Sunday 30 June 2019

June Update

We're already halfway through the year and it's time for the June update!

Read previous updates here:

Jan: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/02/january-update.html

Feb: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/02/february-update.html

March: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/04/march-update.html

April (+ Beltane Inspiration): https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/04/april-update-beltane-inspiration.html

May: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/05/may-update.html

This month I started a depression course with Recovery College. I've been going through a more depressive period lately, but I'm finding the course helpful so far. I also went to a meetup with an anxiety friendship group at Alcampo in Brighton a couple of weekends ago and that was fun. Yesterday was the local meetup of the Action for Happiness group I belong to as well.

I  also went to Mayberry Garden Centre with my mum (I bought my orange candle and lemonade for Litha from there; see Litha post) and had a drink in the coffee shop, a strawberry creme frappe. Here's a pic:

 

I did some "no-baking" this month,  first of all these chocolate oatmeal bars: https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2016/09/26/no-bake-bars-chocolate-oatmeal/

I'd had them saved on my Pinterest Recipes To Make board for quite a while, lol. They're "clean eating" but I used butter instead of coconut oil. I did have some coconut oil but it went off, I think, and it can be quite expensive to buy. I didn't like the bars that much because they were quite bitter with the cocoa. I used Bournville cocoa (dark chocolate) because it's what I had in, so they probably would have been better with a milk chocolate one.

So a couple of days later I made another lot, which I'd previously done in 2016. Here's the recipe: https://moneysavingmom.com/best-ever-chocolate-oatmeal-no-bake-bars-clean-eating/

It's also clean eating but you can adjust the recipe if you want (like I did!). These were nice, because they use chocolate chips (compared to the dark chocolate cocoa I used for the first recipe). Plus I'd made them before so know I like them. Here's a picture:

They hadn't set yet but tasted nice!

On the 21st it was Litha aka the Summer Solstice/Midsummer. Read my Litha 2019 post here: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2019/06/litha-2019.html

I mentioned that I went up to my favourite hill to take some sunset pics in the evening and saw some sheep. Here's a photo that I thought I'd save for this post:


It seems strange that we're already in June! I did a mid year reflections post over on my other blog Falling Petals. You can read that here if you like: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2019/06/mid-2019-reflections.html

We're past the longest day now and the days have started getting a bit shorter, but it won't be that noticeable yet. June to August is my favourite time of year and we still have lots of summer to go. :)

The weather had been quite cold for June (unlike last year when it was very hot!), being around 14 degrees Celsius (about 57 Fahrenheit) to 19C (66F),  but it's warmed up just at the end. It was  24 degrees (75F) the weekend after Litha and 29C (84F) yesterday, the hottest day of the year so far. There's been a heatwave in mainland Europe with temperatures over 40C, but I think the hottest it will get in the UK is early 30s.  It's actually 20 years this month since I went on holiday to Paris (can't believe it's been so long!) and I'm glad I wasn't there during a really hot time because I'm not used to it, lol.

Last week I had an ice cream ("Miss" Whippy/99) in the park which was one of the "summer things" I like to do, and I'm planning to go to the beach soon. I'm planning to do a Summer Inspiration post, but for now here is a previous post with some ideas for celebrating summer (a Litha and summer post: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/06/celebrating-litha-summer.html


Read:  Quite a few this month, tend to have more than one on the go! Dark Ghost by Christine Feehan (Carpathian series), Sea Creatures by Susanna Daniel (started these in May, think I started Dark Ghost in April actually and came back to it!), A Gathering Storm by Rachel Hore (got this last year and started reading it but picked it up again this month), The Colour of Milk by Nell Leyshon (had been on my Pinterest Books To Read board for ages and happened to see it at the library recently), The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones and The House at Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell.

Played: Re-played Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (one of my fave TR games!).

Current Favourite Songs: Still been playing the ones I mentioned in May's update a lot, but also like Janine's Vacation and Bey T- Wololo (Kenyan).

Links I've found useful:

I came across the site It's Lauren Victoria, where the blogger Lauren has written several posts about mental health. Here are a few I've found helpful:

About why it's important to keep the mental health conversation  going: https://www.itslaurenvictoria.co.uk/why-its-important-to-keep-the-mental-health-conversation-going/

To people who are suffering with their mental health: https://www.itslaurenvictoria.co.uk/to-those-who-are-suffering-with-their/

4 things that changed her mindset for the better: https://www.itslaurenvictoria.co.uk/4-things-changed-mindset-better/

Also this one about dating with anxiety (not going on dates currently but good for future reference): https://www.itslaurenvictoria.co.uk/dating-when-you-have-anxiety/


Post about spirituality helping to overcome anxiety:  http://www.obscureclouds.com/how-spirituality-is-helping-me-overcome-my-anxiety/

Finding the magic where you're feeling down: https://daisybutter.com/2019/06/finding-the-magic-when-youre-feeling-down/

Interview with Tammy Solis from Girl Unfinished about being spiritual and following the Law of Attraction: http://www.thepeculiarbrunette.com/can-you-be-spiritual-follow-the-law-of-attraction/


Happy Summer! (Or Happy Winter depending where you are!). Hope you have a great 2nd half of the year. :) 

No comments:

Post a Comment