June Highlights and Goals

Happy Summer! It has definitely heated up in the past few weeks here in North Carolina, and I'm absolutely loving it. This month was full of so many fun activities: we went to the mountains three times (backpacking for the first time, a wedding, and then a regular car camping trip), completed two triathlons, and celebrated my birthday! It was a really great month, but I think the wedding was the highlight for me. It was such a fun weekend to spend with friends and celebrate two amazing people that are perfect for each other. The venue at Beech Mountain was also incredible- nothing like a backdrop of mountains for such an incredible moment!

Let's get to the goals!

Annual Goals

Korean Vegan Cookbook

I actually tried two recipes from the cookbook this month- the Kale and Ramen Salad from the Kimchi and Salad section, and the Curried Tteokbokki Skewers from the Bar and Street Food chapter. The salad was just ok- it looked really pretty but was a little bland and I didn't like the ramen noodles in it (especially for leftovers- they got really soggy). 

On the other hand, the tteokbokki was AMAZING!! I'm a huge fan of rice cakes so I knew this would be good. The sauce was so richly flavored and was so satisfying. The process was a little finnicky and took a while, but the overall taste and experience of it was worth it.

Temperature blanket

I just finished month 6 of the temperature blanket and we're at the halfway point! It's really big already so I can't image how huge it'll be in December.

Here are some stats for June-

- I used a total of 3 colors and got to use red (over 90 degrees) for the first time!

- The highest daily temperature was 91 and the lowest was 73 (just a reminder, I'm only doing the "high" of the day so I didn't record the daily low or average)

- My most used color was yellow (used 20 times) which is used for the range 80 to 89 degrees.

- Now, the only color I haven't used is purple (under 40 degrees)!

Hike 100 Miles + Check Out 10 New Parks

I went on quite a few hikes this month thanks to camping and backpacking, and did about 15 miles. I'm now up to 75 miles and I think I need to increase my annual goal! Maybe I'll bump it up to 150 to give myself a good challenge?

I also visited two new parks- Grandfather Mountain where I went backpacking, and Hanging Rock where I went car camping. They both have great trails for hiking, and Hanging Rock has tons of fun activities to do. That's also much closer to me (just about an hour and a half away) so it would be great for a day trip!

Read the Goodreads Best Books

I didn't finish any Goodreads books this month, but I'm currently reading two of them. After I finish those, I will have three more left to go!

Work from a Coffee Shop Once a Month

Once again I didn't get a chance to work from a coffee shop this month. I had so many meetings that I couldn't really get out much at all unfortunately! Hoping to make up for it in July (and also hope that work is less stressful this month!!)

Last month I shared my "bucket list" for the summer, and I managed to cross of a few items. Here's how the list is going-

Summer Bucket List

• Bike to a brewery or bottle shop - I biked to Fortnight Brewery for music bingo earlier this month. There are two bottle shops that are even closer and easier to get to so those are also on my list to get to!
• Kayak or SUP in a new lake
• Paint and picnic (bring my watercolors to a park and paint, and also bring snacks along!)
• Crochet in a park - I brought a project along to camping with my this past weekend so I can count this one as done!
• Hike somewhere new - I mentioned above that I went hiking at Grandfather Mountain as well as Hanging Rock.
• Go to an outdoor movie
• Go to an outdoor concert
• Visit a winery
• Bike the entire Tobacco Trail (it's about 22 miles so it's definitely doable!)
• Go to a baseball game
• Play frisbee golf
• Go camping - Done twice this month! I want to go camping more this  year, but maybe in the fall when the temperature drops a bit.
• Dine al fresco at a restaurant (bonus points if it's rooftop!)