The Joyful Weekly Edit | September 3rd
Where bookish finds, Substack gems & joyful moments meet plus all the fun holidays to bookmark for the week ahead!
Good Morning Joyful Readers!
One of the highlights of this past week was visiting the local Dahlia farm. We got to view the most beautiful flowers, snacked on some apple cider donuts, and bought a few bunches of dahlias to enjoy at home. I also got to browse the gift shop (yay for having a well-behaved kiddo that day!) and bought a few goodies there too.
The second big highlight was decorating the house for Halloween on Sunday. I even got to take a trip to Home Goods to poke around at their Halloween décor and picked up a few new things. My favorite new find is this Broom Parking sign, it’s perfect for the Hocus Pocus vibes!
I’ve been looking forward to Fall for weeks now but I like to wait until September to officially decorate the house. This way I get 2 months of Halloween, then 1 month of Fall, and about 6 weeks of winter holidays.
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Bookish Highlights
Last week I received an AMAZING box from Lonely Planet. I recently realized that our kiddo has gotten past the stage of ripping up her lift-a-flap type interactive books and was ready for ‘bigger kid’ books.
Lonely Planet sent a huge assortment from their kid’s collection and I’m so grateful (plus they sent a few for me too)! Truly one of the best things about being a book blogger.
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Check out my favorite finds on my Shop My affiliate page: books from B&N, books from Book of the Month, audiobooks from Librofm, and fun finds from Etsy, Wayfair, Michael’s, Nordstrom, Marshall’s, Sur La Table, and World Market
What’s bringing me joy:
Seeing the beautiful dahlias and bringing some home
Decorating for Halloween!!! 👻🎃🦇
Never-ending book mail - it truly never gets old and every book I receive brings me so much joy!
Making new friends and hosting them at our house for dinner. Our kiddos are close in age and watching them play together was such a happy mama moment. Also, making friends as adults is incredibly difficult, so it was really cool to meet a couple that we get along with so well.
If anything here resonates, leave a comment below. I love hearing how you’re finding joy in your life too!
Things I Ordered That I’m Excited About:
September Book of the Month: I ordered Alchemy of Secrets by Stephanie Garber — added a hat and redeemed my 2025 reading challenge gift
Preordered the Christmas 2025 box from Once Upon a Book Club Box
The Shelves of a Mood Reader
New to my shelves this week:
A HUGE selection gifted from Lonely Planet
My Allstora selection ‘Potluck Desserts’ by Justin Burke from The Jake Cohen club
My first Allurial selection ‘In the Veins of Drowning’ by Kalie Cassidy
I bought a used copy of ‘When the Moon was Ours’ by Anna-Marie McLemore
Finished Reading
📖 Soul of Shadow by Emma Noyes ✨ Special hardback from Once Upon a Book Club Box ✨ Loved it! | My review
🎧 Loud by Drew Afualo ✨ Audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby ✨ Quick take: Enjoyed it! | My review
📱 You Can’t Have It All by Stassi Schroeder ✨ eBook available in Everand ✨ Quick take: Enjoyed it!
Started Reading
📖 The Crescent Tearoom by Stacy Sivinski ✨ Paperback gifted from Atria last year ✨
Continued Reading
📖 How The Hell Did I Not Know That?: My Midlife Year from Couch to Curiosity by Lucie Frost ✨ gifted arc
DNF’ed
📖 Breathe, Mama, Breathe by Shonda Moralis ✨ I thought this would be more focused on finding ways to be present while still taking of your own wellness but it was just about meditation, which is not something I want to read a whole book about.
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Random things on my mind:
One of my favorite small businesses Epilogue Book Shop makes the cutest printed bookish items. I placed an order last week for a bunch of fun little bookish ghosts and signs for my bookshelves and I cannot wait for everything to arrive!
The shop owner Amber graciously shared a 15% off coupon code HOCUSPOCUS that everyone can use through September 15th.
Next week’s daily holidays:
The full September daily list is available exclusively to paid subscribers.
Check out my Substack blog for additional weekly content, miscellaneous notes, and joyful finds!
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With joy from the stacks
