Life lately: June updates, recent favorites & more

It’s been a long while since I covered more lifestyle content on my blog but I wanted to catch you all up on what’s been going on in my life and things I’m currently loving in the month of June!

Current events

Here in Rome it feels like we moved right from winter to summer with the coldest/rainiest May in recent history followed by some gorgeous weather this week that has everyone looking forward to beach getaways this weekend, myself included. It will be a bit of an adjustment as I get used to guiding tours for our Testaccio Neighborhood and Market tour on Saturdays but that still leaves Sundays for long lunches, afternoons laying on the beach and time spent at my local market stocking up for the week ahead.

Newsletter subscribers (the real LVR fam!) will have seen my June newsletter go out on Wednesday with my hacks to travel planning in Italy and tips for getting the most out of your dream Italian vacation, and Im putting those into use myself as I start planning for August and my summer trips. If you’d like to sign up for the monthly LVR newsletter, scroll down to the end of this post!

Currently watching

I recently watched some great, easy RomCom-esque movies on Netflix, About Time and Always be my Maybe, while working through a very slow first couple of seasons of the Sopranos with Edoardo.

Currently reading

True friends will know about my obsession with longwinded, obscure epic fantasy series, ideally from the 90s or 80s. In lines with this very niche subject matter, I just finished Anne Bishop’s the Black Jewels series and absolutely loved it. If you have similar taste in literature, hmu pls. Now I’m starting the 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch in an attempt to get more productive and hack my life and I’m ALWAYS enjoying the curated new stories shared by inspirational woman Hitha Palepu in her daily Instagram Story roundup of ‘5 Smart Reads’.

Currently listening to

As always I’m loving podcasts and I like to frequently change up the topics that I listen to. I loved Who the Hell is Hamish for the story behind a serial con-artist that feels very Dirty John, while my friends Matt and Maggie’s podcast, The Meaningful Travelers goes deep into how different people prioritize travel in their lives and have nonconforming life stories. When I’m looking to get inspired, I turn to the Skinny Confidential and the Ikonns podcasts for their intimate and thought-provoking interviews.

Current fav snack

I’m currently loving all the fruit coming into season here in Italy (berries are in season while stone fruit is slowly arriving) which I’m eating fresh, in smoothies and of course, in my gelato.

An update on the gelato situation in Rome: I still am loving Otaleg above all else, I just tried the gelato at my favorite pasticceria Valentini and it was phenomenal and this gelateria has the best toppings I’ve ever found in Rome (for free!).

Current fav self care routine

While I don’t talk about it much on my blog and it has nothing to do with Italy, I’m seriously self care and skincare obsessed. I love prioritizing my mental health/hobbies and applying approximately 1 million products on my face at all times.

From Yesstyle (use this link for 5% off), I’m trying a new Korean lightweight mineral sunscreen, BHA salicylic acid and my favorite cleansing balm that takes makeup off instantly (my third tub of this!)

From The Ordinary, I’m trying out their squalane oil cleanser, niacinamide & zinc serum for oil control and redness, glycolic acid for texture and brightness and their HA moisturizer.

If this is something people are actually interested in, let me know and I’ll give an update when I’ve used these products for a longer amount of time!

Currently pondering:

I’m in full-on vacation planning mode right now as I try to figure out what our plans are for a 2 week vacation in August with some weekend trips interspersed along the way. I’m using Sara’s previous trips to Sicily as my inspiration and I might just copy her trip exactly. Heading to the southernmost part of Italy for a week on the beach and old town sounds absolutely perfect right about now.

Something that I’m spending a good amount of time on is with planning a second food tour for Devour Rome, this one an evening tour focusing on pairing Italian vino with Roman food. Of course this means lots of taste-testing as “research” and I can’t get enough of it.

That’s all for this month! Let me know if you liked this style of post in the comments below, and sign up for my newsletter for more behind-the-scenes content like this on a monthly basis!

Un abbraccio!

xx Abbie