June 19, 2021

A Week In My Life... #14

A Week In My Life covers what happened throughout the week. It'll include my posts for under each respective day, a recap of the day, etc. After the week I'll then include any books I received this week! It is officially replacing the Stacking The Shelves, Sunday Post, Weekly Recap post I used to do and puts everything under a much neater title.

*If you're interested in the 2021 Dystopia Reading Challen ge, please stop by the sign-up post! *

Monday:

Ugh. I can't really talk about what exactly happened, but it really stressed both me and Brian out. Luckily, everything has turned out fine as far as we know. But it was seriously unneeded stress and neither of us had a good beginning to this week.

Tuesday:

As if being stressed Monday wasn't enough, Tuesday added onto it. A little after 1pm we had a power outage and the abrupt turning off of the power actually broke our AC unit. Fun Fact: It was 115 outside. Not the best day for it to break. Our maintenance people were able to fix it, but they couldn't get here to us til around 5pm. So it got uncomfortable in the apartment waiting for it to get fixed. We didn't even get it back down to 80 inside after it was fixed until about 10pm. Not a great day in the slightest.

Wednesday:

It wasn't too bad. Truthfully I had absolutely no motivation to do anything though. I was just feeling overly exhausted from the stress of Monday and Tuesday and could not focus on anything despite many attempts.

Thursday:

First of the actual good days this week. Got some good news on something I've been waiting for for a while now! So that was nice and a relief finally. Finally finished off the last bit of the current event in Genshin. Very wholesome ending to it.

Friday:

It was mine and Brian's anniversary! 2 years back together! Since you know, we live in hell, being AZ, we just went out in the morning and got breakfast cuz thats when its cooler to wander out. Lol. It was nice though. We had a nice breakfast to celebrate and just spent time together in the coolness of the apartment the rest of the day til he had to leave for work. Lol. It was a good day though. Definitely needed after the awful start to the week.

Saturday:

Today I wandered out and gave my dad his fathers day gift. Also decided on getting a small tattoo. There's someone doing an apprenticeship at the shop I got my back tattoo at and I'm really loving her work so far. She's currently doing $20 apprentice tattoos for people looking to get some small tattoos done. Since I've wanted the healing rune (iratze) from the shadowhunter's books for a long time now, I reached out and asked if it would be in the guidelines for her apprentice tattoos and she said yes! So I'm finally gonna get it! I'm so excited! It has a special meaning for me with where I'm gonna get it so I'm truly thrilled to finally be getting it done!

2021 Dystopia Reading Challenge: 2nd Quarter/Mid-Year Update

NO NEW BOOKS!

June 19, 2021

2021 Dystopia Reading Challenge: 2nd Quarter/Mid-Year Update

Happy June! It's here guys! The second quarter/mid-year update for the 2021 Dystopia Reading Challenge! I hope we're all having some success with our reading goals!! If the challenge is new to you and you wanna sign up, please check out the Sign-Up Post! Your more than welcome to talk about any dystopian books you've read this year even if your just joining up! :) Feel free to link-up your update post or let me know in the comments how your doing! :)

Sorry it's a bit late. We've had some issues this week (one being our AC going out and needing fixed asap in AZ heat). It's just been a bit of a long week.

Books Read:

None. Ugh. I swear I will read some before this year ends! Lol. For the most part though I really had to put myself into my Psychology class after the last update cuz I was struggling hard with it and understanding everything. The good news is I passed it and did really well. But I absolutely needed the time I sunk into it because it really took time for me to understand the theories, theorists, learning strategies, etc. I'm almost positive that was the class I really was gonna struggle with the most since this was not my first attempt at all that. So things should be getting better here on out school wise. I have a bit more confidence regarding the rest of my classes.

I'm actually going to start the audiobook soon for Golden Son by Pierce Brown. I've really been wanting to get back into this series. And I think while I'm working on flash cards for both me and the boyfriend for our cert exams for our respective fields is honestly a great time to listen to an audiobook.

*The update link-up will remain open until September 14 and will be available for easy access in the drop down menu!*

Update Link-Up:

June 12, 2021

A Week In My Life... #13

A Week In My Life covers what happened throughout the week. It'll include my posts for under each respective day, a recap of the day, etc. After the week I'll then include any books I received this week! It is officially replacing the Stacking The Shelves, Sunday Post, Weekly Recap post I used to do and puts everything under a much neater title.

*If you're interested in the 2021 Dystopia Reading Challen ge, please stop by the sign-up post! *

Sunday:

Not a whole lot going on besides working on recovering. Still keeping that foot iced and elevated.

Monday:

Just working on school. Brian surprised me with both coffee and a chocolate chip muffin top from Dutch Bros in the morning when he came home from work. That really made my morning right there. He knew I was feeling a bit down and whatnot being stuck in the apartment cuz of the ankle so he brought my faves home to cheer me up.

Also had my first call of the new term with my mentor (yes we have mentors at our school). She was surprised I was already about done with one of my papers for my first class and was excited I hit the ground running. My goal is to accelerate this term so wanna get these classes knocked out.

Tuesday:

Uh. Got that paper turned in. Woo! Celebrated with playing the new update for Genshin once server maintenance finished. It's definitely a whole lot of fun!

Wednesday:

Ana lost a tooth. Actually her second one this week. She had two right next to each other that were wiggly due to the adult tooth coming in. She kept the tooth fairy busy this week!

I finally at least walked downstairs. Brian drove me to Sonic cuz I wanted ice cream and just wanted to get out of the apartment for a little bit even though I wasn't feeling up to driving yet. We also got to play some Genshin with my bestie! She got herself up to where she could co-op with us! It was good fun helping her with some stuff she was struggling with.

Thursday:

That paper I turned in got evaluated and it passed! I'm so happy! I wasn't super confident on one part and wasn't sure my ideas set forth in it was going to be enough but it turned out all well! The commentary on it even said I was creative in the ideas put forth. That was a huge confidence booster.

Also attended a cohort for the one task I didn't get to last week. So feeling good about that one now.

Friday:

While I should have been working on papers, I was playing the next part of the event on Genshin. I was just having way too much fun enjoying all the new stuff they put in with the second part of the Midsummer Island event. It was honestly just relaxing considering I've been working on my papers and dealing with the ankle and it was just helping me unwind.

Saturday:

I was able to actually put some pressure on my whole foot today without the right side of my foot screaming in pain! This is good progress! I also finally tried driving today and it didn't make my foot hurt too much. I'm not trying to now go out and do a lot considering its still healing. But I can at least drive. Brian really needed me to bring him something at work since he works all weekend so considering the progress with how much pressure I can put on it I decided to drive him what he needed. I feel a bit better knowing I can drive again if I really need to.

NO NEW BOOKS!

Top Ten Tuesday:
2021 Dystopia Reading Challenge: 2nd Quarter/Mid-Year Update

June 08, 2021

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Loved that Made Me Want More Books Like Them

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This Weeks Topic:

Books I Loved that Made Me Want More Books Like Them

1. Life As We Knew It (Last Survivors #1) by Susan Beth Pfeffer - This is the books that got me into natural disaster type dystopian books.

2. Uglies (Uglies #1) by Scott Westerfeld - This is most definitely the book that got me into futuristic/sci-fi dystopian novels. One of my all time absolute favorites.

3. Twilight (Twilight #1) by Stephenie Meyer - I hate to admit it because looking back now, Twilight is so bad. But this series is what got me back to reading in high school in the first place and got me to read other Vampire books. For the record though, The Vampire Diaries is 100% way better than Twilight.

4. I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You (Gallagher Girls #1) by Ally Carter - This was my first foray into spy novels and I loved it! By the time I read this there were already 3 books in the series out so I had to play catch up and then I started looking into similar books.

5. The Host (The Host #1) by Stephenie Meyer - This is the book that got me into Alien/species from other planets type books (though this one is specifically Alien influenced Dystopian). I was kicking myself so hard for how long I waited to read this one. I had it since it came out (2008) but didn't read it til 2012 cuz of it being Stephenie Meyer and feeling meh cuz of Twilight. But it was 1000% better than Twilight and absolutely the reason I enjoy a good alien influenced book nowadays. It will forever be a favorite!

6. Wicked Lovely (Wicked Lovely #1) by Melissa Marr - This book right here is absolutely what started my love of all things Fae specifically. We all know I can't resist a good Fae novel nowadays and its thanks to reading this series right here in high school.

7. City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1) by Cassandra Clare - City of Bones is truly the book that really pushed me into fantasy. While other books on this list also qualify as fantasy, this is the one that truly got me into the genre. Fantasy is still currently my second overall favorite genre (first obviously being dystopian).

8. Nightshade (Nightshade #1) by Andrea Cremer - This is the book that really got me into werewolves specifically!

9. Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices #1) by Cassandra Clare - This was my first real introduction into steampunk. It made me incredibly curious about it.

10. Leviathan (Leviathan #1) by Scott Westerfeld - This is what I read soon after Clockwork Angel as it has a lot of steampunk elements in it. But this series is actually what made me interested in more historical novels as well as this series plays out on the cusp on WWI.

June 05, 2021

A Week In My Life... #12

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*Also, if you're interested in the 2021 Dystopia Reading Challen ge, please stop by the sign-up post! *

Monday:

Pretty much the chill day for both me and Brian considering it was a holiday and both of our last day off from school before our next terms began.

Tuesday:

Our new terms began. Brian is actually pretty happy. Even though his instructor for both classes in this five week set is one he's had before and knows grades a bit hard, said instructor isn't making these classes as overwhelming as previous ones and trying to explain things better so less students struggle. So he's actually feeling a bit better about his classes.

I'm feeling good about mine. I straight up opened my class with no tests first to get a small break from tests (my other 3 have them). There's 4 papers but they aren't too hard. Feeling good.

Top Ten Tuesday: Purple, Yellow, & Green Covers (Freebie Week)

Wednesday:

I got started on my first paper. Its a video observation paper. We have a lot of these as at WGU as video observations count towards what traditional universities would have as in class observation hours each semester. But I think we get the better deal because our videos span grades, subjects, and teaching methods. So we get to observe more than just one class and teacher.

Thursday:

I attended a getting started cohort (webinar) for said class, which is just an instructor going over everything, offering tips, etc. It was good.

Unfortunately, Thursday ended kinda rough for me. I fell walking between the car and the apartment and sprained my ankle. I won't disturb you guys with pictures. But its definitely swollen and bruising. Honest to god spraining it freaked me out. The pop that came from my foot area was extremely cringe worthy. But as I came to find out is common when you sprain your ankle. It's the first time since I was a kid I've sprained it so I forgot what's like when it happens.

Friday:

I spent all day laying in bed with my foot elevated and iced. I tried to get some schoolwork done but honestly I just napped off the pain of my ankle. Instead I just got on the PS4 on and off and played a little Genshin since I couldn't really focus between naps.

Saturday (Today):

Today has gone better. I still spent half the day in bed with my foot elevated and iced, but I woke up in less pain today! The bruising is coming along near the ankle and on the foot. Looks a bit gnarly. But pain wise it's a much better day. Before I moved from the bed I actually signed up for another cohort that went into detail on two of my papers and attended that. Really cleared up any confusion or questions I had.

After the cohort I made a stack of pillows under my desk to elevate my leg so I could actually work at the desk. I don't know what it is but I focus a lot better on school work sitting at the desk with anything I need organized around me. I've made good progress on the two papers I'm working on. Really aiming to finish them by the end of the weekend. I'm pretty glad I'm feeling good enough to at least move to the desk now so I can work on school and not feel like I'm wasting time being laid up with a sprained ankle.

In other news, I finally convinced my bestie to download Genshin and she's enjoying it! I'm so excited! I've been trying to get her to download it since late last year but she was just playing a bunch of other stuff then. But finally! I'm so excited to help her with the game and build up her characters.

June TBR

NO NEW BOOKS!

June 05, 2021

June TBR

Orange (Orange: The Complete Collection Vol 1) by Ichigo Takano
The Conference of the Birds (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children #5) by Ransom Riggs
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
A Court of Silver Flames (ACOTAR #4) by Sarah J. Maas

So this month I'm aiming to finish books I've started but never finished due to whatever reasons. I left off halfway through Orange. I'm about a third of the way through ACOSF and the beginning of both Evelyn Hugo and Conference of the Birds. Literally just wanna finally finish some books this month. Here's hoping I can get that done! :D