Web Witch's Grimoire: June 2025

April was precisely what I was expecting it to be: exhausting. I'm still recovering from our trip to Seattle at the end of April.

It turns out I never posted my draft covering the month of March and April, so I will attempt to cover the highlights. The excerpt above is from my draft. It turns out I wasn't recovering from our trip. It turns out, I was pregnant (am pregnant). It has completely sidelined me. I am happy to be pregnant, but it is a struggle. I barely left the house in May, with the first trimester flooring me. Figuratively and literally. I wound up in A&E in June after experiencing some pretty severe pain that didn't subside but didn't really get diagnosed. Baby looked fine so after a stressful few hours they sent me on my way and the pain did subside.

Manchester United (March) #

We took a day trip up to Manchester and went to a FA Cup game against Fulham, and despite Man Utd losing, we had a good time. We didn't really have time to go into Manchester and just drove back south after. I quite enjoyed hearing the entire stadium break out in "Country Roads, Take Me Home" with locations modified to be Manchester related.

Events #

I attended State of the Browser, one of my favorite events in the UK, at the end of March and then a few days later left for BlinkOn in California. I was giving a co-keynote and got to talk about the select element. It was a full circle moment being able to say, "We finally have customizable select today!"

Seattle (April) #

Not necessarily a vacation. We headed back to the PNW so that I could try and sort out my storage unit since plans to return to Seattle (and live), for the time being, are not in the immediate future. Though I still dream of having a place in West Seattle, and we haven't ruled it out. It's just not the right time. So I spent 4 days going through boxes and boxes of things, donating nearly half the contents of the unit. I managed to get things down to about 12 totes, a chest full of glassware and collectibles, and a couch I can't seem to let go of.

There were a few tears and I completely crashed in the evening from emotional and physical exhaustion. I now suspect this is also because I was 3 or 4 weeks pregnant and didn't know so hormones were starting to rise!

Birding #

We usually make time to grab a coffee and go walk Lincoln Park in West Seattle when we visit. Now that I'm full on into birding, it was like discovering an entirely new place. There are so many pretty birds around! We spotted quite a few and our favorites were the black-capped chickadee and the spotted towhee.

Arsenal (May) #

Jhey got tickets from one of his coworkers at Vercel, and we got to sit pitchside for the game. An absolute treat and I'm an Arteta and Trossard stan, so the ultra HD experience made my day.

A brief recap of May and June #

After the Arsenal match, I found out I was pregnant. I was so bloody exhausted and cancelled a trip to Dublin the day we were supposed to travel, so I suspected something was up. I never cancel travel. I was pretty incapacitated for the whole month of May and knew I would be going to Spain at the start of June for work.

I managed to survive Igalia Week in Spain and by the end of June, the nausea wasn't too bad. We went to Croatia for a few days for my birthday and that was a nice way to get out of the house. It was a relatively chill trip and was mostly spent relaxing.

My ability to do anything physical has been incredibly diminished, which has been hard. All the food I want to eat is in America, which has been incredibly annoying living in the UK.

What I've been... #

Watching #

Jhey hadn't watched The White Lotus, and I never finished season 2. We did a watch of both seasons in preparation for season 3 and despite traveling during the finale, I managed to avoid spoilers.

• MobLand - Really good. I wasn't sure after the first two episodes but we were hooked by the end of the series.
• Wheel of Time - I haven't finished the season yet, and I spoiled the finale for myself on accident. As a book reader, I had started to enjoy season 3 but knowing what I know has once again left me disppointed with the series. July edit: The series wasn't renewed, and I honestly can't say I'm surprised. They managed to alienate a huge fan base by rewriting key parts of the story and allegedly ignored Brandon Sanderson's feedback. As a huge fan of the books I'm sad we didn't get the TV adapation we wanted.
• Real Housewives of Potomac - I'm finally catching up on seasons I haven't watched. My energy levels have been super low, so sometimes I just want that reality TV.
• The Valley - More reality TV. I can confidently say I don't want Jax Taylor on my screen. Shame on Bravo. This season is potentially triggering for anyone who has experiened domestic violence.
• Grey's Anatomy - I'm not sure what entirely prompted this apart from being pregnant and wanting a show with long seasons. I know Grey's was/is popular, and I just decided we were going to start watching it.

Reading #

I have read 32 out of the 40 books I wanted to read this year. So I will probably smash my goal. I'll do a recap in another post but for May and June I was primarily in Throne of Glass land. Devastating and wonderful. I don't think a book has made me cry in 20 years.

Other Bits #

It's been a bumpy few months but I'm starting to feel a little better as the second trimester approaches. I really was not prepared for the way the first trimester of pregnancy would wipe me out.