Changing Seasons – June 2025

Hello from Korea, friends! I arrived the other night after six months away, and Seoul welcomed me back with a very warm, sticky hug. Ah summer in the city–a perpetual cycle of sweating, showering and laundry never feeling quite dry. Can you tell I don’t do well in the humidity? To be honest, it’s only one day back and I’m already slightly dreading the summer. But I shall survive, as I have done every year, and worrying about it won’t make the humidity go away.

But enough weather talk! This post is about the wonderful month that was June! June was once again filled with good eats with loved ones and lots of lake walks. Also, I accomplished something I had been putting off for YEARS–more on that later.

First, the doodle calendar is back! (Head over to the blog if you’re reading this on email to see the calendar image.) I’ve attempted reviving it over the years, but never got back in the habit. It took looking back at the original doodle calendars from 2019 to inspire me to follow through. This month I went through some of my old journals, and actually disposed of a few. There were a lot of work-induced hurt feelings in 2016, for example, that I didn’t need to hold on to. And so much diet and weight tracking in 2017 and 2018 (to no results). I wish I could go back and tell past me that the Big Work Concerns won’t matter, and to stop obsessing over your weight.

Interestingly enough, going through my old journals made me question my journaling habit. I enjoy the act and process of creative journaling and scrapbooking, but more and more I am not as keen on all the stuff it requires (stationery supplies) and produces (piles of notebooks). Being physically away for six months has distanced me emotionally from All My Stuff, but I still wrestle with the urge to save things just in case. So the decluttering journey continues!

What I made

I continued to make simple meals and treats, like banana bread and salads. My most ambitious culinary achievement was a Chili crisp spinach alfredo, following this NYT cooking recipe but substituting the fettuccine for what I had on hand: elbow macaroni. 😀 It was creamy and delicious, and I feel like this is a dish I could serve to others.

Also pictured is the homemade ice cream with fresh peaches and blueberries I helped my friends make. My contribution was to prep the peaches and suggest using fresh mint from the garden to make a mint peach ice cream. (It was delicious.) We ended up making four flavors: peach mint, blueberry, blueberry-peach crumble, and peach crumble.

What I watched

This month I watched the most media I have in years, thanks to Netflix. I started the Formula 1: Drive to Survive series and ended up binge-watching most of it. I also watched KPop Demon Hunters. It was cute and I thought it portrayed modern Korean and KPop fan culture pretty well. It made me miss concert days. (Spring 2026! BTS Comeback!)

On the flight back, I watched Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (there’s a reason why, more on this in a future post), The Secret Life of Pets, and Paddington in Peru.

What I read

Logging back into Netflix directly correlated with a steep drop in my reading this month. I finished two books in June: Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood and Tiny Worlds of the Appalachian Mountains by Rosalie Haizlett. I loved this book, it’s just the sort of book I wish I could make some day: illustrated observations of my natural environment to which I have a personal connection. I’ve been doing more portrait practice this year, but this book made me want to draw nature again.

What I saw

Speaking of nature, I continued to walk the lake regularly in June. Here are some reference photos I took for said future nature illustrations!

Finally, big news!

I got my driver’s license (again)! My US license had expired while I was living in Korea, and for years I knew I should get it again, but kept putting it off. I don’t exactly remember what the final impetus was, but once I decided and took action, it all fell into place quite quickly. I signed up for the knowledge test, took it two days later, then practiced driving for two weeks before taking the road test. It was a whirlwind time of getting up at the crack of dawn every day to practice before the roads got too busy. Driving made me a morning person! It was nice to check off this thing I’ve been low-key dreading for years, and I can honestly say I’m proud of myself. Next up: Korean license!

Lastly, I redid the silicone in my mom’s bathtub. This feat doesn’t fit very well into a category, but it took a long time and I think I did a pretty good job. So let the monthly recap commemorate the fact!

This post was written as part of The Changing Seasons challenge. You can visit Ju-Lyn’s post to see how other creatives around the world spent their month.