Hello everyone! I wanted to share all the fun activities I’ve been up to this month! I have quite a bit actually, so I’m really excited to share!

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This month has been incredibly fun and exciting. Mostly because I adopted a dog, Fox! Anyway, here’s some fun stuff I’ve been up to!

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My Lively

Creative Fun

DIYs

The first project of the month was a DIY hanger of a macrame leaf! This was our first project back inside the library so it was incredibly exciting. We haven’t been able to have programs inside until this month, but even then we were planning to keep the DIY activities outside because some regulars weren’t comfortable being inside yet, even with vaccines and masks. However, we were forced inside due to the weather as it rained right before the DIY and so the lawn was soaked. The librarian offered to box up the projects and allow for pick up if someone didn’t want to be inside, so there was that option, but otherwise we went inside. The table was set up with the chairs pretty far apart, and we weren’t in our usual small room due to the distancing guidelines, but we still had fun and chatted as we worked. I didn’t finish the project in the time and when I continued at home I found I liked how it already looked without cutting it into a leaf shape.

The second DIY was also inside! On the day of the DIY, it had been raining all morning and it was so chilly, so we decided to move it inside. It was a pretty easy project and we really liked it! We had to wait 24 hours for the adhesive we used to dry, but it was still really easy to complete as we did it. Plus, it was perfect for the season! The slices looked so rustic! It does take a few tries to get all the paper and adhesive off, so clearly I need to go over it again, but it’s super simple!

Bujo

This month, I still didn’t have too much for my bujo! I kept having cool things scheduled that I saved spots on pages for, but when they fell through, I ended up with a lot of left over blank space. I always fill up a page, even if I have to use a quote or something but it was still a little sad when I had to cancel plans again for a page. Anyway, this month’s color was purple and I did wisteria flowers (or, tried to, they sort of look like grapes or just weird purple circles) as the theme. Even with adding in pages of my dog though, I still felt like I didn’t have enough to fill up the pages.

Entertainment

Books

As always, I’m listing all the books I’ve finished since the previous Lively post below with their star ratings. All thoughts on them are saved for future (or even past!) Mini Book Review posts but those will be linked below if so. I won’t include any books that I didn’t finish although I’ll be sure to add them into the review posts.

This month I read 11 books. (Counting the books that I read at the end of August that didn’t make it to last month’s post. This brings my annual total so far up to 78 books. I am ahead by 4 books to reach my goal of 100 books in 2021.

• The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare, (A) 3.25 stars*
• The Lost Book of the White by Cassandra Clare, (A) 3.25 stars*
• Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez, (A) 5 stars*
• Love Has No Age Limit by Patricia McConnell and Karen London, 4.5 stars*
• The Cautious Canine by Patricia McConnell, 3.75 stars*
• Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman, 4.25 stars*
• Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higgenbotham, 4.25 stars*
• The Library Book by Susan Orlean, 4.25 stars*
• Reverie by Zee Lacson, 4.25 stars
• Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy by Cassandra Clare, 3.75 stars
• Living Beyond Borders by Margarita Longoria, 4.5 stars

* Indicates this book was reviewed in Ten Mini Book Reviews Pt. 14

(A) Indicates this book was actually read in August but it didn’t make it into my August Lively post so here it is!

Movies

This month I finally watched Luca on Disney+. After seeing many, many ads for it on YouTube and hearing the TikTok sounds from this film, I finally watched it. I really, really enjoyed it! I thought it was so sweet and cute, and I loved the kids in the film. It was just too precious and I would recommend it if you want something light and sweet to watch.

I also finally watched In the Heights, which I rented on DVD from my library. I rarely check out movies from the library anymore, but I mentioned I wanted to watch it during a recent book club and my librarian said she just had put it out on the shelf and I could check it out. We went inside to look and she did have to hunt it down as someone had moved it, but I checked it out and watched it! I really loved the film and I can’t wait to someday see the musical on stage. It’s just too good!

TV Shows

I watched a few episodes of the usual shows, Gilmore Girls, Madam Secretary, and Schitt’s Creek. I love all those shows and talk about them often so I decided to just list them here haha. I think I’m in season two of all the shows currently. All of these are on Netflix.

I did continue watching White Collar on Hulu, and continue to enjoy it. I’m early in season two and haven’t watched it too often as I will share a ton of other stuff I’ve been watching.

I did start watching the Netflix show Turning Point, which is about the 9/11 attacks. Since it was that time of year, and I always try to watch stuff as every year I learn something new, I thought I’d check it out. It was really dense in information and so I couldn’t watch it too often so I could decompress and only ended up watching a few episodes.

I also started watching Heartland! This one is on Netflix. Like White Collar my dad had already watched the show, so I’ve seen a lot of snippets of it already but I wanted to watch it myself. I started it a long time ago, but left off halfway through episode two. I picked up where I left off and it’s a really cute little show. I really miss horseback riding (I gifted myself lessons back when I turned 25) and love the country living in the show.

Oh, and the newest season of The Great British Baking Show has started! This show is fun because it’s the only one I am watching where the episodes are released weekly. So far the first episode is the only one that’s been posted and I already love all the contestants and can’t wait to see what they come up with. There are a few that either started baking or really got into baking during the pandemic, so even though they’ve only been baking for a short(ish) amount of time, they are really good and super creative! There is also a vegan baker, so that’s super cool to see as she’s the only one that’s vegan only.

Okay, last one for this post. I watched Only Murders in the Building on Hulu. This one I binged the first 6 episodes that were already up and am waiting for the last two. I think that it’s also a weekly released show, so that’s cool, I just missed the start of it so for me it wasn’t weekly! But I am enjoying the show a lot as it’s sort of poking a bit of fun at the true crime podcasts while still making it interesting. The actors are really good and I love how the tech is integrated so well here. For example, the texting feels like it would actually be a text conversation, unlike what other shows do sometimes.

Music

I have to mention Taylor Swift’s release of “Wildest Dream’s (Taylor’s Version)”! This has always been one of my favorite songs of Taylor’s (basic, I know) and it was so nice to be able to hear her version. I can’t wait for the 1989 rerelease, as that was the album when I really started to become a Taylor fan. Due to that, this song and the album as a whole is just so special to me.

Youtube/Podcasts

So I found two new podcasts I’ve been enjoying! One is Crazy Stupid Fangirls. This is hosted by Elle Mills and Michelle Platti. I actually was never a fan of Elle Mills. I know she was super popular for a time on YouTube but I just never enjoyed her humor or content. I’m sure I’ve seen a video of Michelle Platti’s but I can’t recall for sure. Anyway, I noticed they were interviewing cool people from YouTube and Disney recently so I decided to check it out. I really like the flow of conversation and how geniune the fangirl side of the hosts comes across. I’ve enjoyed the episodes I watched so I thought I’d share it here.

I also started watching Fool Coverage podcast. It’s hosted by Manny MUA and Laura Lee. I never really watched them too much, as I wasn’t super into the beauty side of YouTube when they were really coming up but I still wanted to give their podcast a shot because it seemed they were being really candid on their experiences on YouTube. I love how casual and candid they are! It’s really, really cool to hear their insights and thoughts on topics from beauty brand trips to family vloggers. I love to put on their podcast while I’m working and tuning in every so often.

Another podcast I’ve been enjoying is the ILYSM podcast. It’s hosted by Kenzie Elizabeth. I don’t know much about Kenzie as I only watched her because she had Jackie Oshry on from The Morning Toast. I really loved that episode and I loved the flow of the podcast. Then I saw Kenzie did a show with a few others like Alisha Marie and Remi Cruz (of Pretty Basic), Jennifer Stone, and Brooke Miccio and Danielle Carolan. I used to watch Alisha and Remi’s videos awhile ago, I still watch Brooke occasionally, and Jennifer is from Disney Channel, so I really was curious. I think I’ll continue to watch if other creators I know appear but otherwise I’ll skip. Oh! And she also had Margo Oshry recently, Jackie’s sister. It was so fun to watch that episode too as they talked a bit about why Margo doesn’t watch the Toast (because she already talks to her sisters all the time) and some single dog mom tips (super helpful and relatable!).

Additionally, I also really enjoyed a recent episode of The Sip with Ryland Adams and Lizzie Gordon. They did an episode with Shane Dawson, and so it was super cool! I’ve missed Shane’s content since he left YouTube and while he did make small appearences on Ryland and Morgan’s (Ryland’s sister) channels, it wasn’t the same! So it was cool to hear more from Shane and hear he’s looking forward to creating again.

Okay, just a few more for this month. I was on TikTok and a video came up on my FYP about hispanic hosted podcasts. I first listened to Cafe Con Pam, because I share the name of the host! It’s such a cool and chill podcast where Pam Covarrubias interviews other hispanic people about their lives, careers, goals, and so many important hispanic topics.

Last one! In that same TikTok I discovered Hypen-ated, another hispanic hosted podcast. This one is more of a hang out podcast with Joanna Hausmann and Jenny Lorenzo, who talk about their own thoughts on different aspects of hispanic culture. I listed to their “Dog Culture” episode first and LOVED it.

Video Games

This month I played some more Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It was Whitney’s birthday! That was exciting. Otherwise, not a lot happened in the game. I did finally collect all the Celeste recipes with my main character, so that was cool. But otherwise, everything was the same as always.

I did play a bit more of Legend of Zelda. I wish I had more time for this game as it is cool and there’s so much to do. But instead I have to learn the controls again every time and Link is not very strong so I get frustrated with it pretty easily. It’s a gorgeous game but I just wish I was able to get through it more quickly. It’s also frustrating that there’s not too many quick travel points so it’s always annoying when I get pretty far and then have to head back somewhere. I always feel like I’ve lost that progress or something!

Writing

I think I’ve decided that for NaNo this year I want to focus on editing Book 2. In case you don’t know, I wrote two books over the past year and I haven’t edited either! I want to focus on finally editing one of them, and I think Book 2 (the second book I wrote, not a sequel to Book 1) is the winner! I barely know anything about editing, just what I’ve researched on YouTube so I need to really create an editing plan and reread my story too.

Active Life

Yoga

Well, I was signed up to start a yoga class this month but it was cancelled the week before it started. I was pretty disappointed as I was looking forward to it. The instructor was apparently offering it as a virtual class instead but the virtual class was listed as an “R&B” yoga fit class and I had just wanted to have a basic yoga class. So I decided not to do the virtual one. Instead, I’ve been doing some short yoga sessions as a break from sitting at my desk all day.

Tai Chi

I did another library session of tai chi! I almost missed it, but I had signed up for a different class that didn’t end up happening when the instructor never showed up. But, while I was there, the librarian told me that tai chi was happening again the following week. I had completely missed it, which was crazy because I’m normally checking the calendar often. I signed up and headed to class again. This time the class was only people who had done it before so we did move along quite fluidly. I really enjoyed it!

walk

I’ve been regularly hiking with my new dog! Every weekend I go to a local forest preserve and we walk around and enjoy the sights. I love it because the dog gets used to walking by people and other dogs, and gets out of the house a bit while getting exercise. He doesn’t love walking around the subdivision, weirdly enough, so I try to get him to the forest preserve at least once a week to get him walking around and exploring. He loves it!

ballet

My ballet classes started a new session this month! We have a lot of the regulars, but also some new people. Well, two of them are a couple who did the class when I took a class off right before the pandemic. I was busy with work and personal travel for a time so I couldn’t go to ballet for that session so it was cool to meet them. There was another woman who showed up who has never done ballet before and that’s always exciting. At this point, I’m the one who’s taken ballet at the park district the longest overall though, so I get “bullied” the most LOL. Basically, if I try to do the easier options that the instructor gives, I get called out and told to do the harder one haha. I love that! We always have a good time so I’m so glad there are new people in the mix too.

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So that’s what I’ve been up to lately! Please let me know what you’ve been up to as it’s always fun to share about hobbies!

Thanks for reading!

Pamela

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