August

Do you ever feel that the beginning of August brings with it the beginning of fall? It's no wonder with the Target aisles full of dorm room swag, Mead 5 Subject notebooks and pencils. As a kid of educators and a lover of school myself, August quickly ramps up with back to school festivities and then the fresh start of school itself.

This year I don't want to rush into fall, because there a great few weeks of summer still ahead of me. TWO vacations! a birthday! a wedding! another boating weekend! delicious bbq & racing pigs! in seasons foods! it's all gonna be so good and I want to enjoy it all. I want to continue to work on my summer list. Look, we have yet to walk to get ice cream! There's lots yet to do.

vacation with matt to the upper peninsula
buy a bicycle and ride it. 
camp
pick blueberries
have a cookout for friends
picnic in the park
purge and organize the craft room and main floor closet and library
rock boat weekend
mini vacation with momma
do a picture a day
spend most of a day floating on a lake, at least once
fireworks
celebrate birthdays with love and fun and we still have matt's coming up
fresh, local, simple foods and dinners, hello lover august
grow our own stuff
wrap a light string around the apple tree
chicago in the midst of it
get out of the house once a day
walk to get ice cream
visit as many great lakes as possible
make a list like this
make a book to record it all

I'm not the only one trying to hold on to the last bits of summer. Sheenas' beautiful canola background calendar is now gracing my desktop.

Wanderlust is something I'm enjoying a few little bits of this summer. I enjoyed Port Huron and views of the Blue Water Bridge with my momma two weekends ago. Cheboygan last weekend was fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun on the boat, boa-!

heading to hack-ma-tack via the cheboygan river.

Next week I'm off to visit my bestest in ChicagoOak Park. We have grand plans of a real girl's weekend with wine and cheese on the porch, junk food and movies, wandering her town and two full days to catch up!

Then it will be Matt's turn. Five uninterrupted days of vacation in the Upper Peninsula, visiting family soaking ourselves in the lake, a trip to a waterfall or a mine may be in store, definitely some beers and really good food. Much needed relaxation, for reals. Then we'll be home to celebrate his birthday the next weekend. Plans are brewing.

Matt's birthd-eve 2011

I really want to enjoy every bit of it and make the most of the 23 days we'll both be home throughout the month. Make it my goals to enjoy the house, cook fresh food, open the windows and work in the yard a bit, sit outside and enjoy the last few weeks of summer. I think it can be done.

goodness, i love that font. found on elise' blog

her august list.

12 books before 27

 I am in no way reviewing these, just quick, summary reactions.  

twelve.

 reaction:  

eleven.

 reaction: 

ten. Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral, Kris Radish

reaction: I enjoyed the story of this book, but I wish there had been more interaction of the characters. found it would fall back to "then they talked for hours and their lives changed and intertwined more and more." okay that's fantastic, how? tell me about it.

nine. The Hundred Secret Senses, Amy Tan

 

reaction: A long, slow read but the dynamic between the sisters develops into something that you ache for, for them. Different than most books I've read before, glad I stuck with it. 

eight. Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games), Suzanne Collins

reaction: I'm really not sure if I like these books or not. I know they're quick reads and I like the concept, so I'm plugging through.

seven. The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, Lilian Jackson Bruan

reaction: This is the first book in the Cat Who Series. It's weird to read about Qwilleran not in his hometown and be introduced to his faithful felines as someoneelse's cats. Wait, is Yum Yum even in this book?! You'll have to read to find out. ;)

six. Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen

reaction: I love elephants! Rosie was a sweet one (well except that one thing, but that was totally justified). It's certainly not as good as Modoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived, but I look forward to watching the film.

five. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

reaction: This was another easy, fast read. It's basically what you expect from a book for teens about murdering 23 competitors. The character development was lacking for me in both the book and the movie. I look forward to watching the film again, more removed from reading the book. #teamgail

four.  Winter of the Wolf Moon, Steve Hamilton

reaction: After slowly making my way through Oscar Wao it was relief to read something easy and quick. I put this away in a few days and it was exactly what I was looking for. 

There's no better time to read an Alex McKnight, Paradise, MI book than January.

three. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz.

reaction: It took me forever to read this book. The style is different than any I've ever read, but I made it through and I was entertained, sometimes.

two. Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris.

 reaction: I think I might like the tv series better. I might give another book a shot.

one. Blood, Bones, & Butter, Gabrielle Hamilton

 reaction: Yep, I too now want to open a restaurant and read more chef memoirs.

birthday week

thx thx thx

Birthday's should be celebrated for as long as possible.

 They are the celebration of you, rock it out!

Here's to the kick off of my birthday week.

 {I'll be 27 on Wednesday!}

 

goal check in.

Until I read that we're into the 26 week of the year, I completely forgot I'd written goals for this year. What the? Time to refocusfocus on these for real now.

Good news though, even though I wasn't intentional with my work on most of these I have been working on some of them.

As I work to have more balance in my life with health, good food, laziness, excitement, relationship strengthening, solitary time and friendship I want to be more intentional with that thought process. I don't want to feel overwhelmed, but consider my decisions and the alternatives thoughtfully.

I'll carry this word with me through 2012 and while tackling these four resolutions. 

1. lose weight. get fit. but seriously, lose a serious bit of with like a final goal of forty to fifty pounds. whew! it's going to take some serious work and i'm glad (very, very, glad) to have matt along with me to get this done.
2. save at least $3000! and be more financially responsible. this year i learned to really budget and next year i need to learn how to SAVE and not over spend.
3. be on time. i tend to be a tardy to things and all this achieves is stress. seriously, i'm an adult. it's time to be timely.
4. develop solid communication skills. i feel awkward in somea lot of social situations and i'd love to be the person who always felt comfortable and could put others at ease. 

Number one and three have been mostly neglected.

Number two has been respected although any money that would have been saved has been put towards large financial obligations (a fence, a venue down payment). 

Number four, I'm actively working on this. Although I think that I may always keep a general feeling of discomfort in many social and work settings I think I know how to handle it and where it comes from. (introvert for the win!)

we rang in the new year / ate lots of good food / flew to florida & and went red (head) / went skiing

it snowed / we drank beer / moved a bit / drank wine on a staycation

dressed up in anticipation / cleaned up the yard / received good things / went to dinner

and picked our drinks from an ipad / ate outside / bought flowers in rain / caught venus just before the sun sunk below the clouds

whined for food and wine at whine / started and finished the hunger games / drank out of cats / harvested basil

it's been a good year so far and i bet it will keep getting better!

<3

insta + links + senses

it's another lazy friday for me

as i stay cool, watch the olympic trials

& wimbledon and read blogs.

i love Joanna's collection of Nora Ephron links.
Michigan gymnast third after first day of Olympic trials.
both Kaitlyn & Kaylah shared Dorothy Parker dresses. add one those to the list of things i want.
this amazing story, wedding rsvp site.
i really appreciate meg's outlook on food.
Rachel and her guy Eric are celebrating two years. woot.

tattly's last for-ever. it's fan-tastic.

these monsters from anke panke are still holding strong.

three weeks later.

anticipating:  this coming weeks fourth festivities. boating on the day of. 50,000 fireworks in 50 minutes on the 7th. three days + the weekend off.

hearing: we've moved on to swimming olympic trials now. swim, swim, swim.

dreaming: of our vacation. days on the lake, exploring the up with my guy, adventures.

eating: about to be eating some delicious, delicious sushi. it's been too long.

drinking: lots + lots of water. i'm kind of getting the hang of this.

two cats.

one chubby orange guy named sam.

one full of a dangerously delicious 

ginger liquour, lime, vodka drink.

i woke up with a sore throat and have fighting sinuses ever since.

but i just can't blame the drink.

confession: i slept til noon. and it's after 5 now. Matt will be home soon. and i have yet to shower. couch potato for the win!

cateye tumbleweeds

this pair  / this shop

i've expressed my love for tumbleweeds in the past

i'm really considering a pair of these snazzy cateye glasses.

for everyday wear.

the shop is closed, while they catch up.
catch up on all the orders
for their fantastic fames.

this just gives me more chance to decide.
but i'm definitely leaning towards yes.

now. after the birthday because it's two weeks,
two weeks friends,
from wednesday. 27.

ps. they're going to be at Renegade Chicago!
we're not. Chicago is for august this year. 

SUMMER 2012

really this could be any summer to do list. 

but i'm pretty excited that it's this one right here.

thanks for the prompt from lauren.

thanks for the photo inspiration from elise.