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I’ve had this almost ready to go for like a week, but of course I’m just now getting around to share it. Whoops.
June 1: It’s my mamaw’s birthday and my sister and her husband’s 4th wedding anniversary!
Darby wanted to play on the playground. The girl playing pickleball thought he was cute. (Darn right.)
Whenever he got down, I could tell he was about to run around because he had a buzz, but he tripped on the mulch and that ruined it for him. It was pretty funny! Poor Darbs.
I ended up going back to Kroger because I had a spacey moment on the Everything Bagel seasoning, and I bought some to compare. I will definitely stick with making my own, and I think mine tasted better.
This recipe caused me to be even more addicted to chili oil crunch than I already am. It really elevates a noodle bowl!
A messy presentation, but this is it:
I like it! I’ll feel a little healthier eating it, and I’ll be eating it until I get sick of it.
Kylie and Zach went with Stephen and me to the Bellevue Farmers’ Market that’s going on every Thursday. Kylie and I bought a bag of peaches! I immensely regretted not getting any last year, so I wanted to go specifically for them.
After the market, we ate dinner at HoneyFire! They have different foods during the week, and on Mondays they have burnt ends!! I will be going on a Monday now.
June 2: My yummy breakfast: avocado toast with goat cheese and the chili crunch oil, an iced matcha latte to drink.
June 2: I meet up with a girl from the corgi group who just moved to our area. We met at Tailgate Brewery, without the pups. I ordered the Loaded Nashville Hot Chicken Fries, and they were delicious! Although, I did pick off most of the cheese because it was a lot.
June 3: Kylie and I went to Crumbl Cookies to get the Cookie Butter Ice Cream Cake. It wasn’t as good as the lava cookie that was on the menu in March, but it was still good! The icing wasn’t super sweet, thankfully, and the cookie crumbs were delicious.
June 10: I dragged Stephen to Target with me. I was on the hunt for biker shorts. I couldn’t find the ones I saw on the app, but I found some cute summer tank tops for $5 each and bought a white, black, and lavender one!
Haley mentioned Starbucks had a salted caramel cold foam, so I tried it. I think the drink would’ve been better with some milk or cream, but it wasn’t bad!
June 12: Darby had another mini photo shoot. He doesn’t usually stick his tongue out like this, so I’m glad I captured it. Such a silly dude!
Stephen and I went to Sweet Sofia’s because they had a $5 deal on their Fresas con Crema. It was delicious, and what a fabulous deal! There were so many strawberries in this!
June 14: I had to have two fillings at the dentist, unfortunately. They weren’t too bad, and one was minor enough that I didn’t need to be numbed for it. It was still an anxious experience, but I’m glad that’s behind me!
June 15: Louise and I spent some time in Franklin. Today was the day Luna was spayed at the Williamson County Animal Center, and we were picking her up, but made a nice day of it. First, we went to The Coffee House in Franklin.
The coffee and croissant were excellent! After we finished eating, we popped in and visited some antique stores. I bought some little soaps and a cute pomegranate notepad.
Luna was a poor sight to see! I remember tearing up a little whenever I dropped Darby off for his first neutering, and a teeny bit for his second.
June 17: It had been a tough few days with Darby, so Kylie and I had a nice movie outing. We watched The Little Mermaid! I’ll mention more about it in the movie section, but I thought they did well with it all. Flounder did look super CGI and funny looking, but I enjoyed the movie.
The popcorn and blue raspberry Icee really hit the spot.
After I got back, Darby barked at me, of course. I asked for forgiveness, not permission for having some me time on this day. My bad. He did not understand. Later, Stephen and I went to the grocery store, it was a brief trip, then we got Chick-fil-A for dinner.
I tried the white peach lemonade. I thought it was pretty good!
June 19: Kylie and Zach gave me a birthday gift a day early. Look how cute!!
Such a fantastic little model.
June 20: My birthday! Darby was supposed to have a playdate with Birdy and Goose, but it got rained out. We ended up rescheduling later in the week, so we were happy about that!
I was wearing one of the $5 Target tank tops. It’s definitely a laidback and comfortable outfit! The comfy pants are from Forever 21.
For dinner, we tried Maru, a restaurant in The Nations, and got coffee from Frothy Monkey.
We got here at a good time because there were only a few other people dining in. Whenever we left, the tiny parking lot was full, and there were hardly any free tables!
I perused the menu beforehand and the Avocado Ball immediately caught my eye. I am so happy that I got to try it! I really liked it. My Pork Katsu was also good. The sauce reminded me of salty steak sauce. The Tuna Lover Roll was just as good! The beef udon had an interesting taste. Stephen liked it, but he said he probably wouldn’t order it again. I’m trying to think of how to describe it, but it tasted creamy and a little cheesy(?). It was not what I was expecting.
The food arrived quickly, and I would definitely come here again! I’m really proud of myself for not ordering the yakisoba like I really debated on doing.
Next, Frothy Monkey!
I ordered an iced Turtle and Stephen ordered an iced Mocha.
June 21: This is Darby’s stump now. He overlooked the apartment complex and made sure no one was disrupting his peace.
If you’re thinking about getting a corgi, they are STUBBORN. He literally did not want to get off of it until he saw the maintenance supervisor, then he got off and got some treats from her!
We went to Tailgate Brewery with one of our neighbors for half-price pizza Wednesdays! I ordered another raspberry hard seltzer but tried the BBQ Loaded Waffle Fries for the first time!
We will be coming here more often, and hopefully with Darby on slower days!
June 22: I took Darby to the park for some exercise since he’s not really walking around the apartment complex like he used to do. Whenever we go on our evening walk with friends, he’ll do one lap, maybe two if we’re reaaaallyy lucky. We only walked around the park twice, but he was on his best behavior!
He did not bark at the Dunkin’ worker, so that’s a win! There was a dog barking somewhere while we waited in line, so he did bark at them, but whenever we got to the window, he was an angel for once!
June 23: Darby got to play with Birdy and Goose for a few hours! Darby absolutely loves playing with both of them, but Charlene and I like to joke about Goose being the annoying younger brother and crashing their date!
He’s whispering sweet nothings in Birdy’s ear. PRECIOUS! In the photos and videos, Goose has to be the one to get Darby’s attention! It’s so funny and cute.
Yes, little king, you may sleep there after a day full of play.
He knows by now that we won’t even attempt to move him. He doesn’t stay the whole night, which is why we allow it.
June 25: Stephen and I went to the K&S Market to stock up on noodles and snacks! I’m so bummed they did not have the salmon skin snack that I bought the last time. Now I’ll have to order them online at some point, though they are expensive.
I tried this flavor for the first time and loved it! I’m sad that I only purchased one pack because these may be my new favorite flavor!! It was hot but not too hot, and I loved the flavor.
June 27: I went to Kroger to pick up more milk and butter, and I scored 8 pieces of chicken for $2.97!
I just love chicken legs especially.
Also, Stephen brought me a coffee on his way home from work!
He went to Humphreys Street Coffee and ordered the seasonal drink Troop 424! Description: Matcha latte with coconut cream and dulce de lèche and topped with cocoa powder. Reminiscent of the Samoa Girl Scout cookie!
I didn’t stir it to get to the caramel-y goodness at the bottom, so the last few sips were a real treat!
June 28: Darby got to play with Birdy and Goose again! This time, he finally went into the pool on his own!! I hope this means if he keeps watching Birdy and Goose get in that he’ll want to swim on his own! I was SO proud!
Notice that Goose is between them—looking immensely proud to be in the middle!
June 29: My friend Kelli visited me after she had an interview for a place in Nashville. We got to spend a few hours together, and the following day was her birthday!
The barista accidentally made us a hot Joyride instead of iced, so we got that one for free! We also split the peaches and cream muffin. It was good! It wasn’t sweet like I expected it, but we ate it.
I ordered an iced John the Gardener. Although, if I had known that this day would’ve been the last of the seasonal drinks, I would’ve ordered an iced Georgia on My Mind one last time instead. 😢
After coffee, we shopped at HomeGoods and Ulta, then had lunch at Tequila’s Mexican restaurant. This was my first time trying the restaurant, and I liked it!
I ordered something called Burrito Serrano, I think. It had shredded pork and onions in it, with some green sauce overtop, sides were beans and rice. Kelli ordered a margarita, and it was really cool! We are still baffled by what caused the fizz and smoke.
By the time we were leaving, the sky was getting dark and it was super windy. We managed to get to my apartment before the huge downpour, thankfully!
June 30: I had coffee at The Well with my friend Louise. New seasonal drinks dropped, and we tried them!
I tried the Red Headed Stranger (description: espresso cola topped with cherry | cold foam *iced only*), and Louise tried the Wake Up San Francisco (description: blackberry & lavender cuban). She said she didn’t taste much of the blackberry, but it was good.
My coffee was interesting. I could distinctly tell it was espresso and cola, which makes for a peculiar combination. Also, it came with a maraschino cherry!
I don’t know if I’ll order it again, but I’m glad to have tried it. I think I will for sure get it at least one more time.
Books
The June books were a little rocky. A few misses, but overall, it was decent.
- Only Love Can Hurt Like This by Paige Toon
- genres: chick lit, romance, mental health
- rating: 2
- I wanted to love this, but it was a huge miss for me. I wanted to finish to find out Anders’ secret. Once it was found out, I thought his wife’s parents were pretty terrible for the plot. I cannot imagine someone acting that way, so it made it less believable for me.
- No way would the “secret” have been kept in a small town like that. It was more about careful wording to make you think differently.
- It was a little frustrating and tiring to see Wren have so many wrong assumptions about her place in her dad’s family, but it was sad and strained.
- This story was missing something, and I thought this book did a lot of stating the obvious to the point where it was comical.
- Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
- genres: historical fiction, romance, music
- content warnings: abortion, cheating, drug use
- rating: 2
- *Sigh* My mother-in-law wanted me to watch the series, so I decided to read the book first, otherwise I wouldn’t have sought it out on my own. TJR is a lukewarm author for me. I haven’t read a book that I absolutely love by her.
- I thought the format was unique, but at the heart of it, why do I care to know about this band? I did not. This is probably why I don’t read biographies. The format was interview style, and I did like how each person’s perspective/memory of something would differ from someone else’s. It was a nice contrast.
- Listen, I don’t get why Daisy was the it girl. She was not special. She was a spoiled brat with rich parents who didn’t pay attention to her. She did want she wanted, when she wanted, how she wanted. *eye roll* Oh, and she was the most beautiful girl, evidently.
- She was an adult baby that people felt the need to babysit her so she’d stay out of trouble. She’s alone and needs someone to keep her company, never mind whatever it was the person was doing. She’s always high and on drugs. Of course she is. Flip to any page with Daisy and she’s on drugs. Someone always tries to get her to go to rehab.
- She didn’t have a ton of personality. She did ~quirky~ things and her hookup at the time wanted to make her their muse, and she said no to that. That was fine since she decided to be her own creative and wouldn’t let a man use her as his muse.
- I don’t understand what makes this band so unique. They seem like any other band from the ’70s. I know the characters weren’t meant to be likable, but at least make them have some charm and character, which circles back to the why do I care enough to read?
- I tried watching the first episode, and I finished it, but I’m not going to watch the series. The plot was boring, the story had annoying characters that I didn’t want to root for, and their actions seemed almost cartoonish.
- Come on, Daisy running off and *spoiler* marrying an abusive Italian prince on a whim? Uh huh, right.
- The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
- genres: dystopia, fantasy, young adult, science fiction, romance
- rating: 4.5
- I didn’t expect to like this story as much as I did, but it was really good! Coriolanus Snow was a well-written character, and I think Collins did a great job with him. Just when you think he’s changing to be a better person, nope, he crashes by having another self-absorbed and self-serving thought.
- I love that Lucy Gray is named after a ballad, but I dislike the mystery of her and what happens at the end of the book. I wish I loved open-endedness in books, but I need it all clear for me.
- What Have We Done by Alex Finlay
- genres: mystery, thriller, suspense, crime
- content warnings: pedophilia
- rating: 3.5
- Very over the top and has an unbelievable plot, but this was a fun read. I always enjoy an Alex Finlay novel.
- In this novel, we have someone who was once a foster kid, now an assassin. I’m glad that Jenna, the stay-at-home mom, is at least one character I could root for. Donnie the has-been rockstar and Nico the reality TV producer weren’t getting any of my sympathies. They weren’t the best people.
- I feel like there is a recurring element in Finlay’s novels, and this one definitely has it.
- I liked the little moment of suspense that is in the epilogue, that was fun.
- Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
- genres: mystery, thriller, science fiction
- rating: 3.5
- This was such an interesting plot, and I liked it more than I thought I would––especially since this book is part of Reese’s Book Club, which have mostly been misses for me. Jen keeps going back in time to try to prevent her son from murdering someone. She ends up going back like 20 years or so!
- I like that each day in the past she goes back she learns more as she gets further from the time of the murder. The bad part is she has to make sure that she remembers what’s she’s learned because she can’t write out all that she knows because whatever she’s written or typed will be erased due to that being written “tomorrow” or a day in the future.
- It was such a page turner for me, but there were at least two big things that lowered the rating for me.
- First one: Jen had major mom guilt. I can’t relate, and I don’t think she was at all at fault for her son’s crime. She brought up the guilt A LOT. She constantly wondered if she neglected him, didn’t show any interest in him, or tell him how much she loved him. I was a little tired of it after a while.
- Two: Jen figured out what she needed to do, which she did it, and it’s like only thing that changed was her name and nothing else. Oh, and the time loop happened for another person, which left me with some more questions.
- Happy Place by Emily Henry
- genres: chick lit, romance
- rating: 2
- I didn’t really plan on reading it after reading the synopsis, but then I had a bit of FOMO and I’ve already read some of Henry’s books. I was not sold on Harriet and Wyn’s plan to pretend that they’re still a couple. This friend group felt like it was a try-hard with how individual and quirky the characters came off as.
- Also, did these people not use social media? Surely the friend group, despite living across the country, would have noticed that they were no longer together.
- I struggled with getting through it, and the characters were meh to me. A lot of people responded to my story and said they were struggling to finish as well.
- Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune
- genres: chick lit, romance
- rating: 3.5
- Another FOMO read. I didn’t like it as much as Every Summer After. Although, reading the synopsis, I wasn’t super excited about the book and I didn’t expect to get to read it so soon.
- This is an instant love story. I liked Will and Fern’s one day together, yet they both were not single, so that made me like the story less. Also, Will’s girlfriend’s name is Fred. Interesting choice to name a character.
- I don’t think I particularly liked the FMC, Fern, and maybe that’s why I wasn’t as crazy about it.
- Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See
- genres: historical fiction, China, Asian literature, Asian medicine
- rating: 4
- I really enjoyed learning more about 15th century China and Chinese history. It’s a well-researched book with dense information, and it wasn’t a quick read because of everything to take in. I’ve never heard of Tan Yunxian, but she was Chinese physician during the Ming dynasty.
- I never saw a photo of foot binding, and wowza, I feel the pain in those photos.
- I’ve always known girls/women weren’t really desired or respected, but this novel really shows how undesirable a baby girl being born is for a family, and it’s so sad and disgusting .
- Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
- genres: LGBTQ, young adult, politics
- content warnings: crass language
- rating: 3.5
- I didn’t love this book like I wanted to. For starters, it’s an enemies-to-lovers trope, which I’m not a fan of. The first 50ish pages were really hard for me to get into because Alex just hardcore hating Henry annoyed me.
- I had a bit of a problem with Alex’s character. He wanted to help people, yet he had the worst attitude. He was super self-centered and cocky.
- What redeemed this a little bit was that Alex and Henry got together earlier in the book, so I was curious about what the heck the rest of the book was about.
- I did find it hard to believe that Alex and Henry were out and about and no one managed to take photos of them before they were found out.
- Then again, I have no idea how the first sons and daughters go out since I never hear news about them, but I felt like with this story, it would’ve been more tough to hide.
TV Shows/Movies
Well, I didn’t watch a lot of TV this month. We’re still watching The Middle and Silo. We’re on season 4 of The Middle right now! I did go to the movies for the first time since seeing Dune last year.
The Little Mermaid (2023)
I liked this movie more than I thought I would! I hadn’t planned on watching it, let alone going to theaters to see it, but it was cute! I’m glad Prince Eric had more personality, and I thought some scenes were done better than the original version.
Halle Bailey has an AMAZING voice.
Also, one song is an absolutely bop, and I played the “Scuttlebutt” song for Stephen when I got home. It was so catchy that we literally would sing it at random times.
Scuttle was the powerful one in this version. At the beginning of the movie, she literally swooped down into the sea and ate a fish, then she was in the water talking with Ariel and Flounder for a few minutes, without going back up to take a single breath!
Music
“Vampire” (2023) — Olivia Rodrigo
This single off of Olivia Rodrigo’s new album (dropping in September) Guts was released on the 30th. It’s super new, but I think I like it, and it’s catchy.
You can definitely tell this is an Olivia Rodrigo song, and I look forward to her album.
Orders
June 1: This is the crispy chili oil I bought for the salad. I could just eat forkfuls of this! So delicious.
June 7: This beauty has been on my wish list since spotting it during a previous sale. Introducing, my Echeveria Black Opal! The seller thinks it may be a mutated one because it looks so different from standard Opals. That would be super cool if that’s the case!
I hope these little Echeveria Francia leaf props make it! This is what they’ll look like as adults.
That’s all for June!
I hope July is treating you well; we’re already a third of the way through it!
