Over here fantasizing about spending my own money on ModCloth and eShakti dresses, as well as having a place to wear them. 👗

Finished reading: The Professional by Kresley Cole 📚

I finished this in just a couple of days. Definitely read the info on the author’s website before picking this one up.

March was a full month!

Our local historic cinema shows retro films. W & I went to This Is Spinal Tap together. It turns out it’s still hilarious.

We went as a family to My Neighbor Totoro. Totoro is M’s favorite movie. It was very special to see it on a big screen. I noticed some little things I had never noticed before, like how Mei echoes everything Satsuke says. ♥️ Little Sisters ♥️

I often focus on the part of a movie that resonates with me, sometimes to the point of having seen a different movie than everyone else. Some time ago I read a blog post or article that I now can’t find about how My Neighbor Totoro can be read as a story about an eldest daughter’s responsibilities. With Satsuke and Mei’s mom being sick and their dad being at work a lot, this really resonated with my experience growing up and now all I see is a movie about a big sister who is parentalized and cares for her little sister. It’s a beautiful movie and if you read it this way, one of the sweetest bits is how Mei shares Totoro’s magic with Satsuke.

We saw Adam Gidwitz speak at a local indie bookstore. I had a catch up call with a colleague from when I did my postdoc. That was lovely and if I’m smart, I’ll schedule more catch up calls and coffee dates.

I had a preliminary Zoom interview for the school librarian job at M’s school. I felt good about it and it went well enough that I was invited for an on-campus interview.

W and I saw Murder on the Orient Express at Playmakers Repertory Company. The set was a gorgeous art deco thing and the way they created the train was with these metal frames on wheels that the cast and crew could move around to indicate individual compartments or larger areas. The play itself was super fun. It’s a Ken Ludwig adaptation of the Agatha Christie story and definitely had a few moments where Ludwig’s voice popped up to remind you that this was by the same guy who wrote Lend Me a Tenor.

From March 21 to 29, we were traveling. We flew to London, where we stayed in a flat near the Portobello Road Market, ate delicious buns, saw Matilda the Musical in the West End, and played at St. James’s Park. Then we went to Cork, where we saw the beautiful rolling hills of Ireland on our way from the airport to the city center and explored the very cute city center including a toy store, an old-fashioned Irish sweet shop, and the English Market. It wasn’t very long to have gone so far, and because of how we did the travel, four of our nine days were travel days. I did learn a lot about travel, mainly that it’s worth the extra money for direct flights if you have it.

While we were gone, I developed a nasty productive cough, so when we got home I skipped our usual extended family Easter festivities.

And that was March!

One of the cool things about kids is that some are obsessed with stuff like Pokémon and some are obsessed with stuff like cats, while still others are obsessed with ancient Rome and yet others are obsessed with sea shanties. And some love more than one of these or something else entirely.

Finished reading: Munro by Kresley Cole 📚

The heroine in this one is a time-traveling Transylvanian knife-throwing carnie so, you know, she’s awesome.

🔖🧶 Read This Is Your Brain on Fibre by Michelle Woodvine (Digits & Threads).

A great article that explores a lot of the reasons fiber crafting is good for our mental health.

Finished reading: Wicked Abyss by Kresley Cole 📚

This is a banger of a Beauty and the Beast retelling, with an ending I radically prefer to the Disney version. Highly recommend.

🔖 Read You are having a midlife crisis. It’s fine.

This is an interesting pairing with The Cut’s The Case for Marrying an Older Man.

The former points out that a woman partying at midlife is not, in fact, a revolution. Which pairs fascinatingly with the latter’s framing of being a young artist supported by a partner as a brilliant life hack. I’m curious what the author of the latter’s midlife crisis will look like.

Finished reading: Shadow’s Seduction by Kresley Cole 📚

It took me a long time to get into this one and it’s not as strong as a lot of the other Immortals After Dark books, but I still ended up liking it.

Finished reading: Shadow’s Claim by Kresley Cole 📚

I really liked this one, the way the main characters interact with each other is both sweet and hot. I’ve only got 4 books left before I’m caught up on the Immortals After Dark series.

Don’t buy any plants today, y’all.

Finished reading: Sweet Ruin by Kresley Cole 📚

“She’d thought there was no greater connection than destiny decreeing them joined. But there was—the choice they’d made to love each other.”

Loved it.

Happy First Contact Day, y’all! Only 39 years until warp flight & meeting Vulcans! 🖖🏻

Nap first or eat first? The Kimberly Hirsh story

Finished reading: Dark Skye by Kresley Cole 📚

Other people seem to hate this one but I like it pretty well. Lanthe and Thronos’s story is epic, spanning years and continents. Lives ruined. Blood shed. Worth a try if you’re making your way through Immortals After Dark.

📚 When I’m catching up on a long-running series, I sometimes forget that there are people who, for example, couldn’t read 19 Immortals After Dark books in a row and, in fact, had to wait a year or more for the next one to come out, and that I, too, can wait.

Did you know that April is School Library Month? It’s true! Did you know that I’m trained as and have worked as a school librarian? Also true!

Finished reading: Suddenly You by Lisa Kleypas 📚

A lovely historical about an author and a publisher who fall in lust and then love. Her body is described as voluptuous, bountiful, abundant, generous. It’s clear that these are attractive things for her to be. Quite spicy. Content warning: miscarriage.

Finished reading: The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang 📚

A lovely romance novel with an autistic heroine. I highlighted a lot.

Finished reading: Matilda by Roald Dahl 📚

We went to see Matilda the Musical and I loved it. I’d watched the Netflix movie of the musical and years ago the movie with Mara Wilson, but I’d never actually read the book. It’s a lovely book but I think the musical is even better.

Finished reading: MacRieve by Kresley Cole 📚

This one is beautifully done as always. There’s a traumatic backstory of childhood sexual abuse for the hero and the way it impacts his relationship with the protagonist broke my heart. But of course there’s a happy ending because romance. ♥️

🔖 Read Why I Celebrate The Spring Equinox As The Real “New Year”.

I really love this. I want to live more in line with the seasons. Spring is a great time to make the changes so many people want to make in the new year: eat more produce, move around more.

Finished reading: Lothaire by Kresley Cole 📚

Of course if you’re reading Immortals After Dark you must read this one. You simply must.

🍿 Watched Yes Day.

This is a super fun family movie! I love it in no small part because of Jennifer Garner and Jenna Ortega but also it’s just super fun.

I’m celebrating (?) the Ides of March a day late with an Italian Night Club sandwich from Jimmy John’s and Roman Raspberry Talenti Sorbetto.

(True facts: the Ides falls on the 15th only in March, May, July, and October. The rest of the year it’s on the 13th.)