We are halfway through September somehow, and I still want to provide a monthly review, if only to help me when I’m putting together my end-of-year posts in December. Ha! I’m doing a modified version, so you’ll get everything from books to goals to spending in this post!
August Reading
- Books read: 11
- Pages read: 3,729
- Star average: 3.9
- My favorite book(s) of August: The Unselected Journal of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower (Vols 7 and 8)
- My least favorite book of August: The Unseen World by Liz Moore
- The book I thought I would love more than I did: Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yaisawa
- The book that surprised me: Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel
- August’s Unread Shelf Challenge: The challenge was to read the shortest book on my shelf, which was Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yaisawa.
August: The Quick Snapshot
- Title of the month: Overwhelmed & Weary
- Weather notes: So many summer thunderstorms! It rained almost every day, and there’s nothing I love more than watching the sky darken outside my windows and hearing rumbling thunder in the distance. It also continued to be hot, humid, and gross.
- Mood: Welp. My mood sucked in August, honestly. My mental health really struggled when faced with some potential disappointments and health complications.
August: The Good Parts
I’ve already taken you through some of the hardest parts of my month, but there were some bright moments:
- Meeting Bri’s new dog, Asher
- A lovely breakfast and bookstore date with my friend, Lynn
- Pumpkin spice szn is BACK
- A dog birthday party filled with the cutest doggos (and my neurotic fur-siblings)
- Recording our ONE HUNDREDTH episode of The Friendship Paradox! (<– it released yesterday!)
- Bedazzling book club and catching up with everyone
- Renewing my lease – my rent is only increasing by $50 and they’re giving me $500 off November’s rent for renewing early
August Goals: A Quick Recap
- Adhere to a 10:30pm bedtime – nope, work in progress
- Watch two movies – I watched one (Sleepless in Seattle).
- No caffeine after 3pm – nope.
- Work on improving my walking speed – eh, not really.
- Get a light for my bathroom – yes!
Easy goals for September: sunshine on my eyeballs before 9am every day, finish season 2 of Suits, and make a plan for reorganizing my office closet
August Spending
I’ll keep this simple with just my top five spending categories this month (after bills, which is always the highest category, duh):
- Food ($945 | ↑ $98 from July): Surprisingly, my Uber Eats spending was almost at baseline ($120), but I spent a lot more on groceries.
- Travel ($678 | ↑ $78 from July): A little higher, but that’s to be expected. I gave my mom $600 and then bought tickets for a Fenway tour.
- Pets ($555 | ↑ $392 from July): How did I spend so much money on my cats in August? I guess they just needed everything replaced? Wet and dry food, litter, Litter Genie refill bags, desiccant bags for their feeders, treats, etc. And I bought some fun new scratchers because I just can’t help myself!
- Shopping ($463 | ↑ $169 from July): Nothing crazy to report here. My book spending was normal for me (less than $100). I bought a cart for my office and some tech supplies like longer iPhone cords. It’s much more than I have been spending, although I still came in under $500, which is always my goal.
- Savings ($360 | ↑ $60 from July): Finally, a good increase! I saved a little more this month, and a good portion of it is going toward a new reading chair. We’re getting there!
August Favorites
- Favorite show: It remains Big Brother – it’s been a good season.
- Favorite podcast: I really loved the episode that The Popcast did in mid-August about the state of the podcasting industry. I always love a good behind-the-scenes look!
- Favorite meal: I made this recipe that Birchie posted about a long time ago and it was so, so good.
- Favorite cat moment: I was sitting on the couch one evening with Lila, and all of a sudden she turned her head and this immense look of love filled her eyes.I knew that Eloise had walked into the room, and sure enough! There she was. The purest form of love.
- Favorite purchase: Planner accessories. I bought some cute highlights, fine liner pens, and a tiny ruler, and it all makes me so happy!
- Favorite ordinary moment: It was a Friday evening, and Bri and I had recorded a few episodes for the podcast. We were just lounging on the couch with the dogs, and her husband was sitting nearby putting together a LEGO set. It was truly an ordinary moment, but I felt so content and happy.
- Favorite decision I made: To take a step back from blogging when life felt overwhelming. I felt immediate relief when I made the decision, which tells me it was the right one.
- Favorite thing I learned: That wasps apparently built mud nests?! My mom noticed something weird growing in her mailbox, so of course, I took to ChatGPT to find out what it was. According to Chat, “The wasp collects mud, brings it back, and builds little chambers where it lays eggs and leaves prey for the larvae to eat.” Fascinating!
Tell me one good thing about your August.
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