Month: March 2018

Lauren Lately | March 2018

Posted March 15, 2018 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 12 Comments

Because my Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups got out of hand, I wanted to break up my monthly wrap-ups into two posts: one personal and one bookish/bloggy. I created Lauren Lately here to highlight all of the personal happenings in my life: events, activities, shows I’m addicted to, things I’m obsessing over, recipes I’ve loved, and goals for the next month. I decided to space them out so this wrap-up happens around the mid-point of the month and the bookish one happens at the end of the month. ✨ Check out my most recent bookish and bloggy wrap-up HERE ✨ Cooking, relaxing, reading, and coffee shops | The past month has actually been quiet. We went almost a month without skiing, which is weird at this time of year! I’ve been eating healthier and taking more care when choosing recipes/meals. I’ve read decent amount of books (and some really great ones). There’s a new coffee shop down the road (even closer than some of the others I’ve gone to!) and we walked down there on a really nice day before heading home for our February trip. I did a Day in the Life post about it too. February’s trip home | We stayed home from a Wednesday night to Friday night. We didn’t have a lot to do, aside from my book club and me needing to cover part of my boss’s vacation in the office. We went to this amazing soul food place for book club and discussed Renegades! I saw both of […]

Holy Grail Products

Posted March 14, 2018 / Health & Beauty, Personal / Information / Etc. / 6 Comments

I love reading holy grail posts for beauty, so I wanted to do my own with a little twist. I do have some non-beauty items here, like random technology or kitchen-related purchases. I go through phases where I feel the need to revamp everything and try a bunch of new items (especially as far as beauty goes), but these things have stayed pretty consistent over the years. I’m good at sticking with the stuff that really works. Here are some items I’ve used over the past handful of years that have been repurchased countless times. Products Used for 5+ Years John Freida Frizz-Ease Daily Nourishment Leave-in Conditioning Spray | My hair is naturally very straight and thin, so I don’t have to blow dry or straighten. It dries perfectly straight within an hour of showering. I know, I know, don’t hate me. The one problem I do have though is FRIZZ. If I don’t use this spray, my hair will turn into a frizzy mess ASAP after it dries. I spray this on the bottom 3/4 of my head and comb through. It detangles, makes it smooth, and keeps it smooth all day. Wet Brush | This is my second go-to hair product. I’ve had a Wet Brush for years because it really works so perfectly on wet hair. It detangles nicely without pulling. I can’t imagine using anything else for brushing my hair. I have a couple of these around! iPhones and Apple Products | I’ve been buying iPhones and other Apple products […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #174: Surprising

Posted March 13, 2018 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 3 Comments

Ten Books that Surprised Me Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I like this topic because books can always be a surprise in one way or another. I have two Goodreads shelves for exactly this – books that were a pleasant surprise and books that were super disappointing (aka an unpleasant surprise after I was excited about them). I decided to share the five most recent books that surprised me in a good way and the five that surprised me in a bad way, thanks to my anal retentiveness on Goodreads. (I knew things like this would come in handy for TTT!). Five Pleasant Surprises War of the Cards by Colleen Oakes | I didn’t love this series, but the third book was easily the best one. I was always intrigued at the end of them because there were some cliffhangers, and honestly thought about this series a lot when I wasn’t reading it… but none of them were favorites. The final book was the best one and a very pleasant surprise (even though it wasn’t great). There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins | I didn’t expect to enjoy this one for a few reasons. Most of the early reviews seemed […]

How Moving Has Affected My Reading

Posted March 12, 2018 / Discussions, Features / 1 Comment

I’ve talked about this for a while in different spots, but thought it would be interesting to share all of the ways my reading habits have changed since we moved. (I talked a little about this when I explored where I was getting my books from.) Usually moving from one apartment to another wouldn’t exactly impact your reading habits (unless you moved 20 minutes away from work instead of 40 minutes and have less audiobook time, for example). When we picked up and moved to Maine in July 2017, I knew my reading habits would be changing quite a bit for a few reasons. This wasn’t like any other move. Reasons I anticipated the move would change my reading 1. I would be bringing only a handful of physical books with me, along with my Kindle. I was determined to bring around 10 books and rotate them in and out each month when I’d go home. I would read a handful during the month, bring them back to CT when we’d visit, and I’d replace them with the same amount of books. (More on that part later…) I obviously also had my Kindle for reading egalleys and ebooks, as well as my iPad for other book services (checking out library ebooks or Scribd). I would also have the option to check out physical books from my new library as well. 2. I would end up having two library cards (in two different locations/states) simultaneously. As I mentioned, I got a […]

My New Skincare Routine (After One Month)

Posted March 9, 2018 / Health & Beauty, Personal / Information / Etc. / 7 Comments

After trying some new face cleansers and skincare items in 2017, then deciding they were my favorite after just a month or so, I actually went off and tried a completely new routine for 2018. One of my favorite items that I listed from Lush actually slowly made my face break out (I think – I can’t tell for sure but it’s really the only new thing I was using during that time). I saw this thread on Twitter/Tumblr where a user talked about their skincare routine that seriously cleared up their acne. I don’t have too bad of an acne situation, but there are enough pimples to bug me. I’d love to wear a clean face out for errands and not feel all red/blotchy. I started this new routine on February 9th and now, around a month later, I wanted to share my routine and feelings about it. My Skin Type/Other Details & Goals Before I get into things, I don’t want to lead anyone astray about doing this routine. If you don’t have the following skin conditions/type, then maybe it won’t be the best for you. I’m NOT an expert on things like this and honestly I never cared that much about my skin, which is horrible. Confession: I didn’t even remove my makeup before bed until I was nearly out of college. (I actually had less acne back then; go figure…) Skincare was never a priority for me but I still got angry when I broke out […]

If We Were Having Coffee…

Posted March 8, 2018 / If We Were Having Coffee, Personal / Information / Etc. / 6 Comments

I LOVE reading personal posts from other bloggers and seeing Jamie’s “If We Were Having Coffee” feature take off is so fun. Laura and Lindsey also have some great spin-offs of this feature too. I was very tempted to also make mine margarita-related (like Lindsey) but coffee is so ingrained in my daily life that it just makes sense to keep it. If you’re not familiar, it basically involves a fake little conversation about what’s been happening in our lives lately. Read on to see what’s been happening lately and feel free to chat back in the comments! If we were having coffee… I’d tell you how I did my first one of these exactly two months ago today! It’s kind of weird how time flies by so quickly. I’ll probably talk more about that later on, but thought it was worth noting that I inadvertently developed a schedule for these posts. I try to keep some posts like these a bit more loose because I should just post them whenever I feel like it, but other memes are more scheduled. I try to have a mix on my blog. Usually the beginning of the month and the end of the month have the most “scheduled” things between wrap-ups, TBRs, and other monthly/quarterly link-ups I participate in. Do you have a blogging schedule? If we were having coffee… I’d obviously talk about booooooks. February was a slow reading month for me because I was basically reading MY PLAIN JANE all month. Whooops. […]

Spring Bingo TBR Ideas

Posted March 7, 2018 / Book Lists, Features, TBR Lists / 2 Comments

As you know by now, Bookish Bingo is one of my favorite challenges to participate in. I love completing the boards slowly and then learning what’s going to be on the new one! It’s always fun to see a fresh sheet. I usually do very well (either fill the board 100% or miss just a few spots). This one looks really possible to fill the board again and I’m determined to do it! Here are some TBR options (based on books I was planning to read). Reading, finished, and up next: Family: Legendary by Stephanie Garber Historical fiction: My Plain Jane by Meadows/Hand/Ashton Part of a series: Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire CARAVAL is very family-oriented, as the whole book involves Scarlett looking for her sister, and LEGENDARY is similar. I don’t remember the synopsis so I won’t spoil anything and am too lazy to check… Let’s just say that the family theme definitely continues. MY PLAIN JANE is a historical fiction technically, but it’s not as historical fiction-y of a retelling (wow, what weird phrasing…) as MY LADY JANE. It’s based on a retelling of JANE EYRE but technically the plot happens back in the day, so it counts. The Wayward Children series continues with book two here, so that counts in a series (even though I guess it’s actually a prequel and not #2). Possible TBR: Ocean theme: No Filter by Orlagh Collins Unlikeable main character: She Regrets Nothing by Andrea Dunlop Aussie author: Obsidio by […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #173: Quotes

Posted March 6, 2018 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 4 Comments

Favorite Book Quotes Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I’ve talked about favorite quotes quite a bit recently and frankly I’ve been terrible about recording new favorites in the last few years. Here are links to fave quotes from 2015, some all-time favorites, and favorite love and friendship ones. You’ll definitely see repeats down below… sorry! Review here Review here Goodreads here Goodreads here Review here Review here Review here

Behind the Screen: A Book Blogger Tag

Posted March 5, 2018 / Discussions, Features / 5 Comments

I caught this making its away across the blogosphere and was tempted to join in, but then Madalyn made my life easier and tagged me! This was created originally by Amber @ Du Livre. When did you start blogging and what was your first review? I started blogging on July 16, 2014 and my first review was for We Were Liars. I did not enjoy the book, to say the least! My first non-review post happened on the same day (because I was a bit intense when I got started) and was for my Top 10 Summer Reads. I think that’s pretty indicative of my reading preferences! Who/what inspired you to start blogging? I remember reading Before I Fall back in July 2014 for the first time and having so many thoughts about it. I was scrolling through some of the reviews on Goodreads (before finishing the book, whoops) and noticed a lot of people had links that said “for more thoughts, go to X blog here!” and I was intrigued. I always wanted to blog (I had so many failed ones back in the day) and it truly had never occurred to me that reading/books would be a blogging topic. It wasn’t my first review because I started the blog when I was in the middle of reading it, but still – this book and some of the Goodreads reviewers inspired me! What is a blog-related goal you have? I’m really not sure because my blog has changed so much over […]

Bite-Sized Reviews: Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and Dear Martin

Posted March 2, 2018 / Bite-Sized Reviews, Book Reviews / 6 Comments

I know I have full reviews and I have mini review round-ups, but there are some books that could be reviewed in just a few sentences. This is mini round-up I’ll have sometimes for books that really don’t need much more than my small Goodreads review and progress updates say. First up, we have an incredibly hyped up read that many bloggers have loved. I’ve owned it for a while and we read it for book club, so it was a good excuse to finally put aside the hype. Here’s a quick view of what I thought, because I’m surprised I don’t have a lot more to add?? Next, an incredibly important book that deserves more than a mini review, but I can’t really form the words. I love how all sides of the Black Lives Matter movement were discussed and I hope that anyone who doesn’t somehow see the need for the movement learns a lesson. So powerful.