Search Results for: planner


2020 Releases I Can’t Wait For

Posted October 21, 2019 / Book Lists, Features / 13 Comments
2020 Releases I Can’t Wait For

Here to fuck all of your TBRs up again, y’all! Sorry, I am definitely not sorry. We’re all in this together. I recently saw a decent amount of 2020 releases get announced and/or obtain gorgeous covers, so I thought I’d throw some of them your way. I’m only doing January for June because my list got a little out of control.   We Used to be Friends by Amy Spalding | January 2020 Synopsis excerpt: Told in dual timelines—half of the chapters moving forward in time and half moving backward—We Used to Be Friends explores the most traumatic breakup of all: that of childhood besties. This book will probably be sad and I hope not super confusing – going forward and time for some chapters and going back in time for others sounds right up my alley though! As you’ll probably hear a million times in this post, I love this cover too. Lie to Me by Kaitlin Ward | January 2020 Synopsis excerpt: Ever since Amelia woke up in the hospital, recovering from a near-death fall she has no memory of, she’s been suspicious. Her friends, family, and doctors insist it was an accident, but Amelia is sure she remembers being pushed. Then another girl is found nearby — one who fell, but didn’t survive. I’m a sucker for mysterious-accident-related-memory-loss books! I’m intrigued by the boyfriend that the other half of the synopsis mentions. I’m pretty bad about actually reading mystery books after they get put on my TBR so hopefully […]

In Which I Get Ridiculous About Reading Goals and Scheduling (Readalong-Style)

Posted October 16, 2019 / Discussions, Features / 7 Comments
In Which I Get Ridiculous About Reading Goals and Scheduling (Readalong-Style)

Maybe it’s the large amount of readathons and – more importantly – readalongs I’ve been doing lately, but I’ve gotten into the habit of reaaaaally scheduling out my reading. I set small reading goals per day or week and plan my TBR (and other things) at a super detailed level when I really need some motivation. My reading mojo has been down the tubes since late July/early August and I just can’t get myself to care about reading sometimes. However, I simultaneously want to read all the things??? Like, ya girl can’t stop adding books to the “currently reading” shelf and thus never actually finishing anything. I spoke a while ago about the schedule I developed for how I try to balance all of the audiobook-listening, YouTube/TV-watching, and podcast-listening I want to do on a weekly basis, so this isn’t a foreign concept to me. Sometimes setting weird goals and schedules makes me MORE satisfied and interested in reading. Following along with a basic concept from readalongs, I decided to make some kind of reading schedule for myself in October. I’m currently participating in the Diviners Readalong and FaerieAThon, where the hosts plot out one week(ish) per month to read the next book in the series or author’s backlist. They further determine how many pages or chapters need to be read each day, so everyone is having fun reading along with each other. I love the idea of setting highly-specific reading goals on a daily basis to get books DONE within […]

A Day in the Life (8/14/19)

A Day in the Life (8/14/19)

True story: I’ve been attempting to write this post for a while now but I ALWAYS get halfway into my morning routine (or even arrive at work) when I realize I forgot to take photos of my day. I finally remembered to get an early start last Wednesday so here we are with a day in my life! 5:45 AM – 6:00 AM – Alarm goes off, venture downstairs I went to bed fairly early last night so I set my alarm accordingly. I usually like to wake up somewhere within the 6:00 hour but love when I can get up even earlier. I like seven hours of sleep; any more or less than that isn’t great for me haha. I went downstairs and chatted with Chris, who was starting his morning routine. I made my coffee and went back upstairs. 6:00 AM – 7:30 AM – Lounge in bed I will usually do a number of things in the morning before work, like update my bullet journal, watch YouTube or a television show, or read a book. Sometimes I just play Candy Crush and call it a day lol. This morning, I put YouTube on while updating my bullet journal with the book I had finished the day before. I caught up with Kristen and a few others I’ve been into lately for Amazon hauls and more lifestyle-oriented content. When I finished the bujo, I just scrolled on my phone and played Candy Crush while YouTube played in the […]

Lauren Lately | August 2019

Posted August 15, 2019 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 2 Comments
Lauren Lately | August 2019

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 ✨ What I’ve Been Up To Weird Al, lots of swimming, and a birthday party | We had a nice mix of weekends over the last month or so. We had a few events and parties sprinkled in, along with casual days swimming and hanging out at Chris’s parents’ house. We went to see Weird Al in concert, which exceeded all of my expectations and I have zero photos of, and then spent the next two days swimming. The following weekend was a birthday party for my friend Alaina and her husband, which was a lot of fun too! Weekend with Jen – Mystic/Westerly/Glastonbury | Chris was away at the bachelor party for his future brother-in-law so I went out and about with his sister! We first went to a small food truck festival in Connecticut, which was decent, and then headed over to Rhode Island. Ivory Ella was having their annual warehouse sale, so we […]

Blog Tour Cover Colors: Notes from a Former Virgin – Chloe Snow’s Diary

Posted July 26, 2019 / Book Reviews, Cover Colors, Features / 1 Comment
Blog Tour Cover Colors: Notes from a Former Virgin – Chloe Snow’s Diary

I’m not usually one to enjoy covers with real human faces on them (I like illustrated people most of the time though!) but these covers are so playful and in tune with the books themselves. All of the covers for the first three books really reflect Chloe’s kind-of goofy personality quite well. I love the color scheme for this one too! Some of my favorites. I’m kind of obsessed with this collection that I pulled together! I have the focal point of the cover as one of the main pieces of the collage: big blue heart-shaped sunglasses. I included a planner/diary that matches the cover’s color scheme because obviously this book is written as diary entries. There’s a pretty close replica of Chloe’s pink sweater and some denim shorts with blue sandals to go with it. I include some pinky/purple makeup items, like the blush, lipstick, and eyeshadow palette. I also added a contour kit for bronzed skin and a backpack for her to take during junior year of high school. Amazon: 2019 Stay Focused Planner // Jansport Superbreak Backpack // Meyison Heart Sunglasses // Floopi Sandals // HOCAIES Jean Shorts // Winjoy Casual Knit Pullover Sweater ||||| Ulta: NARS Orgasm Blush // Anastasia Beverly Hills Norvina Palette // Tarte Tarteist Glow to Go // Urban Decay  Vice Lipstick in Backtalk About the Author Website || Twitter || Goodreads Emma Chastain is a graduate of Barnard College and the creative writing MFA program at Boston University. She lives in Brooklyn with her […]

What Does Mood Reading Even Mean?

Posted May 8, 2019 / Discussions, Features / 8 Comments
What Does Mood Reading Even Mean?

I was inspired by a recent comment on my post about my Seasonal Reading to write a post about this. It’s something I’ve never thought about before but it makes a lot of sense… What exactly does mood reading mean to you or to other people? SO many of us say we’re mood readers all the time, but it clearly doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. Here’s the comment in question: Amy mentioned that mood reading, for her, is that she reads a genre or trope until she’s sick of it. She doesn’t read anything else until that “mood” passes and is fulfilled from multiple books. I LOVE knowing this – that everyone has their own way of dealing with mood reading, and even their own way to “define” it. I’ve talked a loooot about mood reading tendencies since I’ve started my blog. I’ve even discussed how I don’t really feel like I’m a mood reader anymore, at least on a book-to-book basis. I read seasonally, which is the post that brought this comment/thought to my mind, but is that even mood reading? Is it more seasonal reading, or is than offshoot of mood reading? WHAT IS MOOD READING?? History of Mood Reading To recap my thoughts on this topic, here are various ways I’ve discussed it over time (oldest posts to newest): Seasonal TBR Moods – 2016 It’s cool that this topic comes full circle because of me talking about “seasonal reading” and how that connects to mood […]

How I Use Google Keep for Organizing My Life

How I Use Google Keep for Organizing My Life

I’m a big proponent of Google’s document services and other apps. I love that I can sync everything up on my phone or computer instead of having things in one place, like when I use Microsoft Office. I’ve talked a lot about how I organize my bookish life with Google Sheets, but I figured I’d share some of my Google Keep love today! If you don’t know, it’s an app and website service from Google that essentially makes various sticky notes on a board. They can be lists, plain text, drawings, and more. I use the checklist option the most because I frequently use it for groceries and weekly to-dos. I know there are more sophisticated planning apps that use calendars and such, but this one really works for me for now. Here’s how I use it. Pinned Notes – Priorities When you make a note, you have a bunch of color and style options, as well as the ability to pin it to the top. I like this for my priority items for the week. As you can see below, I have different grocery shopping lists for each store I frequent. I also have a list of meal plans for the week. Sometimes the meal planning note lists out each meal for each day (like below) and other times it’s just a list of ideas for dinner based on groceries I have on hand. The pinned ones below show the weekly meals, priority shopping list for Target the day […]

2019 Reading Bullet Journal Setup

2019 Reading Bullet Journal Setup

Friends, I got sucked back in. I took a brief detour into the bullet journaling world a few years ago and it was just Too Much for me. I was tracking things just for the sake of tracking them and making pages; I wasn’t doing anything actually beneficial. I acquired a bunch of markers kind of soon after I quit the bujo life and was sad they may just sit there. WELL, after creeping hard on Kristin’s bullet journaling life, I decided to finally come back to it. This time, I’m focusing only on books and reading. I didn’t get another Bookish Planner this year and think this will be a fun creative option for me instead. Here’s how I set up my bullet journal for 2019! I spent a lot of time watching flipthroughs and setup videos on YouTube, plotting my pages out with sticky notes and testing out my pens and markers! It was such a fun feeling to get back to. General Setup I thought I’d do a run-through of the general setup of my planner because I have it in sections or categories. I didn’t want to get bogged down with page numbers quite as much, so I just planned on writing an index in order of section. It’s not overly helpful but it’s better than nothing? haha. Section 1: overview and yearly goals/resolutions The first section includes my yearly goals and resolutions, as well as some of the general reading THINGS I’ll be following throughout […]

Lauren Lately | February 2019

Posted February 16, 2019 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 4 Comments
Lauren Lately | February 2019

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 ✨ Skiing and winter activities | The weekend after our Vermont trip, we enjoyed some more snow and cold weather activities at home! We went skiing for Chris’s dad’s birthday with his sister and her fiancee. The snow at our place kept us indoors, which we definitely needed! We’ve been hanging around and enjoying books and Chris’s new Switch. Planetarium, Wolfpack game, and bingo nights | We had a busy stretch of a few days in mid-January. There was a planetarium event where they discussed the upcoming lunar eclipse and taught us a LOT about their history. I’m a huge fan of planetariums so hopefully we come back. The next night, we went to a Hartford Wolfpack hockey game with some friends. I’ve been going to Wednesday night music video bingo every other week with my friend and it’s SO much fun. Harry Potter high tea and Olde Mystick Village | My friends and I decided a […]

If We Were Having Coffee…

If We Were Having Coffee…

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 ask how your weekend was! Start any new books? Get anything done around the house? I’m feeling very on top of things lately and it’s kind of a nice change. Chris and I have been good about cleaning up, staying organizing, buying things we need and not putting them off, and meal prep. I think I still need to work on the grocery shopping part of meal prepping and not wasting food, but baby steps… If we were having coffee… I’d tell you about some of my favorite new beauty and skincare items I’ve added to my current rotation! I don’t change up the foundation of my makeup routine (overall face makeup, mascara, etc.) very often because once I find something that keeps me matte, I don’t change anything… but I’m always excited to try new skincare, eyeshadow, and lip products. I bought the Gerard Cosmetics liquid lipstick […]