Beginnings -- Summer

Yesterday was the "real" first day of summer break for us. I've been out of school since early May and the kids finished up on May 23, but with two days of room cleaning, a busy weekend, and Memorial Day, yesterday was our first, do-nothing day of summer.

Hopefully, I can convince him to spend a lot of time like this over the summer!

We're reading, playing Uno, and trying not to spend too much time watching TV and playing video games (Holdyn). I've made a schedule. We stuck to it yesterday and I blew it this morning, by sleeping waaaay too late, of course.

I've been reading Gretchen Rubin's memoir, The Happiness Project. I really like it and have found some habits I'd like to cultivate. Foremost of those is keeping a one-sentence daily journal. I already keep a sort of Commonplace book or junk journal filled with to-dos, quotes, ideas, musings, scattered thoughts, whatever. But, I'd like to record our days and be better about keeping this blog, so maybe a one-sentence journal style will work.

My resolutions from New Years have been hit or miss successes. Hits -- I have kept up with exercising and I'm pumped about that! My friend, Mallory, and I have just about finished couch to 5k and are scheduled to run in the Color Run on Labor Day in Birmingham. I'd planned to run a 5k BEFORE my 35th birthday last year, but it didn't happen. The Color Run is Sept. 3, so I'll at least run a 5k DURING my 35th year. Revision is a great thing, no? Misses -- I have not been faithful in writing everyday and the take a photo a day project fizzled after about a week. To be fair, I write A LOT. It just doesn't happen everyday. I'm ok with that right now, but once I begin my dissertation that will need to change. Thankfully, a friend gave me the book Write Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day. It will be a huge help when the time arrives. As for the photo project, I have no excuse except I guess I wasn't as interested as I thought I'd be. I'll try it again sometime, though.

Well, that's a VERY brief update. And I've left out a ton, beach trip, trip to Nashville, 5th grade graduation, end of the year awards, Memorial Day with the family.

Tomorrow...summer continues and the one-sentence journal begins!

Much Love,
J

Nancy Drew

How cool is Nancy Drew? I didn't realize how much I loved her until the other day. Here's what happened: I was in my baby sister, Elizabeth's, room at Mom and Dad's changing into my swimsuit. You know the amount of hopping, shimmying, and writhing invloved in getting into a swimsuit, right? (If you don't I HATE YOU!) Anyway, during said hopping, etc. I hopped over in front of Biz's bookcase and noticed she had her collection of Nancy Drew Mystery Stories there, along with MY collection of the Nancy Drew files (who told you you could borrow those, missy?). As I was pausing to catch my breath after finally wedging myself into my swimsuit (or sausage casing, you decide) I thought maybe the kiddos would like to read Nancy. This summer we've read Ramona, Harry, and a few others so adding Nancy seemed like a good idea.

Now we're reading book #1 The Secret of the Old Clock. It's really good and the kids enjoy it. And I am not too proud to admit that I wish I was Nancy Drew! She's so pretty and nice and smart (not fishing here). She has a blue convertible, for crying out loud! And she spends her days driving around solving mysteries. UGH, now I can't decide if I love her or hate her! Oh, alright, I love her. SIGH.

Bookworm

Most of you know that I am a huge bookworm. I'm usually reading at least two books at any given time. Krager was checking out a few of your blogs and noticed that many of you have booklists letting others know what you're reading. He said that I should make one on our blog and I agreed. Since I read alot I'm going to make this a monthly list and post what I'm reading or have read that month, beginning with July. Check these out, I was lucky and picked some great reads this month! Also, I'm always looking for new things to read, so let me know if you've got some suggested readings of your own.