As I reflect on my channel and the content I've been creating, I realize that I haven't truly shared much of myself with my audience. While I have discussed some personal aspects with my patrons on Patreon, I feel that I need to be more open and honest about my life and goals.

Recently, I've been thinking about how I can better accomplish one of my biggest goals for the year: reading through my entire physical TBR. With a busy schedule that includes planned content videos and weekly reading vlogs, I was starting to feel overwhelmed by the thought of fitting in all the books I want to read. But then I realized that if I ditched the weekly reading vlog format, I might actually have more time to focus on my reading goals.

I know this might sound a bit scary for some of you who enjoy these videos and are invested in my content creation process. But trust me, it's not as daunting as it sounds. In fact, I'm excited to see where this new approach will take me. By dedicating more time to reading and my KU Vlogs, I feel like I'll be able to create more engaging and meaningful content for you all.

Speaking of which, let's talk about the weekend that just passed. It was a busy one, filled with antique hunting and quality time with some very special people. We started off early on Saturday morning, heading out to the Vintage Market Days. While I wasn't entirely blown away by the selection at this particular event, I did manage to find some amazing pieces for my home.

One of my favorite finds was a beautiful etching from an unknown artist, dated in the 1700s. I love etchings and sketches, and there's something about this piece that just drew me in. Another highlight was an oil painting of trees, which I think would look stunning in my living room. And then there were the brass candlesticks, a beautiful find from a local antique shop.

As we made our way around the market, we stopped at Whistle Stop, a charming antique shop in Giddings. The owner was knowledgeable and fun to chat with, and I ended up finding some amazing pieces to add to my collection. We also visited an oil painter who showed us his work, and I was impressed by his skill.

Of course, no weekend would be complete without spending time with friends and family. Hayden and I had a great time exploring Houston and getting caught up on each other's lives. And while we did miss my family, it wasn't the end of the world – there's always next time.

As I wrap up this Vlog, I want to give you all a quick update on my reading progress. Unfortunately, I haven't managed to finish any books yet this week, and it's starting to get a bit concerning. But don't worry – I'm not giving up! With more time to focus on reading and KU Vlogs, I'm confident that I'll be able to get back on track.

In fact, I've decided that this will be the last official weekly reading Vlog for this year. Maybe ever? It's a big change, but I feel like it's necessary if I want to create content that truly resonates with you all. And speaking of changes, I have some exciting news to share – my birthday was coming up next week, and Hayden surprised me with two beautiful necklaces and a whole lot of love.

That's all for now, folks! Thanks so much for watching, and I'll see you all in the next Vlog.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello welcome back to my channel stepping into my bedroom because I need to find some shoes and go vote okay so it is Tuesday my friends today is an exciting day because like I said Hayden and I are gonna go vote and then we are going to take you along with us as we shop and I'm kind of excited for it we need to find Hayden a shirt and a belt for a wedding that we're going to this weekend which I'm also going to take you along for I don't usually get to take you along on my weekends with me for these Vlogs but I will this week we are also going to go to Home Goods and look at Christmas decor I've conned Hayden into doing it with me he's the only place on my like typical Decor list that I have not visited I usually go to like at home Target that sort of thing for Christmas and like other holidays and I haven't looked at home goods yet I'm very excited hoping I can find like slightly more unique pieces might be a big ask I actually don't know if they're gonna have a good selection but they had a really great selection for Halloween so I'm hoping that things are good for Christmas as well gonna do a little time lapse for you first things first uh we gotta go get our boat on and then I will be back to you around dinner time when we go shopping and then also get canes I am I've been craving the cane sauce you know what I mean do you know what I mean if you have a mini canes who are you foreign foreign happy Wednesday my friends it is an even more exciting day than yesterday here's the thing yesterday wasn't exciting I guess in in the actual tasks that we had to get done but since I had like planned it I was more excited about it and I feel like I need to start doing that more often you know I just kind of like randomly go shop there at my weeks when I have a day set aside that I'm gonna do that and then I know that I'm gonna treat myself to some delicious chicken tenders it just makes the day that more special and like makes an event I guess out of something that like otherwise would be very ordinary so that was nice I hope you liked that little time lapse I did find some gems at home goods that I wasn't expecting I ended up getting like a four foot little Christmas tree which is exactly what I was looking for and then I also got some wood Christmas trees that have like glitter on them they're really cute I'll show those to you next week whenever I do my downstairs decorating theme and like the vibe down there is completely different than it's going to be in my office spoiler alert we're going to be decorating my office after I shut up and I am really excited about it I might pop in here and there to kind of like let you know what I am doing but I already set this particular tree up last year downstairs in my bedroom and I gave them a whole tutorial on how I put ribbon in my tree and just like other little tips and tricks I have for decorating trees if you want to get a similar look I'll leave a link to that in the description again like if you are interested in that I do have um stuff to decorate my shelves this year I did decorate them a little bit last year but I got even more stuff and I had stuff downstairs to decorate my bedroom when I did this particular tree so I'm also going to include some of that on my shelves my shelves are going to be like overwhelmed with little Decor pieces and I'm really excited I have these little like gnomes in black and red and white um that's like the theme we're going to be doing I'm excited I have my ribbon bin right next to me I have a ribbon problem can I just show you for a second look at this look at this ribbon Galore I think I might need to go through that at some point and get rid of the stuff that I don't use as often anymore but I just like the options ribbon transforms a tree I stand by that I love that Vibe nowadays it is more common to do like a more minimal Christmas tree I think that's like what's trendy right now um you know just just ball ornaments you know no Ribbon or anything I like a stuffed tree and it also helps with cats I think some people have asked that in the past like how do you get your cats to not climb your trees it's gonna obviously very much depend on the cat the only cat that I have that has ever been interested in climbing trees is pepper he did it successfully one year when we had a more inexpensive tree that I didn't stuff full of but since then he has not attempted to climb trees Teddy has no interest in it we'll see if pickles does honestly probably gonna go ahead and put you up on a tripod and get to decorating that's kind of all that's on my agenda today I might maybe go out and look for some more Garland it feels insane to say that because I just invested in some really nice Garland for my staircase downstairs but there are a couple of other places I would like to include Garland like my dresser in my bedroom going very minimal in my bedroom no tree but I do want some some you know Garland in there to make it a little festive and I would like some Garland for our entryway do I need it no but I would like to go on the hunt for it because I think a couple of places are having like Christmas sales right now like Michael's in terms of reading this is gonna be a light reading Vlog as in I'm going to be reading a lot of things but I'm not going to be updating it like the 50 work of books just gonna give you my summaries on things briefly before we get into the decorating I guess I can tell you about circling back to you by Julie too I actually finished this book yesterday and to talk to you about it but you know just had other stuff I was doing this was one of my most anticipated romances of 2022 and it was such a disappointment I really liked the donut trap which was this author's I think debut novel and it was such a fun concept it wasn't necessarily like friends to lovers but she had had a crush on this guy in college and then totally less contact with him and then she comes into contact with him years later as she's working at her family's donut shop it was just really Charming I loved all the descriptions of food this one is about people working in like Realty and like brokerage firms I don't know it was really not exciting and they just like wasn't a theme or a plot I guess to carry the carry the story through like in that first book we have our heroine who is trying to you know figure out what she wants to do out of life and you know help parents with the social media for their donut shop this book it's like our heroine is Just In conflict with her family I guess after her mom has passed away and our hero is trying to get a promotion and they already liked each other before the start of the book so it just like wasn't exciting I gave this book two stars which is such a bummer all of my anticipated romances I really expected to be like four or five star reads that just was not the case for the majority of them I'm being a little bit more selective I think with my like most anticipated list for 2023 I've already started kind of crafting that 2022 I did like a five star predictions video and a most anticipated romances video this year I'm just gonna combine them and do a five-star predictions video and like I I only read romance for the most part or I would prefer to only read romance so I feel like that kind of takes care of the most anticipated romances but this one was kind of a disappointment I think today I'm gonna try and finish book of night by Holly black I picked it back up yesterday night after finishing circling back to you it's okay it's like not my favorite thing ever but it is getting more interesting as it Carries On which is nice and then maybe I will start in on I want to say I don't know what the name of this book is I was gonna say how to seduce some Wallflower it looks like this an eloisa James book it's like the first in a new series I've not heard great things about it sadly but this was one of my most anticipated romances of the Year circling back to you and this one are the last ones that I need to read to make like a review video you know I'd like to revisit things like if I'm Gonna Make a list of five star predictions I bet your ass I'm gonna go back and like tell you if they were five stars or not though for my most anticipated romances video I'm almost done with it I'm excited to share my thoughts and feelings on those but I've been yammering on long enough let's go ahead and get decorating I'm hyped I hope you're hyped too all right foreign alone thank you oh hello Pals we're here for another crumple cookies review I'm excited for this one primarily because we're in our own house it is not dark in our car so that'll be fine I'm curious to see how they've held up in the car oh wow they really did give a I would have rather them put this one like on this one than yeah on the only one there were there were definitely choices made here okay so we got Buckeye brownie cookie butter strawberry cake which is apparently a new flavor and then chocolate pumpkin cheesecake which I'm tentatively excited for I'm very excited for the strawberry because it's a cream cheese frosting and you'll know I feel about the cream cheese looking at these I think you're gonna enjoy the Buckeye Brownie and the cookie butter I mean I've had the Buckeye brownie before yeah it's pretty good yeah that's the one that is Chill yeah yeah yeah yeah let's cheesecake I feel like I shouldn't start with this one because it's gonna make my teeth black so I'm gonna set her right there okay I'm gonna start with the cheese the cheesecakey strawberry judging by the sound of that I think I'm gonna like this one a lot text truly and it's not half bad like I think this one is supposed to be warm but it's not but it's also not cold it's like very room temperature like my my fingers so what you're saying is it's a cookie what do you what do you say it's like the animals tastes like a Pop Tart it really tastes like strawberry drinkable yogurt it's been a while since you had an animal or like a yogurt or like whatever the yogurts are that you have in there what are those those are animals I've had an animal most recently it doesn't need to be that rich butter white chip Colo pepper okay I think I'm gonna like this one text really I'm not even a huge cookie butter fan it's good like it's like I don't think it's gonna be that it's like butterscotch I think that'll make it throughout there's a little too much cookie on cookie action I think just the bite that I had like you guys can see this there was a whole one of these just buried in here under the surface I don't know what that face was I'm going through a journey a flavor Journey well it does seem a little too no there's some complicated there's complex it's actually good I didn't expect it like this because I don't typically like pumpkin and chocolate together kind of like banana and chocolate I just don't think it goes but this is really good they're having fun oh it's that piece of plastic that tastes like if Starbucks made a cookie damn right it does obviously you're not gonna try the Buckeye brownie I don't even think it's worth me trying on camera because it would take multiple bites to get into the part that has the peanut butter and the chocolate in there I will be eating this I do enjoy this cookie I've had it's not my favorite it's not my least favorite it's just like it's solid my only problem with that cookie is it is too much cookie to eat at one time like it really needs to be cut in half and uh you basically have to reheat it in the oven otherwise the peanut butter on top turns into a little puck a literal hockey puck like you can't bite through it it also requires a fork and a knife because of the melty hot fudge on top it just gets too messy so it's it's a high maintenance cookie but she's worth it yes so okay rankings I think I'm gonna rank them in order yeah yeah just the way they are now yeah I like the pumpkin one and then the strawberry and then the cookie butter and I don't eat peanut butter so I don't know I think cookie butter number one like a brownie number two I wasn't a huge fan of either of these if I'm being quite honest with you I think the strawberry is a disappointment it's like way too artificial I was expecting it to be mostly like kind of a cheesecakey cream cheese with like a touch of like a real strawberry taste this is very artificial it's not bad I mean kind of like some fake but um I was expecting more of a man I think I probably have to say that the pumpkin cheesecake one is higher for me than the strawberry strawberry just didn't like you said it was it was too for me it wasn't even then it was artificial it just like really evoked the animals anyway that concludes our cookie crumbles review crumbles cookie crumble cookie review I have 20 minutes left in book of night it has gotten much better I think I'm mildly interested in reading the sequel do I think Holly black could have done better for for the first 50 of this book yes but it is what it is and I'm just glad to get it off of my I think we can all do better you know what's so true bestie especially for the first half you know normally it takes until the second half for us to get our together oh I am about to start in on my makeup I actually went upstairs today and switched out a lot of the products in here since I am going to be going to that wedding this weekend I think I've mentioned that I'm going to a wedding this weekend have I mentioned it let me let me tell you I guess what's happening so today is Thursday I think my sister's gonna come over and hang out I don't think she has class today we did this last week as well I ended up sleeping over at her house and decorating her tree which you saw in the last Vlog but I think she's gonna come over and hang out she really wanted me to like decorate for Christmas today but um I think I'm gonna put that off until the next Vlog and then tomorrow we are going to a wedding it is in green Texas I think it's gonna be really really beautiful hopefully it doesn't rain it's supposed to rain here where we're at currently I'm hoping that it doesn't rain for their actual wedding I'm not sure if it's supposed to be like an outdoor ceremony or not but you know sending Good Vibes their way excited for that wedding and then on Saturday we are going to Vintage Market Days in Hempstead is kind of like Northwest of Houston which will be a nice opportunity to see both of our families as well so we're gonna go and see his mom and dad and I think we're also gonna see my mom and dad my parents got me an Apple Watch for my birthday God bless I've been really excited did for this new Apple watch just because of some of the features that are rolling out on this one specifically so I really want to like go see them to pick the watch up not that I don't want to see them anyways but you know what I mean if sensor comes over today we are going to be watching some Christmas movies which I'm really hyped about and I'll give you like our reviews uh they're like you know homework movies that are on Amazon uh we watched a pretty bad uh Halloween one a few weeks ago so we're gonna watch a Christmas one or two I think we're watching Christmas in Mississippi with Jana Kramer um I'm sure that's gonna be a gem we'll give you our full review I mostly the whole reason I like sat down to talk to you while I do my makeup is because I read some stuff yesterday I know shocking surprising I ended up finishing book of night I did that during Sprints while I was decorating my tree and honestly y'all it's such a toughie for me because I really did not like the first 50 of that book that's why I think it took me over a month to finish this but the last 50 was so good and it was giving me very old school Holly black Vibes it's like I don't know if I'd recommend it necessarily but I am probably gonna check out the the second book I'll probably get it from my library instead of investing in like a hardcover but I don't know the hero of the story or like the of Interest I really like him a lot and uh Cliffhanger is intense so I'm really curious to see like you know what comes to that and whatever I um okay I'll leave it there I give it three stars I feel like that was maybe a little generous but it wasn't like I mean it wasn't a terrible book I also started dead man walking a lot of y'all were like hyping that one up in my last reading Vlog where I read Inked and lies so I was like you know what it like I'm just gonna go ahead and start in on this one and then I'll be done with this series it's also on my physical TBR as well so it just feels nice to be able to get through it I'm 20 in and I'm I'm liking it so it's about our main character B and she is the younger sister of Lulu from the second book the one that like got married to Zeus and she has a crush on priest who is like a I think we're supposed to think he's like actually a psychopath he is the enforcer and or like the murderer of the club he is Irish he has red hair I'm picturing him like a man that plays Jamie and Outlander I'm picturing him for sure with like slightly longer hair and uh there's already been some like kind of steamy kinky moments the beginning of the story he accidentally sets off a car bomb not knowing that she is in the car I mean he meant to set off the car our bomb he didn't realize she was in the car because the guy he was trying to kill was B's date so she ends up injured in the hospital and so he feels kind of bad about it but he also is like I have a crush on her I need to make sure like she's live I don't know and she has been like following him and just like really observing him closely for the past couple of years like she's very into him she sees his motorcycle parked at a motel and she's like okay yeah sure I'm gonna go pop in and see what he's doing obviously he's cleaning up a crime scene and uh they end up having like a little makeout sash I don't know if I would call it like a makeout sesh so much as a bloodletting he ends up like sucking on the lip that he splits for her so a little bit of blood play I didn't expect to like think it was kind of hot but I did I'll be honest with you I'm just kind of like already invested in this it feels like a very different Dynamic than pretty much any of the other Dynamics like it is an age Gap but I don't think we've had a heroine like B before I feel like let me think about it crestada I guess that's kind of a goody two shoes but like in a different way Lulu no she's not a goody two shoes at all there's Harley Rose neither really was Lila so it's nice getting someone who is you know looking to walk on the dark side and is kind of a good girl I'm I guess you could argue that the older sister was too but I don't know it just feels different okay it feels different and priest is definitely a different kind of hero he doesn't seem to be the like you know Head Over Heels type like the other guys I feel like they fall really quickly and easily for the heroines and this does not feel like that and I like it it's just a little something different and um it is a very long book but I was surprised that I was able to get to the 20 Mark so quickly God bless Kindle it's funny someone mentioned in a recent video why do you have physical books if you're just gonna read a copy of that book in a different format that's a great question I don't really have the answer to it I like to physically own the books that I really love so I can go back and revisit passages easy I also just like to see them on my shelves I just find it satisfying I mean why does anyone buy books you know what I mean if I can get the same copy of the book in a different format I kind of enjoyed that as well just depends on my mood but um I do like my Kindle it's easier to hold in the hands I enjoy how quickly I can read with a Kindle it's like much more quickly than a paperback even if it's like you know the same exact book so I don't need to justify it but just letting you know that's kind of like why I have both um paperbacks and Kindle or audiobook versions of stuff as well so anyway 20 into that one enjoying it I'll update you more as I continue to read that one and then I also started Anna my first Jane Austen book for this Jane Austen Vlog I'm working on I think you'll see that one before you see this one initial thoughts are this wow she loves to run on sentence I don't know it's not terrible I think the dad is really funny to me like he's obviously such a but I think he's hilarious what else to update you on oh I did end up going run some errands yesterday I think I like mentioned in that clip before I started decorating that I was considering go and get a Garland and y'all I found some really good Garland the one thing I don't love about Tick Tock and social media in general is that if there's ever a good product it is always sold out especially when it comes to like home decor products I feel like the popular Garland style right now is like this beautiful like sweeping trailing directional Garland it's stunning I love it I think it's really really pretty and I understand why it's so popular but God forbid I find one in person because it's like I'll see it I'll see it at some point and then it's like gone the next day right I had like gone to at home with my sister and saw a really pretty Garland I was like I don't need that and then I go back and they just they don't have they don't have it anymore literally a week later so anyway I ended up finding a garland that had red berries in it and I liked the base Greenery of the Garland it felt very Texas to me for lack of a better word I love a good fur tree I love a good traditional like Douglas for a Christmas tree but I want you know that for my tree itself but when it comes to Greenery like I live in Texas and to me Christmas is pine trees right um and so I found a really beautiful like Piney Garland I don't know I took the berries off of it yesterday I have wire cutters from when I put together my wow I am like totally all over the place with my makeup I totally forgot blush I got wire cutters whenever I decided to make my own wreath for outdoors for fall they've come in handy let me tell you but I used those like specialty like wire cutters and like trimmers or whatever to pull off the berries from this garland that I found this like beautiful Piney Garland and it is so stunning I have to show it to you I really like it I like that it's kind of messy and I feel like it just really fits the vibe that I'm going for I feel like I'm a little undecided on what my vibe is this year like I'm doing pretty much the same day I always do you know very like Woodland creatures mixed with like white and bronze colors mostly neutrals let's be honest just like neutrals I feel like the garland that I got is like goes with it it's like sophisticated it's a little bit like Moody at the same time how can Garland be moody I'm not really sure but it feels it feels Moody to me and I like it I feel like I I feel like I selected a good Garland and I am surprised that it wasn't very expensive either I think I spent like 40 on each I'm gonna put one in my bedroom I put one out there already in my entryway my formula moral of the story is there isn't one but also think outside the box with Christmas decor just because something like isn't perfect doesn't mean you can't customize it anyway I've been rambling way too long I want to finish my makeup and I will update you if I get farther into dead man walking or if my sister comes over we decide to watch movies um I think I need to read persuasion in between now and then so it'll be a second but I'll be back foreign back in the same spot as I was yesterday which I think actually works well for this video be or for this video for this clip because I wanted to have a little bit of a heart to heart with you I feel like this might be premature um but we're all friends here I just had a bit of an epiphany last night I just wanted to share my thoughts and feelings with you I'm trying not to make any rash decisions um but I figured we could talk also it is raining cats and dogs outside it's Friday I don't know if I said that we have that wedding to go to and I guess I just didn't realize like if a wedding's at four o'clock and it's two hours away in traffic I'm gonna have to get ready earlier than you thought so that's what I'm doing now it won't take me long I don't really take very long on my makeup even if it's event makeup but where to begin so I just feel like the past few months have been rough obviously for so many different reasons um but I feel like I haven't been super happy with the things that I have been uploading I mean there are obviously some exceptions and like some things that I'm really still proud of but I just feel like I haven't been myself lately and yesterday I was thinking to myself what could I change to make myself happier what could I change to get back to what I really like making which are like kind of creative interesting videos and I was like What if I just stop doing weekly reading Vlogs I say as I'm doing a weekly reading Vlog I think I struggle because I wanted to commit to weekly reading Vlogs as a form of content because I was like this is a fun way to show you more of my life show you more of Hayden and my cats and stuff and I know that's something that was like requested a lot um at the end of last year people just like wanted more of me which is so flattering and like I love that y'all um you know like this stuff some of y'all are gonna disagree with the things I'm going to say don't go in the comments and fight me I very much appreciate your love and support but I'm just sharing inventing and I'm not trying to like on myself or anything I wanted it again to commit because I knew that you know some of y'all really wanted more of my life whatever but I'm just not good at this I'm not good at weekly reading Vlogs and I can't decide if that's something that is just like me being too lazy at this point to improve upon my skills and to you know actually get good at something like am I just giving up too quickly because I have not good at something or is it because this is just not what I thrive doing you know like could I be putting my skills to better use elsewhere and I know that that's definitely the case the things that I'm good at are creative content I think weekly reading Vlogs have sort of taken that away from me in a way I'm supposed to like add and I feel like it's taking away which is a little disappointing I didn't realize how time consuming they were I guess I just you know stupidly thought like oh you know casual video so it's gonna be just added content for people it's gonna be super easy to film but I didn't realize like when I woke up every morning that I would have to consider like okay what am I doing today is it interesting enough to film how can I make my day more interesting to film and even then I still don't think that I was able to deliver or I have been able to deliver um anything like really great it sounds like I hate myself or like I hate these videos and I don't I think the reason I've continued to do them especially the past couple of months is so it's really nice to be able to go back and look at things and be like oh that's what I was doing you know this time last year I can do that regardless of like what video type it is you know what I'm saying I reworked my schedule for the rest of the year I was going to just see it through you know to see out the weekly reading Vlogs and just do something different next year because I've already been considering going down to a two video a week posting schedule in 2023 to give myself more time for my other Pursuits and also to like make better content I think that's why I've been struggling is like just feel a little too overwhelmed and so I I let that force me into doing nothing if that makes sense you know sometimes you're so overwhelmed you don't even know where to start until you don't start I've been feeling that way like this week I was supposed to be doing a Jane Austen reading Vlog that has not materialized because I have been focused on this Vlog and it's not even a good Vlog why continue to do something that I'm not good at that not as many people watch and again I know some of you are watching this right now and I I really do appreciate you but yeah I don't know I feel like I could be making more interesting things for you that give you more value and I think it's such a dilemma when you're a Creator to decide do you want to cater to your audience or do you want to cater to yourself um and do you think selfishly and I think you obviously have to strike that balance but it's like the things that I know my audience likes are also the things that I like you know and I do a part of me does like these weekly reading Vlogs but your part of me really likes the creative stuff that I make or these big list videos or whatever and are really successful videos so I'm like can I be spending my time making this kind of stuff so I am going to finish off this weekly reading Vlog obviously um the rest of it's going to be a lot more upbeat than this guaranteed because tomorrow we are going to that Vintage Market Days and I'm going to take you along with me for that um and I'm also going to do a vlog next week I think I'm going to retool it it's not going to be a weekly reading Vlog it's going to be a decorate with me Vlog which I actually think is going to turn out better anyway because you know it's the stuff that I think is interesting like my everyday life is just not interesting enough to justify me vlogging weekly and I like that I have done this because I I don't regret posting these Vlogs and I'm not saying I won't do vlogs in the future because obviously like in my planned content or like secret TBR creative content it is technically a vlog I feel like I've learned a lot even if my skill has not necessarily improved and I feel like going forward I can include more life things in um more Vlogs I was actually looking at um one of my KU Vlogs from last Christmas time I did like a little haul in one of those I I talked about Christmas and stuff and it felt really personal but it also felt interesting I'm someone who needs a guideline to work off of I'm not good with like freewheeling and just trying to like come up with ideas on the spot and so I don't know I don't a lot of respect for people who do weekly reading Vlogs I feel like when I first started my channel I used to kind of like on that content or just see that as lesser or not creative but like so much respect to people who can do them regularly and are so good at them like Olivia is part of my inspiration for starting weekly reading Vlogs in the first place it's like oh I can do this I cannot do this like I'm not good at it I'm gonna make sense because like that's her bread and butter and that's what she spends her time on like it's not what I regularly practice I don't practice my b-roll skills or you know in crafting a good story that kind of carries on throughout the week or whatever so I feel like I'm rambling at this point but I just wanted to share that with you because I've been feeling a little bit yeah just like not not myself not my best I feel like I haven't been putting out my best content for a while at this point and it makes me sad because I look back at like prior years so fondly about like the videos I was making and the creativity behind the content and I think I just need to get back to that I do have some good ideas I've actually swapped out the weekly reading Vlogs in December already on my content calendar for some of the planned content that I didn't think I'd be able to get to this year um a couple of which rku videos I I know I said in my tier ranking video that I wasn't going to to be posting KU content for the rest of the year I just I need that I need it desperately and also it's just fun you know people tend to like that stuff too I want to make things that people like at the end of the day like I'm not happy if other people aren't happy um which is not to say that I get all of my validation from like you know comments and Views and stuff but um that sure makes this job more fun and anyone that says that they don't care at all like I'm sorry but you wouldn't be posting videos if you didn't care what other people think about what you're posting you know I'm already feeling like kind of free now that I have like changed my schedule for December but I also know that I'm gonna be able to reach my biggest goal for the year which I don't think that I've really shared here on my channel I was gonna make it kind of a secret thing definitely talked about it on patreon extensively but my biggest goals this year was to read through my entire physical TBR I am fairly close to doing that but I was just thinking to myself recently like I don't know how I'm going to accomplish that given the way that my weeks are structured with the other you know planned content that I have and weekly reading Vlogs if I ditch the weekly reading Vlogs for a planned content video surprisingly I I have more time in my week I don't know I don't know how to describe it it's like the mental Taxation and mental energy that I spend on thinking about the weekly reading Vlogs that actually kind of just like me down so glad I could share that little tidbit of information with you don't get too freaked out or scared of like you actually really enjoy these the two of you that like really love these videos but um yeah I'm definitely going to be putting more of my life into like my KU Vlogs and stuff going forward and two handsome boys on the bed I'm so cute oh okay he's gonna help me do my makeup I will probably check in with y'all again tomorrow morning when we leave for the Vintage Market Days but again thank you so far for listening to my thank you everybody there's a lot of times lapsed between the last clips that you just saw and now but I wanted to close off this Vlog and kind of let you know how the weekend went I showed you some clips obviously we ended up going to that sort of like antique Vintage Market Days thing I don't know if I'm going to be going to any more of those they're definitely like a nationwide thing and you can definitely find vintage I feel like this one especially didn't have all of the Vintage that I personally wanted but the good news is I found a bunch of different antique shops to go to between Austin and Houston on 290 my favorite spot that we stopped at was called Whistle Stop and I think that one is in Giddings so if you're looking for a good place for antiques I would recommend going there despite vintage record is just being okay we had a really good time in Houston we ended up getting smart skin food with Hayden's family and that was a lot of fun we weren't able to see my family which was a little bit of a bummer but not the biggest deal but I wanted to kind of walk you through the antique vines that I found yeah I just closed off this Vlog I didn't end up finishing Dead Men Walking or really like any books last week and it's Thursday of the following week and I still haven't finished anything so you know hopefully that changes going forward I also don't mean to scare you but this is going to be the the last official weekly reading Vlog this year maybe ever I'm not entirely sure at this point I have had more time to think since I talked to you in the last clip like the last talking clip well I have like a cleaning decorate with me spend my birthday with me Vlog next week this is the last like official weekly reading Vlog so anyway uh let me walk you through those antique finds so the first thing that I got was this etching of some people based on the dresses I think like 1700s but I don't entirely know I figured out recently that I just really like etchings and like turtle sketches and things like that I mean I like a good oil painting too but I'm starting to kind of figure out what I like in vintage and antiques um then I got an etching of the capital and I feel like this was probably uh at the founding of our country then I got a charcoal drawing by a French artist I really liked the guy um in the antique shop that I got this one from he definitely knew a lot about the things he was selling you know he was just fun to talk to so I also got some brass candlesticks that was the one thing that I ended up getting from the Vintage Market Days I also got an oil painting of trees then I got this etching of a woman in the snow this was also under 100 at Whistle Stop I also got a couple of jugs a brown one to go in my bedroom and then a blue and white one for my tabletop in the spring so definitely not a bad haul and I am excited to have those pieces in my life especially since my birthday was the following Monday um so it was just like nice to get these in addition to the Sweet presents that Hayden got me he got me two really pretty necklaces I think that's pretty much it for me I'm not good at these but thanks so much for watching I love you all so much and until next time thank youhello welcome back to my channel stepping into my bedroom because I need to find some shoes and go vote okay so it is Tuesday my friends today is an exciting day because like I said Hayden and I are gonna go vote and then we are going to take you along with us as we shop and I'm kind of excited for it we need to find Hayden a shirt and a belt for a wedding that we're going to this weekend which I'm also going to take you along for I don't usually get to take you along on my weekends with me for these Vlogs but I will this week we are also going to go to Home Goods and look at Christmas decor I've conned Hayden into doing it with me he's the only place on my like typical Decor list that I have not visited I usually go to like at home Target that sort of thing for Christmas and like other holidays and I haven't looked at home goods yet I'm very excited hoping I can find like slightly more unique pieces might be a big ask I actually don't know if they're gonna have a good selection but they had a really great selection for Halloween so I'm hoping that things are good for Christmas as well gonna do a little time lapse for you first things first uh we gotta go get our boat on and then I will be back to you around dinner time when we go shopping and then also get canes I am I've been craving the cane sauce you know what I mean do you know what I mean if you have a mini canes who are you foreign foreign happy Wednesday my friends it is an even more exciting day than yesterday here's the thing yesterday wasn't exciting I guess in in the actual tasks that we had to get done but since I had like planned it I was more excited about it and I feel like I need to start doing that more often you know I just kind of like randomly go shop there at my weeks when I have a day set aside that I'm gonna do that and then I know that I'm gonna treat myself to some delicious chicken tenders it just makes the day that more special and like makes an event I guess out of something that like otherwise would be very ordinary so that was nice I hope you liked that little time lapse I did find some gems at home goods that I wasn't expecting I ended up getting like a four foot little Christmas tree which is exactly what I was looking for and then I also got some wood Christmas trees that have like glitter on them they're really cute I'll show those to you next week whenever I do my downstairs decorating theme and like the vibe down there is completely different than it's going to be in my office spoiler alert we're going to be decorating my office after I shut up and I am really excited about it I might pop in here and there to kind of like let you know what I am doing but I already set this particular tree up last year downstairs in my bedroom and I gave them a whole tutorial on how I put ribbon in my tree and just like other little tips and tricks I have for decorating trees if you want to get a similar look I'll leave a link to that in the description again like if you are interested in that I do have um stuff to decorate my shelves this year I did decorate them a little bit last year but I got even more stuff and I had stuff downstairs to decorate my bedroom when I did this particular tree so I'm also going to include some of that on my shelves my shelves are going to be like overwhelmed with little Decor pieces and I'm really excited I have these little like gnomes in black and red and white um that's like the theme we're going to be doing I'm excited I have my ribbon bin right next to me I have a ribbon problem can I just show you for a second look at this look at this ribbon Galore I think I might need to go through that at some point and get rid of the stuff that I don't use as often anymore but I just like the options ribbon transforms a tree I stand by that I love that Vibe nowadays it is more common to do like a more minimal Christmas tree I think that's like what's trendy right now um you know just just ball ornaments you know no Ribbon or anything I like a stuffed tree and it also helps with cats I think some people have asked that in the past like how do you get your cats to not climb your trees it's gonna obviously very much depend on the cat the only cat that I have that has ever been interested in climbing trees is pepper he did it successfully one year when we had a more inexpensive tree that I didn't stuff full of but since then he has not attempted to climb trees Teddy has no interest in it we'll see if pickles does honestly probably gonna go ahead and put you up on a tripod and get to decorating that's kind of all that's on my agenda today I might maybe go out and look for some more Garland it feels insane to say that because I just invested in some really nice Garland for my staircase downstairs but there are a couple of other places I would like to include Garland like my dresser in my bedroom going very minimal in my bedroom no tree but I do want some some you know Garland in there to make it a little festive and I would like some Garland for our entryway do I need it no but I would like to go on the hunt for it because I think a couple of places are having like Christmas sales right now like Michael's in terms of reading this is gonna be a light reading Vlog as in I'm going to be reading a lot of things but I'm not going to be updating it like the 50 work of books just gonna give you my summaries on things briefly before we get into the decorating I guess I can tell you about circling back to you by Julie too I actually finished this book yesterday and to talk to you about it but you know just had other stuff I was doing this was one of my most anticipated romances of 2022 and it was such a disappointment I really liked the donut trap which was this author's I think debut novel and it was such a fun concept it wasn't necessarily like friends to lovers but she had had a crush on this guy in college and then totally less contact with him and then she comes into contact with him years later as she's working at her family's donut shop it was just really Charming I loved all the descriptions of food this one is about people working in like Realty and like brokerage firms I don't know it was really not exciting and they just like wasn't a theme or a plot I guess to carry the carry the story through like in that first book we have our heroine who is trying to you know figure out what she wants to do out of life and you know help parents with the social media for their donut shop this book it's like our heroine is Just In conflict with her family I guess after her mom has passed away and our hero is trying to get a promotion and they already liked each other before the start of the book so it just like wasn't exciting I gave this book two stars which is such a bummer all of my anticipated romances I really expected to be like four or five star reads that just was not the case for the majority of them I'm being a little bit more selective I think with my like most anticipated list for 2023 I've already started kind of crafting that 2022 I did like a five star predictions video and a most anticipated romances video this year I'm just gonna combine them and do a five-star predictions video and like I I only read romance for the most part or I would prefer to only read romance so I feel like that kind of takes care of the most anticipated romances but this one was kind of a disappointment I think today I'm gonna try and finish book of night by Holly black I picked it back up yesterday night after finishing circling back to you it's okay it's like not my favorite thing ever but it is getting more interesting as it Carries On which is nice and then maybe I will start in on I want to say I don't know what the name of this book is I was gonna say how to seduce some Wallflower it looks like this an eloisa James book it's like the first in a new series I've not heard great things about it sadly but this was one of my most anticipated romances of the Year circling back to you and this one are the last ones that I need to read to make like a review video you know I'd like to revisit things like if I'm Gonna Make a list of five star predictions I bet your ass I'm gonna go back and like tell you if they were five stars or not though for my most anticipated romances video I'm almost done with it I'm excited to share my thoughts and feelings on those but I've been yammering on long enough let's go ahead and get decorating I'm hyped I hope you're hyped too all right foreign alone thank you oh hello Pals we're here for another crumple cookies review I'm excited for this one primarily because we're in our own house it is not dark in our car so that'll be fine I'm curious to see how they've held up in the car oh wow they really did give a I would have rather them put this one like on this one than yeah on the only one there were there were definitely choices made here okay so we got Buckeye brownie cookie butter strawberry cake which is apparently a new flavor and then chocolate pumpkin cheesecake which I'm tentatively excited for I'm very excited for the strawberry because it's a cream cheese frosting and you'll know I feel about the cream cheese looking at these I think you're gonna enjoy the Buckeye Brownie and the cookie butter I mean I've had the Buckeye brownie before yeah it's pretty good yeah that's the one that is Chill yeah yeah yeah yeah let's cheesecake I feel like I shouldn't start with this one because it's gonna make my teeth black so I'm gonna set her right there okay I'm gonna start with the cheese the cheesecakey strawberry judging by the sound of that I think I'm gonna like this one a lot text truly and it's not half bad like I think this one is supposed to be warm but it's not but it's also not cold it's like very room temperature like my my fingers so what you're saying is it's a cookie what do you what do you say it's like the animals tastes like a Pop Tart it really tastes like strawberry drinkable yogurt it's been a while since you had an animal or like a yogurt or like whatever the yogurts are that you have in there what are those those are animals I've had an animal most recently it doesn't need to be that rich butter white chip Colo pepper okay I think I'm gonna like this one text really I'm not even a huge cookie butter fan it's good like it's like I don't think it's gonna be that it's like butterscotch I think that'll make it throughout there's a little too much cookie on cookie action I think just the bite that I had like you guys can see this there was a whole one of these just buried in here under the surface I don't know what that face was I'm going through a journey a flavor Journey well it does seem a little too no there's some complicated there's complex it's actually good I didn't expect it like this because I don't typically like pumpkin and chocolate together kind of like banana and chocolate I just don't think it goes but this is really good they're having fun oh it's that piece of plastic that tastes like if Starbucks made a cookie damn right it does obviously you're not gonna try the Buckeye brownie I don't even think it's worth me trying on camera because it would take multiple bites to get into the part that has the peanut butter and the chocolate in there I will be eating this I do enjoy this cookie I've had it's not my favorite it's not my least favorite it's just like it's solid my only problem with that cookie is it is too much cookie to eat at one time like it really needs to be cut in half and uh you basically have to reheat it in the oven otherwise the peanut butter on top turns into a little puck a literal hockey puck like you can't bite through it it also requires a fork and a knife because of the melty hot fudge on top it just gets too messy so it's it's a high maintenance cookie but she's worth it yes so okay rankings I think I'm gonna rank them in order yeah yeah just the way they are now yeah I like the pumpkin one and then the strawberry and then the cookie butter and I don't eat peanut butter so I don't know I think cookie butter number one like a brownie number two I wasn't a huge fan of either of these if I'm being quite honest with you I think the strawberry is a disappointment it's like way too artificial I was expecting it to be mostly like kind of a cheesecakey cream cheese with like a touch of like a real strawberry taste this is very artificial it's not bad I mean kind of like some fake but um I was expecting more of a man I think I probably have to say that the pumpkin cheesecake one is higher for me than the strawberry strawberry just didn't like you said it was it was too for me it wasn't even then it was artificial it just like really evoked the animals anyway that concludes our cookie crumbles review crumbles cookie crumble cookie review I have 20 minutes left in book of night it has gotten much better I think I'm mildly interested in reading the sequel do I think Holly black could have done better for for the first 50 of this book yes but it is what it is and I'm just glad to get it off of my I think we can all do better you know what's so true bestie especially for the first half you know normally it takes until the second half for us to get our together oh I am about to start in on my makeup I actually went upstairs today and switched out a lot of the products in here since I am going to be going to that wedding this weekend I think I've mentioned that I'm going to a wedding this weekend have I mentioned it let me let me tell you I guess what's happening so today is Thursday I think my sister's gonna come over and hang out I don't think she has class today we did this last week as well I ended up sleeping over at her house and decorating her tree which you saw in the last Vlog but I think she's gonna come over and hang out she really wanted me to like decorate for Christmas today but um I think I'm gonna put that off until the next Vlog and then tomorrow we are going to a wedding it is in green Texas I think it's gonna be really really beautiful hopefully it doesn't rain it's supposed to rain here where we're at currently I'm hoping that it doesn't rain for their actual wedding I'm not sure if it's supposed to be like an outdoor ceremony or not but you know sending Good Vibes their way excited for that wedding and then on Saturday we are going to Vintage Market Days in Hempstead is kind of like Northwest of Houston which will be a nice opportunity to see both of our families as well so we're gonna go and see his mom and dad and I think we're also gonna see my mom and dad my parents got me an Apple Watch for my birthday God bless I've been really excited did for this new Apple watch just because of some of the features that are rolling out on this one specifically so I really want to like go see them to pick the watch up not that I don't want to see them anyways but you know what I mean if sensor comes over today we are going to be watching some Christmas movies which I'm really hyped about and I'll give you like our reviews uh they're like you know homework movies that are on Amazon uh we watched a pretty bad uh Halloween one a few weeks ago so we're gonna watch a Christmas one or two I think we're watching Christmas in Mississippi with Jana Kramer um I'm sure that's gonna be a gem we'll give you our full review I mostly the whole reason I like sat down to talk to you while I do my makeup is because I read some stuff yesterday I know shocking surprising I ended up finishing book of night I did that during Sprints while I was decorating my tree and honestly y'all it's such a toughie for me because I really did not like the first 50 of that book that's why I think it took me over a month to finish this but the last 50 was so good and it was giving me very old school Holly black Vibes it's like I don't know if I'd recommend it necessarily but I am probably gonna check out the the second book I'll probably get it from my library instead of investing in like a hardcover but I don't know the hero of the story or like the of Interest I really like him a lot and uh Cliffhanger is intense so I'm really curious to see like you know what comes to that and whatever I um okay I'll leave it there I give it three stars I feel like that was maybe a little generous but it wasn't like I mean it wasn't a terrible book I also started dead man walking a lot of y'all were like hyping that one up in my last reading Vlog where I read Inked and lies so I was like you know what it like I'm just gonna go ahead and start in on this one and then I'll be done with this series it's also on my physical TBR as well so it just feels nice to be able to get through it I'm 20 in and I'm I'm liking it so it's about our main character B and she is the younger sister of Lulu from the second book the one that like got married to Zeus and she has a crush on priest who is like a I think we're supposed to think he's like actually a psychopath he is the enforcer and or like the murderer of the club he is Irish he has red hair I'm picturing him like a man that plays Jamie and Outlander I'm picturing him for sure with like slightly longer hair and uh there's already been some like kind of steamy kinky moments the beginning of the story he accidentally sets off a car bomb not knowing that she is in the car I mean he meant to set off the car our bomb he didn't realize she was in the car because the guy he was trying to kill was B's date so she ends up injured in the hospital and so he feels kind of bad about it but he also is like I have a crush on her I need to make sure like she's live I don't know and she has been like following him and just like really observing him closely for the past couple of years like she's very into him she sees his motorcycle parked at a motel and she's like okay yeah sure I'm gonna go pop in and see what he's doing obviously he's cleaning up a crime scene and uh they end up having like a little makeout sash I don't know if I would call it like a makeout sesh so much as a bloodletting he ends up like sucking on the lip that he splits for her so a little bit of blood play I didn't expect to like think it was kind of hot but I did I'll be honest with you I'm just kind of like already invested in this it feels like a very different Dynamic than pretty much any of the other Dynamics like it is an age Gap but I don't think we've had a heroine like B before I feel like let me think about it crestada I guess that's kind of a goody two shoes but like in a different way Lulu no she's not a goody two shoes at all there's Harley Rose neither really was Lila so it's nice getting someone who is you know looking to walk on the dark side and is kind of a good girl I'm I guess you could argue that the older sister was too but I don't know it just feels different okay it feels different and priest is definitely a different kind of hero he doesn't seem to be the like you know Head Over Heels type like the other guys I feel like they fall really quickly and easily for the heroines and this does not feel like that and I like it it's just a little something different and um it is a very long book but I was surprised that I was able to get to the 20 Mark so quickly God bless Kindle it's funny someone mentioned in a recent video why do you have physical books if you're just gonna read a copy of that book in a different format that's a great question I don't really have the answer to it I like to physically own the books that I really love so I can go back and revisit passages easy I also just like to see them on my shelves I just find it satisfying I mean why does anyone buy books you know what I mean if I can get the same copy of the book in a different format I kind of enjoyed that as well just depends on my mood but um I do like my Kindle it's easier to hold in the hands I enjoy how quickly I can read with a Kindle it's like much more quickly than a paperback even if it's like you know the same exact book so I don't need to justify it but just letting you know that's kind of like why I have both um paperbacks and Kindle or audiobook versions of stuff as well so anyway 20 into that one enjoying it I'll update you more as I continue to read that one and then I also started Anna my first Jane Austen book for this Jane Austen Vlog I'm working on I think you'll see that one before you see this one initial thoughts are this wow she loves to run on sentence I don't know it's not terrible I think the dad is really funny to me like he's obviously such a but I think he's hilarious what else to update you on oh I did end up going run some errands yesterday I think I like mentioned in that clip before I started decorating that I was considering go and get a Garland and y'all I found some really good Garland the one thing I don't love about Tick Tock and social media in general is that if there's ever a good product it is always sold out especially when it comes to like home decor products I feel like the popular Garland style right now is like this beautiful like sweeping trailing directional Garland it's stunning I love it I think it's really really pretty and I understand why it's so popular but God forbid I find one in person because it's like I'll see it I'll see it at some point and then it's like gone the next day right I had like gone to at home with my sister and saw a really pretty Garland I was like I don't need that and then I go back and they just they don't have they don't have it anymore literally a week later so anyway I ended up finding a garland that had red berries in it and I liked the base Greenery of the Garland it felt very Texas to me for lack of a better word I love a good fur tree I love a good traditional like Douglas for a Christmas tree but I want you know that for my tree itself but when it comes to Greenery like I live in Texas and to me Christmas is pine trees right um and so I found a really beautiful like Piney Garland I don't know I took the berries off of it yesterday I have wire cutters from when I put together my wow I am like totally all over the place with my makeup I totally forgot blush I got wire cutters whenever I decided to make my own wreath for outdoors for fall they've come in handy let me tell you but I used those like specialty like wire cutters and like trimmers or whatever to pull off the berries from this garland that I found this like beautiful Piney Garland and it is so stunning I have to show it to you I really like it I like that it's kind of messy and I feel like it just really fits the vibe that I'm going for I feel like I'm a little undecided on what my vibe is this year like I'm doing pretty much the same day I always do you know very like Woodland creatures mixed with like white and bronze colors mostly neutrals let's be honest just like neutrals I feel like the garland that I got is like goes with it it's like sophisticated it's a little bit like Moody at the same time how can Garland be moody I'm not really sure but it feels it feels Moody to me and I like it I feel like I I feel like I selected a good Garland and I am surprised that it wasn't very expensive either I think I spent like 40 on each I'm gonna put one in my bedroom I put one out there already in my entryway my formula moral of the story is there isn't one but also think outside the box with Christmas decor just because something like isn't perfect doesn't mean you can't customize it anyway I've been rambling way too long I want to finish my makeup and I will update you if I get farther into dead man walking or if my sister comes over we decide to watch movies um I think I need to read persuasion in between now and then so it'll be a second but I'll be back foreign back in the same spot as I was yesterday which I think actually works well for this video be or for this video for this clip because I wanted to have a little bit of a heart to heart with you I feel like this might be premature um but we're all friends here I just had a bit of an epiphany last night I just wanted to share my thoughts and feelings with you I'm trying not to make any rash decisions um but I figured we could talk also it is raining cats and dogs outside it's Friday I don't know if I said that we have that wedding to go to and I guess I just didn't realize like if a wedding's at four o'clock and it's two hours away in traffic I'm gonna have to get ready earlier than you thought so that's what I'm doing now it won't take me long I don't really take very long on my makeup even if it's event makeup but where to begin so I just feel like the past few months have been rough obviously for so many different reasons um but I feel like I haven't been super happy with the things that I have been uploading I mean there are obviously some exceptions and like some things that I'm really still proud of but I just feel like I haven't been myself lately and yesterday I was thinking to myself what could I change to make myself happier what could I change to get back to what I really like making which are like kind of creative interesting videos and I was like What if I just stop doing weekly reading Vlogs I say as I'm doing a weekly reading Vlog I think I struggle because I wanted to commit to weekly reading Vlogs as a form of content because I was like this is a fun way to show you more of my life show you more of Hayden and my cats and stuff and I know that's something that was like requested a lot um at the end of last year people just like wanted more of me which is so flattering and like I love that y'all um you know like this stuff some of y'all are gonna disagree with the things I'm going to say don't go in the comments and fight me I very much appreciate your love and support but I'm just sharing inventing and I'm not trying to like on myself or anything I wanted it again to commit because I knew that you know some of y'all really wanted more of my life whatever but I'm just not good at this I'm not good at weekly reading Vlogs and I can't decide if that's something that is just like me being too lazy at this point to improve upon my skills and to you know actually get good at something like am I just giving up too quickly because I have not good at something or is it because this is just not what I thrive doing you know like could I be putting my skills to better use elsewhere and I know that that's definitely the case the things that I'm good at are creative content I think weekly reading Vlogs have sort of taken that away from me in a way I'm supposed to like add and I feel like it's taking away which is a little disappointing I didn't realize how time consuming they were I guess I just you know stupidly thought like oh you know casual video so it's gonna be just added content for people it's gonna be super easy to film but I didn't realize like when I woke up every morning that I would have to consider like okay what am I doing today is it interesting enough to film how can I make my day more interesting to film and even then I still don't think that I was able to deliver or I have been able to deliver um anything like really great it sounds like I hate myself or like I hate these videos and I don't I think the reason I've continued to do them especially the past couple of months is so it's really nice to be able to go back and look at things and be like oh that's what I was doing you know this time last year I can do that regardless of like what video type it is you know what I'm saying I reworked my schedule for the rest of the year I was going to just see it through you know to see out the weekly reading Vlogs and just do something different next year because I've already been considering going down to a two video a week posting schedule in 2023 to give myself more time for my other Pursuits and also to like make better content I think that's why I've been struggling is like just feel a little too overwhelmed and so I I let that force me into doing nothing if that makes sense you know sometimes you're so overwhelmed you don't even know where to start until you don't start I've been feeling that way like this week I was supposed to be doing a Jane Austen reading Vlog that has not materialized because I have been focused on this Vlog and it's not even a good Vlog why continue to do something that I'm not good at that not as many people watch and again I know some of you are watching this right now and I I really do appreciate you but yeah I don't know I feel like I could be making more interesting things for you that give you more value and I think it's such a dilemma when you're a Creator to decide do you want to cater to your audience or do you want to cater to yourself um and do you think selfishly and I think you obviously have to strike that balance but it's like the things that I know my audience likes are also the things that I like you know and I do a part of me does like these weekly reading Vlogs but your part of me really likes the creative stuff that I make or these big list videos or whatever and are really successful videos so I'm like can I be spending my time making this kind of stuff so I am going to finish off this weekly reading Vlog obviously um the rest of it's going to be a lot more upbeat than this guaranteed because tomorrow we are going to that Vintage Market Days and I'm going to take you along with me for that um and I'm also going to do a vlog next week I think I'm going to retool it it's not going to be a weekly reading Vlog it's going to be a decorate with me Vlog which I actually think is going to turn out better anyway because you know it's the stuff that I think is interesting like my everyday life is just not interesting enough to justify me vlogging weekly and I like that I have done this because I I don't regret posting these Vlogs and I'm not saying I won't do vlogs in the future because obviously like in my planned content or like secret TBR creative content it is technically a vlog I feel like I've learned a lot even if my skill has not necessarily improved and I feel like going forward I can include more life things in um more Vlogs I was actually looking at um one of my KU Vlogs from last Christmas time I did like a little haul in one of those I I talked about Christmas and stuff and it felt really personal but it also felt interesting I'm someone who needs a guideline to work off of I'm not good with like freewheeling and just trying to like come up with ideas on the spot and so I don't know I don't a lot of respect for people who do weekly reading Vlogs I feel like when I first started my channel I used to kind of like on that content or just see that as lesser or not creative but like so much respect to people who can do them regularly and are so good at them like Olivia is part of my inspiration for starting weekly reading Vlogs in the first place it's like oh I can do this I cannot do this like I'm not good at it I'm gonna make sense because like that's her bread and butter and that's what she spends her time on like it's not what I regularly practice I don't practice my b-roll skills or you know in crafting a good story that kind of carries on throughout the week or whatever so I feel like I'm rambling at this point but I just wanted to share that with you because I've been feeling a little bit yeah just like not not myself not my best I feel like I haven't been putting out my best content for a while at this point and it makes me sad because I look back at like prior years so fondly about like the videos I was making and the creativity behind the content and I think I just need to get back to that I do have some good ideas I've actually swapped out the weekly reading Vlogs in December already on my content calendar for some of the planned content that I didn't think I'd be able to get to this year um a couple of which rku videos I I know I said in my tier ranking video that I wasn't going to to be posting KU content for the rest of the year I just I need that I need it desperately and also it's just fun you know people tend to like that stuff too I want to make things that people like at the end of the day like I'm not happy if other people aren't happy um which is not to say that I get all of my validation from like you know comments and Views and stuff but um that sure makes this job more fun and anyone that says that they don't care at all like I'm sorry but you wouldn't be posting videos if you didn't care what other people think about what you're posting you know I'm already feeling like kind of free now that I have like changed my schedule for December but I also know that I'm gonna be able to reach my biggest goal for the year which I don't think that I've really shared here on my channel I was gonna make it kind of a secret thing definitely talked about it on patreon extensively but my biggest goals this year was to read through my entire physical TBR I am fairly close to doing that but I was just thinking to myself recently like I don't know how I'm going to accomplish that given the way that my weeks are structured with the other you know planned content that I have and weekly reading Vlogs if I ditch the weekly reading Vlogs for a planned content video surprisingly I I have more time in my week I don't know I don't know how to describe it it's like the mental Taxation and mental energy that I spend on thinking about the weekly reading Vlogs that actually kind of just like me down so glad I could share that little tidbit of information with you don't get too freaked out or scared of like you actually really enjoy these the two of you that like really love these videos but um yeah I'm definitely going to be putting more of my life into like my KU Vlogs and stuff going forward and two handsome boys on the bed I'm so cute oh okay he's gonna help me do my makeup I will probably check in with y'all again tomorrow morning when we leave for the Vintage Market Days but again thank you so far for listening to my thank you everybody there's a lot of times lapsed between the last clips that you just saw and now but I wanted to close off this Vlog and kind of let you know how the weekend went I showed you some clips obviously we ended up going to that sort of like antique Vintage Market Days thing I don't know if I'm going to be going to any more of those they're definitely like a nationwide thing and you can definitely find vintage I feel like this one especially didn't have all of the Vintage that I personally wanted but the good news is I found a bunch of different antique shops to go to between Austin and Houston on 290 my favorite spot that we stopped at was called Whistle Stop and I think that one is in Giddings so if you're looking for a good place for antiques I would recommend going there despite vintage record is just being okay we had a really good time in Houston we ended up getting smart skin food with Hayden's family and that was a lot of fun we weren't able to see my family which was a little bit of a bummer but not the biggest deal but I wanted to kind of walk you through the antique vines that I found yeah I just closed off this Vlog I didn't end up finishing Dead Men Walking or really like any books last week and it's Thursday of the following week and I still haven't finished anything so you know hopefully that changes going forward I also don't mean to scare you but this is going to be the the last official weekly reading Vlog this year maybe ever I'm not entirely sure at this point I have had more time to think since I talked to you in the last clip like the last talking clip well I have like a cleaning decorate with me spend my birthday with me Vlog next week this is the last like official weekly reading Vlog so anyway uh let me walk you through those antique finds so the first thing that I got was this etching of some people based on the dresses I think like 1700s but I don't entirely know I figured out recently that I just really like etchings and like turtle sketches and things like that I mean I like a good oil painting too but I'm starting to kind of figure out what I like in vintage and antiques um then I got an etching of the capital and I feel like this was probably uh at the founding of our country then I got a charcoal drawing by a French artist I really liked the guy um in the antique shop that I got this one from he definitely knew a lot about the things he was selling you know he was just fun to talk to so I also got some brass candlesticks that was the one thing that I ended up getting from the Vintage Market Days I also got an oil painting of trees then I got this etching of a woman in the snow this was also under 100 at Whistle Stop I also got a couple of jugs a brown one to go in my bedroom and then a blue and white one for my tabletop in the spring so definitely not a bad haul and I am excited to have those pieces in my life especially since my birthday was the following Monday um so it was just like nice to get these in addition to the Sweet presents that Hayden got me he got me two really pretty necklaces I think that's pretty much it for me I'm not good at these but thanks so much for watching I love you all so much and until next time thank you\n"