June 2022 // A List

June was a long and exhausting month; however, there were some fun-filled days.

June was a month of sunshine and the official start of summer.

June was a month filled with unexpected but well-loved thunderstorms.

The storms were welcome, especially with the scorching heat that we've had.

The last week of June had me feeling rage.

The world feels too big yet too small.

Suffocating and overwhelming.

The government is repeatedly disappointing almost everyone.

It's just one thing after another.

It doesn't seem to end.

Roe vs. Wade was overturned, and I am infuriated.

I have so much to say, but I'm still processing everything.

June was a month of comforting myself with art and memory keeping.

It was incredibly needed, and I'm grateful for this outlet.

June was a month for planning surprises.

June had me hoping for better days, peace, and quiet.

So long, June.

Hello July.

I'm looking forward to some better days.

10 Things That Made Me Happy This Week

Happy Friday! Today I'm linking up with Charlotte, Lindsay, and Beth for their weekly happy and grateful list link-up

1. Lizzo's About Damn Time

2. Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren

3. Popcorn and M&Ms

4. Photography tips from Persnickety Prints

5. Working in my January traveler's notebook

6. The Exhale community by @coffeeandcrumbs (Check out their June: Permission Slip Blog Hop)

7. Disney's Obi-Wan Kenobi

8. Cold/Frozen Butterfinger candy bars

9. Conversations with Mami

10. Daydreaming of fall and spooky season (Summer only just began, but this heat is making me dream of fall weather)

What made you happy this week?

Thanks for visiting!

Until next time...

Summer 2022 Bucket List

Happy First Day of Summer! It's officially the first day of summer, even though it's already felt like summer for the past few weeks. As usual, with the change of the season, I thought it'd be fun to share my updated summer bucket list for this year. Some of the things listed are things we usually do, but a few things have changed. Check out my bucket list below.

 

• Read 5 summer-related books

• Make 3 new recipes

• Watch 3 new (or new-to-me) shows/series

• Publish 4 personal essays

• Visit a new park

• Go to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park

• Go to the zoo

• Drink more water

• Finish 3 half-completed projects

• Work on my #LittleSummerJoy mini-album

• Go to the pool

• Go to the Farmer's Market

• Drink more water

• Drink less soda

• Finish watching Roswell, New Mexico

• Make art with the boys

What's on your Summer bucket list? 

Thanks for visiting!

Until next time...

Photo by Corey Agopian on Unsplash

10 Things That Made Me Happy This Week

Happy Friday! Today I'm linking up with Charlotte, Lindsay, and Beth for their weekly happy and grateful list link-up.

1. Anna Fury's surprise short story, Alpha Ranger, was just released 

2. Playing with paper, die cuts, stickers, and glue

3. My order from Ali Edwards arrived!

4. Texting with my little sisters 

5. Art by @coastalnicole

6. Air conditioning (This heat wave has been absolutely terrible, so I'm grateful for our A/C.)

7. Netgalley

8. My new summer pajamas 

9. Iced coffee

10. Aldi (I don't know why it's taken me so long to check this supermarket out, but I'm so glad I finally did.)

What made you happy this week?

Thanks for visiting!

Until next time...

10 Things That Made Me Happy This Week

Happy Friday! Today I'm linking up with Charlotte, Lindsay, and Beth for their weekly happy and grateful list link-up.

1. This Pero Like video (I can't stop laughing)

2. This selection of Adam J. Kurtz "My Husband" tweets

3. Finishing a good book

4. Plain cheesecake from Barnes and Noble

5. Awesome Ladies Project daily prompts

6. New books from Netgalley 

7. Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccinos (I've needed all the coffee and frappuccinos this week)

8. Curbside pick-up (Seriously, it's such a time and money saver)

9. Getting a better idea of what we are looking for in our dream house

10. Tattly temporary tattoos (Love the Moon Phases tattoos)

What made you happy this week?

Thanks for visiting!

Until next time...

June Goals

Happy Monday! We are almost a week into June, and I'm late posting my goals for the month, but I'm sharing them now. Last month was a super crazy month. We celebrated Michael's birthday, my nephew's first birthday, and had lots to do before the end of the school year. The boys took their school tests, and they were so excited about the end of the school year. I think I may have been a little more excited than they were. 

Overall most of the month was a great month, but then the shooting at Uvalde happened. I felt a bit guilty celebrating so many events when families are grieving the loss of loved ones. I'm still trying to come up with the words to explain how I'm feeling, but I'm finding that I'm not there yet.

I was so excited once the end of May was here because my emotions were all over the place, and it was just a hectic and overwhelming month.

Now that it's a new month let's check out my goals for June as well as have a recap on how I did with my goals in May.

Recap of May Goals

• Read 8 books: I read 34 books. Some were short story collections, novellas, novels, etc. Some of the books I read were ones that I didn't finish reading the previous month.

• Try 2 new recipes: I made Hot Chocolate Coffee, and I have to say I wasn't that big of a fan. I think I may have added too much chocolate. I can't remember if I made a second new recipe, so I'm going to assume that I didn't make one. I really need to keep better track of the new recipes I'm trying.

• Work on #GetMessyMay journal: I did work on the #GetMessyMay challenge, but I didn't work on it as much as I'd like, and I didn't get to complete the challenge. However, I plan to continue to work on this challenge this month.

• Read and review 4 books from Netgalley: I read and reviewed 3 books that I received from Netgalley. I read The Lonely Stories, a great collection of essays by various writers, How to Live Like the Little Prince by Stéphane Garnier, and Walking Gentry Home by Alora Young. Do yourself a favor and read Walking Gentry Home. It was an excellent read.

• Complete 1 half-finished memory-keeping project: I didn't complete any of my half-finished memory-keeping projects, but I did work on a couple of them.

June Goals

• Read 5 books

• Read and review 3 books from Netgalley

• Try 1 new recipe

• Publish 1 personal essay

• Complete 1 half-finished memory keeping project

• Work on Little Summer Joy mini-album

• Work on 1 ALP prompt

What are your goals for June? How did you do in May?

Thanks for visiting!

Until next time...

Photo by Content Pixie on Unsplash

10 Things That Made Me Happy This Week

Happy Saturday! Today I'm linking up with Charlotte, Lindsay, and Beth for their weekly happy and grateful list link up.

1. These 14 tweets for moms who love Target

2. Other Life-Changing Events We Should Be Able to Object To by Ginny Hogan

3. Sleeping in

4. Journaling 

5. Sneak peek of Anna Fury's upcoming book, Noire

6. John finally got his cast taken off so now he only has to wear a brace

7. My boys' report cards and grades (I'm so proud of them!)

8. My monthly reflections 

9. Miley Cyrus' cover of Like a Prayer

10. Reading zines

What made you happy this week?

Thanks for visiting!

Until next time...