What Made June Good

You get to that point where you want to review how you are spending your time and what you really enjoyed. Repeating the dismal is not a way to spend life, the mundane will always happen and that is okay, but enjoyment should be acknowledged and remembered. So here is my list of what made June good.

1. Getting accepted into my paralegal program! Starting in September I am in school again, it was a hard decision to make, but once I did I have felt lighter and freer than I have in a very long time.

2. Orange blossoms, June was a month of orange blossom perfumes. The greatest delight though being Neroli Blanc intense eau de parfum by Au Pays de la Fleur d'Oranger. Such a dreamy romantic fragrance. The follow-up of course being Al-Rehab's Nebras, a classic floral that is unique and absurdly budget friendly. The old standby orange blossom that I wore frequently Elie Saab Le Parfum eau de parfum.

3. As for books, I read a lot, but what were the best ones in June.
-The Passion by Jeanette Winterson, long on my to-read list, this proved to be a trippy bittersweet slim historical novel that transported me to Venice when I needed a vacation away from my own reality.
-The Accidental Universe by Alan Lightman, you get science, philosophy, and art combined in a beautiful and attainable little volume that makes you think and feel a little bit wizened by the end of it.
-A Reader's Manifesto by B.R. Myers, if you are a genre reader like I am this provides a nice support in confirming your reading habits are actually quite good. Do I agree with everything he argues, no, but a lot of it I do.
-Sandman Vol. 4: Seasons of Mists by Neil Gaiman, what else can be said about this classic series other than it is amazing and gets better as it progresses. Gaiman is a favorite writer for a reason.

4. Best things I watched.
 -Orange is the New Black (okay this is expected and like every crazy person I watched this in absurd short amount of time because basically Netflix demands it).
-The Flat, amazing little documentary that I still deeply desire to talk to somebody about.

5. Recipe that I could not stop eating: Yotam Ottolenghi's Mejadra. I kept on eating spoonfuls of this out of the pan, biting into the coriander seeds so perfect, along with all the other aromatics. Followed by Mark Bittman's pilaf with black-eyed peas (also could stop myself from spoonfuls out of the pan). Obvious theme here is rice. What can I say white rice these days is basically a luxury to me and when cooked properly is worthy of adoration.

6. Small joy: getting my table, chairs, and cabinet out of storage for the new apartment. Completeness for me is having the kitchen set up.

7. Grand Experiment: Trying out the no-poo method of hair washing. So far my hair is exceptionally shiny and really healthy, still waiting for my oily head to get used to it. Also making a strawberry shrub for the first time.

8. Music worm stuck in my head that I did not mind:

June mainly was a month of moving. No real outdoor adventures but July is shaping up differently.

image: 'Morning in Venice' by Duran Djukaric