The end of May seems to have hit me out of nowhere and truthfully, I’m not ready for the end of it because the start of June means the busiest time of the year for me with work. However, I have no control of that and the end of May is here, so let’s talk about the month!
May was definitely a slower physical reading month for me. I relied heavily on audiobooks this month as I felt like I didn’t really have the mental energy to sit and read. However, when I was able to sit and read physically, I did read for pretty long periods of time.
I also got to reread and annotate Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson before season 2 of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder was released, so that was a good bonus for me and I was glad I got to annotate as I’ve missed doing so!
Unfortunately, no blog posts from me this month aside from my wrap up. I had a post planned but didn’t really have the time and/or energy to get a post done.
Books read this month:
- Muffin But the Truth by Ellie Alexander (3.5 stars)
- Catch Me if You Candy by Ellie Alexander (3.5 stars)
- A Smoking Bun by Ellie Alexander (3.5 stars)
- Tripping Arcadia by Kit Mayquist (3 stars)
- Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson (reread, 5 stars)
- The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett (4 stars)
- The Sun and the Starmaker by Rachel Griffin (4 stars)
- Sticks and Scones by Ellie Alexander (3.5 stars)
- Killing Me Soufflé by Ellie Alexander (3.5 stars)
- Laying Down the Latte by Ellie Alexander (3 stars)
- Hekate: The Witch by Nikita Gill (4 stars)
Blog posts and vlogs I loved this month:
- Just as Meg says in the video, I always love when she goes through her anticipated releases from the year before to see if she actually read them, and her latest video in the series was just as fun as the others, and made me check out my own tbr to see if I had some of them on there!
- I love my little daily games (Spike and CRTN ilysm) so Kayla’s video all about her favorite daily games was so fun! It reminded me of some that I used to play quite a bit and want to get back into and some that I’d never heard of and want to start playing
At the beginning of the month my mom and I went to see the tour of Les Misérables before it left the city/the tour ended and as always, had a wonderful night. This is the 5th time I’ve seen the show professionally (I was in it and assistant directed it when I was 16, and have seen countless youth/community productions of it), and it truly never gets old. There were some really incredible performances, and I just sobbed throughout the entire second act. The show and story truly means so much to me; it really did change my life and in my opinion, it is the greatest musical of all time. It also made me want to reread and finally annotate the novel!
Another fun thing that I did with my mom this month — yes, I spend a lot of time doing activities with my mom thank you very much — was going to another Bay FC match! Last year, mom mentioned that she was bummed that we missed AANHPI Heritage night and that she wanted to go this season. Well, the AANHPI Heritage match ended up being on Mother’s Day, so that was my Mother’s Day gift to her! It was a really lovely day, nice and sunny but not too hot, and we had a great time at the match! It ended up being a 0-0 draw, but the game was a lot of fun and our team played really hard and our goalie made some incredible saves. Also, this match had one of the worst refs I’ve ever seen, even my mom was pissed 🤣It was a very fun way to celebrate Mother’s Day!
Speaking of Bay FC, I was absolutely thrilled to find out that I won a sweepstakes and got a signed warm up jersey from forward Rachael Kundananji, who is also one of my favorite players on the team! It was such a lovely surprise, and I’m so excited to frame the jersey and hang it in my room.
I was able to get lunch with one of my oldest and closest friends who was in town for the week and it was just so lovely! We haven’t seen each other in person in over a year but that doesn’t matter because we always pick up right where we left off whenever we see each other. We had a great lunch and caught up. It was really such a lovely day.
My cousin came over for dinner one night with her husband and mom, and we got to meet her baby! He was born in March and we finally had some time to get together and it was so lovely! He’s the sweetest, happiest little baby and we had a wonderful night.
I finally found some time to work on some crafts! I haven’t had a whole lot of time to craft lately, but I’ve been itching to do some, so I finally made some time (which did impact my reading this month) and I’m really glad that I did. I finished my first diamond painting project — I started a Starry Night one like a year or two ago…never finished it…need to find it… —, painted 2 frames, and painted a little bedside tray that I can use when snacking, or annotating or just so I don’t lose my phone in my blankets. I started a few other crafts that I’ll be finishing soon as well that I’m super excited about and can’t wait to share with you!
I got tickets to see Niall Horan next year and I can’t wait! I am so so so excited for this new album and era and while I can’t believe I have to wait an entire year to see him again, it will give me something to look forward to for the next year, so really, it’s a win-win!
Let’s talk new music! I’m really enjoying Gracie Abrams new song Hit the Wall. I’ve been listening to it basically every time it comes up on my playlist. I’m loving the sound of it and am looking forward to hearing more from her/this new album. Olivia Rodrigo released the cure, another song from you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, and I like it a lot. To me, this is such a classic Olivia type of song and I think it gets better on each listen. Her vulnerability and honesty in song writing is such a staple of her music to me, and I think that comes across so well in this song.
Maisie Peters’ 3rd album Florescence is finally out! I was bummed when the release date got pushed back another week, but that doesn’t matter now that it’s here. I think Maisie has a really distinct sound and this album really does showcase that! Aside from the songs we already knew, the standouts on the first listen were Vampire Time, Questions, Girl’s Just Flying and You Then Me Now. I’m looking forward to continually looping the album and committing it to memory and finding new favorite Maisie songs, and upon the first listen my favorite is still Say My Name In Your Sleep.
The highlight of my music month was definitely getting to hear 2 new songs from Niall’s next album, Dinner Party. He performed Tastes So Good on the Jools Holland show and during Radio 1’s Big Weekend and when I tell you that my jaw dropped listening to it for the first time I am being so serious. It is so incredible, It hasn’t left my head since I first heard it. The high notes? The yearning? He’s down bad and I love it for me because it means we get songs like this. I know for sure that this is going to be one of my most streamed songs from the album. He also released the last track on the album, End of an Era, which he said is about Liam and wanted it to have its own moment before the album was released and honestly, I’m really glad that he did. This song is so beautiful; it really expresses the sadness and shock you feel when losing someone unexpectedly. I honestly think it’s one of the best songs that he’s ever written. I really, truly love it and connect to it so deeply.
I didn’t watch much new TV this month, but season 2 of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder came out this month which was something that I was really looking forward to! I think I’m going to rewatch the season and then write up a season review, but oh man I really loved it. Never lock Holly Jackson out of the writers room ever again!
Overall, May had a lot of fun moments, but I was incredibly stressed when it came to work. I’m hoping that won’t continue into June, but that’s wishful thinking because the summer is always a lot when it comes to work, so I’ll just have to do my best to stay relaxed and find ways to turn my brain off when I’m not working.
I’d love to know how the month of May went for you! Tell me all about your favorite reads and things you did this month.
Until next time 💜
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