Mindful Ramblings 001

Image by Micheile Henderson

Lately, I've been missing writing about what I'm planning on reading next, what books I've discovered, and in general my life. I've been waiting till I do my quarter one wrap-up to discuss things going on in my life and all that I've read. I stumbled upon a blog called literaryelephant and she is doing these weekly posts called A Lit-el Forcast and I think that's awesome. I used to have weekly wrap-ups or link up to the Sunday Post. I miss it. I kind of want to do things my own way and adapt what I've seen from different blogs to make it more me. 

I came up with the name Mindful Ramblings based on how literaryelephant came up with hers. My blog is She's Got Books on Her Mind. Mind = Mindful and I always ramble so I thought it would be perfect. At least I like it. I'm glad I stumbled on her blog. It reminded me of what I was missing which was connected more with readers and making my blog more personal.

I wanted to start doing these posts every Saturday but I was helping my brother and his fiancée move yesterday. I  walked up and down two flights of stairs about thirty-two times plus his new apartment I walked up and down like eight times. Thank goodness his new apartment had an elevator. I was using it whenever I was helping or carrying something too heavy. My calves and arms haven't felt this sore in forever. 

This week I want to sew. I've been saying I want to sew for two years. I finally set up my sewing machine with my mom and did my first stitch. It's time to practice. I'm going to regret it if I don't. So I'm devoting this week to sewing. That means that I'm going to write out all my posts today and sew like the wind. I bought this book I originally got from the library called Learn to Sew in 30 Minutes: Machine Sewing: 30 quick and easy projects to build your skills. Yes, it's a very long name. I'm going to first practice how to make a neck pillow with this very basic blue material I have. Then I plan on using this pretty fat quarter I have that has trees as the design once I feel like I've got the basics and can stitch in a straight line. I'm hyped about it.

This week I'm planning on reading a few books. I've been listening to Artificial Condition by Martha Wells. It's the sequel to All Systems Red. I'm loving it since it's this short novella about an awkward robot. My next audiobook will be A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow. I tried to read it physically but I think I wasn't in the mood last month. I'm going to try listening to it to see if I enjoy it better that way. At one point or another, I'll be reading the 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle since I chose it for my next Mother Daughter Book Club pick. My main physical read will be Katie Henry's This Will Be Funny Someday. This will be my second book by her this year. It'll also mean I've read everything by her so far. The ebook read I want to get to is We Belong by Cookie Hiponia Everman which is also an ARC. I've noticed that even if I'm excited about an ARC if I don't read it right away it'll take me forever to get to so I need to start this quickly. Lastly, I have a goal this year to read books in Spanish and I haven't read one so Los Tipos Malos, it's finally time to shine.

Last week I finished reading When You See Me by Lisa Gardner. It was my mom's pick for our monthly Mother Daughter Book Club. I enjoyed most of the book. Flora being my favorite character. Enough so that I want to read her story in the future. The ending doesn't make sense though. After finishing the book I went to look up if a particular death was possible and I guess... but not really. I also started Artificial Condition. A slow reading week but I ended up relooking at how I was choosing my top 5 books of the month and I'm planning on making some readjustments because two times in a row I've only read two books from the list.

Last week I discovered Like You Love Me by Adriana Locke (romance), A Girl Like Her by Talia Hibbert (romance), Whispers in the Dark by Laurel Hightower (horror), and Lotería by Karla Valenti (middle grade).

This week I'm planning on writing a discussion about whether or not I should be writing only positive reviews on my blog. As well as two horror book reviews and a review for Remote Control. Last week I wrote a Romance Book Guide // Romance for Beginners (I really need to come up with a better title for the next guide), reviewed The Many Mysteries of the Finkel Family, and The Storygraph // A New Goodreads Competitor. I actually became a Storygraph librarian recently which is exciting. I get to edit books that need to be fixed or editions that need to be merged. I worked on a few books and researched until I got them completely right. It brings out the nerdy side of me. Like this whole blog isn't my nerdy side haha.

I wanted to do something different before I sign off on this post. A long time ago, a few times I posted about illustrators I enjoyed. I love art and I'd like to share some cool artists whether they illustrate books or not so here is artwork by Viktoria Gavrilenko:

Let me know what you think and if I should add anything like my fitness or any of my other goals for the year. What's been going on with you. Let me know in the comments.