June Summary

The books

John Green, Lauren Myracle & Maureen Johnson’s Let it Snow
Brandon Sanderson’s Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive #3)
Hallie Rubenhold’s The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper
Kristina Lugns Bekantskap önskas med äldre bildad herre
C.J. Sansom’s Winter in Madrid

So I finally read the Oathbringer, the third part in my favorite fantasy storyline, and of course it did not disappoint. I dream that the story will be made in to a series some day, since it’s much better than GoT. Rubenhold’s story was very interesting, and gave the victims a voice, rather than their murderer(s).

The shows

Space Force
The Man in the High Castle
Queer Eye: We’re in Japan
Gossip Girl
UnReal
Queer Eye
Gentefied
Brooklyn 99

Well, to keep it short, I like all of the above.

The movies

Anna & the Apocalypse
Booksmart
Love Wedding Repeat
Becoming
Time Freak
Hampstead
Begin Again
The Half of It
I Capture the Castle
Eurovision: The Story of Fire Saga
Feel the Beat

I totally loved the Eurovision movie, and I’m not ashamed about it. Sure, it’s not the best movie I’ve ever seen, but it has heart and it entertained me.

The workouts

Kept going strong with Lucy Sewell’s Home Strength program, only skipped the week where it was too hot.

May wrap-up

Books

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus
Tom Phillips’ Humans: A Brief History of How We F**ked It All Up
Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Obviously not my best reading month, but also not the worst.

Shows

Stranger Things
Never Have I Ever
The Man in the High Castle
Sanditon
Normal People
James May: our man in Japan
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Really enjoyed Never Have I Ever and Mrs Maisel (and yes, it took me 2 full seasons to realize that the people behind Mrs Maisel are the same ones that created Gilmore Girls). Looking forward to season 4 of the show!

The other shows were also all good, but I have to say that Sidney Parker in Sanditon is a fucking jerk and I at no point did he win me back over on his side. (Also doesn’t help that the actor playing him make me cringe. He looks mean.)

Movies

None!

Workouts

Slowly but steady. Still doing Home Strength, but not very often (1-2 times a week). Better than nothing!

March Wrap-up

Books

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s The Thing Around Your Neck
Jenny Colgan’s Christmas at Little Beach Street… (Little Beach Street Bakery #3)
Angie Thomas’ On the Come Up
Johanna Mos Svarta änkan

Meh. The first book was not as good as her others. The one by Angie Thomas was not as good as The Hate U Give. The one by Johanna Mo was not as good as the previous ones. And the one by Jenny Colgan is the least nice in that series. So yeah.

Shows

Merlin
På Spåret
Bäst i Test
Star Trek: Picard
After Life
Jills Veranda
Downton Abbey
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Valhalla Murders
Unorthodox
Miranda
Agents of SHIELD
Mars

Yeah, this is social distancing while working from home (and having been sick). Favorites are Unorthodox and Miranda. (Although, to be fair, I’ve only watched 1 episode of After Life. I’m sure I’ll love it.)

Movies

The Post
Taylor Tomlinson: Quarter-Life Crisis
Life of the Party
Game Night
The Intern
MIB International
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Avengers: Infinity Wars
Avengers: Endgame
The Christmas Cottage
Where’d you go, Bernadette?
Downsizing
Mary Queen of Scots

Yep. Favorites: Game Night & (surprisingly) The Intern. Worst were Men in Black: International & The Christmas Cottage.

Workouts

I did some Gateway to Gains, and then the gyms closed and then I was sick. And that was March. Let’s hope April will be better.

week 12 & 13 / corona times

So. We have “most likely” (according to the doctor) both had Corona now. I’m starting to get back to normal, it’s just the energy levels that are lagging a bit behind at the moment. And I have revised my original “it’s just a flu” thoughts – this was much worse than the flu, and much worse than the swine flu (which we also had), and we were both completely healthy going into it.

I also want to be clear in that, despite thinking it was just a flu, I completely follow the rules and instructions set by the government. This is a very obedient Swede typing. In addition to this, my mom spent 10 years as part of the risk group (before passing away last November). I would never do anything to increase the danger for anyone in the risk groups.

On the upside – we’re (probably) done with that now! Yay. One less worry going forward.

Food

Lost all sense of smell and taste due to the above, so these have been the most boring 2 weeks in food I can remember. It’s starting to come back a little now, but it’s going slowly.

Podcast/episode

Have been trying to keep up with Morgonpasset. It’s not going super well since they broadcast 5 days a week, but I like most of them.

Music

Axel Flovent released his new EP:

App

Trying to keep up with Japanese classes after having been sick and missed 1 class (lucky! they cancelled the previous week, when I was also not doing well). Downloading all the apps:

Purchase

Did I order dumbbells to make sure I can work out at home when I feel well again? Yep, you bet. I had the kettlebells already.

week 11 / a mask & 2 workouts!

Mask

I used a mask! For the first time in I don’t even know how long. This little fella:

Personal

So, at work they’re doing this initiative to try and lower sick rates. As part of this they have work-shops on eating healthier, mindfulness etc. After the last one, they suddenly sent this to the whole NL office:

“Starting today, there will be no more cookies available in the kitchen…..
Instead of the cookies we will provide vegetables on a daily basis as well as extra (season) fruits!”

😦

Dudes! Sometimes you just need a cookie in the afternoon.

Purchase

Did I follow Lisa’s recommendation and purchase both Clinique’s eyecream and the Ordinary’s niacinamide? Yes, of course I did!

Workout/progress

Soooo. I went to the gym on Tuesday, and did (a modified version of) Gateway to gains workout #2. Then on Sunday, I was hesitating – should I go to the gym? Holland was in partial lock-down already, and while I don’t have any symptoms, I obviously want to do my part in preventing risk-group people getting infected. So I did a kettlebell workout at home instead, and an hour later, the government instructed all gyms to close until (at least) 6th April. There you go. Now I’ve ordered som adjustable dumbbells so I can do some proper workouts at home while this is going on.

week 3 / a weak gym week

So, I was sick, did little and didn’t bother writing a post. For formality’s sake I still want to publish one though.

Workout/progress

After my gym visit on Tuesday, I got sick. Stayed home from work 2 days, and didn’t feel well enough to go back. I don’t even know what was wrong with me, but that 1 session did go pretty well.

week 2 / back to normal

Music

Reading list

Cows break out for night of fun in the snow

Insta/Twitter/YouTube/Netflix

Also started/finished season 1 of the Umbrella Academy, and it’s not bad!

Workout/progress

I went to the gym again! Didn’t really want to, and chose the worst day and time to start going back – first Monday after New Years, at 5 pm. Go me. Despite Lisa‘s recent promoting of a (seemingly very tough) routine, I went with the one she’d recommended when we met at Christmas – A Muscle Building Workout Routine. It’s the first time I’ve tried a 4-day split, and let’s say it was maybe a stupid choice for first week back? lol. Thursday, when I was supposed to do “upper body B”, I could barely walk and decided not to. So first week this was a 2-day work out. We’ll see how week 2 (irl week 3) goes!

week 43 +44 / Strongaholics

Food

As I’m trying Lucy’s Strongaholics, I’ve been tracking my food. Apart from the mind-boggling “there is no bad food”, turns out I’m not eating enough protein. Also, how will I manage when I’m spending a week in Iceland? Time will tell.

Music

Insta/Twitter/YouTube/Netflix

Plans

Tuesday (I guess today? I’m scheduling this for Tuesday to not have multiple posts in one day) I’m going to Iceland with Louise! It’s time for our yearly catch-up called Iceland Airwaves. Can’t wait.

October wrap-up

The books

Kristin Emilssons Den som väntar
Bernhard Nordhs Undan frostpiskan

Meh. I don’t even have an excuse – I spent a week reading on the beach and all. I just don’t feel like it?

The shows

The Orville
Jessica Jones (finished!)

The movies

Wine Country
Jem & the Holograms
Step Sisters
Dumplin’
Whitney Cummings: Can I touch it?
Iron Man
Iron Man 2

Can we talk about how cute Dumplin’ was? And how it’s the best role I’ve seen Jennifer Aniston in? And how the fat girl got the cute guy (not the other way around)? The main character is Danielle Macdonald, who was also the lead in Patticake$, which I quite enjoyed as well. We have Disney+ for free until November, so obviously had to re-watch some Marvel stuff.

The workouts/progress

Also this was nothing spectacular, but I did go twice a week, every week (except the first when I was lying on the beach).

 

week 42 / a week in Sweden

Personal

This is the view from my brother’s kitchen window. I am envious and happy for him at the same time:

Workout/progress

As I spent the week at my brother’s, I asked if Lisa was up for working out together, and she was! She does so many exercises and repetitions guys 😛 It was fun though, and the thing that made me feel that I was (am? I’m still in Sweden while typing this) back in Sweden was the fact that you have to take your shoes off when entering the building:

It’s like kindergarten all over again 😛