Wishing you a week filled with good books and joyful moments.
xoxo, Arielle
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One of the biggest highlights… I’m seeing yellow and red everywhere I go, because Fall has quickly creeped up on us. It’s my favorite time of the year and the changing leaves on the trees is calming and gorgeous. It whispers of the cooler days that are coming soon. I’m looking forward to fireplace season and making my favorite soups and stews. Cozy evenings with a bowl of soup and a chunk of toasted sourdough on the side are the best.
In case you missed it:
Fall Reading Guide on Instagram
🤧 This weekend I took a nasal flu shot and I got mild reaction symptoms afterwards. Feeling a bit under the weather at the moment but hopefully will feel better soon.
🐾 Cozy Lily snuggles for all who make it to the end of this post!
Mom Life
🗒️ Passing Notes on the joy of middle of the night snuggles
👩🏽💻 Typing up mom highlights from this past week led to more than a blurb, so there’s a full post coming soon. Once I start typing the words tend to flow quickly, so there may be more of that coming in general.
🛍️ Carter’s: Made a rare trip to shop in the store with my kiddo. We mostly shop online these days, so going into a physical store is somewhat of a novelty. She had fun picking out a few new things and did really well with narrowing down and making choices; for example I explained that we didn’t need to buy 5 sets of pajamas (4 piece, 2 pair sets) and that she had to choose one set. It goes without saying the dinosaurs won every elimination round. She’s currently going through a dinosaur phase and it’s really fun to see what excites her.
Joyful Finds
We went to a fun café this weekend for the first time. Nice cozy setup and they had some of the cutest and cheekiest décor. I had a delicious grilled cheese with a bowl of tomato soup - it’s the ultimate cozy comfort meal for me and if it’s on the menu, there’s a good chance that’s what I’m ordering.
Afterwards we drove past a huge park that looked nice and decided to stop there to let our kiddo play for an hour. Getting the zoomies out is important for a 3 year old and getting some outdoor time is great for all of us, something we should all do more often.
Gifts & Things
👻 A Halloween care package from my hubby’s mom for our kiddo arrived this weekend. She always sends some festive clothes, activities, and books for holidays, which is always appreciated and fun.
👻 Festive picks we loved: Halloween foam craft kit from Target | and this one looks cute for older kiddos | Glow in the dark temporary tattoos stay on really well!
📚 New Books we LOVE: The Skelton and the Cat | Princess Truly: I Am A Super Girl!
🦖 My sister recently started making custom stained glass décor. She’s very talented and her artwork is absolutely beautiful. She made a beautiful dinosaur for my kiddo and it looks gorgeous in the window.
👻 Delta Rise Co listed Halloween and Fall earrings and they’re all SO darn cute. I may have gone overboard and I’m so excited to wear them all!
Use my rep code JOYFUL15 for a discount
☕️ The Fall and Halloween coffee mugs from Target are the CUTEST! I treated myself to a few new ones this year.
The pretty green It’s Fall Y’all looks like it was already sold out but here’s a few of my other new favorite mugs: Cats & bats print | Witchy toad Cozy Season
🛍️ Our kiddo is going through a dino phase and we had fun at Carter’s. Bonus tip - almost everything is 50% off right now.
Her new favorites: dinosaur socks | purple cozy dinosaur zip-up onesie
Bookish Updates
I attended a monthly book club event at a local bookstore and had a great time. It’s nice to see some of the same faces and chat about books and reading. It’s such a lovely way to spend an evening once a month and it’s invigorating to rediscover something that fills my cup and brings me joy. As a full time working mom with a toddler, it’s hard to make time to socialize at this stage of my life.
Top of the TBR
I’ve started making a top of the TBR for October and November. I prefer to mostly read witchy and magical books in October and then the ones with Fall vibes in November. Here’s what I’ve set aside so far.
Growing my TBR library
📚 I purchased 3 books after book club: 2 for my kiddo and 1 for me. The Little Kitten and The Greatest Bedtime Story Ever for her and Big Bad Wolf by Laurie Gilmore for me. 🔥🐺
📦 Lots of book mail came last week Most notable was the entire set of special sprayed edge books of the House of Night (4 book) series!!
📖 I Preordered two books coming out soon:
🥬 PlantYou Quickies cookbook
💜 Threshing Day by Rebecca Yarros
📚 I also preordered my December Allurial box
This Week’s New Releases on my TBR
Tuesday, September 29th
Cursed City (Harker Academy #2)
House of Night (4 books, sprayed edges)
Ms. American Dream (NF)
Twelve Loves of Christmas (Anthology)
September Reading Report:
Finished Reading
📱 A Match Made in Fall by Melissa Baldwin | Not for me
📖 The Pumpkin Vice Cafe by Ellie Alexander | Loved it!
📖 Half City by Kate Golden | Loved it!
🎧 All the Time in the World by Cara Bastone | Enjoyed it
📖 I Hope This Email Finds You in HeII by Mackenzie Reed | Enjoyed it
Currently Reading
📖 Between Chapters by Zibby Owens: I’m reading a few chapters at a time to savor it. I’m absolutely loving it and know this will be going on my Recommended Reading list.
📱 Summerween by Joss Wood - included on KU, enjoying the cozy spooky spirits small town vibes
Paused for Now
📱 An unlikely coven - I purchased an ebook copy but I got distracted by my physical spooky season read and this one wasn’t drawing my attention much. I started reading SummerWeen and am more engaged.
Entertainment & Notable News
Watching
🎞️ Best of The Best - loved this movie!
🎞️ The Love Hypothesis - I loved this adaptation and thought the casting was great.
In the News
The Cornell 7 is a story that broke my heart, and I’m glad that the posts that have come through my feed about it have been in advocacy against that kind of unforgivable behavior. This post from Jennifer Weiner on Instagram is thoughtful and aligns with how I’m feeling about it.
Joyful Finds
I discovered that one of my favorite artists illustrated the covers of a magical book series. Promptly added all to my TBR and plan to order copies of them all soon!
What’s Up Next
Recipes I want to try soon:
Crispy roasted garlic potatoes from Sonara Kitchen
Applesauce oatmeal bars from Feeding Tiny Bellies
This Week’s Personal / House List:
Laundry!!
Deep clean the shower
Clear off the dining table
Schedule a veterans donation pickup
Make a big pot of chili
Try a new recipe
This Week’s Bookish / Blogging List:
September Wrap-Up
Q3 Reading Wrap-Up
Witchy Wednesday Book List
Donate books to friends of the library bookstores
Finish organizing my shelves
What’s something that brought you joy this past week?
