June 2024 Diary - Mid Year Recap
It’s official, we are halfway through 2024. The last few years have felt like they start off so slow. Maybe it’s the weather makes January and February feel particularly sluggish, but as the year goes on, it always feels like it picks up pace. By the time we get to summer, I feel like the rest of the year is already in sight!
At the beginning of this year, I felt I didn’t have enough plans and then that came around and bit me in the ass when bunch of unexpected things came up. I started the year coming back from Medellin, Colombia, took a short trip to LA to see friends in February. In March, I visited a friend in Austin, TX and then went to Banff to ski with my boyfriend. In April, blessedly I went absolutely nowhere but I did get my new kitten, Wisp! My team also underwent a huge re-org and at the same time, I launched my first product at work. In May, I hosted a friend from out of town, I went to Seattle for a week for work, and then had a quick turnaround to do a girls trip in Miami. Now we are just past June where I got promoted and I just got back from New York where I presented at to a 500 person audience at a conference for work, and in a few days I leave for Greece and Italy!
Thanks for reading On Second Thought! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
In honor of the middle of the year - I’m doing a quick round up of my favorites, and highs/lows.
Highs/Lows (I only picked 3 to really force rank myself this year)
Highs
Getting Wisp!! - he is truly so cute and even though it has been an adjustment, I really look forward to seeing him every day.
Presenting at the conference in NY - this was a huge accomplishment for me and such a high; I’ll probably do a whole post about this next month!
Miami girls Trip - love love love seeing my college girlfriends and this was the first time we did a beach trip together!
Lows
Re-org at work - there was a huge re-org effort which meant I had to move out of a team I really loved being on
Traveling too much - there was a few week stretch in May that felt really overwhelming. I was gone a lot and had a lot of guilt about being away from home and away from Wisp
Continuous small injuries - it feels like I am never entirely healthy anymore. I had an irritated wrist earlier in the year, now lately my calf is prone to seizing, it just feels like there’s always something on my body that I’m worried about.
When I lay out my highs and lows like this - the highs are REALLY high and the lows really are not that bad. It has been a bonafide great start to the year - it may have been jam packed, but jam packed with good and I’m hoping that trend continues.
Mid Year Media/Product Favorites (If you want to see the full consumption report for May/June, it is all the way at the bottom, other months are in their respective posts!); again I am picking only 3 things per category!
Books - Dune by Frank Herbert, The Final Curtain by Keigo Higashino, and Red Rising by Pierce Brown (only the first in the series is a favorite though!)
Movies - Dune 2, Nimona, The Wind Rises
TV Shows - Frieren, Summertime Rendering, Station Eleven (Honorable Mention: Hazbin Hotel)
Restaurants - Asador Bastian (Chicago), Borit Gagae (LA), Dear Margaret (Chicago)
Skincare - CosRx Low ph Good Morning Gel Cleanser, Anua Cleansing Oil, Naturium Azelic Acid
Makeup - Pat McGrath Skin Fetish Sublime Perfection Foundation, Laneige Neo Essential Blurring Finish Powder, Tooq waterproof slim eyeliner
Fashion - Abercrombie Tank Tops, Spinelli Kilcollin Solarium Ring, Dolls Kill Lamoda Ankle Boots
Fitness - Oner Effortless Seamless Leggings, Lululemon Track That Short, Dry max socks
May/June Consumption Report (Favorites are above); May was not included in Vol 5 since it was so busy I barely had time to do anything that would make this list
I’ve developed the following rating system, it’s half Michelin inspired and half of my own making.
5/5 - go out of your way to consume this, it is incredible, we will have endless discussions if you do. I’m obsessed.
4/5 - It is good. If you pick it up, I bet you won’t be disappointed
3/5 - Take it or leave it. It didn’t offend nor impress me
2/5 - It maybe has a couple redeemable qualities. Would not consume it knowing what I know now.
/1/5 - Avoid at all costs. Go out of your way to avoid it.
Here are May & June’s full ratings
Books: These two months had a lot of small little travel pockets. When I’m busy I usually revert back to reading slightly easier material, hence the inclusion of fanfiction in this list!
Familiar by Leigh Bardugo (4/5)
All the Lovers in The Night by Mieko Kawakami (3/5)
Blood, Slutty, and Pathetic by WhatMurdah (this is a fanfic but I’m including it since it was 200k+ words) (4/5)
Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert (4/5)
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo (3/5)
The Gloriana Set by ThebeMoon (another fanfic, sue me, again this one was 200k+ words) (4/5)
Movies: Was on a lot of planes so was actually able to still watch quite a few new movies
Nimona (5/5)
When Marnie Was There (4/5)
Triangle of Sadness (4/5)
Bodies Bodies Bodies (4/5)
Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (3/5)
Hit Man (3/5)
Practical Magic (3/5)
Across the Spider Verse (5/5)
TV shows: Not a lot of time to watch TV but did squeeze these ones in! Also have quite a few in progress that will be added to future lists!
Station Eleven (4/5)
Kaiju No. 8 (4/5)
Bridgerton S3 (3/5)
Restaurants: I am Chicago based so if there is no city next to the restaurant that means it’s in Chicago/Chicago Area. A lot of travel these past months which means a lot of restaurants!
Fioretta (4/5)
Wilde Mediterranean Bar (3/5)
Cherry Tree Coffee (Seattle) (3/5)
Stoup Brewing (Seattle) (3/5)
Ba Bar (Seattle) (4/5)
Terra Plata (Seattle) (4/5)
Bangarak Kitchen (Seattle) (4/5)
Carrot (Miami) (4/5)
Havana 1957 (Miami) (4/5)
Panther Coffee (Miami) (4/5)
Playa Bowls (Miami) (4/5)
Mareva 1939 (Miami) (4/5)
Cafe Bastille (Miami) (4/5)
Pura Vida (Miami) (4/5)
Estiatorio Milos (Miami) (3/5)
Old’s Havana (Miami) (5/5)
Half Shell (5/5)
Han Mi Jeong (4/5)
Keen’s Chophouse (NYC) (4/5)
Valedor (4/5)
