What I've been up to lately - September 2025

It's time for another catch up! Here are some of the things that I've been up to lately:

Reading

I've read some great books recently! You can see all of my reading over on Goodreads, where I track what I've read and give it a star rating. Some of my recent five star reads - Four Seasons in Japan by Nick Bradley, Abroad in Japan by Chris Broad and One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Planning

Two of these books have been very helpful, because I've been busy planning a holiday which we have booked for next summer. We are going to Japan which is very exciting, it's somewhere that I've always wanted to visit and I like to think that I'm reasonably knowledgeable about the country thanks to the fact that I've read a lot of books set in Japan and by Japanese authors. 

I'm using ChatGPT a lot in my planning and I'm finding it really helpful, in fact I'm intending to write up a blog post with some tips for using ChatGPT to plan a holiday. It's great for a quick but more obscure question that might take a long time to Google the answer, for example opening times for a less popular attraction or one that doesn't have much information available about it in English. ChatGPT will tell me the answer, but also give me a link to an official website where I can check the information. 

This step is crucial as you do need to check everything. It can make things up, and also does things like skip a day if you are asking it to plan an itinerary, but it's a really good starting point and definitely speeds up the searching. It is especially helpful for grouping together close by attractions that can be visited in the same day, and for suggesting day trips that I might not have thought of. I'm getting a really good plan together!

Puzzling

A few months ago I became a little obsessed with jigsaw puzzles. Working on a puzzle was very helpful to me at a time when lots of things were out of my control. I slowed down a bit over the summer but I've taken it up again recently, I'm back to touring the charity shops looking for bargains and I've been redoing a few of my favourites. 

Recently I've worked on some older puzzles including a vintage wooden puzzle that my Mum had been given. The box didn't come with a picture so I had to work it out as I went along, maybe not the kind of image that I would have chosen for myself but I enjoyed the challenge and loved the different shaped pieces. It's called 'A Tiresome Sitter' from Victory.

Watching

I've not been watching a lot lately, but my husband and I have been enjoying re-watching Extras on iPlayer, I've watched it a few times now but it's still very funny! I also watch content on YouTube. Even though I don't have TikTok I love videos by creators that discuss trends on TikTok, like #teachertok or #coloringtok and include the viral clips which are really over the top and just filmed in order to generate interaction and promote their products (these videos also make me glad that I'm not on TikTok, I couldn't keep up!)

Sorting

I've been having a good sort out in the house recently. We had new carpets in a lot of rooms, which meant we had to empty them completely, and that was a really good way to have a think about what would go back. We have also reorganised our rooms a bit, moving Mia's bedroom upstairs and creating a communal room for exercising, playing games and watching television. That room had been a bit of a dumping ground before, and it's really nice that now each room in the house has a purpose and all the random things have either been put away properly or passed on. 

Crafting

I've been doing a lot of miniature crafting recently. I've shared my reviews of two miniature kits - the Cutebee Mrs Hunt Bakery and the Rolife Silent Corner Study which I loved assembling. I have another kit from Rolife to work on which I'm looking forward to getting started with, I know that it's quite a long and complicated set so I'm a little daunted, but once I get it out of the box I'll be fine!

Looking forward to

I've loved working on our garden this year, and I'm still enjoying the masses of flowers which I've managed to grow and keep alive. I'm looking forward to having a good tidy up this autumn and thinking about what worked well and what I want to try for next year. I've already been buying bulbs and making lists of the seeds I want to buy for the spring!

We also have a holiday coming up in October which I'm very much looking forward to, it will be an opportunity for a last bit of summer sun before we head into winter.

What have you been up to lately?