Bookish and Not-So-Bookish Thoughts is a weekly blogging event hosted by Bookishly Boisterous. It allows book bloggers (and non-book bloggers) to write about pretty much anything, bookish or otherwise (i.e. share exciting plans for the weekend, rants on things they’ve encountered during the week, etc.).

1. Oh boy, I got so busy towards the end of the month that I even wasn’t able to type up a July Updates post. Oops. Not that I was posting much during the latter half of the month, but still…
   

2. Restrictions continue to ease on my end, my province reopening in stages. Here in Toronto we’ve hit Stage 3, which means most things are back open again, albeit with new safety and health guidelines. Things are all in all looking a bit more normal but face coverings and masks are mandatory in all indoor public spaces like shops and facilities. I’ve even ordered in, something we haven’t done in months, so yay! I remember what bubble tea and Greek gyros taste like again xD
3. I’m also getting out again and socialising again! Just a few of the closest peeps though, also being mindful of everything.
4. Like today I’m going to see my best friend from high school whom I have not seen since Christmas. We normally meet up every few months or so but last time she had to cancel because something came up. Shortly after the lockdown happened so yeah, we haven’t seen each other until now. I still have souvenirs to give her from m trip in January, lol.
5. Co-workers and I have been commiserating these last several months how we had all these plans to travel this year: some had cruises booked, others had tours books. I had plans on travelling back to Europe after my exams had completed back in April but obviously that was not to be. We’ve all accepted that none of us will be travelling until next year at the earliest.



6. But! It’s funny how life works because while my international travel plans were halted, I have been going out of the city a wee bit more. I’m a city girl through and through and while I’ve lived in other cities or travelled to nearby major cities in Canada in the past, I’ve never gone to the places in between. So for example I went Port Perry for the first time at the end of June to go fishing (something I also had never done. It’s a comedy, I tell you, but I got the hang of it). So visiting what’s outside the city I live in is a joy in itself.
7. I should be slowly starting some kind of study plan to study for my NCLEX next year (God willing I get through next school year intact and the pandemic not kicking up another fuss) but in the meantime I’ve made some headway in my writing projects! I just might churn out a new poetry collection before the end of summer 😀
8. I actually just finished a few books so I’m figuring out what to read next. How did I accumulate this many chunksters in my to-read pile?! Might go for something light like Mary Jo Putney’s Loving a Lost Lord but that’s a digital copy so I might look at the physical books on the to-read queue. Choices, choices…
9. I logged in to NetGalley for the first time in ages because I needed to send off some well-overdue feedback of eARCs read way back when. In the process I requested for a whole bunch of eARCs and now have a couple sitting on my to-read queue. What have I done?!
10. I took almost a week off work starting today just to take care of things that fell by the wayside (omg last week was bad, barely exercised, everything I wanted to do went on standstill because of work or whatnot). I also want to take care of my eczema, which has been pretty bad this summer, popping up where it normally doesn’t…Am actually revisiting my diet to see if there’s something I can reduce, eat cleaner, see if it makes a difference. We’ll see.

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And that’s it from me! How are you all holding up since my last post? Stay safe, everyone 🙂