Monthly Reset: July 2024

Hi, bookish besties! Well, there have been quite a few changes around here lately! 

As you know, Cossette has decided to leave the blog (which I fully support and love her to pieces always and forever) and because of that, I’ve been thinking about how I want to move forward with the blog. I love having this platform, as well as my bookstagram to connect with you all, and have been thinking of new things that I can do to keep things fresh and I’m so excited to share that info with you! 

To start, I thought that I’d do a little revamp now that it’s just me here. I love the way the blog looked when it was me, Mary, and Coco, and I love how it looked with it being just me and Coco, but it felt right to change things up again now that it’s just me. In my bullet journals (book, personal and work) I love doing a somewhat scrapbook-style look — lots of torn paper and other little embellishments. I scrapbooked a lot as a kid (one year for my birthday I had a scrapbooking party) so it feels very personal to me. I’ve created a whole new set of banners and sign offs for the blog that fit this style, and I’m excited to use them now! Of course, we’re sticking with a purple theme because who am I if everything in my life isn’t purple?

I’ve also added a few new types of blog posts! At the beginning of every month, I’m going to do a monthly reset, where I share with you some of the things I’m looking forward to for that month, general life things that are going on, and my reading and blog plans. I always get so excited for the beginning of a new month, and I think sharing what I’ve got planned with you all will help keep me accountable!

Other new types of posts that I’m planning to include are Concert Reviews, Life Updates, Media Reviews (albums, tv shows, movies, etc.), Theatre Reviews, and Trip Highlights. While the primary focus of the blog will still be books, I want to share some more detailed thoughts and opinions about the things I enjoy with you! And who knows, maybe I’ll finally get around to launching the baking series I’ve been meaning to do since this blog started 3 years ago…

I’ve also changed my posting schedule. Instead of only posting on Thursdays, I’ll be posting any day of the week and will (hopefully) be posting twice a week!

We’re now in the height of summer, and the height of summer camps at work. My work life is incredibly busy right now and it does take up most of my time. Work things have been going well, which is great and I really can’t believe how quickly the summer is flying by! 

With work taking up most of my time, it’s hard to find time to do anything else. But, this month I’m hoping to be extra intentional about doing things for self-care to help prevent burn out, even if it’s something as simple as staying in bed for most of the day on a weekend to let my body rest. Last summer took so much out of me (it was a rough summer all around) and to be totally honest, I’m still feeling some of the effects, so I’m trying to make this summer kinder to me than last year was.

A few weeks ago I got the idea to get new bookshelves for my room. The bookshelves I have right now I inherited and while they’re still in good condition, I don’t think they’re the best use of my space, so I’m hoping to find some bookshelves that would better suit my needs. I’ve been looking around and think I’ve found a few, but we’ll see and, with my schedule, it might not make sense to do this until August/September.

My best friend’s birthday is this month and I’m excited to celebrate her even if I can’t do so in person! I have plans to visit her in August when I take some time off work, so this month I want to solidify those plans and book flights.

My sister’s birthday is at the beginning of August, so I need to start planning what I’m going to get her for her birthday (though I did buy us tickets to see the tour of Frozen at the end of August which is also a birthday present for her) and figure out what we’ll do to celebrate since her birthday is on a weekday and I have work.

I feel like I have been looking forward to July 2024 for over a year, and really, that’s because I have. This month Niall Horan brings his tour The Show Live On Tour to my city and I am BUZZING with excitement! I’ve loved Niall since the One Direction days and I can’t wait to see him in concert again. I saw him with One Direction, and I saw his Flicker World Tour in 2018 at the same venue and it was an incredible night. What’s even more exciting is that this time I have tickets for the VIP Lounge and 10th-row seats for the concert. I seriously can’t wait, I’ve been counting down the days, planning my outfit, making friendship bracelets — all of the things! This is the highlight of my July and probably my entire summer.

Ann Liang is doing an event near me with Kyla Zhao this month and I’m really hoping to go. All of Ann’s books have been 5 stars for me, so I’d love to go to an event and get to meet her and (hopefully) get my books signed.

The Olympics start this month and I cannot wait! I love the Olympics — I get pretty obsessive tbh, and the summer Olympics are my favorite. My favorite sports are gymnastics, soccer, swimming, and volleyball, but I really love watching everything during the Olympics.

As you all know, I’m a mood reader, so I don’t have too many definite plans. However, I am of course participating in Summerween starting on Friday and I can’t wait! If you don’t know what Summerween is, it’s a summer readathon hosted by GabbyReads on Booktube, you can see the announcement video here and the Summerween Instagram. I started participating in Summerween last year and had so much fun, so I’m looking forward to doing it again! I’m hoping I get to everything on my Summerween TBR and I’ll be sharing a Summerween wrap up/mini reviews once the readathon is finished!

Oh, and let’s take a second to freak out over the Summerween merch! The merch is designed by Gabby’s sister Rachel, and I love her art so much (you can check out Rachel’s account here and support her Etsy shop!). I’m obsessed with it and can’t wait to wear my shirt while reading some thrillers during the readathon. I love that Rachel designs stickers for the readathon, so just like with Winterween, I bought the stickers and set up a journal spread for Summerween in my reading journal!

Otherwise, I don’t have too many specific reading plans for July. I’ve got some ARCs that will be released in August (and a few that are coming out later this month), so I definitely want to get to those, but otherwise, I’ll be mood-reading as always!

And there you have it, my first monthly reset post! I hope you enjoyed this post and be sure to let me know in the comments if there’s anything you’d like to see in these posts moving forward!

Until next time, besties!