Tag: books

Weekly Wrap Up | 11/3/24

Aloha friends!

What a week!!! 😅 It was spirit week of course at my daughter’s school so that was fun, plus she had early release schedule all week which she loved AND no school after Halloween. Lucky her! She had a Halloween parade at school which wasn’t as hot as usual (yes even at 8am) so I survived and got a kick out of so many kids wearing the inflatable costumes, it makes me laugh to see them walking in them! After the parade I dashed over the our local grocery and Hallelujah the candies were 75%! So I finally got chocolates.

Halloween evening my son and I wore the hats Mario and Luigi hats we bought at Universal Studious Japan. I was Mario, he was Luigi and I had a little cute Yoshi purse. Like an actual Yoshi plushie purse. My daughter was a Pikmin at her Halloween parade but that night she wanted to be a spider. So she wore a black dress and we put one of the smaller spider decorations on her dress.😅 We went around the block and down a few streets. I felt like our street which used to get all the trick or treaters, had less this year because a lot of my neighbors didn’t pass out candy or decorate which is kinda sad but totally understandable with candy being so expensive. But we also have a bunch of retirees on our street and maybe they just didn’t want to stay up passing out candy.

After we got home we sat outside for maybe 20 minutes passing out candy (we had left a bowl of candy for people to help themselves to when we were gone) but I was SO tired. It was a long day, I had a headache earlier, it was a little humid and so we left the 2 bowls of candy outside and I refilled it every 20 minutes. And then at 8:30pm I noticed one bowl was missing! Ugh – candy thieves! I mean take the candy but at least leave my bowl! 😆 It’s okay, it was a plastic bowl that was $5 I think, but geez…someone was hungry!

Overall, it was an exhausting week and I can’t believe October is over. I’m getting a massage at the spa today because tomorrow is my birthday and I so deserve it. My body hurt this past week so this is overdue! Then we are heading to my parents’ house for some lunch with the family.❤️

I hope you all have a great week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

  • Burning Crowns by. Catherine Doyle & Katherine Webber
  • Stranger Skies by. Pascale LaCelle
  • The Whispering Night by. Susan Dennard

Currently Reading:

  • Bull Moon Rising by. Ruby Dixon
  • Vilest Things by. Chloe Gong

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Coco on Disney+ I wanted something to watch with the kids for Halloween so we ended up watching this a few days before. It’s the perfect movie to watch for Halloween and it inspired us to do an ofrenda (altar) this year.
  • Martha on Netflix – this documentary is wild! Martha is stone-cold lol, loved it.

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!

First Lines Fridays – Can You Guess What Book? | 11/1/24

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

“See?” I wink at the camera as I pull the tray from one of the double ovens on set, making sure they can get a good view of the flaky, browned goodness there.”

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Can you guess what book it is?

Did you guess it? Have you read this one?

📖 ~ Yolanda

WWW Wednesday | 10/30/24

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

The idea is pretty simple, every week you dedicate a post to the three W’s:

What are you currently reading?

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

It’s parent conference week and Book Fair week at my daughter’s school so she’s loving it because she gets to shop for books and they get the short day schedule. Today is her conference so I’m excited to hear how she’s been doing in 2nd grade so far. And then tomorrow is Halloween! It’s been overcast and windy and I hope it stays that way for Halloween night – I don’t want to sweat like I usually do while trick or treating. 😅 I did wish I had some spooky reads to read but I don’t know what’s good and usually my spooky/thriller reads that are arcs are published in Spring! Oh well, hoping I can finish Stranger Skies and The Whispering Night since one is witchy and the other is paranormal.

What are you currently reading?

Stranger Skies by. Pascale LaCelle – 51% – why is this one so long? 😩 I will finish by next week. (arc)

The Whispering Night by. Susan Dennard – 23% – I’m working on this one. (arc)

Dating and Dragons by. Kristy Boyce – 14% – very little progress (arc)

Vilest Things by. Chloe Gong – 12% – I got this one on Libby and have been reading this one (Libby)

Burning Crowns by. Catherine Doyle & Katherine Webber – 35%, got this one on KU so I’m glad I can finish the series. (KU)

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

What are you reading right now?

Weekly Wrap Up | 10/27/24

Aloha friends!

Not a lot happened this week, just the usual Sunday school for the kiddos, and school the rest of the week. It’s been warm in Hawaii this week! I’m always wishing it would cool down for Halloween but it never does and I think because the election is in full swing here, I feel like people aren’t in the Halloween mood. My daughter totally is though – we have parent conference this week, then on Halloween morning she has a Halloween Parade at her school and then we go trick or treating at night! She’s excited – but I think my son is over it plus he has school the next day and she doesn’t! 😅 Lucky her!

I hope everyone has a nice Halloween week if you do celebrate and if you are in the USA, please go out and VOTE. I already did my mail-in ballot, woohoo!!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

  • A Queen’s Game by. Katharine McGee
  • The Games Gods Play by. Abigail Owen

Currently Reading:

  • The Whispering Night by. Susan Dennard
  • Stranger Skies by. Pascale Lacelle
  • Bull Moon Rising by. Ruby Dixon
  • Vilest Things by. Chloe Gong

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • APT. Rosé and Bruno Mars – because it’s so addictive!

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!

First Lines Fridays – Can You Guess What Book? | 10/25/24

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

“I have dog kibble in my bra.”

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Can you guess what book it is?

Did you guess it? Have you read this one?

📖 ~ Yolanda

WWW Wednesday | 10/23/24

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

The idea is pretty simple, every week you dedicate a post to the three W’s:

What are you currently reading?

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

Is Halloween next week?! I don’t feel like it’s been very Halloweeny this year – less decorations on our street (or maybe more will pop up next week?) – it kinda makes me sad thinking maybe the kids in the homes that used to decorate are now older or something and maybe that’s why there are less decorations. I hope to always decorate even when my kids are over it!! I have a feeling my daughter will never be over it, but who knows when they get older, right? I will do a little more decorating the day of Halloween only because I don’t want my sprinkler system to ruin some of the decorations.

What are you currently reading?

Stranger Skies by. Pascale LaCelle – 23% – going kinda slowly but I’m pushing through!

The Whispering Night by. Susan Dennard – 22% – I’m working on this one.

Dating and Dragons by. Kristy Boyce – 10% – I didn’t finish this one last week, but maybe next week!

A Queen’s Game by. Katharine McGee – 13% – this one is…not what I expected. I may finish this one soon because it’s a quick read, but I don’t know if I love it.

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

What are you reading right now?

Weekly Wrap Up | 10/20/24

Aloha friends!

This was a chill week, we are all back to our routine again. Took my kids to school, piano, Sunday school, and did my chores and errands all week. I am doing a little more decorating for Halloween outside, but have been waiting for my items to come in. And I got an Etsy order to do – my shop has been slow – but I almost haven’t added anything new to my shop in a year. I always get a little more orders during the holidays though so I guess some people are starting. I’m actually halfway through my Xmas list – woohoo! Yay me!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

  • Darkly by. Marisha Pessl

Currently Reading:

  • The Games Gods Play by. Abigail Owen
  • The Whispering Night by. Susan Dennard
  • Stranger Skies by. Pascale Lacelle
  • Bull Moon Rising by. Ruby Dixon

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat – I play it when I’m on the treadmill because since I can’t get to the Sweat Tour, I’ll sweat on my treadmill LOL.

  • APT. Rosé and Bruno Mars – what a SURPRISE! I love it!! It’s got me dancing! Love the video, it’s so fun!

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!

First Lines Fridays – Can You Guess What Book? | 10/18/24

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

“People say you choose your friends, but my friendship with Hailey Tinrock never felt like a choice.”

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Can you guess what book it is?

Did you guess it? Have you read this one?

📖 ~ Yolanda

WWW Wednesday | 10/16/24

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

The idea is pretty simple, every week you dedicate a post to the three W’s:

What are you currently reading?

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

Well, Fall break has come and gone and oh it was nice to sleep in and just relax. Can you believe Halloween is in 2 weeks? Which means it’s almost November, which means it’s almost my birthday (which is right before election day – yay me – talk about anxiety for my birthday! lol). But that means it’s also almost Christmas – which means…my husband comes home for good! 😅 It’s been quite a 2 years of parenting alone but you know what? It’s also an accomplishment and I’m like, YEAH, I DID THAT! Yay for me! As I tell my kids all the time, you can do hard things and yes I tell myself this all the time when I’m feeling frustrated or discouraged.

Anyway…what have I been reading – take a look!

What are you currently reading?

Stranger Skies by. Pascale LaCelle – 8% – finally started back reading this one! Will be finished this week I hope.

The Games Gods Play by. Abigail Owen – 20% – I’ll get to this one when I finish some arcs.

The Whispering Night by. Susan Dennard – 11% – will be working on this one too this week!

Dating and Dragons by. Kristy Boyce – 6% – hoping to finish this one soon!

A Queen’s Game by. Katharine McGee – 2% – just started this one!

Dark Water Daughter by. H.M. Long – 7% – I’m determined to finish this one before I have to return it!

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

What are you reading right now?

Weekly Wrap Up | 10/13/24

Aloha friends!

It was a much needed Fall break for me and the kids but it did start off so busy. We did a Halloween event, then we also went to Dave and Busters and a cat cafe. We went to watch The Wild Robot which was AMAZING, but my face hurt from crying lol. Then we did some shopping at Target and the rest of the week we stayed home and chilled. So it’s back to our weekend routines sigh…when is Thanksgiving break? Haha, I’ll be waiting for that!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

  • The Wren in the Holly Library by. K.A. Linde
  • Filthy Rich Fae by. Geneva Lee
  • Wisteria by. Adalyn Grace

Currently Reading:

  • The Games Gods Play by. Abigail Owen
  • The Whispering Night by. Susan Dennard
  • Stranger Skies by. Pascale Lacelle
  • Darkly by. Marisha Pessl

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat – I LOVE this Brat roll out, seriously, and this remix album, so good. It’s been on repeat! I guess it’s a Brat autumn for me lol. 🍎🍁

  • The Wild Robot – oh my heart…this movie gutted me! It’s SOOOOOOO beautifully done, the illustrations, the colors, the animations are just everything. And all that from the book cover design? Like they really looked at the cover of the book and was like ta-da, here’s a movie that captures all of that. I was floored. I cried so many times (ok I am pms-ing) but still…I almost sobbed at one point. My daughter had to kept rubbing my hand lol. My kids and I loved it – 5/5! I can’t wait to watch it again and again on streaming.

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!