AK Month-to-month Recap: July 2025

This month introduced a good looking summer time in Prague. This yr we’ve been having a cooler-than-usual summer time, and this July was notably pretty, with temperatures that made it really easy and nice to spend time exterior.

Let’s check out what I received as much as in July 2025!

Locations Visited

• Prague, Czech Republic
• Nuremberg and Frankfurt, Germany

Highlights

Seeing Kendrick Lamar and SZA stay in Frankfurt on the Grand Nationwide Tour! Kendrick Lamar is considered one of my favourite artists of all time, and I actually like SZA, too. I received tickets to see them in Frankfurt in July and in Warsaw in August.

I LOVED THIS CONCERT. LOVED IT. A lot good music, fabulous present design and choreography, and each Kendrick and SZA had been unbelievable. And it was so good being surrounded by followers — nearly none of my mates are hip-hop followers so I’ve all the time felt a bit alone in that regard!

Fast visits to Nuremberg and Frankfurt. I’ve visited Nuremberg in December for Christmas markets, however had by no means visited through the summer time, and it was so nice strolling alongside the river and taking within the structure! I used to be simply there for a number of hours every approach on the best way to Frankfurt.

Frankfurt was a brand new vacation spot for me — an enormous, skyscraper-filled metropolis with a “new outdated city” constructed post-WWII. Whereas some components had been on the seedier aspect, I had a good time exploring after I might — together with the brand new Kendrick Lamar mural by the river!

Enjoyable instances in Prague. I’m thrilled to share that Kasarna Karlín has reopened — considered one of my favourite uncommon issues to do in Prague. It’s an outside courtyard with a whole lot of bars and meals locations and occasions. We went to an outside night screening of The Massive Lebowski! I went in pajamas. It felt apt.

Pizza beans. Let me simply say that that is my favourite new recipe on this planet, from the all the time glorious Smitten Kitchen, and I shall be making it every time Charlie is out of city, as he doesn’t share my enjoyment of beans.

An ideal return to a daily health routine. 2025 has been tough in that regard, between six weeks in Mexico and the US (numerous heavy meals), coping with my hip damage (powerful to do something however stroll at a mean tempo), and internet hosting family and friends for a number of weeks in Prague in Might (numerous lengthy days and meals out).

However I’m BACK on the mat, BACK to lifting weights and cardio classes, the numbers on my Apple Watch are bettering all time, and I’m feeling higher and sleeping higher than I’ve in months.

I additionally found yin yoga this month, which has develop into a weekly staple for restoration. Yin is completely different from different types of yoga — you maintain positions for 2 minutes or longer, and it targets your connective tissues along with muscle mass.

Additionally: my hip was hurting after the July live performance, however I did yin yoga a number of hours earlier than and the morning after the August live performance and I had ZERO ache — and I had a standing ticket at that live performance! This actually works.

Challenges

Um…the neighborhood surrounding Frankfurt’s prepare station at night time. I already wrote about this to my e mail subscribers (not signed up? Enroll right here!). Frankfurt, normally, is a secure place to go to. However the space across the prepare station is QUITE seedy.

How seedy? There was a bunch of males smoking crack a block from my resort, day and night time. After I got here again from the live performance at night time, a number of males adopted me or approached me in an intimidating approach. It actually freaked me out, however I discovered a bunch to stroll with the remainder of the best way house.

Truthfully, I feel that neighborhood is the worst neighborhood I’ve skilled anyplace in Europe. Robust phrases? Sure. Do I imply them? Additionally sure.

In brief, most of Frankfurt is ok — however I might solely suggest strolling alone at night time within the prepare station’s neighborhood in case you’re each street-smart and city-wise.

That’s not all of the challenges that occurred this month, however that’s all I’ll be saying at this time.

Most Well-liked Reel on Instagram

My hottest reel of the month was Touring with a Bestie — What’s it Like? with Cailin, with clips from our Krakow journey! Only a enjoyable and jokey reel from our time there.

However there may be one other reel I’d such as you to see, which received ALMOST as many views — it’s me speaking about how the Irish Famine is a lot like what’s occurring in Gaza at this time.

You’ll be able to see it right here:

The genocide of Palestinians in Gaza is an absolute nightmare, and it infuriates me that our authorities is bankrolling it and so lots of my fellow People are cheering it on.

I made this in hope that the numerous People who help the destruction of Gaza and likewise occur to carry Irish ancestry take a second to assume, “Hey, that actually occurred to my household. And it was unhealthy. And possibly I shouldn’t need that to occur to anybody else.”

And possibly in the event that they’re up for some vital considering, possibly they’ll understand there may be an excessive amount of AIPAC cash in our authorities, possibly the Israeli authorities has been the unhealthy man all alongside, and possibly we have to make some modifications in who represents us in Congress.

Eager about Gaza and feeling so helpless makes me really feel like I’m wrung inside out. My coronary heart is shattered for the Palestinians who need to stay in peace and security, in addition to victims of battle in Sudan, in Congo, in Haiti, in Myanmar, and in all places.

What I Watched This Month

I’m not a horror film particular person within the least — however my mates needed to have a 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later double function one night time earlier than watching 28 Years Later that weekend.

These are zombie motion pictures — however actually, they’re implausible. Days and Years, particularly. You’ll be able to skip Weeks if you wish to.

28 Years Later picks up after the Rage Virus decimated Britain, and focuses on a small neighborhood dwelling in peace on an island off the coast of Scotland. And I’m shocked how deep this film received! It made me assume a lot about isolation, about dying, about neighborhood. Outstanding, actually.

What a shock that my two favourite motion pictures of 2025 are each horror motion pictures: Sinners and 28 Years Later.

Oh, and we additionally noticed the newest Jurassic Park. Me, primarily for Jonathan Bailey, whom I am keen on. However I remorse to tell you that an American accent does NOT go well with him. The one second within the film I used to be interested in him was when he briefly lapsed into his personal accent whereas saying, “No, I’m saying it’s a sin to kill a dinosaur.”

What I Listened To This Month

I’m listening to all 500 of Rolling Stone‘s 500 Biggest Albums of All Time, which I’m having fun with immensely. I’m loving discovering new artists and listening to albums I’ve someway missed my complete life till now!

In July, I listened to albums 318-286. So loopy to assume that I’m now 200+ albums in since December!

Listed below are the highlights:

Favourite Discovery: Tales from the Metropolis, Tales from the Sea by PJ Harvey. She’s an artist I’ve heard talked about over time, however I’ve by no means listened to her music till now. And WOW — she is unbelievable!

The songs on this album are dynamite! Love her songwriting, voice, and instrumentation. There are some good collabs with Thom Yorke on right here, too, which I recognize, having develop into a Radiohead fan on account of this problem.

Different Favourite Discoveries: Random Entry Reminiscences by Daft Punk, The Velvet Rope by Janet Jackson, Full Moon Fever by Tom Petty, Tonight’s the Night time by Neil Younger, Speakerboxxx/The Love Beneath by Outkast, El Mal Querer by Rosalía.

Favourite Revisited Album: Californication by Crimson Sizzling Chili Peppers. One factor that stunned me firstly of my long-term travels was the pervasiveness of this album throughout Southeast Asia! You couldn’t go anyplace in Thailand with out listening to “Californication” or “Scar Tissue” or “Otherside.”

This album has all the enjoyable and California-ness of the Crimson Sizzling Chili Peppers, however I felt just like the songwriting goes a bit deeper on this album and really feel like a wild, cohesive journey. Such as you’re being shot into the solar.

Favourite Songs: “The World Has Turned and Left Me Right here” by Weezer; “Hyperballad” by Bjork; “Cranes within the Sky” by Solange; “Good Fortune” by PJ Harvey; “Received ‘Til It’s Gone” by Janet Jackson, Q-Tip, and Joni Mitchell.

Get the playlist: I’m making a playlist of my favourite songs from the five hundred albums — most one per album — on Spotify. You’ll be able to hearken to it right here.

Lowlight of the Month: Nearer by Pleasure Division. I do know, photographs fired, Gen X individuals are going to come back after me for this. I didn’t hate it, however I didn’t take pleasure in one single facet of the album. It felt aggressively meh to me.

Random Music Ideas: It’s so unhappy that that is solely the eighth month I’ve been listening to the highest 500 albums, but the third month that an artist I listened to on this problem handed away. This month, it was Ozzy Osbourne. I listened to Black Sabbath’s self-titled album (#355) and two extra of their albums are arising.

It was so good seeing how the world got here collectively to honor Ozzy. How superb was it that he was capable of have that remaining live performance together with his followers? What a particular present.

What I Learn This Month

After a yr of barely studying, this month I learn a ton of books — principally within the self-improvement class, as a part of a problem I’m doing. I’ll let you know extra about that in subsequent month’s recap.

The Forgotten Ladies: A Memoir of Friendship and Misplaced Promise in Rural America by Monica Potts (2023) — Monica Potts and her finest good friend, Darci, had been two of the neatest ladies rising up of their rural Arkansas hometown. Monica received out, went to school, and constructed a profession. Darci fell into drug dependancy. This memoir tries to determine what went flawed and what few choices there are for rural American ladies at this time.

There’s a lot that I favored about this guide — I all the time devour items about poverty in rural America. And its premise sounded so much like a feminine/white/rural model of Wes Moore’s The Different Wes Moore, which I learn lengthy earlier than he grew to become governor of Maryland!

However this guide additionally made me uneasy. It made me really feel because it Potts was exploiting Darci, who was within the throes of dependancy and will not have understood how public this might all be (and that it might embody her actual title). And Potts railed in opposition to her hometown for many of the guide, then casually dropped that she and her companion moved again and he or she didn’t need to share why — actually? Simply unusual.

Give up Like a Lady: The Radical Alternative To not Drink in a Tradition Obsessive about Alcohol by Holly Whitaker (2019) — This can be a guide for any lady who’s contemplating reframing her relationship with alcohol. A lot of the alcohol trade and restoration trade is geared particularly towards males, and this guide is radical in aiming towards the precise wants of girls.

Holly Whitaker is a implausible author, and that’s what introduced this guide to the following degree. It’s half self-help guide, and half memoir — oh, and her life was a HOT MESS earlier than she received sober. It’s entertaining in that facet, in a little bit of a horror film approach.

I did discover within the Goodreads evaluations that a number of individuals identified that her strategies had been most accessible to ladies who’ve extra money to spend. She writes from that perspective. And I do assume they’re proper (although I additionally assume none of these reviewers understand that you are able to do yoga isn’t costly — you possibly can actually do it without cost on YouTube).

She additionally writes WAY an excessive amount of about her journeys to Italy, and as somebody who writes about her personal journeys to Italy for a dwelling, you’ve received to know when to share and when to tug again on that form of stuff.

Both approach — in case you’re contemplating ingesting much less or giving up alcohol altogether, I strongly suggest studying this guide.

Can’t Harm Me: Grasp Your Thoughts and Defy the Odds by David Goggins (2018) — Okay, this was my hate-read of the month! David Goggins went from an abusive childhood to changing into a Navy SEAL and ultra-endurance athlete, and he shares how he pushes himself into doing probably the most tough bodily challenges.

I’ll preserve it easy — this can be a man that shouldn’t be emulated. He’s a deadbeat dad and four-time divorcee who continually places himself at risk due to not making ready appropriately for these bodily feats. He ran an ultramarathon with no prep, solely drank protein shakes, and put himself into kidney failure.

This man wants remedy, not devotees. He’s additionally extremely sexist and the guide is stuffed with sexist language that infuriated me.

Micro Expertise: Small Actions, Massive Influence by Adaira Landry and Resa E. Lewis (2024) — This can be a assortment of broad however shallow tips about methods to carry out higher at your workplace job. I didn’t discover this as useful for a solopreneur like myself, and I are likely to choose books that go deep on one subject versus making an attempt to cowl just a little little bit of every thing.

How you can Do Nothing: Resisting the Consideration Economic system by Jenny Odell (2019) — This guide was NOTHING like what I anticipated it to be. Much more philosophical and tutorial about getting your self to do nothing quite than one thing actionable.

Learn Individuals Like a E book by Patrick King (2020) — Uh, this guide may be very, very unhealthy. Don’t even trouble with this one.

Coming Up in August 2025

August started with me and Charlie touring to the Excessive Tatras of Slovakia for my forty first birthday! This was precisely what I needed this yr — a peaceable location in nature, a simple journey by prepare, and staying in a implausible resort. We had a blast and need to do extra journeys like this.

The one different journey this month shall be a fast journey to England for our good friend’s bonfire occasion, which we attend yearly.

Aside from that, I’ll be chilling out in Prague as I prepare for the BIG journey adventures of September.

What are you getting as much as subsequent month? Share away!