Caitlyn’s Monthly Wrap Up: March 2023

Hi friends! I know I say it every month, but this month really did seem to fly by. March was really busy — I was kind of just busy/on the go the entire month. So, without further ado let’s talk about my favorite books of the month, how the month went for me as a whole, and what I’m looking forward to this month! Grab a cup of your favorite beverage, get cozy, and let’s chat!

It once again has been a weird reading month — I’ve been going through phases where I’m either reading constantly, or I can’t sit and read a book to save my life. That hasn’t hindered me from reading 20 books this month, but it has made for a weird reading experience. I’ve also been pretty busy throughout the week/weekend, so it hasn’t necessarily been the easiest month when it comes to availability. 

I’ve struggled with finding books to really hold my interest and motivate me to read. I’ve had some that I’ve loved and made it difficult to put them down, but I just feel like lately, I’ve been really struggling. That being said, I did have some favorite reads of the month, which include: The Appeal by Janice Hallett, Last Violent Call by Chloe Gong, Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young, and Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (reread). I also really enjoyed The Late Mrs. Willoughby by Claudia Gray.

I definitely have an idea of what books I want to read in April, but at this point, I’m just hoping to have a month where I feel motivated to read and am enjoying what I read. I do have some Shakespeare-themed/inspired books that I want to get to, seeing as April is his birth/death month, but we’ll see!

Blog posts and vlogs I loved this month:

• Robin’s Favorite Reads of 2022 post featured some books that I love, some I’ve been meaning to check out, and some that I didn’t have on my radar. This definitely made me more excited about the books that I’ve been meaning to read, and I added a few new ones to my TBR.
• I’ve been watching A LOT of BookTubers recently, and right now Meg from MegWithBooks is my favorite. We have pretty similar reading tastes and I love her energy and vibe. She recently posted a video about The Mysterious Disappearance of Agatha Christie and I had the best time watching this. Very informative, well researched, and filled with Meg’s super fun energy. If you especially enjoy mystery/thrillers, I would recommend her channel.
• Another BookTuber that I started watching this month is Syd from Syd BookWorrom and I just really love her vibe! Her videos are fun and interesting, and I think that she talks about books in such a thoughtful way. I’ve really been enjoying her videos and definitely recommend checking her out!

My posts this month:

• Daisy Jones and the Six Annotations
• Enter the Body Review
• 30 Books I Want to Read in My 30th Year
• Book Recs for Theatre Fans

While this month was a busy month, it was also a really good month! You all know that February wasn’t the easiest month for me, and I wanted to turn things around in March, overall I think I achieved that! As always work kept me busy during the week, and this month I had things going on every weekend.

My birthday was on the 12th and I took the whole weekend, and the Monday after my birthday, to celebrate and I’m so glad that I did. Aside from it being a big/important birthday, the other reason why I wanted to give myself a three-day weekend was that I truly needed some self-care time. I’m trying to be better about prioritizing my mental/emotional/physical health and that includes taking breaks when I need them and not feeling like I have to justify it. If you need a break, you need a break, so if you’ve been struggling with the same thing I am here to tell you that you deserve a break, you deserve to rest, and you deserve to take time for yourself so please do that. Work or other people’s expectations are not worth more than your mental, emotional, and physical health so please prioritize yourself. I will not get off my soapbox and tell you about my birthday weekend.

On Saturday I went out to lunch and did some shopping with my mom and my sister. I got some very cute clothes and made a stop at Barnes and Noble. Yes, I picked up a lot of books that I have yet to read…I also baked my birthday cake that night and while I thought we had all the ingredients I needed, turns out we didn’t so I had to improvise some. Luckily everyone else enjoyed it but it wasn’t what I had planned/envisioned so I wasn’t super happy. It did taste good though and that really is all that matters.

On Sunday, my actual birthday, my mom and I went to the city and saw the Aragon Tour of Six. Six is one of my favorite musicals —- I saw it for the first time in 2019 at the A.R.T in Cambridge during my best friend’s wedding weekend and had the absolute best time. I’d been waiting for so long to see it again, and then when I saw that the tour was not only coming near me during my birthday month but actually had a show on my birthday? Oh, I absolutely had to go. It’s been a very long time since my mom and I got to see a musical together, and oh man am I so glad that Six was our first show back. It was so fun to share this show with my mom, and it meant a lot. Jasmine Forsberg, who plays Jane Seymour (the only one he truly loved 😉), is Filipino American, and we all know how important representation is, and it meant the world to me to see a Filipino woman play Jane. Additionally, the whole cast was incredible, but I was so excited to see Erin Ramirez as Katherine Howard that afternoon! I’m such a huge fan of Erin and Katherine Howard is my favorite character. I was hoping that I would be able to see her (my best friend and I were maybe frantically checking her Instagram in the days leading up to the show I went to) and she was just as fantastic as I thought she would be.

That night we went out to dinner as a family before coming home for a game of Scrabble (I won), cake, and presents — it was just a really wonderful day full of happiness.

Some other fun things this month include trying a new donut place (one of the donuts was really great, the other was just okay), going to some used bookstores, seeing my theatre company’s production of The Lightning Thief, going out to a sushi lunch, and watch Daisy Jones and the Six (I have thoughts, but overall had a great time while watching) every Friday night after work.

The big thing I have going on in April is that I’m stage managing Seussical Jr. for work. The shows are April 29th and 30th and the week before we’ll be in tech, so that’ll take up the end of the month, in addition to getting prepped and ready for summer camps. I’m sure it’ll be another busy month.

Tell me about your March! Your favorite (or least favorite) books, highlights of the month, etc! Additionally, is there anything that you’re looking forward to in April? Let me know!