TMST Favourite Summer Thing

 Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by the lovely Rainy Day Ramblings, and currently assisted by a team of bloggers, Roberta @ Offbeat YA, Karen @ For What It's Worth, Berls @ Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life, Jen @ That's What I'm Talking About, and Linda @ Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell.

What is your favorite thing about summer?

My favourite thing about summer...would have to be the long days. What I love more than anything, is being able to go for walks in the evening, and the long summer days are the perfect time to do that. It's not too cold or too dark, and I can catch the sunset while out for a stroll.

There are so many reasons that I love this season, including the pace of things, and the chance to be outside all of the time. I'm Canadian - I try to avoid being out too much in the winter because of how cold it is! So summer is my beautiful opportunity to soak in as many rays as I can. I love summer activities, and the Olympics, and summery foods and ice cream. I feel like it's a time where I truly come alive. I get motivated to read and write (and blog!) and take part in all of the wonderful hobbies I have that I can barely keep up with it all - and I love that. The long days help me feel like I can accomplish so many more of those things too.

So, although I would say that the long days are my favourite part, it's really so much more than that.

What's your favourite thing about summer?

TMST: Winter Reads

It's been a while since I've participated in a Tell Me Something Tuesday! This is a great feature run by Heidi @ Rainy Day Ramblings, where we get to share our opinions about a variety of topics! This week's question is: What type of books do you like to cuddle up with in winter?

Comfort books. It's really as simple as that. I know a lot of people favour short, cute reads over the summer, but that's when I'm more likely to pick up something dense. I find that the dreariness of the season (I live in Canada, so let's not even get started talking about our winters, haha) can really affect me, so I want things that make me happy and are soothing.

I often during this time will pick up books I have read before and loved. It's not an uncommon sight to see me sitting on the floor in front of my bookshelf, reading something unintentionally. I'll have started browsing through my books, flip through to read a single passage, and end up there for 45 minutes pouring over the whole book until I realize my back has cramped up.

TMST - Winter Blues

I haven't participated in one of these for a while, but I did want to talk about this one today because it definitely can affect us here in the blogging world as well. This week's Tell Me Something Tuesday by Rainy Day Ramblings is about beating the winter blues.

First thing's first - I live in Canada. For those not particularly aware of our climate...it's - 22℃ (about -7℉) where I live today. The skies are grey, and it is stupidly cold. In all honesty, I think most of us here suffer with the winter blues, or seasonal affective disorder at some point. So, what do we do about it? Here are some of the things I find can help.

1) Vitamin D, vitamin D, and more vitamin D. 

I can't stress how important this is. Not only is vitamin D important for the metabolism of many nutrients and for bone health, it is also something we get from sunlight. Trick my body into thinking there's sun (in a sense)? Sure, why not. Everyone is different, but I find it helps - and in moderation (of course), it keeps my body healthy.

2) Getting to sleep on time. 

Although always important, it feels harder and harder to maintain a proper sleeping routine during these cold months. I find that since it feels dark all of the time, my circadian rhythm is completely thrown. Trying to get to sleep at a good time needs to be a priority (but I fail at this more often than I care to admit).

3) Get fresh air and be active when you can.

Sometimes it's just too cold, and being outside makes me more miserable than it helps...but I walk to work most days, and it definitely helps wake me up and feel a bit better. Not a cure-all, but I get at least a little vitamin D this way too. If you can do something fun, or exercise inside (because I don't blame you for not wanting to venture out), that can also really help.

TMST: Fall Reading

Just a quick post from me this week for Rainy Day Rambling's Tell Me Something Tuesday. I'm talking this time about what I love about fall reading.

My favourite times to read are without a doubt in the summer and fall. The summer is good because the light is great, the days are long, and you have this extra motivation to do things...but reading is the one thing that doesn't make you sweat.

Summer 2018 Comment Challenge

You know those things that you keep meaning to get around to, and then just never end up doing? That's sort of been me the past few months. Now, if you don't know anything about my job, I work with children and teenagers. This means that during the summer school is out, and it is essentially non-stop chaos for me at work (which also makes it my favourite time). So while for most people the summer is a time to relax and catch up on all of their projects...that is definitely not the case for me. Anyway, I digress.

TMST: Vacation Reading

This week's question from Rainy Day Ramblings is "Vacation Reading: What books would you pack for your vacation?" but instead of necessarily listing a bunch of specific books, I'm going to talk about the kinds of books I like to read over the summer.

For some reason, I always think Jane Austen is the perfect author over the warmer months. I like to curl up on the couch and pour through these. Maybe it's the romance, maybe it's the revisiting of old favourites, or maybe it's just about having the time and the focus to get into them, but I tend to crave these books in the summer.

I also love reading anything that's long, or takes a bit more effort to get through, like classics. I'm more likely to pick up Jane Eyre or War and Peace over the summer. Not only am I happier (and can therefore focus better without being stressed), but I also have more time on my hands...sort of. I tend to have more time to myself without being bothered by various people, and am usually out of school (or have a lighter course load), but I do end up working a lot more. For some reason, this combination means that when I am free, I read for hours on end. I don't tend to pick a lot of things that are too dark and depressing, but I am fine with reading something that is rather serious in nature.

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Oops! I forgot to post this on Tuesday!