Weekly Recap: Mogul's 7th Gotcha Day, Labor Day Weekend, and More September Fun!
Pumpkin lattes, semi-cooler temperatures, and the return of NFL Sundays… September’s in the air and I couldn’t be happier!
What I’ve been up to:
A few weeks ago, we celebrated Mogul’s 7th gotcha day! Can you believe it? 6 whole years of loving our sweet Mogul, as documented by one of our favorite traditions — the annual Mogul-and-me photo-op! Every gotcha day, it’s so much fun to look back and reminisce on the year to year progression, especially the growth of Mogul between years 1 and 2 (he was so small!). This year, Mogul switched up the aesthetic debuting his new floppy ear. A different look, but we love him all the same! It’s hard to fathom 7 gotcha days have come and gone. Sometimes I miss my little pup, but then I remember I don’t actually miss the puppy stage haha. Check out this year’s post on my Instagram!
As August faded into September over Labor Day weekend, we filled our 3 days off with lots of activity. Labor Day Saturday, we took an impromptu trip to Raleigh for pizza and barcade games (nostalgia, nostalgia!). Sunday morning we planned an almost-but-not-quite-fall beach day, grabbed our first pumpkin lattes of the season, and drove out to the coast. We went to Wrightsville Beach, but there was a big traffic jam getting onto the main strip, so we audibled to Kure Beach and had a much more pleasant experience. It’s the end of beach swimming season, so one last beach day to jump the waves and sip White Claws under the Shibumi was exactly what the doctor ordered.
Following Labor Day came the return of the NFL season — woohoo! Of course, Alex and I watched the season opener Thursday… can’t miss the return of Taylor Swift on national tv. Friday was all about the Green Bay Packers, who gave me quite a scare with Jordan Love’s knee injury at the end of the game. I’m bummed about the loss, but more relieved that Love’s injury isn’t season ending. There’s still hope for a good season!
Over last weekend, we visited Carvers Creek State Park, squeezed in one last local baseball game, and spent all of Sunday afternoon with our friends on Jordan Lake. We’ve been busy busy, but busy busy in the best way. Lots of sunshine, lots of good times!
What I’ve been listening to:
Sabrina Carpenter’s new album Short n’ Sweet — Queen of the pop bop. I’m loving this new era for Sabrina.
Halsey’s new song Ego — On loop in my mind because it’s so catchy!
New Linkin Park — I’m digging the new sound Emily brings to the band. It’s a very conflicting, polarizing topic, but in the end (don’t say it, don’t say it… it doesn’t even matter?), Emily’s not replacing Chester and the band deserves to continue its legacy. I’m a supporter!
My end of summer favorites playlist — 25 songs from 2024 I can’t stop listening to.
What I’ve been reading:
Woman on Fire by Lisa Barr — I liked listening to this audiobook! Kind of gave me White Collar vibes. Historical fiction and art history elements with a bit of a mystery to follow. It was pretty good!
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch — A pretty disappointing read given the rating on Goodreads. Got kind of science heavy and the whole parallel universe thing unfolded in a very confusing way. Good premise, but the execution of the multiverse within this specific plot made it feel a bit lackluster for me.
Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah — Probably my least favorite of all the Kristin Hannah books I’ve read, but I’m not surprised. I watched the first season of the Netflix show some time ago, and I remember liking the show. But the book… meh… I would have loathed Tully as a friend! The end made me tear up though.
Murder Road by Simone St. James — I really wanted to love this one, but sadly I didn’t. I felt the same about The Book of Cold Cases too. Pretty middle road in both cases. Not great, not terrible. Not very thrilling for a thriller…
What I’ve been watching:
It Ends With Us — I thought they did a pretty good job with this book to film adaptation. Some big things were left out and some details were changed, but overall, I thought the movie stayed pretty true to its origin. And I personally liked Blake Lively as Lily Bloom. The rooftop scene was exactly how I visualized it when reading the book. And yeah, the entirety of my tears ricochet playing over several scenes at the end hurt… very bad. No surprise I cried many tears!
The Martian — Book > Movie, as it tends to be. Having just read The Martian on Audible, I was surprised how many details/plot twists from the book were missing in the big screen adaptation. I know you can’t include everything verbatim, what with time restrictions and all, but I thought the movie needed a little more dramatic flare.
A few other (random) things:
Loving the heck out of this cozy sweater from Amazon — I have 3 colors!
Richard Osman’s new book We Solve Murders comes out next week. I loved the Thursday Murder Club series (see my thoughts on books 1-3), so I had to preorder. It’s at the top of my fall reading list.
Set a Goodreads goal to read 75 books this year and hit my goal this past week (audiobooks AND physical books). If you’re a reader, let’s connect on Goodreads!
Sincerely believe Tua needs to retire. Another concussion…
Blog posts you might have missed:
Happy Friday the 13th and happy weekend!
Enjoy!
JBW