Tag: weekly

Weekly Wrap Up | 1/25/26

Aloha friends!

Another week is over and here’s what happened:

+ What is happening in this country (USA) is not okay. My heart hurts, I feel sick, angry, anxious, worried. This is NOT okay.

+ The other thing that took up half the week for me? Is the BTS Concert Tour ticket sales. I knew it would be rough, I’m a new fan (my sister is the bigger fan) but I really wanted to get tickets for her because unlike me – she hardly goes to concerts and said this was the one she wanted to go to. So I locked in (I’m always the one buying tickets anyway), did my research, but a membership for presale (yes I paid $22 so I can do presale!😅). Checked out all the dates and when Thursday came – tried my luck. Now I knew it was going to be impossible for one, the tickets for cities I wanted went on sale during my drive time dropping off the kids to school and picking them up! But I barely got into LA ticket sales after waiting a whole hour – only nose bleeds were left so I got 2 tickets. It’s in the 500’s section – nose bleeds…like up by the roof nosebleeds! My sister felt nervous about how high we would be – and I had the same concerns because I had anxiety during Lady Gaga and that was in an arena – imagine a stadium?!

So I locked in again and knew I had to do general sale yesterday. Started at 7am going from ticket queue to ticket queue. I thought 30k in line on Thursday was bad….nope, yesterday I was 104k in line or 70k…but there was one city people kept saying had tickets on twitter – Foxborough. I am in Hawaii…it’s a long flight that would cost a lot. But I got 13K in line and snagged pretty good tickets in the 100 section, lower bowl, back row so I can stand and not bother anyone. I felt relieved but worried about plane fare then a friend messaged me saying her friend had Stanford tickets, in the 100 section for sale. My Foxborough tix were affordable – only $500 for 2 tickets total! These new tickets…$800 each! I was like oh no way…but my sister said, with the cheaper airfare, it would be equivalent to a trip to Foxborough so she told me to get them.

By the time I paid for the tix, got them transferred, and finally ate something – I was weary, my body hurt, so exhausted from being tense all day (for three days). And then the news in Minneapolis made me want to cry. So yes I’m happy we got tickets to BTS and it’s 2 days after my sister’s 50th bday, so I’m happy for her…but my heart hurts.

+ I type all this and today said wow I can’t believe it’s still January! I feel like I’ve been traumatized with highs and lows this month alone. Not how I expected 2026 to start! I’m praying there is something that turns this ship around. RIP to Alex Pretti.

Blog Posts:

Books I Finished

  • Heart of Mischief by. Emma Noyes
  • Maybe This Once by. Sophie Sullivan
  • Masquerade of Mirrors by. Samantha Hartwood
  • Second Chance Romance by. Olivia Dade
  • A Queen of Crowned in Flames by. Hazel McBride

Currently Reading:

  • A Promise of Lies by. Claire Sager
  • A Curse of Crimson Tears by. Julie J. Morris
  • Dawn of the North by. Demi Winters
  • Keeper of Lost Children by. Sadeqa Johnson
  • Goodbye and Everything After by. Mae Coyiuto
  • A Vow in Vengeance by. Jaclyn Rodriguez

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Heated Rivalry (HBO Max) – episode 1-2 – want to see what the hype is about!

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!

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Weekly Wrap Up | 1/18/26

Aloha friends!

Another week is over and here’s what happened:

+ What a week! Most of it was worrying about getting concert tickets. After giving up, and 2 hours of trying, I got tickets to the second show! My kids, a college friend and her hubby, and one of my other good friends are coming along, it will be the first concert for my kiddos – they love Bruno Mars.

+ But that’s not all…this week is BTS presale week. Now, I’m not BTS Army, but I am obsessed with Jung Kook, more so after going to South Korea with my sister. I think it’s funny that it was my family trip to Philly/New York that started my sister listening to K-Pop because she drove me car when she house sat for me and the station that popped up in my car was the K-Pop station! 😅 She’s been obsessed ever since. But it’s actually on our trip to South Korea last year that I learned how much of a BTS fan she was – I was shocked! So I’m the one usually going to concerts and she’s not, so she kind of designated me as the ticket buyer. I told her it’s going to be IMPOSSIBLE…but you never know. If we can’t get any for this year, we will try for 2027 dates. I would prefer 2027 because honestly, I did expect a BTS tour but I thought an announcement would come in March?

+ It actually got COLD here in Hawaii…and I mean 65 degrees in the morning and 75 by noon. 😅. I know, that isn’t cold to everyone else, but to us tropical islanders, it’s freezing! 😂

Blog Posts:

Books I Finished

  • Crown of War and Shadow by J.R. Ward
  • The Cure by. Perdro Urvi
  • Wicked Onyx by. Debbie Cassidy
  • Silk & Iron by. Alexis Calder
  • Dragon Cursed by. Elise Kova

Currently Reading:

  • A Promise of Lies by. Claire Sager
  • A Curse of Crimson Tears by. Julie J. Morris
  • Dawn of the North by. Demi Winters
  • Keeper of Lost Children by. Sadeqa Johnson
  • Goodbye and Everything After by. Mae Coyiuto

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Football
  • People We Meet on Vacation (Netflix) – I read this book a few years ago but watching it definitely brought me back to the book. I thought it was cute, it’s a good adaptation and I was reminded me of Poppy’s self-journey. I gave the book 4 stars – and I think the actors did a great job showing how different their personalities were, but how much they were also best friends – I love their friends to lovers/second chance romance. I also love that they had one of my favorite Robyn songs (Hang with Me) in the movie.

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!

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Weekly Wrap Up | 1/11/26

Aloha friends!

Another week is over and here’s what happened:

+ You know, last year I really jumped into book because after the election I was feeling sick, worried about all the things that would happen to our country. I mean I read 230+ books in 2025, that’s a record for me. I was trying to escape all the bad feelings inside of me and it helped alleviate stress and anxiety, a little. And now it’s January 11th and I feel sick again – anxious – helpless when I see what’s happening in the news. What happened to Renee Good and seeing ICE do what they do …it’s sickening. What I see happening to this country and how our leaders are acting makes me feel physically ill. And this week the books couldn’t help me escape my feelings this week. 😒

+ But because life is weird and with this bad stuff going on, you still have to keep living and try to stay positive…one thing that made me super happy is Bruno Mars dropped a new song. And yes he is probably my favorite artist and not only because he is from Hawaii, and he’s half Filipino, but his music/his voice makes me feel something and this new song makes me feel happy. It pulls me out of the darkness going on in the world today. 🙏🏽

The song made me dance right away – another thing that heals us, singing and dancing! And this song was definitely needed. His tour tickets go on sale this week, and my son wants to go, a friend of college wants to go, another friend wants to go – I’ve seen him twice for his solo tours and then once at his Silk Sonic residency. All his shows were so amazing – I think he’s the artist I will definitely want to see in concert until he retires, if ever. I’m excited that my kids love him, he is also on my husband’s bucket list but he is waiting for Japan tour dates because my hubby wants to see him in the Osaka Dome. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Anyway, let’s hope I get tickets – but this also means I am going back on my book buying ban (I have some on pre-order though 🤭 but outside of that I’m on a ban lol)…because concert tickets are expensive.

Blog Posts:

Books I Finished

  • A War of Wyverns by. S.F. Williamson
  • Stolen Midnights by. Katherine Quinn
  • Love and Other Brain Experiments by. Hannah Brohm
  • Fallen Stars by. Imani Erriu

Currently Reading:

  • A Promise of Lies by. Claire Sager
  • A Curse of Crimson Tears by. Julie J. Morris
  • The Cure by. Pedro Urvi
  • Dawn of the North by. Demi Winters
  • Keeper of Lost Children by. Sadeqa Johnson
  • Goodbye and Everything After by. Mae Coyiuto

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Football

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!

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Weekly Wrap Up | 1/4/26

Aloha friends!

Another week is over and here’s what happened:

+ We kind of had a few days of rest before New Year’s Eve. Hawaii loves to celebrate NYE with a lot of illegal fireworks, some legal too but mostly illegal. But last NYE there was a deadly accident, 3 people died, and like 10 or so people had burn injuries – it was horrendous. This year, there were stricter laws, so instead of people popping fireworks every night from November on….mostly everyone waited until NYE night (from 6pm-midnight) this time around. My dog struggles with it so I’m glad this year he only had to really struggle for one night instead of a whole 2 months of firework bombs going off.

+ My daughter’s birthday was yesterday so on Friday we took her to the Kroc Center Pool, they have a mini lazy river, and a kids play structure. She went there for swim lessons but because we aren’t members we always left the pool after lessons. So this was a nice way for her to have fun at the pool finally! It wasn’t crowded and we went a day before her birthday because the weather app was saying it was going to be cloudy during her birthday. And I hate to be in the pool with no sun – I can’t stand the cold. 😅

+ Today we are going to the Cheesecake Factory with my parents, my sister’s family and my family to celebrate my daughter and my nephew’s January birthdays! It’s supposed to rain hard today but I hope it doesn’t hit us until after we have lunch.

Blog Posts:

Books I Finished

  • A Language of Dragons by. S. F. Williamson
  • Heart’s Gambit by. J.D. Myall (audiobook)
  • The Night Ship by. Alex Woodroe
  • The Wicked and the Damned by. Rebecca Robinson
  • Shadows and Secrets by. Arcadia Rayne
  • Here Lie All the Boys Who Broke My Heart by. Emma Summerman

Currently Reading:

A War of Wyverns by. S.F. Williamson

Stolen Midnights by. Katherine Quinn

Love and Other Brain Experiments by. Hannah Brohm

The Cure by. Pedro Urvi

Fallen Stars by. Imani Erriu

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Football
  • Stranger Things Season 5 Finale (Netflix) – What a series, what a show, people will either hate or love the ending but I found it bittersweet! What I love about the show is how it reminded me of my childhood in the 80’s – what a time to be alive SIGH…I miss 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!

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Weekly Wrap Up | 12/28/25

Aloha friends!

Another week is over and here’s what happened:

+ Christmas knocked me out! I was busy days before Christmas and then when that day hit, I had no energy because we went to a lively Xmas Eve party, then had to get up and do Christmas morning and get to Christmas lunch at my parent’s house. I was on the verge of sleeping during lunch but I at least made it to the car ride home to shut my eyes and then I got home and I knocked out. I had a headache, I had to get some electrolytes in me and just SLEEP.

+ Now I gotta figure out what to buy my daughter for her birthday. 🫠

Blog Posts:

Books I Finished

  • The Sins of Silas (The Otacian Chronicles, #2) by. Kylie Snow
  • The Lies of Lena (The Otacian Chronicles, #1) by. Kylie Snow (audiobook)
  • King of Ravens by. Clare Sager (arc)
  • The Book of Blood & Roses by. Annie Summerlee (arc)
  • Good Spirits by. B.K. Borison
  • Heavenly Bodies by. Imani Erriu (arc)

Currently Reading:

A Language of Dragons by. S.F. Willamson

Heart’s Gambit by. J.D. Myall

The Night Ship by. Alex Woodroe

The Wicked and the Damned by. Rebecca Robinson

Fallen Stars by. Imani Erriu (audiobook)

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Football
  • Stranger Things Season 5 Part 2 (Netflix) – I cannot believe the final episodes is on 12/31/25! Why they draw this out so long? 🤦🏻‍♀️

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!

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Weekly Wrap Up | 12/14/25

Aloha friends!

Another week is over and here’s what happened:

+ It was a busy week – I had to get Xmas gifts, send some of them, and my daughter had her annual school songfest.

+ Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate. We had hard rain and flood advisories today so my hubby made the decision not to take the kids to temple in town for the Hanukkah party, which was a good idea since there was flooding and a lot of car accidents. Instead I went to buy jelly doughnuts, we we watched football while my daughter and I made sugar cookies, and then my son and I made the latkes he made for the latke contest at temple last week. I love his recipe! It had dill and chili powder. I was so proud to see him actually cooking it also! 😅 (he NEVER cooks). It was tiring but fun!

Blog Posts:

Books I Finished

Currently Reading:

Song of the Stars by. Kaiti Mills

My Blade, Your Back by. K.M. Moronova

The Book of Blood & Roses by. Annie Summerlee

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Football
  • Mouline Rouge (Netflix)
  • Dirty Dancing (Neflix)

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!

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Weekly Wrap Up | 12/7/25

Aloha friends!

Another week is over and here’s what happened:

+ I think I forgot to post a weekly recap last week! So just quick, last weekend was Thanksgiving weekend and we went over to my mom’s house for a Thanksgiving lunch. No one really loves Turkey so we did other foods, but it was fun as always and nice to be around family.

+ My hubby came back last weekend also – he got the keys to the house in Japan, met the neighbor who is a really nice older man who lives with his sister (I think they are both single?), but they took my hubby to the hardware store and to a piano recital and dinner. My hubby came home and said he would love to go back in March and take our son for spring break. We can’t all go because the price of tickets during spring break is ridiculous. Just for the two of them was a lot – so we have to plan a family trip in 2027. We have enough going on in 2026! I might have to back on the book buying ban because we have trips to plan!

+ My son’s piano recital was yesterday and that was great. He practices two months out so we’ve been hearing his Christmas piano piece since October! 😅

+ My kids have two of school until Winter Break! Yay! It’s a busy month for us.

Blog Posts:

Books I Finished

  • A Vow of Shadow and Blood by. Charlene Antrobus
  • We’ve Hit Turbulence by. Jessica L. Cozzi
  • Your Knife, My Heart by. K.M. Moronova
  • The Ragpicker King by. Cassandra Clare
  • Hollow by. Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti
  • A Dance with Waves and Flames by. M.B. Reese
  • Oxford Blood by. Rachael Davis-Featherstone
  • We Who Have No Gods by. Liza Anderson
  • We’re a Bad Idea Right? by. K.L. Walther
  • Smoke and Scar by. Gretchen Powell Fox

Currently Reading:

Song of the Stars by. Kaiti Mills

Mate by. Ali Hazelwood

The Swan’s Daughter by. Roshani Chokshi (audiobook)

Dawn in Ruins by. Magda Mizzi

Seven Deadly Thorns by. Amber Hamilton

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Football
  • Stranger Things (Netflix) – Season 5, Part one – so good!
  • Sean Combs: The Reckoning (Netflix) – 😒
  • Christmas songs!

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!

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Weekly Wrap Up | 11/23/25

Aloha friends!

Another week is over and here’s what happened:

+ The week went by quick! I got a lot of reading done despite being totally focused on Brimstone by. Callie Hart. I had the need to go read some contemporary books because I think I’ve had enough of fantasy for right now. I’ll be back to it again this week, but I needed like 2-3 days reading contemporaries and that helped me knock off some arcs I have for January and February.

+ My hubby went to Japan yesterday, to get the keys to the house – he’s going to furnish it, etc… and my son at the last minute told me he had a gaming tournament at school. So I had to rearrange some schedules and be uber driver. I’m taking my kids to temple for Sunday school today since my hubby isn’t here and I’m wondering what else I can do in town. I can go to the bookstore but Barnes and Noble is expensive and I already bought books in the Book Outlet sale. 😅. Maybe I’ll just wait for them and read.

Blog Posts:

Books I Finished

Currently Reading:

Our Vicious Oaths by. N.E. Davenport

Drive Me Crazy by. Lizzy Dent

Smoke and Scar by. Gretchen Powell Fox

Sword Catcher by. Cassandra Clare – audiobook

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Football
  • Nobody Wants This (Season 2) – Netflix – it’s such a funny and cute show!
  • LUX by Rosalia is on repeat!!
  • Chains of Love – Charli XCX – on repeat

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!

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Weekly Wrap Up | 11/16/25

Aloha friends!

Another week is over and here’s what happened:

+ I’ve read all my arcs for December so I actually have time to read books on the backlist or books that’s I’ve been eyeing on Kindle Unlimited, or books on my bookshelf that I haven’t touched yet! Whoohoo! Maybe I can even re-read some books. Imagine that! 😅🤭

+ My mom brought up maybe taking a trip to the Philippines in June 2026. Her mom, my one last grandparent still living, just made 103 years old. We had wanted to go this winter, but with everything happening and her getting her infusions for her cancer treatment, she wasn’t sure. But her last scan was so good, she has another tomorrow and hoping it’s good news and we can plan this trip so she can see her mom. I haven’t visited the Philippines since 2001!!!! So it’s long overdue and I want my kids to see where their grandparents are from.

Blog Posts:

Books I Finished

Currently Reading:

Our Vicious Oaths by. N.E. Davenport

The Ordeals by. Rachel Greenlaw

Drive Me Crazy by. Lizzy Dent

All We Once Had by. Katy Upperman

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Football
  • Nobody Wants This (Season 2) – Netflix – it’s such a funny and cute show!
  • LUX by Rosalia is on repeat!!
  • Chains of Love – Charli XCX – love it and can’t wait for the Wuthering Heights soundtrack

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!

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Weekly Wrap Up | 11/9/25

Aloha friends!

Another week is over and here’s what happened:

+ It was my birthday week and all I wanted was a good election day (there was no election here in Hawaii) and wow, the results all over the country made my heart so happy so that was the best birthday gift ever.

+ But the government is still shutdown and my hubby has missed 2 paychecks…going on 3. We are dipping into savings – but I cannot believe this admin is saying no to jobs, no to feeding people, no to affordable healthcare but yes to building a ballroom? I cannot wait for midterms!

+ It’s a four day weekend for my kids and my hubby too. We’re gonna go have a belated birthday lunch or dinner for me.

Blog Posts:

Books I Finished

Currently Reading:

Vesselless by. Cortney L. Winn

Dead Fake by Vincent Ralph

Our Vicious Oaths by. N.E. Davenport

The Uninvited by. Nancy Banks

The Ordeals by. Rachel Greenlaw

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

  • Football
  • Wicked: One Wonderful Night
  • Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2025 – was only watching to see what Olivia Rodrigo would perform and wow Salt-N-Pepa got inducted in!!! Talk about bringing me back to my childhood – I grew up on their music. Their performance was so good! Olivia did amazing – I love the White Stripes. Twenty-One Pilots did amazing too! And OutKast getting inducted was awesome too – the music of my 20’s, I loved it! The Soundgarden tribute was amazing too – I still remembering being devastated when I heard Chris Cornell passed, Black Hole Sun was one of my favorite songs. The show was way too long and I was streaming it on youtube since we cancelled Disney+ – I wanted to see Cyndi Lauper – the music of my early childhood, of course lol but I had to do other things.

Music – Lux – Rosalia – I transcended when I listened to this!!! I LOVE IT. It’s definitely the kind of music that cleanses my music palate. I needed this. I even cried to Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti. I haven’t cried to music in forever….I grew up Catholic and I’ve had such a challenging relationship with it (mostly when I was young) and I’m at peace with it now, but it took so much growing. But one thing I always miss about going to mass…the music. Anyway, this album….does something to my soul. It’s on repeat!

Dunno if UMG will remove this video like it did with the last one but whatever…I love all the songs on the album, I can’t pick one right now! She sings in a few different languages on this album which is so AMAZING. I can’t understand any of the foreign languages, I know very little Spanish even though I took it in college but it was easier to practice in college because I went to school in Los Angeles and my Latina friends exposed me to so much music!! So I might have understood more back then but not now and it’s okay because this album makes me feel without having to understand what is being said.

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!

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