Tag: liv’s library

Bookish, Artsy, Slice of Life YouTube Channels I Love

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized14 Comments

Hello everybody!! Does anyone else like to watch YouTube? I feel like I can find anything on there. I do have favorites though, that I like to watch, especially in that calm down zone that we have with Wyatt. Usually Billy will be in the shower, and Wyatt and I watch half an hour of YouTube together. He has his favorites of our nighttime ‘Tubers as well, which I think is so cute. After that, we read a bit of his book and he goes to bed. It’s a nice way to wind down. I also like to put them on as background when I am doing things around the house as well. These YouTube people are all pretty different, from all walks of life, and different lifestyles and beliefs.

Anyway, here are some of my favorites lately! I’m also linking recent videos that I enjoyed.

First, in no particular order besides the order they were in as I scrolled through my subscriptions, is Harm’s Honey. Her full name is Harmony but I guess her shortened name people call her is Harm. I just love her vibe and style and energy, although I don’t always agree with some of the things she says or her exact views.

Next, Real Vintage Dollhouse! I love her vintage style from the 1940s, and her channel always includes detailed historical videos of different aspects of life in Britain in the 40s. I feel like her channel gave me the courage to embrace bold color lipstick! Plus, she is awesome because she rescued a pigeon! It is a crazy story, the pigeon actually came up to her at a pub and just wanted to stay with her. So she kept her. The pigeon was injured and had been kicked around at the pub and it was all very sad for a minute. But that pigeon went to the right woman!

Liv’s Library is our favorite book channel. Wyatt loves watching her and calls her the book lady, Liv. When he was in the hospital after surgery in a lot of pain, I put her channel on for him and he was able to relax a bit. I actually sent her an email thanking her for her work and told her about Wyatt and she wrote us back. She was so gracious and sincere! She also reads a lot of fantasy and cozy books, which I also like to read, which is of course why we first started watching her.

I also really like A Moment of Wonder. These are captioned, with music playing, and they are so relaxing and mesmerizing a bit. It is all book talk paired with a delicious looking food dish, usually dessert and a special drink. She acts like the viewer has just come in off the street into her bakery/cafe and they are just so atmospheric.

The Plant Based Bride is next up. I feel like her channel makes me smarter, in that it has challenged me to read my books a bit closer, and to investigate the themes and subtext and remember my Lit Minor roots from college.

We all love Alexis Dahl! This is one we watch with Billy too. Alexis shares history and science pertaining to Michigan, and it is always educational and interesting!

The Wild Pencil is a channel that doesn’t have a ton of video but the videos that are there, are quality.

With Love, Kristina is a vlogger I have shared before. I just really appreciate her honesty, and the realness of her life. It is not all an aesthetic for show and views. She is a real mom, who lives a real life, with ups and downs and struggles and happiness. She also just wrote a book, The Devil and the Midwife.

Finally, I want to mention Drew Binsky. This is another channel we watch with Billy too. Drew travels the world, reporting on “inspiring people, hidden cultures, and wild adventures in faraway places”. It is pretty fascinating!

Do you watch any of these channels? Who do you like? I would love to hear!

Monday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized31 Comments

Hey everyone! It is cold and gray here today, with a chance of snow! What the heck! Wyatt and I are going to hole up inside today. We have a huge day of school, and then I think we will make muffins.

So, I have been very distracted the past few days and it has been hard for me to keep up on anything, other than fretting. Wyatt had an appointment with his orthopedic doctor last week, who follows his spine and hips, and we got some news we didn’t want. We learned that Wyatt’s right hip bone is 50% out of the socket, and that he needs surgery. The doctor actually told us that it was not 100% necessary right now, but that if we waited until it was 100% out, it would be far worse for Wyatt all around – more pain, a longer recovery, a more intense surgery. So of course we are going to do the surgery before all that happens. It just makes me want to vomit, I am not going to lie. I am going to be honest – I am so so tired of my son having to go through all of this. I feel like he just reaches a good stride with things, and then boom, something else happens. I hate this for him so much and I just want to take all this away from him. And I can’t. It is alternately all I can think about but I also can’t think about it. He is literally the toughest person I know, and he is so resilient and despite everything he has gone through in his little life so far he manages to be one of the happiest people I know as well. We haven’t gotten the date for the surgery yet, but it will more than likely be sometime in the summer or fall. If you are a praying person, please send up some prayers for my baby, and we also welcome all the good vibes for him too.

Ok. Phew. Now that I have gotten that off of my chest (but not out of my head or my heart) we have been doing some other things around here too. Yes, lots of appointments because they all seem to fall at the same time, but still having school and some good times too.

We had two family parties last weekend! My cousin hosted a St. Patrick’s Day party for the kids – Wyatt, his two girls, and my nieces. Devin and Chrissy couldn’t make it, since they were prepping for party number 2, a birthday party for my youngest niece, so we took Mermaid Girl with us when we went. The kids decorated shamrock cookies, and the we played a trivia game and the kids acted out charades while the adults guessed, which was hysterical. Wyatt participated too, with the help of his dad, and he absolutely loved it.

The next day was the Hurricane’s second birthday! It was a blast, and she was so funny! In typical two year old fashion, she didn’t want to stop playing with her toys when it was time to sing happy birthday and have cake, and she flung herself face down on the floor and just cried while we sang. She had already eaten the frosting off of four cupcakes so she didn’t care about the cupcakes too much by that point. I was happy that she seemed to really love the present that we got her, which was a set of little houses, maybe ten or twelve, all different colors, that were numbered, and each house came apart and a little plastic animal was inside. She was having such a good time just taking them all apart and putting the animals inside, etc. Success! The two ten year olds also seemed to like them. Lol.

I also had a few hours to myself over the past two weeks! Billy had paid for a massage for me at Christmas time, and I finally cashed it in! I had a lovely hour massage followed up by a twenty minute nap and it was glorious. Then yesterday I had a lovely hang out in our Crafternoon session with Lisa and Cat, where I colored using the markers Billy bought a while ago. We decided a few weeks ago to treat ourselves to a coloring book each, and these markers and we spent an afternoon coloring, Wyatt and Billy and I, and it was actually really relaxing.

Wyatt was also excited because for his birthday month, the local used bookstore gives you a free book, so we took a trip there with my cousin and his girls (his youngest is also a March birthday – we have four birthdays in March!) to shop. Wyatt spent some of his birthday money, and ended up with quite a stack of dragon and wolf books! He was super happy. Nonfiction books were buy one get one free, and they are already half off, so I bought one and got another free. Both were summer crafting books that I thought would be cool to do, either as a family or by myself. I also threw in a Rachel Carson book as well while I was at it. It was a good little trip out.

And that is about it!

Just throwing in some random photos from the roll!

So that last picture of Wyatt. Wyatt lately, like most kids, has been imitating and wanting to make YouTube videos (we don’t but I told him I would try to think of a way maybe if he really wants to). Wyatt however likes to imitate the booktubers we watch and I think it is so cute. I don’t dare say that to him though, he would die of ten year old embarrassment. He also writes down books, like I do when I watch them, and then he looks books up to read on the internet like I do. I have to say that I am flattered that this is what he is imitating, and also love that it is so book centered. That booktuber in the photo is his favorite, Liv of Liv’s Library. Wyatt and I watch her new video together every Sunday night before reading a book before bed.

And that is it from around here! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile! I will be trying as well!

BookTubers I Have Been Watching

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized12 Comments

I am a big fan of YouTube. I usually like to relax for half an hour in the evening to a video, and what I like to watch differs from night to night. As for book content, I have certain favorites that I watch all the time – Alexandra Roselyn is one booktuber I watch a lot, The Cottage Fairy, and Darling Desi although they are not exactly booktubers, more like youtubers who talk about books. The Cottage Fairy is also pregnant and just announced she is taking some time off to be a mom, so congrats to her!

So, I have been on the hunt for new to me booktubers! I actually watch them with Wyatt, who gives his opinion on as well, and I throw in some booktubers who read and review middle grade for him. It is kind of a fun relaxing way to wind down at night together. Anyway, these are the booktubers we have been watching lately.

First up is Liv’s Library. She reads a lot of the same books that I like – fantasy, some magical realism, thrillers, contemporary, just a whole mix of things. And she is totally into the cozy way of life, and she has a very gentle way of speaking. So books and coziness and trips to Target..so far her channel is perfect.

I have also been watching a lot Ahya’s Cottage. She also reads books that I usually enjoy, such as middle grade, romantasy, cottagecore cozy type reads. She also throws some fashion in there too, which is cottagecore inspired and so cute. Her channel is also a very easy watch, gentle and calming, plus lots of good book recommendations!

Morgan Long is another YouTuber I have been watching. She loves tea and books and I just find her channel very positive. I think she speaks honestly about a lot of things, such as feeling lonely, or needing to build her confidence. I just find her very real. She also loves to read and shop for books, bake, and her channel just has a good happy feel to it.

And finally, Leora Aileen. She is another cozy vlogger, who vlogs all about books and life and tea and coffee and just things that make me happy. She is Dutch, living in Amersterdam, which adds another layer of interesting to her videos. I haven’t watched too many of her videos yet but I have watched enough to know I will be watching more.

And that is it from me today! I would love to hear any booktuber recommendations you might have!