And I’ve decided that I don’t need to mark and enter so many fucking notes. I’ll just mark ones that I love and want to keep and enter those, and for the quotes that I might just want to use in my review or will help me with writing my notes and reviews I’ll mark and then reassess if I need them at the end. Because right now I’m marking basically every time something happens as well as every little tiny detail about a character or the world, on top of quotes and dialogue I love and its . . . a lot.

☁️ Try to use Google Calendar more and make some digital planning spreadsheets because physical planner is too time consuming and annoying but I still need to stay organized ❓

I kinda did this well for the first week and then it went to shit. Oops.

☁️ Maybe start writing??? Like just one scene. Please ✅

I mean I did write a scene and I worked out some background information and history but I’ve not done much more than that.

Weekend Away

I mentioned in my month ahead post last month that I was planning on visiting my aunt for a few days so get away and have a bit of a break.

Well, I did and it was very relaxing.

My aunt’s house is in pure chaos basically 24/7 and yet somehow it’s still super relaxing??? I don’t know how but it is!

I took some books with me for my cousin C to read. I gave her my first copy of Vicious since its the old cover that’s no longer in print, and I leant her the first two books of The Raven Cycle to read! Fingers crossed she enjoys them!

I walked 2/3 days of me being there! My first day there I walked 15,500 steps! Most of which I did just on my walk!

See, I decided to walk to the beach and back for my walk because Google Maps told me it was only half an hour to walk there…But I always forget that I walk slower than Google Maps plans for because I’m usually reading on my phone at the same time.

So basically, I was gone for an hour and a half. It was a great walk! I was definitely exhausted by the time I got back to my aunts but I enjoyed it!

The following day my cousin, C, came with me. On our walk, C took me to a nicer area of the beach than the part I visited the day before and we stood there for ages soaking in the sun and breeze and view. It was gorgeous and so relaxing!

By the time we got back to the house we’d found someone’s purse, returned it to the owner, checked out the local bakery, and got very badly sun burnt.

Turns out we were gone for three hours! And I’m not used to putting on sunscreen because on my walks at home I’m surrounded by trees, so I’m not really in the sun much. But in my aunt’s seaside town it’s just open sky and that breeze sure does trick you into thinking there’s not much sun to burn you!

While I was away I got to spend lots of time with my cousins! C and her twin, J, and I talked loads about politics and their favourite topic, KPop.

I also got to spend time with my cousin, S and her baby, R, (Baby R since I have another cousin whose name starts with R) and my nana!

Baby R is super cute, a little Capricorn like me and she’s a doll. No really, she’s tiny. She’s a month older than my nephew (They’re both one) and he’s like twice her size.

She doesn’t use her hands to stand up. She just puts them out in front of her like she’s a fucking tiny gymnast and rises. I never get sick of seeing it. Or watching her excitedly run into the back door (don’t worry, she’s never hurt) because Dogs, because same.

She’ll talk your ear off, though it’s mostly baby talk still, despite J’s best efforts (you can often hear yelling’s of “I LOVE you“ and J and C repeatedly saying their own names, battling to see who’s name is said first. They’re not happy that their younger sister, R, was before either of them)

Baby R was hesitant with me at first. It’s been quite a few months since she last saw me so she had to work out if I was friend or foe before approaching me. I often treat babies like wild animals. I’ll let them come to me first, so I don’t scare them off. But once she worked out I was okay, she loved that I was happy to have lots of conversations where neither of us knew what the other was saying.

Baby R also loved my slippers. She wouldn’t stop staring at them! And I was very happy that I got some cuddles one night when she was especially tired.

I also got to enjoy the big personality that is my baby cousin, A. Well she’s not really a baby anymore, she’s five, but she’s one of the youngest cousins I have so she’ll always be my baby cousin.

She’s a Capricorn just like me as well (can you tell I get excited about other Capricorn’s in the family? There’s not a lot of us! There’s a lot of Virgos and Geminis) and she was basically raised alongside 1 adult and 3 teenaged sisters and let me tell you, that is very evident.

Like all the girls in our family, A will talk your bloody ear off and half the time I had no idea what she was talking about but it didn’t matter so long as I was an ear listening. She did have some priceless moments in my opinion, including;

☁️ While I was making dessert for everyone, I was eating a zombie chew (Australian chewy sour candy) and I put it down only to hear seconds later “A, what do you have? That’s not yours!“ and see C, taking my zombie chew from A saying “She said I could have it!“

☁️ After I’d finished making the desserts for everyone, I gave A one of the one’s I made C, because the ones I’d made for everyone else had decaf coffee and I’d assumed A wouldn’t like the taste.

The ones I made for C were made with 90% dark chocolate because of her dietary requirements so they were very bitter. I smothered it in caramel sauce only to find out A doesn’t like caramel sauce, she likes peanut butter and we didn’t have any. A still wanted to try it though so I gave it to her and asked if she liked it.

“It’s fine“ she told me in her upbeat voice. Remember she’s five. I’ve never heard a five year old describe anything as fine.
“Are you sure? You can tell me the truth. It won’t hurt my feelings. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it.“
After trying to take another bite, she handed it back to me and told me she didn’t want anymore.

I ended up giving her one of the left over ones I’d made for everyone else that had the coffee in it and she loved that one. Thank goodness it was decaf otherwise she would have been bouncing off the walls!

☁️ I was sat on the couch eating another zombie chew the following day (listen those things are fucking addictive). I’d just finished it when A got home, walked into the lounge room and made a beeline straight to me saying “I can have just a little bit, can’t I?“ And I had to break it to her that I’d already finished it.

☁️ She’s also was the only person who didn’t accidentally call me by my old name! She did forget my name several times though and asked me “hey girl, what’s your name?” Or she called me sister because she thinks any older female is her sister and I had to explain that I’m her cousin. I still don’t think she understands the difference or even gives a shit.

On one night, I’d gotten up to get something to eat from the kitchen, but A must not of seen me get up or where I went and forgot my name again so she started asking C “What’s that girl’s name who went outside?“ C had no idea who on earth she was talking about, she thought A was talking about someone in the movie they were watching, and gave up trying to figure it out.
I came back with my dinner, sat down on the couch and A leaned in, pointed at C and told me “She forgot your name, do you know that?”
“A, were you talking about Greyson that whole time?“
“Yes, obviously.“

☁️ My favourite moment from A though was when I was sitting at the table, half asleep and trying to eat my breakfast. A had wanted to show me her LOL dolls which have colour changing hair when you dip them in different temperatures of water. J had got her a cup of hot water and they showed me how it worked. Then J had to go and do something else so she put the cup of hot water in the sink and A wasn’t happy she couldn’t keep showing me the colour changing hair, but she had a plan.

A pulled out some little barbie dolls she’d gotten in happy meals and told me excitedly “These have colour changing hair too!“
I asked, finding it hard to believe, “Do they really?“ I think A could sense my doubt.
“They do if I colour them.“ A told me, matter-of-factly, as if she was letting me in on her super top secret genius discovery.
She sat there and used her textas to colour their blonde hair. And then dipped them in her cold water as if that made any difference. I absolutely lost it, A just fed off my laughter and kept looking for more dolls whose hair could be coloured in.

I honestly didn’t want to leave. I mean, I missed Charlie, and mum and my bed but I enjoyed myself so much! And it was exactly what I needed! I’m already looking forward to my visit in May!

Easter Weekend

For the Easter weekend my mum and I binge watched as much Game of Thrones as possible!

We got through like 2 seasons over that weekend!

I also decided that on Sunday we were gonna have a spa day. I got us face masks, and under eye masks, lip masks and foot masks.

Mum couldn’t stop laughing every time she looked at me with my face mask or lip mask on.

Mum got me an electric tooth brush for Easter, the only problem was I didn’t know how it worked and mum threw away the instructions.

The first time I used it I had put it on charge while I had a shower. I brushed my teeth and waited for some kind of timer to tell me I’d brushed for 2 minutes. It did this weird stalling thing so I thought that meant to switch sides so I did and then it stopped. I figured that was the two minutes done.

It felt like a long time but I’ve never really had a great sense of time. I just thought “Wow, two minutes feels pretty long, I’ve definitely not been brushing my teeth for long enough!”

Then I used it again and it did the stalling thing 3 times. I felt like I have been brushing my teeth for ages and it never stopped so I just gave up. I went and asked mum what the stalling thing meant.
“That’s the timer.”
“Oh.”
“What did you think it was.”
“Uhhhh, well, I though it just meant to swap sides. I thought it stopped after the two minutes.”
“No. That’s not how it works.“
“Okay, then I just brushed my teeth for 6 minutes.“
Mum thought this was hilarious! Thank god I hadn’t tried for the first time before I had work! It might have made me late!

On the Monday I went clothes shopping to get ready for winter. I managed to get quite a few things I liked including a Harry Potter top and a top with the female Disney villains that says Girl Gang.

Later in the week I went looking for clothes again since they didn’t have everything I wanted the first trip and I went to the thrift store and found a black jacket that gave me serious Lila Bard vibes. i tried it on and it fucking fit! So obviously it was meant to be and I bought it. I love it so much but in my excitement I didn’t see that some of the buttons are missing so I might have to find replacements for all of them so they match!