Reading // The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda, The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin, Home Before Dark by Riley Sager, An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Planning // weekend getaway in Western Michigan along the coast of Lake Michigan, a July whole30 next month
Watching // Facebook live video of The Toledo Zoo’s reveal of Lily the Wombat, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man with host Emmanuel Acho (linked here), planner and beauty youtube as always
Cooking // homemade meatball subs with broccoli salad for Father’s Day dinner, lots of salads with roasted carrots and sweet potato with some kind of protein like chicken sausage, kielbasa, or meatballs
Eating // Durty Bird, The Executive Diner, Cinco De Mayo, QQ’s Kitchen, Zingo’s, The Soup Cafe (Lansing, MI), Lakeside Cafe (Muskegon, MI), Grand Armory Brewing Company (Grand Haven, MI), The Biscuit (Holland, MI)
Drinking // Biggby iced coffee, lacroix, Arby’s jamocha shake, beer → Pigeon Hill Brewing Co. and Unruly Brewing Company (Muskegon, MI), Grand Armory Brewing Company (Grand Haven, MI), Big Lake Brewing (Holland, MI)
Crafting // ehh, not a very creative month, gave up on #the100dayproject at the beginning of the month when a lot of Instagram accounts stopped posting due to heightened exposure of the Black Lives Matter movement, lost steam with planner spreads at the end of the month when work hours ramped back up to normal
Going // first weekend visit back to Cleveland since January to see Kyle’s dad for his birthday/Father’s Day, weekend getaway to Western Michigan including USS SILVERSIDES Submarine Museum (Muskegon, MI), P. J. Hoffmaster State Park (Norton Shores, MI), Windmill Island Gardens (Holland, MI)
Loving // Lily the Wombat at The Toledo Zoo, Book of the Month subscription, picnic lunch and catching up with friends home from California, dog sitting for Kyle’s coworkers – pupper was so well behaved and calm
Dreaming // visiting national parks, road trips in Escape Camper Vans, visiting friends in California, fall and football season in Nebraska
Feeling // scared during sobriety test at 2am on the side of the highway while semis rush past driving 70+ mph (DD’ing for Kyle and his coworkers), upset and discouraged with the removal of my paid drive time privilege at work, overwhelmed with my increasing hours at work, like I’m falling more and more in love with Kyle through this pandemic, proud of my weight loss journey
Listening // Podcasts: Nutritional Freedom, Live Free Creative, Approachable, Fake Doctors, Real Friends with Zach and Donald, The Financial Confessions
Listening // Spotify Playlists: 90s Pop Rock Essentials, All Out 00s, Today’s Top Hits, This is Jason Mraz, 2000s Teen Angst. Song: Savage Love by Jason Derulo on repeat
Celebrating // 20 lb. weight loss, childhood friend’s baby shower (from afar, because of COVID), 20 blog posts shared, 2 custom wheelchair deliveries, high school BFF asked me to be her maid of honor, Father’s Day with homemade dinner and an evening walk at a state nature preserve, improving work hours to 30-40 hours a week by the end of the month
Learning // how to be an anti-racist, my own personal racial biases, researching engagement ring styles, learning about the 4 c’s of diamond quality
Supporting // Black Lives Matter, signing petitions to bring justice to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Julius Jones #8cantwait initiative for Toledo community (read more here), requested books from Toledo Public Library about race (all recommendations found here)
Buying // bike shorts from Amazon, new happy planner product, Lulu’s dress, new Nutpods flavor (toasted marshmallow)
Monthly Mood Board //
Current Events // via wikipedia
[4] Virginia Governor orders removal of Robert E. Lee monument in the state capital Richmond
[7] number of worldwide cases of COVID-19 surpasses 7 million, US remains global epicenter account for approximately 26% of all reported and confirmed cases in the world
[9] Harvard University study suggests COVID-19 may have been spreading in China as early as August 2019
[15] Supreme Court rules that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination against individuals on basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity
[22] NASCAR launches an investigation after a noose was found in the garage of Bubba Wallace, the lone Black driver in the series at Talladega Superspeedway (Alabama)
[23] NASCAR and the FBI uncover the “noose” was in fact the garage door pull, had not been touched or moved since early last fall
[24] MLB commissioner implements a 60 game season, players to report to training camps on July 1 to prepare for a July 23rd or 24th opening day
[30] Minor League Baseball cancels its 2020 season due to COVID-19 pandemic
Until tomorrow, Meryn
MERYN MADE 