Is Buying Yourself More Books An Acceptable Reward For Achieving Your 2021 Reading Goal 4 Months In?

Good evening!

How is everyone this week?

For me, this has been a completely hectic one. I feel like I haven't stopped. I also feel like I've not got anything done. I had one day off this week and I don't think I sat down that until like 5pm! And even then, it was to complete something from my To Do list (crafting a new Decoupage frame, which is something you need to be constantly doing something with). I spent most of the day trying to achieve at least 2 things at the same time!

Also I made a mistake this week - not a bad one per se...

The shop I work at at the weekends had the Grisha trilogy and the Six Of Crows duology (by Leigh Bardugo) come in. The covers of all the books were beautiful, and I knew that I couldn't just buy one book. So I wasn't sure if I should buy them all (so I am guaranteed to get the matching covers), or buy none of them.

Last weekend I thought about it and decided I wouldn't get them.

But here's my mistake:

On Friday, I stupidly decided to start watching the Shadow & Bone Netflix series.

And now I am the proud owner of all 5 books!!

Whoops!!

I won't lie to you, I'm looking at seeing if we can order a lot of other amazing looking books in - mainly so I can buy them. Bookstagram isn't always a good thing, I won't lie to you haha!

This weeks updates on my site:

• 5 concert photography photos in StormCloud Photography (of Sum 41 from the Kerrang! Tour),

• 1 blog post of a crafting project in Cloud's Silver Linings (this is the blog post I have been promising you for weeks! It's the post about some of my bookmarks!! - When Books & Photography Combine!! (wixsite.com)),

• 5 Cloud's Silver Linings Designs - Book Quote Designs (found in the Cloud's Silver Linings Designs tab!!!),

• 4 book reviews in My Books & Reviews - A collection of these can be seen at the bottom of this blog update, however reviews are all attached to the photos on the webpage.

  • The Girl Who Lived Twice is the last book I read in March - the rest of the books (those shared at the bottom of this post) are the start of April's reads.

  • 2 of the photos shared this week has some quote designs created by myself. These can be seen on the original Instagram post, the links to the posts are shared below.

    • The Girl Who Lived Twice: photos 3-5 - LostInABook (@notanotheremptyskull) • Instagram photos and videos

    • Veronika Decides To Die: photos 3-5 - LostInABook (@notanotheremptyskull) • Instagram photos and videos

My personal update:

• Since the last update, I have read 3 books.

• My current read is The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.

• I hit book 100 (my target for 2021)!! My current read is book 101!

• My next book quote designs are due to be shared on Monday/Tuesday (from the book If Ever I Fall).

• I haven't yet started a new course - however that's only because I can't decide which one I want to do first!

• I finished H20 last Sunday night. I was so close to finishing it so I stayed up later than I would have liked, but it was worth it. I know there is a follow up, however I only really watched this series because of a couple of cast members, so I won't be watching that.

• As discussed at the start of the update, I have started watching the Shadow & Bone Netflix series. As you may have guessed from the fact that watching the series caused me to buy all the books, I am thoroughly enjoying it. I am half way through the 4th episode while typing this (yes, I brought the books after only watching one episode) and it keeps on getting better!! I am so excited to read the books!!

• Somehow, even in this super hectic week, I have found time to keep up with my daily working out! I'm honestly not sure how, but I'm really pleased that I managed to do it.

• Another thing I briefly referred to further on in the blog update - I started (and finished) a new Decoupage project. It was (as all the others have been) a frame gift for a friend of mine - this time it was Captain Marvel. I will share that here soon enough.

• I will give you all a tip for life: while multi-tasking exists, there are some things that don't work as multi-tasking activities.

  • One such combination is making soup (which I did on my day off) and exercising. To make the most out of my day, I decided to dance while making my soups so I could get my Cardio in... and I may have cut my hands a few times (nothing too bad) - both with a knife and a peeler. I mean I know it's common sense to not dance while not just holding, but using a sharp object, but I was so into the music that I didn't pay attention to the fact that I was doing it! I'd like to say I've learned my lesson, but unless I decide not to listen to music while cooking alone next time (which probably won't happen), this situation is unfortunately likely to repeat itself!