February Wrap Up

February was a hard month for me. A lot of stuff happened with family and with my personal life, and with that my mental health plumbed into a new low. I found it hard to get myself out of it. I struggled with getting motivated and to do the things I loved. I felt a bit like a zombie. Eat. Cry. Sleep. Repeat.

The anxiety was taking over me. I had a few panic attacks at home, which hasn’t happened for over 10 years. When I’m like this the first thing to go is my will to read. The only thing I can do, is to watch TV or Netflix. I think some time ago, I swapped my binge eating as a coping mechanism with binge watching TV. Binging on things isn’t the way to go, but I’m glad that I’m not eating my feelings away anymore. Instead, I use what I watch to get all my emotions out. I’m an emotional whore, so most of the time I just cry show after show, and I get so tired out that eventually I feel a weight of my shoulders. It works for me I guess.

I’m still not 100%, but at least I feel a bit more like myself again.

This has also made me realise that I wanted my blog to branch out into other areas. I was feeling quite restricted in what to write, which is never nice. With that I have revamped my blog header and social media accounts, adding Lifestyle and Travel into the mix of things. Hence, why I’m feeling more open to talk about how my mental health was a bit of a pain in the bum this month.

Anyway, let’s move on to what I still manage to do this month despite feeling like sh*t.

Read

• The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (Hardback)
• To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo (ARC)

If last month my reading wasn’t perfect, this month was even worse. However, I still managed to be on track with my Goodreads Challenge. Once again, I haven’t manage to read any Beat The Backlist books. I do feel that I’m disapointing my fellow Book Bards here. However, I have promised myself that if I manage to finish my March TBR with time to spare I will be picking up a Backlist book first.

I haven’t wrote a review yet for The Cruel Prince but will have the review up this month. To Kill a Kingdom was published yesterday and it’s amazing so go get it!

Goodreads Challenge: 8/52

Beat the Backlist Challenge: 0/20

Watched

• Winchester (Cinema)
• When We First Met (Netflix)
• Black Panther (Cinema)
• Irreplaceable You (Netflix)
• The Outcasts (Netflix)
• Love, Simon (Preview Cinema)
• Happy Death Day (DVD)
• Wonder 
• Murder on the Orient Express
• Thor: Ragnarok (DVD)
• Red Sparrow (Preview Cinema)
• Resident Evil (Six Film DVD Marathon) – Re Watched

I was very lucky to go to two Preview screenings this month. First, for Love, Simon which it was absolutely gorgeous. Secondly, for Red Sparrow, which was very different from what I was expecting but still very much enjoyable.

My absolutely favourite film this month was Black Panther. It totally exceeded expectations and it was freaking amazing. I’m planning on going to watch it again this month. #WakandaForever

Winchester wasn’t actually as bad as I expected. Or maybe it’s because I went with my two best friends. My Andreia is literally the worst at getting scared. 12 years of friendship and watching horror films with her is still one of my favourite things to do. She loves them films but she jumps and screams at everything. It’s hilarious! So basically I spent most of the film crying of laughter because of her.

• Stacey Dooley Investigates: Second Chance Sex Offenders (BBC iPlayer)
• Stacey Dooley Investigates: Russia’s War on Women (BBC iPlayer)
• Stacey Dooley Investigates: Gypsy Kids Taken From Home (BBC iPlayer)
• Stacey Dooley: Face to Face with Isis (BBC iPlayer)
• Islam, Women and Me (BBC iPlayer)
• Crossing Birmingham’s Invisible Boarders (BBC iPlayer)
• Altered Carbon (Netflix) – All of Season 1
• Queer Eye (Netflix) – All of Season 1
• Living Differently (BBC iPlayer) – All of Series 3
• Everything Sucks (Netflix) – All of Season 1
• Inside No. 9 (BBC) – All of Season 2, 3 and 4
• Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) – Season 14 – Episodes 11 and 12
• iZombie (The CW) – Season 4 – Episode 1
• Scandal (ABC) – Season 7 – Episodes 10 and 11
• Lucifer (FOX) – Season 3 – Episodes 14 and 15
• Riverdale (The CW) – Season 2 – Episode 13
• The Fosters (Freeform) – Season 5 – Episodes 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16
• Chicago Fire (NBC) – Season 6 – Episode 11
• Chicago PD (NBC) – Season 5 – Episode 14
• Chicago Med (NBC) – Season 3 – Episodes 09 and 10
• Blindspot (NBC) – Season 3 – Episode 12
• Slasher (Netflix) – All of Season 2
• Total Bellas (WWE Network) – All of Season 1
• Seven Seconds (Netflix) – All of Season 1
• Britannia (SKY Atlantic) – Season 1 – Episodes 04, 05 and 06
• The Good Place (NBC) – Season 02 – Episodes 12 and 13

I’m happy that I’m finally all caught up with The Fosters, still can’t believe that this show is gonna end soon. It deals with so many real problems, it’s such a shame.

I have finished Inside No. 9. I really enjoyed some episodes more than others but overall is a good series. I still don’t know what to think of Britannia. I don’t think I like it but for some reason I want to keep watching it. Probably, will finish this first season and then if the second is a go I will think about it.

Have started to watch Total Bellas with the boyfriend, and I really like it. The Bellas are the best and my heart ached for Bryan and all he had to go through. We will definitely watch the second series.

Also watched Seven Seconds on Netflix, I thought it was quite good and deals with a lot of current issues. A great show for the fans of The Killing.

OMG! Queer Eye was absolutely amazing and got me in tears every single episode! What an amazing reboot! YAAAAS QUEEEN!

As you can see I watch a lot of Documentaries, that’s because most of the time I can watch it while doing housework or cooking, like a radio show. You can’t really do it with TV shows as you need to pay more attention.

Adventures

Cirque Berserk (Peacock Theatre) –  For our seven year anniversary, me and the boyfriend decided last minute to get tickets for Cirque Berserk. It was absolutely fantastic and we had an amazing evening. Definitely something we will get tickets for again if their come back to London.

 

Hot Chocolate Tour – On my last wrap up post I told you that my friend Savan is a Content Creator. This month he wanted to do a Hot Chocolate Tour video for his YouTube Channel, and who better than me to help him out? I absolutely love Hot Chocolate! You can check the video now on his YouTube here (Make sure to subscribe too).

In the end, I still had an okay month. The highlight was definitely all the amazing books that publishers sent to me. I felt that I had a bit of joy arriving ever so often through the post.

Let’s hope in March things get better. I know I have some exciting things coming up and I can’t wait to share it with you.

Ah! Don’t forget to check out my Instagram over March, as I’m taking part of Harriet’s #ReadWomenMarch challenge.

Happy Readings!

*FangirlSince1988 xxx