Good Stuff

Top moment of the month: A Pride-themed photoshoot. This was such a perfect evening! We dressed up in a rainbow dress/rainbow skirt, with rainbow flower crowns, and the bisexual flag. Bri sweetly took photos of us at our favorite local indie bookstore and then we posted them on Instagram the following day. I was so scared to publish the post, but the response was overwhelmingly positive.

Other good moments: 

• Attending the St. Pete Pride Parade – It was hot and humid, but we had such a good time.
• Axe throwing with book club – This was so much fun! June was my month to suggest an activity and this is what I chose. I’ve been axe throwing one other time and remember finding it really fun. Some of my friends were very apprehensive, and I appreciate them facing their fears for me!
• Recording season 5 of the podcast – We dug into the nitty-gritty of traveling in this season and we had a blast reminiscing about our memories.
• Pool days with my mom and the dogs – It’s definitely pool weather, and I am very grateful that my mom has a pool. My mom has a slew of floats, too, and Chip especially loves jumping on a float from the edge of the pool deck.
• Making art with Mom – This was my mom’s belated Mother’s Day gift from me, and we were so pleased with our creations! It was a really fun night.
• Celebrating 9 years of friendship with Bri – I can’t believe she’s been part of my life for so long! We had a Friday night date to a museum where we participated in a scavenger hunt. The museum was amazing and the scavenger hunt made our time there even more fun.
• Coming out to my brother – My brother was the last person I had to come out to (well, the last person whose opinion really matters to me). I was so, so scared because I wasn’t sure how he would react/if this would cause a rift between us. But, thankfully, nothing of the sort happened! He was very happy for me and told me repeatedly that something like this would never cause a rift.

Hard Stuff

• Dad grief – June is always a tough month for me. My dad turned 60 on June 5th and then two weeks later, it was Father’s Day. I felt very sad on June 5th and the days afterward. I don’t know if it’s because my dad celebrated a milestone birthday or I was just really in my feelings this year, but it was hard. I miss him immensely.
• Laziness – I was very, very lazy in June (you’ll see in the goal recap section, oof). The weather is making daily walks very difficult. If I do them early in the morning, I’m dealing with lower temps but very high humidity (90% some mornings!). If I do them later in the day, the humidity is a smidge lower but the heat index is 95º+. I just need to get over myself because high heat and humidity are better than the dangerous air quality other people are dealing with, right?!

Bookish Stuff

• # of books/pages read: 10 books (2,960 pages)
• Favorite book of the month: Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
• Favorite romance of the month: Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
• Least favorite book of the month: Have I Told You This Already? by Lauren Graham
• Quickest read: Have I Told You This Already? by Lauren Graham (4 days)
• Longest read: Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo (13 days)
• Books I abandoned: Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall
• Format breakdown: print books (5), audiobooks (4), e-books (1)
• Genre breakdown: Fiction (3), romance (3), nonfiction (3), YA (1)
• Average star rating: 4.1

Stuff I Recommend

• The Little Mermaid (movie) – My mom and I saw this movie together and it was phenomenal! Man, I loved it so much. Halle Bailey was a complete delight and so talented, Flounder and Sebastian were so much fun, and the scenery was out of this world. Highly recommend!
• Clue (movie) – This movie was amazing! I couldn’t get enough of it, especially the ending. Tim Curry is everything in this movie.
• John Mulaney: Baby J (comedy special) – John Mulaney has been through a lot since his last comedy special: the outing of his drug addiction, a two-month stint in rehab, a divorce, a messy relationship, a new baby… his squeaky-clean image is effectively gone. While I am very displeased at the way he handled some of his issues (namely, the divorce), I wanted to watch this special because it was a Jamie Golden “green light” and I listen to her. I’m really glad I watched this special! It was hilarious in parts but also very poignant and real. He didn’t gloss over his addiction and what came after, but he still made it funny.
• LGBTQIA+ in the Church on The Bible Binge (podcast episode) – This podcast episode was so very good, and I’m recommending it to everyone I know. It’s probably less necessary for anyone who didn’t grow up in a church setting and doesn’t need to hear from people why it’s okay to be affirming of LGBTQIA+ people. But as someone who didn’t come out for a long time because I thought being queer was a sin against God, it gave me a lot of hope.

Goal Stuff

• Go for a walk every day (10/31) – Oh, this isn’t pretty at all. I kept being lazy in the morning and not going on a walk, and then it would get blazing hot and I just didn’t want to go outside and get super sweaty. I must do better in July!
• Drink a bottle of water every day (11/31) – Another pitiful month of water drinking.
• Complete 100 Peloton workouts (44/100) – I was just so damn lazy in June. So lazy! I’m now 6 workouts behind in my goal. Oof.
• Watch 6 movies and 6 standup specials – I watched two movies and two standup specials in June, which puts me ahead of my goal. Woohoo!

What was a highlight of June for you?

Good Stuff

Early in the month, my new tv bed arrived! It has been amazing to sleep on a brand-new mattress. I’ve said before how I didn’t realize how lumpy and saggy my old bed was until I started sleeping on this new one. It has made a world of difference in my sleep! My new bedframe is also smaller than my old one since there isn’t a huge footboard to deal with, so it’s given me some space back in my bedroom, which is also really nice!

I took my girlfriend to a cat cafe in May, and we had a wonderful time! This cat cafe was made for photo ops and I really enjoyed playing with all of the kitties. I especially loved this adult cat who had the run of the place and acted like the king he is—at one point, he just plopped into the lap of one of the workers and let her hold him like a baby. He wasn’t an adoptable cat, but I would have adopted him in an instant if I could!

Mother’s Day was a simple, understated affair for us, mainly because we waited way too long to get a reservation at a restaurant. I need to set an alert in my phone to make the reservation 6 months ahead of time! Instead, we were able to snag an early-morning reservation at a very delicious breakfast place, and afterward, my mom and I drove to the cemetery to visit grandma and bring her flowers.

We had such a fun book club night this month! It ended up just being four of us since one member was sick and the other had a pet emergency (a false alarm, thank goodness). We started at our favorite downtown Greek restaurant where I stuffed myself on pita bread and tirosalata, and then we headed to the St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club for a night of playing shuffleboard. We had a great time and played three games with a different team winning each time! How fun that we all got to experience winning! (Okay, so actually, Lynn was on the winning team every time and the other three of us rotated positions/teams on the shuffleboard court each game. Lynn was the scorekeeper so stayed put. The trick to winning was being on Lynn’s team! Haha.) Afterward, we found an ice cream shop and had a sweet treat to cap off a lovely evening.

Memorial Day was wonderful, as I invited myself over for pool time and a cookout. Ha! My mom and I spent time in the pool together with the dogs who were so cute in their life jackets and enjoyed jumping on and off our pool floats. I really loved just laying on a pool float, closing my eyes, and letting the water carry me around and around the pool. Afterward, Robert grilled us an amazing late lunch of hamburgers and hot dogs. I haven’t had a grilled hot dog in so long! We also had the juiciest watermelon and most delicious brownies to munch on. It felt like a great way to kick off summer 2023!

Hard Stuff

• Mole removal – My mole removal ended up being a bit more cumbersome than I expected. I needed to have two moles removed and thankfully, they were right next to each other, but it meant more stitches than I expected (7) and being a lot more careful because of the area of the back the moles were removed from. My doctor had to use stronger stitches and set them in deeper than typical to make sure they held together. Fun times!
• Ingrown toenails – To continue the medical woes of my month, I’ve finally come to terms with the fact that I have ingrown toenails on both of my big toes. I’ve always known something was wrong with them because they hurt so much after a pedicure and sometimes, it’s painful to even lightly touch the toe, but I didn’t put the two-and-two together until last month. One of my toes has gotten to be so painful that I just want to see a podiatrist and ask them to remove my entire toenail and let it grow back. (Dramatic, much?) I am going to attempt some at-home remedies in June and see if that helps.

Stuff I Recommend

• Jury Duty (TV show) – If you have not watched Jury Duty yet, what are you waiting for? It has become a cult favorite, it seems, and it’s well worth the watch! The premise of the show is that it’s a documentary being filmed about a jury trial, taking people behind-the-scenes on jury selection, jury deliberation, the ins-and-outs of a court case, etc. Only, the documentary is fake and everyone involved in the documentary is an actor… except for one person: Ronald. He thinks everything is real and that he’s filming a documentary. Ronald makes this whole show worth it because he is so earnest and sweet and likable. He is everything this world needs. The show is streaming on Prime and Freevee (I watched it on Freevee), so please watch it and tell me what you think!
• Mixtiles – I am going to once again shout about my love for Mixtiles, which is a photo app where you can print off cute little canvas tiles of your photos. They always have incredible sales (like, “buy 8 tiles, get 8 tiles free!”). I have a whole wall of Mixtiles in my home, and bought a few more when they were having a great sale last month. The quality is usually great and they are so easy to stick up on a wall and move around. I’ve had some issues with the adhesive not sticking as well for some tiles but I just slap a Command strip on the adhesive and it’s good to go!
• Weekly to-do list pad ($6) – I bought this pad on a whim when I was at Target sometime last month. I’ve been looking for a to-do list like this where I have both a place to list out my tasks for the week and a weekly calendar to see meetings at a glance. It’s been working out so well for me!

Bookish Stuff

• # of books/pages read: 9 books (3,422 pages)
• Favorite book of the month: We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez
• Least favorite book of the month: The Power by Naomi Alderman (<– but this was still a 4-star read for me; I read all 4- and 5-star books in May!)
• Quickest read: The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka (5 days)
• Longest read: The 1619 Project, edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones (23 days)
• Books I abandoned: none!
• Format breakdown: print books (3), e-books (3), and audiobooks (3)
• Genre breakdown: Fiction (4), romance (3), nonfiction (2)

Goal Stuff

• Go for a walk every day (19/31) – I was doing so well with this goal until I had my mole removal and basically stopped doing most physical activity while it healed. I could have gone for short walks every day, but I didn’t. But hey, 19 walks ties January as my highest total for this goal so there’s that.
• Drink a bottle of water every day (13/31) – This seems to be my magic number, as I’ve hit 13 days of drinking a full bottle of water a few times this year. Maybe in June, I can make it to 15?!
• Complete 100 Peloton workouts (40/100) – I did 14 Peloton workouts before my mole removal happened, so this really helped me get back on track with this goal. Wahoo! I just need to log 10 Peloton workouts in June.
• Buy a new mattress and bedframe – This was a big goal for me in 2023, and I’m glad I can finally mark it complete. My brother delivered my new mattress/box spring early in the month and also put together my bedframe for me. What a guy!

Good Stuff

My girlfriend and I had a day date early in the month where we went to a candle shop to make our own candles! What a fun experience. We got to choose the exact scents we wanted and mix them up ourselves to achieve that perfect balance. When it comes to candle making you don’t have to look far for supplies, as most artisan candle makers and large candle brands purchase their candle wax from a UK company called Kerax. I just burned the candle for the first time last week (we were instructed to wait two weeks before using them) and it made my apartment smell amazing!

I’ve been talking about it for a while, and in April, I finally took the plunge and went back to brunette! I am really enjoying the new color and am planning to go even darker brown during my next coloring appointment at the end of June. I didn’t want the change to feel too drastic to start, so we opted for a light auburn-y brown that is very close to my natural color. It’s fun and makes me feel good!

Mom and I had a lovely time last month picking flowers at a u-pick farm. I went to this farm last year with a friend and then told my mom this would be her Mother’s Day present (in 2022). Unfortunately, we never made it to the farm last year because it just got too hot. So she cashed in her present nearly a year later and we had a great time! We picked flowers, my mom got lots of great produce from their stand, and then we went out to lunch.

I’ve talked about how magical the Taylor Swift concert was, and the shine has not worn off. It was one of the most amazing nights of my life and I am so in awe of Taylor as a performer. She’s one of the greats.

This month, I spent a week with my fur-siblings! My mom and stepdad went on a cruise for five days, so I was on doggo duty. Chip and Lucy are my favorite little babies and we had a great time together. And I noticed how much more well-behaved Chip is now that he’s going through training! It’s night and day!

My girlfriend and I had a lovely bookish date for Independent Bookstore Day. We love our local indie, Tombolo Books, so we made sure to get there early to beat the crowd. I got a handful of books, some stickers, and a Indie Bookstore Day t-shirt so I left a very happy camper.

Hard Stuff

• A mole problem – I mentioned on a previous post that I went for my annual skin check in April and had to get two moles biopsied. My dermatologist wasn’t sure if they would come back with anything but they looked a little funky and she wanted to be cautious. Good thing! Both of those moles came back with precancerous markers. So in two weeks, I’ll be back to the dermatologist to get the moles fully removed. It’s not fun, but I am so grateful for a super-cautious dermatologist.
• More anxiety than normal – After feeling like my anxiety disorder was at a super stable place, things seemed to devolve a bit in April. Generally, my anxiety is in a much better spot than it was last year. But a few times a week, usually at night, I get these random bouts of panic and anxiety. I can never predict when they are going to happen, which is frustrating. It doesn’t happen every day, though, so I’m always worried if I bring this up to my psychiatrist, she’s going to tell me I just need to deal with it. We’ve gotten my anxiety to a “good enough” spot, and I should be grateful for that, right? It’s a crazy fear to have, I know, but it’s always there. (Thankfully, my psychiatrist is not a psychopath and told me I don’t have to live like this and is subscribing me an “as needed” medication to try.)
• Social burnout – This was a busy month for me and after a stretch of having big plans almost every single day for over a week, I was feeling irritable and so very tired. So I canceled almost every plan I had one weekend and rested. It was so very needed and I felt so refreshed.

Stuff I Recommend

• Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret (movie) – This movie was so good! I thought the role of Margaret was perfectly cast and I just loved all of the different odes to puberty. It’s a very weird time in a girl’s life! I was the girl who developed early (I got my period at 10!) so I didn’t deal with these common worries about getting my first period, but it was fun to reminisce about that time in my life.
• Cat necklace ($15) – I saw this delicate cat necklace on Etsy one day when I was looking at jewelry options and I had to buy it. It is a perfect new necklace for my collection! (I got it in rose gold.)
• Floodlines – I’ve had this podcast saved in my to-be-listened-to list for quite a while, and finally got around to listening to it last month. It goes through what happened in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, especially the way residents of New Orleans were treated after the tragedy and the way government officials responded. It tells a harrowing, difficult story and it’s a must-listen, in my opinion.
• Love Is Blind – Do I really recommend this show? Probably not. But it’s such a guilty pleasure of mine. It’s a ridiculous concept, but I can’t stop watching it! Come for the trashy reality TV, stay for the Brett and Tiffany love story that is so sweet and the true epitome of Black excellence. <3

Bookish Stuff

• # of books/pages read: 9 books (3,013 pages)
• Favorite book of the month: I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai
• Least favorite book of the month: To Sir, With Love by Lauren Layne
• Underrated gem of the month: The Saturday Evening Girls Club by Jane Healy
• Books I abandoned
  • The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
  • Miss Me With That: Hot Takes, Helpful Tidbits, and a Few Hard Truths by Rachel Lindsay
• Format breakdown: print books (4), e-books (3), and audiobooks (2)
• Genre breakdown: Romance (3), historical fiction (2), fiction (1), thriller (1), nonfiction (1), and YA (1)

Goal Stuff

• Go for a walk every day (15/30) – I’m actually kind of shocked that I went for 15 walks last month. I definitely thought the number was going to be lower. It was just one of those months when I was so busy with other things and going for a daily walk fell by the wayside.
• Drink a bottle of water every day (9/30) – Pitiful.
• Complete 100 Peloton workouts (26/100) – Yikes, I only did 3 Peloton workouts in April! This puts me behind my goal by 7 workouts. Hopefully, my goal of working out every day in May will get me back on track!
• Watch 6 movies and 6 standup specials – I watched TWO movies in April so now I’m ahead of my goal, woop! I saw Stepbrothers during a private movie event with some friends and then AYTGIMM with my mom, as mentioned above.

Good Stuff

• Learning knife skills with Amber – I had such a fun time at Sur La Table’s knife skills class. I’m glad Amber came with me, as it was fun to experience this class with her! I really loved the chef who ran this class; she was so personable and helpful.
• Launching season 4 of the podcast – Season 4 of the podcast is in progress! I really love these episodes and it was fun to talk through different work stuff with Bri (who I first met at work, so that was extra special).
• Taking the dogs on shopping sprees for their birthdays – Chip and Lucy are March babies. Chip turned 5 and Lucy turned 2 this year! I decided I wanted to do something fun for them and take them to PetSmart for their own shopping spree. It didn’t quite work out as I had envisioned in my head as Chip just wanted to bark at people and Lucy was so timid that I had to hold her throughout the shopping trip, but ah well. I had fun at least?! Ha!
• Brunch, boards, and book club – Our book club meeting this month was so much fun! We came up with the idea to all do different types of charcuterie-style boards with brunch items. We had a bread board, a dessert board, a cheese board, a fruit board, a parfait board, and maybe one or two other boards that I’m forgetting. We were all so impressed by everyone’s creativity!
• Finishing my entryway redo – This was a very simple project, but it’s brought me an immense amount of satisfaction. I love looking at this little area of my home!
• Fun dates – I love when dating feels fun and romantic and exciting. And that’s what it feels like right now. I’ve been going on lots of great dates with a wonderful woman, and I am hopeful for the future. That’s all I’ll say about it for now. 🙂

Hard Stuff

• Ellie getting sick – I was really worried I was going to have to schedule an emergency vet appointment last month for Ellie as she had a few days where she vomited twice a day. She’s a frequent vomiter (usually it’s due to eating too fast), so I never get too worried about it, but the amount she was doing it last month was a bit concerning. If she had thrown up once more, I would have scheduled an appointment, but she didn’t and has seemed okay since then. She has her annual wellness check-up soon, so I’ll bring it up then.
• Sleeping poorly – I slept terribly in March. I’m not sure what was going on here – even taking melatonin wasn’t helping much. But things have seemed to get a little better lately, so hopefully it was just a weird fluke.
• Feeling blah – When I flipped through my One Line a Day journal to see what sorts of things I wrote about this month, I noticed a lot of entries about just feeling blah. It’s not anxiety or depression… it’s just this feeling of blah. Feeling unmotivated and uninspired. I was able to create some strategies for helping with this blahness: not being on my phone as much, prioritizing walks in the sunshine, etc. It has helped a little.
• A family member’s diagnosis – One of my family members was diagnosed with cancer this month, and it was devastating news. They have an aggressive treatment plan and we’ll find out soon if it’s working. Please send any prayers, good vibes, and crossed fingers for good news!

Stuff I Recommend

• Sold a Story – Lisa recommended this podcast to me, and I loved it! It’s about reading instruction in schools and how a lot of reading programs are not helping students learn how to read. The podcast delves into a few different reading programs, discusses the science behind how kids learn how to read, and speaks with parents and educators who have noticed that their kids/students are not learning how to read correctly. It’s super compelling, and you don’t need to be a parent to enjoy the podcast. For me, it made me so grateful that I learned to read “the right way” and that I developed strong reading skills as a result. Reading is such an important part of my identity and part of the reason I love to read is that it’s something that is second nature for me. When kids don’t learn to read correctly, they won’t want to read because it’s too hard and confusing. Anyway, it’s an excellent podcast and I encourage everyone to give it a listen!
• Old Navy summer clothes – I bought some great summer clothes from Old Navy! I returned most of what I bought but got a few pieces that fit so well, I want to get them in more colors! Here’s what I bought: leopard-print, high-waisted shorts ($27), mid-rise, 5-inch inseam jean shorts ($30), slub-knit tank top ($13 – this hits right at my waist and feels as close to a crop top as I’m willing to get), luxe slub-knit t-shirt ($14), and everywhere slub-knit tanktop ($13).
• AirPods – Does anyone remember the terrible story about my first set of AirPods? If not, I bought AirPods at the beginning of the pandemic, didn’t get insurance on them, and then right after the one-year warranty expired, one of the buds started getting staticky. To get that bud replaced would be almost the cost of a new set of AirPods. Instead, I bought myself a cheap pair of wireless earbuds and they’ve worked well for me for a few years. Well, now they will barely hold a charge and since my beloved AirPod Pros were on sale for $200, I bought a new pair. I am so happy to have them back in my life! (With insurance this time.)
• The Fetch app – My mom and I learned about this app while on our Niagara Falls vacation last year, when someone mentioned the app to the server at the restaurant we were at. It’s a simple app: you just take a photo of any receipt you receive and it gives you 25 points. Sometimes, depending on what you bought, you’ll get more points. (For example, my grocery store receipts are often more than 25 points, as certain food items tend to have a “special offer” and get you an extra 75-100 points sometimes.) You can also link your email and Amazon account and you’ll get points for online purchases, too. You can cash in your points for gift cards. In March, I finally had enough points to get a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble, which you can rest assured I will be putting to good use.

Bookish Stuff

• # of books/pages read: 10 books (3,488 pages)
• Favorite book of the month: The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton
• Least favorite book of the month: Our Missing Hearts by Celest Ng
• Books I abandoned
  • The Forever Girl by Jill Shalvis
  • The Gown by Jennifer Robson
  • Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig
• Format breakdown: print books (5), e-books (2), and audiobooks (3)
• Genre breakdown: Romance (3), fiction (3), thriller (2), nonfiction (1), historical fiction (1)
• Most recent book acquired: Love & Saffron by Kim Fay, True Biz by Sara Novic, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan, and The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall (I had a bookstore gift card and went a bit crazy!)

Goal Stuff

• Go for a walk every day (15/31) – Oof. It was a bad month for this goal. I think the blahness meant I just didn’t have the energy to go for my walks, even though I am sure they would have made me feel better. Argh.
• Drink a bottle of water every day (13/31) – Better than last month, and on par with what I managed in January. Can I get to 15 days in April? Let’s find out!
• Complete 100 Peloton workouts (23/100) – I had a harder time fitting in my Peloton workouts last month since I was trying to complete an insane fitness challenge, too. I’m only 2 workouts behind my goal, though, so hopefully April is the month I catch up!
• Take a knife skills class – Completed this goal in March!
• Redo my entryway – Completed this goal in March, too. Look at me go!

What were some of the highlights of March for you?