Photo by Kentaro Toma via Unsplash.

Happy October, friends! Thank God it's fall, am I right? Fall is one of my favorite times of year because the weather gets slightly cooler, and the TV shows are much better. But you can bet I'm counting down the days until Christmas. (Seventy days as of Oct. 16, in case you were wondering.) 

I can't believe I'm saying this, but last month's Mercury Retrograde was exactly what I needed to recover from everything happening in my life. In my August Life Lately update, I mentioned I thought I was starting to feel the onset of my Seasonal Affective Disorder. But after taking time to realign myself last month, I realized it wasn't my seasonal depression. I think it might have been a bout of trying to protect myself from that feeling because it felt similar to my seasonal depression.

Sometimes I try to protect myself from certain things because I'm afraid I'll revert to who I was in my past. Still, after all the years of work I put into improving myself (my outlook, self-esteem, and confidence), I sometimes spiral backward. And that's okay! Just as long as I don't stay there too long. Recognizing who I was in my past compared to my present and meeting her where she's at with kindness and compassion confirms that the time and monetary investment I put into my mental health has helped tremendously.

Something I'm newly into is crochet. I can't remember if I talked about this in an earlier recap, but I started learning how to crochet cup cozies back in May, and now I'm learning how to crochet hats (mostly beanies) and ear warmers. I'm shocked at how much I love to do it. Seriously, I could sit for hours to crochet a project. Probably not very healthy to be sitting that long, but it's good for my mind — a great stress reliever.

NEW ON THE BLOG & ELSEWHERE

So a couple of new posts went live on the blog last month. The first was this Old Navy Fall Wardrobe Essentials post. Although it doesn't go below 70 degrees where I live in Hawaii, I still love shopping at Old Navy for fall and winter clothes. I am that person who will sweat through wearing a turtleneck because it's cute.

I also finally posted this Beauty Empties blog post and Instagram Reel. The blog post and the Reel have been sitting in my drafts since before I cut my hair in August. (Oops!) It was fun to write about beauty again. I was laser-focused on all-things Disney since I started my Disney Instagram account in August last year, and I let many of my beauty ideas expire.

Speaking of Disney, I posted a major Disneyland travel guide sharing how much we paid for our four-day trip to Disneyland in August. So much time went into planning and writing this blog post, and I would appreciate it if you could show it some love by sharing it with any friends and family traveling to Disneyland soon or Pinning it to your not-so-secret Disney Pinterest board. I also shared a "Worth It / Not Worth It" review of our Fantasmic! Dining Package at Blue Bayou.

WHAT I BOUGHT

I'm adding a new section to this monthly recap to share almost everything I bought throughout the month last month. I did a massive beauty restock in September and bought some new things too.

The first new thing I bought was the Lawless Forget the Filler Overnight Lip Plumping Mask. I admit I wanted something to make my lips look a little plumper. The reviews seemed okay, but the only way for me to find out if it worked was to try it. I haven't seen a huge difference in the look of my lips, but the volume of it feels plumper. It feels plump when I smack my lips together to blend my lipstick or lip gloss. I use this product as my overnight lip balm, but I found it works best for me an hour or two before I apply my Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb Heat Universal Lip Luminizer + Plumper. Gloss Bomb Heat is new to my makeup collection, and I bought two colors: Fenty Glow and Hot Chocolit.

I'm also trying Belif's new-ish Aqua Bomb Brightening Vitamin C Cream. I'm a huge fan of their True Cream Aqua Bomb, but I was looking for something slightly more brightening since my skin felt dull while shopping. The Brightening Vitamin C Cream feels exactly like the True Cream Aqua Bomb, and the smell reminds me of Fruit Loops. I don't see much difference in my skin's brightness using this product. But it does wear nicely under makeup, and it looks amazing when you use it under the Glow Recipe Niacinamide Sunscreen or the Live Tinted Hueglow (I wear the color Dusk).

I also bought more products from Live Tinted. I restocked on Hueguard, a 3-in-1 broad-spectrum sunscreen (one of my favorites!), and I bought their newest product, Huebeam. I'm still learning my way around Huebeam because it is very pigmented. But once you learn how to use it, it is SO pretty to wear. I've always loved Deepica Mutyala as a beauty influencer, and I love what she's created and seeing her grow in the beauty industry. I'm so happy for her, and she's one of the few beauty influencers whose products make me feel good buying. 

WHAT I READ 

I read two great books last month, and they put me in such a good mood throughout Mercury Retrograde. The first book I read was It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey. It Happened One Summer is my first Tessa Bailey book. I read such great reviews about this book, and I waited in line for nearly four months at my library to finally read it. And I devoured it. I rarely get hooked (pun intended) on a book from the first few pages, but Tessa got me. It was the perfect book to get lost in, especially when reading about a dreamy but frustrating hunk of a character like Brendan. Like the romance writer Amy Lea wrote, "Nonfictional feelings for fictional men," pretty much sums up my feelings for almost every fictional character I've read. 

The second book I read was Isn't It Bromantic by Lyssa Kay Adams. Isn't It Bromantic is the fourth book in Lyssa's Bromance Book Club series. I was obsessed with the first two books in the series — The Bromance Book Club and Undercover Bromance — but the last two books in the series have been average for me.

Follow me on Goodreads to read my full review of most of the books I read. 

WHAT I WATCHED

There are so many good shows on TV during the fall. One new we started watching is Reboot on Hulu. This show is about a reboot of an old television sitcom, and it kind of has a satirical feel to it, minus the politics.

I also started watching Monarch on Fox. I thought this show was supposed to show back in January, but I guess the show was put on hold for the fall. This show is dramatic, and the scenes run fast, like a daytime soap opera. But the drama is juicy. 

One last show I started watching randomly is Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks. I had never fished a day in my life. But after reading It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey — a Schitt's Creek-inspired romance novel about a commercial crabber and a rich girl finding her way — I wanted to watch a show about commercial fishermen. I know it's SO random but surprisingly good! I've learned so much about Northern and Southern fishermen's lingo over the last seven seasons, and I love using it randomly when talking to others.