July 2019 goals

So apparently in this season of life, a one-week vacation necessitates a two-week blogging hiatus. Our trip to Corolla with John’s family was so wonderful, though, and I can’t wait to share it with you soon – hopefully before we jet off to Maine in a few weeks with my family, and the cycle starts all over again, ha! Thanks for hanging in here while life happens, friends!

Speaking of life – last year this month we were preparing to meet our son, and this year we’ll celebrate his first birthday. I am the luckiest.

On my calendar this month:
— Celebrating the birthdays of my two favorite guys: John and John Shepherd!
— Celebrating the birthday of America with our town’s kiddo parade (decorated bikes and all!)
— That other great American holiday: Cow Appreciation Day!
— My book swap party!!

What I’m loving right now:
— We received The Circus Ship as a gift recently, and it was an instant favorite with the whole family! (More of my favorite picture books here!)
— As someone who prioritized paying off her student loans as quickly as possible, I was fascinated by this episode of the Freakonomics podcast. Highly, highly recommend a listen!
— Peaches! Time to trot out my annual exhortation that you make this recipe. We’ll be enjoying it on the Fourth.

What I read in June:
— Finished all 1000+ pages of Pillars of the Earth. It lived up to the hype – it’s just an unabashedly great story that moves along at a rollicking pace, with tons of twists and turns over several decades. Can’t wait to dig into the sequel, though I think I’ll give myself a little breather before I do!
— I’m about halfway through Sabbath as Resistance, recommended to me by one of our pastors. It’s a little anti-capitalism for my tastes and has me feeling like I’m back in college with its density, but I’ve already applied some of its wisdom to my yearlong experiment, so I’ll keep plowing through.

Revisiting my June goals:
Finally book our camping trip! (Done! We’re headed to Lake James!)
Cull and sort remaining iPhone photos – 2011, 2010, 2009
Download and sort Facebook photos (Done!)
Plan my book swap party (Done! So excited for this!)
Sign up for the MS Ride (Eeeeeek! I did it!! A few of you have asked for my fundraising page – it’s here, if you’d like to see! I’d be very honored by your donation.)
Create a standing desk upstairs
Define Sabbath for our family (Working definition complete! Excited to try things out this month!)

July goals:
— Edit June in June, Volume 4!
— Have a friend date with my new neighborhood friend Casey
— Wrap up ALL remaining photo organization
— Give feedback for our church website
— Choose a standing lamp for behind one chair
— Buy a new pot for our mantel pothos plant

Keeping things simple for this second month in a row of travel! I’d love to hear: How do you usually celebrate the Fourth?

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