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Top Ten Tuesdays #209: Bookish Merch

Posted November 13, 2018 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 8 Comments

Bookish Items / Merchandise 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 don’t acquire a lot of bookish merch, if I’m being honest! I’ve tried to buy less and less THINGS over the past few years (I’ve moved so much since high school that I’m so tired of lugging items everywhere I go!). The two bookish things I like to collect the most are candles and bookmarks, so here are some of those (and more). Some items below are specifically on my wishlist while others are just favorites in general – I’ll mark them so you know. All photos are credited to the original websites/shops or were taken by me if noted. Favorite Novelly Yours Candles Full disclosure: I am incredibly picky about candles. Most are too sweet for me and give me a headache, but I knooow I can count on a few specific scents to work perfectly. Usually they involve apple, but not always. Brittany’s candles are some of the BEST out there and I have a couple of go-to scents. I thinkkkk Winter is still my favorite here because it’s the most apple-y of them all, but the close second is probably Brave. I love the pumpkin pie scent mixed in! Cabeswater is […]

101 Things in 1001 Days Update

Posted November 12, 2018 / Goals & Planning, Personal / Information / Etc. / 5 Comments

The Day Zero Project made it on my radar a few years ago when I started following Stephanie’s blog, Not Entirely Perfect. This project is where you make a list of 101 goals to complete in 1001 days, which is just under 3 years (2¾ years). It’s fun to plan out the goals you think you may have over that time frame because you can mix in easy one with more difficult long-term ones. So, I did make a list at the time and did… somewhat okay… with a lot of the goals. I ended up quitting because the goals weren’t related to my life anymore, with the move and other priorities shifting. When Stephanie posted how to make a 101 in 1001 list, I decided it was time to do it again. I think I’m ready to do it again now that my life is going to be somewhat settled in the near future lol. I started the list on December 1, 2018 so it will end on August 28, 2020. I decided to share my list here with you. Here’s my list on the website if you want to follow me or check in on my progress! Today’s post is the first update to my list with all progress made and immediate goals! 66 not started yet | 9 in progress | 26 completed In Progress Post challenge updates each calendar year during it | I wanted to post each year during the challenge with some of my challenge progress. So far so […]

No Spend November

Posted October 26, 2018 / Goals & Planning, Personal / Information / Etc. / 5 Comments

I attempted No Spend April a few years ago and it wasn’t the most successful thing ever? I like the sound of No Spend November and genuinely think I can make this happen. My weddings are officially done for the year but I do have some general spending to do for next year’s weddings and Christmas. This November I am aiming to not spend money on myself at all and limit my spending on other people, food, etc. I just developed a monthly calendar that shows all of my expenses, so I’ll include that here. Here’s my plan of attack. Budget / Expenses I didn’t disclose the dollar amounts here but I put them in order from most to least expensive. Yes, my student loan costs more than my half of our monthly rent. I otherwise have various payments for my car, streaming services, and more. Student loan Rent for the house Car loan Car insurance Credit card monthly payments Internet Sling TV and Netflix Blog hosting Wrestling-related streaming services Dropbox Premium Weight Watchers Rules (1) Only spend money I have on hand – nothing goes on a credit card I actually don’t have many credit cards in general: one store card, one regular one, and a Paypal Credit account that I use mostly for airline tickets and other expensive items like that. I hope to not use any of my credit accounts and focus on using my savings from the month on paying them down. (2) Dining out is […]

Lauren Lately | October 2018

Posted October 15, 2018 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 4 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 ✨ My life was finally due to calm down after our trip to Charlotte and all of the wedding madness would (mostly) end for the year. Here’s what I’ve been up to from mid-September through mid-October! 6th anniversary and the Big E later | On September 16th, we celebrated our sixth anniversary of dating! We celebrated the best way that we, as a couple, could. We went to the Farmers Market in the morning, followed by football at my dad’s house in the afternoon. We grabbed sushi takeout on the way home and enjoyed it while watching the WWE Hell in a Cell pay-per-view. It involved most of our favorite things, so that’s a win all-around! Chris bought me a Daryl Takahashi stuffed animal and I could not be happier about it. He’s the cutest and squishiest. We went to the Big E later in the month, which is a huuuuge regional fair in Mass. […]

Lauren Lately | August 2018

Posted August 15, 2018 / Features, Lauren Lately, Wrap-Ups / 6 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 ✨ More exploring, Jack & Jill, and quick trip to Boston | We’ve been slowly settling into the new place and we’re now able to explore more. Mid-July had a busy weekend involving a friends’ Jack & Jill on Saturday and a trip up to the Boston area on Sunday. My friend getting married next year wanted me to try on some dresses so I visited her for the day and we went to town. Otherwise, that week brought our first try of rolled ice cream (not worth the hype and way too expensive), and a local restaurant on the water I’ve been dying to try. We found that an ice cream shop in our hometown has DOLE WHIP now so clearly I hopped on that. Hamptons bachelorette weekend | My friend who is getting married Labor Day weekend (eek!!) had her bachelorette weekend in the Hamptons. I was honestly not sure how it would […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #196: Bookish Features

Posted August 14, 2018 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 15 Comments

Favorite Book Blog Features 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 feel like we’ve done this before (aside from the favorite bookstagram one) but I can’t seem to find it. I don’t follow a lot of non-blog-related book sites because I don’t think they’re niche enough. I follow blogs and friends because they read widely but similarly to me… and I trust their recs more than Buzzfeed! I decided to do a slightly different spin on the topic of “favorite bookish websites or blogs” and do my favorite FEATURES on some of my favorite blogs. Like, whenever they come up in my Feedly, I get all excited to see them. There are plenty of fave bloggers but sometimes certain posts just scream my name when they’re in my feed. Here are some of them! (1) Bookish Bingo @ Pretty Deadly Reviews I get excited for a new bingo card each season like nobody’s business. They post wrap-ups from the previous season and then the new card the following day. There’s just something about a fresh challenge, bingo card, planner page, month… I love so much! I’ve filled cards before, which is a huge accomplishment IMO. (2) I’ve Got You Covered @ A […]

Bookmark Lit is FOUR!

Posted July 16, 2018 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 9 Comments

I never know what to say in these things anymore … clearly, since I didn’t even bother writing a post last year? This one isn’t going to feature a giveaway or statistics or anything. I’m just going to talk for a little bit and pop in some favorites/pictures/etc. Enjoy it or skip it in your reader. 😉 The hobby quitter I am well-known for starting hobbies or sports and quitting them quickly. A brief rundown of things I’ve done for a year or less: playing clarinet, gymnastics, basketball, softball, knitting, bullet journaling, planners (with all the stickers – I still use them for regular plain planning), calligraphy or lettering, various other blogs over the years, sort of starting a consulting business, various blog features that never got going, rainbow loom, friendship bracelets, crafting/bookmark-making… the list goes on. I can never say enough how proud of myself I am for sticking with this book blogging thing for four years straight. Aside from being a reader my whole life, this is the ONE hobby I’ve stuck with for this long. I have a few other things that have been stable in the background lately (mostly Lego and wrestling) but neither of them for four years. Why I keep going Honestly, my reasons for blogging still are somewhat selfish. I have the WORST memory ever, so I use my blog to record alllll of my thoughts. This is why I’ve expanded beyond book blogging in a lot of ways. I talk about my personal life, […]

Things I’ll Be Better About When I Move

Posted June 8, 2018 / Goals & Planning, Personal / Information / Etc. / 4 Comments

As you know, I’ve spent the last 11+ months living in Portland, Maine with my boyfriend. We’re from Connecticut originally and I spent 4 years living outside of Providence, Rhode Island for college. Chris never got away for school so we wanted to have a little adventure for a year, really soaking in a new place. Our time in Portland is coming to an end and I’m so incredibly grateful that we were given this opportunity. I say this because my boss let me work remotely for a full year and didn’t even blink; she’s kind of the best. Anyways! The point of this post isn’t to reminisce on what we’ve done so far, but to think ahead to when we move home in a couple of weeks (eeeek!). We’ll have a house instead of an apartment and TBH I am most excited to not share walls or floors with other people for the first time since basically high school when I lived at home with my parents. We’re moving to a very suburban (almost rural with all the farming around, I guess) area that’s a bit farther from our hometown, so there will be a lot to get used to. We’re actually going to be living 15 minutes from UConn and all of the great restaurants in that area, so I’m pumped. I started to think of all the lifestyle moves and changes I want to make that I just haven’t been able to pull off since we moved here. Everything […]

Incorporating Your Life into Your Book Blog

Posted April 19, 2018 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 3 Comments

Adding a more personal flair to book blogging has been the latest trend that most of us seem to be aiming for. I know I’ve made some changes over the past couple of years to do this! I write a lot more life-oriented posts on Bookmark Lit and many of them don’t even involve books at all. Because we’ve all noticed a decline in people reading or reacting to book reviews, we’re expanding a little bit by making mini review wrap-ups to get the point across, or doing whatever we can to boost other posts that people may enjoy more. I know I’m making a lot of generalizations here, but I’ve noticed these trends or comments on SO many blogs lately. Today I wanted to talk about how to incorporate your personal life more into your blog, either as a way of mixing up content OR slowly seguing into a blog that features more personal than bookish. I’d say my blog is probably 60-70% bookish and 40-30% personal at this point, depending on the week. I sloooowly moved into adding more personal posts over the past few years to get here. Here are some tips for how to do it and what to talk about: Develop a Weekly or Monthly “Schedule” Pick a certain day of the week to post your personal stuff. Alternatively, think about how many times per month in general you hope to discuss something other than books. Make a tentative schedule for each month based on […]

How are TBRs Working for Me?

Posted April 5, 2018 / Discussions, Features / 3 Comments

The whole TBR thing is pretty new to me. I started making TBR posts about a year ago just because I love the IDEA of them. I’ve found, since then, that they do a pretty good job of reminding me what books I was hoping to read within the month. I’ve only read my entire TBR one time – I’ll get to that later – but otherwise I think I do pretty well. Now that I’ve been TBR-ing for a little over a year, I thought I’d see how I’ve fared. I did a very brief wrap-up about this back in November (link below about mood reading) but wanted to expand more. (Again, this post at Pretty Deadly Reviews inspired me back then and now!) Other relevant posts to check out : about how my bookish planner is impacting my reading and blogging this year, whose books I’m actually reading, and my mood reading tendencies. Monthly breakdown February 2017 [50%] 8 books on the TBR plus a poll to decide between 3 options I ended up reading four of the books on my TBR, but that included the book that was selected in the “help me choose what to read” poll at the bottom. Not terrible, but not too great. I think the idea of having a TBR to choose from kind of motivated me to read the books on there. I feel like half is not bad! March 2017 [56%] 9 books on the TBR plus a poll to […]