[👩‍💻] Where I’ve Been

Hey witches – ya girl is back.

I know, I know. I’ve said more than once before, but, if I’m being honest, blogging gets a little overwhelming to me at times. My last post was in June, I drafted up two more after that, but before my June booktag, I hadn’t posted since January, despite having 12 drafts started. I find that I stop enjoying and actually absorbing a lot of the books that I was reading because I felt the pressure to keep the blog updated regularly. I was flying through books and audiobooks without truly enjoying them, and if you ask me what half of them were about, I bet I couldn’t tell you. Moving forward, I’ve decided that’s not how I want to do this anymore. Since I’m now sitting at my computer for copious amounts of hours of the day with my new work ventures, I thought this would be a good way to decompress, and a great time for me to get back into the swing of blogging.

So, what has your resident hallowqueen been up to you may ask? Well, there’s a lot I’d like to touch on in this post, so we’ll just see where it goes. So grab your beverage of choice – you know ya girl has a big cup of iced Fable Grounds Coffee, maybe spark up a joint, and get nice and cozy, it’s time to dive into the last six-ish months.

A lot of things have changed in my life since the beginning of 2022. I’ve put a lot of work and time into myself, and my mental health, and it’s put me in a much better place. I don’t do ANYTHING for any other reason other than I want to now. I don’t go places I don’t want to go. I don’t be-friend people I don’t vibe with. I don’t read what’s necessarily popular, I read what I want. I don’t force myself to follow trends, because it’s not my style. I am just so content with enjoying life, and spending my time doing things I love. I try to spend each and every night ending my day by writing and decompressing in my journal, and start every day with an oracle card pull to center myself and prepare for the day ahead. I’ve found that its helped my head clear and help me focus on areas of my life I’d like to work on and improve in.

To hit the sad part first, to get the pain and comfort of writing about it out of the way, I lost my best friend at the beginning of June. My baby boy. My first baby. My rescue doggo, Cash. There are no words I can use to describe how broken I am over this. I cry, every day, still to this day. Not a day goes by I don’t want to walk in my door and see his silly egg-head waiting there to greet me with a wiggle and a kiss. I am so thankful he is no longer in any pain, and will be meeting me at the Rainbow Bridge one day, but, I would give absolutely anything for even just one more day with him. Cash taught me so much, being the first pet of my very own (excluding family pets growing up). I rescued Cash from a bait-fighting ring in Western Canada in June of 2014, and I spent the next eight years giving him all the love and life experiences he missed out on as a pup. I spent years working on his trust, and we developed a bond that I can’t fully explain. We drove across the country together, I took him swimming at the beach for the first time, we went on road trips and shared ice cream cones. We snuggled every day, and I never forgot to tell him that he was the bestest boy in the whole entire world, and no one will ever tell me there is a better boy than my Cash. We said goodnight to each other every night, and good morning every morning. Nothing can explain the empty spot he’s left in my heart, and in our home. It feels too big without his bully runs and silly personality. Life is forever different now. I am so grateful for those people in my life who got to experience Cash, and meet him and see his growth. Our friends from out west, who met him when I rescued him first, and helped me introduce him to new people, experiences, and love. Our friends and family from Ontario, who continued to show him love and acceptance when we moved here, helping him adjust to a new city, and a new home. My husband, who came into our lives and loved Cash as fiercely as he loves me. These people helped make Cash’s life the best, and I can’t thank them enough. I am forever grateful for the last day we shared together, a nice walk, a drive to Tim Horton’s, sun bathing in the backyard, all of the snuggles and kisses, and the utmost amount of love. Losing Cash changed me, and broke me in a way I don’t believe I will ever be repaired from. The real question in this situation is who rescued who, because I know this little man saved me, just as much if not more, than I saved him. Rest in Paradise, my sweet boy. I love you forever, #CashTheBullTerrier.

ALRIGHT, moving on now that I’m crying.

I recently was locked out of my instagram – long story short, my phone crashed toward the end of June, and I lost my authenticator app, and all my notepad/screenshots of my back up codes, therefore, no more access to my BookishWiccan account. I’ve been working with Instagram to try to gain access back, but since it’s become such a run around, I decided to make an entire new account, and create a new community of book lovers. I’m working through a bit of a rebrand, a new handle and photo theme, and I’m excited to create a new community of book lovers to share in screaming about our favourite reads, because honestly, I don’t know much that’s better than just fan-girling the fuck out with your friends over books. It’s honestly a vibe and I am here for it.

I’ve read some amazing books over the course of this year and I’ll list a few below, I am planning to come back and review a few of them, but I doubt I’ll review them all, again I don’t want to give myself blogging burn-out or anything. So, here’s my best of 2022 so far, complete with Goodreads links:

♡ Delilah Green Doesn’t Care – Ashley Herring Blake — ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 stars.
♡ Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail – Ashley Herring Blake — ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 stars.
♡ A Brush With Love – Mazey Eddings — ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 stars.
♡ Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake – Mazey Eddings — ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 stars.
♡ My Dearest Darkest – Kayla Cottingham — ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ALL OF THE STARS
♡ Gallant – V. E. Schwab — ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 stars.
♡ Weather Girl – Rachel Lynn Solomon — ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫 4.5 stars.
♡ Caraval – Stephanie Garber — ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 stars.

I JUST finished Mazey Eddings book, Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake, and it was fucking amazing. I felt like I connected with that book so deeply, my goodness. I’m currently working through my friend J. L. Vampa’s new release, hitting shelves in September, Autumn of the Grimoire, and this book is right on track to be my number one read of 2022. It has literally EVERYTHING I want in a story – magic, mystery, romance, a cute little bat, and so much more. I was also just sent an eARC of K.C. Smith’s debut novel, A Lust For Blood, which will be my next read. A Lust For Blood is hitting shelves in November from Phantom House Press, but we’ll get more into detail about that in another blog post soon.

What else has happened in 2022 – I’ve cut some people out of my life that brought negative or toxic energy, started practicing my craft more, got a new job – making more money and allowing me more time with my family. I’ve also continued working on my previously mentioned WIP, the first book in my Wratchwood series, and I’ve started anther one, which I’ve been keeping a secret and will be writing under a pen name I won’t release publicly. I’ve continued to do the things I love, like play video games, twitch stream, read, road trip, drink copious amounts of coffee, smoke hella ganja, and spend time with my husband and our fur-babies. I’ve spent so much time over the last few months creating copious designs I want to eventually add to my RedBubble, writing with the most passion I’ve felt in years, and truly being the best version of myself I’ve been in years. It’s refreshing, and it’s helped me see, and let go of, so many things that were preventing me from being the best me I can be.

I turned 33 a couple weeks ago, and I am so excited to see what this next trip around the sun will bring me. I plan on just doing me, and the things that make me happy. It took me a long time to get to where I am in my mental health journey, and it is far from perfect, but I’m happy, and that’s a big thing for me in my life. For too long I’ve kept myself shrouded under a cloud of darkness, and it’s time to revel in the moonlight.

There has been so much toxicity in my life over the last few years, and I’ve said enough is enough. I refuse to let anyone bring my life down anymore, or use me in the ways I’ve been used and abused. I now truly know who I can trust, and who I can’t. I know who is actually there for me, and who was there so they could talk about me behind my back to people I’ve cut from my life. I know who will keep my secrets, and who will run to my enemies with them. It took a lot of pain, hurt, and sadness to come to terms with the fact that some of those people who I thought were true, were the ones who wielded the knife to stab me in the back. I’ve taken the time to rid my life of many of the people who still associate with my past and current abusers. I’ve spent time to find those who take the time to get to know me, who I actually am, instead of slander spread online by someone who just doesn’t like me, yet refuses to move on from the past we had. I now know there are some people who I just can’t trust, because I can’t confirm if they are telling people from my past things about me. To be honest, I’m just so far over this entire situation, and I’m mentally drained from all the effort I’ve had to put in to keep this person, and everything to do with them, out of my life.

Life has had it’s ups and downs, and I won’t deny I’ve definitely had my fair share of downs – but life is such a beautiful, and wonderful thing, and I refuse to let anyone dull my shine, ever again.

What else has been happening – or what else to touch on… I’ve got copious amounts of designs headed into the Creation from the Coven RedBubble shop, from Stranger Things designs, witchy designs, spooky designs, and of course all things bookish. I’ve been designing up a storm this year, but I’ve hesitated sharing them and I now refuse to stop sharing what I love for any reason what so ever.

I think that’s about all I want to touch on, at least for today. I’m currently looking around for new book tags to participate in, and looking forward to blogging things that I am passionate about. I can’t wait to review a few of my most favourite reads of this year, and be a part of so many upcoming tours.

As always, stay cozy and caffeinated. I truly hope your books transport you somewhere magical. I’ll catch you guys in the next post.

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