jan – mar 2019; it’s a wrap

I am trying something a little bit new! Last year, I tried to do the monthly wrap-up thing and failed miserably, so I wound up doing a mid-year and end of the year wrap-up only. But this year, I’m going to try a quarterly wrap-up. Major updates every three months. Should be managable. Right?

I’m going to try and find a style for this that suits me, so next time around my wrap-up might look and sound a little different. Who really knows what can happen in three months.

Let’s start with how life and family have been, shall we?

Most recently, my daughter turned 2! We held her birthday party a week after her actual birthday because my sister-in-laws and their kids were in town that weekend. And my parents and youngest sister could also make it that weekend. Now the house is empty and my daughter is sad about it so next week is going to be a lot of playdates and finding her a playschool to go to.

If we look back at the beginning of the year, well, my grandfather hasn’t been well since last year and it’s taken a turn since January. Now it’s just a wait and see game, and things have been stressful for my parents because of that since they live with my grandparents.

But other than that, February was pretty great. We were out of town for almost the whole month visiting family first in Bangkok for prayers and then visiting my parents in Singapore and doing a couple of doctor’s appointments while we were there. I stopped my medication course for about a month but the appointment showed that I need to be back on it, so there’s that. Thankfully, I sort of expected it so I’m not as bummed as I might otherwise have been.

Our Sikh New Year is right around the corner, and I am looking forward to that. This year, we’re planning to go to the Golden Temple in India close to that date, and I’m excited. There’s this sense of peace I get when I go there that I never experience anywhere else. Hopefully our trip does not get cancelled at the last minute like it did last year.

Let’s do this one in bullets, shall we?

• I’ve been working for the family business on a part-time basis since sometime last year, but I’ve taken on a greater role this year. I’m mostly working from home – I only go in about once or twice a month to the office – so I’m still also a stay-at-home mom.
• Sometime last month, I got an email from Pansing about reading and reviewing YA titles for them (YAY!) and I got my first two books from them last month. I am very excited about this, because while I’ve had mostly independent and self-published authors reach out to me before, this is a MAJOR book distributer in South-East Asia, and I get physical copies of the books! My copy of Children Of Blood And Bone is actually signed, you guys.

• I hadn’t been very active on my bookmark shop Instagram for some time. Truthfully, I have been disheartened about things since I have zero clue about how to market myself. I’m better with our family business, apparently. But I buckled down and redesigned and reframed some things and now I am designing new bookmarks and considering adding book rings and keychains to my store.
• Oh yeah, I have an Etsy store now.
• I, uh, redesigned my blog? Huge inspiration from Shealea @ Shut Up, Shealea, because her new blog is gorgeous and it made me finally make my move into redesigning my logo and my layout a little.

I am taking part in two challenges (so far) this year, and my aim for both is quite low so that I can hopefully exceed them, but won’t stress myself out if I just manage to hit them.

• Goodreads Challenge: 5/5 books read.
  I tend to keep my GR challenges low because it makes me feel accomplished when I hit them. Cheap thrills!
• #YARC2019: 3/10 books read.
  This challenge is so great, because I have so many Asian books to read!
• Currently Reading: Children Of Blood And Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
  It is so good, but my daughter’s sleep schedule is off so I haven’t been able to read as much as I want to.
• Next On My List: Quests And Quandries by Alda YuanThe author emailed me about reading the book, and honestly, right up my alley? The D&D player in me is excited. And it will count towards my #YARC2019 aim!

I have posted a total of 30 blog posts since the year begun! This does not count reviews that I’ve been transferring from my booklr, but does count reviews written this year and recipe posts.

The ones I was most excited to share are:

• ;once upon a television series
• review; descendant of the crane
• ;the jane austen project
• instant to-read; the romance edition
• ;book settings to use for dnd

These were some of my favourite posts to write, and I’m hoping to keep enjoying the posts I write in the next few months.

How has the first quarter of the year been for you? What book was your favourite? Do you have a new favourite TV show? What’s something that you’re looking forward to in the next few months?