wrap it up [may]

May has simultaneously flown and dragged. It hasn’t felt at all like a real month, and I’ve been left shattered. I need a good week or two off to recover.

I’ve effectively been on a short tour of the country this month, but due to poor financing I’ve mostly been living off of frozen food and the finest fries festival trucks can offer. The highlights were:

Greggs Vegan Sausage Rolls – I love being in the north where there’s an abundance of Greggs. My body is less happy with my levels of consumption.

Lemonade ice lollies – It’s become a Slam Dunk tradition to have a lolly at some point. For me, the prime time for one was during Tigers Jaw’s set at North and during New Found Glory at South.

The Diner – I finally made good on my promise to Matt. We went to the Shoreditch branch before Microwave last Tuesday. I possibly had the best vegan shake of my life thus far. However, I am easily pleased and a vanilla shake with Oreo’s is my favourite. We ate far too much and regretted it for most of the show, but what can you do?

I’m still working my way through Cellini’s Autobiography as I managed to misplace it just as I got up to the halfway mark. Although it’s a translation, it seems that Cellini’s voice has been conveyed well and I can’t wait to finish it. His entire life is one wild ride.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Trans is, comparatively, a little less enjoyable. It’s a slow read and definitely could have done with some more fine tuning, but it seems to be a good resource. I’m about 20% through it at the moment, and once we’re firmly out of the basics my opinion might change. I probably should be considering this from the perspective of someone who wants to be an ally, rather than someone who is trans though.

I started A Woman’s Age as I needed to take something to work that could be left there for the weekend. I’m only about forty pages in, and I think I’m going to put in hold as I’m not really in the right place to enjoy it. Right now, I want to finish the other two and power through my NetGalley books and then get back to some more medieval works.

Images soured from Goodreads

I’ve not really been in the mood to read this month, and I’ve spent most of my lunch breaks and commutes doing other things which is usually when the bulk of my reading is done.

Six books seems weak, especially when three of them were effectively one day reads. Sometimes that’s just how it is though. I shouldn’t put myself down.

Images soured from Wikipedia

Detective Pikachu – I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun watching a movie. There were some iffy plot lines, but the style was so immersive. I really loved the hybridisation of locations; who doesn’t enjoy recognising places that they frequent? I’m pretty sure the cute qualities of these pokemon are what led me to spending a small fortune winning a Bulbosaur at Thorpe Park.

How to Get Away with Murder – I always need to watch something before bed, and as I’ve already finished the show (or at least the seasons available on Netflix UK) this is perfect. Although, we did have to switch to something more lighthearted when it started stressing Matt out and keeping him up.

Wine Country – We watched this out of the blue one evening. I watched it based on someone’s twitter recommendation, and whilst it was okay, it wasn’t really anything to shout home about. I definitely considered turning it off a few times.

Reduce my NetGalley stack: Two out of six of the books I read this month were from NetGalley, and I’ve started a third. Not too bad.
Sort out my planner: I did sort out my general plan for the month, and I now don’t need to leave in fear of double booking myself, but I didn’t create a plan for my blog schedule.
Make some decisions: I got a new theme and started using Canva to try and create a more cohesive look. However, I’ve not really had the time to consider content. I’m just going to keep going with the flow for now.
Fix the look: Now I’ve got some graphics, I need to fix the sizing a little (read: master the featured image sizing), and I think I want to go back through my posts and give them all the same style. I’ve got less than 40 posts so it’s definitely achievable, and some of my older posts look dire.

Make smarter health decisions – I feel gross from eating so much bad food throughout May. We only did one real food shop and I need that to change for June. My plan is to try and get back to at least five portions of fruits/vegetables, and cut out my sugary snack break at work. Nobody needs to consume as many starbursts as I do.

Swimming accessories – I’ve been paid so there’s no excuses now. I want a pair of goggles and at least one more cute bathing suit. If I’m gonna be misgendered everyday I might as well have a good cozzy on.

Take more me time – I made too many last minute plans this month and sacrificed pretty much every free second that I had. Sure, I had a ton of fun (and a lot of it was free), but, I’m now past the point of exhaustion and I don’t want to keep feeling this way because it’s a contributing factor to poor mental health.

In my opinion, this was a fine month for posts. I want to build on this momentum, over June and try to get out at least one review a week. Everyone talks about how their review posts don’t do well, but I really enjoy writing them and if you’re not blogging for yourself, what’s the point?

the princess diarist : a review

mid-week catch up [2]

the da vinci legacy : an e-arc review

mid-week catch up [3]

books i added to my dnf list in may

Well, there was the month of May, and this post almost went up at a reasonable time! How was your month? Link me to your wrap ups – they’re one of my favourite post types!

mid-week catch up

I’ve never done one of these posts, but I just made 72 accidental changes to my blog today and I feel like talking. So, here we go.

Big news! I finally managed to get my ass out of bed and go swimming before work. It was a lovely time and I actually felt more awake during the day. Who would have thought that exercise would release endorphins?

Hopefully I can keep this up and get a little healthier because my health has been a state over the past few months.

I have been switching between books like it’s going out of fashion. I keep alternating between Chronicles by Chris Given-Wilson and Autobiography by Benvenuto Cellini. I also interrupted both books to read Nightlight, which is a short Twilight parody. It’s not that either of the books are boring, I just don’t seem to be able to concentrate.

I took today off as a sick day thanks to a nice little illness flare up. It really annoyed me because I’d planned to update our knowledge base at work. I have a thing for coloured tables and pie charts at the moment, and I’m taking every opportunity I can get my mitts on to use them.

Despite the guilt, staying at home allowed me to get some extra sleep and finally stop feeling like I was going to empty my internal organs out. I also tried out Canva after seeing a million other bloggers post about it.

Until today I’d been using paint.net to create my graphics, and I wasn’t in love with them. Back in high school I was pretty nifty with graphic design, but through neglect and a new laptop with no handy downloads I had no ability to make anything that was worthwhile. Everything screamed amateur.

That’s not to say that I’ve become an expert in a day though. What I’ve made today has impressed me; I’ve spent a few hours playing around and the site is pretty user friendly. However, I think it’s geared more towards using an actual desktop with a mouse rather than my trackpad. I’m going to have to keep exploring the shortcuts to make my life easier. If anyone has any tips and tricks posts, please link me to them!

I do kind of want to go through my blog and edit all my posts so that everything has a cohesive look. At this point I’ve tried three or four presentation styles. Is this something people do though?

I also used today as an opportunity to create some socials. I already had Twitter, but I’ve now added Pinterest and Instagram to the mix.

Originally, I made the Instagram account midway through April. As we all know though, I suck at getting content out. So, I uploaded a couple of things today and we’ll see how it goes. For now, I’ve only got scenic shots up, there’s nothing book related. I might keep it that way as I haven’t managed to master the art of cute book photos.

Pinterest is something I created on a whim, and I’m not entirely sure how to use it yet. I have a feeling that something will probably click soon enough and I’ll end up devoting entire evenings to it.

In the midst of trying out like seven themes I actually selected one rather than testing it out. Instead of being upset with myself though, I took it as a sign that this should be the theme I go with. It’s called Colinear and so far, I’m all about it. The only thing that kind of upsets me is the quality of my header, but I can fix that if I put the energy into resizing the image.

My last theme was Franklin, and whilst I didn’t hate it, it was pretty basic and I couldn’t customise it to the extent that I wanted to. I much prefer a lighter and brighter colour palette.

Hit me up with some reviews, are you a fan of the new look? Have you got any tips and tricks posts for making the most of free themes? Do you have a guide to Canva? Drop some links below; I am a boy in need.

Also I follow a grand total of 0 people on Insta so that needs to be remedied too…

wrap it up [april]

Okay, it’s time to wrap up the end of April. It absolutely flew by, and as hard as I tried to keep up with the blog I just had far too much on to cope with. I think I’ve come to terms with not being able to keep up with weekly wrap ups and from now on I’m going to do a monthly wrap with maybe a small ‘what’s happening irl’ post a week.

I’ve hardly cooked anything this month, but I have tried a ton of new things! My body has been a little more open to moving out of my usual food routine, so I’ve been making the most of it.

As I spent a lot of the month away, I also got to eat a lot of good bread. Why does everywhere else in Europe have superior skills in bread-making?

VeganLove – It was so good that we visited twice, I almost went back a third time, and honestly it was a mistake that I didn’t. I ended up getting ill from the place I chose to go to.

Pizza Me – Cheap and cheerful. We also went here twice, it’s pizza by the slice and the vegan one was divine. I added a little extra chilli oil. There’s no vegan cheese, however, I’m not really a fan of most vegan cheeses so for me, that was a bonus!

Magnums – I had never been more grateful to see a magnum than on Margaret Island.

The Stable – We went here on a whim as I’d heard that they had a vegan pizza. They actually had four to choose from and offered to veganise any of their other options. I can’t remember the name of the pizza I went for, but it was superb. The base was light and crispy and tasted fantastic. The only thing I’d have liked was to have been able to add additional toppings; for me no pizza is complete without a healthy serving of jalapenos. I’m definitely going to go back for a date night with Matt.

Vegan Chocolate Cake – Imagine, a store-bought vegan cake. I want to consume like ten of these.

Swedish Glace Vanilla Sticks – These were kind of disappointing after the magnums. They’re super small and the chocolate would be better suited to a choc ice. They’re definitely not worth £3.50 for 5. Just get the tub and add your own chocolate.

Okay, so I finished April in the midst of a couple of books, but with no real interest in reading them. So, I’m going to fill you in on what I’m reading at the moment.

I started reading Chronicles the day I bought it from the British Heart Foundation because I was so damn excited about it! Anyone who knows me by now understands that if I’m going to buy a book it has to earn its place on the shelf before I’ll read it. This is kinda so I don’t feel guilty about the purchase and also because I love how my shelves look and watching them change. It’s like an extra art piece.

Moving on though, my real enthusiasm stemmed from being tired of reading contemporary books. I feel like I’m getting NetGalley burnout even though I’ve only read two books so far. I just needed to dip my toes back into the Middle Ages.

Anyway, the book is about the chroniclers of England which is a topic I’ve been meaning to delve into for a while. Some chroniclers have acquired an almost mystical presence in fiction and non-fiction alike. So, I wanted the hard facts. Given-Wilson tends to state that something is a ‘fact’ at least once per paragraph, sometimes twice or thrice. It’s super interesting though and I’ve got a word document with all of my favourite quotes as I can’t quite bring myself to use a highlighter in it.

I also started reading Cellini’s Autobiography because I didn’t want to get Chronicles wet in the bath.

Images soured from Goodreads

Last month I set myself the task of finishing The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs before I went to Paris, but I just couldn’t find the energy for it. In the end, I returned it. I can always go back to it if the mood takes me.

I also decided to remove Alan Turning from my shelf. I couldn’t see myself enjoying the rest of it. The last time I tried to pick it up I was skim reading and skipping pages, and it wasn’t enjoyable. So, I’m saying goodbye to it for now. Again, it’s always going to be stocked in a library should I have a sudden desire to read it.

Once I’ve finished Chronicles I’m going to effectively put my own books on hold until I’ve read through all my NetGalley titles with a release date of May or June. That should then bring me to a nice point where I can spend June downsizing my own shelves.

Images soured from Goodreads

I didn’t get through as many books as I wanted to this month, but I have done a ton more than I usually would. May is fairly quiet until the last weekend when I’ve got Slam Dunk and three gigs, so hopefully I can pick up some momentum.

It’s been quite a mixed month in terms of reading quality, there’s been some reads that I hated (Arkham Asylum), unexpected loves (The Turn of the Screw) and absolute favourites (Mary Queen of Scots).

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Images soured from Wikipedia

Avengers Endgame – Fuck this movie. I’m still not ready to talk about all the issues I have with it and we’re now almost halfway through May.

Someone Great – I needed something light to watch when my dog woke me up at 6am wanting to hang out. I really enjoyed it, and it was nice to see a focus on the lives of all three women and their friendship. Erin and Leah’s relationship was also brought to the forefront rather than being a small subplot.

I definitely watched more than this, but they were pretty much all re-watches. I saw The Winter Solider seven times in April. I think I might have a problem.

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Catch up with reviews: I managed to publish a few, but I still have a stack of notes to work through for others. I also have 10 more NetGalley books to read and review. Intense.
Read and return library books: I read 3 out of 4 and returned them all!
Reset my routine: Kind of. I wake up between 6:00 and 6:30 now, but I’m not exactly productive. I think over this month I’m going to try and make it 6:00 every day and try to either read or go swimming.

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Reduce my NetGalley stack – I’d kind of like to clear it by the end of June,and in future instead of sending out a ton of requests I’ll be more selective. I had no idea that I’d be approved for almost all the books I requested.

Sort out my planner – I keep almost double booking myself so I should probably actually start using the planner I bought. I spent a ton of money getting a really nice one from paperchase and for the most part, it just sits under my bed.

Make some decisions – I need to figure out what sort of content I want on here. I quite like reviewing books, but I want to talk about them more and actually discuss their content. In reviews I feel like I’m limited to saying the bare minimum in fear of spoiling the read for someone else.