Monthly Wrap-Up | June 2022

And just like that, we are officially into the seventh month of the year. The first half of the year is over. Yay?

Well, for those of you who love my monthly wrap-up rants, the second half of the month wasn’t quite eventful, and so, the rant is going to be significantly shorter. But you’re welcome to read this post here, which was just a life update!

The second half of the month included a little bit studying, writing two college essays (Once I’m done with the admission process, I’ll be sharing both of them on here, because personally I was kinda proud of writing them! And who knows, maybe I’ll take random topics and start writing on them, because I enjoyed writing the essays!). I also had my first interview, which was slightly stressful, and here’s to hoping I get in!

I also met up with a few of my friends, and I have plans to meet up with a few more in July. Here’s to hoping it’s all fun!

And, biggest achievement of the month- I started working out! According to my BMI, I am overweight, and one day I was like, I was a fit person until two years ago, I can become a perfectly fit person again, and dammit, I will. So, I have tried to cut down on junk (Just ate one half of a giant slice of pizza between 15 to 30 June and one packet of maggi, and a few biscuits. yay!) and I have started exercising quite a bit. I try to put in this mega huge workout once a week, it burns like 800 calories, and I do dance parties twice a week, and normal workouts the rest of the week. Dance party workouts are fun. There’s this YouTuber called madfit who does really cool dance parties, and there are also dance routines for just a single song, so I often end up dancing for one song after my normal workout. I suck at making up dance moves, so these dance parties are perfect for me. I also enjoy working out with Jo @growwithjo, as her workouts are really good. But yes, this month was full of sore muscles and me whining while working out and me sweating like crazy thanks to coolest summer ever.

Also, if you too like dance party workouts, and use some YT channel for workouts, do recommend the channel(s) to me, I’d love that!

Besides that, nothing very eventful happened.

As for food of the month, it’s not exactly a new recipe, it’s just a recipe with a twist.

So, I love boiled sweet corn, and I add Chaat Masala, Chilli Powder, Lemon juice and Butter to it. But I tried adding a bit of slightly toasted bread to it as well, and oh my god. It. Tastes. So. Good. I add pieces of bread that is on the edge of the loaf, like the topmost and bottommost slice of the bread, as I rarely like to eat it anyway, and it tastes so good😭😭. You should definitely try it!

Well that ended up being long anyway. Anyway, let’s get into the wrap-up!

Books I read:

I actually read a lot of books this month as I ended up reading multiple audiobooks. I have linked to my reviews!

1. As If On Cue by Marisa Kanter: ⭐⭐⭐.5
2. Adorkable by Cookie O’ Gorman: ⭐⭐
3. #TheRealCinderella by Yesenia Vargas: ⭐⭐⭐.5
4. #HatethatBoy by Yesenia Vargas: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
5. #GoodGirlBadBoy by Yesenia Vargas: ⭐⭐⭐
6. The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han: ⭐ (I loathed this book and the series- I do not see why it is so loved, it sucks, there I said it. Belly is effing dumb and just UGH)
7. It’s Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han: ⭐⭐ (This book gets a smidge better, but Belly is still dumb ugh again)
8. We’ll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han: ⭐ (This was somehow worse than the first book. Belly, literally in the entire book is basically cheating on Jeremiah by still loving Conrad, yet she’s like oh boo hoo Jere cheated on me. I hated everything about it. Also imagine what Belly will tell her children when asked about her love story- oh, I almost married your uncle but then realised I loved your father. That’s gross.)
9. Home Field Advantage by Dahlia Adler: ⭐⭐⭐.25
10. It’s All in How You Fall by Sarah Hennings: ⭐⭐⭐
11. Zyla and Kai by Kristina Forest: ⭐⭐⭐.5
12. Never Coming Home by Kate Williams: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
13. Eliza and her Monsters by Francesca Zappia: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (I loved this book, best read of 2022, thank you so much Naemi for recommending it to me!)
14. Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Let’s just say there’s a reason I don’t read historical fiction very often. Books like these which are heartwrenchingly beautiful are the reason)

The first 8 books were audiobooks. Thank you to the inventor of audiobooks for inventing them, because my reading life would be dead without them. And thank you to Nehal for influencing me to read them.

I also tried to make that thing where you list all the books you’ve read that month for the first time!

Movies, TV shows and YouTube I watched:

Honestly, I didn’t watch anything in particular this month? I wanted to watch Lightyear but I didn’t really get the time :((

Oh no, wait, I did watch this series called Rocket Boys which is a Hindi (although it does have a lot of English convos) web series based on two scientists Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai and I don’t really know what I think of it.

And I also started Suite Life on deck, and honestly, it’s kinda stupid? I still watch it whenever I am eating food alone though, lol.

I watched loads of 1D edits though, and I don’t even know why, because I am not a stan! I like some of their music sure, but a stan, is like peak! I haven’t even watched as many Why Don’t We edits as 1D edits. I am convinced Zayn and Harry were in a relationship though, or were at least very close friends. It is impossible that Zayn and Harry didn’t talk in the band as Zayn said in an interview after leaving the band. I know it sounds like I am a stan, but I swear I am not! I don’t know any of their birthdays or anything, I just enjoy watching and reading all thing boy bands haha.

(Edit: I wrote that on 21st June. After watching countless live performances, interviews and Zarry edits, I am now a 1D stan. I cannot help it, I love boy bands. And Zayn Malik and Harry Styles were dating. Anyone who doesn’t believe me, please check out Aarin Durham’s channel. I don’t know about now, but they were. Also, 1D Reunion must happen or else my boy band obsessed heart will break into tiny pieces. Also, I love Niall and I love Louis Tomlinson’s voice)

ALSO, STRANGER THINGS SEASON 4 VOLUME II OUT TOMORROW!!!

Songs I hear this month:

Okay, my playlist this month is full of Red (TV), because I finally heard the entire thing! I still don’t know all the songs, but I’ve heard them at least once, so that’s an accomplishment. And Harry’s House is so nice too! I loved Late Night Talking and Love of My Life!

There’s also this playlist a YouTuber called Nena Shelby made, which is really nice and sad, and perfect for the saudade in all of us!

The last few days of the month brought an obsession with 1D *screams ZARRY4EVA*, so here’s the playlist with 1D music and music from the boys’ solo careers as well.

My Favourite Blog Posts of the Month:

Well, there were just two I particularly loved- 7 Book Tropes/Genres I can’t Get Enough of and Advantages of Reading Audiobooks. I didn’t really post a lot of original content this month but that’s something I hope to improve in the coming month.

My Favourite Posts Froms Around the Blogosphere:

Like last month, I didn’t really blog hop a lot this month, but these are my favourite posts!

1. Line @First Line Reader did a post titled ‘Do I Like Books Recommended For My Zodiac Sign?‘ and that post has so much effort, and I simply loved reading it! I might try the idea myself!
   
2. Veronika @Wordy and Whimsical did a post discussing her least favourite tropes!
   
3. Cherelle @A Bolt Out of the Book discussed heroism and villainy, and I enjoyed reading her views!
   
4. Mint @Mint Loves Books did quite a few interesting discussions this month but my favourite to read was called ‘Being a Fast Reader doesn’t make you a ‘Bad’ Reader’.

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Goals for July:

1. Have fun.
2. Work
3. Workout
4. Write good posts
5. Blog hop

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Overall, June was not a bad month, even though I had to get some things done, and I didn’t. But I was happier this month as compared to all other months of 2022, so yay!

Let me know in the comments down below how your June was! What are your plans for July?