Recap March '17 | London (first flight!) and lots of food.

This post recaps my month: my personal life, all the books I’ve read & bought and all the movies and TV shows I’ve seen.

Because what is a monthly recap without mentioning the fact I ate some delicious food?

The best thing that happened was my trip to London with Debby and Daphne. It has been.. 8, perhaps 9 years since I first been to London and I fell in love all over again. I had an amazing time with my friends and I believe they got to see a side of me they didn't know yet, haha. I definitely can't wait to return any time soon, because there are still so many things left I want to see/do!

Highlights of the trip were: (check out my Instagram for more pictures)

-We went to Les Misérables, which was an amazing experience.
-We saw Seven Dials after we met Samantha Shannon, for her book signing for The Song Rising. She was lovely! She promises us a lot of pain in the upcoming books. I'm ready to endure all of it.
-British Museum, Natural History Museum (They moved Dippy, I WAS SO DISAPPOINTED), Victoria & Albert, where we also ate scones. Walked across the Tower Bridge, posed in front of Big Ben and Buckingham Palace, saw the whispering Gallery in St. Paul's and we bummed over the fact Westminster Abbey was closed for a special service. Also had a glimpse of 9 3/4 on King's Cross.

-All the bookstores. Debby showed me the wonderful store Forbidden Planet. I'm in love.
-All the food. We tried pies, English breakfast, fish & chips, the best cookies, ice cream surrounded with candy floss, a real Sunday roast, Scottish Eggs, Sushi, yuuuum. We also had the worst restaurant experience ever, so thanks Kimchee, never again.
-My first flight. Yep. It finally happened and I survived thanks to the support and beautiful serenade of Debby and Daph in the middle of the airport. We went with the train to London and went back flying. It was interesting. I did NOT like the start, but the middle part was okay (had to stop thinking about the fact you are floating around) and I liked the landing.
-A ride in a Double decker. I love those things.

I had a fun bookclub meeting. I finally had a house-warming for two friends, because things kept coming in between, and we went out to get hamburgers (I had a delicious hot dog) We went over to our friends to celebrate a birthday (I love the fact I can finally give someone books for her birthday!)  and I got addicted again to playing Mario on my Nintendo 3DS.

I'm getting more responsibilities at work, which is scary and really exciting. I have a feeling I might get a permanent contract at the end of this year *fingers crossed*

1. Maria V. Snyder – Shadow Study (signed)
2. Alwyn Hamilton – Traitor to the Throne (signed)
3. Samantha Shannon – The Song Rising (Personalized)
4. Rainbow Rowell – Attachments (bookclub)
5. Laini Taylor –Strange the Dreamer (signed)
6. Rhiannon Thomas – Long May She Reign (book subscription box)

I would say that's not too bad.

1. Marissa Meyer – Wires and Nerve. That was great. 2. Linda Woolverton – Belle's library. Cute, but only for hardcore fans (like myself ;p) 3. Sarah Prager – Queer, There and Everywhere. Informative! But for young audience.
4. Rainbrow Rowell – Attachments. Yeah.. Creepy stalker romance? Not for me.
5. Samantha Shannon – The Bone Season. Reread, loved it more than the first time.
6. George Orwell – 1984. Damn, what a struggle.

TV Shows: 
Outlander season 1, episode 10 – 15. I could do without the whipping scenes, but I'm hooked.
New Girl season 6, episode 8 – 10.
The Blacklist, season 1 episode 1 – 22. Our latest addiction.

Movies:
Alice in Wonderland: through the Looking Glass. Visually stunning, but Alice annoyed me.
Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl. Rewatch.
Doctor Strange. This is how it must feel to be tripping.
Bad Moms. Funny. I like Mila Kunis.

What did you do in March?

Once upon a time I fell out of blogging..

....And I still haven't found my way back. I keep struggling with writing posts, simply because I feel uninspired. I still enjoy writing and I want to be able to post more regularly, but every time I try to sit down I want to do something else. There is something holding me back and a while ago I figured out some of the things that bothered me, but I can't do anything about it. I need to find a way to deal with this problem and one of the things I need to do is take a step back for now.

I feel like my blog doesn't really matter anymore and I've been out of touch with bloggers I used to be close with. Every time I open Twitter, I wonder how much it matters whether I tweet or stay silent. Most of the times it feels like I can just disappear and no one will notice - and while I realize that blogging is something you should always do for YOU, it's demotivating to feel that way.

I think everyone has noticed that there are huge time periods between new posts and I hope you will stick around no matter what. My progress in returning back to the blogging world might be slow, but I'm definitely working on it. The Love-a-thon has helped me realize that I still enjoy visiting new blogs and that I want to keep up with reviewing books. Branching out to blogging about my bulletjournal has helped and perhaps I need to go and explore more other topics too, like bringing back Mel in Movieland.

It feels good to write this down. It's not an apology, because I've always felt those are unnecessarily, but this has been bugging me for some time. So. There. A post to admit the biggest, most terrible blogging slump I have experienced in my 5 years of blogging. I don't know how long it will take, but I will not quit. I'm just taking my time.

Recap February '17 | Photo shoot, Love-a-thon and bookshopping.

This post recaps my month: my personal life, all the books I’ve read & bought, movies and TV shows I’ve seen and my journey in the world of Bulletjournaling.

This was a good month, where I discovered my new addiction; the TV show Outlander. A few years ago I read the first four books, but for some reason I quit and now I remember again why I liked it so much. Hello, Jamie Fraser and your darn adorable accent. It's such an easy show to binge-watch. Trigger warning for sex scenes, violence and sexual abuse.

I went disco-bowling for a friend's birthday. It has been a while since I bowled and I was reminded of the fact that I am terrible at it, haha. But it was fun and that is all that matters.

To celebrate Valentine we went out to eat hamburgers and I got a pretty set of three piercings for my ear. We always like to acknowledge the day without making too much fuzz, so this was nice.

I went out to drink bubble tea and to do some book shopping with someone who is quickly becoming a friend. It was great to browse for new titles with someone who loves books as much as I do. Our boyfriends decided to hang out in the pub in the mean time.

The Love-a-Thon happened, I was one of the co-hosts, and I had a great time learning new people. It gave me new motivation to write reviews and to make more time to comment around the blogging community.

And I did something I never thought I would ever do. My mom talked me into going to a photo-shoot with her, a friend and my sister and she persuaded me by loaning a Belle dress. I decided to go with it and in the end I did get a few photo's that I like.

Bought:
Stephanie Garber – Caraval.
V.E Schwab – A Conjuring of Light.
Walt Disney Company – Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Library.
Marissa Meyer & Douglas Holgate – Wires and Nerves.
Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve – The Beauty and the Beast.
S. Jae-Jones – Wintersong.

Received:
Fred van Lente – Ten Dead Comedians: A Murder mystery (copy from Quirk)
A.C Gaughen – Roseblood (book box)

Ebooks:
George Orwell – 1984.
Hal Elrod – The Miracle Morning.


1. Hal Elrod – The Miracle Morning. Good, but not mind-blowing.
2. C.J Redwine – The Wish Granter. I loved it.
3. Erika Johanson – The Fate of the Tearling. It was.. interesting.
4. Erika Johanson – The Boy.
5. Gabrielle Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve – The Beauty and the Beast.
6. Christina Henry – Alice. Dark, creepy and twisted!
7. Marissa Meyer – Wires and Nerves. Great new story in the world of Lunar Chronicles.
TV Shows: 
1. New Girl season 6, episodes 1 – 7. So far, not as good as previous seasons.
2. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt season 1, episodes 9 – 12. Funny.
3. Vikings, season 4, episodes 19 – 20. Feeeeeelings. Can't wait for the new season.
4. Black Sails, season 4, episodes 1 – 2.
5. Daredevil, season 2, episodes 8 – 13. Mweh. I really don't like the main character….. But I'm invested enough to wait for the new season.
6. Marco Polo, season 2, episodes 7 – 10. It's good. The next season will be great.
7. Outlander, season 1, episodes 1 – 9. In loooove.
8. Sherlock, season 4, first episode.
9. Frontier, season 1, episodes 1 – 6. Hmm, not sure how I feel about it.

Movies:
Zoolander 2. So bad, it's funny.
Despicable me, rewatch on TV.
The Huntsman: Winter's war. I can see the comparison with Frozen, but it wasn't bad.
Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot. Bored. So bored.

How was your February?