Wishing you a week filled with good books and joyful moments.
xoxo, Arielle
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One of the biggest highlights of this past week was celebrating my husband’s birthday with a cake that I made completely from scratch. It was certainly a labor of love; it took a lot of time and patience, but it turned out incredible. Baking a birthday cake from scratch may just have to be a new family tradition.
The recipe itself was spot on and my only notes on what I’d do differently were in regards to my newbie baker skills. This was by far one of the most decadent delicious cakes I’ve ever eaten and I was incredibly proud that I made it!
Recipe from A Guide to the Kitchen Quadrant: An Unofficial Fourth Wing Cookbook ✨🎂 Shout out to Chelsea Cole for writing such a fun cookbook - it’s a great pick regardless if you’re a Fourth Wing fan or not!
Last week by the numbers
🥘 Recipes tried: 1
📖 Books finished: 1
🧺 Loads of laundry: too many!
👻 New pairs of earrings worn: 6
📦 Publisher gifted book mail: 8
🛍️ Books purchased: 1 for me + 3 for my kiddo
📚 Books un-hauled: 0 but planning a ton this week
😴 Middle of the night kiddo snuggles: 0
In case you missed it:
Fall Reading Guide on Instagram
Book giveaways on Goodreads
October is here! The October Holiday List was posted. 👻🎃🍁 Here’s the second half of October.
Mom Life
📲Trying something new. On Sunday we limited tablet screen time to 1 hour and focused more on crafts and activities. Our kiddo asked for the screen a few times but we ended up doing really well without it. More screen-free activities incoming!
💔 The school shooting in Bend on Thursday was absolutely heartbreaking to hear about, both as a person but especially as a mom. It makes me incredibly sad that one of the bravest things a parent does in today’s world is send their children to school. It makes me incredibly angry that there isn’t more being done to help prevent these senseless tragedies. It’s tough to go about my daily life but it’s also a wonderful reminder to embrace life, find joy in the small things whenever possible, and give big hugs to our loved ones each and every day.
Gifts & Things
💀👻🎃 We got a Halloween gift bag sent to our kiddo from close family with the CUTEST goodies. She got a huge kick out of these candy eyeballs. She loves the fuzzy monster notebook, and especially loves the little purple monster toy.
🧩 Loving screen-free activities. I started a large Halloween bookish puzzle. It’s super cute and fun but a lot harder than I thought it would be!
🐾 I got my first product gifting offer in ShopMy. It’s for a cat food product from Brutus Broth that sounds like something my cats might enjoy, so I’m excited to give it a go.
Favorite Shop Features - because the holidays will be here before you know it and I firmly believe in shopping small whenever possible.
🔖 Annotation tabs from The Tabery
Use my rep code TJBB15 for a discount
👻 My Fall order from Delta Rise Co arrived on Tuesday and I’m in love with it all! I’ve been wearing a new pair every day and they bring me so much joy.
Use my rep code JOYFUL15 for a discount
☕️ Epilogue Book Co launched more bookish decor goodies.
💖 Emily Cromwell Designs launched the cutest Halloween and Fall designs!
Bookish Updates
October Reading Report:
Finished Reading:
Cursed City (Harker Academy #2) by Kate Golden | 💖 Paperback gifted from Berkley | 5/5 Loved it
Grim Tidings (#2) by B.K. Borison | Paperback from B&N | 4.75 Loved it
Big Bad Wolf (#1) by Laurie Gilmore | Paperback from indie bookstore | 4.5 Enjoyed it a lot
Currently Reading:
📖 Written in Starlight by Sloane Brooks | 💖Paperback gifted from Atria
🎧 Born a Crime by Noah Trevor | Purchased from Audible
📲 The Wednesday Witches Book Club by Sarah Beth Durst | ebook included in Kindle Unlimited
Paused or DNF’ed:
📖 Perilous Enchantment by Sarah Clegg | Hardback gifted from Atria | This reads like a history book, which isn’t something I enjoy.
📖 Giveaways on Goodreads to enter
Top of the TBR:
Doomsdate by Laura Piper Lee
Threshing Day by Rebecca Yarros
Trust Fall by Lynn Painter
Love Felt Like This by Julie Olivia
The Lost Guardian by Natalie Hernandez
Trigger Happy by Meredith Trapp
Book influencer programs
💕Submitted book requests through:
✨ Atria & Atria Romance
This Week’s New Releases on my TBR
Tuesday, October 20th
The Christmas Competition by Zoe Allison | Berkley
Now That We Don’t Talk by Rachel Pologe | Berkley
Our Dark Incantations by Wanda Hellmund | Berkley
Succubus by Kate Fox | St. Martin’s Press
Trigger Happy by Meredith Trapp | Atria
Entertainment & Joyful Finds
Watching
📺 Watched the first 2 episodes of a funny vampire show; it’s silly but it has a great cast and I’m looking forward to more of it.
🎞️ We rented and streamed the latest Spiderman and watched on Saturday for my hubby’s birthday. Our kiddo enjoyed it too.
🗞️ In the news - so many book-to-screen adaptations!
📺 Coming up next: Season 11 of Love is Blind: Boston
What’s Up in the Next Week or So
Things I accomplished last week:
I made the chocolate raspberry cake from The Kitchen Quadrant for my hubby’s birthday!
Scheduled a veterans donation pickup
Recipes I want to try soon:
Tons of recipes in the new Quickies cookbook from PlantYou!
Personal / House List:
Deep clean the shower
Clear off the dining table
Try a new recipe
Bookish / Blogging List:
September Wrap-Up
Q3 Reading Wrap-Up
Witchy Wednesday Book List
Unhaul more books - donate to friends of the library bookstores and LFLs
What’s something that brought you joy this past week?
