Monthly Recap | January 2019

New year, new recap style! I like to keep everyone on their toes when it comes to how I’m going to recap my month. 🙂 In this recap, I’ll be talking about what I read, watched, bought, and listened to, as well as talk about the highs and lows of the month. At the end, I’ll detail a few things I’m looking forward to in the following month. Let’s get to it!

READING

I read 15 books in January, which is the most I’ve ever read in a month. Three of the books were on audio and I participated in a readathon, so I think that had a lot to do with my high number! My top three reads were:

• We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter, a WWII novel that was unlike anything I’ve read in the subgenre and stands out as one of my favorites.
• Act Like It by Lucy Parker, a really fun romance novel that had likable characters, realistic dialogue, and not-too-steamy love scenes (so I’d feel comfortable recommending it to people who aren’t into the romance genre but want a fun, light, easy read).
• The Alice Network by Kate Quinn, a fictionalized account of a real-life women’s spy network that operated during World War I.

WATCHING

• Big Little Lies – I was (lovingly) guilt-tripped into watching Big Little Lies, the HBO miniseries based on the book by Liane Moriarty. And I loved it, aside from a plotline that wasn’t in the book but they put in the series and left me with a bad taste in my mouth. But, other than that, I thought the series was extremely well-produced and the casting was spot-on. I also have all of the heart-eyes for the soundtrack.
• Cheers, season 1 – I don’t know what possessed me to start Cheers, other than never knowing any references to the show that I felt I should understand. Plus, young Ted Danson! Young! Ted! Danson! He’s a damn hottie in Cheers. I finished season one in January and am looking forward to starting season two.

BUYING

• Flights to Ireland – I never expected that I’d be planning a trip to Ireland this year! But the flights were so cheap that it would have been a mistake not to book. This was actually not my biggest expense of January, though, if you can believe that!
• Cat dancer toy – For $2, this is easily the best toy I have ever gotten Eloise. She loves it and I have to hide it from her because if she sees it, she’ll meow at me until I bring it out and use it.
• Car insurance at half the price – This is the most boring adult thing I could add to this list but whatever. I have been using Geico for car insurance since I started driving but their rates were becoming astronomical so when I found out I could get the same coverage for half the price using a different (well-known) company? Hells yeah. I signed up right away and couldn’t be happier.

LISTENING TO

• Unladylike’s two-part series on diet culture was fascinating, especially learning all the ways white supremacy has had a hand in it. I really encourage anyone to give it a listen.
• For episode 69 of Good Christian Fun, the Gilmore Guys reunited! It was so fun to have the Kevin + Demi rapport back on my podcast feed. They just work so well together. I truly enjoyed every minute of this episode.
• Stuff You Should Know’s episode titled The Great Finger in the Wendy’s Chili Caper was so much fun and crazy. Lots of twists and turns I wasn’t expecting!

THE HIGHS

• Having a major breakthrough in therapy and actually crying in her office for the first time! I have been going to her since August and have never cried. I’ve come close a few times but have always held back. I don’t even know why! It’s therapy! You’re supposed to cry in therapy! But it’s just hard for me. I hope this is the first of many breakthroughs.
• Doing the #24in48 readathon. While I didn’t come close to reading for 24 hours, I still had so much fun participating and getting as close as I could.
• Going on a book-buying spree using gift cards! I picked up seven books to add to my bookshelf. It’s so funny how just a few years ago, I never bought books unless they were on Kindle but I recently got the urge to have bookshelves full of books in my home and I’m slowly building up a solid collection. I’m nearly out of space on my tiny, three-shelf bookshelves (I can only really use two of the shelves, though) and it’ll be time to upgrade to something bigger and much nicer.

THE LOWS

• January was a very spendy month – one-off things, like auto insurance and plane tickets and new tires for my car. It’s made me feel a bit anxious, so I hope February is quieter for my bank account.
• My blood work came back with some troubling numbers. The short of it is that I’m on the cusp of pre-diabetes (type 2) and if I don’t get control over my eating habits and start exercising more, things could go downhill fast. My doctor and I worked out a plan and I’m going to work hard to lose weight and eat healthier, and get retested in six months.
• Eloise fell into a pattern this month of waking me up at 4AM to play and sometimes to be fed. And I was getting up with her and feeding her because it was much easier than waiting her out. I’ve started giving her lots of playtime in the evening, filling up her bowl at night (she’s more of a grazer anyway so it works better for her), and not getting up when she meows at me at 4AM. Mama is tired!

ANTICIPATING…

• Potentially attending my first Silent Reading Party in downtown St. Pete. Just have to summon up the courage to go!
• Going on a walk every day in February (five days in and so far, so good!)
• Filing my taxes and crossing my fingers I get a decent return this year

What’s a high and/or low of January for you? What was the best book you read this month?