Monthly Musings: August 2026

ft. Bean's 4th new country, the tastiest gift box ever, and the usual ramblings

Aug 05, 2026

Friends, hello! Happy August! Welcome to our Monthly Musings: August 2026 post, I hope it finds you well! How the heck are you? I truly hope that you’ve been getting out to squeeze every last ounce of sunshine out of your summer — we certainly have been, and I’ve got plenty of new summer freckles to prove it! Every dang day saw us making the most of the long summer days, be it by heading to the beach, having an impromptu little picnic, strolling along the seafront, and, most recently, by escaping up north for a couple of days with my family. More on all of this below, but I really feel like the past month was maybe my favourite summer month ever? It was just so fun and light and joyous, you know? Here’s hoping we can make all of Bean’s future summers as lovely as the first one ❤️

Our musings for the month ahead are listed below, filled with all the usual ramblings and then some. A little baby update, some travel talk, a recap on what I’ve been reading and watching, and a few additional summery titbits for good measure.

Enjoy!

monthly musings: august 2026

On the baby bulletin: Bean is doing so well! Big milestones from the last month include: she started pointing — so cute! except when she points at something behind me and I’m alone with her? less cute and more creepy —, transitioning down from three naps to two — seemed impossible the first few days, but is now effortless and actually seems to suit her more? —, and she’s really making a big effort to talk lately! She’s trying out words with different types of syllables and it is so sweet when she tries to include herself into conversations! I cannot believe she is 10-months old already?! Crazy!

I know I touched on it above, but wow we just had a really wonderful five day long trip in Northern Ireland, and it was so perfect! Based in my uncle’s holiday home in Ballycastle(!), we went out exploring every day and were absolutely blown away by how beautiful the Causeway Coast is?! The beaches, the cliffs, the mountains — not to mention the Giant’s Causeway or Carrick-a-Rede! It was all stunning! I am itching to sit down and write a full guide about our time there, so definitely watch this space!

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Related: Bean did so well on this trip! Northern Ireland was her fourth new country in less than 10-months, and she was a superstar! The drive there and back was maybe the hardest part — 3.5-/nearly 4-hours in the car each way isn’t ideal for anyone tbh, not just a baby — but she had no problem settling into the new house for naps etc. We did have some teething upset, but I’d rather have them away on a trip than at home in our everyday life! I just love exploring the world with our little bestie and I genuinely believe she is a more adaptable baby because of it 😊

Husband and I celebrated our 11-year anniversary at the end of July! You might remember that our milestone anniversary last year was completely overshadowed by my appendectomy at 29-weeks pregnant, so we really wanted to make the most of this one. My lovely mother and sister offered to babysit Bean, and Husband & I went into town for an epic foodie day out! We basically ate our way across Dublin — starting with wine + toasties, finishing with fancy cocktails, and somehow managing to squeeze in coffee, cookies, pizza, chicken in the middle somewhere — and it was the best day ever! Don’t worry, I’ve already started working on a little guide covering everywhere we hit 😉

In case you missed it, two new travel guides hit the blog last month! A Complete Guide to Nice, France and A Morning in Antibes, France. I’ve had a version of the Nice guide on the blog for the last couple years, but I completely gutted it and updated it to include all the info from our most recent trip there a couple months back — it is absolutely stuffed to the gills with everything you need to know about the city and I truly hope you love it! The Antibes guide is more of a sweet little memory capsule; we only spent a handful of hours in town, but it was so lovely that I couldn’t bear to not share what we got up to with you. We also had the best cookie of our lives there, and that fact really needed to be documented here for all to read. Have you read the posts yet?

The lovely people at TokyoTreat were in touch recently and kindly sent out their August snack box, Okinawa Snackin’ Paradise, for me to try! I’ve been eyeing their stuff for ages, so I was thrilled to hear from them out of the blue! The team create monthly fun & exclusive Japanese snack boxes that are absolutely filled to the brim with exciting goodies: limited-edition KitKats, fun-flavoured Japanese crisps, seasonal treats, and so much more! We’ve especially enjoyed the tropical island theme of this month’s snack box and have loved taste-testing the pineapple gummies, shisa sweet cookie, kakigori chewing gum, sweet potato chinsuko, etc. — it’s like being back in Japan all over again! Would definitely recommend! More info here.

Summer Bucket List check in: nearly every item on my list is almost ticked off! We went for a road trip up north with my fambam, we’ve had three picnics thus far, we went to the beach, celebrated our anniversary in style, booked our final maternity leave trip, ate ice-cream nearly every day we were up north, and I’ve started Bean’s birthday prep! I’m so proud of all the fun summer frivolities we’ve accomplished this year! The only things really left on the list are to get out to Glendalough, a little more birthday prep, and to start prepping the yearly photobook photos. Getting! It! Done! How are you getting along with your summer bucket list?

RE the aforementioned beach day: it was so lovely! Together with my sister, Husband, and Bean, we packed up the car with all the snacks, picnic blankets, camper chairs, + sneaky tumblers of wine and headed down to Brittas Bay for the afternoon! We set up camp along the dunes and spent the most wholesome few hours soaking up Bean’s first day at the beach. We dipped her little toesies in the sea, enjoyed a picnic lunch together, and just generally enjoyed the sunshine and the feeling of the waves. Of course, it’s all lovely until you get home and realise you’re still covered in ALL THE SAND — but it’s a nice summer day out regardless.

Okay, what are you reading at the mo’? I’m currently stuck in a little rut because, sadly, the Stephen King train has finally let me down — twice! First with Revival, which I thought was a total DUD; so boring and ultimately pointless, and now again with Full Dark, No Stars, which I’m still trudging through but have lost interest. Send help in the form of book recommendations — I am in dire need! To follow along with my reading in real-time on StoryGraph, click here.

Have you seen anything good lately? Our movie viewing really took a backseat last month, with the only new-to-us flicks being Obsession, Black Phone 2, and The Devil Wears Prada 2; all three of which we did not enjoy. However! We did watch some good new-to-us TV lately — Widow’s Bay + The Beast In Me —, both of which we really enjoyed! I’m new to the Matthew Rhys fan club, but I thought he was fab in both shows, and so different in each! We also watched the new Cape Fear reboot and thought it was soooo bad; maybe it was just lacking Matthew Rhys? To follow along with our movie watching in real-time on Letterboxd, click here.

And there we have it, our Monthly Musings: August 2026 post! It’s a biggie, but there were just so many lovely things from the last month that I wanted to share with you! Let’s catch-up again next month, okay?

My love to you,

Vicki xo