Monthly Wrap-Up, Summer 2018 - Mathieu Céraline

Hi everyone,

Long time, no see, right? Yes, I am well aware that I haven’t published anything in more than two months. Do I feel bad about it? Not as much as I would have thought. After working full-time for a year and stressing out about my blog (just like with every other part of my life), I just decided to take a tiny break and for once, relax and not post for a little while. But now I’m back! And I want to tell you about all the things I have been up to during the time I was gone. Here is my Monthly Wrap-Up, Summer 2018 Edition.

The Summer in a Nutshell 🐚

I guess the most obvious part of my summer was … my travel to my Home Island (if you are new to this blog, I lived most of my life on a tiny French island in the Caribbean called Martinique). The beach, my family, the freedom to be alone on the road … I finally found a time and a way to breathe. Want a sneak peek?

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It wasn’t all perfect, though. A lot of little misadventures happened to me while I was there but for once I allowed myself to choose my own reaction and “accept it” rather than panic and stress out. And, having that “freedom not to react” is the best feeling I felt in quite a while.

As for the rest of the summer, I did quite a lot of interesting things too !

I went to Disneyland Paris for the first time* _(it was awesome, I can’t wait to go back now),
I went to the “Parc Astérix” which is another great attraction Park in Paris,
I discovered 3-4 new amazing restaurants in Paris that I can’t wait to review on the blog for you,
I saw Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars live in the Stade de France (with Anne-Marie and DNCE being there, which was awesome),
I started working on my “Personal Mission Statement” and perfected my Morning Routine,
Discovered quite a lot of new resources and content creators,
Went hiking on a volcano and down a cascade,
Oh, and I almost forgot, I cut my hair !

Eating a delicious burger with sweet potato fries.

Well, I think that’s about it for this summer. Overall I feel more grown, productive and intellectually mature than I felt two months earlier. Now let’s see what I read, watched and discovered in two months time.

My favorites of the month 🌟

On reading 📚

In reference to my last article before the summer break “5 books I am planning to read this summer 📚”, I actually did catch up with some books on my TBR, but not all of them ! I mostly chose to focus on my re-read of the Harry Potter saga (currently in the middle of book 4), as well as some morning reads like :

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
Sapiens: A brief history of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
A brief history of time by Stephen Hawking
Je suis un zèbre (read: “I am a Zebra”) by Tiana

I currently have two other books on my bedside tables for when I have time to dive into:

La disparition de Stephanie Mailer (read: “The disappearance of Stephanie Mailer”) by Joël Dicker
Wonder-Woman: Anthologie (comics) by various authors.

On movie-watching 🎞

I haven’t been much of a movie or TV watcher lately, but I did manage to see the following movies :

The Darkest Minds,
Blackkklansman,
The Passenger,
Equalizer,

Some resources I have discovered

I recently discovered Matt D’Avella, who is an amazing content creator (podcaster and youtuber) and a minimalist. His youtube channel has quickly became something of an obsession for me. Especially when I discovered that he directed the movie “Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things” which I watched and loved two years ago.

I also discovered : Sara Dietschy, Roxine Kee and a whole bunch of content creators who inspire me to get better, everyday.

In the technological corner, I have also changed most of my gear … on my phone at least. Here are the new, yet essential apps in my pocket :

I might talk more in details about all of that in future blog posts.

Let’s share the love 💛

Today, and to end this post, I want to give a really big shoutout to some of the people who inspire and, in a way, support me the most in the community. So I would like to thank Cynthia (@currry_and_curvy), my best friend Lara (@laraxbooks), my once internet now very good friend Marie (@dh_books) as well as all my bloggers friends Clara (@thebookwormofnotredame), Morgane (@thebeautyandthebookstore), @thomreads, @aquintillionwords, and so many others !

Let’s chat

Now, what about you? What have you been up to lately? Where have spent your holidays if you had any? Come on, I want to know everything in the comments!