April Calendar Review
What I did, read, bought, podcasted, and wore in April
Welcome to a new occasional series I’m trying out! Let me know what you think?
What I Did?
Thinking back on April, there was A LOT of travel. Mostly due to a confluence of my new job and an already planned vacation, coming together to make it so that I was gone a large portion of April. It was really fun though! I went to Phoenix and Vail for work and London and Paris for fun.
Work travel is so invigorating for me. I spent a large portion of my early career traveling, so getting a bit more travel back has been enjoyable. It’s nice to meet coworkers in person and begin to get to know each other beyond Slack and email.
For personal travel, my mom, sister, and I went to London and Paris for 3 days each, and it was such an amazing trip! Some highlights were Tea at the Goring, drinks at the SpyBar, Dishoom, playing lots of rummy, Notre Dame, a food tour of Montmartre, all the Steak Frites, Sancerre, and just Paris in general.
I talked a bit about partner guilt on Instagram, and that accurately describes how I feel when I travel. I miss my kids, and I don’t feel mom guilt often about leaving them. My husband and I are the A-Team and even when one of us is gone, they’ve got the best with them. As such, I feel much more guilt leaving the solo-parenting burden on my husband than I do leaving my kids. Have you ever felt this?
What I Read?
Because I was traveling so much this month, I read a lot more than usual. I got into The Lakes Hockey and Sky Ridge Hotshots, and there was some great new releases (Sawyer and Say You’ll Remember Me)
Favorites:
Sawyer - I’m coining a term, “Hot Start”. Basically the opposite of a slow burn. The first few chapters/pages lead to a hot moment, and this book started off strong! Ava is a single mom, and when out on the town with her sisters she has a steamy encounter with a hot cowboy, only to discover that hot cowboy owns a ranch near her new job, and is also a single parent. This is the third in the Lucky River Ranch series, and I loved it so much.
PS I Hate You - I just loved this book so much! Maddie’s brother passed away and in his will asks her and his best friend Dom to travel to the places he never made it to. There’s a lot of grief discussion in the book, which may be triggering, but I loved how the story was told and the relationship between Maddie and Dom. I cried, but I still loved it.
Series:
Lakes Hockey - If you love a hockey romance and haven’t gone deep on the Minnesota Lakes yet, you’re missing out. Sloane St James wrote these 4 books with complicated and complex characters who’ve experienced trauma, in a spicy, spicy way. I think my favorite is the third book, In The Game, about Barrett and Raleigh who had a one-night stand 5 years ago, and lost touch despite both of their efforts, but I loved them all!
Sky Ridge Hotshots - Written by different authors, I loved this series for some good spice and unique story lines. The hot shots put out fires in the Pacific Northwest, and they definite start fires elsewhere 😉. In Fight, Scottie is a new EMT in town, and Callahan is a Captain who’s trying to stay focused but realizes she’s in danger. In the second one, Protect, (probably my favorite), Violette (a single mom) and Rowan (her dead brother’s best friend) reconnect and sparks fly.
Other Notables
I re-read Every Summer After in anticipation of One Golden Summer (which I’ve already finished and absolutely loved). If you haven’t read this one, it’s a fantastic summer love story. Percy returns home to Barry’s Bay for a funeral after many years, and reconnects with her former best friend and boyfriend. There’s a miscommunication, which I sometimes find annoying, but I loved this.
Same As It Ever Was - Not necessarily a romance, but a great story about family and beautifully written. Her most recent book, The Most Fun We Ever Had, was one of my top books a few years ago. There were multiple moments in the book I felt the descriptions so viscerally.
Say You’ll Remember Me - Probably one of the heaviest Abby Jimenez books she’s written, but very cute story of a meet cute and then long distance relationship between the main characters. I love how her universe always connects the stories very tangentially.
What I Bought?
This year, I’m trying to be much more conscious of how I’m spending my money and how we’re spending as a family unit. I love that Catherine is sharing her Low Buy year with her Subscribers, as it continues to inspire me and align with how I’m thinking of this year. We have SO MUCH we don’t use, from clothes to skincare, and trying to use what we have rather than purchase new has been a theme.
Skin Care in Europe - Contradictory to the above, I did buy a bunch of great products (mostly sunscreen) at Les Halles. I love this Sunscreen in particular for my skin and bought extra of the tinted and untinted versions, and have been loving the Caudalie products I purchased (Vinoperfect Brightening Serum, Reservatrol Serum, Reservatrol Cream, Vinosun).
Gap Heavyweight Cotton Set - I knew when I was this that I’d wear the heck out of it, and I have. I’m obsessed with this for travel and have worn it on many flights so far.
Charger - I got this before my trip to Europe because my old external battery took forever to load. I like how this shows how much power it has left, and this fits easily into a small purse to charge my phone while we were out sightseeing.
Headphones - I got these with an office stipend from work, and I really like how they feel, look, and sound. They are VERY expensive, and I definitely wouldn’t have purchased on my own. I have a set of Bose I love, but the seamless integration with Apple was key for me.
Who did we chat with?
There were 5 Tuesdays this month, so 5 amazing episodes!
First we chatted with Amy Briggs, founder of Aviva, a new AI Tool to help scale busy parents, and I loved hearing how her background in Speech Language Pathology has translated to being a tech founder.
Next we chatted with Alex Reed, the powerhouse behind Roses and Radicchio and fellow tech mom. We chatted all things friendship, which is something we all agree we need to chat more about.
With Marina Cooley, a professory of Marketing at a Emory’s Goizueta Business School, we chatted about hobbies and making time for ourselves to be whole people!
Ashlee McHugh, Lawyer turned Entrepreneur, shared how she found her path to Contracts for Creatives.
And lastly, Emily King shared how she founded Faye and is trying to help busy families by enabling personal assistants with technology. I’m so grateful to chat with so many amazing women and to learn from them.
Check out Ashlee McHugh and Marina Cooley on Substack too!
What I Wore:
I’m still on the journey to dress myself more. I lean on my experts for that (👀 Christina Tumminello). But here are some things I put on my body and took a picture of.
What I’m Grateful For:
A trip with my mom and my sister I will never forget
A husband that continues to encourage me to do all the things even in if the burden falls on him
In-Laws that could support my husband during our trip
Winning at Rummy
Work that’s making me excited again
Pepper Books getting CLOSE to launch and building something new
Chats with friends about books and cheering each other on
Friends I’ve met through the weird internets that I can’t imagine not having
Marco Polo - it’s really as good as my past guests have said!
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I love it! Keep it coming next month 👏🏻
HOT START!! here for it