Welcome to Life at Number Eight! My monthly series that lets us recap the month and catch up with everything that has been going on.
October. I don’t know where to start.
If you are a regular follower of my blog you will notice that things have been very quiet around here. I only published one blog post this month and my social media channels came to a standstill.
You see, this month has been the most challenging of our lives. It has been a month that has shown me the power of love, and the sheer strength of family.
After the sudden loss of a family member, it can be difficult to find routine again and to come back to the things that held meaning before. I nearly didn’t write this update – not wanting to get into the details of the last month. But here I am.
Writing for me has always been a form of therapy. It is something that allows me to process and organise my thoughts in a way that I just cannot do by speaking or keeping them to myself. But still I am not ready to put into words the story of the past month.
As we start to find ourselves again, I will be back here working on the thing that I love, so get ready to roll through the last couple of months of the year with all new recipes and stories.
This month’s update is a little light on, but let’s take a look anyway!
Most Popular Blog Post
Being that I only published the one blog post this month (not counting my September update), the winner is my Vegan Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe! This has been something I have wanted to give it’s own post to for a while now, so I am glad that it finally has its own spot on the website.
What I Read This Month
I found that I couldn’t really concentrate enough to read this month, so I only have one book to review.
Less by Andrew Sean Greer (2017)
Arthur Less is nearly 50 and a failed writer and the love of his life, Freddy, is about to get married to someone else. Naturally, he decides to run away to avoid facing how he really feels. The running away comes in the form of Less accepting appearances within the literary scene around the world.
I thought I would really enjoy this book being about a troubled writer (my fav kind of characters) and travel. But I really struggled to get into this book. I found the way it was written really sporadic, jumping from place to place with me never fully understanding how we moved from one moment to the next.
I really did enjoy the premise and the circular theme of the story, however the writing style just wasn’t for me.
What I Watched This Month
This month, after feeling as though we were in a bit of a Netflix rut, we decided to do a little thing called ‘Pilot Week’. It was a term we learnt from Channel 10 who tried a bunch of new television shows by airing the pilot episode and then seeing how people reacted.
Now I don’t know the result of that, but it seemed like a fantastic principle to find some new series to watch on Netflix. So we watched a few new shows at home, only allowing ourselves to watch one episode with no commitments.
Here are the notable:
Atypical
This is one of the best shows I have got caught up in for a while. We got stuck in and have now watched all two seasons and I was super sad when we finished.
The show is based on a 18 year old guy with Autism who loves all things Antarctic. The show revolves around his quest for ‘normal’ teenage experiences and also the experiences of those around him.
What I love most about this show is the character development, particularly around those outside the inner circle, such as the therapist and the sisters boyfriend. It is a show you can watch and be totally involved in wanting to keep on watching, then not think about again until the next time you turn it on.
Very clever, and I hope goes for many more seasons!
Riverdale
Ok so this show has been around for a little while and I was never quite sure what to expect. I started watching it and my first episode reaction was; wow a lot of stuff is going on here, why are people so pale, the percentage of redheads is really high, and this might just be interesting enough to keep watching.
It is a mystery/high school drama set in the seemingly small town of Riverdale that is like half rich people half gang. Still don’t quite understand that. So far I feel it has a lot of parallels to Pretty Little Liars, in which you just have a group of beautiful high school people, a town thick with mystery and secrets and an rollercoaster of a plot line that keeps you just interested enough to keep on watching.
Also, I need a minute to just freak out a little that Jughead Jones is BEN GELLER! Remember Ross’s annoying blonde headed child in Friends? Yep, wow.
I am one season in and will probably keep watching at this point. Also the trailers for this show are really bad.
12 Monkeys
This show kind of sounded a bit like something I would hate. It is a dystopian time travel story, but I think it is done really well and I like the way time is used.
Basically it is 2043 and a infection disease has wiped out most of the population. A group is tasked with trying to stop this from ever happening and so the main character Cole travels back to try and change the outcome. I am probably explaining it bad, so I would just suggest giving it a watch.
There is a movie with Brad Pitt of the same name, I assume they follow the same story concept but I have not seen it.
I am only a few episodes in but I am really enjoying it. It also helps that the fellow who plays Cole was in Nikita which I used to like, and the main girl is in Suits. I like when I have prior relationships with the actors.
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Just a short update for this month. Only 2 more left of 2018 – seriously this year will be over before we even know it.
If you have any TV or book recommendations, please leave them in the comments below!
Until next month,
Sally x
Feature Photo by Masaaki Komori on Unsplash
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