It’s time for a weekly check-in!
This post is super overdue because January has been wild since my last weekly check-in! 😅 As many of you know, on January 13th, we decided very abruptly to drive up to upstate New York to check out a home we were interested in. It was about a 15-hour drive each way (we drove up Friday night, stayed in a hotel Saturday night, came back Sunday), and the trip unfortunately taught us more about where we do NOT want to move than anything else.
We knew it was going to be cold, but I don’t think we realized how different (read: wet and slushy) the cold would feel from what we’re used to! While the rest of the year is humid AF in Georgia, our winters are pretty dry, so the cold doesn’t settle into your bones quite the same way. Though the part of NY we visited was technically only 10 degrees colder than it was at home, it felt 30-40 degrees colder. Between that and some other things, it was a unanimous family decision to abort the NY moving mission.
That said, the change in plans apparently lit a fire under our asses to renovate the home we’re already in, because it’s been pretty much a constant whirlwind of home renovation work since we got back! I have done so much painting, it’s unreal, and we’ve only done half the house so far (we still have several rooms to paint, new flooring to put in the kitchen, and a bunch of little jobs here and there left to work on). I guess we all sort of realized that, if we’re going to stay in Georgia longer than we planned to, we might as well make the most of it. It’s been expensive and exhausting, but a lot of fun and things are really coming together nicely! 🥰
With everything going on, I haven’t gotten to read much this month. Don’t let this list deceive you, because keep in mind that it’s everything I’ve read in almost three weeks and most of these are super short reads! I’ll call it now: Episode Thirteen and The Dismembered will both most likely end up on my “favorites of 2023” lists. They were both phenomenal and I recommend them 100%!
- Famine // Laura Thalassa ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫
- Something Akin to Revulsion // Judith Sonnet ⭐
- The Tiger Came to the Mountains // Silvia Moreno-Garcia ⭐⭐⭐
- Episode Thirteen // Craig DiLouie ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- Ark // Veronica Roth ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫
- Doctor Ice Pick // Claire Prentice ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- The Dismembered // Jonathan Janz ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Since one of my 2023 goals is to read 6 or less books concurrently, I’ll keep using this section to show all of my current reads until I can get down to that number (and maybe afterward, too, since having the limit would make this section shorter again lol).
📚 current reads 📚
- House of Earth and Blood // Sarah J. Maas → 71%
- Wolfsong // T.J. Klune → 42%
- Kingdom of the Cursed // Kerri Maniscalco → 23%
- Empire of the Vampire // Jay Kristoff → 4%
- The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires // Grady Hendrix → 35%
- Alice // Christina Henry → 23%
- Swordheart // T. Kingfisher → 16%
- The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue // V.E. Schwab → 15%
- Book Lovers // Emily Henry → 47%
- The Assassin’s Blade (RE-READ) // Sarah J. Maas → 66%
- From Blood and Ash // Jennifer L. Armentrout → 15%
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck // Mark Manson → 17%
📚 total current reads: 12 📚
I haven’t really had time to watch or play anything lately, except we did rewatch the first part of IT so we can finally watch Chapter Two soon!
Heads up: you can always friend me on Letterboxd if you wanna see my movie mini reviews!
What are you reading right now, or what did you recently finish? Is anything exciting happening in your life? Let me know in the comments!
— destiny ♥
Jordyn @ Birdie's Book Nook
January 30, 2023Ooo I hope renovating your current home is making you guys feel less antsy! I love how much just paint can help freshen up a space!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
February 20, 2023Thank you, it absolutely is helping SO much! For the first time ever, we feel like it’s really starting to fit our aesthetic instead of just mostly being what was leftover from before. 😂 It’s wonderful!!
Tammy
January 30, 2023Your home renovations sound like fun! We just moved to a much colder location, and had I realized how cold it was here, I would have pushed to stay in our old house. So it’s good that your whole family experienced the weather first😁
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
February 20, 2023Oh nooo, Tammy, I’m so sorry! I hope the colder weather isn’t bothering you too badly!
Laurie | Bark
January 30, 2023Glad you visited during the cold season so you could make a decision. You really don’t know until you experience it. I’m in NH and it does get in your bones for months and months on end. I pretty much spend every day I can inside until late March. Some people love the chill but I’m not one of them!
But the spring, summer and autumn are lovely. Unfortunately, the winter feels never-ending.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
February 20, 2023I’m so glad, too! We said the same thing, that we consider ourselves lucky to have visited when we did, because I feel that if we’d only visited during the warmer months, we might have been in for a rough surprise come winter! 😂 I’m sorry you’re not one of those people who enjoys the winter. I hope spring weather comes soon for you! ♥
Celeste | A Literary Escape
January 30, 2023It’s a painting party!! I’ve slowly been repainting our house, too. Do I need to? No. But I’d be more content with a different “whole house” color than what we currently have. Good luck with your renos!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
February 20, 2023Thank you, and good luck to you, too! Painting feels like such a cheap way to change the entire look and feel of a room, so I can see how people get addicted to changing up the colors regularly. 😂 (Well, not SUPER cheap, but compared to furniture overhauls, flooring, etc… sheesh!)
Celeste | A Literary Escape
February 21, 2023Well, I am not the type of person who finds painting addicting haha…it is WAY too much work in my humble opinion, lol! Especially when it’s for the whole house, in my case, yikes! But it is a good opportunity to spend quality time with some audiobooks!
Molly's Book Nook
February 1, 2023I’m sorry the house didn’t work out but it’s great that some good has come out of it! Good luck on all of your home renovations 🙂
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
February 20, 2023Thank you! A silver lining for sure 🥰