Well hello there! I am sad to see that June has come to a close. I love summer and it seems to be flying by-- time needs to slow down! Anyway, here's a look at what we've been up to:
What We're Eating This Week: Are ya'll familiar with Half Baked Harvest? I kept hearing about Teighan over and over from several people and then my sister brought her cookbook to the beach. After looking through every single recipe in her book-- I am obsessed! This week we are having her Charred Peppers with Marinated Feta and Tzatziki and her Chicken Fajita Tortilla Bowls (sans the chicken):
What I'm Reminiscing About: The kids keep mentioning Disney World lately and it is bringing back memories from our trip there last December.
We typically go every other year, but now I am trying to convince Devin we should go for just 1-2 days when we visit his grandmother over the holidays. My logic is: grandma lives in Florida, Disney is in Florida--- it makes sense, right? 😉
What I'm Loving: Did you read my post on our goal to spend 1,000 hours outside? We have been actively making it a goal to get outside as much as possible and it has been wonderful. I am amazed (but not surprised) how just a little bit of time outside can make such a big impact in several areas. One of the kids is in a bit of a funk? Lets bike down to the creek and go skip rocks. I'm feeling a little tired/sluggish? Get outside and get some sunshine.
Our time outside has made for overall happier and healthier family, and I am LOVING it! I'll update you at the bottom of this post about how many hours we have clocked so far.
What We've Been Up To: We spent the first two weeks of June in Hilton Head, SC. After that we have been spending our mornings at camp (or playing outside), and then our afternoons at the pool. Most of the time I will pack our dinner in a cooler and we will swim until dinner time, eat at the pool, and then head home.
One day at the pool I saw a mom pull her beach cart out of the back of her car, with all her pool stuff in it, and bring it into the pool with her. I thought that was the most genius thing I'd seen in a long time. Why do we reserve those beach carts just for the beach?? When we go to the pool I have to bring at least 3 bags (our cooler, the bag with the towels, the bag with the sunscreen/toys/swim diapers/etc.) and it is a lot to carry!! Now I just load everything into our cart and it has made my life so much easier. This was our cart yesterday on our way to the pool:
Look at all that stuff I used to be carrying in! There is one extra bag in there since we were coming from a playdate in our dry clothes, I had to pack our swimsuits. But the rest of that is all stuff we normally bring. MUCH easier with the cart!
We got our cart at Costco a couple years ago, but this one on Amazon looks similar. If you are sick of carrying what feels like a hundred bags to the pool, I suggest bringing the cart.
What I'm Working On: My teaching license was up for renewal this year and while normally that is not a problem, since I haven't been working full time for a district anymore I was on my own to find professional development... which means I totally forgot about it and then had to find some at the 11th hour. But I did it, they're done, and my license application has been submitted for renewal. 😅
What I'm Excited About: My two best friends and I are planning a girls weekend getaway to the mountains this fall. Our plan is to get massages and pedicures at a nearby spa, maybe go for a hike or two, eat some delicious food and catch up on sleep. It sounds like a dream! The picture above is the sunrise view from one of my favorite hiking spots in Blowing Rock, NC.
What I'm Watching/Reading: Well, since I was taking 3 online classes at lightning speed over the past 2 months, my reading for pleasure fell by the wayside. That being said I was able to squeeze in a couple books, one of them being Malibu Rising, which I loved!
I tried to check this out at the library last summer and the waitlist was 100+ long. This summer when I went to check it out I was the only person waiting.
As for watching, we recently watched Operation Mincemeat and Munich: The Edge of War on Netflix and both were fantastic.
We've also started watching Keep Sweet Pray and Obey and it is both fascinating and hard to watch.
What I'm Listening To: We are on a bit of a Beach Boys kick, but otherwise its all country music!
What I'm Wearing: Oh this is fun! One of my best friends and I have started playing tennis together and while we definitely have room for growth in the tennis skills area, we are having fun getting our tennis outfits together haha!
I have a few Lulu running skirts I've been wearing, then this top (mine is old, but this is similar) and a visor.
I've also been wearing this romper on repeat.
I shared both of these outfits a few weeks ago, but I've been wearing them a lot lately too:
I wore this purple dress to dinner with friends a couple weeks ago and it got quite a lot of compliments! Apparently this dress plus a good fake tan just scream summer.
What I'm Doing This Weekend: We are celebrating a friend's birthday, celebrating the 4th with friends, and then I am hoping our Saturday looks a lot like this:
We are hoping to spend the day at our favorite place, the US National Whitewater Center.
What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month: Continuing to enjoy some more of our summer. 😊
1,000 Hours Outside Count: As I type this we are at 125 hours and counting! We didn't quite get as many hours in as I thought we would at the beach due to several afternoons with thunderstorms, but overall we did pretty well. Like I said, it is very eye opening how just a little bit of time in the sunshine can seem to make most things better. I know you all already know it, but nature really is so good for the soul. If you're interested but 1,000 hours seems too daunting of a task, maybe try setting a smaller goal? 50 a month? 500 a year? You might be surprised by how much you start to crave the outdoors after being cooped up for even just a few hours.
Today I am linking up with Sheaffer and Shay for What's Up Wednesday. I'll see you back here tomorrow for a tasty and healthy surprise!
Adding that show to my list. I love your summer outfits. Good work on both getting your credits for your licence as well as spending all that time outside. Enjoy your long weekend :)
ReplyDeleteYay for getting your license renewal finished! I just picked up Malibu Rising as well just wandering around the library looking for some new things to read while waiting for other books on hold to arrive. Good luck on convincing your husband to sneak in a Disney trip; my husband would have HATED it if we had family to visit in Florida as I surely would have made that a condition! LOL.
ReplyDeleteI wrote about how much I am loving starting my mornings outdoors with my husband and our coffee. Being outside is just something I'm absolutely craving this summer and you are so right -- I'm so much happier if I can start my day outside. And that purple dress is so fun! I LOVE it!!!
ReplyDeleteI loved Malibu Rising! I can't wait for her new book to come out next month - Carrie Soto is Back! We have a few families that bring their beach wagon to the pool and it is so smart. I'm not carrying quite as much now, but I wish I had thought about it when I was! I agree that the more time my family spends outside, the happier we are. I might keep track of it next month to see how we do. Love that Lilly romper! Have a great day!
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