45. Things I've been loving
Throughout June and July
Seeing as it’s summer and we’re all in holiday mode, I’ve decided to give you what you asked for on Instagram and giving you a list (I love making lists) after speaking to you last week about my mental breakdown. Here are some things I’ve been loving lately, but first…
HELP ME OUT ⬇️
1- Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novels have been a vibe throughout June. My personal favourite is probably Daisy Jones and The Six because it’s intennnnnnse but Malibu Rising is also a nostalgic vibe. The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo well, it’s good. Her books are definitely great, light and easy summer reads 📚
2 - THE SUN ☀️ I’ve been loving sitting 20-30 mins a day in the sun but now it’s getting way too hot so I haven’t been doing it as much. My favourite thing to do it sit on the terrace with an iced coffee and read under the awning.
3 - These courgette and cheese fritters (or croquetas) are amazing. You may be wondering why this random recipe is on this list, well, we’re currently having a bit of an overgrowth of courgette and cucumber so we’ve been looking for new, interesting (and tasty) ways to eat them and this is 100% my favourite 🥒
4 - Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh is A VIBE. It’s gross, disgusting, creepy, traumatic and fantastic. I wish I could read it again for the first time. You may really dislike it or you may love it. If you’ve not read any of Ottessa’s work before, maybe don’t start with this one because it’s a bit “wow” but it’s fantastic if you love/like her style.
5 - Playing the guitar 🎸 - I’m having classes again with the one and only Dluna and I’m loving it. I can now play more or less 4 songs, not perfectly, but I’ll get there.
6 - Iced coffee is my summer drink 🧊☕️ - A double shot of espresso, two little ice cubes and a splash of milk (a small splash). You could call it an iced cortado really I guess, still amazing. We’ll bring the warm flat whites back in winter.
7 - Flowers 💐 since living in the new house we’ve been told by everyone with flowers in their gardens to pick some to take home because if not they’ll just wither and they’re better off in your home and your company, so every week we’ve been adding new little arrangements to our home’s decoration.
*A little trick for flowers is: add vinegar and sugar to the vase’s water and they last way longer.
8 - Studio Ghibli films 🎞🍿, I am in lo-ve. I really enjoyed Spirited away (el viaje de Chihiro) but my fave is Howl’s moving castle (El castillo deambulante) which I saw as a child and had forgotten about.
*UPDATE: I recently watched Princess Mononoke and it’s my favourite, such a beautiful story and such beautiful animations.
9 - Cherries 🍒 - We have a big cherry tree in front of our house which is basically abandoned so we’ve been eating all of the cherries for like a month non stop, they are so so so delicious and juicy and I’ve never tasted any like them before. Sadly, their time has come to an end and we’ll have to wait until next summer when they come back again. In nature everything has its time and it’s course ❤️🩹
10 - Vinted and second hand shops, I no longer buy brand new clothes since having discovered Vinted. First of all, it’s true what they say, you will sell everything you upload and the French buyers are the best. Second of all, you can literally find anything on there for such cheap prices and great condition stuff. You will not see me spending 100 euros on trainers ever again.
Also, I bought some awesome clothes for 2-3 euros the other day in a charity shop and again, never shopping in Inditex shops again.
11 - Curly hair routine 💇🏽♀️ this has been a ball breaker a lot of the time because I’ve been styling my hair on a wash day for like 40 minutes to it end up looking shit but, I’m getting there. Through Instagram videos I saw that those waves my hair has wet may be because my hair is actually wavy (not full on curly) so I decided to give it a try and it turns out it is. “Embrace your natural hair” they all said, now I either look like a lion, a witch or Emily whose been dragged through a hedge backwards. On a good day we get a curly headed Emily.
12 - Tattoos, I am CRAVING new tattoos and I have some super cute and cool ideas but in this new area where we’re living I have no trusted tattoo artist. Mine are either in Madrid or Málaga. If anyone in La Rioja reads this and has a friend that tattoos, hit me up (please)
13 - Journaling ✍🏼 I’ve been writing in my journal a lot an it’s helping me a lot to keep my thoughts under control. I’m an overthinker and I get myself into trouble just by thinking about everything way too much. I find that if I write everything down, it helps to get it out of my head and it also helps me to stop and think about the situation, analyse it, and most of the time, come up with a solution. A couple of people asked me about my favourite journal so I’ll link it here again: LINK TO JOURNAL
14 - Swimming in rivers - the water is freezing and you have to wear Crocs or some type of waterproof shoe because the bottom is full of twigs, rocks and possible insects and fish 😖 but when you have no beach near by and its 40 degrees Celsius, it’s a dream come true.
Otra fan de las listas por aquí 🤭 Voy a hacerme uno de esos cafés en cuanto pueda 💘