Another month is almost upon us, the middle of winter rears its freezing head, it’s the end of the financial year, and we’re now more than halfway through the Gregorian year!
June has come and gone, and throughout the past few days, I’ve been acquainting myself with things like soups, teas, and comfort food. The countless bowls of two-minute noodles and toasted sandwiches have made their way to my stomach and thighs, but winter is pretty much all about gaining blubber to keep you warm, so I’m not too fussed. I now present to you, the list of various things in June that tickled my fancy. Enjoy.
Drink:
I didn’t really drink anything particularly fascinating, other than a FABULOUS wine when I was finishing an essay and needed some extra motivation (a 2015 White Label sparkling Pinot Grigio, in case you were interested in my go-to wine/wanted to buy me a bottle). But I guess the drink that I’ve been drinking the most was tea.It’s more relaxing than coffee, it’s relatively cheaper, and I like the variety you can get. Peppermint, green, herbal… all tea is good! Except liquorice tea. Liquorice tea tastes foul.
Food:
Dark chocolate. I have always loved using dark chocolate as a baking ingredient, but lately, I’ve been devouring it by the bar. Especially the Lindt chocolate bars (the best ones include the hazelnut, sea salt and caramel, mint, and raspberry flavours). My local supermarket had a huge sale on Lindt chocolate the other day, and after spending most of my salary on dark chocolate, I now feel like the chunky German boy from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Song:
Familiar by Agnes Obel. It’s her latest single and I’m praying that she releases a new album soon! I have been madly in love with Agnes Obel for over four years and am still kicking myself for not going to her Brisbane concert in 2014. She’s this awesome Danish singer/songwriter who writes gorgeous melodies that sound like the soundtrack to an Edgar Allen Poe novel. If you want to hear the magic that can happen when piano and cello are intertwined with haunting vocals, check her out. Songs like The Curse, Aventine, Riverside, and Run Cried The Crawling are some of my personal favourites.
Book:
Seeing as it’s been too cold to even get out of bed, I’ve been spending a lot of time snuggled up in bed, reading. One of the books I considered having as the June Favourite was Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. It’s kinda sad that I was reading Gone Girl about a year after it was The Big Thing, but Gone Girl was a really good book and is well worth a read. However, I’d have to say that The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin has been the best book I’ve read in June. Normally you would never catch me reading a self-help/motivation book (other than that time I read Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying), but I was fascinated by everything that Rubin had to say, so I’ve actually resolved to start my own Happiness Project as of tomorrow.
Television/Web Series:
Without question, it is the latest season of Orange is the New Black. I have been bingeing my way through Season 4 and have loved everything about it. Well, everything except Piper. I still think Piper is the most irritating character and I only watch the show for everyone else. Bring on Season 5!!
Technology/Internet Thing:
It’s certainly nothing new, but I’m really loving a lot of the beauty/lifestyle tutorials on YouTube. To me, there’s something oddly satisfying about watching other people that have their sh*t together tell you how you can do the same. Some of my favourites are Melanie Murphy, Rachellea, Estée Lalonde, Samantha Maria, Stephanie Lange and Patricia Bright.
Beauty:
This is tough. I’ve been going through a heap of new beauty/skincare products this month in an attempt to protect my skin from the harshness of winter. My new mask from Lush has been a godsend. The Catastrophic Cosmetic mask is great for my lousy acne-prone/oily/dull skin, while also keeping my face nice and smooth. And it even tastes nice (not that you should eat your face masks). But it does crumble up into little flakes when it dries, leaving your body covered in this blueberry flavoured dandruff.
So while I do love my new pot of face goo, I have been slathering my skin with large amounts of the Wild Argan Oil Body Lotion from the Body Shop. It smells truly scrumptious and my skin is super smooth.
And that’s about it. I can’t say anything more about my favourite things. June was a fairly non-eventful month for me. However, during July I’ll be busy with a few theatre/arts productions that I’m involved in, as well as the terrifying ordeal of turning nineteen, so that will all be something for you all to look forward to. Hopefully, I can get Part II of TGCC done as well.
Pinch and a punch for the first day of the month, stay warm this winter, make good voting choices in the Australian Federal Election tomorrow, and I hope that you all have a wonderful July.
Much love,
Pear and Ivy x
Pear and Ivy 