Every month I like to step away from books for a moment and share a few things things that brought me joy outside of reading. It’s a little snapshot of life lately – the adventures, routines and simple routines that made the month memorable.
The month was relatively quiet, because of work trips to Delaware, Minnesota and Illinois … I spent a lot of time living out of a suitcase. So when I was home, I leaned hard into slowing down, spending time with the people I love, and making our house feel more like a home.
6 Joys This June
1. Party Time
It seems to have become a tradition – this is the 3rd year we had a group of friends over on Father’s day, the last Sunday before summer starts, for a pool party. Loud laughter, music, games, talking $hit = tons of fun. Energizing.
2. Lots of Pool Time “Liming”
If you’re not from the Caribbean, you might not know the word “Liming”. Originating in Trinidad, it means hanging out, relaxing or chilling with friends with no agenda. That erfectly describes a how I spent my afternoons when home, and the weekends. There was lots of liming by the pool with a friend or 2 on the wekends, or just me and the hubs during the week after work. No agenda, just a few hours, having drinks, talking and relaxing.
3. Group Runs
It looks like my running peaked in April. In May, I started to skip more and more runs, and then June … let’s just call it a month of (mostly) rest. Between constant work travel and long workdays, I just wasn’t active enough. But over the last 2 weeks, I’ve slowly started finding my rythym again, and running with a group on the weekends has made all the difference. Having people to suffer through the Florida heat and humidity with has given me a boost.
4. Home Sweet Home
Such a simple thing, but I finally got with someone to clean our house. With my schedule, I have zero desire to spend my precious time at home doing a ton of cleaning. After our par-tay, I had someone come in and clean, and y’all she is here to stay for the forseeable future. I want to put more into – connecting & fostering friendships and exploring our (relatively new) community.
5. Getting More Homey in the Kitchen
In case you can’t tell, I’m on a mission to make our house feel cozier and more lived in. In March Off the Books, I mentioned we bought a bread maker, and we have been using it much more since. I made one tiny tweak to the recipe (it’s already so simple) and used honey instead of granulated sugar. It gives a denser texture, so you have to cut a thicker slice, but it’s so delish especially when eaten soon after baking, warm and with butter or jam. Bonus is the fresh baked bread smell that fills the house.
We’ve also had a juicer for about awhile and I’m starting to use it more. My fave concoction this month – pineapple ginger juice taken as a shot … because I like it heavy on the ginger! I’m talking throat clearing, eyes watering type ginger. I’m obssesed! It is so refreshing and energizing.
6. Watched
Not too much visual media this month.
- 🎥 Frankenstein ★★★⯪ Enjoyed this gothic horror, and as a Guillermo del Toro is the director, the horror elemnts are vivid and well crafted. The story was a bit boring though, but it seems I’m in the minority on thiking this.
- 🎥 Avatar: Fire and Ash ★★★★ Epic, with stunning visuals. The World building was just so insanely good, and so were the fight scenes.
- 📺 Avatar the Last Airbender S2. ★★★★. Liked this more than the first season. Enjoyed the action, the World building. The Avatar wasn’t as whiny as before, although … still somewhat. Really hated that it ended on a cliffhanger – not a fan in books, movies or tv shows.
That was my June off the books. Check out my June Reading Recap here. As always, I’d love to hear one thing that made your month!
