But how is it November already. That means it’s almost
Christmas, right? Not that I am going to get excited just yet. I mean, I love
Christmas, I absolutely totally do, but I love it in the way that means I want
to concentrate that love into a small time frame so that I can love it really
intensely whilst it lasts and then tuck it away for another year knowing I’ll
love it just as hard when it comes around again which means I don’t ‘do’
Christmas until December 1st. I won’t even eat a mince pie, which is
pretty hard going actually because holy moly I love mince pies. The only
exception I make to this rule I think is the festive coffees. Give me all the gingerbread lattes please. Today
I had a spiced cookie latte from McDonalds (Maccies is the only coffee place
open before I go to work and actually it’s not that bad), the cup had little
foxes on it and I was beyond delighted.
Anyhow. This is not a post about Christmas. It’s a little
bit of a post about oh wow how is it November and mostly an autumnal catch up,
so make yourself comfortable my loves and let me talk at you about what my life
has looked like lately.
I read:
I loved this so much. I’m part of
the blog tour and will be chatting about it tomorrow so don’t want to say much about
it now, but I loved it.
This was cute. It’s about
a girl (Juniper Lemon) who was in a car accident that killed her older sister,
which is very sad times. Every day Juniper fills in an index card detailing
things she has to be happy for that day; it’s the one thing that’s been holding
her together since her sister died. It all starts to fall apart though when one
of those cards goes missing and she finds a letter her sister wrote before she
died to someone only referred to as You. So begins the hunt – for You, for the
missing card, for Juniper’s closure. I liked it. It was a good representation
of grief and loss which I think is such a delicate and difficult thing to write
about; it had a good representation of friendship; it was a not too tropey
representation of high school. I liked it but I had issues with the ending
mostly because I got a little bit invested and then was a little bit like
‘wait, what, where’s the rest of the book…?’
One of those books that was everywhere for a while
and that I mostly read because I had FOMO. So much bookish FOMO all of the time
though you don’t even know. I blame bookstagram for this because all the people
talk about all the books and I make all the grabby hands. Also, the very
premise ticked all my boxes because YES TO TURNING THE PATRIACHY ON ITS HEAD.
YES GIVE ME ALL THE JOHN GREEN EVER
PLEASE AND IS THIS MY FAVE OF HIS MAYBE. Turtles
if you live under a rock and don’t know is John Green’s latest novel. It’s
about a girl called Aza, her best friend, the guy she likes and the search for
that guy’s Dad but it’s also a book about mental health and how it’s actually
totally fine to not be totally fine. You know what, I am so not John Green’s
target audience and I so don’t give a damn. I think he’s excellent. I think his
writing is important and I think his writing is good enough to carry that
importance and this book was totally worth the wait. There need to be more
books like this out there, there really do. This book will do for mental health
what TFiOS did for terminal illness and I don’t just mean make you cry a sea of
tears. It’s classic John Green: it’s real and honest and unapologetic and it is
everything I love about YA fiction. It hurts to read about a sad girl who
starts the story sad and ends the story sad in the same way that it hurt to
read about Hazel Grace and Gus, but it hurts because it’s real amd at the ame
time it carries a sense of hope because sure Aza’s sad, but she’s also Aza and that is quite a remarkable thing.
Also, the ending. THIS IS HOW TO END A BOOK GUYS. TAKE NOTE. Also, I just love
this book.
The second book in the Half Bad trilogy. I liked it. It’s not the best series this, but
I’m shipping Nathan and Gabriel like a pro (GO AWAY ANNALISE) and I’m curious
to see how the whole thing ends. Also, I love the witchiness of it all, and the
whole thing with Nathan and his Dad got to
me.
I watched:
Suits.
I am such a binge watcher though and I have pretty
much watched the first 6 series of this in NO TIME AT ALL. I like it. I mean,
let’s not lie about it: it’s a little bit samey and it definitely follows a
formula and Mike Ross DOES MY HEAD IN, but it’s totally worth it for Jessica
and Donna and LOUIS LITT. Louis Litt is such a fascinating
character. I would watch a show all
about him, really.
Strictly except don’t ask me who I’m backing because I don’t
know. Yet. Except Kevin, but I always love Kevin so hard.
Doctor Foster SUCH BAD PARENTING THO, is my overriding
feeling about this show, all the time and you kind of sympathise with Gemma in
the first series but by the end of the first episode of the second you kind of
feel like her and Simon deserve each other and you just want to take Tom away
from it all. Gripping tv though.
Trust Me which was this thing on the BBC about a nurse who
is totally disillusioned with the NHS and so she moves to Edinburgh and
pretends to be a Doctor in an A&E department. It starred the new Doctor Who
and it was so tense. Like actually
there were so many times when I actually couldn’t watch.
Outlander because it’s back and Jamie Fraser in a kilt.
Although #spoileralert there’s been less kilt this series so far than I would
like.
The Mountain Between us which is Idris Elba and Kate Winslet
stranded on a mountain and the cinematography is lush and it’s Idris and Kate but it’s also so very long man. I saw this at the cinema
with my pal Nat. We ate pick’n’mix and wondered where Idris had gotten those
snow boots from.
I also:
Had dinner with my bestie and our Mothers which always ranks
pretty highly on my list of Things I Like To Do. We drank pink fizz and chatted
and I was reminded once again that I am super lucky that my Mum is also my
friend and also the friend of my friends. It gives me all the warm fuzzies.
Met my pal Natalie for lunch and a movie (see above) – there
was a small amount of shopping, and lunch was Starbucks, and we had a rather
lovely catch up and planned our trip to York in December and talked about
kittens and Outlander and it was a nice time. I like Natalie a lot and I’m sad
that we have to travel over an hour just to be able to meet in the middle someplace.
Went to Chill Factore a couple of times. My Best Guy and I
had a couple of Fridays off work so we chucked our skis in the back of his car
and drove to Manchester and pretended we were in the Alps. This is always
excellent because he is an actual rea life ski instructor so my skiing comes on
leaps and bounds whenever we play out. He played on the moguls and did some
snowboarding and I practised my carving and then we had pub lunch and it was so
much better than being in the office.
Went to a party in a barn. For real. IT was an excellent
time. It began at a friend’s house with gin and a fire pit and mini cocktail
sausages (yum) and then we walked approx. a mile slightly tipsy with gin
glasses in hand up a dark country road to a massive barn where there was a bar
and pie and peas and a band. It was the lovliest of times and because it
started at 4 we were home and watching Strictly by 10. ROCK AND ROLL BABY
Saw Joseph in Manchester, which was amazing. I mean Joseph
owns my heart anyway because it was the first professional stage show I saw,
when I was about 7, but it was extra special this time because I went with my
little best pal who is the age now that I was when I first saw it and so I got
to share it all with her which was all kinds of amazing. The week after I hung
out with her again and we carved pumpkins and went for a long walk and danced
and laughed and drank hot chocolate and it was amazing. Being an Auntie is the
best and I love all my girls so so much.
And that, in a nutshell is my autumn. I loved it.
