June 2020 Highlights

The end of June slipped by and we’re already several days into July! I considered skipping my June highlights post, but knew that I’d regret it down the road. I write these posts because I love seeing all of my small efforts throughout the month add up to something much bigger. Each day, I try to make sure that I spend just a little time reading, knitting, writing morning pages, and habit tracking. Here’s what all of those little things add up to each month!

I’m sharing this post up with Ginny at Small Things for her YarnAlong linkup (despite the fact that I’m super late to the linkup). I’ll also link up with Anne Bogel on the 15th for her QuickLit post.

Favorite Books in June

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I finished 10 books in June and most of them were on audio. I hit quite a reading wall last month and found it difficult to concentrate on anything in print. The option to switch to audio has been a lifesaver for my reading life.

Atomic Habits was one of the three books that I finished in print form. It was a fantastic book on creating tiny habits that help you reach huge goals. I’ve read lots of books on building habits over the years and this is the best one yet, hands down. I’m using the principles from this book to help me make healthier eating choices.

A Dying Fall is part of the Ruth Galloway series. Dr. Galloway is a forensic archeologist and is basically a modern day Indiana Jones. In this book, she’s settled into her new life of single motherhood and goes on vacation with her daughter and Cathbad, a druid who has become her friend over the book series. Of course, the purpose of this vacation is to investigate an odd occurrence. This book had a very witch-y atmosphere thanks to a visit to a centuries old witch’s cottage!

The Vanishing Half is a contender for my favorite book of 2020. Brit Bennett wrote a beautiful book that muses on our identities and the possibilities (and consequences) that come from leaving them behind. This was my first book by this author and I’m hoping to pick up her debut, The Mothers, soon. The Vanishing Half was an excellent book to listen to on audio if you’re looking for your next listen!

If you’re interested in the other books that I’ve read this year, check out my 2020 Reading page here on my blog. It links to my Google Sheets page, so you can see all of the variables I track and the pivot tables that calculate the data for me.

Hobonichi Weeks

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My Hobonichi Weeks has become my constant companion. I’ve been using this slim notebook to track so much of my life. On the right side of the spread, I track my daily/weekly tasks, the habits I’m working to strengthen, and the amount of time I spent writing each day. The left side is reserved for gratitude, gripes, or anything else I want to remember about each day. I started this practice in January and wasn’t sure if I’d be able to keep it up, but I’ve stayed steady thanks to my commitment to blogging about it each Monday morning.

You can see all of my Hobonichi Weeks updates here.

Knitting

In June, I finished my Birkin Sweater (heads up: Ravelry link), which I started in March. It had become quite a slog by the end, like most sweaters. It doesn’t fit very well and is a bit lumpy, but I’m so excited to finally have a Birkin of my own.

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The Through the Loops Mystery Knit Along began on June 1st! It has been years since I participated in a mystery knit along, but decided to join this one. I’m so glad I did! It’s been nice to have something light and cool to knit on during the warm days of June and I’ve loved watching this grow! Each clue has been a manageable amount of knitting to finish in a week, which was quite a relief. I was worried that I’d constantly be behind!

At the end of June I started the Mariechen cardigan (heads up: Ravelry link). I’ve been loving this beautiful Barred Owl colorway from Ontheround and am thrilled with how quickly the DK weight yarn is knitting up. I was intimidated by this pattern at first, but I’ve settled into it and am enjoying it.

Morning Pages

I wrote morning pages every day in the month of June. I am so thrilled about that! I even finished one notebook and started another – so that’s another filled journal going up on my shelf. I started writing morning pages in 2016 and did it by following Julia Cameron’s letter of the law – three pages every day. Over time, I’ve decreased it to just one page a day, but I don’t think that’s diminished the effectiveness of this practice. I’m currently on a morning pages streak (91 days as of typing this post), but before I settled into this rhythm I would find myself grumpy and with a short temper on the days that I’d skip. I’m sure that it’s correlation and not causation, but I’ll do almost anything to set my day up for success and I know that writing my morning pages is one sure way to keep myself on track each day.

I am loving these inexpensive Minimalism Art journals – they are literally half the price of the comparable Moleskine and Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks and I don’t notice any difference in quality. It looks like their availability on Amazon is pretty low right now, so I’m hoping that means this company is getting a lot of business!

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I think that covers everything! Like I said earlier in this post, I love how small efforts each day add up to something big: a filled notebook, finished knitting projects, new favorite books to share, and a collection of pages that literally tracks my life. Thanks for reading today! I don’t usually publish posts on Sundays, but it’s been hard to figure out where this post belongs this month. I so appreciate you taking the time to visit!