SEPTEMBER 2020

 *tired college student crawls out of hole into the sunlight*

WELL HELLO EVERYBODY. *looks at blog post from like three weeks ago that said there would be a blog post the next week and laughs*

Yeah, so... that didn't happen. XD And here I am with a monthly recap instead of actual content. 

But y'know what? It's okay. Things don't go as planned and that's perfectly normal. Life is different right now. And, well, I'm adapting. xD 

I hope to return to regular posts starting now, but today we're looking back at September! (yeah normally I wouldn't even do a monthly recap with almost a week left of the month but whatever)

Reading happened this month!!

Yeah, somehow in the midst of the craziness reading actually happened. Weird, right??

First off, I finished up Defying Shadows by Ashley Townsend. 

Oh my goodness. 

I have never cried so much over a book in my life. 

Yeah. Like, real tears. Ugly cry. It was bad. But this book isn't. Book is good. Read book. oh my GOSH what is college doing to my brain

Yeah, so, anyway. For real, though. There are so few books that have actually made me cry and even then I only teared up, but this one had me practically sobbing in my room. I had a bit of a book hangover from this one. I would think I was fine, and then something would make me think of something in the book and I'd get really sad and just :'( I miss Sarah! And Will!! And everybody!!

I also read Beast of the Night, thanks to this review by Christine (looking at me actually reading books from my TBR!!), and really enjoyed it as well! Definitely a fallish read, and I loved the whole atmosphere- which is good because that was the main thing that drew me to it from the start. Might have to make this one an autumn tradition! 

Aaand then I did what I've been saying I was going to do for months: I STARTED READING LORD OF THE RINGS!

Okay, so, yeah, technically I started reading The Hobbit. But. You know. And I'm happy to report that I'M ACTUALLY MOVING THROUGH IT AT A DECENT PACE. It feels good to be actually reading again and not just stumbling through a couple pages at a time every few days or so. (Which, if that's how you do it, that's totally fine! But I was really missing stories, so moving a little faster through this one has been great.)

Very little writing happened this month. In fact, as of the time of writing this, I can confirm that I have had exactly one writing session. 

I'm kind of okay with that. I'm kind of not. 

You might remember me mentioning a few months ago that I hoped to finish the second draft of Roots to Claim by October. You might also be thinking that with only one writing session in September, that's not going to happen. Well, you would be correct. xD 

So, my new goal is by November. Yeah, that means NaNo planning AND working on RTC at the same time. lol good thing I don't actually nano plan We'll see how this goes. Pray for me. xD

The Havok Bingeworthy anthology came out!! I'm so excited that my little superhero story, The Hero of Parker City, is heading out into the world and finding a home on some bookshelves (with some other fantastic stories!). There was another super fun Facebook party, and I actually won a paperback copy of the anthology. :O So, I'm very excited that I don't have to order one now. xD

How gorgeous is this cover??

College proceeds as usual. It's hard to believe it's been over a month now since I started, yet it already feels like a permanent fixture in my life. 

How's it going? As well as can be expected, I suppose. Fortunately, it seems that I'm getting my routine down a bit, and all the work that has been absolutely drowning me is beginning to be reined in. So, hopefully with these busy months coming up I'll be able to get some writing time in. 

I finally watched the new(ish) Aladdin movie! I really enjoyed it. I knew Naomi Scott from Lemonade Mouth, so it was so fun seeing her play Jasmine, and she did a great job. (Aladdin himself was great, too!) I've had "Speechless" stuck in my head on repeat for the past several days. It's a fantastic song. (I'm thinking about writing a post with my thoughts on the movie/that song in particular. So look for that! maybe)

Also how stunning was her wardrobe in this movie?? Thinking about becoming an Arabian princess for that and the pet tiger alone honestly

I also found this amazing video on YouTube that you need to watch right now:

Awesome, huh?? I've watched it so many times already. I think it's such a beautiful tribute to these strong and lovable heroines.

After that, I really wanted to see Cinderella again, so I watched it with my sisters. I think I liked it more this time than I have all the other times I've seen it combined. Ella is such a beautiful character, and I might just have to write a post on that soon, too. 

The 22nd was HOBBIT DAY!! And the FIRST DAY OF FALL!! 

Guys, you have NO idea how happy it makes me that these two things happen on the same day. How PERFECT. AND this was also the day I started reading The Hobbit, so even more perfect. I love it. :D To celebrate, my sisters and I watched The Princess Bride (I was sadly unable to convince them to watch Lord of the Rings) and had second breakfast for dinner. It was lovely. 

Me being a dork with my second breakfast

Not much happened in the way of actual posts, BUT September first was my blogiversary!! *confetti* If you missed the Q&A and festivities, you can find them HERE!

It's been a good month, a quite lovely opening to fall, I would say. Of course, the weather isn't quite ready to fully cooperate (really, if I had it my way it'd be in the 60s every day starting September 1), but we are definitely getting some cooler temperatures and I am LIVING for that sweater weather! I'm fully embracing the whole fall vibe. I just love fall SO much. (Although I still haven't put my fall decorations up... hopefully that will be changing very soon!)

I truly hope you all are having a fantastic fall so far! Those of you who are in school, best of luck with everything going on! I know it's hard juggling everything. I'm praying for you!

Let's catch up, friends! How have you been faring? Who else is embracing fall wholeheartedly?? And what's your favorite live-action Disney remake?