This post includes affiliate links which help support Autumn All Along.
This month has been a lot of researching and planning for trips, but also a lot of rest and reading books. Life has definitely slowed down a lot without having a commute to the city and grad school, but I think it was just what I have probably been needing! This is a collection of my May favorites.
FAVORITE BLOG POSTS
- I love this post by Lauren on Sobremesa Stories about three reasons why you should share struggles you have with others and the blessings that you receive from it. I took it to heart and decided to share my autoimmune story after a month of sitting on it.
- I loved this post by Chelsea on Inspiration Indulgence on how to challenge yourself to be more intentional. I loved the tips she gave because I realized they are things that I love doing as well. She has a lot of great posts on similar topics!
- I saw this built-in bookshelf over that literally made me gasp and then seriously covet from Young House Love. We have some remodeling plans in the next few years and we literally have the same opening from our living room to family room. We’ll definitely be doing this so we can have a decorative travel knick knack and book place!!
- I loved this post by Travel Pockets about things you probably didn’t know about your passport. Really helpful info!!
FAVORITE MUSIC
There is something about summer that always makes me pull out all of my CDs from high school and college. I’ve been listening to a lot of Blink 182, The Ataris, The Get Up Kids, and anything else that Pandora suggests off of that. This Get Up Kids album is one that I listened to in my car for about 6 months+ my senior year of high school without ever listening to anything else. I have some pretty funny photos with the members of the band from the 10 year reunion tour of this album, but that’s a story for another day.
FAVORITE BOOK
My favorite book from this month was actually a series. I’ve been wanting to read Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children since I saw the book in a store. I had actually thought it was a horror book from the photos, but was happily surprised to see that it was a very unique young adult novel. It was really refreshing to read something completely new! Since this is the author’s debut series, I’m excited to see what else the author pumps out!!
FAVORITE BUYS
When Devin’s job is rough, which it typically is, he gets gift cards from his company that we can cash in to our place of choice. We kind of joke that it is our rainy day fund because all of the following was bought from gift cards + the savings account I have made from sponsored posts.
- We’ve been looking for a great travel backpack for Europe; Devin bought the black backpack and I bought the green backpack because I am a firm believer there is not enough apple green in the world.
- I bought my first pair of Brooks tennis shoes! My current tennis shoes were over 3 years old and never quite gave me the arch support I needed.
- We’ve been looking at the Olympus mirror-less compact cameras since they came out when we were newlyweds in 2011. However, at that point my DSLR was only less than two years old + I wanted to watch the series to make sure they performed well. When we’ve traveled though, my camera has been too heavy for comfort and now my DSLR is over 6 years old. We chose the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II because it is super light weight, it has image stabilization in the body instead of the lens, and because I want a camera with video capabilities so I could vlog if I want!
- We chose to buy the camera from Amazon because their 4 year camera warranty covers parts, labor, and accidental damages from drops or spills. Additionally, there isn’t a deducible.
FAVORITE DATE
We go to Greek Festival every year to support the local Greek Orthodox church every year. This year we lucked out though because my friend gave us free tickets that covered food as well!! We had a great time looking at all of the souvenirs and it always fun to meet people’s spouses and kids 🙂 .
