I’m caught up on Looking Back, Looking Ahead! This installment brings us to what happened last week, woo hoo.
So, what did happen last week?
Looking Back…
On Monday, I got a book in the mail.
I signed up to be a part of a blogger reviewing service for books, which means – as you can probably guess – they send me books and I get to review them. I’m pretty excited about this because I figure it’s a good way to get myself into regularly reading. The only requirements are that I have to post the book reviews on Amazon or another similar bookseller website, and also post the review on my blog. I guess these are sort of like sponsored posts, but I get to pick the book I review so I like that aspect of it. And all I’m getting is a free copy of a book.
Anyway, I chose Move On: When Mercy Meets Your Mess (this link goes to smile.amazon.com, which supports charitable causes each time you purchase) because it had not yet been chosen for review by a blogger, and I thought the title sounded interesting. As it turns out, the book is exactly what I needed to read after my very emotional week I had last week. I’m just about halfway through so expect a review by mid- to late-September.
Remember when I mentioned a couple weeks ago about how I gave another Moleskine transformation a go and I wasn’t very happy with the results? Well, I tried again but this time with a random notebook that I found in my stash (yes, I have a notebook stash). It’s graph paper like the Moleskine, but has more pages that are divided into sections by color (four sections total). I worked on the cover and coverpage with some washi tape I had picked up at Staples, and then started working on a monthly and weekly view. So far, I am liking this, but it’s still not quite right.
The Emily Ley planners will be released in a couple weeks and darn it if I am still eying those! I also checked out Plum Paper Designs to see what was new with them. The planners are a little over $20 less than Emily Ley and I already know I like them.
Stop giving me that look! I’m addicted to planners and I can’t help it!
Anyway.
It was rainy and/or overcast and/or humid most of the week this past week, so Ezra and I were kinda limited in what we could do outside. On Thursday, we broke out our paint supplies and painted a little on the porch. When he was napping, I picked my Custom Fit sweater back up since it is technically supposed to be fall soon. I also put on a new Jamberry manicure.
Friday during the day, we had a visit from the in-laws so that was very nice. They brought over pizza and hung out for the afternoon.
Friday evening Ezra had a sleepover at my parents’ house, which meant Alex and I had all of Friday evening and Saturday morning/afternoon to ourselves. It was like a throwback to pre-baby days, and it made me realize just how little we did with our time on the weekends before we had Ezra. Kids seriously do just pack on the activities that you squeeze in.
We had Thai food for dinner Friday night because we have both been craving it. We hit up a place that I hadn’t been to in years (and Alex had never tried) and it was good but the service was pretty awful. Our food was given to the table beside us and it took the waitress almost an hour before the mix-up was even addressed. At least they gave us a free appetizer of crab rangoons?
After dinner, we walked around and discovered a new-to-us cafe that had a really good frappe, and we hiked up to an overlook to check out the view. Kentucky will always have my heart, but Cincinnati can be really beautiful.
(Get ready for another collage….)
Saturday morning something wonderful happened – I slept in. After weeks of not sleeping much at all, I really needed that rest. We visited a tea room for brunch and had some delicious food + a bubble tea (yum!!!!). My mom brought Ezra home after his nap but, unfortunately, I wasn’t there to greet him – only Alex was – because I had to take Aslan to the emergency vet. On Wednesday night, I gave him a new kind of heartworm/flea/tick medication that didn’t sit very well with him and made him sick. He spent Thursday intermittently vomiting and on Friday I was set to call the vet except he seemed much better and back in good spirits. Fast-forward to Saturday afternoon when he suddenly started having diarrhea and was shaking, plus refusing to eat or drink anything, I decided we needed to run up to the emergency vet and see what was going on. They diagnosed him as dehydrated and gave him an under-the-skin injection of fluid plus an anti-nausea medication and told me to put him on a diet of plain boiled chicken and steamed rice.
Yesterday, he was feeling much better and today (Monday) he is 100% back to normal which was such a relief. He is so small that when anything like this happens, I really worry about him.
Looking Ahead…
This upcoming week is looking like it will be pretty good. Last week, I signed a second social media marketing client and this Wednesday I have a meeting to naildown the details for a third, so positive thoughts and prayers are appreciated for that! All of this is pretty interesting in light of my decision to totally change the direction of my Etsy shop. Now, I’m not really sure where to go with all of that.
Here are a few links that caught my eye –
(I was cleaning out the archives of my “saved” selections in Feedly so all of these links are going to be really old.)
From 2012 – ‘To my 15 year old self: Things I wish I had known,’ via CNN
“Believe in your dreams and ideals and pursue them with determination and motivation. Always find the time to do something for other people. Indeed, there is nothing more rewarding than making someone else happy.” – Fabiola Gianotti
Five great podcasts to do the dishes by – via The Happiest Home
Now, great podcasts keep me entertained from the time I drizzle olive oil in the pan until the last pot is dried and put away. In fact, I sometimes find myself slowing down the nighttime routine just so I can listen to the end of a great episode.
Sweater Makeover – Flower Embroidered Shoulders, via One Sheepish Girl
This is seriously so cute and I’m glad I was digging through my old saved stuff so this tutorial is back on my radar, just in time for fall.
All the money I’ve earned (and spent) in my lifetime, via Budgets are Sexy
Really fascinating!
This is serious. If you don’t handle your money with care, count every dollar that passes through your hands with a budget, and invest early and often, you may end up realizing you have WASTED half a million dollars…
Alright, there ya go, folks. Hope you had a great week, too, and that you have a promising week ahead. Thanks for reading 🙂
What’s the blogger review site you signed up for? That sounds like a perfect thing for me to do too! http://www.ohyesdc.blogspot.com
I signed up for . I haven’t finished the book they sent me yet, and I don’t think a ton of “big” publishers are on there, but still it’s a cool service. And if you google “blogger book reviews,” you can find a few other sites. There are a ton out there; it’s like a whole other world of blogging I never knew about.