Currently [Vol. 13]

Another month come and gone. Time to look at what I’ve been up to!

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I’m currently … 

Reading … The Woman in White, Framley Parsonage, The Four Loves, and Lord John and the Private Matter: The first two are books for school (my class on Victorian literature), and they’re really interesting! The Woman in White is considered to be one of the first mystery books, and I loved it. I’ve also really been enjoying Framley Parsonage, but more from an academic standpoint than anything else. I’m slowly going through The Four Loves, which is happening a lot slower because it’s for fun and I have such little free time now. The Lord John book, though, I’ve been listening to on Audible and I’ve loved it. It’s a spin-off of the Outlander books (which I have discussed fairly often on my blog and social media) and is a mystery novel set in the 18th century. You don’t need to have read Outlander to understand what’s happening!

Feeling … stressed, nervous, and excited: I’m in the thick of the semester and there’s so much going on. I have a big assignment due every week in October, and then I need to start the prep for my finals. Stress on stress on stress! I’m also nervous but excited because I’m trying to apply for internships to start in January. I’m super nervous about graduating and hopefully getting an internship, but I’m also really excited about life after grad school. Terrifying and wonderful at the same time!

Listening to … my playlist for working, Thomas Rhett’s new album, Niall Horan’s new single, and Old Dominion’s most recent album: Thomas Rhett. Ugh. He writes such wonderful songs! He loves his wife so much! I love his new album. Niall Horan’s new song is also great, as is everything he has released so far. I’m looking forward to his first album coming out next month. And I’m still listening to Old Dominion’s album that came out in August. There are lots of great songs on it!

Hoping for … the federal government to leave the health care legislation alone for a little while and my body to cooperate over the next few weeks: It would be super awesome if I didn’t have to spend every week calling people and asking them to vote to keep my health care. I’m stressed out enough with school and post-grad work without adding constantly worrying about having health care. This is especially relevant since I’m getting close to my next infusion. I would love if my body cooperated and made the next few weeks as good as possible since my last infusion will be running out in October.

Wearing … a combination of summer clothes and sweaters and fall clothes, as well as minimal (for me) makeup: The weather has been all over the place in September. 60s to 90s to 70s to 80s and back again. I’ve been doing a lot of summer outfits and carrying a sweater with me in case the weather changes and/or I go somewhere with AC. Because of this weather, I’ve also been wearing lighter makeup.

Loving … my classes so far, Laura Mercier’s setting powder, and alltheradreads on Instagram: What’s great is that my classes have been really interesting. That makes the workload a little bit easier to bear. I’ve also returned to Laura Mercier’s setting powder after months of trying to find a replacement. It’s a bit more expensive than I would like, so I spend several months trying to find something that worked as well as it for a cheaper price. I finally accepted that I’m not going to (unless one of you knows of a dupe?) and have returned to it and goodness gracious do I love it. I like to bake my face, and this does it wonderfully without discoloring the parts with the powder. As a reminder, though, I’m a very pale white woman, so if that doesn’t describe you, it might not be perfect for you. I’ve also loved following Rachel on her bookstagram. She reads so much and provides such great reviews of books. Even if I don’t have the time to read the books she recommends, I like hearing reviews of what’s out there, especially since I’m planning on asking for loads of books for Christmas this year.

Watching … Big Brother, Outlander, SVU, and Gotham: Big Brother this year was not awesome on many fronts, but I still couldn’t stop watching it. Hopefully next year is better, and I’m really looking forward to the first ever (in the US) Celebrity Big Brother this winter. One show that I am looooving though is Outlander! The third season started this month and I’m so pleased with it so far. As I expected, so far the show this season is better than the third book in the series, which is the source material for it. I think this is because the structure of the book – which you can kind of gather from the show – wasn’t super fun to read, especially because so many bad things happen to the characters. The third book is my least favorite, and it’s still good, but so far I prefer the third season of the show to the book. I also started watching Gotham this month. I watched the first two seasons and am taking a break right now; I just can’t get into the third so far. Which meant that I’ve switched to rewatching the last season of SVU that’s on Netflix! They haven’t put last season up yet, so I’m watching the season before for a second time.

Grateful for … my awesome medical team, KT tape, Zach from Buzzfeed sharing that he has a form of arthritis, and all the work of ADAPT to stop repealing the ACA.

Looking forward to … BlogCamp Boston (I’m speaking!), Niall Horan’s new album, and cooler temps.

What TV shows, books, and social media accounts should I check out?

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