Monthly Favorites: March

I’ve always loved reading “monthly favorite” posts from other bloggers, so I began to wonder why I hadn’t done one myself. Well, at first I thought that it was too formulaic and was worried that I’d bore those poor souls who read my blog, but then shouldn’t I be writing my blog for me? I hope I don’t bore you to tears, but I’d love to know what you think of my post at the end.

I was more than a bit strapped for cash this month after booking my French vacation (totally worth it), so you’ll notice that most of my purchases are from sales. Who can say “no” to a good bargain though?

Audrey Brooke Handbag –

I bought this burgundy cross-body bag back in November/December but used it for the first time this month. I loved the bag when I first bought it because of the rich color, size, the fact that it’s genuine leather, and the price (originally $150, I bought it at 70% off at DSW with a gift card, so I only ended up putting $10 towards it), so I still don’t know why it took me so long to use it. It’s perfect for what I need in an everyday bag—it’s big enough to carry books or pages from manuscripts for work, my lunch, and all the other odds and ends that end up in a woman’s bag. I’d highly recommend Audrey Brooke to anyone based on my experience with this one bag.

Call It Spring Sunglasses –

Not sure who else has a Call It Spring by them, but my local mall has had one for a year or two now. They carry nice shoes, handbags, and accessories for reasonable prices. I bought these sunglasses in January when they were on sale for $7. I love the idea of cat-eye sunglasses, but I haven’t been brave enough to go all in. These seemed like a good set of “training wheels,” and who could say no to that price? The weather has just started to be sunny enough to wear these, but I’m hoping to get a good amount of wear of them this summer.

Starburst Jellybeans –

Nothing says Easter like jellybeans (except for Cadbury Eggs)! With Easter just around the corner, I’ve been taking advantage of the candy situation. Starburst Jellybeans are among my favorite Easter candies thanks to their juicy flavors. Some jellybeans taste like colored sugar, but these have great flavors and they’re distinct from one another. If you like Starbursts, get yourself a bag of these.

Kate Spade Gift Wrap –

Has anyone else noticed that birthday wrapping paper, generally speaking, looks like it’s made for a child? I was having a hard time finding age-appropriate paper for my best friend’s gift when I stumbled upon Kate Spade New York gift wrap. Admittedly, it’s a bit pricey at $12 a roll, but I loved the sophisticated and minimalist look of it. I didn’t realize the paper was reversible until I got home, so I bought it solely because of the gold dot design, but the black and white stripes look great too. I’ve been contemplating using these as backgrounds for posts too. What do you think?

Pop! Alcide Herveaux Figurine–

So, I never got onto the True Blood bandwagon, but Joe Manganiello is another one of the celebrities in my harem (he just doesn’t know it yet). When I saw the Alcide figurine on sale at a store in Grand Central, I bought it on a whim. He’s been sitting on my bookshelf ever since. I personally think the Pop! Figurines are adorable, and they have sets for all the major TV shows and movies. True Blood might have been too scary for me, but Alcide with his bulging muscles is just up my alley.

Outlander Blu-ray –

Who else is excited for the second half of the first season? I know I am! I pre-ordered the first eight episodes on blu-ray the moment it was available and have no regrets! I’m addicted to this series. The Scottish highlands, the Jacobite history, and the Claire/Jamie romance. Also, those Scottish accents! I’m hoping to have a marathon of the first eight episodes before the new ones air.

Monthly Musings: March

With little time to sit down and read full-length works, I turned to articles and essays in my downtime. From blog posts to newspaper articles to humorous things I pulled from Buzzfeed, I thought I’d share some of those that have kept me thinking all month long. Without further ado, here is my first installment of “Monthly Musings.”

• NY Daily News’s article on the “fed up” circus elephant who was lynched for “murder” in 1916 – Dad showed me this article when it was first printed, and I think it’s stuck with me partly because of the graphic photograph (you've been warned) and partly because I can’t believe that someone thought to do this to an elephant.  I was horrified.
• Some of the Best Book Dedications You Would Ever Read – Remind me to do something as epic as this when I write my bestselling novel.
• 11 Female Inventors Who Helped Power the Information Age – Some seriously bad-ass women doing some seriously bad-ass things with their brains.
• Why We Should Stop Body Shaming and Be Kinder – Thank you, Hayley, for sharing such a powerful post.  
• NY Times Magazine's "From Jamaica to Minnesota to Myself"  – Novelist Marlon James's poignant essay about being gay.  "I knew I had to leave my home country – whether in a coffin or on a plane," says James.  The sentence gave me chills.
• "The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another."  – This lovely quotation is by Henry Van Dyke and couldn't be truer.  New York had a snowstorm the first day of spring this year.  Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as meteorologists had predicted.
• Vanity Fair's Kenneth Branagh on the "little revolution" he brought to Cinderella – I've loved Branagh ever since I saw him in Hamlet, so the fact that he directed Cinderella too makes him one of my favorite people in Hollywood right now.
• The Atlantic's article on why Americans overlook the importance of WWI – I was wondering this myself.  I feel like Europeans have been making a huge deal of the centennial while it probably hasn't occurred to most Americans.
• 5 SEO Tips for Bloggers – Media Marmalade is my go-to for blogging tips, and this post was no exception.

New Month, New Goals: March

I hoped that February would be less snowy and warmer but Mother Nature had other plans. We seemed to have a snowstorm at least once a week (usually on a Monday) and had record-breaking lows. How low? One night it was -4F and felt like -20F, and our meteorologists were warning us about the risks of frostbite and hypothermia. I'm hoping that March will have some mercy on us weather-wise. It seems like Punxsutawney Phil the Groundhog was spot on when it came to the whole 6 more weeks of winter bit.

So how did I do as far as my February goals go?

Let my hair down more (literally). Check! I wore my hair down for a total of 15 days, which is way more than I usually do.
Lose 5 pounds. Not quite. I lost 3.4 pounds total this month, which is still something. I’m about 7 pounds from my “happy weight,” so I'll keep going.
See some of the Oscar nominated movies. I saw Ida, How to Train Your Dragon 2, and The Grand Budapest Hotel, but I’d love to see more.
Watch the new season of Vikings. Check! Only 2 episodes have aired so far, but I’m a happy camper watching my husband on TV.

MARCH GOALS

• Do some spring cleaning. To mark the beginning of spring (March 20th), I thought it would be a good idea to get some cleaning done. My room has become a bit of a disaster area thanks to a hectic month at work and a couple of home-bound days courtesy of snow. It’s high time I get everything in order again.
• Book France. So, so close! I’ll book my trip to France mid-March now that I’ve gotten my vacation time approved at work. Stay tuned for more details on this!
• Get Mom her birthday present.  Someone is getting older on March 5th and deserves a gift.
• Read for fun. I got slammed with reading for work in February and didn’t have time to breathe, let alone read for pleasure. I still have a couple manuscripts to get through, but hopefully I’ll be able to read a book or two from my growing “to read” pile.  Maybe I'll even manage to read some of the books from my book hauls.
• Bring lunch to work. A co-worker and I made a 2 week-long pledge in late January/early February to bring lunch instead of buying it. I was surprised by how much money I saved during those weeks (about $60) and continued to bring lunch for the rest of February. I’d like to see if I can continue this trend in March.

So what are your goals for March?

Lovely calendar by Rifle Paper Co.