Sorry I haven’t been on here in over two weeks; I’ve been really sick with a cold; it started with a sore throat and became a full cold last week. Thankfully, I’ve been feeling a little bit better, at least enough to make a full wrap-up post, even though I didn’t read much this month. However, I did do a lot in my personal life, which is a contrast to how slow August was!
This month has been one thing after another! On the first week of September, my mother and I traveled to Georgia to celebrate my cousin Raquel’s wedding. There, we also saw other family members, including my sister and her older daughter, also my other maternal family members. The wedding was successful and gorgeous and lovely, but the process was probably the most stressful I’ve ever witnessed in my life. Mind you, I wasn’t apart of the wedding planning committee — they didn’t even have a wedding planner, so my sister and the bride had to plan the whole event! In addition to not having a wedding planner, they also didn’t hire a professional wedding camera crew, like a photographer or videographer. Luckily, my niece who has a photography business of her own, offered to take photos and help with audio, along with our other cousin Jay who is studying film in NYU. So they used this chaotic opportunity to expand their brands and work together.
The wedding was still a success, but I just wish it was planned better. In a more positive note, I’m so proud of all my creative, talented family members showcasing their skills.
Here’s a video montage of the wedding by JayMurrayPhoto!
After I came home from the wedding, I got to hang out with my best friend Kim again to see Niall Horan and Maren Morris live on tour in Holmdel, NJ. The show was so much fun, and I loved both of the artists’ sets. I’m surprised I got to see my bestie twice in one month (if you remember, we’d hung out in the last weekend of August to see the Little Mermen), because we both work hectic hours and hardly see each other now. But one of the best things about our friendship is that we can separate for weeks and pick it back up when we do hang out.
Some pics and videos from the concert below. Excuse my awful concert singing along! 😆😆😆
I read and reviewed 2 books: The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli, and 500 Words or Less by Juleah del Rosario.
I gave Upside 3.5 out of 5 stars, making this my first time marking a book with a half-star rating. I enjoyed this book for what it was. Even though there were moments I thought were overdrawn for the drama and length of the novel, the character arcs, relationships between the characters, and internal dialogue kept me on board with the story. Also, the humor was amazing!
I gave 500 Words or Less 2 out of 5 stars. At first, I thought this book was really good, but the more I thought about it, the less I liked it. I didn’t love it, that’s a definite. But I just didn’t like it as much as I wanted it to.
I also did something outside of my comfort zone and attended a local writers’ group in my hometown. When the group was first announced on Meetup.com last month, I couldn’t attend because of my cousin’s wedding in Atlanta. But this week, I decided last minute to take a chance and go. The group consisted of 2 guys — Rich and Joe, who were friends in high school and had started the club. With me being an introvert, it’s difficult for me to come out to different events and things to showcase my talents, because so many things are going through my mind. What if they don’t like what I have? What if I can’t articulate what I mean to say? What if their work is better than mine? Truth be told, I’ve been doing this writing gig for almost 5 years, and I still haven’t fully embraced being a writer. I’m not ashamed of my journey, but there’s still some part of me that wants to shrink in my seat when someone I know compliments my work. It’s just something I have to build up on and gain confidence with. It was a lot of fun, and I hope to come back again with new material.
Book Blogger Hop – I wrote two BBH posts; one of which was a discussion on my post views, the other was about authors I do not read. The latter of which promoted more conversation about which authors were not our favorites.
POSTS
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Top 5 Wednesday – I wrote two T5W posts: favorite covers and books for my younger self. The post on books for my younger self was my favorite of the two. I got to reflect on who I was in high school, and books I would have needed to inspire myself back then.
POSTS
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Top 5 Tuesday – I wrote 2 posts for T5T, one about my top choices for fantasy, and another showcasing my cozy fall reads. I don’t read much fantasy, so finding choices for the first post was a little challenging. But I hoped my choices fit and made sense.
POSTS
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Coming Next Month
- Xpresso Book Tours – After They Go by J. Mercer (November 15)
How was your September? Read any good books lately? Comment below!
