Search Results for: planner

Bookmark Lit Bulletin | April 2020

Posted May 1, 2020 / Bookmark Lit Bulletin, Features, Wrap-Ups / 1 Comment

The Bookmark Lit Bulletin wraps up the last month in reading and what was on the blog, as well as what’s coming up next. You can check out my book haul, books read, posts shared, challenge updates, etc. You can read past bulletins here. If you’re looking for more personal updates, you can check out my Lauren Lately feature; it highlights my life events and non-bookish fun from the previous 30 days. Good lord, folks – my reading has been so back and forth this month. Chris suggested a few times to just stop forcing myself to read certain things, take a break from the book causing a slump, and read something you’re really excited about. I did this for BEACH READ and DATE ME, BRYSON KELLER and each time I was inspired to keep reading right afterwards. Sometimes certain books are just magical, folks. I knew I would finish the month still behind on my challenge, but I at least wanted to read 10 books to get “back on track” in that way. 9 books read in April 9 new books • 0 rereads • 0 DNF Pages read: 3,094 • Average rating: 4.1 stars Sources: 7 for review, 1 gifted, 1 Book of the Month Formats: [Review] 6 egalleys and 0 physical ARCs 1 hardcover, 1 paperback, 0 ebook, 0 audio, 1 combo Genres: 5 contemporary, 2 mystery/thriller, 1 graphic novel, 1 historical Age Target: 6 adult, 3 young adult, 0 middle grade, 0 new adult Check out my 2020 challenge sign-up […]

The Bright Side (4/24)

Posted April 24, 2020 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 1 Comment

As we’re all going through the same global pandemic with various levels of “stay the F home,” I thought it would be fun to highlight the good things in each week, instead of dwelling on the negatives, the unknowns, and the uncertain future. I tend to do some kind of wrap-up or rundown of my week/month/etc. on Fridays each week (often linking up with Friday Favorites/Currently) so this isn’t too much of a diversion from that. ✨ Too Hot to Handle Good lord. We were inspired on Saturday to randomly start this show. Chris promised we’d watch ONE EPISODE ONLY and we immediately watched three. We essentially watched 2-3 per day until we finished up the show on Monday. Woof. It’s interesting and addicting like Love is Blind but it’s about singles who apparently just love having sex and can’t control themselves. They did a few workshops, which were fun, and tried to get them all to find meaningful relationships instead of just hooking up. Each time people hooked up, money would be deducted from the prize fund. It was so frustrating to watch people constantly fuck it up for everyone else!!! ✨ Erasable Pens for Planning I’ve been really trying to get better about using my paper planner. I still love the digital planner I’m using because it syncs my calendars and includes a lot of my blog-related to-do’s, which I don’t keep in my paper planner. This planner is more about meal planning, prep, and workouts. With everything in […]

On My List (9)

Posted April 9, 2020 / Features, On My List / 2 Comments

I love Jamie’s New to the Queue feature because it highlights new things she’s added to her different “to do/ read/ watch/ etc.” lists. This new random feature – called simply On My List – will show off the most recent books, movies, shows, podcasts, recipes, crafts, and other things to make it on my to-do list. These are the things I’m hoping to get to in the near future. Currently Available The Jetsetters by Ward | I saw this come up on Scribd and was intrigued by the title, so I went over to Goodreads to check it out. I wasn’t totally sold on the synopsis but I feel like I saw a good review somewhere and decided to go back and add it. Frozen Beauty by Hillyer | It’s kind of funny that I’m adding this after seeing a three-star review (not a raving one) but I was intrigued enough to add it. I’ve been having a lot of success with the kind of mystery/thriller books lately and it’s really what’s getting me through reading lately. Freaky in Fresno by Crompton | I liked Laurie Boyle Crompton’s other book well enough and think her inspiration from 80’s movies is really fun. This is a Freaky Friday kind of premise, so I’m sold. Unreleased Books Head Over Heels by Orenstein | I’m intrigued by this premise because of the gymnastics and Massachusetts hometown return. I don’t think I also need to tell you that these illustrated covers keep sucking me in. I wish this one had a […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #282: Purchased Books

Posted April 7, 2020 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 4 Comments

Last Books I Purchased 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. The topic for this week is about the books I purchased because… and for me, I don’t really buy a lot of books. I have a strict budget for books and try to support authors/books in other ways. I thought it would be easier to share some of the most recent books I’ve purchased in general and why! Kindle Books All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace // I didn’t love this one but I had no way of reading it for book club, so I bought it. I was listening to the audiobook on Scribd and knew I wouldn’t be able to finish in time with just that format, since my audio listening time has decreased. Anyways, I’m happy to support a debut financially in this time. House of Earth and Blood by SJM // I did decide to buy this one despite being on the fence about actually reading it. I keep putting it on TBRs and applying it to reading challenges but GOOD LORD 800+ pages is so much. I do hope to get to it this month, maybe, but I’m bummed I can’t buy the audio on Libro.fm […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #281: Book Lover

Posted March 31, 2020 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 6 Comments

Signs I’m a Book Lover 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. The topic for this week is signs you’re a book lover. I wanted to personalize it a bit to share some of the ways people know that I’m a book lover, including people in my normal non-bookish/online life! Book Blog & Related Social Media This one feels obvious, especially to all of you! But, a friend of a friend said once, “oh yeah, you read a lot. You even have an Instagram account about books, right?” I didn’t realize she had been suggested my bookstagram before so apparently people in my real life know about it! My best friends follow me there but I never thought about acquaintances also following or knowing I had all this stuff. I don’t post about it on my Facebook or other ~regular Lauren~ social media pages. Wall Art ft. Reading I have a few prints in my house about reading and books, which most of my real life friends certainly don’t have! i know friends with movie posters and other kinds of fandom things on the wall, but books are just mine 😉 Bookcases! I always get comments on having full ass bookshelves when people […]

Lauren Lately | March 2020

Posted March 13, 2020 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 4 Comments

You can read my monthly Bookmark Lit Bulletin wrap-ups to learn about the bookish and blog-related things I’ve accomplished. Lauren Lately was created 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. What I’ve Been Up To When I last shared some updates, I had just headed to Maine to visit my sister and watch the new TATBILB movie. We’re into mid-March, so here’s what I’ve been doing over the last month! We went to the Sugar Factory in Foxwoods Casino for Valentine’s Day and got some apps and a huuuge drink to share. We roamed the casino afterwards and played a bit of video roulette. Chris had bought me flowers a few days early too! We’ve been trying to get out of the house more, as usual, so we had our Friday date night at Mill on the River and followed it up with our favorite brewery. Chris went to the skatepark one weekend and I read my book at Starbucks nearby for a bit. We’ve been back to our other favorite brewery for a snack and a few beers, ran some errands, and followed it up with milkshakes at a local old-school diner kind of place. We went for a nice walk on the trail near our house on a nice Sunday. We’ve been watching the XFL and some movies, plus I got addicted to Love is Blind – more on those later. We had some breakfast in bed last weekend before heading to the Eric Carle Museum of […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #270: Discoveries

Posted January 14, 2020 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 8 Comments

Best Bookish Discoveries of 2019 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. This week’s topic is so fun! We’re looking at the best bookish discoveries we made in 2019. I’m going to broaden this a little beyond just discoveries, but bookish or reading-related THINGS I started doing, found, or changed from 2019. Reading Bullet Journal I enjoyed working on my bullet journal for the vast majority of 2019. I think I got burnt out and uninspired after a while, but I still fully completed it for the year! I hope that the new year has increased my interest in it, but it’s still a fun and creative way to mark progress on books. Booktube I obviously didn’t DISCOVER booktube in 2019 but I did find a lot of new favorites and spend a LOT of time watching it! I was recommended some great channels and found a few more on my own, plus loved watching “old favorites” that I would watch even before this year’s new obsession. TBR Cart My cart is a little less TBR-oriented right now because of how I have it arranged and where it’s located. I use it to store planner supplies and my bullet journal, my iPad, […]

2019 End of Year Survey

Posted December 30, 2019 / Uncategorized / 4 Comments

I loved filling out Jamie’s survey in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. This is the 10th time she’s hosted this survey and it’s so fun to see what everyone chooses for the categories. Last year, I didn’t allow myself any duplicates. I’m going to try to keep them to a minimum for this survey, but it feels impossible. I’ll need to have a few. To learn more about it and see a blank set of questions, check here! It was so fun to reread my answers for last year, since I copied that survey here to clean out and fill out. Number of Books You Read: 123 Number of Re-Reads: 4 | Number of DNFs: 7 Genre You Read The Most From: Contemporary 1. Best Book You Read In 2018? Totally cheating and adding multiple categories! (Not including rereads.) See a full list of my “best reads” of the year (5 stars and 4.5 stars) here if you’re curious. Best of the best: Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston Best contemporary: The Bride Test by Helen Hoang Best non-contemporary: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo Best adult fiction: Meet Cute by Helena Hunting Best sequel or companion: The Map From Here to There by Emery Lord Best diverse read: There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon 2. Book you were excited about and thought you were going to love more but didn’t? I feel like I had quite a few books that disappointed me this year or didn’t live up to what I was expecting them to be. The biggest disappointment overall was probably […]

Blog Tour: A Wedding in December

Posted December 11, 2019 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Purchase Links: Harlequin || Indiebound || Amazon || Barnes & Noble Books-A-Million || Target || Walmart || Kobo || iBooks || Google I can’t lie: for the past few years I’ve generally avoided most books about weddings and/or being a bridesmaid. I’ve been in too many weddings recently ($$$) and was genuinely tired of thinking about them! It sucked though, frankly, because I usually would love reading about weddings and wedding/event planners! I’m glad that I have a few less weddings on my plate now… minus the planning of my own… so I was excited to dive into this holiday-centered one! This book is centered around Rosie’s wedding in Aspen, Colorado, and her family flying in from their home country of England. A lot of things could go wrong, as her parents are living separately and on the brink of divorce while her sister Katie thinks Rosie is making a mistake. Meanwhile, Rosie herself is having second thoughts about this whirlwind romance and Christmas Eve wedding. The three women were frustrating to read about at times, as they were singularly focused on specific things and it got a bit repetitive to read. Nick, the father, was my FAVORITE. Aspen was such a perfect setting for this story! I was a little sad, like Rosie’s mother was, at the beginning of the novel when she was discussing Christmas in their English cottage. Now THAT sounded like a book I wanted to read! However, like I said, Aspen is such a great snowy setting for a book […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #263: Thankful

Posted November 26, 2019 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 3 Comments

Thankful Freebie: Things I’m Thankful for from 2019 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 usually do some kind of “things I’m thankful for” or “books I’m thankful for” post for this each year. I thought I’d do the usual and share some of the things I’m most thankful for from 2019, both bookish and non-bookish. Artful Agenda | This has been a planning-related game-changer for me this year. You can read my full post and breakdown here, but basically this is a digital planner that syncs over your calendars and allows you to also customize it like a real planner. You can see the floral print cover I used from the spring into fall, but now there are some Christmas covers to choose from! I do somewhat miss paper planners (and have thoughts on using one in a different way next year) but I will not get rid of this guy. Shampoo brush | A couple of shower-related things, weirdly enough… I’ve been loving this shampoo brush! It really massages the shampoo into your hair and makes sure your roots get clean. Silicone shower scrubber | We made the switch away from loofahs recently after learning how much bacteria they can hold/carry. These […]