Monthly Recap | June 2020

Hi, friends! I’ve got a special Thursday post coming your way today. 🙂 After a few months of experimenting with a new way of recapping my month, I’m coming back to the old style I used throughout 2019. It’s just a really fun way to look back on the month and I missed talking about what I’ve been watching and listening to. So, without further ado, let’s dive in:

READING

I read 15 books in June, so I am way ahead of my Goodreads goal by 11 (!) books. My top three this month were:

• The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir, a propulsive novel about what happens when the youngest daughter on a reality TV show about a conservative Christian family becomes pregnant at 17
• March: Book 1 by John Lewis, a graphic novel that documents Lewis’s growing-up years and how he got his start in the civil rights movement
• Open Book by Jessica Simpson, which was an amazing celebrity memoir that allowed me to relive all my early-aughts memories

WATCHING

• Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu) – I finally finished this miniseries! I really liked it, but it was never a show I felt like I *had* to watch. The casting was great, though, and I especially loved the actress who played Izzy. She was so adorable and perfect for the role! I recommend the show, especially with all its great 90s touches.
• Golden Girls, season 2 (Hulu) – I’ve only watched episodes of Golden Girls here and there, but have never seen the whole series, so this is my go-to when I need something light and fun.

Side note: I was so bummed to find out that Mad Men isn’t on Netflix anymore! This will teach me not to take years and years and years to watch a series. I’ve been slowwwwly watching the series (like, snail’s pace. I think I watch one season a year, lol) And when I tried to find it on Netflix last weekend, I discovered it was taken down. Wahhhh. The exact same thing happened to me with Friday Night Lights (although I think that’s on Hulu now!) so I really need to get my act together with watching series TV. Oops.

LISTENING TO

• Slow Burn, season 4 – This season, they’re exploring David Duke and his rise to political power. It’s all frightening similar to Trump.
• The Teacher’s Pet – I’m about halfway through this true crime podcast series, following the disappearance of a young mother in Australia. Her husband didn’t report her missing for six weeks and moved his teenage lover into their home just days after she disappeared. It’s WILD!
• Friends Forever on Hall of Shame – I can’t remember if I talked about this podcast before, but it’s all about the crazy stories in sports and it’s excellent. (And hosted by two ladies who know their shit when it comes to sports.) Anyway, this episode in particular is great, as it’s about the strange friendship between Dennis Rodman and Kim Jong-Un.

BUYING

• A computer monitor ($100) – I am so happy I made this purchase. (I used the money I had saved in my “no spend fund” to get it!) I really need two screens when working and now that I know I’ll be working from home for a really long time, I finally bought another monitor. I’m only three days into my two-screen life and it has drastically improved my work life. Woop!
• Eloise & Lila’s first Chatbook ($18) – I finally started a regular Chatbook subscription for the girls! I love the Chatbooks I have of Dutch and I knew I wanted to do the same thing with my kitties. Flipping through the photos when the book arrived was such a joy!
• A mouse pad ($7) – One of those simple but necessary pleasures. My old mouse pad was just one of those lame ones that come in the package when you buy a wireless mouse and had gotten very dirty over the years. It was time for an upgrade. Yay for simple delights!

THE HIGHS

• My mom’s new house – My mom and stepdad closed on their new house this month, and it’s been fun to watch them morph into homeowners! They’re spending the next month-ish doing some minor work (painting and laying down tile) and will officially move in sometime in late July or early August. I’ve already enjoyed the pool once and can’t wait to spend many more weekends there!
• A new washer/dryer – I finally got my washer fixed! Apparently, the issue was extensive and necessitated an entirely new washer/dryer. My new one is so fancy, which is fun, but mostly, I’m just happy to have a working washer/dryer again!
• Extra mom time – My mom’s car was in the shop for about a week in June and that meant I got to play chauffeur for her, taking her to work, dropping her off for a hair appointment, and even doing the 30-minute drive to pick up my stepdad from his truck stop. I didn’t mind—it meant more time with my mom, and that is always a good thing for me!
• New glasses! – I finally ordered my glasses from Warby Parker. I was worried about needing them adjusted and not knowing where to go for that when Florida was under a shelter-in-place order, which is why I waited until the end of May to order them. I ordered two pairs and it’s fun to switch them out whenever I’m feeling the need for a change. (And woooooow, has my vision changed since the last time I got glasses. Everything feels like it’s in HD now!)
• New bar stools – The bar stools I ordered in May arrived this month and I was very grateful for my stepdad coming over to help me to put them together when I was having trouble with one of them. The girls have been loving them (one of them believes it’s a great scratching post, sigh) and I just like having a much more comfortable place to sit when I’m eating!

THE LOWS

• Rising case numbers of COVID-19 in Florida – It was not a good month for COVID-19 in Floria, where case numbers reached 9,000+ two days in a row at the end of the month. I’m sticking to my decision to only see my mom, my stepdad, my brother, and my nephews and I always wear a mask when in public.
• A bout with vertigo – At the end of the month, I experienced a horrific case of vertigo and I’m still feeling the effects of it today (even though it’s not anywhere near as bad as Saturday, where even sitting up would cause the room to spin and make me nauseated). I have a (virtual) doctor’s appointment scheduled for Monday (the soonest appointment I could get, due to the holiday) so I hope she can help me!
• Increased anxiety – My anxiety felt unmanageable at times in June. I think I started feeling overwhelmed by news, between COVID-19 and the racial justice movement. I started getting stomachaches and had trouble sleeping and couldn’t seem to turn off my brain. It wasn’t the best month for my mental health.

What was a highlight of June for you? What was the best book you read last month?