Hello everyone! Today, I’m sharing all about my life this past July!

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It’s been a pretty fun month honestly! Not too much going on still, but good overall. Here’s what I’ve been up to!

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Favorites

I’ll start with my favorites for July. I don’t have a ton of favorites, and I don’t think these are new, but here they are!

Beauty – Make Up & Skin Care

I have loved my Coola face sunscreen. I’ve mentioned this before, because it’s just a great product. I’m almost out so I’m think I’ll need to get a new one soon. I’m also thinking I’m going to try the body sunscreen too.

I’ve almost finished my Tula face cleanser, which is a shame because I’m really enjoying that one too! I have another cleanser already though so I won’t be buying another of these quite yet.

Other

Plants are a big favorite of mine! I bought another Calathea, which I shared on Insta and will post about here soon. I think I have to do new posts each time I get a new indoor plant now because the first two got one… Can’t have any jealous plants!

I’m not sure what they’re called officially but a straw cleaner has been game changing. I didn’t have one before but I use reusable straws quite often. When I only use them with water they don’t get any of that weird gunk on the inside that you can’t clean out but when I started drinking smoothies and using straws, well, they got a lot of gunk. It was honestly so gross! So I bought a little package of straws with a cleaner from TJ Maxx recently and the cleaner is such a relief to own.

I have to mention Taylor Swift’s Folklore album! That surprise release was just amazing and I instantly fell in love with the look and feel of the album. I love black and white photography and it was an amazing vibe! I was planning to mention a few of my favorites but I can’t possibly pick quite yet! Should I do a reaction post to Folklore like I did with reputation? Let me know!

Snack wise my mom discovered veggie chips from a brand called abound and I love them! I have no idea where she got them but they’re really, really tasty. I also love Oui yogurt. I’m trying to cut out dairy as much as possible but it’s so good so clearly I’m failing at that goal.

Life

Camp Cuddles

As I mentioned in a previous post, I hosted Camp Cuddles! My sweet little puppy niece, Arya aka Ariana, needed a place to stay for about a week so I jumped at the chance to watch her. She ended up staying a week and a half and we had an amazing time! We walked, we cuddled, she ran the house, it was so fun. I loved having a puppy around and I miss her so much!

Landscape work

I work with my dad’s landscape business a bit, helping out when he needs it. This month he had a bigger project so I’ve been helping with that! We are redoing a path at the property we work at. While it’s not my usual line of work (I used to be in the event planning industry before the pandemic), it’s super interesting and fun to do.

Garden life

The garden outside is thriving! I’ve posted occasional updates on my Instagram stories (I’m really trying to up my insta game) so you might have seen them already. We’v harvested not only lettuce this month but also cucumbers, tomatoes, and an onion. The peppers are nearly ready as are the other onions and some tomatillos. The peaches are growing happily, broccoli is thinking about it, brussel sprouts hate their lives, basil is happy, and that’s pretty much it! I did put some more soil down in the garden as it needed some more soil and added nutrients. I got a ton of mosquito bites while I did that but it was worth it honestly! I had a great time!

Quarantine/Furlough life

Well the quarantine has pretty much ended in Illinois because the people have decided they’re over it. Wish I was exaggerating but I’m really not! There’s still a ton of new cases, numbers have been all over the place, but everyone wants to be out and about again. I can’t blame them if I’m being honest, it was supposed to be a two week quarantine and here we are, four months later. But I’m still mostly staying at home because I don’t want to risk it. I mean, I’ve stayed home so long that getting sick would basically mean it was for nothing! I’ll go out every so often, don’t get me wrong, but definitely not at the same rate I would have otherwise.

Plus I’m still trying to save money as I’m still on unemployment and the extra $600 a week from the covid relief efforts is ending. Now, my spending hasn’t really increased a drastic amount since the quarantine started. In fact, it’s slowed down considerably since prior to the Q. I think my average monthly spending declined by 75% and that’s only because I took on paying the phone bill otherwise it’d be closer to 90% decrease. Now, the amount I’ll get without the covid amount is still enough for me but I do have to say I’m sad that it’s ending because I was saving so much so quickly! I’m sad to lose that for sure. I’m annoyed it is ending too but not for my own reasons, I’m annoyed because there’s so many people out there who actually need that money for their living expenses. It’s super annoying that they won’t get that anymore since they need it.

As for being unemployed, I’ve found a few jobs that I’m excited to apply for! I think they could be pretty good fits for me, but of course I would need to be selected for an interview in order to get a sense if it actually would be. I have had interviews before where halfway through I’ve realized that it really wouldn’t be a good fit at all. After being in such a bad, toxic, workplace for a few years, I’m definitely going to pay close attention to try to weed out the rotten apples out there!

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So that’s my July life! Let me know what you’ve been up to this month. I think overall most places are pretty open now, so I hope you’re having a few more safe adventures out there!

Thanks for reading!

Pamela

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