Monthly Wrap-Up: May 2025

June 2, 2025 Dini @ dinipandareads17 Comments

Well, if you’re a follower, you may have gleaned from some of my more recent posts that the month ended heartbreakingly with a big loss. Other than that, May was quite uneventful although it seemed to pass in a relative blink. I had a birthday and I treated myself to many things, such as new bags and books. I also went shopping to cheer myself up at the end of the month because I am that retail therapy girl (it partly worked). 🐼 Is it too soon to wish that this year was already over? Or that I could sleep for a million years because I feel completely exhausted and as if I will never stop being tired, lol.

Sorry this recap is a bit of a downer.

Monthly Wrap-Up: April 2025

May 8, 2025May 8, 2025 Dini @ dinipandareads18 Comments

I feel like I just posted my March wrap-up so how is it already time to post my April wrap-up!? 🫣 I honestly don’t have much to say about how April was because I really didn’t do anything. Coming back from Japan was rough and of course, getting back to work was diving straight into the deep end with no time to slowly sink back in (I’m pretty sure my office doesn’t know how to do that, lol)! It was tough but we managed. From my trip to Japan, I think I’ve developed a minor obsession with Pop Mart—the toy company that makes the popular Labubu dolls. I didn’t think I’d be into Labubu but after getting one in Japan, I’m finding them oddly adorable and hard to resist, lol. I’ve also developed a fascination with Hirono figurines! Please indulge me as I share photos of my small toy collection. 🥹

March 2024 Community Posts!

April 8, 2024 Dini @ dinipandareads10 Comments

It’s my favourite end-of-month post where I share some reads from around our wonderful book blogging community! I admit that I haven’t been on top of community posts this month so it’s a shorter list… I hope to hop around more in April 🙂

Monthly Wrap-Up: March 2024

April 4, 2024 Dini @ dinipandareads13 Comments

I feel like I just wrote my February wrap-up and now it’s time to write one for March. This month passed by so quickly, lol! It was a month of travel and get-togethers but sadly, it ended with illnesses in the family. Thankfully, everyone is now well on the road to recovery but it certainly wasn’t the ending we expected, especially since we had big plans to celebrate dad’s 70th on the 30th, but couldn’t due to him being sick.

Other than that, I actually don’t have much clue what went on this month. 😂 I feel like I spent half of it getting back into the groove of things after my Japan holiday, while the other half was spent passing days at work counting down to the Eid holidays next week, which is a big deal here in Indonesia.

If any of you reading this celebrate: ✨ Eid Mubarak! ✨ I hope you have a wonderful celebration with your family and friends! 😊

Monthly Wrap-Up: March 2023

April 6, 2023April 5, 2023 Dini @ dinipandareads29 Comments

It’s April. What happened in March? I’m not quite sure 😂 My days continue to be a monotonous cycle of work, eat, sleep(ish) and repeat. The only significant thing that happened was that my sister left to go to school in Japan mid-month and I took a few days off work to spend time with her and decompress. I’ve been feeling perpetually tired these days and I know that has a lot to do with my mental health, which hasn’t been in the best state. So, while March was already better and less stressful than February, I’m still hoping that April will be significantly better all around!

Monthly Wrap Up: March 2022

April 2, 2022December 6, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads18 Comments

How has another month already come and gone?! March was… something. Half the month passed by too quickly and the other half could’ve passed faster. A good chunk of the month saw me drowning in work stress + insomnia but there were some good times to counter the not-so-fun moments!

I got exciting book mail from Goldsboro and Illumicrate!
My parents had their wedding anniversary on the 21^st and it was dad’s birthday on the 30^th!
It was a pretty great foodie-licious month with ramen, biryani and decadent melt-in-your-mouth cookies!

March 2021 Monthly Wrap Up!

April 2, 2021January 2, 2022 Dini @ dinipandareads25 Comments

March was a bit of an off month for me. I don’t know what it was exactly but the days passed by in a bit of a tired blur. Work got decently busy and it got pretty intense as I tried to cram the work I normally do over a five-day week into a three-day week—oh, the joys of being a part-timer! Well, at least it’s better to be overly busy than to be bored to tears, right?

Other than work things have been pretty much the ‘same old’ on the personal life front, meaning absolutely nothing new has happened! If I’m not busy working, I’m busy helping mum take care of the house and doing all the “adulting things”. In general I’ve been tired and then tired of being tired. 😫

In gaming, I’ve continued to “beef up” my AC island. I thought I’d put out my Dream Address already but with the Sanrio + designer updates that happened mid-March, I’ve put that off again as I randomly decided to change up 90% of my villagers and more of my island. Will it ever be finished? At this rate, who really knows! 😂 I’m still having fun with this game though and I can’t believe it’s already been one year since it was released!

As I’ve mentioned in about 90% of the posts I made this month, I really feel like I didn’t get any reading done, even though I read 19 books. Is it because I wasn’t very good at keeping track on Goodreads this month? Or maybe it’s because I haven’t actually been reviewing what I’ve read, save for the ARCs and blog tour reads? It could very much be the latter—I honestly have about ten million reviews that I still need to write and despite saying that I’m gonna do more mini-reviews I still have yet to do any. 🤣

I think on average my reads this month were about 3-3.5 stars? Not bad but I do think the “lower” ratings have more to do with my fickle mood than the books themselves. I did DNF one book and have plenty more that I started but haven’t got around to finishing yet (but I will). Hands down, my favourite read this month was Jade City by Fonda Lee. I’m so glad that I did a buddy read with Jess and finally ticked this off my TBR. If you’re still sleeping on this one, don’t! Because it is 100% worth all the hype you hear about it. Jess and I are continuing with Jade War this weekend and I’m super excited because I’ve missed all the characters. NO PEAK FOR LIFE, BAYBEE! 💚

This month was also a bit shoddy for blogging. I did my usual weekly memes but even then not very consistently. The worst is that I drastically cut down on the blog hopping because I’ve just been so tired. And I know it’s okay because we’re allowed our off moments/days/weeks, but my blog has suffered because of it and just thinking about it sets off a ‘tired cycle’ in my head and I don’t want to—LOL. Still, I’m sorry for the lack of engagement but I really hope to do better next month!