June Favorites

Whew. June flew by! It’s hard to believe we’re edging into mid July at this point!

Was your July 4th the weirdest July 4th in your life? Ours was. Not in a bad way, but it just didn’t feel like the 4th. No BBQs, no fireworks. We still swam and ate and had a great time, but it just felt strange.

As does everything else right now, though.

June was a busy one. Kieran finished up kindergarten homeschooling (thank heavens), we had Father’s Day and several family birthdays to celebrate, and my photography business has sort of exploded lately.

You may not know this, but I do food photography for other bloggers. In June, I went from one or two regular clients to FIVE. Like, in a matter of two weeks. It was crazy. All good crazy, but still…crazy. As strange as these times are (and continue to be), being busy is making the time fly by.

We’re trying to look on the bright side and soak up the extra family time without distractions. We’re doing a lot of swimming (I’ve never been so grateful for our pool in my life), grilling outside, and fun movie nights with popcorn and treats (Kieran absolutely loves when he gets to stay up later than his little brother, hah). We’re making the best of this weird time.

On that note, here are some of things we enjoyed in June!

1. First up, this Bissell Steam Mop. You guys. This thing is a game changer! We have a ton of hardwood floors, and because of coronavirus, we haven’t had professional cleaners in our house since February (I normally have them come once a month as a true treat to myself). While I am on top of vacuuming the floors, deep cleaning and sanitizing techniques evade me. Hah. That’s pathetic isn’t it? Well, this steam mop has saved me. I do it a handful of times a week and it gets our floors SO clean. Between the kids and the two dogs, we need it!
2. Second, another cleaning helper for myself: this hand vacuum. As I said, we have two dogs and our stairs are carpeted. Keeping the carpet on the stairs clean is near impossible. Our regular vacuum is too heavy/unwieldy for me to lift and use on the stairs, so this hand vac has been AMAZING. It has a long battery life and gets every inch of our stairs super clean. I am so impressed with its suction.
3. I am still loving this lemon hand soap (I stocked up even before quarantine!), but this watermelon mint scent has me swooning. I am a huge fan of everything mint and everything watermelon, so this just makes sense. It seriously smells like candy. Kieran loves it too!
4. This next fave was a total impulse buy that turned out to be worth it. This garlic rocker is awesome! I don’t love mincing garlic (who does?), but I cook with it ALL THE TIME. It’s in almost everything savory that I make. I hate garlic presses because so much of the garlic gets wasted and they are a pain to clean, but this rocker is so cool because it minces the garlic right on the cutting board and is a breeze to clean. Bonus: it definitely gets the garlic scent off my hands!
5. We’ve been having a really hard time weaning Finn off of a bottle. Kieran was the same, but Finn is turning out to have a serious stubborn streak. He was absolutely refusing (read: throwing an epic fit) to drink out of anything other than a bottle. I was worried I’d never get him to use a sippy or straw cup. I tried a bunch of transitional sippy cups and none worked. Until I bought this set on Amazon! This was the game changer. It allowed him to get used to the bottle container but with different tops. We eased him from one bottle top to another and then to a sippy top with no problem. Now, we’re working on the straw top. He’s doing great with it.
6. In terms of beauty, I haven’t been wearing a ton of make up these days, but I am still battling terrible postpartum melasma on my face. I have to wear foundation and concealer to cover it up and I loathe it. But! This setting powder has been a lovely discovery. It sets my foundation and creates the smoothest, softest finish on my skin. It doesn’t settle into my pores or fine lines, either, which has always been an issue with other powder products. Love it!
7. Another Amazon find this past month were these t-shirts! I bought them in a ton of colors and am LOVING them so far. They’re soft and have the most flattering a-line shape to them. I wear them constantly and have even slept in them a couple times. So comfy! Definitely a winner.

And that’s really it! Another simple, quiet month for the most part. We’re looking forward to the rest of the summer, lots of swimming, and hopefully seeing friends and family more and more.

Xoxo!

 

[This post is not sponsored but contains affiliate links. If you click on an affiliate link and purchase the product, I receive a small kickback from the seller – at no extra cost to you! It is a small way I can earn a living doing what I love. Thank you for supporting this blog! I will always disclose this to you.]