Happy Holidays friends! Can you believe this year is almost over?! I hope everyone is staying hydrated, eating snacks if you need a snack, and being extra kind to yourself. This Saturday in the US is Christmas! Again, you know the drill by now, we do and don’t celebrate this holiday in my family. However, my family also celebrates Winter Solstice and Yule this time of year too! And as usual, November and December are always wild months for me.
As I’ve mentioned before, this is probably my favorite time of year. Though Halloween is my favorite holiday, this time of year is something that I’ve always loved. I swear, my love language has always been gift giving due to feeling like I never express my feelings to those I care about very well. So I really love this time of year because I feel like this is the time when I come to life and can express how much I notice in the ones I care about. With that note of not being the greatest at expressing myself, this also includes expressing gifts that I’d really love to receive. Hey, I’m better at noticing things others love than revealing the things I’d truly love to receive. So I guess you could say this particular top ten Tuesday is a glimpse into the things I’d really love to find this holiday season!
Happy Holiday and winter season from the northern hemisphere everyone! I hope this month has been treating everyone kindly, you’ve been staying hydrated, and good things haver been coming your way. If you’re like me, you definitely feel that the year has been flying by rapidly and look, I know I said it last year, but I think it’s safe to say we’re ready for 2022 to start already. And with time flying by, I haven’t done a Top Ten Tuesday in forever! Truly, it feels like forever since the last time I did one of these and the fact that this is a freebie space, I feel like it’s a great way to ease back into doing them.
So I thought what would be more fun than talking about the books I’d love to read before 2021 comes to an end. It’s no secret that I haven’t read as much as I have in past years, but despite that I still want to try to finish up a few books before the year is over. To be fair, I have a lot of chonky books I’d love to read before the year ends, but realistically that’s not an option at the moment. Despite that, I’m still doing a little challenge to hopefully get as much reading done before the year is over. Even though I said I’d go light on the tbr stack this year. Anyway! Without further adieu, here’s the ten books I want to read before 2021 ends!
Happy Holiday Season dearest friends! I hope all of you have been staying safe, staying hydrated, and staying cozy (or staying cool for my southern hemisphere friends)! 2020 is finally coming to an end and I think it’s safe to say we’re all ready to start a fresh new year. It truly has been a wild ride of a year and December seems like it came flying by. Also, I want to make a quick statement that things might be a little staggered with posting due to the holidays and this is going to be kept very brief. But enough of all of that! This Friday in the US is Christmas! Again, just like Thanksgiving, we do and don’t celebrate this holiday in my family. However, my family also celebrates Winter Solstice and Yule this time of year too! So the end of November and the majority of this month has been… busy, to say the least. But that’s the typical chaos that usually happens in my family around this time of year.
This time of year has always been my favorite. I love giving gifts to all my friends, making homemade presents, and just making their holiday season a little brighter with spreading the love. Moving along, you all came here to talk books and I’m sure you’re all curious as to what I could be hoping for during the holiday season.I normally don’t share my wishlist except with friends and family, but I figured let me share some of the books I’ve really been wanting for a while now.
Salutations friends! This is going to be a super sweet, short to the point kind of post! With the holidays just a week out from now, I’m a bit long-winded and currently trying to catch up on some things before the new year rolls in. So sit back and enjoy these few books you’ll see popping up on my tbr the next month or so!
Salutations dearest readers! I’m so happy you’re here and so happy I get to share another Thankful Top Ten Tuesday with all of you! Truly, I love doing this post every year because I enjoy the time this post allows me, to sit and pause, to appreciate all the little things and the things in my life that I may not have given thanks to recently. I usually see this post as a time to allow myself to stop and reflect on a lot of things.
This Thursday in the US is Thanksgiving! I know many people in the US celebrate this holiday and I hope you all have a marvelous time. As I’ve mentioned before, things are a bit different with my family. I’m very open about my heritage and being half Apache, but I’m not as vocal about beliefs and other personal details with my heritage, but I thought I’d share a little bit. Usually, we do and don’t participate in this holiday. It’s something I’ve had conflictions with for a long time and it’s something I’m still trying to find peace with. Usually, my family, my spouse, and I will hold a vigil early Thanksgiving morning (I’m talking before dawn), followed by the feast that takes place throughout the entire day, but we try to have down time by late afternoon to catch up with family, share stories, etc… However, my spouse’s family tends to be more more split between locations (starting with meeting up my in-laws and then going to my spouse aunt and uncle’s home for drinks, food, and documentary watching) and how the holiday is celebrated. So it’s a bit of a mixed bag and we alternate each year. However, with everything that has happened in 2020, with quarantine, and things happening with both my spouse’s family and my family, we won’t be having our traditions with them this year. However, we’re still hoping to video call one another and try to participate as much as we can with our families while social distancing.
I also wanted to make this post a little different this year. Last year’s post was all about books and looking back on it, I feel like I need to tweak and modify it due to my own personal feelings changing, as I learn and grow, about some of the books listed. However, this post isn’t going to be only about books. This post going to show glimpses into my life of things that have been keeping me happy, helping me heal, and just things that have made 2020 less prickly to my soul. I’m super thankful for each of these things because 2020 has been a hard year, on everyone, and I think taking a moment to be thankful and appreciate those things that have helped make that time brighter is important, rewarding, and just a great way to heal from some of the pain this year has caused. So grab some tea, maybe a snack, and I hope you enjoy this little glimpse into my life of things I’m really thankful for!
For those who don’t know this about me; I’ve spent a large portion of my life (still spending my life) rescuing animals, working with shelters, rescues, rehabilitation centers, and even sought out a degree in working and studying animals. Even right now as we speak, I’ve been taking a few classes to maintain my knowledge despite everything in the world. In my opinion, my biggest strength is the bonds I establish with animals I work with. With all of this in mind, Emzotic has played a huge portion in bringing joy to my morning routine and even my winding down in the evenings. If you’re an animal lover like I am and someone who has devoted large portions of their life to their love of animals like I have, then I can’t recommend checking out Emzotic enough!
I do a lot of studying, I write a lot of in depth reviews, and I do a lot of morning/late evening meditating. Chillout Deer has been one of my go to channels for relaxing music to help with focusing on these things. They’ve also become a prime channel for music when I’m cleaning, decorating, or organizing. If you haven’t check out their channel, I definitely recommend giving them a chance, they’ve been a big help!
Though I haven’t updated my GoodReads (let’s be honest, I’m slacking hard with GoodReads), but I’m really enjoying my time reading the arc of this book. So far, I’ve laughed, I’ve cried (a lot), and I’ve really been loving this book. This might be the book that helps push me to ending my reading for 2020 on a good note. And this might be my next top favorite book of 2020?! I try not to over-hype books, but I think many readers are going to fall in love with this book and I’m so excited to read the reviews that come out!
I don’t know why I’m so nervous to share this part of myself… anyway, STORY TIME! A couple of years ago, I actually had quite a few Squishables (they made me really happy and they helped with some of my anxiety hardships especially when my spouse was deployed), but after I started getting more involved with the book community, I actually closed off that part of myself really tightly and got rid of all of them. As of recently, with a lot of my healing, I realized how much harm I caused to myself by closing that part of me off and keeping it so suppressed. Since realizing this, I’ve gotten a couple and it’s been really helpful. Some of them I use as pillows, two of them I use as an improvised “stress ball” (this usually involves a lot of squishing and rubbing the different textures), and some are just snuggle buddies for night time. But I’m really happy, I can’t even begin to talk about how easier it feels to breathe, and I didn’t realize how much I needed to reopen that part of myself until I did.
I always say how important it is to support small businesses and I really try to push that as it approaches the holidays. More recently, I’ve really been pushing small Indigenous businesses especially this small shop, Ukiuq Designs. I have bought a couple of pairs of earrings from this shop and I absolutely love them. One pair has sunflowers on it and if you’ve been here a while, you know sunflowers have a huge sentimental story behind them and why I use them so often on my blog. My most recent pair I purchased, I actually used a little of the graduation money from my aunt to buy the pair. They are absolutely stunning and when they arrive, you better believe I’m going to be sharing them in my IG stories! But I really love this shop with my whole heart and each purchase I’ve made has contributed to some portion of my own healing. And I really love the energy that Michele brings to her business and she’s just has such a warm, kind personality. So as the holidays approach, I’d like to push you in the direction of Michele and her shop because I think she deserves more attention than she gets and it would make my heart so full if more people supported her small business.
I mentioned this in my ‘How I Take Reading Notes’ post, but I had to talk about it here as well. Notion has been a complete changer for me. It’s really allowed me to get organized, I mean really organized. From my note taking, to organizing the arcs I’ve been getting approved for, all the way to the chores I do in my every day life (like cleaning, scrubbing the bathroom, etc…), Notion has been making things so much easier to keep track of everything and being thoroughly organized. Now, I’m not saying this is a solve all because I still cause giant messes and stray from the path, but it’s helped make things easier and as someone who needs some form of structure or routine in their life, Notion has really helped with getting some of my chaos in order. Maybe I’ll do a whole post dedicated to Notion. Hmm… Anyway! It’s been a really big help and personally, this has helped with some of the every day stress I carry on my shoulders. As I said in my note taking post, I definitely recommend checking this site out. It combines a wide plethora of elements that can really help with getting organized especially in the book community, it’s been taking the book community by storm! So check it out and see if it help you because it’s definitely helped me.
🍂 Games 🍂
That’s it, this is my default photo I’m using for anytime I reference my gaming habits! Gaming is something that has been with me my entire life. If someone asked me to name a time where games weren’t in my life, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. However, games have made a big difference for me this year and I didn’t realize how much until two nights ago, where my spouse and I played for early evening to 4 a.m. Not to mention it was Civ. and I hadn’t played that game in a year because the weight of life prevented me from wanting to take on strategy games. So being able to take a dive into strategy games now has been so invigorating. I was on such a good high that I wanted to do another round the next day, but in light of how exhausted we both were, my spouse and I agreed to keep this game specifically for the weekend. Still, it was a really fun time.
And speaking of games, I’ve recently been playing Animal Crossing again. I took a long break from it because I couldn’t focus on the joy the game brought me due to every thing happening in my personal life. So I’m really happy that I started playing it again. I’m excited for the upcoming updates and I’m just really grateful a game like Animal Crossing exists!
🍂 Friends 🍂
I had to include this because my friends mean so, so damn much to me. Many of them have been friends for 6+ years and some are newer friendships. They have been wonderful souls who rallied when I needed them the most this year and I’m so thankful they’re in my life. Just like I would for my family, for my friends, I would move Earth and sky for them. So I’m really lucky they’re here in my life and they love me for me.
🍂 My Spouse 🍂
This goes without saying, but they have been my lighthouse, my safe harbor through this whole year. They have seen me hit some really deep, dark rock bottoms this year and they’ve been such a safe place that’s pulled me out of those moments. And of course, they’ve had a huge role of my blog with a lot of the designs you see on the blog posts and they’ve been so encouraging, and supportive of every thing I do book wise. I’m truly lucky to be married to them and that out of all the people in the world, we found each other. And I just love them a whole, whole lot.
🍂 The Furbabies 🍂
If you’ve been on my IG then you know my four chaotic beans make appearances from time to time. They always steal my heart, but since quarantine they have been rock stars. They give all the snuggles, they’ve been getting into ridiculous shenanigans, and they just warm my heart so much. And though all four of them get all the snuggles, kisses, and all the play time, I still think they deserved to have their own little section on this list because they play such a huge roll in my every day life. As a little side note, three of my pets are rescues and I want to put an extra bit of love of how grateful I am that each one survived long enough so they could become part of my family. Each one of them is such a blessing and I’m really grateful that each of them came into my life.
Okay, I got sappy for some of those parts, but I’m so thankful for each of of the person/people, pets, and things I listed in this post. These are all chunks of my life, of my every day that means something to me and have allowed me to heal in my own way. And as always, I have to acknowledge the history of this month and the events on the 26th of this month. I know a lot of people in the United States celebrate Thanksgiving by having a big celebration, having a large dinner with family and friends, but I want to take this moment to remind everyone that one of the main genocides of the United States was the genocide of the Indigenous people. I don’t want to get into details on the stories that have been passed down through my family members that they pass down to me each year, as a reminder. Also, November is Native American Heritage Month in the United States. I have tried to read Indigenous books this month, but my reading this month has been panning out the way I was hoping. However, I do have a review for Ancestor Approved coming soon to my blog and GoodReads. So keep your eyes peeled for that. Until next time friends, I hope this holiday you stay safe, that you feel the love of your friends and family, and maybe you finish a five star book before this month ends! I love you! 💛
Salutations friends! Another top ten Tuesday coming your way! This time we get to branch away from the bookish content and you get to learn a few things about myself. This is probably insanely helpful since I haven’t done a ‘meet the blogger’ kind of post yet, but I promise, that’s coming soon. Until then, I hope you enjoy these few pieces of me that I do outside of all the bookish content. Cheers! 🧡
🍁 Playing video games
🍁 LARPing
🍁 Mug collecting
🍁 Studying and learning Japanese
🍁 Journaling
🍁 Horseback riding
🍁 Traveling (I really miss New Hampshire’s mountains)
Hello friends! I hope all of you are doing well, staying hydrated, and enjoying the little things! I have another top ten Tuesday for you. This might be one of the hardest TTTs I have ever done. I wish I was joking, but I’m not. I stayed up till 3 a.m. going through my shelves, searching through my GoodReads, even consulting with my spouse in case they knew of any long titles. It was sooo gosh darn hard, but I some titles that are at least long in my opinion. So I hope you all enjoy the ones I’ve chosen!
I feel like there are so many other titles out there that are far longer than these titles. I’m not sure about you, but I definitely feel that any title that is more than three words should be considered a long title, but that’s just me. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed my picks! Do you know of some titles that are long or really, really long? Come chat about it in the comments below! Until next time, I hope your October has been super spooky, I love you! 🧡
Hello friends! I hope your spooky reading has been wonderful so far! I wanted to pop in and drop my Top Ten Tuesday for the week. This current week is packed to the brim with things happening in my personal life, so I won’t be going into extra details like I usually do. Fear not, I will return the following week with all my usual thoughts and excitement! Until then, I hope you still enjoy this post, I love you! 🧡
Salutations friends! I’m back with another top ten Tuesday! For those who have been following my content, I’m a quote junkie! I love quotes especially when one touches my heart. So these are just a small handful of some of my favorite quotes. Some are recent and some are not so recent, but I hope you still enjoy!
“I don’t know when we’ll see each other again or what the world will be like when we do. We may both have seen many horrible things. But I will think of you every time I need to be reminded that there is beauty and goodness in the world.”
“So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we’ll never know most of them. But even if we don’t have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.”
“They had seen in me the softest, weakest part of my heart where I held my sister. They knew I would do anything, give up anything, if it meant my sister keeping her own body. And now they wanted me to prove it.”
“I will not give up the flowers in my heart for stones just because the world is a hard place. The world is only hard because it needs more flower-hearted people.”
“You were like the light of a flickering candle flame. Too faint to illuminate the path ahead. You were so small, so slight and fragile. A breath could have extinguished you. And yet… You were all that I needed and more.”
Okay, Chapterlings! Those were some of my favorite quotes from books, I hope you all enjoyed this little break away from reviews and my usual posts. Do you have a favorite quote that you love with your whole heart? Come tell me in the comments below! Until next time, I hope you’re enjoying the fall weather, I love you! 🧡
Salutations readers! I wanted to do something I haven’t really had a chance to do. If you’ve been around my content, then you know I’m an avid manga and graphic novel reader. I have read them for the longest time, they’ve always been a part of my reading journey, and I wanted to share some of my personal favorites. Some of these don’t have reviews simply because I read them before getting more involved in the book community. Regardless, I recommend all of these manga with my whole heart because I truly love them and some of them I feel they’re important just for the diversity and representation alone. So I hope you all enjoy!
Okay, friends! Those are some of my manga recommendations! As I mentioned, I think some of these are so important and I feel aren’t often talked about when many manga lovers discuss manga. So I hope some of these sparked your interest and you pick them up. Do you have a favorite manga series you love? Is there an all time favorite manga series you love that you wish was talked about more? Come chat with me in the comments below! Until next time, I hope you’re staying hydrated, I love you! 🧡
Chapter Malliumpkin 