Reading Goals | Books I Own

I have a habit of reading books I don't own. Anyone else? What I mean is the majority of books I read are borrowed from the library or from friends. Except I keep accumulating books on my shelves and not reading them. Instead, I check out other books from the library and read those instead. Last year, I really wanted to read more of my own books and I did a lot better with that goal than ever before. I also cut down a lot on my book purchases. This year though, I really want to focus on reading almost exclusively from my shelves. The few exceptions I have are very specific books that are chosen to read with my IRL book club and another extension of my online book club.

I have a ton of unread books on my shelves still, even though at the end of 2020 I purged my shelves and got rid of about 100+ books. I gave some away, sold some, donated some. Now I am left with two large bookshelves of books instead of four. I used to have six but when we moved into our current apartment, I really had to narrow down my books. For the last two years though, I have realized my reading changes have changed drastically, so it was easy for me to cut down so many books because I knew I really had no interest in reading them ever or again. Instead, my collection is now books I have read and loved or books I am very interested in reading soon. 

It's been nice to make my bookshelves something more exclusive to my likings. I used to have hundreds of books that were popular, but not necessarily ones I loved or was as interested to read. I plan to minimize them even more in the coming year, as I read only books I own and decide whether I want to keep them or not. 

xoxo

Happy New Year | 2021 Goals

I always make a short list of goals I want to accomplish in the new year, and while most of them are realistic, I tend to fall short on them. This year, I want to continue my good habits and break away from bad habits so that’s what my resolutions are.

Bookish 

• Continue to read books I own: I own a lot of unread books and I recently started actually reading most of my unread books. It’s been nice because I can get rid of books I no longer love or will reread, and also find new ones that are on my shelves and don’t need to purchase for my collection.
• Continue to purge books: later in 2020, I began to purge my shelves of books that no longer interest me or that I’d been holding on to, even though I don’t plan to reread them. It’s been really nice to make more room on my shelves and in my home, and I want to be able to continue this trend until I have only a favorites collection in my home.
• Blog regularly: this year I was able to get back into blogging more consistently because of quarantine. I think I can continue this by not pressuring myself to post on a schedule, etc. Instead, I’ve gotten more into the habit of posting whenever I want and it’s been nice.
• Read 75 books: I used to make it my goal to read 100 and in the back of my mind I would still like to achieve that, but a more realistic goal is 75 books so I’ll aim for that first. 

Lifestyle

• Maintain or lose weight: during quarantine, I gained some weight, and while I’m not completely unhappy with how I look I am getting married in November so it would be nice to get rid of some fat.
• Continue to go to the gym: we’ve gotten back into going to the gym every weekend and it’s been good going back, but about two weeks ago, I injured myself and had a hard time doing any exercise. I want to slowly get back into the groove of things.
• Hike more regularly: I love hiking and being outdoors. While the gyms were closed, we were finding isolated hikes to go on, but then went back to just going to the gym instead. I want to combine both of these so that we do both regularly.
• Continue minimal lifestyle: we’re in the process of becoming minimalists but we haven’t just thrown everything out the door. Instead, we’re slowly transitioning into the lifestyle and I want to continue this transition in the New Year. It’s difficult to just get rid of a ton of things, but we’ve done really well so far. 
• Limit spending: I love shopping but I really need to budget myself this year because we have a few expenses coming with the wedding.
• Take care of my mental health: I became anxious and depressed during quarantine. Sometimes I’ll have panic attacks and keep myself awake at night. It’s been difficult but I’ve been finding small ways to help ease my mind and I want to continue to do these things in order to feel more at peace with my mind. 

That’s it! It seems like a lot but this are things I already do for the most part, and just want to actively continue to do. 

Favorites of 2020

I don’t normally do a top anything list, but I saw a few floating around and decided to go ahead and shout out some of my favorite things during this crazy year.

Favorite Books of 2020

These are in no particular order and there are a few that aren’t pictured that I still want to mention because they were favorites, I just don’t happen to own them. 

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn

Verity by Colleen Hoover 

Too Late by Colleen Hoover (not pictured)

Heartstopper, Vol 1-3 by Alice Oseman

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryan Greenwood (not pictured)

Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon (not pictured)

Favorite Movies and Shows of 2020

So these are the new movies and shows that I loved this year that were new releases. There's a ton more I could add to this list that were new to me but that would make this list way too long. 

Favorite Songs of 2020

 I didn't really listen to a lot of newer music this year. Except for Taylor Swift. We were blessed with two albums this year and there are a few songs that I was really obsessed with, as you can tell. But I honestly spent a lot of my time listening to Lo-Fi music while around the house and I can't imagine listening to anything else now when I need music but don't really want songs. Also, I listened to a lot of old favorites. 

That's it for my favorite stuff of the year. It was a difficult year and I spent my time rewatching a lot of things that brought my comfort. Listening to songs that made me happy. But not finding new things as much. So I hope you liked this post and here's hoping to a better 2021. 
xoxo

Life lately.

Hi, it’s been a while. I basically went back to work and really didn’t have time for much else for a while because it took me a while to transition back into working and regular schedules and dealing with pandemic life outside of my home. It’s been stressful, but also, I’ve been healthy and safe. There was a while there were I got a cold and freaked out, but I was fine. Now the holidays have passed and we’re on the verge of a new year, so I decided it was time for an update to the blog. 

I’ve been reading. Not very much, but about as much as I expected I would be reading now that I’m back at work full time. I’ve enjoyed quite a few books, but noticed lately that I’ve gotten so much pickier with my reading. I’ve never been one to rate a good amount of books 5-stars, but this last year, I’ve definitely been more critical with the books I read. Also, I’ve done a lot of purging of books because I realized that there’s no point in having books collect dust if I’m never going to read them. I’ve had books sitting on my shelves for years and now it’s time to get them out into the world for others to enjoy. It could be in part with my decision to live a more minimal lifestyle, but that’s a topic for another day. What else is new? I’m engaged and back to being quarantined for two weeks. I know, both great news and not so much.

We got engaged back in September and I’ve been overwhelmed with planning, but also doing pretty great with getting important things done and out of the way. Most of the stuff I have to do from now until our wedding is mostly DIY things that my mom, fiancé, and friends will help me with.

As for being quarantined...one of my coworkers was exposed. Actually, a few of them were. We were not sure if we would shut down but because of the circumstances, we had to. Being so close to the holidays definitely made the decision more stressful and now we’re waiting for testing results, etc., but we’ve had several positive confirmed cases which just makes it more stressful for everyone. 

But the silver lining is, I have some time to blog. It’s always something that helps me get through some tough times and just another hobby I go back and forth with. So for now, I’m back. Expect some content until I fall off the blogoverse again. 

a quiet reading vlog

This past week, I decided to upload a YouTube video after taking a long break. I decided earlier this year to stop creating content because I really wasn't feeling it anymore, but for the past few weeks, I wanted to try something a little different. So I went ahead and recorded a quiet reading vlog.


I really liked this idea and while my channel is still a work in progress, I think this will be a new direction I am going to try. So I wanted to share my new video with y'all and hope that I can grow my channel a little more this year.

Life Lately

I went back to work full-time two weeks ago (ish) and I am still adjusting to a more regular routine. I was off work since March 13th (first day of quarantine for LA County) and worked from home, but wasn't doing that much. I became accustomed to sleeping in a bit and having time to clean, read, workout, etc. It was stressful but it was also, kind of nice. My boyfriend and I were both home all the time, and it was surprising that we ended up actually having really nice days together. I've seen a lot of memes and such about couples being together now and how it's not ideal, but I really liked being home with him every day. I miss that, now that I am back at work.

And I am also very tired most days.

It's crazy how quickly your body adjusts to a more sedentary lifestyle because now that I work 7 hours every day, I come home exhausted. I guess running around after toddlers is quite different than being in a classroom of infants also but that's what I have to do as we slowly normalize. I've tried to keep up with my reading and am participating in Bookopoly, an event over on my book club, but I can tell that my reading pace is already slowing down. I don't have more than an hour or so a day to listen to audiobooks now and I've struggled to get through any physical books these last few months. So I don't know how much reading or even updating (weekly) I'll be doing now that things are changing.

I just wanted to share a quick update, since it'd been a few days since I last updated. I was doing so well too. I am going to try to keep it up!