August & September Highlights!

Posted in Fun, Life, Novels by Maggie @ macarons & paperbacks

Happy Saturday everyone :) If you’re like me and you live on the east coast, it’s probably a rainy Saturday, but doesn’t that make for perfect reading weather? Today I’m hoping to finish Scarlet by Marissa Meyer while watching some college football. Yay for fall!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve been pretty absent lately. Everything’s fine, just a little pregnancy fatigue (Little Baby French Fry is due in just over 3 weeks), but I did have some fun highlights from the end of the summer that I wanted to share!

August & September Highlights

I read 6 books:

I still need to write my review for Sense and Sensibility, but I’m hoping to get to that this month before the baby is born.

Most Popular Posts:

Monday Updates
Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I’ve Read the Most

What I Watched:

The past week or two I’ve been binge watching the latest seasons of CSI (one of my long-time favorite shows that just ended last weekend after 15 seasons). I liked how the show ended, and Ted Danson was a great show runner for the past few seasons. I’m gonna miss new episodes :( but I’m thinking about giving CSI: Cyber a try.

Highlights:

Friends & family visiting – In August my sister visited us for a weekend and it was fun getting to show her around town.
Kilwins!
Meeting new friends! – Last month I was able to meet with my online friend Alise @ Read. Write. Repeat for lunch since we only live a few hours away from each other and it was so nice to chat with her for a bit! I don’t have very many friends in “real life” who are readers and/or bloggers, so it’s always a special treat when I can meet online friends who are also huge bookworms. She was also sweet enough to buy Little Baby French fry this book of nursery rhymes:
Baby Shower! – My family & friends threw me a lovely tea party themed baby shower last month and it was absolutely beautiful! I’ve always wanted to have a tea party with friends and this one was extra special because we got to celebrate our little French Fry. He’s already loved so much!
Maternity photo session with my best friend Jae – My wonderful friend Jae drove down from Pennsylvania to spend the weekend of my baby shower with me and right before she left she took some maternity photos for us. Jae also did our engagement pictures which are AMAZING, and the maternity photos she took are just as beautiful! Here’s her website if you live in the PA area.
Fall & football – It’s finally football season! You can ask my husband, most Saturdays I spend in the living room with a game on. Sometimes I read at the same time, but if it’s a team I care about I’m usually cheering or yelling at the TV ;) Our dog doesn’t like football season for this reason…
Final weeks of pregnancy – There are only 3 weeks left until I hit my due date! I’m hoping the little guy comes early because not only am I running out of room in my belly, but my in-laws are visiting the week he’s due and it would be really nice to have at least a few days to get used to parenting before we have visitors. No matter how happy I am to have friends and family visiting, I’m the type of person who will always gets stressed out about it. I’m just that type of person…
35 weeks pregnant.

Challenges:

Hormones – This has been my biggest struggle the past month. I anticipated it, considering how the beginning of my pregnancy went, but it’s still hard when you start crying for no reason or have trouble falling/staying asleep each night. I’ve also gotten to that point where I really don’t like how I look. That’s what it means to become a mom, I guess.

Looking Forward to in October:

BABY MONTH!
Halloween, cooler weather, and fall festivities – It’s the most wonderful time of the year!
Matt’s parents visiting from France! – We haven’t seen them in over a year and they’re visiting us for a week, mainly to see their new grandson (hopefully he comes on time!).

8Jul2015

May & June Highlights

Posted in Disney, Fun, Life, Novels by Maggie @ macarons & paperbacks

I haven’t done a highlights post in forever! It feels nice to be back into blogging regularly :)

Here is what I was up to the past two months…

I read 8 books.

Which is a lot considering I was still coming off my reading slump last month.

Most Popular Posts

Where I’ve Been – It was nice to finally share with everyone our exciting news and explain why I’d been absent for several months.

25 Things: Ever After’s Château de Hautefort – I love that this post from last summer is still so popular, especially since it was on my bucket list for so long & I’d love to revisit it!

What I Watched

I finally got to catch up with my favorite web series! I updated my ‘Literary Vlogs’ sidebar to reflect some of the new YouTube shows I’ve been watching, like Northbound and From Mansfield With Love (adaptations of Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park, respectively).

I relate very much to Catherine Morland…and of course, who doesn’t love Henry Tilney?!

I also caught up on From Mansfield With Love, finally. It’s a harder Jane Austen novel to adapt, but the frequent cameos from the minor characters make it pretty interesting :)

May & June Highlights

Traveling – I traveled a lot the past two months. Probably more than a pregnant lady should, but I always had a buddy with me (either family members or Solo) and it was nice to visit friends and family.
2nd Trimester! – After the first trimester’s ups and downs, it’s been like a breath of fresh air being in my second trimester. We also got to see our “little baby french fry” up close and found out it’s a boy! Since then we’ve been preparing our tiny apartment (and ourselves) for his arrival. Every time I see a friend has had her baby I get a tiny bit jealous! For now, labor doesn’t scare me, but I’m sure that’ll change in a few months!
24 weeks as of July 6th!
VACATION! – Last week we went on a family reunion cruise. It was wonderful :)
My husband and me in Key West (we also visited Cozumel).

Carnival Ecstasy

My mom’s side of the family :)

My brother would probably kill me if he knew I put this online, but I love this picture so much! We were all pretty exhausted on the drive back from Miami.

We also got to spend 4th of July at EPCOT so my husband and I got an unexpected Disney fix (thanks to my aunt’s sister who works at the parks).

Isn’t he cute? ;)

May & June Challenges

Feeling hungry all the time – This has been the one pitfall to my second trimester. I feel like I’m hungry so often, and most of the time the only foods I want to eat are sweets and junk food =P I’ve always been active and have had a fast metabolism, so it’s hard for me to limit myself but I don’t want to overindulge at the same time.
Missing having a job – I wasn’t able to find a job before we moved to Wilmington, and after I hit the 12 weeks mark I figured it would just be best for me to take it easy and pick up my job search early next year. But I miss having a routine and that extra income. If anyone knows of some reliable, non-telemarketing, work-from-home jobs, PLEASE let me know!

Things I’m Looking Forward To in July

More traveling – Hey, it’s better to get all this traveling in now than when after the baby arrives!
Catching up on reading – I’m trying to put a big dent in my Classics TBR plus I have tons of unread books on my shelves that I’d like to get to sometime this year.
Summer activities with friends – We have some game nights and beach days penned down for the summer that my husband and I are both looking forward to (although I’m much more hesitant about the ocean after the 8th North Carolina shark attack this year was reported a few days ago…).

July To Be Read

My husband and I are continuing through our read along of the Harry Potter series. I started reading The Martian last month and although it’s holding my attention, it does take a while to read. I’m seriously behind on my Classics Club list, so I’m picking up Elizabeth Gaskell’s Wives and Daughters this month.

What was your favorite moment from June?

16Jun2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Summer To Be Read List

Posted in Fun, Novels by Maggie @ macarons & paperbacks

It feels nice to be making these lists again :) This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is our summer reading lists! I have a diverse line-up for the months ahead, including science fiction, some classics, young adult reads, and a rereading of some childhood favorites!

The Martian by Andy Weir – I read so many phenomenal reviews for this book last year, and after seeing the recent trailer for the movie adaptation coming out in October, my husband and I both want to read this sci-fi adventure.

Harry Potter Series (1-3) by J.K. Rowling – My husband, who rarely reads, recently voiced interest in reading one of my all-time favorite series. We started Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone last week

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen – For Austen in August this year I’m finally going to reread the first Austen novel I ever read. I also really want to watch the 1995 movie version again!

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler – Another book I’ve lined up for Austen in August. I absolutely adore the movie adaptation of this book, so I can’t wait to finally dive into the original version! I’m expecting it to be very different, but I hope to still enjoy it.

The Boy Most Likely To by Huntley Fitzpatrick – I’ve talked about my excitement for this spin-off before, but it’s finally almost here!

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton – This novel has been on my Classic Club list for a couple of years now, but since seeing the movie Jurassic World this past weekend, I really want to experience the book that created the franchise! I hear that it’s quite different from the films.

The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne – Every July for the past two years I have read a Jules Verne book to personally celebrate Bastille Day (the national holiday of France). This year I’ve picked The Mysterious Island to read!

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy – I started participating in a War and Peace Read-Along earlier this year, but I unexpectedly had to drop out halfway through. I’m hoping to finish this chunkster sometime this summer.