounds great – I love her books 🙂
Nova @ Out of Time says
My month has been pretty chill. I actually don’t consider my life “exciting.” I just spent the whole of January freaking out over exams and then realizing how easy they actually are when I finished. But really, I didn’t do too badly and I couldn’t even study [because it goes against my personality]
I love the posts you read. The one on forgiveness really struck me too. I don’t really think of myself as someone who holds grudges, but I am really quick to dislike people. I don’t know why. I just feel things really easy but on the bright side, it doesn’t take much to remove ill feelings.
I don’t actually listen to a lot of music, which sucks. i’m trying to broaden my tastes. all i listen to are bands and taylor swift [which i guess is better than the top 40 stuff I USED to listen to]
Katie says
Great post! One thing I want to do is finish the fantasy novel I’m working on – for a long time, I told myself I wasn’t “ready” or “qualified” to write it yet. After some thinking, I realized I was just giving excuses, and I began writing a bit more towards the end of this month. But I would like to actually begin writing, for real, daily, in February and make some progress.
Also, I’m so glad I’m not the only one who’s been in a reading slump recently. I have absolutely no idea why I can’t sit down and read, but I just haven’t wanted to at all!
Alexa S. says
As always, I love finding out what you’ve been up to in the month that’s passed! It sucks that you’ve gotten sick a lot, but hooray for the awesome things that balanced it out 😉 Let’s see, to answer your question… I think I’ve always wanted to get into a workout routine (a solid one, mind you) and I just always procrastinate. I CANNOT KEEP DOING THAT because I want to be healthier, with better stamina and endurance overall.
Megan @ Semi-Charmed Kind of Life says
Whoooooooa, your upcoming book signings look awesome! Have a blast. 🙂
Emmah says
What’s something you’ve been wanting to do but haven’t because something has held you back? I want to go to college to become a librarian, but money and anxiety is holding me back.
What sort of things were noteworthy for you this month? Getting my secret sisiter pairing and making tons of new book friends through it 🙂
New obsessions? Clementine!! I’ve become so obsessed with them lol.
Any new song recs?? “Fools Gold” by: One Direction, “Hide” by: Joy Williams, and “Middle Of Your Heart” by: For King & Country.
Best books you read this month?? “The Assassin’s Blade” by: Sarah J. Maas. Along with my rereads of ToG and CoM. I’m currently about 70% the way through HoF!!
Topaz @ Six Impossible Things says
Obsession for this month: e.e. cummings. I’ve always been aware that he, you know, existed, but I never really got around to reading any of his poetry until this month, and just. UGH. It is too gorgeous for words (er, somewhat ironically) and I can’t even fathom how I didn’t know about this man before now. So I’ve kind of been devouring his poems and trying to absorb his writing style a little. 😀
Something I’ve been wanting to do? Probably publish my book. I was really, really crossing my fingers it would be in February, but then my depression started acting up and I’ve had to take a step back and rethink my priorities a little. Disappointing, yes, but I think it’s probably for the better in the long run – I guess focusing on myself is important, even if I have to push other things back, you know?
Rosalee says
I’m so jealous that you got to read ACOTAR! My favourite reads this month were the first three Throne of Glass books – read them all over a single weekend, staying up until 2am every night just to keep reading.
And thanks for the link to the post about ‘Today is not over yet.’ Definitely needed to read that today…even though it’s only 11:22am.
As for something I’ve been wanting to do but didn’t because something was holding me back – well, I had been wanting to get back into blogging for months but life and anxiety got in the way…until last week! I’ve already written two new posts and have plenty more planned out and started. I’ve also been meaning to start Pilates training to help with back pain, but alas the moneys.
Hope you have a good February! SJ Maas, Samantha Shannon and Gayle Forman all in one month!
Lisa @ Reading, Writing, and Random Musings says
I love your monthly Rewind! It is so fun to see such a variety of items in your wrap up.
My favorite book of the month by far (and one of my faves of all time) was All the Bright Places! You must read it if you haven’t already! I actually featured your blog as my favorite of the month on my monthly wrap up!
I’m wanting to write more and share my writing, but it’s such a new thing for me, and I am nervous to share it with others. What if they don’t like it? What if it really blows chunks? Should I keep spending time writing another novel?
May February bring you lots of amazing experiences!
Liz says
Eric seems like one of the sweetest people, and his wife is super stylish! I’m so glad you got to go to his launch and hang out. That seems like it would be such a fun event.
I’ll be giving that cover of Shake it Off a listen later on. I’m so pumped to see T Swift in concert later this year.
An ARC of A COURT OF THORN AND ROSES is on its way to me as I type this! Super excited to give it a read once it gets here.
Ari Carr says
Great post! It’s so nice you’re treating your niece and nephew to bowling and pizza. I hope you have a great time! My January has been pretty big! I managed to complete and hand in two assignments and came out with pretty good scores. My university work has been getting a little better and I know where I need to work to improve! Also, my internship got extended, and I’m super happy!
Michelle says
I am SO jealous you were able to see Walk the Moon! I hear them perform in live in studio on the radio one morning and truly fell in love with them. I was blown away by how good they were live that early in the morning. Their music always puts me in a good mood too.
You got to meet Eric and celebrate his release? That is so cool!
Have a great week!
Emily says
Before I even answer the question at the end I must tell you that you shared some posts I NEEDED to hear. The four ways to pursue new friendships and today is not over posts…I needed those so much. And I think it’s all related to my answer to your question.
I’ve been wanting to embrace what is around me and enjoy my life here. I realize I am the only one that has been holding me back. With moving away from home, leaving a job I loved, and basically starting over with just my husband…I struggled. I wouldn’t change it for the world, but I know I have not put forth my best effort. I would blame it on lack of money (because that has been such an issue this past year) or cruddy hours or knowing no one here, but it’s all my fault and it’s all excuses. I feel like I’ve needed to like officially make my decision to do that, to embrace the unknown and try to make something of a life here. I have so wanted to move back home, and I think I’ve been scared about making connections only to leave them. Not anymore. I think I have finally made that decision where enough is enough and things are finally starting to chance. I really hate that I’ve been the one holding myself back, but it’s the truth and it’s time I started to admit it.
Great post! Seems that you had some awesome stuff happen, though I’m sorry you’ve been battling sickness and a slight reading slump. Here’s to hoping February is better!