My Month in Favourites – June 2016

June was a crazy busy month. I was in the Netherlands for part of it yet I still managed to pick up a new TV-show and watch the entirety of it (hi Brooklyn Nine-Nine obsessions, hi), I started rereading A Series of Unfortunate of Events in anticipation of the Netflix adaptation, I went to events such as West End Live, the London Musical Theatre Orchestra launch gala, and The Bloggers Summer Hangout, and I still managed to do lots of shopping (new favourites include stationery brand Kiki-K and two new handbags I bought) and finish all my end of quarter reports at work. It was a full-on but productive month.

As quite a few of my favourites this month are actually things I've already written about, such as the aforementioned West End Live and London Musical Theatre Orchestra launch, as well as seeing Now You See Me 2 in cinemas, in this post I'll focus on things that have not had coverage on my blog yet this month.

Book Nostalgia

When I was in the Netherlands I started with a much-needed clear out of my childhood things as I still have about 25 big boxes of stuff stored at my parents' place. It is probably no surprise that the majority of those are books (1,000+ of them, in fact) and I've slowly but surely started to clear out those that I don't want to ship over to the UK (living in another country makes it a lot easier to be more selective with what I want and don't want to keep). So far I've cleared out 8 boxes of books that my parents are going to sell/give away and I took photos of all the series I'm clearing out for a future blog post.

I also came across favourites that I can't part with and I brought some back with me when I returned to London, including my old Harry Potter books and A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. I'm rereading the latter first and have read 10 of the 13 books so far (in a week, it's amazing for my Goodreads tally for 2016) and while I loved the first six or so, it's getting repetitive and a bit dull now as not much happens in each book. But I will persevere. And Harry Potter is next, which I can't wait for!

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

As I mentioned in the intro to this blog post I (finally) discovered and fell head over heels in love with Brooklyn Nine-Nine. With all the shows going on hiatus in May I was looking for some new ones to pick up and this one was recommended to me by a friend. I liked season 1 but holy crap season 2 and 3 are amazing! I haven't loved a new show this much since I discovered The Big Bang Theory a few years ago. It's hilarious, Jake is adorable and the last few episodes had some amazing heist action sequences too. It's a shame that each episode was only half an hour as I raced through all three series and now I'm back to square one with no shows to watch. Are there any TV-series you recommend I watch over the Summer?

Stationery brand Kiki-K

The rest of my favourites this month are me buying pretty things because I've clearly been hit by the shopping bug! First things first, I came across a pop-up shop for stationery brand Kiki-K in Covent Garden and oh my gosh I loved EVERYTHING in it! Their stuff is perfect for bloggers as it's all pastels, gold accents and stunning; It will look beautiful in pictures. I popped by the shop again a few weeks ago (now the one opposite Covent Garden station as the pop-up has gone) and I bought lots of pens. I don't need any pens, but they were so pretty that I just couldn't resist them. 

Handbags, Handbags

My trusty black handbag for work was on its last legs (one of the straps was held together with a hair tie...) so I was in desperate need of another smart back that would be suitable for every day at work. While it was my intention to get another big black bag I didn't find anything along those lines that I like yet, however while browsing I ended up buying two other bags!

One is a super cute satchel from Accessorize and in the sales was only £13 (down from £29). This one is my fav but sadly too small for every day use (no space for my lunch box or a big book), so I'm just using it for the weekend. The other one a beautiful summer bag from Designual (£30.60 from Sarenza). While it is big enough it unfortunately isn't smart enough for work. I'm getting away with it for now, but I'm still on the hunt for a smart black bag!

Dickins & Jones Jumper

While browsing for bags online I came across a super cute jumper from Dickins & Jones at House of Fraser (£17.50 down from £59) which has shiny gems at the top as if there is a necklace layered on top of it. It's not usually my style but I loved the colours (and stripes) and I think it matches my blazer very well. What do you think? I wasn't familiar with this brand before but I really like their stuff so I'll definitely be looking out for it more.

UberEATS

The final thing that I've loved in June is the new UberEATS app, which is a takeaway delivery service for central London. I've been using it a lot because the first time you use it you can get £10 off your order with a friend's referral code and I just wanted to try it out, however if your order takes longer than 30 minutes to deliver you get another £20. This has happened to me twice already, so yay free lunches!

There is a lot of choice of restaurants on the app and so far I've had a burger and fries from Patty & Bun, a salad and smoothie from Tossed, and pizza from Princi. To get a free lunch/dinner up to £10 on your first order use my referral code eats-zarinad52eu. If you use it I get another £10 too, so win/win!


What were your favourites things in June?