Hi, friends! New year, new monthly recap format. 🙂 Some of this will look familiar and some of it will not! Each month, I’ll dive into a few specific categories about my month:
- Books – I’ll share my book stats and some bookish superlatives.
- Media – I’ll give you three recommendations each month (TV shows/music/podcasts/movies/etc).
- Money – I’m doing this superlative-style with some fun categories like my best purchase of the month, my most regretful purchase, and how many books I bought.
- Journal – I got this idea from The Lazy Genius. I’m going to share 10-12 snippets from my One Line a Day journal every month (only the safe-for-public-consumption snippets, of course!).
- Overview – A short overview of what went well, what was challenging, and a few goals I have for the next month.
BOOKS
Reading Stats of January
- Books read: 10
- Number of pages read: 3,446
- Average star rating: 3.93
- Average time to finish a book: 7 days
- Format breakdown: 40% print, 30% e-books, 30% audiobooks
- Genre breakdown: 80% fiction, 20% nonfiction
- # of DNFs: 2 (Let the Games Begin by Rufara Faith Mazarura and P.S. I Hate You by Lauren Connolly)
- Audiobook reading: 42 hours, 49 minutes (actual time: 23 hours, 13 minutes)
Reading Superlatives of January
- The best book I read in January: All in Her Head by Elizabeth Comen, MD
- The worst book I read in January: Distress Signals by Catherine Ryan Howard
- The book I was surprised to love: Annie Bot by Sierra Greer
- The book I thought I would love more than I did: Fly Girl by Ann Hood
- Most deserving of the hype: The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean
Reading List (from favorite to least favorite)
- All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us About Women’s Bodies and Why It Matters Today by Elizabeth Comen (audiobook, 2024) ★★★★★
- Annie Bot by Sierra Greer (audiobook, 2024) ★★★★★
- Making Up by Lucy Parker (e-book, 2018) ★★★★★
- The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean (print, 2024) ★★★★☆
- A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston (print, 2024) ★★★★☆
- The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher (print, 1987) ★★★☆☆
- The Thing About Love by Julie James (e-book, 2017) ★★★★☆
- Fly Girl by Ann Hood (audiobook, 2022) ★★★☆☆
- Colored Television by Danzy Senna (print, 2024) ★★★☆☆
- Distress Signals by Catherine Ryan Howard (audiobook, 2017) ★★★☆☆
MEDIA
- The Traitors, season 3 (Peacock) – Season 3 of The Traitors kicked off in January! Peacock releases episodes weekly so it’s like being back in the olden days where we couldn’t binge our favorite TV shows, ha. I’m loving this season so much, though. So much drama! And some of my favorite Big Brother and Survivor characters are on this season, so that’s been fun.
- The Circle, season 6 (Netflix) – I finished season 6 of The Circle last month. It was a pretty good season but there were a few characters who were so villainous and mean that it became less and less fun to watch them. But if you love a good villain, this is the season to watch!
- Book Riot – The Podcast – I used to listen to this podcast religiously but stopped listening to it at some point. Sarah from Sarah’s Book Shelves Live mentions them from time to time on her podcast so I decided to redownload it and see if I wanted to bring them back to my listening rotation. Within the first episode I remembered why I deleted them (they are a bit hoity-toity at times, lol), but I do love the insights they give into the publishing world so I think I’ll keep listening.
MONEY
- Favorite purchase of January: A heated hand massager ($50). I bought this on a whim when I was having really bad nerve pain in my right hand. It felt so good to massage that hand, especially when I added the heating element! My nerve pain has calmed down a lot since early January so I’m not using this tool as much, but I’m glad I bought it. It will come in handy (<– ha) when my nerve pain acts up again.
- Silliest purchase of January: Valentine’s mice for the girls ($3). I couldn’t help myself to these cute little Valentine’s mice for my little Valentines. So far, Lila has sniffed at one but they’ve mostly left them alone, so that’s cool.
- Most regretful purchase of January: A pack of press-on nail strips ($9). One of my friends raved about this nail set at book club so I decided to see what all of the fuss was about. I think this was 100% user error and not the fault of the product, but I just did not like these at all! The edges felt so jagged even when I tried smoothing them down, so the press-on nail trend is just not for me, I think.
- Number of books purchased in January: 5 (Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson, Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray, The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer, The Favorites by Layne Fargo, and By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult)
- Best recommendation: Anker phone charger ($13). If you’re looking for a super fast charging cord, here you go! One of the chargers I keep in my living room stopped charging fast and I can’t have that. So I bought these because they had good reviews and came with a nice, long cord, and I’ve been very happy with my purchase!
JOURNAL
- January 1: A lazy start to the new year, which I am so happy about. I didn’t even get out of my pajamas.
- January 5: Last week of football and the Dolphins are out of the playoffs. What a bad season.
- January 9: Tried to go to SBC (Silent Book Club) but went to the wrong brewery. Womp! Mom and I did our own silent reading hour then went out to dinner.
- January 10: Met up with Jenny! We went to a cat cafe and then a bookstore. It was such a great afternoon!
- January 11: Bri and I met up to do some brainstorming for the podcast. We haven’t recorded since August!
- January 15: Felt like I was going to die during HIIT. Probably shouldn’t have told Wayne that I like it when he pushes me.
- January 16: Bad: Bloodwork results were terrible and I might have diabetes. Good: Author event with Lynn. I left feeling so inspired!
- January 20: Trump was inaugurated. Today is a very dark day.
- January 25: Brunch book club. We brought book ideas and activity ideas and put them all in a jar to choose throughout the year.
- January 27: I tried mushrooms today. I did not like them – eeks.
- January 29: Today was a bad mental health day. I am just feeling very discouraged by all of my ailments.
- January 31: Found a new cyst on my body – this time on my right side near my boob. Ugh.
OVERVIEW
What went well
- Food journaling – I’m doing this through my dietician’s app and just leaving notes about what I’m eating. I’m not looking at calorie counts or anything like that! It’s been eye-opening to say the least.
- Blogger meetup – Jenny was in the Tampa area in January and we had a fun afternoon together. We went to a cat cafe where I very nearly came home with the sweetest orange cat and then I took her to Oxford Exchange to buy books. Afterward, we had coffee/tea together and chatted our lives away!
- Podcast brainstorming – Bri and I needed a break from the podcast at the end of the year. Between the hurricanes, me not having a car for a month, Bri’s busy season at work, and the holidays… we just could not sync up our schedules! We met last month to talk about restarting the pod and we’re hoping to release new episodes starting in March!
What was challenging
- More ailments – I was hoping 2025 was going to be the year of better health, but it’s not starting off that way. I now have three months to get my sugars in check so I’m not diagnosed with diabetes. I started dealing with intense carpal tunnel pain that kept me awake at night. And my dermatologist diagnosed me with hidradenitis suppurativa, which is the reason my body keeps producing cysts on my underarms.
- The elephant in the room – It hasn’t even been a month and this new administration is causing such chaos. We knew this would happen, but it’s always so much worse when you’re in the middle of it, and it’s hard to know how much worse things are going to get.
- Really bad cramps – Ugh, you guys. Typically, I have one day of pretty bad cramps on the second day of my period, but a dose of ibuprofen usually takes care of things. Not this month! This month, I had terrible cramps for three days straight and nothing made them feel better – not ibuprofen, not a heating pad, nothing. I let myself fully just rest, though, and maybe that’s what my body needed.
Goals for February
- Get a new Target card – When I lost my wallet in November, I replaced most of my cards but never got a new Target card (mine is just the debit card so it’s linked up to my bank account, but I do like that sweet 5% discount). This month, I must replace the card!
- Drop off a Goodwill donation – My car is filled with all of my donations and my plan is to do this today.
- Hang up my floating shelves – I’ve had these shelves for months now and I just keep being lazy about putting them up.
What was the best book you read in January? What was one of your highlights of the month?
Best book? Probably Madwoman, but I agree is it NOT a good book for all. So many trigger warnings, but brilliantly written.
Highlight? Seeing my sister and niece walk into my parents’ living room and surprise them COMPLETELY. They flew in from South Carolina and my parents have no idea and it was such a hilarious, special moment (that I thankfully managed to capture on video).
I’m so glad you captured that moment on video. I can only imagine how surprised they probably were! What a delightful secret to keep. 🙂
I immediately bought that phone charger and in my haste set up a whole foods pick up instead of a drop off LOL.
Oopsy! But at least you will have a super-fast phone charger!
Sounds like there were ups and downs, but overall January was a challenging month- I felt that way too. Well, at least we had our blogger meetup! Btw you have to read Kae’s latest post about HOW are people reading this many books??? Hee hee, you and I have discussed this.
I swear, in every photo of the cats, Eloise looks like she’s secretly plotting to kill me. Something about those eyes…
Eloise has the best RBF! She’ll sometimes show up on meetings at work and just GLARE at the camera the whole time, which makes everyone laugh. She doesn’t take shit from nobody!
Yay for our blogger meetup! I’m glad we were able to make that happen again. <3
Around Labor Day I had a cyst right under my bra line and I couldn’t believe how PAINFUL it was. Every time I moved my body, it was irritated, not to mention I had the choice of my actual breasts bouncing on it with every step or I had a bra strap on it. It was terrible. My SIL, a doctor, was so encouraging, but all she could really tell me was that it had to pop. *sigh* And when it did pop, it was so disgusting. I am so sorry you’re dealing with it – it’s terrible.
My January was pretty terrible, but I tell you what. I CANNOT have another terrible year like 2024. I just can’t. So I need to change my whole mindset around. It’s CHALLENGING, not TERRIBLE. (No, it’s terrible.) Hugs to you, friend.
OMG. I am trying to decide which is worse – in the armpit or bra line and nope, both are terrible! Why can’t I get a cyst in a place that wouldn’t be annoying?! Argh. I’m sorry you had to deal with this, too! Waiting for it to drain is just the worst process!
I am sending out all of the good vibes that our years get better!
The best book I read in January was the first one I read in January, which was Moon Road. It was all downhill after that. Just kidding, I did have some good books, but no standouts. Moon Road was haunting and so so sad.
Highlight of January is my revising and editing course I’m taking for my novel!
I am so ready to have a Nicole original book in my hands!!
Sounds like a pretty challenging month, Stephany — although some excellent high points!
Valentine’s mice!!! That is adorable.
Margo’s Got Money Troubles was my favorite book in January. Totally didn’t expect to even like it, and then I LOVED it.
It was a hard month, but hopefully that means it gets better from here!
I felt the same way about Margo! I only read it after Birchie raved about it and I couldn’t get enough of it!
First, I love this new format!! Second, I just wanted to share in solidarity that my car is full of donations, as well (but I can’t drop them off today) (because of snow, not out of avoidance, haha)!
I *finally* dropped off all the donations and omg, it felt so good. I feel like my car gave an audible, “AHH” when I lightened the load, haha.
This post reminded me that I abandoned A Novel Love Story. It seemed like it was going to have a supernatural element which just doesn’t work for me – except it did for The 7 Year Slip! I read several great books in January. My best non-fiction was The Story of a Heart but I would not recommend it broadly since it’s about a pediatric heart transplant. I also loved Sipsworth which is a very sweet and heartwarming read. A highlight of January was the triple date early in the month to celebrate a friend’s birthday. We went mini golfing at this upscale place and then went to dinner at my fave restaurant! And then the wheel fell off the month after that as I had surgery on the 13th. I needed the surgery but the recovery has been challenging!
I used to listen to Book Riot’s podcast too but the episodes were so long and sometimes they went down rabbit holes I wasn’t interested in!
I am sorry to hear you found another cyst. WTF!! That sucks so much!
There was definitely a supernatural element in A Novel Love Story but it didn’t feel too weird to me. I think all of Ashley Poston’s book have that element, though.
Hooray for a fun night out before surgery! I hope things start looking up this month.
Oh Stephany I am so so late in reading big posts. Not even sure what my January looked like.
I love the new format for reviewing the months.