Guess what? I actually went to the library today with my kids. It’s been a little over a year since we have gone. It was closed during most of 2020, then was open to curbside pick-up only and finally opened up to short visits where you grab what you need and go.
Since my son is on summer vacation, we decided to venture there and borrow books to keep him occupied. There were hardly any people, and way less staff working than before. Some of the lights were off, maybe to discourage lingering – which I understood. But it was kind of sad. The library was one of the places I loved to bring my kids a lot since they had great toddler programs like story time and arts and crafts activities. It was nice to go in and browse, even though it was real quick. My kids both got a few books and I did too!
Here’s what I got:
The Gilded Ones by. Namina Forna
A Vow so Bold and Deadly by. Brigid Kemmerer
This Coven Won’t Break by. Isabel Sterling
Now there were a lot of books I wanted to get!! But I told myself to only pick three so I can make sure to actually finish them. I already finished A Vow so Bold and Deadly! 😱 My review to come.
I love having the library back open. I’m a mom and can’t afford to always be buying books on release day so the library is a lifesaver for me. I used to spend so much money on books, but now I try to spend it on my kids books first. I hope they develop a joy of reading like I do.
Have you read any of these books? Do you like to borrow library books?
Hi everyone, I have no bookish post ready for today. I spent last night doing an arc review to be posted in July and forgot to do something for a Friday post. Sometimes my mind is in just too many places at once – so let me show you what I’ve been working on in my Etsy shop.
I got new mold shapes like this diamond tray.
And here is a pill shaped tray.
These usually sell out in my shop, I love these zodiac trays.
I started my Etsy shop years ago making macrame bracelets, then for a few years was hand stamping metal. So I still make a few pieces for my shop still.
I’ve been working on alphabet tile sets this week because a good friend of mine wants to buy a set for her class. She teaches English in Japan at a preschool if I remember correctly. I’ve been working a few different sets since I’m in the mood. It’s fun making them and demolding them – not so fun when I have to now sand down the edges of like 70+ alphabet letters. 😩 I’ll be doing that today so wish me luck! Not going to lie, hand stamping metal is way easier than making resin pieces, but I love how with resin it’s like painting with color.
If you want to check out my Mother’s Day sale going on in my Etsy shop, click here:
Hello fellow book lovers and anyone else stumbling upon my blog. I hope you all had a very good week! I just wanted to do one of these since it’s been awhile. Life has been BUSY. Let’s talk about books first:
Newly Acquired Books:
NetGalley ~
Overdrive Library ~
I really need to read these borrowed books before they expire!
Adulting:
Our puppy Atlas is now 5 months old, he has lost most of his baby teeth and grew in his adult chompers! I’m glad that he is now such a cuddler (he loves the kids and plops his little but heavy booty on them at any chance). His puppy energy has calmed down (mostly) and he is 95% potty trained haha! He is a bit wild when my dad, mom, nephews come over – he loves them WAY too much, mostly my dad. Walking him on a leash on the sidewalk is the challenge – he always wants to turn back to go home, or he will sit in the middle of the sidewalk and not budge. We are working on that! 🐶
House renovation – my dad is a semi-retired construction worker, his older brother owned a family business and they built houses etc…but they are all in their late 60’s and early 70’s, it’s taken a toll on their bodies so he’s slowed down on working. Anyway, my hubby and I opted for carpet when we bought this house 7 years ago since our kids were little, but now my youngest is 4 and my dad has no jobs to do at the moment so my mom told me he could get a few of his co-workers and do my floor. 💁🏻♀️ I honestly thought we were in the planning stages and would do it, I don’t know, in the summer? But nope, 2 weeks ago they told me go to Home Depot, pick out what floor I wanted (the pressure!) and the following week, I was moving stuff from my living room. It was tiring, my body was in pain from heavy lifting but it took them 2 days to complete it. The dog barked a lot, there was a lot of dust we had to clean afterwards and the kids were stuck upstairs but now we have vinyl flooring downstairs. Well, few days ago my mom said my dad will resume next week to complete the upstairs. Haha…I have more stuff to move around up here, so I started the moment she called me. Little by little…it gives me a chance to toss out/donate things we don’t need anymore too though. My body still hurts though so I’m getting a massage today before I do very heavy lifting/moving on Monday.
My son is in hybrid schooling and will be done in 6 weeks! I can’t believe it…he’ll be 3rd grade this year.
Vaccines open up to 16+ on Monday, FINALLY! So I will be scouring this island for appointments. Most of my friends and family that work or met the requirements already got their vaccine and I’ve been waiting so patiently. I’m excited to finally get a chance to get mine.
That’s all I got, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Happy reading and stay safe.
Lately hate crimes against the AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islanders) community has been dominating the news front. As a Filipino-American, this hits close to home and yet…living in Hawaii I feel also removed from it because we here in the islands are dominantly AAPI. So as I watch the news, and see the mass shootings, or see the elderly asian people being targeted, it saddens and angers me. Why does this keep happening? But I’ve been asking why since I was a child – why do people hate people?
I just wanted to show my support for the AAPI community in a way on this blog, so here are some books by asian authors that I love:
These Violent Delights by. Chloe Gong
Yolk by. Mary H.K. Choi
Unravel the Dust by. Elizabeth Lim
Skyhunter by. Marie Lu
Secret Crush Seduction by. Jayci Lee
The Last Story of Mina Lee by. Nancy Jooyoun Kim
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by. Jenny Han
I’ll Be the One by. Lyla Lee
The Kiss Quotient by. Helen Hoang
The Silvered Serpents by. Roshani Chokshi
The Damned by. Renee Ahdieh
The Downstairs Girl by. Stacey Lee
Patron Saints of Nothing by. Randy Ribay
The Bone Witch by. Rin Chupeco
One of the best things about starting this blog and joining the book community was finding a bunch of authors I had not been familiar, authors of all ethnicities. Finding all these blogs or bookstagram accounts showcasing different genres and authors really opened my book world up even further. Now my reading world is much bigger than it’s ever been and that’s a lovely thing.
Let’s always try to be better and spread love instead of hate. ♥️
My puppy Atlas is soooooo cute, until he chewed up my laptop charger! 😒 Hence I haven’t created a post all week since Tuesday. So frustrating and expensive but he’s 4 months old, what can I do? He finds everything to chew right now!
I finally got my charger back today and brought my laptop back to life again. So what’s new? Here’s what I am reading this week:
And here is what I finished:
What I’m reading next?
I kind of love when book titles are song titles, it makes me start singing the song in my head or out loud, like this one. 😅
I really need to start making a dent on my physical book TBR pile.
I hope all of you had a good week of reading and I’ll be going through your blogs to check out posts I’ve missed the past few days. Have a good weekend!
Aloha everyone! It’s been awhile since I did an update – but Mr. Atlas (the now 3 month old puppy) is taking up a lot of my time. But here’s what I’ve acquired and watched in the past few weeks…
New Books Acquired:
NetGalley ARC’s~
Kindle Unlimited ~
Overdrive Online Library ~
Will I get to reading all of these this month? Probably not. But I’ll do my best to try!
Adulting:
Puppy is 3 months old now and it’s been rough! He is teething and has been so bitey. The cute phase lasted like 2 weeks. At least I’m getting more sleep now and he is crate trained at night but the teething, biting, mouthing…argh…😫.
Between 2 kids and a puppy, I haven’t had time to do any resin work but thank you to those who are still buying whatever is in my shop even though I haven’t had time to update my instagram account or promoting anything at all.
Son is back in hybrid school and it’s been great for him to see classmates, I can’t believe 2nd grade will be over in 3 months. 🥺😱
I hope you all had a good week and are staying safe! 😘 ~ Yolanda
Another Friday is here and we are now at the half-way point of January 2021. Wow.
New Books Acquired:
Netgalley~
Overdrive ~
TV, Movies, Etc…:
Cobra Kai ~ started season 1 but didn’t finish because I had no time.
Adulting:
I had no time to watch anything this week because we got a puppy! We actually got him last Thursday but I guess I didn’t add that in my last Friday post. Probably because I was lacking sleep after the first night he was with us. It’s like having a newborn again! 😩 One that nips. My son named him Atlas, and he is 8 weeks old. He’s a dachshund mix but I don’t see it…lol, he looks like a mini Boxer to me! He is barely 4 lbs and I’ve never had a dog this small – the last time I had a puppy was back in 2006, a husky/malamute and she was way bigger than Atlas. And back in 2006, I had no kids – just another fur baby so it’s been rough! I’m just glad my daughter is finally potty trained haha.
So he’s been taking up my nights, but get better each night in his kennel. He just pees and poops so much because he’s so young. And of course he is gnawing on everything – my feet, my fingers, my hair, lol…but I’m trying my best to redirect his nipping to all his toys. He is so fun to play with, the kids love him.
That’s been my week – late at night when I clean up his pee/poop messes, afterwards I’ll sit next to him and read on my kindle app while he nips or tries to go back to bed. So I am getting a little bit of reading in.
I hope you all had a good week and will have an awesome, safe weekend!
Well…this week was wonderful because it started with my daughter’s 4th birthday! I love her so much and she had a great time with our little luncheon ~ she didn’t want food, she just wanted family, cake and gifts, and that is what she got.
The week got even better when the Georgia election Tuesday night showed Georgia turning blue…thank you Stacey Abrams and all your amazing hard wook, teamwork…all of it. 👑 Then Wednesday morning I was watching the news to make the Georgia results official…and realized the electoral college votes were going to be certified…and they got to Arizona, and there were objections so they went to debate it…and then all hell broke loose outside and inside. I am appalled, mad at the hypocrisy, just disgusted…can they just remove him today (as I write this on Wednesday during the protest)? So I wasted a day watching the news…
Anyway enough of that negativity…sigh…how was my reading week?
Newly Acquired Books:
NetGalley:
Kindle Unlimited:
TV, Movies, Etc…:
Netflix:
The Queen’s Gambit ~ finished the series and enjoyed it! It’s dark, sad, but love love love how it’s filmed, the aesthetic, her make-up, her hair, style…ugh, love. It was fascinating watching Beth Harmon’s life and how she grows from child to young woman. I love Jolene being real with Beth. ♥️ Compelling story for sure!
Adulting:
We got a fish. Haha…my son did his 2nd quarter project on an axolotl and I saw our local pet store had one so I took them there to see it. And we came home with a fish – daughter wanted the axolotl and I said no, told her to get a betta fish instead since ours died last year. Our fur baby died 2 years ago and I was waiting until my daughter turns 5 to get another dog…so I’ve been looking since last year! The search continues…
My son will start hybrid schooling come February and I’m happy for him. I wish they could roll out the vaccine quicker, teachers need them – my sister got hers because she works at the hospital. But yes, would be great to get that out quicker.
I hope your week went well and you are staying safe out there!
Fireworks have been popping off here for weeks now, but last night was crazy as usual. Today is my nephew’s birthday so we are going to celebrate that and Sunday is my daughter’s birthday so we’ll be having cake all weekend it seems. 🎂
Since I didn’t do a weekly updated Christmas week, let’s do one today:
New Books Acquired:
NetGalley ~
Overdrive Online Library ~
Kindle Books ~ (bought)
TV, Movies, Etc…:
Netflix ~
Bridgerton – whoa…talk about 🔥🔥🔥…spoiler ~ there are lots of sexy times in Episode 6 haha. I mean there are some here and there in the previous episodes but yeah…episode 6? Overall, I’m a sucker for romantic period pieces so I enjoyed this one. I read a few of the Bridgerton novels years ago, but not all of them and I don’t think in order either. I don’t remember much because it’s been years but I’m definitely down for watching season 2. I LOVE Eloise, the actress who played her was great, yes Eloise and Penelope and Lady Danbury were my favorite characters in this first season of the Bridgertons. The diversity is great because we all know historical romances are usually white characters, so seeing various ethnicities in the show was fantastic.
excuse me, i love you ~ Ariana Grande’s concert documentary ugh, her voice is ridiculous. Would love to see her live in concert and this show made me miss concerts SO much. 😭 I loved concerts when I was younger and it slowed down when I had kids, but the times I can go to a concert is a TREAT. Anyway, I loved the show.
Adulting:
My nephew’s birthday is on 1/1 and my daughter’s birthday is on 1/3. She expects more presents and honestly, all I want to get her is a cake haha…she has way too many toys. I donated a bunch of clothes, toys and books the past two weeks to make room for more things coming into the house. But now I just want to clean house again. 🤦🏻♀️
I wanted to get a dog halfway through the pandemic. It’s been 2 years now since our fur baby Sky (a husky) has passed and seriously…this year was so trying I missed having a doggy. So I thought I was ready, it hurt losing Sky…but wow, is everyone buying the puppies and how are they buying them because the ones I’ve seen are SO expensive? I looked on humane society and the spca a bunch but the small dogs are usually adopted so fast and though I love big dogs, this time around I’m looking for a small dog, even small/medium is fine. My doggy nephew jumped into my car this past Christmas, I was about to take him home haha – he must remember that I dog-sat him when he was a puppy and he slept in my daughter’s bed for a week! Yes Aunty spoils him with lots of love.
I got to sleep in this week, meaning I slept in until 7:30am! HOORAY! lol…I honestly do not look forward to remote schooling coming back again. We’ll see if my son’s school makes any changes tot he schedule.
Etsy shop: I have a 25% off sale going on to clear out items before I start making anything else. Honestly I haven’t poured resin in almost 3 weeks now! Maybe I had a little bit of burn out. So I’m gonna rest for a bit and decide what I want to do next.
Have a great weekend everyone! And happy new year!
We made it to Christmas 2020, y’all! If you celebrate, Merry Christmas, if not, happy Aloha Friday! The ones who are super excited for today are my kids and the opening of gifts. I got a haircut and massage on Sunday so that was my Christmas gift and it was AMAZING. The massage was so needed. We are going to my mom’s for Christmas Lunch with my family, and all I want to do is chill.
My sister got the covid vaccine this week because she works at the hospital and honestly, I think that could be the best gift ever this year. I wish I could get the vaccine but I’m not essential. I hope this means things are going to be better for 2021. Looking back on this year, my husband lost his aunt to covid and my aunt lost her granddaughter. This virus doesn’t discriminate, it took young and old. Prayers to all of those who lost someone to this virus this year…it really is my Christmas wish, for everyone to stay healthy and safe.
Thank you for all the bookish content you post for me to read, it helped me get through this crazy year bonding with all you fellow book lovers. 🥰 I hope you get some awesome book gifts and Merry Christmas!
Past Midnight Book Reviews & More 