The month that was: June 2016

What I did:
I finally made it to Richmond Park, which is where I wanted to go to on my birthday but it snowed. (Yes, at the end of April.) It was a lovely and sunny day, and it was amazing to see all the deer - they are so tame! Well, not bothered about us humans, anyway.

Olly, his dad, brother-in-law and a friend of ours did the London to Brighton bike ride, so I headed down to Brighton to meet them at the finish line. They did it in 3 1/2 hours, though they did have breaks meaning it took them about 5 hours in total. Very proud of them! (If anyone wants to donate some money to support The British Heart Foundation, whose event this is, you can still do so here.)

We celebrated our fifth anniversary, but it was a rather low-key celebration this year. Olly bought me some lovely giraffe-related presents and Hot Fuss on vinyl, and we also went out for dinner. Yes, I made a sock creature giraffe! Next year we'll be celebrating in Italy as one of my best friends is getting married on Lake Como on our anniversary weekend - I can't wait!

Finally: editing, editing, editing! The end is in sight for Found, and after thinking it was rubbish - this always happens - I am really happy with it now. I can't believe it's out next month, though I still have another week to work on it before it goes off to my Editor. Releasing two books three months apart has been intense!

What I ate:

I ate out this month at The Hand & Sceptre in Southborough, near Tunbridge Wells, with Olly's mum, sister and nan, and then had brunch with his sister and mum the next day in Brighton at Smokeys before we met the boys at the finish line. The bacon was so good, but the waffles were a little crumbly, sadly.

Olly and I also had a low-key anniversary dinner at The Chutney, an Indian restaurant local to us in Wandsworth - a stark difference to our first anniversary dinner at Le Gavroche, but that's more than OK. (I've eaten at three Michelin star restaurants already this year!)

What I watched:
We finished watching season one of Jessica Jones and the latest season of Game of Thrones. I maintain what I said last month about Jessica Jones: her character is pretty annoying and the plot was drawn out for no real reason. As for Game of Thrones though, amazing! We blitzed through the latest season of Orange is the New Black, Pretty Little Liars returned, and we also watched the first few episodes of Billions - I'm really liking it!

Films watched: Spy, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Fantastic Four, American Ultra and The Big Short. At the cinema we went to see Alice Through the Looking Glass. Sacha Baron Cohen was excellent as Time, which somewhat surprised me!

What I read: 
In June I read 26 books, including 2 rereads, and I finally finished listening to The Churchill Factor (I started it in January!). My favourite book was The Thief's Daughter by Jeff Wheeler, which got my only 5* rating this month.

I also enjoyed (4*'s): Saving Grace by Jane Green, Play Dead by Angela Marsons, Solomon Creed by Simon Toyne, Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll, Caught by Harlan Coben and Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan.

How was your month? x