June in Review

June in Review

Since it's the end of June, I decided to do a little June recap since it was my first few weeks of summer break!

June has been kind of a strange month for me. Every year, no matter what goes one, once school ends, I get this kind of exhausted feeling that overcomes me. I think it has to do with the end of school. At the end of the school year, I'm exhausted from work, my migraines, side effects from new migraine medication (this year), etc. I have been sleeping a lot. Then I got a little insomnia. Nothing has changed with my headaches. I don't have a lot of energy. It's just been an all around strange month. I'm hoping that I can get my energy back for July and enjoy the rest of my summer!

Here's what I've been up to in June...

   

 

I've taken on many different identities over the last month as according to Starbucks. And also, I have learned that "Holly" isn't as easy as I thought it was to spell. Make sure you really enunciate that "h!"

Bjorn and I have made this simple recipe for dinner a few times this month. We brown a sweet onion with some garlic and olive oil and then throw in some Angus ground beef from Kroger. We then add some red wine, mushrooms, salt, pepper, pasta sauce, and Italian seasoning. Once it is cooked, we throw it over Barilla's new pasta with veggies. We like the rotini with spinach and zucchini. Then we top it with Parmesan cheese. Delicious.

Caprese salad is seriously my favorite thing to eat in the summer! Bjorn and I have been gobbling up tomatoes right now. Since my Grandpa Burns (my mom's dad) passed away, I haven't had any homegrown tomatoes to use in my salad, but it is still delicious! I miss my grandpa's tomatoes, but this salad sure does make me think of him!

I've been working on these goodies! I love vintage brooches and thought about displaying them in pictures frames! The way I've been playing around with the idea hasn't been working, so I bought some new fabric for backing and am trying a few more again with new fabric! I started an Etsy shop (just haven't listed anything yet). I am going to start listing some of my vintage thrifting finds and hopefully these beauties once I get them going! My shop's name on Etsy is Hollyssecondhobby!

   

Remy has been getting comfy in his new home! Isn't he super cute? He's a sweetheart too! And I don't think we've had a runaway since school got out! That's some amazing progress, but it's mostly because me and Bjorn know now how to keep him from getting out! We've learned all his tricks! ;)

Bjorn and I have been slowly refinishing our hardwood floors by ourselves. Wow it is a lot of work. So far we only have the living room finished. We are working on the dining room this week. Then the two bedrooms are next, and we're done!

We had to get some new tools, which Bjorn liked. 

This is what my bedroom looked like from my side of the bed while we refinished the floors! The dining room and our bedroom were overtaken by living room furniture! 

We have been eating almost once a week at my favorite Mexican restaurant ever! Maragaritas is on Benson street in Reading (by the wedding dress shops). It is sooo good! We love the owner! He is super nice and friendly! We go in to talk to him as much as to eat their food! This is one of my favorites: carnitas tacos. I also love the Pastor torta and the asada torta! So good! Everything's good! And if they have homemade agua fresca or horchata, you have to get some!

My sister, Ashley, lives in Chicago now, so she came to visit in June with her husband, Luke, and my nephew Bernie (he's a St. Bernard!). Here are some pictures of lunch at Nordstrom Cafe.

Me and Rachael

Ashley and Luke

Webster (my mom's boyfriend), my mom, and Sean (Rachael's boyfriend)

There's my nephew playing with his cousin, Bella (my mom's dog).

One of my thrifting missions is to find Babysitter Club Books. I used to have so many of these books! I loved them when I was younger. A few years ago my mom's basement flooded, and everything that she had been storing in the basement was ruined. I'm pretty sure I may have had some of these books down there! So my mission is to rebuild my collection (and relive my childhood). So far, I think I have found a total of eight on half off day, so they all were 25 cents each!

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Bjorn and I have been to two Cincinnati Reds baseball games. They were super fun! One of the games our friend invited us to because she won tickets at work, and she had amazing seats right behind home plate! 

Bjorn ended up buying me a new pair of shoes because our new puppy (we found out he's really a puppy, not 4 years old like we were told!) ate one pair of my shoes and likes to pinkeln in the other. Does everyone get my pinkeln reference? That's German for pee-pee. The first time I said it, one of my friends asked me what I was talking about. That my English version of pee. I thought it sounded similar, but maybe not! So hopefully I just cleared up any confusion! My dog kept peeing in my shoes. Seriously. I think he likes me.

I bought a gnome for my garden. I'm so excited! I've always wanted a gnome! And he was on sale!

I also signed up for this awesome book swap over at The Book Monsters called Christmas in July! I am super excited about it. You can check it out here.

I tried a new drink. It's called a Sazerac. It had rye whiskey and absinthe. Delicious! Bjorn was driving, so I had two ;) 

I got a super amazing purse with maps all over it from an Instagram shop @sirensthriftypics. It didn't have a strap, so I used the one from my vintage Coach purse, and there you have it! Isn't it just too cute?!?

And lastly, Bjorn and I also got invited by his good friend, Tim, to the Lionel Richie concert. CeeLo Green opened. I serenaded Bjorn by singing him every Lionel Richie song with lots of emotion and hand gestures. He laughed. Did anyone else love Lionel growing up. He is a serious showman!

That is what I was up to in June. What were you up to? I'd love to hear it!

Don't forget to enter my 100th post giveaway here! You could win a $25 Target giftcard and fun Tried It Tuesday finds!

Love and happiness <3 Holly