August Wrap Up and September Planning | Monthly Update

So August has been ramping up for me at work (September is super busy!) so I’ve defintely dropped some balls this month already. It’s probably going to pretty similarly slow in September too because of this.

Books Read in August

Increased workload definitely affects my read more than anything. I try pretty hard to keep content coming, which often means I have less time to just relax with a book unfortunately. However, I manaed to read both The Hunter and the Mage and Fable in August, and loved them both. The Hunter and the Mage is the sequel to The Raven and the Dove, and follows straight on from that story. Fable is a sea set adventure with characters that I adored. I also started reading The Doors of Eden, and was only 100 or so pages off from finishing, so I included it in my list.

Book Reviews

This month I’ve reviewed 5 books, and 4 of them I’ve actually read and reviewed in a timely manner. First up is Feathertide which I loved for it’s magical take on growing up and living your life. Cinderella is Dead was the dark retelling I needed to get me ready for autumn, as well as Seven Devils getting me in the mood for more sci-fi!

I finally reviewed Burn after saying how much I enjoyed it in my reading vlog! Plus I reviewed The Girl and the Stars which I read closer to the start of the year, but really enjoyed. I’m still behind on book reviews, but hopefully will be able to catch up by the end of the year.

September TBR Pile

Next month I’m planning on finishing The Doors of Eden first. I then have another Sci-fi love in the form of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini. This was on my TBR last month, but it only recently got an updated e-arc file that has proper formating. I’m also adding The Year of the Witching onto my TBR again as I really wanted to get round to reading it.

August Book Haul

I think I’ve really grown as a person and I’ve only managed to request one book on NetGalley this month which was These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong. I also haven’t bought or borrowed anymore physical books which means no book haul!

Makeup and Skincare of the Month

August was a bad makeup and skincare month to be honest, I started off well by re-freshing my routine but by the end I’d fallen out of it. Mainly due to working from home, a little bit because I was stressed though I was leaving my skin alone a lot. I did review the Sukin Spot Banishing Gel which has helped with stress spots though. I also finally uploaded me spreadsheeting my life starting with my beauty products!

Blogging 101 Posts

This months Blogging 101 posts really focused on branding starting off with brand repuation and gaining credibility, moving onto more personal branding and then some protection of your brand with copyrighting content. There was also a rogue Pinterest post as I knew a lot of people didn’t realise you can bulk upoad to Pinterest for FREE.

Other Updates

August was a strange spend for me, on the one hand I was looking through most of my finances and I’ve been testing investing small amounts of money in stocks and shares. Then on the other hand I did have a big clothes haul as I was lacking clothes to wear in the heat.

I also tested out making a book tag based on nostalgia! When I’m sad I go back to do things I used to enjoy, and remembered my Neopets account. So I created the Neopets book tag.

September Goals

• Get through all the projects at work
• Be consistent with posting
• Plan ahead to Autumn

Thinking back on August

Last month my goals were to:

• Increase YouTube content
• Get out and take some good photos
• Work on my portfolio site (we love a good additional project)

and I did none of these! I knew September would be a rough month, but I didn’t expect August to throw a lot at me and was quite surprised. I’m hoping that September is actually more manageable as I am prepared, and then we get the autumn months which are always wonderful. I’m also aiming to see some friends and family who I haven’t seen due to the pandemic.