Saturday, December 31, 2022
December 2022 // A List
Friday, December 30, 2022
10 Things That Made Me Happy This Week
Happy Friday! Today I'm linking up with Charlotte, Lindsay, and Beth for their weekly grateful and happy list linkup. It's been a couple of weeks since I shared my last happy list, so I'll be combining things from the past few weeks.
1. Celebrating Gabriel's birthday
2. Watching Wednesday with John (This is a great series.)
3. Carvel Strawberry Crunchie Ice Cream Cake
4. Cozy Christmas pajamas and warm, fuzzy socks
5. Sleeping in
6. New Valentine's treats at Target
7. After Ever Happy (Surprisingly, I have enjoyed the After film series.)
8. The Invitation (I absolutely love horror movies and loved that the film was inspired by Dracula.)
9. Reading so many great books (I highly recommend You Had Your Chance, Lee Burrows by Piper Rayne. I'll share a review on the blog soon.)
10. Conversations with Mami and Jaileny
What made you happy this week?
Thanks for visiting!
Until next time...
Friday, December 16, 2022
Christmas Joy: Then And Now
Tuesday, December 13, 2022
If You And I Had Coffee
If you and I had coffee...
We'd meet at one of our favorite local, small-business coffee shops. I'd probably order a seasonal hot chocolate, most likely a peppermint hot chocolate. I've been on a peppermint kick which is weird because I'm not a big peppermint fan. I'd order some type of pastry with chocolate because that's another thing I'm currently obsessed with. And no, I'm not pregnant.
If you and I had coffee...
I'd tell you that I recently received an arc of Timothy Goodman's upcoming graphic memoir, I Always Think It's Forever, and I absolutely loved it. I bookmarked so many pages, which I rarely do with ebooks or physical books. I'm currently reading I Gave Myself the World by Catarine Hancock and enjoying it.
If you and I had coffee...
I'd tell you that I'm still a little anxious, but things are looking up. I got some great news, and I'm looking forward to the new year. It looks like 2023 will be a big year, and I'm hoping it will be a really amazing year. I'll probably share more about my news soon, but I want to keep it to myself. I want to keep the news to myself because I don't want to jinx it. Is that strange?
If you and I had coffee...
I'd tell you that I'm so over this weather. I love rainy days, but it's been so gloomy and ugly outside for the past week. I don't even mind if it's a bit cold, but the constant rain and fog have been annoying. I need some sunshine. And oh my God, I feel so old now because I'm talking (well writing) about the weather.
If you and I had coffee...
I'd tell you that I'm glad that we were able to meet up again. I love these little chats, which are always a favorite part of my month. I hope you enjoy the holidays and spend time with your loved ones.
What would you tell me?
Thanks for visiting!
Until next time...
Photo by Ruth Georgiev on Unsplash
Friday, December 9, 2022
10 Things That Made Me Happy This Week
Happy Friday! Today I'm linking up with Charlotte, Lindsay, and Beth for their weekly grateful and happy list linkup.
1. John's new work schedule
3. All the Christmas romance novellas
4. Rainy and foggy mornings
5. These words by Amy Turn Sharp
6. Making a batch of my chicken tortilla soup
7. The laundry basket is finally empty...for now.
8. Deep dish pepperoni pizza
9. Christmas music, especially Sleigh Ride by the Ronettes
10. Warm blankets and Christmas pajamas
What made you happy this week?
Thanks for visiting!
Until next time...
Monday, December 5, 2022
December Goals
Happy Monday! I'm so glad it's finally December because November was absolutely the worst month for me. It was an absolute dumpster fire, and I can assure you that if I ever have to reflect on November 2022, I will not look back at those memories with joy.
We had something significant happen to us in November, but things are returning to normal, and I am incredibly grateful for that. Although November was mostly a scary month, a few moments were great. We celebrated Thanksgiving at mami's house. I got a lot of stuff done way in advance, so I didn't have to worry too much about things on my to-do list. We finished Christmas shopping. I took an important test and got a near-perfect score! Hooray for that because so many opportunities can open up for me because I passed the exam.
November was a brutal month, but it taught me many things. I still tried to focus on being grateful, although I will admit that there were times when it was hard to focus on gratitude. Now November took an unexpected turn for me, and although I didn't focus too much on my goals, I did try to work on a few things here and there.
Since it's a new month, and I'm trying to get things back to normal, now is a good time to share my December goals and recap how I did with my November goals.
Recap of November Goals
- Read 5 books: I read 20 books in November. I usually read many more books than that, but as I've mentioned, November was just an absolute dumpster fire. However, I made sure to read because reading is a comfort for me. One of my favorite reads was Galatea by Madeline Miller. Galatea is a short story retelling with a unique spin on the myth of Pygmalion and Galatea. I loved that the story was told from the perspective of the statue, Galatea. Another favorite read was Golden by Wilder. This collection was a bit happier than Wilder's previous collection of poetry, Nocturnal.
- Read and review 3 books I received from Netgalley: I'm surprised that I read and reviewed exactly 3 books I received from Netgalley. I read Season of the Bruja Vol.1 by Aaron Duran, Golden by Wilder, and When We Were Sisters by Fatimah Asghar.
- Complete 2 half-finished memory-keeping projects: I didn't work on my creative projects in November. I was not in a good place or mood to work on memory-keeping projects.
- Publish 1 personal piece on the blog: I did publish a personal piece about five things that bring me comfort (especially while I was going through a rough time). You can read it here. I also shared my monthly If You and I Had Coffee post.
- Participate in Exhale's November blog hop: I'm disappointed that I didn't participate in Exhale's November blog hop, but I still plan to publish my piece on the blog.
- Read 5 books
- Read and review 2 books I received from Netgalley
- Complete 1 half-finished memory-keeping project
- Publish 2 personal pieces on the blog
- Participate in Exhale's December blog hop
- Try 1 new recipe
Saturday, December 3, 2022
10 Things That Made Me Happy This Week
Happy Saturday! Today I'm linking up with Charlotte, Lindsay, and Beth for their weekly happy and grateful list link-up.
1. Resting Scrooge Face by Meghan Quinn
2. Much-needed encouraging words
3. Writing and creating again after a couple of weeks of feeling down
4. Things are starting to look up
5. These words by Megan Minutillo
6. Poetry Prompts by @theconstantpoet and @hazel.poetry
7. Finding really great deals
8. Passing a really important assessment (I'll share more news on that...eventually.)
9. Comfort food
10. Quiet moments throughout the day
What made you happy this week?
Thanks for visiting!
Until next time...