Monthly Recap | June 2019

READING

I read 12 books in June, bringing me to 65 books read this year. Woop! Right now, I’m on pace to read 130 books this year, so I’m still reading at an insanely fast pace. I’m not even trying hard here! I just really love reading and make lots of time in my schedule for it. (Also, audiobooks are KEY. Being able to knock out a few books a month while commuting is such a blessing.) Here are my top three books from June:

• Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, which is an oral history of a fictional rock band in the 70s and is a must-read for just about anyone
• Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, which is a sweet love story that gave me ALL of the happy feels
• An Unconditional Freedom by Alyssa Cole, a historical romance that both charmed me and made me think

WATCHING

• Always Be My Maybe – I watched this adorable romcom with a friend one Friday evening, and it was so delightful! I am not a huge fan of Ali Wong’s comedy so I wasn’t sure how I would like a movie written by her, but it was surprisingly sweet and heartfelt. Definitely add this one to your watch list.
• Murder Mystery – I didn’t have high expectations for this Netflix movie starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, and it… met my mediocre expectations? Haha. I have a soft spot for Adam Sandler and really enjoy his movies, and this one was exactly what I expected. Goofy and ridiculous, but I was actually surprised by the ending so there’s that.
• Schitt’s Creek, season 2 – I’m almost finished with season 2 of Schitt’s Creek, and you guys, I am so glad I kept watching. It is so funny!! It definitely needed that first season to lay the groundwork and allow you to figure out the characters, and I’m glad I didn’t give up on it.
• Big Brother – IT’S BACK! I am paying $6 a month for CBS All Access so I can watch this ridiculous reality TV show. My mom and I started watching the show 11 years ago (!) and haven’t missed a season. (Well, aside from Celebrity Big Brother. That one gets a big fat NOPE from me.) The season just started so I don’t have any favorites or villains yet, but they’ll come with time. 🙂

BUYING

• Cheap e-books ($12) – I subscribe to all of the different daily deal emails for Kindle, but it’s rare for me to actually buy an e-book from these emails. I have placed certain restrictions on myself: (1) the book must be priced $1.99 or cheaper, and (2) it must be a book that I have marked as want-to-read on Goodreads. This keeps me from spending willy-nilly on e-books. Well, apparently, these email lists figured out my system because all of a sudden, they’re sending me daily deals for books I’ve been meaning to read. Like, Hope Never Dies by Andrew Shaffer and No Exit by Taylor Adams and Otherwise Engaged by Lindsey Palmer. So now I have a whole slew of new e-books waiting to be read on Kindle. Oops.
• EIMIN 3/4-sleeve, v-neck cardigan ($23) – I mentioned this cardigan in my last TGIF post and I can happily report that this cardigan is perfect. It has elbow-length sleeves and fits me great. I wish it were a smidge longer but you can’t have everything, right? 😉 I’m happy with it and looking forward to buying one in every color!

LISTENING TO

• From the Front Porch – I’ve tried a bunch of bookish podcasts in the past few months but most of them haven’t been right for me. So, I finally downloaded From the Front Porch, which I’ve heard so many good things about and I’m really loving it! It’s hosted by an independent bookstore owner and a member of her staff and discusses all kinds of bookish things. It’s a fun podcast to listen to!
• This Land – This is the newest Crooked Media podcast and it’s a docuseries about a Supreme Court case involving a 1999 murder that will decide if half the land in Oklahoma is Native American land. It’s so damn interesting and also very enraging to recognize how much atrocity Native Americans have suffered at the hands of white people. Please give it a listen!

THE HIGHS

• Pool party – I had a blast at a pool party my friend and her husband hosted at their home. I got to catch up with old coworkers, chat with my beloved besties, and snuggle an eight-week-old puppy! I stayed for five hours and didn’t get a sunburn, so it was a win all around.
• Sunken Gardens – To celebrate our five-year friendiversary, my friend, B., and I visited Sunken Gardens, which is a botanical garden located in the middle of my city. Can you believe I’ve lived in this area my whole life and have never been to Sunken Gardens? Crazy! It was a really fun morning, though. The flowers and trees and plants were gorgeous, of course, but the birds really stole my heart. They were so talkative! It was fun to have conversations with them. 😉
• Brunch at The Library – I have found my new favorite place in town. The Library is a restaurant in downtown St. Pete that is book-themed. The walls are filled with bookshelves and your receipt comes inside an old book! It’s so cute and the food is fantastic, too. I’d love to see if I could arrange a silent reading event in the space. It’s something I’ve been mulling over!

THE LOWS

• 17 bug bites – As much as I loved my day at Sunken Gardens, I did not love all the bugs. I came home with 17 mosquito bites on my legs. SEVENTEEN! I could feel them attacking me while I was there and the bites itched like crazy the first two days. My mom even asked what happened to me because it seriously looked like I had chicken pox or a crazy rash on my legs.
• Being told my sweet Ellie is overweight – My vet had the audacity to call my sweet Ellie Girl overweight. She’s just under 11 lbs. I was definitely not expecting to hear that because she seems to be normal to my eyes and doesn’t seem overly greedy about food. I have been giving the girls less food (one full cup split between two bowls; I was putting 3/4 cup into each bowl, but I also wasn’t filling it daily, only when it got low) and dropping down to treats only a few times a week and not every day. Let’s hope that helps, but I’m also not stressing about it. She’s happy and healthy!
• Reminders – June is always a tough month for me, but I made it through. My dad’s birthday was surprisingly difficult for me (it’s not always) but I met up with two friends and had a Fireball sangria, which took the edge off. 🙂 Father’s Day was another difficult day but I stayed off social media, buried myself in work, and then met up with a friend for a bowling date, so it passed by uneventfully.