July Favorites

July has come and gone. Much like every year thus far in my life I honestly can not remember where it went. Last I checked it was May and Alexa was gearing up for the end of school. It seems as though the sentiments are the same for every adult I know. The bad news is (or so I've been told) is that the older you get the faster it goes. I could settle for a slow down **Que Dierks Bently county song here**

Summer has always been tied for my favorite season. I love the long nights, the backyard fires, the smores, the lemonade and the birthdays that increase time with family and friends. I love the sun and the warm weather. It's so incredibly hard to be a crabby person when the day outside is so full of color and life. Thankful that it's only August and I have a few more weeks of summer life before it's back to the grind of a working momma. 

So, July was quite the month for us. We have 4 family birthdays in July - Luke's, Alexa's, my Mom and my Brother, Cory. So, you can imagine that alone makes the month quite busy and quite unhealthy. For Luke's birthday we always celebrate the week of the balloon rally. This year was no exception - lots of friends over. The drinks flowed and we all had a wonderful time. Alexa's birthday was next weekend and we ended up at Luke's mom's house in Tomahawk. Alexa had 2 friends tag along and we sat on our island and let them swim and play all day. I was super impressed with the girls because they all slept in the tent over night even with the relatively scary thunderstorm that happened.  For Mom & Cory's bday we all went to dinner at Richard's and it was very good!

As far as favorites go this is where we stand:

Movies/TV:

July wasn't a crazy busy movie/TV month. Mainly I just watched what Alexa and Luke wanted to watch. Which honestly, unless I'm sacrificing sleep I often times don't get to watch the TV I want to watch because my life just doesn't allow it. Or on the occasion that Luke wants to watch what i'm watching. Luckly for me that was the case this month. We somehow found ourselves sucked into the goodness that is Wentworth. Watch it. You wont regret it. 

Books:

This month I read two books. The first one was the third book in the All Souls Trilogy - The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness. I started reading this trilogy in October for the Paper & Glam book club read and I have committment issues (in the sense that I have to finish what I've started) so I've slowly been finishing the series. I don't normally get into books like these but it was a easy read and entertaining so I enjoyed it. I have heard that they are actually going to be making a TV series so that should be interesting to see. 

The next book I read was Present over Perfect by Shauna Niequst. I had a really awesome experience with this book and I think it was because it was a message that I really needed to hear. The only complaint that I have with this book is that it was somewhat repetitive, but it is a quick read. That being said, I will be purchasing this book so that I can reread it and highlight and note up the margins all I want. I highly suggest this book for busy moms who might just need a little reminder that being present is way more important than being perfect. The repetitiveness is needed for us stubborn mothers who insist on trying to be as perfect as we can when we really just need the thought of grace drilled into our heads. 

Listening - 

This is a funny one. Recently found some old mix CDs from probably the end of high school beginning of college. Nothing like throwing it back to the most eclectic variety of music you've probably ever heard and that I might be slightly embarrassed to have you listen to. 

Beauty- 

Two new favorites this month. I'm a kitnapper with Younique cosmetics for various reasons. They pre-launched two new products for presenters - Esteem (a lash growth serum) and Epic (one step mascara) and I have to say that i'm loving both of them! I'm giving the Esteem a full month to review the growth results. But the Epic - Ummm has probably become one of my top 5 favorite mascaras, and if i'm being honest probably top 3.

Family & Friends-

I addressed this earlier - we're in birthday season! 

Planning-

I've been using this month to plan and solidify a few things. 

1. 

Budget - I have some heafty financial goals that will allow my family to breath a little easier and so I've been really planning out my pay off plans and fitting in all the odds and ends though out the year.

2.

The school year. Alexa is in the 5th grade this year and on the dance time again this year. This means that I better have that schedule figured out especially because we share time with her dad and his family. The earlier the plans the better and so I've been making sure that all calendars (yes - I have multiple. If you'd like a post about how I stay organized and use my calendars/planners let me know!) are matching and all the details are worked out. 

I know that I said I was sad about the summer coming to and end but I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited for the Fall. One of my favorite quotes from F. Scott Fitzgerald speaks to my soul every fall.

There is something so exciting about the change of schedule, the implementation of a new routine, the changing of the season. Not to mention all the amazing and exciting things that come in the fall - Riding boots, cute scarfs, lattes, fall harvest... I could go on and on. I'm ready for something new and so I'm not looking to rush August along, but I am looking forward to September. 

I'm curious, am I the only one who feels this way? I'm aware that i'm definitely more type A than most, but I am a firm believe that most people thrive with routine and to me September = new routine. Are you sad summer is ending or happy fall is soon to come?

xoxo

Nikki