BOOKS
In April, I read 9 books. My favorite was The Women by Kristin Hannah and my least favorite was The Eighth Detective by Alex Pavesi. Some other stats:
- 78% fiction, 22% nonfiction
- 4 print, 2 e-books, 3 audiobooks
- 3.9 average star rating
- 33% diverse
Ander & Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa (print, owned) ★★★★★ | Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (print, owned) ★★★★☆ | White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad (audiobook, library) ★★★★★ | About That Night by Julie James (e-book, owned) ★★★★☆ | The Women by Kristin Hannah (print, owned) ★★★★★ | The Comeback by Lily Chu (e-book, library) ★★★★☆ | The Longest Race: Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike’s Elite Running Team by Kara Goucher (audiobook, library) ★★★★☆ | The Eighth Detective by Alex Pavesi (audiobook, library) ★★☆☆☆ | The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley (print, library) ★★☆☆☆
MEDIA
- Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Prime) – I finally finished this TV show annnd… I wasn’t a huge fan. Everyone has been raving about the show, but in the end, I didn’t really like either person very much or think they should be in a relationship together. Also, I’m still very angry about something inexcusable that happened in the final episode, so there’s that.
- The Circle, season 3 (Netflix) – Still working through some old seasons of The Circle! I enjoyed this season – they introduced some fun new twists – but I wasn’t too thrilled about the winner.
- Beyonce, Cowboy Carter – This was my album to listen to in April and I thought it was fine. I don’t think her music is for me, which is okay! I am very glad that people are loving the album.
- Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department – This is not my favorite album from Taylor, but there are a ton of great songs on it that are fun to sing along to.
On The Friendship Paradox, we released three episodes in April. (Just the way the calendar shook out with five Tuesdays in April.) We talked about our reading habits, the enneagram types of our favorite TV characters (from The Office, Brooklyn 99, Parks and Rec, and Schitt’s Creek), and interviewed our friend Lynn, who is a bona fide enneagram 3.
PURCHASES
- Drawstring backpack – I purchased this for the gym; I needed a way to carry my keys/wallet/sweat towel/AirPods/phone/etc while I’m bouncing around at the gym. Funny story: My mom bought the same backpack in a different color, but we didn’t coordinate this at all!
- Eyebrow tinting kit – The eyebrow tint I got in March faded in just a few weeks, and since I don’t want to pay salon prices for eyebrow tinting, I picked up this tinting kit to see if it will work for me. It was $12 and can apparently provide up to 30 applications. I’ve yet to try it, so I will report back my findings when I do.
- Breakfast sandwich maker – I already raved about this product in my Currently post from earlier this week, but had to give it another shout-out on my monthly recap post!
- scunci No Damage Elastic Hair Ties – How do hair ties disappear? One day in April, I realized I was down to just two elastics. These are my favorite hair elastics. I like a tight hold and these are very stretchy, too.
- Ninja chopper – I love making seven-layer bars but the whole smushing-the-graham crackers part gets old really fast. I finally purchased this chopper that did the work for me in a quarter of the time. That is a $20 well spent.
MOMENTS
Love this behind-the-scenes shot of our episode with Lynn. It’s fun to have a podcast where we can force our friends to spend an hour of their Saturdays talking all about their personalities!
The cutest bakery interns! Unfortunately, they aren’t the best helpers. They just keep waiting for me to drop food on the floor. Silly kids!
I finally got my sleep study done this month and I was diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea. This means that using a CPAP machine while sleeping is going to be my new normal! It’s been a lot to process, but you guys have been so supportive and kind. It has really helped me feel less scared about all of this! I need to do one more sleep study, a CPAP titration sleep study, so that I can get properly fitted for my machine.
My mom and I strolled around an art fair in April, but we quickly realized we were out of our league with the prices. Most of the pieces were selling for $2,000 or more, and I can’t imagine a life where I would spend that much money on a piece of art! (I do understand the talent and grit that goes into being an artist, and I want them to get their monies! But I just will not be the one doing that.) I was able to find a very cute artist’s shop with reasonably priced prints. I picked up these two prints for my living room gallery wall. Aren’t they so colorful?!
I went out with some coworkers to a very cute restaurant in downtown Tampa: Melting Pot Social. If you have a Melting Pot near you, you know it’s a fondue restaurant—Melting Pot Social makes those fondues individually sized. I got a cheese fondue with pretzel bread, tortilla chips, apple slices, potatoes, tomatoes, and more. For dessert, I opted for the salted caramel chocolate fondue and enjoyed that with strawberries, pretzel bars, pound cake, and Rice Krispies. Mmm!
Funny story to end the evening: I drove everyone to our dinner and we found a parking garage right next to the restaurant. There were only maybe 20 or so spots available for people eating at nearby restaurants and the rest of the spots were for residents of the apartments next to the parking garage. Well, we decided to risk it and park where the apartment residents are supposed to park. What’s the worst that could happen? None of the spots were marked! Um, well, when we came back to the parking garage, we realized there was no way to get to the third floor where my car was parked. You had to swipe a pass to get in the elevator and to open the doors of the stairwell. So what did we have to do? We had to hike our asses up three ramps of the parking garage (after gorging on fondue!) to get to my car. Ah, well. It makes for a good story, right?
Bri and I had a lovely lady date in April, visiting a new-to-us restaurant called Pia’s Trattoria. I WILL BE BACK! This was an excellent Italian restaurant, and that’s mostly because their homemade ciabatta was to die for. We didn’t realize we would get an entire loaf of bread when we ordered the bread, but we did, and while we put away an impressive amount of the loaf, we had a good amount to take home. The next day, I made an open-faced egg sandwich on the ciabatta for breakfast and then an incredibly delicious grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. I’ll be dreaming about that ciabatta for a long time.
Eloise turned 6 years old this month! She got lots of fun toys for her birthdays, including a racecar scratching pad, some purees, and a few teaser wands for playtime.
At the end of the month, Bri and I had a fun adventure day at Egmont Key, a secluded island off the coast of Tampa Bay. We took a ferry to the island and spent a few hours roaming around and laying on the beach. It was such a wonderful day!
LOOKING FORWARD
What’s in store for May? Lots of good things…
- Ice cream social book club
- A Cinco de Mayo pool party at Bri’s
- My trip to New Orleans with my mom
- Seeing Nate Bargatze live!
- A girls’ night in with some new friends
- My first TopGolf experience
- The Tampa CATstravaganza!!!
- A hair appointment where I’m 95% sure I’m getting bangs (eeks)
What was an April highlight for you?
I saw 3 episodes of Mr & Mrs Smith and you know what? It’s just OK. Based on what I’ve seen so far plus your review I’m going to skip the rest. Whatever the inexcusable thing was, I don’t need it in my life.
Congrats on a great April and here’s to a wonderful May!
If you weren’t hooked during those first three episodes, then I say you made a good choice to stop watching. For me, the show went downhill the further into the season I went!
Oh great! The book I recommended was your least favorite of the month, ha ha. Oh well- I think we have different tastes on some things, but are similar on some others. EVERYONE has loved the Kristin Hannah book, so it’s on my TBR.
I immediately went to Amazon and put that drawstring backpack in my cart- I’ve definitely been needing something like that.
I love those prints you bought- and I agree. While I think the artists totally deserve it, I’m not up for spending $2000 on art either.
Gah, I’m sorry! I didn’t want to put it at my least favorite, but I struggled with it. I can see why you liked it, but it wasn’t for me.
I love that drawstring bag. It has some great zippered pouches, too, which helps things from getting lost!
I am SUCH A SUCKER FOR PRINTS and love, love, love the ones you chose.
Thank you! I am a sucker, too. I had to hold myself back from buying MORE prints!
Those prints are such fun! I love to buy prints or art on cards and frame them for my walls. It really makes the space feel uniquely mine.
Yes, I love doing that, too! And there’s something really sweet about having a local artist’s work on my walls. <3
You had a full month of April and May looks like it will be quite full, too, with lots of fun things. I am glad you are feeling better about needing a CPAP. I think it will make a huge difference for you!
A highlight of April was our trip to FL but it was pretty clouded by my grandma’s decline. Phil thinks it was a total bust but I can look back and reflect on some of the good aspects. And then while losing my grandma was sad and hard, it was also really great to see so much family, especially my cousin who is 11 months younger and was like a sister to me growing up. I don’t see her very often because she lives 3+ hours away so it is always such a treat to see her.
It’s sad when something that was supposed to be a respite turns into something with bad memories. I’m glad you can look back and see the good aspects – that’s great! And I’m also glad you were able to catch up with your family this month. <3
You had a full month! The Women was also my favorite April read, and I also read the Eight Detective in April and thought it was okay. I actually listened to it and had to go back and re-listen to the first half as I was not really paying attention the first time and was literally losing the plot. It was better the second time, but I still did not Love it!
You are going to have so much fun in NOLA and I can’t wait to hear all about your trip. I did go and look at the post I linked to and I think some of the restaurants are still open, but I am not sure that all of them survived the Pandemic.
I also listened to The Eighth Detective, and maybe it would have been a better experience for me if I had read it instead? IDK. I think it was the short story format. I just don’t enjoy short stories for some reason.
I have your NOLA post bookmarked so I need to go through and see what would work for us!
What a great month! And you have so many fun things coming up in May!
I am so glad you warned me about Mr and Mrs Smith. I won’t be watching that (didn’t really care for one of the actors to start with). There is some bad animal stuff in Fallout if you decide to watch it too (one episode).
Your parking story made me laugh. I am glad you could still get in through the ramp!
My April highlight was our trip!
Which actor don’t you care for? I’m curious!
You had a GREAT April with your European vacation!
Hair ties!! They always go missing. My husband also finds them everywhere and then he leaves them on my nightstand without comment. He recently found one IN HIS WORK BAG. How did it even get there? It’s so mysterious.
Where do they go?? I try to be good about relocating my hair ties to their proper location but then suddenly, they’re just MISSING. I blame my cats. 😉
You had a great month, minus the sleep study results. And it sounds like you’re also going to have a lot to look forward to in May!
I’m still drooling over that ciabatta! Yummm…
You had a good April – I count the sleep study as a win for your long-term health – and I suspect May will be even more amazing. Cannot wait to hear about your NOLA trip.
And also? I am beyond amused that you and your mom are so psychically linked that you ordered *the same bag*. Ha!