Nine years ago, I stumbled into the magical world of book blogging. I found this place where my people were hiding. People who gushed endlessly about the books that they loved, had friendly debates about books that were on the fence, and actually talked to authors who they admired. My little bookish heart was overjoyed! I’d found a home. I wanted to be a bigger part of that world. So, I decided I was going to start a blog of my very own. Nine years ago, I started my blog under the name “A Fanatic’s Book Blog”. I went with one of…

The first day of Spring approaches (only 6 more days!) and I’m so eager for warmer weather that I actually feel antsy this year. California got a ton of rainfall this winter, which was amazing for our drought ridden state. However that also means that it was a lot colder, for a lot longer, than last year. Look people, I’m a So Cal girl now. I’m like a houseplant. I need three things, and one of them is SUNSHINE. Needless to say, I’m really eager for the temps to get back up into the 70s. Especially so I can start planting…

See that beautiful number of books read? That’s because I powered through 23 books in the first 45 days of the year. I was in this reading mania, where every book I finished just lead to me picking up the next one, and most of my reading was great! Alas, I think I may have read myself right into a rut though. Despite the fact that I have great reads I’m going through right now, and the fact that I’ve actually had a lot of time to read, I’ve found myself slowing down a lot. I’ve been opting instead to…

Ah, friends. The season of love slowly approaches. That V-Day that people either love, or loathe, is on its way, and with that comes a milestone for this little blog. Believe it or not, Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile is celebrating it’s 9th birthday this year. *tears* I’m such a proud momma. It’s been a weird ride to get to this point. The blog has gone through ups and downs, right along with my own roller coaster ride of a life. I was blessed to bring Tina on as a co-blogger a few years ago and, between the two of us, we’ve valiantly…

I know I went a bit MIA this week. I promised myself that I’d be kind to my reader brain and, since all I wanted to do was do a re-read of The Bear and the Nightingale, I haven’t had much inspiration to fuel any posts. Work was a bit hectic this week, and so today I woke up and promised myself that I’d go outside. The weather was beautiful, everything was green because of all the rain the past few days, and so I dragged myself outdoors and started to plant. This is my second year of gardening, and…

Sit down friends, and let me spin you a tale. A tale of a girl who has been trying to get organized for ages. A tale filled with many purchased planners, calendars, and post-it notes. A tale where there were still many missed appointments, and weeks where no blogging was done. Ah, yes, it’s quite a tale. It’s the tale of me, Jessica, who has never been able to figure out a way to keep all of the things happening in her brain in one place. Until, that is, bullet journals came onto the scene! I’ve only been doing this…

I hope that you all had a wonderful day yesterday, whether it was celebrating with family or simply spending a quiet day in contemplation. It’s time to start winding the year down and, per usual, I’m sitting here right at the brink of finishing my reading challenge and feeling so introspective that I really haven’t read. This year has been a year of learning for me. I’ve learned a lot about who I am, how to love myself for all of that, and that the quote above sums up who I’m becoming. I used to be the person who researched…