June, For Me

June is my favourite month.

Not only because it’s my birthday month but also because it marks summer – warmer weather (eh, hit and miss), the sunshine (if we wish hard enough), that sweet 3-month break from University! Although I didn’t really experience any of the three things I just listed IN ENGLAND, I did in the US for 10 days, not 3 months BUT I WILL TAKE WHAT I CAN GET. πŸ˜†

Central Park chills πŸ’š

This month I have especially felt grateful for my support groups and communities. A big shout out to Matt this month for putting the biggest smile on my face, like, permanently. 😊

MAIN HIGHLIGHTS

  • πŸ‘― I had a blogger meet up with Chynna, Mutay and Micah in London earlier this month and it was AMAZING.
  • πŸ“š I successfully got on top of my work before my 10-day break to the US.
  • πŸ‘©πŸ»β€πŸ’» Interviewed for Project Prep’s Women In Tech blog
  • πŸ† I was nominated for four awards and won three for a project I led during my placement. Write up about this coming soon~
  • πŸ₯‡ Awarded Β£100 for another successful project! ⭐
  • 🎁 Colleagues at work surprised me with a wonderful birthday gift that included a travel guide for New York, I definitely made use of this when I was travelling! Along with other travel-related bits and bobs – it surprises me how this time last year I wouldn’t even get on a train and now colleagues think of me as “the one who travels a lot” at work πŸ€£
  • πŸ—½ New York happened. *cries*
  • πŸŽ‰ I turned 21, the best and most memorable way possible. In NYC, a day full of surprises! I can’t wait to share this with you all 😊
  • ☁ Successfully been meditating for over a year! Continuously kicking my anxiety’s butt, 1, 2, 3, boom, boom, boom! πŸ”₯

3 Things I’m HAPPY about

1. Organisation ✍🏻

At the start of the month, running up to my trip to the Big Apple, I had A LOT of work to complete. With only less than two months left of my placement, I set myself deadlines FOR EVERYTHING. I was under pressure most of the start of the month, staying organised really did help!

I wanted to get some blog posts out before my trip. Writing blog posts, as most of you know, takes a lot of effort and being a perfectionist myself, it took a lot more out of me to push for posts. Scheduling blog posts and spending spare time here and there writing instead of wasting time scrolling through social media really helped me hit my personal blogging goal for the month.

I’m also thankful for all the collaboration I did this month with Project Prep and Aaptiv and of course, the endless love on my last blog post. You guys rock my world! Missed them? You can read all of my June entries here.

2. New York City πŸš•

More to follow but in a nutshell, New York was such an experience and exploring with Matt was wonderful. From the fast-paced 10 days, I have learned so much in the city of my dreams, travelling and myself. I can’t wait to share my experience in detail with you all! I’ve micro-shared days on Instagram if you’re interested.

Matt also shared some πŸ”₯ content, you can find some posts from him here.

3. Gratitude πŸ’ž

I have not felt so much love and appreciation in my life ever.  I’ll go into more detail on a separate blog post about my 21st where it really stems from but for now, to my co-workers, friends and kind strangers – thank you! You all make my heart sing. πŸ’“

June in pictures

I took so many photos over June, I wish I could share them all with you! With that said, ALL my NYC photos will be up in the NYC post, through #tbt posts (because seriously, it’s so beautiful) and you can find the majority on my Instagram. But my highlights are:

Left to right: CompSci Ball with Matt πŸ’–, Code First Girls meet up, Green Impact awards ceremony, meeting Chynna & Mutay, trip to London, meeting Micah, NYC 😍

MONTHLY FAVOURITES

Apps

Swarm

Note: This is totally Matt’s fault for getting me so obsessed with this app. Swarm is a fun check-in app where you earn coins, unlock stickers and GUYS THERE IS A LEADERBOARD. *Competitive, completionist gamer-self rises from the dead*

My Swarm check-ins this year so far!

Not only is it fun, it’s also super useful when writing up travel blog posts! I used it a lot when writing up my trips to Portugal, Nice and Amsterdam this year!

Five Minute Journal

I mentioned in my previous monthly favourites how much I love the Five Minute Journal. Since I was travelling a lot and going home late after long days, I sometimes didn’t have the energy to write in my journal. I decided to download the app version which actually motivates me to write in it especially if I’m replying to a text! Also: digital. Digital versions of things will always have my heart 😍

Food

I had this Acai Bowl from Half Cup in London with Micah and ever since all I’ve been doing is dreaming of it 😍 I’ve attempted to re-create but this was JUST SO GOOD. Super good for your body too – I was bursting with energy after!

When I was in the US, I admit that I wasn’t eating very healthy (did someone say pizza? For a dollar? *throws 25 dollars away*) After a while, I was reminded of how eating bad, processed food made me feel. Matt then turns up one day with an amazinnnnnggg Protein Bowl. It was just what I needed. I’m copying it for meal prep ideas!

Protein bowl from Blossom Vegan, see that? IT HAS KALE. KALE IS LIFE.

Music


Next month

Goals

  • Try something new with fitness routine
  • Continue learning Ruby
  • Continue with mindfulness practice – try longer practices!
  • Get back into 100% clean eating! Don’t have that sugary doughnut, have an apple instead. Apples are good for you.
  • Get back into the 9pm sleep routine
  • Stop using your laptop in bed! Use it on your awesome, shiny IKEA desk and ultra wide monitor instead.

Events

  • My last full month interning at the University. I have learned so much, thank you πŸ’ͺ🏼
  • More blogger meet-ups: Holly and Amy πŸ‘­
  • London trip to GymShark pop-up event πŸ’ͺ🏼

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

Happiness is a choice, not a result. Nothing will make you happy until you choose to be happy. No person will make you happy unless you decide to be happy. Your happiness will not come to you. It can only come from you.

8 responses to “June, For Me”

  1. *grabs a bag of popcorn* 🍿 Hahahhhahh I was prepped to read all your birthday stuff for this post but PAULINE HOW ARE YOU HOLDING ALL OF THAT IN?!

    I’m so glad you had a fantastic day and also made the most of your time off uni. It needs to be done. When I was in uni I would do nothing during the long three-month breaks. Nothing productive, anyway. I never travelled when I was younger and I would spend all my time on the internet. 😦

    That said, I am glad you planned a bit ahead for blogging. As for wasting time on social media, GOSH ME TOO! I actually made the most of my time in Perth and stayed off the computer a fair bit (other than when working, obviously). I need to write more about my time there, so I guess we can look forward to each other’s posts πŸ˜„

    Congratulations on successfully meditating for a year. πŸ’­ I have to tell you, I am on a 30+ day streak! If I break my streak, it’s OK (I say that because sometimes I remember at 11pm and I’m like oh no!! quick!!)… I am just focussed on getting more into it. I am really liking it and also going to yoga as well. Also, I do like to try longer sessions, but ten minutes goes by slower than you think haha.

    I have a desk but it sucks shit. I have sat on my bed to use my laptop a lot in the past few years and I can’t wait to move out and buy a new desk. One that doesn’t have a panel that keeps toppling every time I try to use it!

    ALSO YES KALE IS LOVE.

  2. AHHHHHH. OMG PAULINE. I’m so excited for your New York posts!! I really enjoyed seeing your IG photos pop up on my newsfeed, made my day.

    Belated happy birthday by the way! I hope 21 is a great and fantastic year for you.

    Aaaand I love Swarm!! Chris always makes fun of me for having to check into places ALL THE TIME but that’s the whole point of the app and that’s what makes it so much fun. I totally need to add you on there!

    I’ve never heard of the 5 minute journal but I’m glad you mentioned it. Definitely gonna check it out – I generally prefer to write things down; but sometimes, just sometimes, everyhing gets too hectic and I completely forget to write it down.

    Anyways. Belated happy birthday again! Looking forward to posts about NY ♥

  3. Birthday months are always good πŸ˜€ Though I have to disagree with you on the warmer weather thing . . . don’t mind me, I’m a complete crankypants when summer hits, haha!

    I am so happy that you were able to meet Chynna, Mutay, and Micah! Blogger meetups are the best πŸ˜€ Good on you for completing your tasks before your trip! And congrats on the nominations and winning three of them! <3 Your hard work is paying off. Even better when you get cash award XD

    Happy belated birthday! You had a wonderful one, and you definitely deserve it!

    Swarm — man, I used to love it when it was known as Foursquare, but when they changed to Swarm — nope. No more X_X Glad you were able to find it useful, though!

    I am so happy for you, Pauline. Your trip to NY sounds like a blast πŸ˜€ Actually, you're entire birthday month was a blast! I'm glad to see so many good things happening to you ^_^

  4. Congrats on all your success in June! Oh and happy birthday πŸ™‚

    http://colleenwelsch.com

  5. I love the pedals on your hair. Looks 1337 legit – Matt is the real MVP for the legit shots ;). Look at you with all of your June accomplishments! Glad that you’ve been enjoying your time after all of your hard work during the school year!

    It’s great that you’ve been hustling with organizing everything you needed to do before heading out to NY! I can’t believe you went to New York for 10 days!! It felt longer for some reason XD. Your Swarm map looks legit!!! Part of me wishes I still kept up with it because I’ve been to a lot of places lately XD. Your food looks delish!

    Good luck with your goals for July!! Look at you with meeting more blog buddies ;)!! Keep on rocking, Pauline :)~

    1. P.S. Happy 21st birthday!!! It somehow slipped off of my comment because my brain was distracted with the other legit stuff that happened last month XD.

      21 years of greatness with more years to come!~

  6. Glad to hear you had such an amazing month, Pauline. I just read your 21st birthday post and it made me smile so much. Can’t wait to hear more about your New York trip.

    I’m with you on the clean-eating. I’ve been eating rubbish for the past couple of months and I can really feel the difference. Definitely need to go back to healthy eating again, I feel so much better when I do. That protein bowl looks amazing, by the way. I think I need to start making time to make meals like that.

    I bought the five minute journal app after seeing it on your blog and I love it. It’s such a positive way to start and end a day. I’ve found it great so far!

    Good luck with your last month interning! Hope you enjoy it!

    I’m so excited to meet you and Holly. This will be my first blogger meet up ever and I’m so glad it’ll be with two of my favourite bloggers!

    Hope July is just as good!

  7. I miss the 3-month break from University 😭

    I know I am late in commenting on this post, but I’m incredibly happy you had an awesome June. Your birthday month is always the best month, IMHO. So in saying that, I am looking forward to August 😜

    Swarm is one of my favourite apps! My friend and I spent about an hour talking about it the other day, talking about the coins you can earn and the different stickers you can collect. I love the trivia questions, as well!

    You probably saw on my Insta story, but I recently got a Five Minute Journal in a gift bag I received at TEDx – I definitely need to start it because just flicking through it and reading some of the things made me so happy. I also need to get back into my Happiness planner, as I’ve been neglecting that poor baby πŸ™

    I hope you smashed your goals for July, as well. In fact, I know you did πŸ’ͺ🏽

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