Happy Friday, friends! Today, I’m recapping March in my superlatives-style post. These posts take forever to put together but I love having such a long-winded way to look back on my month, ha. I added something fun to my “Journal” section where I included one journal entry from the previous three years. I always enjoy seeing what I wrote whenever I turn a new page in my One Line a Day journal, and I thought it might be interesting to share some of the “archives” with you all. <3
BOOKS
Reading Stats of March
- Books read: 8
- Number of pages read: 2,917
- Average star rating: 3.75
- Average time to finish a book: 9 days
- Format breakdown: 50% audiobooks, 25% print books, 25% e-books
- Genre breakdown: 75% fiction, 25% nonfiction
- # of DNFs: 1 (Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell)
- Audiobook reading: 44 hours, 16 minutes (actual time: 25 hours, 27 minutes)
Reading Superlatives of March
- The best book I read in March: Crow Mary by Kathleen Grissom
- The worst book I read in March: The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen
- The book I thought I would love more than I did: Summer Fridays by Suzanne Rindell
- The book that was 100% in my wheelhouse: Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum
- The book that kept me guessing until the end: The Woman on the Ledge by Ruth Mancini
Reading List (from favorite to least favorite)
- Crow Mary by Kathleen Grissom (print, 2023) ★★★★★
- The Woman on the Ledge by Ruth Mancini (audiobook, 2024) ★★★★★
- Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum (audiobook, 2024) ★★★★☆
- The Marriage Contract by Katee Robert (e-book, 2015) ★★★★☆
- Remember: The Science of Memory and the Art of Forgetting by Lisa Genova (audiobook, 2021) ★★★★☆
- Caught Up by Liz Tomforde (e-book, 2023) ★★★☆☆
- Summer Fridays by Suzanne Rindell (audiobook, 2024) ★★★☆☆
- The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen (print, 2011) ★★☆☆☆
MEDIA
- Next Level Chef, season 1 – Give me every Gordon Ramsey cooking reality show and I will watch it. Inject it into my veins. I hate cooking but I love watching people cook. This Fox reality show has a few seasons but I only recently noticed that they were on Hulu, so I watched the first season last month. It was fantastic! What a great premise – there are three levels of kitchens: a state-of-the-art kitchen with all of the tools a chef could want, a basic industrial kitchen, and the “dungeon” which requires chefs to get creative to put out restaurant-style dishes with next-to-nothing in terms of tools and ingredients. I loved the first season and can’t wait to watch more!
- The Traitors UK, season 3 – Man, I love The Traitors. It’s such a great reality show! Of course, you can’t help but love all the accents and there was such great strategic gameplay in this season. I found the ending to be very satisfying, too!
- The Amazing Race, season 37 – The Amazing Race is BACK! I love this show so much and it’s been fun to see all of the staples of the race come back to their true form (they had to limit a lot of things during Covid, obviously). I have my favorite team that I would die for (a set of nerdy gay gamers who are just everything to me), so I feel like normalcy has returned to my life.
MONEY
Favorite purchase of March:
My new rug ($150). I am so happy with this purchase! The area rug I had in my living room was fine but it was a little threadbare and I didn’t like that my sectional didn’t sit fully on top of it. I bought the 9×12 size for this area rug and it’s perfect! It’s also Eloise-approved because not even an hour after I rolled it out did she barf on it. Cats, man.
Most delightful little indulgence of March:
Cheap sunglasses ($20 for two pairs). I broke my two pairs of sunglasses in March. The first pair broke when I was getting out of Bri’s car after our Orlando weekend and the other pair broke last weekend when I picked Chip up for kisses and my sunglasses fell off my head and broke into pieces. (Worth it for those kisses, tho.) Thankfully, I only buy cheap sunglasses because I don’t trust myself to take care of pricier sunglasses, so I hopped right over to TJ Maxx and found myself two pairs for $10 each. Done and done!
Most regrettable purchase of March:
Taxes. There’s nothing I can do about owing money this year, but I’m still salty about it! I can’t say I regret paying this money because I like to remain within the confines of the law, but blah. I could have put that money to much better use!
Number of books purchased in March: 9
- Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister (Book of the Month)
- Penitence by Kristin Koval (Book of the Month)
- Unromance by Erin Connor (The New Romantics)
- Birding With Benefits by Sarah T. Dubb (The New Romantics)
- The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren (The New Romantics)
- Wild Love by Elsie Silver (The New Romantics)
- We’ll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida (Writer’s Block Bookstore)
- The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie (Barnes & Noble)
- The Appeal by Janice Hallett (Barnes & Noble)
Best recommendation
L’Oreal Infallible vitamin C serum ($34). I’ve been on the hunt for a vitamin C serum that doesn’t cause a reaction, and on a whim, I picked this up to give it a try. It doesn’t cause any weird reactions and it smells so damn good. Is it doing anything for my face? Who knows. But at least it smells good!
JOURNAL
- March 1 – Went to Olive’s first play performance. She did so good and I was on the edge of tears the whole time.
- March 7 – Major anxiety spiral. Mikaela sat with me for an hour on the phone. <3
- March 9 – Another high anxiety day. But Mark checked in on me and that was really sweet.
- March 11 – Season 9 of the podcast started today. It feels so good to be back.
- March 13 – Had an impromptu lunch with Mom. It was so nice!
- March 19 – I used the sauna at the gym for the first time to see if it will help loosen up my muscles – def felt easier at HIIT!
- March 20 – Mom and I had dinner with Amber tonight to talk about a possible London/Paris trip in the fall!
- March 22 – Busy day! I had a writing date with Mikaela, then recorded 2 podcast episodes w/ Bri, and later – game night!
- March 25 – Internet was out for part of the afternoon, which meant: nap time!
- March 30 – Mom and I went to Painting with a Twist to paint portraits of our pets. They turned out so good!
Previous years:
- March 9, 2022 – More podcast brainstorming! We picked out our intro music + worked on our podcast art.
- March 12, 2023 – Amber and I did a knives skills class at Sur La Table and it was so much fun! I learned so much.
- March 22, 2024 – Mom and I joined a gym! I hope this will help me get better bloodwork numbers.)
OVERVIEW
What went well
- A trip to Orlando – I had a lovely two days in Orlando with Bri and Jackie. I got to meet Jackie’s sweet pets, Tootles and Pascal. And we had such a lovely relaxing weekend! We went to two bookstores, had brunch, recorded a podcast episode, and had afternoon tea where we had the best food. It was a really great weekend!
- Cashing in Mom’s birthday present – In July, I gave my mom an experience present: Paint Your Pet at Painting with a Twist. Unfortunately, we had to wait a bit to attend the event because they only do this event at one location in our area and only on Sundays, and soon after her birthday, our Sundays were taken up with football. So it was a bit delayed but nonetheless, she cashed it in and we had a great time making portraits of our beloved pets. (And thank goodness for the instructor as she came around at the end to add little details that I certainly wouldn’t have been able to do on my own but really made the portrait 1000x better.)
- Celebrating Chip and Lucy’s birthdays – I love my fursiblings so much! This month, Chip turned 7 and Lucy turned 4. I wasn’t able to celebrate with Chip as much as I wanted (I was coming home from Orlando on his birthday, though I did stop by to drop off some goodies for him and give him some birthday love), but for Lucy’s birthday, I got to have a fun day with them and my mom. We went to downtown Dunedin where there is an adorable shop that sells ice cream for dogs. They go nuts for it (as evidenced below with Lucy’s ice cream mustache).
What was challenging
- Anxiety spirals – I had a really bad anxiety spiral at the beginning of the month. I haven’t had one of these in a long time and even though my therapist gave me ideas to help me through these panic attacks (putting an ice pack on my chest, deep breathing, meditating on my five senses, etc.), I could not break out of my panic long enough to even open my Notes app and look at the ideas. I want to stay in “freeze” mode and keep panicking because something about that felt safer than distracting myself. Thankfully, I was coherent enough to text my friend Mikaela and she sat on the phone with me. We talked a little about the panic I was experiencing but mostly she just went about her morning tasks, chattering on about inane subjects and that helped so much. It allowed me to stop thinking about the bad thing I was panicking about and give my brain time to come back “online” (as my therapist says; our brains are fully offline during a panic attack).
- Work changes – There are some uncomfortable changes to my work life happening, and while it’s nothing compared to what my friends who work for the government are going through, it is affecting my mental health a bit. Nothing dramatic, but just some things that will take some getting used to.
- Politics – It’s only been three months, you guys, and everything is terrible. I knew it was going to be bad, but it feels so much worse and it’s not going to get better. Deporting people with no due process, taking away green cards from people and throwing them in detention centers, gutting our federal agencies, ridiculous tariffs, fighting with foreign leaders who are supposed to be our allies… the list goes on and on. It’s hard to stay informed because all of it depresses me so much.
What was the best book you read in March? What was something that went well for you this month?
I don’t hate cooking, but I definitely don’t love it…but I LOVE watching cooking shows. The Great British Baking Show is probably my biggest “comfort watch” series of my entire life.
I’m so sorry you had a bad anxiety attack. I haven’t had one in several years but it is an experience I will NEVER forget (and it’s hard to explain if you’ve never had one). I’ve never heard the ice pack idea, but that makes sense! Talking with a friend makes even more sense, and definitely having cheerful chatter about daily life is a lot less anxiety-producing than thinking about the anxiety.
I didn’t read many books in March (my fave in February was definitely The Secret Book of Flora Lea), but my favourite book was non-fiction: Ultra-Processed People. It was a fascinating look at nutrition and modern foods (that are designed in a lab!) but it also felt VERY readable and not judgemental about individual food choices.
Talking with a friend definitely helped, especially because she was able to give me some logical feedback on my anxiety and then just take me out of my brain for a bit as she took her daughters to school and then came home and made coffee… the normalcy was what I needed!
I still need to watch GBBO! Although now I don’t have Netflix so I’m going to have to wait on that, wah.
You had a lot of good things this month! I love the fancy outfits and high tea – how fun.
Your feelings on the Vitamin C serum are the same as mine about any serum/ skincare product: is it working? Who knows! But I like it!
You bought a lot of books this month! I don’t usually buy books but I did pick up a couple. And I have like nine library books sitting on my coffee table as we speak.
Who knows if serums are working! But at least they smell good and feel good slathering on my face, haha.
March was a better month for book-buying than February. I bought TWELVE in February. I might have a problem.
I have to say that reading “It’s hard to stay informed because all of it depresses me so much.” really resonated with me. I hate that this is how we’re feeling, but wow, yeah.
I also laughed at Eloise throwing up on the new rug. I mean, she’s a cat, of COURSE she did!
It’s sad when every new thing I read just depresses me. At least we had a little bit of hope with some good news last week. Sigh.
Wow- those pet portraits came out GREAT. What a fun idea.
Ha ha, Eloise. Why can’t the cats ever throw up on the TILE???
So many things to comment on here, I know I’m going to miss some. I also buy cheaper sunglasses because they’re so easy to lose/break. And… taxes. It makes me angry that we’re going to owe money, when there are a lot of wealthy people not paying anything (um… Amazon?)
Anyway… sounds like a great month overall, but sorry about the anxiety. And the political situation. Sigh.
I’m so glad the instructor helped us with all those little details that make such a big difference. I also didn’t realize all of the different shades of color are on my black-and-white cat!
Ugh, yes. I can’t think about how little the wealthiest people pay in taxes because it would make me too angry!
I’m sorry to hear there are changes happening at work. That is tough in the midst of all the different stressors. Gah.
I did not care for ‘Slow Dance’ but many loved it. It’s nice to know of someone it didn’t work for.
My best book in March was Broken Country. It had an element that can make books hard for me, but it was ok in this story!
I was getting too much backstory for Slow Dance, and I really hated the FMC so I just had to abandon it. I don’t think Rainbow Rowell is for me anymore!
I’m looking forward to reading Broken Country soon!
Well, this post may have taken a while to put together but it was a joy to read. My reading slowed down in March so I don’t have a lot to chose from, but my best was The Secret Book of Flora Lea. If it helps, we owed taxes too, but that just means that we made more money than we were planning on and got to keep it longer.
Frickin’ work changes – boo!
I’ve been hearing about The Secret Book of Flora Lea from so many people! I have it on my TBR.
You did so many fun things in March! I especially love the pet portraits. But I’m so sorry that you had bad anxiety attacks. I also understand how difficult it is to stay informed about politics. For me, not only is it depressing, but it’s also very confusing. I think I’ll go for a walk and do some of Nicole’s yoga videos!
March was a very good month if we pretend the anxiety attacks and terrible news updates weren’t a part of it. I need to look up Nicole’s yoga videos – I’m sure those would be so calming for me!
Regarding taxes – I ALSO HATE PAYING THEM. There are two ways to feel better about it (Ignoring the rage about the wealthy who do not pay their share). 1. We are paying for important things…roads, schools, fire departments, etc. Even with the current shitfuck situation, lots of good comes from the money we pay. 2. Paying instead of a refund. Refunds are more fun to get, for sure, but paying means you got an interest free loan from the government, while a refund means the government got an interest free loan from you. There, don’t you feel better? No? Me either. 😉
My line a day journal sucks, I really need to up my game. Mostly I just write what exercise I did that morning. BORING. I like the items you shared. Also, LONDON/PARIS!!! I hope that happens, and I hope you can manage to go to BOTH. Getting over there is so expensive, I feel like it’s best to stay as long as you can manage.
I hope work calms down, I hate worrying about work.
Thank you for sharing what helped you during your anxiety spiral. If anyone ever calls me in the middle of that, maybe I can do what your friend did and just chatter about other things. I know when I call my friends crying about something, they will commiserate with me a bit, but then we move on to other things and it really helps.
This is all true about paying taxes. I’ll just think about the fact that I’m helping our local libraries here. They need the support more than ever!
I hope my One Line a Day journal entries help you! Sometimes it’s hard to know what to write, but I really try to write down things I want to remember or that will make me smile when I read them in the future. <3
What my friend did was the perfect thing for me. I needed to get pulled out from my anxious thoughts and into normality.
Ahhhhh dont say taxes… that triggers me. I still have to do mine. They were due at the accountant end of March and I HAVE NOT DONE IT. I was sick. And the accountant didnt communicate the deadlines correctly but I am in stress. Hopefully though I will get money back because I had to pay three years of taxes in advanced back in 2023.
I am sorry you March started out with an anxiety spiral. No fun. But kudos for Mikaela for helping you through it by just being there and chatting along. What a great friend in crises.
However with everything politics wise going on I guess we can’t be surprised being in anxiety mode.
Sigh….
I am sorry for bringing up such a triggering topic! Taxes can be so complicated and fraught with stress. You’ve got this!
I love cooking but I also like cooking shows. Have you watched Top Chef? I hear they are coming out with a new season soon! I can’t wait! I also like TOC, which is hosted by Guy Fieri, who I never really loved, but I do love watching all of the celebrity chefs face off; I don’t know why!
Did I tell you that I finished Woman on a Ledge in one day? I really enjoyed it; thanks for the rec. And last but not least, have you tried Goodr sunglasses? I don’t know if they are your style, but you can find them at REI along with other places, and they are normally around $20, but they are so comfy and they don’t fall off your head and they are kind of rubbery so they fit well. Anyway, well worth it in the long run! The other ones I like are Shady Rays, which are around $30 BUT if you lose or break them they will send you a new pair, no questions asked, so really they are $15 each.
I never got into Top Chef because I don’t think I ever had access to Bravo. But… I think they might be showing seasons on Peacock now and I have that streaming service so maybe I’ll go down the rabbit hole of that cooking show, too. WHY NOT.
Kim of kimshastheruns.com has an AMAZING collection of Goodr sunglasses and she loaned me a pair when I was with her. I really liked them! I very nearly purchased a few pairs when these other sunglasses broke, but couldn’t wait for an online delivery – needed something quick, ha.
“I hate cooking but I love watching people cook.” I know someone else who says the same thing!
I saw We’ll Prescribe You a Cat on the bookshelf at B&N but didn’t buy it. Still, it seems like something I’d like. Looking forward to your review.
It’s such a cute book title; I couldn’t resist!
I love the portraits you and your mom made so much!!!!! They turned out amazing~
I’m so glad Mikaela helped you through the spiral. Our brains ARE offline then. It’s horrible.
And hey, you work changes don’t need to be compared to anyone else’s! Everyone’s life is hard in different ways. I’m here to listen if you need an ear <3
It’s so hard to be in an anxiety spiral. I was so grateful that Mikaela was able to sit with me through it!
And thank you, friend! A lot of weird work changes happening. I hope they all turn out okay but right now, we’re in that waiting period.
It sounds like you had some highlights this month, but yeah, March was challenging overall.
I am sorry you’re also experiencing some turmoil at work. It is very stressful because work is such a big part of our day! I hope you’re getting used to the changes and they won’t affect you too badly 🙁
Let’s not talk about politics because I might just want to scream… there is so much going on right now and it’s hard to be mad at everything at the same time. I feel so tired.
Politics does make me want to scream. It’s all too much and the way they are messing with government jobs is INFURIATING. We’re in the worst timeline right now.