Wrap Up

Me in January

January has been an awesome start to 2016, and I see the year getting better and better! I’ve managed to stick to a lot of my resolutions, instead of giving up on them after the first week, and I read a lot of awesome books.

First and foremost, I’ve embarked on a healthy eating endeavour. I’ve been cutting out unhealthy snacks since the 4th, and I’ve only “cheated” a couple of times. There has been a couple of unhealthy meals, but two out of 25+ isn’t bad! I have also decided that I want to transition into veganism. I’m starting slowly, by cutting out meat and milk first. So far, I’ve been really enjoying this new lifestyle. I haven’t eaten meat in two weeks and I think I’m starting to feel physically better. I’m not sure if that’s just a placebo effect though! I’m really looking forward to continuing with this journey.

I also started taking driving lessons. Well, I’ve taken one so far, and I’ve booked more for February and March. I really want to get my license and a car this year, after five years of relying on friends and family to drive me around.

I met up with some friends that I haven’t seen in months, and I’ve met a tonne of new reading buddies so far this year! It’s been great.

The highlight of January, though, was seeing Billy Elliot at Victoria Palace Theatre. It was absolutely incredible. The children, particularly Nat Sweeney, were fantastic, and I loved the entire cast. They were so good! And the set designs and transitions were fascinating. I adored it, and I would go again right now if I could.

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2015 READING STATS

AMBER

NUMBER OF BOOKS YOU READ: 101. This is the least I’ve read in about five years. But at least I met my goal.

NUMBER OF REREADS: 4. Ha.

GENRE YOU READ THE MOST FROM: Contemporary! Followed by fantasy.

TATUM

NUMBER OF BOOKS YOU READ: 109 because I am a disgrace. I actually had to adjust down my goal because I’m so busy all the time now. It’s shameful, I am ashamed.

NUMBER OF REREADS: lol I wish

GENRE YOU READ THE MOST FROM: Probably fantasy but I don’t care, I’m having a different answer this time! HORROR! Thank you, Stephen King, for providing me with a less boring response this year.

BEST IN BOOKS

BEST BOOK YOU READ IN 2015

AMBER: THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA, closely followed by The Martian. Please see below.

TATUM: I really tried to limit the number of books I answered with but as it turns out, I just couldn’t. I just really enjoyed these books way too much to not yell about them. So, obvious fave of the entire year which I’m sure Amber will yell about too (~~~) is The Gentlemen Bastards series by Scott Lynch. The Lies of Locke Lamora is AMAZING and also criminally underrated so can you all go and read this series plz and thank you. Secondly, out of all King’s books that I’ve pretty much devoured this year I have to say that Bag of Bones is honestly peak Stephen King (and none for The Shining bye). It’s eerie and unsettling and so compelling as a novel. FINALLY, IN A STUNNING DISPLAY OF MATURITY AND ALSO I’M PRETTY SURE HYPNOSIS, I REALLY, REALLY LOVED SIX OF CROWS. It’s about heists, and romance, and persecution! Also miles better than the Grisha series of stupid nonsensical flop endings.

BOOK YOU WERE EXCITED ABOUT & THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO LOVE MORE BUT DIDN’T?

AMBER: Ashes to Ashes. Fuck that nonsense.

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Me in December

The first major event that happened in December was my company’s Christmas Party. It was… eventful, to say the least. I don’t normally drink alcohol so I managed to get drunk during the pre-drinks and by 11PM I was hammered. But then I started to sober up and I felt fabulous (but tired!) the next day. This then kicked off a month of drinking with my family and friends, so I pretty much spent December in some sort of drunken state.

I finished most of my Christmas shopping in November and I was SO HAPPY because that meant I wasn’t stressing out about it in December. I had a couple of things still to buy just before Christmas, though. I bought my mum’s Christmas present on Christmas Eve because I had to wait until I got paid.

I also went on a lot of cinema trips and out for a few meals, so December was definitely a month for socialising. Continue reading →

me in october

October was a hectic month even without blogging for two thirds of it. I took an unplanned hiatus last month because I was getting really stressed out with real life stuff and I couldn’t find the motivation to blog or do Booktube. I’m still not back into the swing of things, but I’m trying to get there.

I’m currently in Virginia, USA to spend time with some friends (mostly Dee). I flew out on the 30th and we did the whole Halloween thing where we went trick-or-treating (Dee escorted the children from house to house while the other adults and I stayed in the car) and then we had a party with a bunch of Navy folk. And Jesus.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Fright Night with a friend and while the queues were awful, we managed to luck out and get on quite a few rides. We went in two of the mazes – The Big Top and My Bloody Valentine – and I think we managed to go on about ten rides. It doesn’t seem like much, but considering the queues were 40-90 minutes long, I think we did quite well.

Another friend had an engagement party, which was lovely, and on the same day Tatum and I went to the Gollancz Festival at Piccadilly. We had a great time, and I was a little disappointed to have to leave early. I’ll probably be buying all of the books that were mentioned (I already have The Boy with the Porcelain Blade) because the authors did an amazing job of selling their stuff to us. Tatum and I are already looking forward to next year’s festival! Continue reading →

Me in September

September was a really difficult month for me for various reasons. It started off really well but then everything in real life took a turn for the worst, with the death of two family friends and the anniversaries of my grandmother’s and great-grandmother’s deaths. My anxiety cranked up a notch as a result. I feel much better now, but I expect October to be difficult as well.

I did, however, start the month off with a FABULOUS book (QUEEN OF SHADOWS) and I was in a really great reading mood for the first half of the month. Then work got busy and things happened and I got into a bit of a slump, unfortunately.

We also had a quiz night at work and my team did pretty well.

So overall September wasn’t great, but I’ve been loving the weather for the past couple of weeks, and my sister is loving her new school so I’m pretty happy. Continue reading →