Welcome to Notes, my biweekly round-up of the books on my nightstand, the outfits I’m styling, musings from my journal, and snippets of my adventures around the city.
Ahhhh February, the month of love 💕 It only felt right to start my February reading with a romance novel. I picked up A TROPICAL REBEL GETS THE DUKE by Adrianna Herrera, which is the third and final book in her Las Leonas series. In case you haven’t heard of it, it’s a historical romance series that follows three women of color in Paris during the late 1800s.
It’s an interconnected series, so I believe you can read them as standalones. I read them in order though and I would recommend that because then you’ll fully understand the context of each character’s story.
I loved being back in this world and being back with las Leonas, but at the same time it was bittersweet knowing that this is the last book in the series. I’m really going to miss these women! They are strong and fierce and ignore the boundaries that society tries to force upon them.
I really enjoyed this third installment in the series. Aurora is the prickliest character of the bunch, but when we learn more about her background, we understand why she constantly has her guard up. And the Duke, well, he’s not like other dukes… The chemistry between Aurora and the Duke is hot hot hot!
I so appreciate Adriana Herrera for writing a historical romance series that centers women of color. The combination of learning about the history of the time + the well-written spice really does it for me. Reading this reminded me how much I enjoy historical romance!
I thought I’d show you all two very different outfits from last week!
The outfit on the left was for a Valentine’s Day party, so of course I had to incorporate some red into my outfit. I’m continuing to wear the hell out of this Abercrombie skort and I love the neckline on this Old Navy sweater.
This past weekend it snowed in NYC and my thinking was that if I have to brave the wintry elements, I’m going to be as comfy as possible. I paired an oversized sweater from Uniqlo with my wide-leg jeans from H&M (both older pieces), and I was very cozy indeed. You know, for the longest time I didn’t think wide leg jeans were for me. But last year I tried on these H&M jeans and they made me completely reconsider my stance. And now they're the jeans that I wear most often!
I actually need some new jeans but I think I’m going to make that a spring problem because I find jeans shopping so daunting. Does anyone else feel this way??
I don’t usually have a plan when I start a journal spread. I’ll know what the topic is (such as journaling about a specific event, or doing a monthly recap spread), but I don’t typically plan out what I want the spread to look like. I just start and figure it out along the way.
This spread started out differently. Originally it was a lot more messy and eclectic. I’d gotten about 40% into the spread, but it felt chaotic to me and I wasn’t loving it. I decided to backtrack and I’m so glad I did. I had some time, so I pulled things off and started again, and I actually love the end result. It was a fun exercise because I used a lot of the same elements that I already had on the page, but in a way that felt much more me.
And this is why I love creative journaling! It’s fun to play around and try different things. Even though I tried a more chaotic style and didn’t love it, I was still able to pivot into something that was more in line with my style.
In other journaling news, I loved this very thorough guide to stationery shops in NYC from Daniela. There’s a few stores on this list that I haven’t been to yet. Reading this really made me want to have a day where I just bop around the city visiting different stationery shops. Who wants to join me??
The Valentine’s/Galentine’s Day celebrations are in full swing around these parts!
Over the weekend I got the sweetest Galentine’s Day delivery from Nuuly and Fresh Sends 💖 It was such a nice surprise, the packaging was impeccable (you already know I’m saving some of it to incorporate into my journal) and it totally brightened up a dreary winter day.
I attended Bad Bitch Book Club’s Valentine’s Day party and it was so much fun. It was held in the Cornelia Street apartment that Taylor Swift used to live in and this apartment was crazy, y’all. It had a pool!
I also have a few different Galentine’s Day events that I’m going to this week, so I’ll tell you more about those in the next Notes newsletter.
I’d love to know…
I do love a theme and I’m totally on board with celebrating both holidays. In my personal life though, I’m very low key. The husband and I are not doing anything fancy, just planning to have a cozy little dinner for two out somewhere this coming weekend. I’m excited to have some quality time together after a busy week 🥰
Do you have any fun plans? Let me know in the comments!
I need to catch up with las Leonas I’ve only read the first one and loved it!!
Thank you for the link to the NYC stationery store guide!