Wrap Up: October 2024

Hey besties, (Karen Smith in Mean Girls the Musical voice) Happy Halloween! Oh boy oh boy what a month October has been…there have been a lot of ups and a lot of downs, but we got through it!

Get comfy and cozy and let’s chat about all things October!

I hit my reading goal this month! My 150th book read this year was Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks (Goodreads has Someone in the Attic as my 150th read but that’s because one of the plays I read isn’t listed on Goodreads so it’s a book behind) and I’m so glad that the book that made me hit my reading goal was a 5 star! 

I read a lot of books this month, and that’s definitely in part to the fact that I read the Amazon Originals Busybodies short story collection, but even without that I managed to read 15 books, which I think is pretty fantastic! I didn’t end up reading any of the things on my Halloween season TBR, I’m proud of having read so much this month! 

Books read this month:

• Midnight on Beacon Street by Emily Ruth Verona (1 star)
• Make Me a Mixtape by Jennifer Whiteford (3 stars, ARC)
• Home Sweet Home by Sarah Pinkser (3 stars)
• Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio (4.5 stars)
• The Bitter End by Alexa Donne (3 stars, ARC)
• Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks (5 stars)
• Someone in the Attic by Andrea Mara (3.5 stars)
• A New Lease on Death by Olivia Blacke (3 stars, ARC)
• The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore (3 stars)
• Staged by Elle Cosimano (3 stars)
• The Reunion Dinner by Jesse Q. Sutanto (2.5 stars)
• A Crime of Fashion by Emma Resenblum (2.5 stars)
• The Nosy Neighbor by Nita Prose (3 stars)
• One Lucky Subscriber by Kelley Garrett (2 stars)
• A Classic Case by Alicia Thompson (4 stars)
• Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice (2 stars)
• Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay (3.5 stars)
• Everything is Poison by Joy McCullough (4.5 stars, ARC)
• Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (5 stars, reread)
• No Place Left to Hide by Megan Lally (4.5 stars, ARC)
• Macbeth by William Shakespeare (5 stars, reread)

Blog posts and vlogs I loved this month:

• I love reading a good holiday romance, and I thought that Timothy Janovsky’s holiday romance that came out in 2022 You’re a Mean Once, Matthew Prince, was really enjoyable so I was excited to see that he had another holiday romance coming out this year! Helena’s review of The Merriest Misters made me even more excited to pick this one up during the winter holidays. 
• I’ll be honest, R.L. Stein and I don’t vibe (well, I usually like his ideas, but the books don’t really work for me), and I won’t be reading the Fear Street books any time soon (I love the films though), did I spend 5 hours watching Gavin from Gavin Reads It All review all 51 original Fear Street books? Yeah, I did. Did I have a great time while doing it? Again, yes, I did. I’ll watch anything that Gavin posts, but these hours long full series reviews are definitely my favorite!

My posts this month:

• Monthly Reset
• My Favorite Things: Fall Favorites
• Graveyard Shift Review

October was such a busy month for me! 

Work was super busy with getting prepped for the show I’m stage managing this weekend, and then starting prep for the show that I’m directing and starting rehearsal for on Sunday. I’m also doing prep work for the musical I’ll be directing/choreographing and stage managing (yes, I know, it’s a lot. yes, it’s possible) since we have auditions in December. My work life has been very busy!

My personal life has also been very busy! I was basically doing something almost every weekend this month. My mom and I saw the touring production of Wicked and had a wonderful time. We saw the show together for the first time 15 years ago, and it was so wonderful to see it with her again. This current touring cast is absolutely incredible, and we had a great time. 

I went to a pumpkin festival with my sister and brother-in-law and saw the biggest pumpkins and hydrangeas I’ve ever seen, so that was fun! It was a fun day, but we definitely lost steam towards the end of the afternoon, especially when the crowds got really intense (and a bit rude tbh). I also found a Christmas present for my dad while there, so I’m happy to have a jump start on my holiday shopping!

I also took my mom to see Kelli O’Hara in concert this month, which was truly incredible. I wish we were able to take photos/videos during the performance because I would love to relive that experience, but at the same time I’m glad we couldn’t so that we could really live in the moment. Kelli is one of my favorite performers of all time, and seeing her live is always such a treat. Her vocals are completely top notch, and it was amazing to get to hear her sing some of my favorite songs live for the first time. Yes, I cried when she sang To Build a Home from Bridges of Madison County (technically, I cried before the song even started), and especially when she sang She Loves Me and dedicated it to Gavin Creel. Hearing Kelli O’Hara sing live honestly makes you feel grateful to be alive. She’s just on a whole different level. She also led a sing along during Getting to Know You, so technically, I have sung with Kelli O’Hara. 

Then this last weekend, I took a quick trip to New York to visit Helena and go see the last performance for 8 Original Broadway Cast members of & Juliet. I may have only been in the city for 2 full days, but we accomplished a lot! On Saturday we visited the Bryant Park Winter Village, which had opened up the day before, and I’ve never been in the city when the Winter Village was happening, so that was super fun. Spent some time reading in the library, then we got some raclette sandwiches (oh my god, so good!), and looked at the shops and got some cute art prints before heading over to the Hudson Theater to see Once Upon a Mattress!

I haven’t seen a live production of Once Upon a Mattress since my theatre company did it when I was a kid and I really did forget how fun the show is! I was looking forward to seeing Sutton Foster, but her standby Kara Lindsay was on as Fred and oh my gosh, I really was so excited! I love Kara Lindsay so much, and while I’ve seen her perform in a concert setting, and watched the Newsies proshot a bunch of times, I’ve never seen her in a musical before, and she truly was the perfect Fred. The show was so much fun and I’m really glad that we decided to see it!

We saw Romeo + Juliet that night, and while I was very excited I was also very nervous, but overall I really enjoyed it! It definitely gave me some Baz Luhrmann R&J vibes, but make it Gen Z. For me, when it comes to Shakespeare adaptations/new productions, I want them to fully commit to whatever concept they’ve created and this production definitely did that. I also thought that Rachel Zegler and Kit Conner were fantastic and really loved getting to see the two of them. The balcony scene (my personal favorite) was so beautiful and I really love the way that scene in particular was staged. The addition of music also worked really well.

On Sunday we ended up getting rush tickets to Yellow Face and I’m so glad that we did! It’s one of my favorite plays and I’ve always wanted to see it live and it was brilliant. The entire cast was amazing, and I really loved the use of the rotating set pieces and projections. It was a really well done production, and impeccably acted. 

Then Sunday night was the reason for the trip, & Juliet. As always, seeing & Juliet is such a great time and the highlight of the trip, but this performance really was extra special. You could feel the excitement and sadness and joy in the air. One of the most special moments was definitely the standing ovation that the Players got before the show officially started. The whole audience was there to celebrate these amazing performers, and I think you could feel that the entire time. I haven’t cried that much during a show since the last show that I performed in probably (to be fair, I always cry at shows, but this was a lot) and I’m just so thankful that I was able to be there and experience that with my best friend!

This month I finally watched School Spirits (yeah, I know, late to the party) and I really enjoyed it! I’m so glad that it got picked up for another season because I thought it was very well done and that ending plot twist was a really good one, so I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes!

I finished Simone Biles Rising, and honestly loved getting to revisit the Summer Olympics through the documentary. I find her so inspiring and real, I could watch endless documentaries about her; I just think she’s amazing.

Both School Spirits and Simone Biles Rising made good TV to watch while I had an overnight layover at the airport!

Similarly to the books, I just didn’t have time to watch all the Halloween themed things I wanted to this month. This month was, in addition to being filled with wonderful things, filled with some very bad mental health days, so I needed some lighter things to watch. However, I did do rewatches of all the Fear Street Movies and Totally Killer, which is a favorite of mine, and today I’m planning on watching The Haunting of Hill House because I love to watch it on Halloween. 

Kelsea Ballerini’s new album Patterns came out this past Friday, and I absolutely love it. Kelsea really never misses for me. I’ll have to keep listening to really pick my favorite tracks, but aside from the ones we had already heard, the big standouts on the first two listens were Patterns, Baggage, Nothing Really Matters and I Would, Would You, but I really do love the entire album. 

As always, sharing my top 10 songs of the month, and as always, it’s all filled with Niall 🤣 October was honestly, a rough mental health month, and when my mental health is not doing great, really the only artist that comforts me and makes me feel better is Niall, so it makes sense that my top 10 this month is only Niall. 

And there you have it! October was a very busy month, but it had a lot of really great moments. Tell me in the comments what you read this month, and some of your favorite moments!

Until next time! 💜