Working Towards Wellness: June 2025

[itsfi]

Self-Care Month kicks off on June 24, right on the heels of the summer solstice (June 20), but we don't have to wait until then to kickstart (or kick up) our wellness efforts. Whether you already have a solid self-care routine you engage in consistently, or you're dipping your toes into self-care for the first time, or you're stuck in a rut & looking for a refresh on your way to wellness, welcome!! 😀 

What Is This About?: 

Simply put, it's about focusing on our personal wellness, in a fun way à la the bingo card, with a few adjustments to the  traditional bingo rules. 

How To Play/Participate:

Work towards completing the activities on the bingo card during the month, taking into account where you are personally on your wellness journey & what will serve you best as you care for yourself. You may want to complete several of the activities in one week, or none at all. The next week may include checking off one square or taking the free space. You may find an activity to be something you want to hone in on and work on little by little, for a week or the whole month.

Do what you can when you can as you can. Make adjustments as needed. Remember, we're all in different places and spaces - physically, mentally, environmentally. Please tailor the activities to meet those places and spaces, including doing things incrementally, starting out slowly, bit by bit, and building up gradually from there, if and as needed.   

• For additional ideas on how to participate, have a look at BWell Bingo - How To Participate

• For more details (and examples) of the activities described in each square, check out: June 2025 Wellness Activities Described

We love hearing about how everyone goes about these monthly wellness bingo activities. If you're up for it, feel free (but not obligated) to share what activity / activities you've undertaken, what has worked for you - it can be once a month, once every other week, every 7-10 days, etc. It can include photos, or be as quick and easy as hitting "Reply" at the bottom left to this original post, sharing your activities, and then clicking "Post".

[jaaayp]

Ahhh! Im on a weight journey as well @blackkitty2014 hope we keep it up!

[blackkitty2014]

Thx you @jaaayp @itsfi @faeriegirl 🌹

[itsfi]

Wahoo @blackkitty2014; bingo! Congrats! 🎉 That's a great set of activities, too. 

Good for you for trying out new exercise routines; hope you found one (or more) that you enjoy. 

[ather]

@blackkitty2014  Great job! 

[blackkitty2014]

Thx you @ather 🌹

[itsfi]

No bingo but was able to get in some good-for-me self-care activities the first week of June, noted with the printed pink flip flops in the bottom left corner of each applicable square. 

June 1 - 7: marked by pink printed flip flops

• Summer Self-Care To Do List: Spent some time thinking about what I wanted to focus on this summer and while there are a handful of things on my self-care to do list, I'm hoping to prioritize / focus on:

          (1) making more meaningful progress on a couple personal and professional projects I've been going back and forth with. - I set some milestones for them

          (2) keeping with my plans for a haul hibernation this summer. Going to aim for limiting my purchases over the next three months. I do plan to make certain purchases of non-essentials but I've planned them out, and have either budgeted for them or have vouchers / rewards / gift cards that I can use so that I don't come out of pocket for most of them. 

          (3) work out more (in general) but with a focus on weights

• Seasonal fruits & veggies: Made another smoothie - a lot of spinach, kale and some pineapple, strawberries, blackberries, half an apple, and a little water to help move things along and make it more smooth. This time, I froze the pineapple and strawberries beforehand and replaced the few ice cubes I usually include in my smoothies. Cool and refreshing.

• Intellectural Wellness: After certain levels in the Cross Logic game I've been playing, you have to collect certain keys to "unlock" the next level. Keys are collected based on a tetris-like game. There are days when I prefer to just play this side-game.

• Quality Time with Loved Ones: I'm exhausted but it was fun hanging out with my niece for a full day.  

• Physical Wellness: I'm doing better with stretching first thing in the morning and the weighted vest (thank you @ather) has been a nice addition to both longer walks as well as shorter ones when I'm making a quick run to the grocery store, the post office, etc.

• Hand & Foot Care: I've been more mindful about using random times throughout the day to focus on hand and foot stretches. It's not a ton of time, but I find that it helps. Also, love the SEPHORA COLLECTION Nourishing Foot Mask in Coconut + Lavender Coconut and #SEPHORA COLLECTION Hydrating Hand Mask in Coconut + Mango Coconut.

[jaaayp]

Weighted vest @itsfi @ather ?! I have weighted ankle straps.. now im starting to wonder if the vest is better 🤔 

[ather]

@jaaayp  Yes!!! Way better. I have weighed wrist/ankle wraps but the vest is much heavier. My ankle ones are 1-2 pounds and my vest is 20 pounds. My heart rate goes up when I walk with it on! I feel more cardio with it too!! 

@itsfi any better insight other than my it’s just awesome?? 

[itsfi]

@ather, I like the versatility of the weighted vest and that it distributes (or seems to) weight evenly. That said, an ankle or wrist weight would be easier to travel with (depending on the weight, of course) and may be better if you're just focusing on legs (ankle weights) or arms (wrist).  @jaaayp 

[ather]

@itsfi  @jaaayp hmmm good point. I don’t think I can travel with my weighted vest! I did see a thing about wearing wrist weights to do all your household activities and it will give you lean arms! I should try it!! 

[jaaayp]

Thank you both your insights!! I am adding weighted vest to my prime day sale list @ather @itsfi teehee. I've been utilizing my walking pad indoors to get my 10k steps in and i think weighted vest will be elevating it! and let's hope i can shed some of my winter fluff off 😂

[itsfi]

<<ears perk up>> 👂🏼 I was just looking at walking pads a couple of week ago, @jaaayp. Do you like yours?

[ather]

@itsfi  Awesome job!!! You will get a bingo in no time!! That game looks fun! And the smoothie sounds delicious!! 😋 

[itsfi]

@ather, thank you; bingo will eventually happen. It was a good week of focusing on self care. Lovin' the smoothies, even if they don't warm me up on cold mornings. lol. That's what the hot water with lemon or tea/coffee is for. 

[CorgiMommy]

I love the flip flops, all I have is dots for mine. @itsfi 

[itsfi]

@CorgiMommy, I loved the self care activities I was able to get in last week; the pink flip flops were an added bonus to checking off the squares; thank you.

[Samtian]

It was hard to size and place the seagulls lol. BINGO!

• Gratitude- At a recent photoshoot in Utah one model is allergic to bugs, but was still willing to try to shoot on a super old tractor, and another was willing to lay on the ground for me. I made sure I let them and the host know I appreciate them. 
• Fruits and Veggies- I don't know the seasonal part but I had Mandarins and arugula, green beans, and potatoes. Ok I know it's not potato season lol. 
• Get Outdoors- We've been working outside on the yard, big project for us coming up soon. 
• Summer Stroll/Exercise- I went to the shoot in Utah, and since I always try to arrive early I drove around and found a little park/trail and I walked around there for a few minutes. Well more than a few minutes but not like an hour. I had grabbed a sunscreen sample to take with me...and you bet I lost that before I even left the house ugh. Plus carrying my flash equipment is a work out. 
• Intellectual- I've been playing Clue everyday, and on Thursday I purchased one of the new packs, that'll keep me playing longer as well.
• Cool Drink- I finally made a smoothie. I need sweeter yogurt not plain yuck.
• Pay it Forward- While in Utah, they have In-n-Out, we do not in Idaho. So that place is always packed. I used Google to help me find one close by that I've never been to. It led me to the parking lot, but to get to the drive thru line you have to turn left...well I had been there waiting to turn left for quite a few minutes, finally the end of right turn cars was nearing, a jeep with two girls let me go in front of them. I really appreciated it! So anyways I had a $20 bill, my order was just under 10, so I asked the cashier to put my change on the car behind Me's tab. When they got to their turn to pay and I was waiting for my food, I hear the two girls yell out THANK YOU!!! It made me smile so much haha. 
• Healthy Meal/ New to You- In our Hello Fresh box I decided to try something new from this thing they occasionally do called test kitchen. Things they haven't officially launched yet kinda stuff. Cantina Chicken & Cheesy Polenta Arepas. HF says the arepas are popular in Colombia + Venezuela. I can see why! I loved them. 
• Stay Hydrated- Me and my Cirkul have been friends lately, same with gatorade. Cut soda to one a day mostly, some days none. 
• Arts- photography always.
• Hand/Foot Care- When I remember, after a shower/bath I put some of the Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Butta Drop Whipped Oil Hydrating Body Cream Mini "Fenty Fresh" whatever scent I have available, on and then put comfy socks on. My feet appreciate it. 

The screen time limit is definitely not happening. Besides always needing to edit. But story time! So a few years ago, like 4 I think these three cats appeared, two oranges and a tabby. Before we never really had strays except one we called Lil Rooster/ Mean Tabby. The two oranges eventually let me near them, but the tabby was super spicy! Like SUPER. Next year the tabby turns out to be female and brings around 3 kittens. You might be familiar with one of them Leon. I am able to catch Leon after it's too late and she has kittens, you might know them as the Compy Clan. Leon was fixed. Same day Leon brings me her kittens, mean mommy as we call her, brings more. One of them you might know as Demon aka my rabies vaccine reason, and a few others, only two of them come around. I'm able to catch one of those and get her fixed. Well mean mommy, who I can't catch for the life of me, and I've offered to pay people to help me but no one will, she brought me her kittens on Thursday, leaving for work and there was two on the stairs! Turns out there are 6 😑. But for some reason she brought them into our garage, she always hisses, spits, and swings at us, so I was really surprised she brought them so close to us. I have a nanny cam in there so I am always checking in on them. These guys run the instant they see me, hopefully I can get them used to me and catch them when they are older. Mom has already told me NO they cannot come in the house. But honestly at this point, how are you even going to notice more? Haha. 

Spoiler

Part of the strollBTS of the model on the groundMy yummy dinner.Kittens!Part of stroll

[jaaayp]

Love your story time @Samtian !!! I love how youre trying to get them fixed! I volunteer at a kitten nursery and always love to see other animal lovers doing the right thing!

[itsfi]

Oh @Samtian, you had so many amazing self-care / wellness moments - and bingo, too!! 🙌🙌 Congratulations!!! 🎉 Quality and quantity in spades. Well done. 👏 You're really close to a couple more rows/columns for bingo - niiiiice.

Your photos are incredible! 📸 I loooove the gas station background in your shoot - very cool and artistic! Adding that to my list of things to see. The fish is a fun one too. Going to do some research on both of those spots. Ahhh, the view from your stroll is beautiful - calming, peaceful. 💟

Your dinner looks delicious; I'm trying to think whether I've had arepas and don't think so. I've had something similar, I think, but they're from a diffferent South American region. I've made a couple of salmon & couscous meals since seeing how good yours looked last month. 

lol, the seagulls are hilarious and very appropros for the beach theme. Love it. That was a very generous way to pay it forward. Admirable and inspiring. 

Edited to add: Any of the following can add some sweetness to your smoothies: 

• honey
• pineapple juice, mango juice, apple juice, orange juice - the closer to 100% juice the better from a natural / artificial sugar perspective
• coconut water - it's a good natural source of electrolytes

[Samtian]

@itsfi Thank you!

The gas station place is called petroliana museum in provo utah. They just line the gates of a storage unit place. It was pretty cool! The fish is not far away at the Delta area above it. 

I want to make more arepas, they were yummy! How did your salmon dinners turn out?

Smoothies, how do you make the honey not be in just clumps? Haha your list made me laugh, let me shorten that for you- apple/orange juice. 🤣

[itsfi]

Thank you so much for the info on the UT spots, @Samtian!

lol, I had a feeling that list wasn't going to all be winners for you. For the honey, there's a couple of ways you can go about it, some of them being:

• mix the honey in your yogurt first and then add that mixture into your blender
• use honey sticks (see below) - the consistency seems to me to be thinner, making it easier to dispense into the blender and to blend. My suggestion would be to sandwich it between something more dense that you are using in your smoothie. What kind of blender are you using - one where the blades are at the bottom of the vessel? Or one where the blade is the lid/cap to your cup, you twist the lid (with the blade attached) onto the cup and then flip it and place the lid onto the blender base? Lemme know and I can give you a better idea of the order I'd put in the ingredients.
• if you have a jar of honey, get a bowl, place the jar onto the middle of the bowl and fill the bowl with warm water to dissolve the honey crystal and make it a more liquidy form. This will make it easier to get the honey into the cup / blender, but I would still sandwich between certain ingredients. 

Photo from amazon

Salmon and couscous came out okay. I went with a Mediterranean take on ingredients. The grocery store was out of ground harissa so I had to go with a more liquid base - well, I could have gone to another store but I wasn't in the mood for that. 

The harissa sauce had a bit of tang to it due to the vinegar so I wanted to cut that down with the cucumber tzatziki - it's an easy recipe - thinly sliced cucumber mixed with a blend of low-fat yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, lemon zest - I would have added dill and garlic if I had them in the house that day). The couscous I cooked based on the instructions on the box but added spinach to it after taking it off the stove, and added the tomatoes and some olive oil when I was fluffing it up before plating). Topped it with some Everything Bagel Sesame Seasoning Blend.

I want to try it with harissa powder as a rub, but another time.