An Ode to Summer

I'm still not 100% convinced it's ending

June was a whitewater rapid—fast paced, splashy, breathtaking.

Swim lessons, bridal showers (both hosted and attended), weddings. Parties, sickness, weekend trips. An entire summer’s worth of activities packed into four weeks.

My mind swirled as the days flew by, barely able to catch my breath or hold onto a thought. I subsisted on half formed sentences and the promise of the slower pace July would surely bring.

July was an ocean—large swells followed by lazy lulls.

Fourth of July, a family trip to Breckenridge, yet another wedding. Our anniversary, the Olympics, birthday celebrations.¹

I took my first deep breath in weeks, savoring long days spent in the water. Popsicle juice trickled down arms in the treehouse, sweatshirts pulled overhead in the mountains. Balance beam routines watched both on tv and in my living room. Fancy dinners and spa days sprinkled in with Fancy Nancy and unhurried mornings. The extraordinary and the ordinary intermingled beautifully.

August has been a stream—a cool refreshment² before we continue our journey into fall.

Back to school clothes purchased, dance class started, rhythms and routines slowly restored. Countless games of keep away played, birthday parties and playdates attended, lingering summer bucket list items crossed off—the last few lazy weeks of summer soaked up.

This month has been a sweet blend of gearing up and staying slow. Our fall does not begin until September and after the schedule we’ve kept this summer, I am so grateful. A part of me is itching to grab ahold of all fall has to offer, while the other part is hanging on to every last bit of summer for dear life. Rather than fighting the tension, though, I am appreciative of how summer and fall are slowly bleeding into one another this month.

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Raves

Reading Roundup

My top two books of the summer have been Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe and Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez. I recently finished the second book of the series, Yours Truly and liked it, but not as much as POYW. My sister has the third book of the series, Just For The Summer, and I look forward to borrowing it from her once I work my through my ever growing nightstand TBR pile.

Other books I’ve finished this summer include The Husbands (which I really enjoyed), The Paradise Problem (which I did not enjoy, I’m just not an open door romance girly), and The Lost Bookshop (which I medium enjoyed).

I also just listened to Under the Influence by Noelle Crooks. Crooks was a former employee of The Hollis Company and this novel is very The Devil Wears Prada with a thinly veiled fictionalized Rachel Hollis character. As someone who once rode the RH rollercoaster, I found the book interesting, but if Rachel was never on your radar, this story probably won’t land for you.

Entertainment Honorable Mentions

I waited all summer for Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n Sweet album to drop and it’s finally here! I definitely have to listen with Airpods because girlfriend never met an expletive she didn’t like, but it’s fun and boppy and her writing is incredibly creative.

As for something I don’t have to listen to with earbuds, Forrest Frank’s Child of God album has been a great afternoon mood booster.

We are a year behind the times, but Luke and I finally started watching season 3 of Only Murders In the Building, you know, just in time for season 4 to start.

For any Bravo fans, this season of RHOC is chef’s kiss. A friend asked if she could start watching for the first time and I said yes and then gave her a run down so thorough, I was basically Elle Woods in this picture.

What’s Cooking

I’ve had several friends have babies this summer and this breakfast casserole is my go-to meal for new moms. I love taking breakfast for dinner to spice things up and offer the option of leftovers for breakfast. I pair with some muffins and fruit and thanks to the occupational hazard of having a husband in the wine industry, I throw in a bottle of champagne as well.

Breakfast for dinner is also a nod to KB’s late mama, who brought it to me when I had my daughter and it was such an welcome change in our lineup. Whenever I make it for other moms, I do so in her honor.

Other than this, meal planning has felt extra hard lately (I even drafted a whole post about this, but no one cares about my meal planning woes). But just this month, I’ve landed on a system that seems to be working. It’s nothing revolutionary, but it solves the pain point of falling down the Internet recipe rabbit hole. Each week I pick one cookbook from my shelf and exclusively choose meals from there. Like I said, not groundbreaking, but narrowing my options has really helped me. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by dinner options, maybe this trick will help you, too.

Gadgets and Gizmos Aplenty

This weighted eye mask has taken my sleep to the next level. The little beads inside provide the perfect amount of weight and help the mask to actually stay over my eyes all night long, like my own personal hotel black out curtains.

This sandwich sealer has revolutionized sandwich making in our home and therefore saved my sanity. Praise be.

We may be saying goodbye to summer in spirit, but here in the South, we will still very much be in summer for at least another month, so this fan continues to be a lifesaver. It’s also great for stuffy airplanes/cars and for when you need beauty products to set in. I also love that it’s is small enough to fit in a belt bag, making it the perfect accessory. H/t to my SIL for this find.

Practice Makes Perfect

To celebrate our birthdays, Luke and I spent a weekend poolside at a local hotel. It was glorious and refreshing and much needed. All that time by the pool also prompted me to take off my Apple watch and not look back nearly a month later.

I’ve worn a watch for the better part of the last 15 years, a smart watch for the last 8. The technology was much needed when I worked a fast paced job which didn’t afford me access to my phone. A smart watch even came in handy when I had a baby and couldn’t reach my phone or found myself unexpectedly nap trapped— I could just use the watch the message Luke to bring my phone to my daughter’s nursery if I needed to settle in with entertainment.

But lately, I’ve found myself more easily overwhelmed with the constant connectivity of life. Had you asked at the beginning of the summer if my watch contributed to this overwhelm, I would have told you no. But since I’ve stopped wearing it, I’ve noticed I breathe easier. I’m not beholden to every text and call that comes through. There are no hourly beeps demanding I stand up or notifications reminding me of how I’ve yet again fallen short of my move goal.

I’m not saying I’ll never go back to wearing a smart watch, but I am saying I don’t want technology to be the boss of me and just because I’ve done something for 8-15 years doesn’t mean I have to do it that way forever.

And speaking of anxiety, last weekend a friend and I went to hear David Thomas and Sissy Goff of the Raising Boys and Girls Podcast speak on Sissy’s book, The Worry-Free Parent: Living in Confidence So Your Kids Can Too. I haven’t read the book (yet), but I love their podcast and David and Sissy’s nurturing and Christ centered approach to common parenting issues. There were so many great takeaways (I highly recommend seeing them in person if they come to a city near you) but two I’ve been trying to implement this week are:

• Let the bottom 20% go—as in letting go of the bottom 20% of the things I worry about

and

• Ask myself “what are 2 things I’m doing for my daughter that she can do for herself and 2 things she can almost do?” And then stop doing those things. Sissy talked about how letting our kids struggle and do things for themselves builds their confidence, so I’ve been trying to implement that this week in little ways. We already involve her in a lot around the house, and as a podcast listener, I’ve asked myself these questions often, but they were a needed reminder—especially the what can she almost do for herself question. It’s taken us longer to get out the door this week, but I can already see her confidence building as she works to put on her shoes AND socks every day.

That’s all I have for my ode to summer—it was jam packed, I know. It’s hard to cram three month’s worth of information into one place, so I think I’ll try doing this at the end of each month to keep things a little more compact.

Like I mentioned in the reading section, I’m trying my hardest to work my through my nightstand TBR pile before buying more books, so if you’ve read any of these, weigh in on which one I should dive into next as we head into fall:

1. Our birthdays actually fall within the first week of August and as such, I’ve always identified more with having a July birthday than an August birthday. August signals back to school, back to routine, talks of fall. But my birthday has always squarely been in the summer, so in my heart, it fits in July.

2. Cool is very much metaphorical. As I type this it’s 99 degrees, which is considered a “cool front” after the multi-day triple digit heat wave we’ve just endured.