Monthly Recap | August 2019

READING

I read 10 books in August, which is my average. I’m at 89 books read for 2019, so I’ll meet my goal for 100 books sometime in September. Woop! The top three books I read were:

• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens – A book that captivated me from page one. Beautiful writing, incredible story. Will make my favorite reads list this year!
• Rules of Civility by Amor Towles – A beautifully written story that took place in the late 1930s, which is one of my favorite time periods to read about.
• A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman – Another book that will make my favorite reads list. I loved every second I spent with this book and hugged it to my chest when I finished it.

WATCHING

• Big Brother – With three episodes a week, this show takes up most of my TV-watching time. This season is pretty boring, though, and I still don’t have a favorite to win. Nobody? Nobody would be okay with me.
• Big Little Lies, season 2 – I finally finished Big Little Lies! Season 2 was much slower-paced than season 1 and I can’t say I necessarily liked it. It was fine, but also felt unnecessary. Meh.
• Where’d You Go, Bernadette – I really liked this movie! I read the book way back in 2013 and there was very little I remembered about the plot. This is my favorite way to watch book-to-movie adaptations, though. Who wants to watch a movie only to complain about all the ways it’s different from the book? Not me. As a movie, I thought it was fun and quirky and lovely. I recommend it!

BUYING

• Yeti BEAST 30-ounce tumbler ($25) – I mentioned this purchase in my goals post on Wednesday, but I just need to express how much I love my Yeti tumbler. It’s the perfect tumbler for people who love their drinks to stay cold for a really long time. It keeps my ice frozen for, like, 10-12 hours! Hours! Once, I kept it in my car on a hot day while I went for an hour-long walk and when I returned, the water was still ice cold! It’s friggin amazing and the exact purchase I needed to help me drink more water.
• “Rock Your Body” t-shirt ($18) – I bought this shirt for the Backstreet Boys concert last month and while I wish it were a bit bigger (pretty sure once through my washing machine shrunk it to a size I can’t wear unless I lose a good 15-20 lbs), it worked perfectly for the concert! Everyone was wearing cute BSB t-shirts at the concert but I was pretty happy to find that nobody had mine. Woop!
• Clothes from ThredUp ($80) – I told myself I would never order ThredUp again because their return policy is such bullshit. (Essentially, you have to pay to return items.) But they were offering me a 35% discount and scrolling through the clothes was so cathartic to me one day that I ended up placing an order. For $80, I got a pair of slacks, four shirts, and a dress. The slacks ended up being too big but all the shirts and the dress fit me perfectly so it wasn’t a wasted order like last time, thankfully.

LISTENING TO

• Lover – Listen, everyone wants to have a hot take about Taylor Swift these days and mine is that I unashamedly love her music and find it so fun to sing along to. Her new album is no different, and I have it on repeat.
• Over My Dead Body – There’s a new season of Over My Dead Body! This one hits close to home as it follows the feud between an exotic animal breeder in Oklahoma and the owner of an animal sanctuary in Tampa (Big Cat Rescue, which has been on my list to visit, eeks!) The content is pretty disturbing, honestly, and I’m glad there are only six episodes because I’m not sure how much more I could take.
• Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia – Another supremely disturbing podcast, one I would not recommend for sensitive people. (I probably should have turned it off after the second episode, in all honesty.) It’s graphic content at its worst with descriptions of a brutal murder as well as sexual abuse and trauma. Listen at your own risk!

THE HIGHS

• An afternoon with my nephew – My mom wanted to have an afternoon with my older nephew before school started for him and invited me to join in the fun, which I was happy to do! We had lunch at Panera and then went to my new favorite place, Practically Pikasso, to paint. He picked out a dachshund piggy bank (he’s obsessed with my mom’s doxie, Chip) to paint. I painted two cat ornaments! 🙂 It was a nice afternoon with him!
• Backstreet Boys! – It was so fun to see BSB in concert. They played all of the hits we all know and love, along with some of their newer stuff. They put on such a great show and it was super special to see them in Orlando because that’s where they all began their career and you could tell how meaningful it was for them to return to a sold-out arena. Both Kevin and Howie got choked up talking about it, which was just the sweetest thing!
• A weekend in Orlando – The BSB concert was in Orlando and, thankfully, one of the girls in my group lives there and we were able to crash at her super-cute apartment. My friend, B., and I arrived in the afternoon before the show and we spent the time catching up, gossiping about work (I met all of these girls through work!), and pre-gaming with a BSB playlist. It was also nice to not have to worry about driving home after the concert! We all got up around 8 the next day, had leisurely breakfast, and headed home.

THE LOWS

• Indigestion – Ugh, I had a terrible week in the middle of August where I would experience severe indigestion every time I ate (mostly, bloating, stomach cramping, and nausea). I was also having this intense back pain, although that went away on its own after a few days. It got so bad that I was up until 2am one night, unable to go to bed because my stomach hurt so bad. Thankfully, I was able to get an immediate appointment with my doc and was put on an acid reflux diet + prescription meds. I only followed the diet for a week (oops) because I really think the indigestion was caused by stress and not an actual physical condition. Stress always manifests with physical symptoms for me.
• Hurricane Dorian – Ah, Dorian. We had a bit of a scare in the Tampa Bay area, enough that gas stations were running out of gas and every pump had a wait. And every grocery store was wiped clean of water and bread. Luckily for us, she turned east and away from Florida. The Bahamas was not so lucky and the images coming out from there are utterly devastating. I can’t believe how slowly the hurricane moved through the island.

ANTICIPATING

• My gym opening – !!! YOU GUYS. I got an email yesterday that our gym will finally be open on Friday. I can’t believe it!
• A friend’s baby shower – I can’t wait to celebrate her and her little bundle of joy!
• A book signing – I’m going to local author Lisa Unger’s book signing with three friends and very much looking forward to it.
• A friend’s birthday party – I can’t wait to spoil one of my dearest friends for her birthday this year. (Kisses, B.!)
• My nephew turning 11 – I still can’t believe this is happening. ELEVEN?! ELEVEN?!?!?! How is that even possible?

Tell me a highlight from August for you!