Hello friends,
I come to you today with no brew in hand, but a steaming cup of delicious hot chocolate. My mom has to drink a cup of hot chocolate every morning, it’s like coffee to her — no seriously. But I find hot chocolate best enjoyed during the winter. It’s like how I feel ice cream is a winter food (yes, you read that correctly).
A book, a show & a song
📖 The Secret Witness by Victor Methos: A retired prosecutor is roped in by the Sheriff to investigate a string of murders in town similar to those of the infamous (and never caught) Reaper from eight years ago.
This was the last book I read in 2024 and the first book to catch my attention after a stressful semester of reading legal textbooks. I rated this 3 stars because I enjoyed the premise and our main character, Solomon, but something was missing for me. Maybe I was still exhausted and couldn’t fully enjoy it or maybe there’s a hole somewhere that was bugging me in the back of my head. Either way, it was a good book and it kicked me out of my reading slump.
📺 Next Level Chef: We are Gordon Ramsay stans in this household and we’ve been finishing up season 3 of Next Level Chef. I actually truly love the concept of this competition and find it a bit more challenging (possibly more enjoyable) than Masterchef. Whenever I watch these shows I think to myself: honestly, I can go on this show and win (with zero cooking expertise). Delusional? Maybe.
🎧 Wave of you by Surfaces: My friend and I recently made each other playlists (hi Cassey!) to share some of our favorite songs. Lo and behold, I discovered one of my new faves to add to every playlist (I’m incapable of creating themed playlists). There’s something so beautiful about the cords and instruments used in this song. It makes me feel at peace and like I live in the countryside of the Scottish highlands (where I long to be).
Release
/rəˈlēs/
verb — allow to move, act, or flow freely
I originally thought my word for this year would be discipline but I didn’t appreciate the negative sounding definitions I found. So I came up with my own. I decided discipline meant “learning and building positive behaviors through consistency and creativity to align with our life, work, relationships & the world around us.” I was contempt with this, but something was missing. Discipline is something I want more of and I know that, but the word didn’t feel appropriate for this year; it wasn’t impactful. So I searched on blogs, videos and everything I could find until I felt the importance of a word within my soul… Release.
I think this word is perfect for this year because it holds so many meanings that resonate with my goals and overall being. To me, release means letting go. Shedding myself of the things, experiences, stress, and anything that has been weighing me down. I feel my body has harbored a lot of stress and possible trauma from the last several years which is probably why I have to wear a brace on my left hand now. Release also means shedding the fear that holds me back. The fear of failure. The fear of rejection. The fear of sharing my creativity. The fear of starting. The fear of judgment. Letting go and being free. Release is perfect.
Last year I found myself constantly saying “I’m letting go and letting God.” For the most part I was, but I also think I wasn’t fully letting go. But this year I need to give myself more grace. Allow myself to be vulnerable, brutal, naive, creative, free, fail, succeed, happy.
Here are my in’s and out’s for the year:
Some reading goals:
My Goodreads goal for the year is set to 25 in celebration of the 25th year of my life. Maybe I’ll read more, maybe I’ll read less. But here are some none numerical reading goals (they’re technically numerical but let’s disregard that)
Finish the Grey Wolves Series. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I have read the first 7 or so books in this series. I am unconditionally and irrevocably in love with this world and its characters. Shamefully, I have never finished the entire series (around 24 books) but that changes this year! My current plan is to read 6 books in the series per quarter (so 2 per month) so I can finish by December. I’m not sure if I’ll do full reviews of every book but I’ll try to keep you up to date on my progress during our monthly wrapped.
Read and annotate 2 classics: I’ve been thinking a lot recently about some of the classics I read in high school and how much I loved them. This was one of my goals last year but I never got around to it. For this year I want to reread Wuthering Heights and The Great Gatsby (both subject to change depending on my mood).
It Girl: I’m calling this my It Girl goal because I couldn’t think of anything more creative. For this goal I want to read 4 self help books. I have none picked out for my TBR yet because I don’t know what I want to read. So we’ll see where the wind takes me.
Some personal goals:
Run 4 miles. For someone who hates to run this is quite an ambitious goal. Last year I got really into taking hot girl walks. I usually listened to playlists, took pictures of pretty trees, or talked to myself about what’s been going on lately. I still plan on continuing these walks but I also want to start running as a hobby. A mile increase per quarter sounds pretty manageable, but we’ll see how it goes.
Post consistently. I love this little space of the internet and have so many ideas jotted down, but I find myself letting life get in the way too often. So I will be hitting your inboxes more frequently, even if it’s just to say hello.
Keep working on my ASL. I love learning new languages and one of my favorites is ASL. Two years ago I could hold long conversations but now I find myself forgetting many basic signs. Practice makes perfect and I want this language to be second nature to me the way Spanish and English are. Question: would you be interested in a post on ASL resources?
49% into Savor It by Tarah DeWitt and LOVING IT. The connection between Fisher and Sage is fun and light. He’s a chef from New York who hit a rough patch in his career and was sent to the small town of Spunes, Oregon to consult on the opening of a new restaurant. She’s a small town girl, recently broken up with by the town golden boy, looking to help the newcomer living next door. There’s fake dating, delicious food and adorably weird animals. If I’m not mistaken this is my first DeWitt book and if all goes well by the end, I might just have to pick up another. | Add on Goodreads | Add on The StoryGraph |
Some 2025 Anticipated Releases
Very Dangerous Things by Lauren Muñoz (07/29): “Everyone in town knows about the game. For decades, J. Everett High has staged an annual murder mystery to put its criminology students to the test. And this year, crime junkie Dulce Castillo is dead set on winning. When the game kicks off, the student playing the victim, Xavier Torres, is found poisoned in the school’s greenhouse . . . except his death is not pretend. It’s murder.”
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (03/18): “As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he's been set up to fail. But there's something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.”
Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez (04/08): “In the hills of Appalachia, there once existed a land ruled by a king and queen. Inspired by memories of African kingdoms, a community of formerly enslaved men and women grasped freedom on mountain land they owned. But freedom doesn't always last forever . . .”
Immortal Consequences by I.V. Marie (07/29): “Six students at Blackwood Academy, an enigmatic boarding school located at the edge of the afterlife, must compete for the once-in-eternity chance to change their fate—or risk remaining stuck in purgatory forever.”
Thanks for reading folks. I’ll see you next week for some more mundane musings.
With love & a cup of coffee (or hot chocolate, hehe),
For collaborations, sponsorships and/or book reviews, please don’t hesitate to reach out by email: tathyscozynook@gmail.com or by responding to this newsletter! If we aren’t already connected, feel free to check out my Goodreads, Storygraph, or Letterboxd!
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Have a happy & safe month!
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