The Joyful Weekly Edit
Where bookish finds, Substack gems & joyful moments meet plus all the fun holidays to bookmark for the week ahead!
Good Morning Joyful Stackers!
This past week was jam-packed with so many fun things, I almost didn’t make the time to sit down to recap all of my adventures. I’ve truly been enjoying writing this weekly blog post and I hope it helps you find inspiration to create joy in your every day lives too!
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Bookish Notes
Saturday was National Book Lovers Day and Bookstore Romance Day, so we made it a point to visit two local indie bookstores. We stopped in at Powell’s on Burnside and I got to visit
for the first time!! I bought a few books and goodies for myself and a few books for our kiddo too.I must confess that buying books in person without looking up reviews online is so liberating — I love discovering something new and picking it up based on the cover, back description, and overall vibes without caring what other people thought about it!
This past week also brought TONS of book mail my way. Needless to say my TBR shelves are overflowing with great options to choose from.
The top shelf has the books I was gifted (16 + 5 arcs) and the bottom shelf has all the books I bought (9), plus the two pushkins and artwork print I treated myself to.
What brought me & my family joy:
We had close friends come visit us for a long weekend. One of the bummers about living far from our friends is that we see each other less often but when we do get together it’s for wonderful pockets of time. Taking a Friday off to spend time with friends and enjoy wine tasting at one of our favorite wineries is always a good choice.
Our kiddo is continuing to enjoy swim school. 💦
We visited the local children’s science museum and our kiddo had the best time! I highly recommend getting annual memberships to your local zoo and museums, they usually pay for themselves within 2-4 visits and they often include discounts or free entry to other museums as well.
Banana muffins - 🍌 we made these again and tweaked the recipe a bit.
I went to my local Orange Theory Fitness and it was such an amazing workout! Did you know that many workout studios offer your first class free — if you can deal with the sales pitch — it’s a great way to try something new. You may even find your new favorite way to move and they often have class distinct package options.
If this resonates, leave a comment below. I love hearing how these finds bring joy to your life too.
The Shelves of a Mood Reader
I didn’t finish any new books this week but I am still in the middle of quite a few and started a few new ones as well.
Started Reading
📖 Maid for Each Other by Lynn Painter ✨ Paperback gifted from Berkley Romance ✨ Hilarious romance — billionaire and the maid + fake dating = laugh out loud funny
📱 My Life With the Walter Boys by Ali Novak ✨ eBook available in Kindle Unlimited ✨ I’m reading the books for the first time before season 2 airs on tv
🎧 Loud by Drew Afualo ✨ Audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby ✨ I’ve never heard of her before but she is funny and so real. Great listen so far.
Continued Reading
📱 You Can’t Have It All by Stassi Schroeder ✨ eBook available in Everand ✨Nonfiction mom humor - I’m reading the ebook but imagine the audiobook is a fun way to enjoy it!
📖 Mama: A Queer Black Woman’s Story of a Family Lost and Found by
✨ Hardback purchased at Always Here Books in Portland ✨Nonfiction memoir📖 UpWorthy Good People: Stories From the Best of Humanity ✨ Hardback copy gifted from TLC Book Tours ✨Nonfiction feel good short stories
📖 The Beauty of What Remains by Steve Leder ✨ Paperback copy gifted from the publisher
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Food that brought my family joy:
Pinterest find: Clara Plate’s Perfect Banana Muffins.
Recipe Notes: We made these banana muffins for the second time and changed up the recipe a bit again. I used 4 large bananas instead of 3. Used 1/3 cup brown sugar instead of 1/2 cup. Used 1/3 cup butter instead of 1/2 cup. Added a little cinnamon and topped the muffin batter with crushed up walnuts for flavor without making them too unhealthy.
Next time I’m going to see if I can sub in some Greek yogurt for less butter and add a little ground flax seed to make them healthier.
Random things on my mind:
One downside to socializing and eating out is the regret that comes from overindulging which for me equals sluggishness. I’m planning to focus on ramping up my workouts and healthy eating because I’ve got an excess of about 20 pounds that I know I’d feel better physically if it was gone. I want to work on gaining strength, especially so I can keep up with my growing kiddo. It takes a lot to scoop up an almost 30 pound kiddo.
I must confess a recent pet peeve —I can’t stand all of the social media and substack accounts that have a huge following that only post about how to grow your following. It’s like content creator clickbait. The other thing I can’t stand is bookish accounts that post about how they want to make new ‘bookish besties’ but they have at least 10x followers to how many they’re following. If you have 50k+ followers and you’re following under 1k people, I’m pretty sure you’re just looking for new followers, not friends.
I’m here for the genuine and organic interest in talking about shared experiences and for the people that show up authentically in their own lives. Give me more of real life heartfelt chatter and less of the ‘how to grow your blah blah blah’ and buy this product from me gibberish.
August holidays to celebrate:
I’m especially looking forward to National Pinot Noir Day on the 18th.
Check out the full list over on the blog.
Check out my Substack blog for additional weekly content and joyful finds!
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With joy from the stacks
Definitely agree with you on the pet peeves! I’ve been feeling that way too