Wellll here I am almost a month later, still without having written a real blog post.  I guess I can’t postpone it any longer. But I’m not going to dwell on that because this is already too much like one of those blogs on which I only update to lament how infrequently I update.  So, anyway…

I am really enjoying summer!  I think I’m learning that I need to have summer vacation in my life constantly as an adult, because I just love traveling around and visiting with people and wearing bright colors.  But unfortunately, I’ve been doing more work than any of that during July.  This month has gone by INSANELY fast tho.  I’ve hit my one year mark at work.  Yay!  I made it!  Other highlights from the month of July include:

1.  I went on Cat’s family beach trip for the 4th of July for about 2 days.  I’m a little obsessed with the beach.  It’s kind of weird to be on someone *else’s* family vacation, because you really feel privvy to lots of crazy family inner workings, but at the same time you are so just an observer and therefore much more objective than any of those family members involved.  Which then makes you questions your own asumptions about your family…anyway, it was fun tho!
2.  Yes, of course I have seen the most recent Harry Potter film, and of course I counted down to it.  I enjoyed it.  & so I just finished rereading book 6 & am on book 7.  This has messed up my sleeping schedule immensely.  But that’s ok.
3.  Carley the wonderful is no longer living with me and that makes me infinitely sad.
4.  There’s a lot of change on the horizon at work.  None of us deal well with change.  On the upside tho, the girls are being surprisingly delightful.
5.  I have bought a plant!  Her name is Demi.  Hopefully now Betsy can be reunited with me now that she’ll have a sister plant? *coughBethcough*
6.  The gym…has not been happening this month.  As we speak two parts of me are battling on the inside between getting up & going for a run (and I actually am kind of craving a run which is weird) or just continuing to do nothing and read Harry Potter.  This is the danger these books hold for me.

Speaking of books, I guess it’s time to do some reviewing?  I can’t remember how long it’s been since I’ve caught you up on my reading…there was a lot of reading happening for quite awhile tho…yeah I haven’t updated on books since April.  Yikes.  Here are some of the highlights (or at least, the ones I can remember…)

1.  Take This Bread by Sara Miles.  This book was incredibly.  It follows Miles’ conversion to and experience in the Christian faith.  She’s a left-wing journalist who is also a lesbian and who was raised by athiest parents, so she wasn’t exactly the most likely candidate to become a Christian.  Her story is incredible, and I find her insights incredibly well-written and honest.  After she became a Christian, she set up a Food Bank in her church in San Francisco and so the whole idea of the book is tying faith and food together (so let’s be honest, obviously it was appealing to me).  She traces all the ways she was fed throughout her life, both literally and spiritually.  It really does a great job of showing the ways faith enters our physical world, as well as the importance feeding others has.
2. The Slightly series by Wendy Markham (Slightly Single, Slightly Settled, Slightly Engaged, Slightly Married, and Slightly Suburban). Cute series!  Kind of like Sex and the City meets My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  Definitely a nice summer read – entertaining and light-hearted.  And just enough chick-lit.
3.  Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost.  Haha ok so Cat introduced me to this series with this initial book (haven’t read any of the rest of the series).  I don’t know you’re aware, as I was unaware, that there exists a section in that glorious store, Barnes and Noble, that is called “Paranormal Romance”.  This book rests on one of those shelves.  It’s a story about a girl who is half-vampire and who is taking revenge for her mother (who was raped by a vampire) by killing vampires.  Until she gets captured by a vampire bounty hunter and falls in love with him.  And then they have to battle evil vampires and she has to learn that not all vampires are evil.  Yes, this book is even more wonderful than it sounds.  But actually, for a science-fiction romance novel, it was way better written than I was expecting.  And highly entertaining.
4. Broken Open by Elizabeth Lesser.  Beth bought me this book   And I loved it!  It’s very New Ageish, but in a good ol’ fashioned soul-searching kind of way.  And, as Beth promised, there is value placed in yoga and meditation, which I am all about :0  But really, what’s great about this book is it’s focus on the strength we have in times when we feel the most broken – and what a blessing it is to really become broken, and to face that with courage to change and grow and learn.  I liked it a lot, and it was exactly what I needed to be reading at the time I read it.  Also, I want the author’s job.
5. It’s a Wonderful LiE: 26 Truths About Life in Your Twenties (a collection of essays).  Love love love love LOVE this book so freaking much that I can’t even stand it.  It’s hilarious.  The book takes five typical lies that we are told to expect about being a woman in your 20s, and then promptly has essays cataloging real women’s experiences that run counter to those lies, but in a way that it is ultimately more rewarding for them.  The authors are all women now in their 30s (and one in her 40s) reflecting back on their time in their 20s.  They’re also all now well-known authors, and consequently many of the essays were ridiculously hilarious, and all of them contained really well-articulated experiences.  I cannot get enough of this book.  Every woman in her twenties, about to be in her twenties, or recently out of her 20s, needs to read this book.
6. Grace: Eventually (Thoughts on Faith) by Anne Lamott.  Another fabulous memoir (told in the form of a collection of essays) cataloging one woman’s spiritual journey.  Lamott actually has a few books out on her faith; I hope to acquire them at some point.  She is another interesting character with so much life experience that it is wonderful to read what she writes.  I love her and love her writing style and wish I could hang out with her.
7. Codependent No More by Melody Beattie.  Yes yes I bought a classic self-help book.  It’s crazy accurate tho.  And personally, I think women are raised to have a lot of codependent characteristics.  This book scares me with how dead-on it is in describing those bxs.  So on one hand I really enjoyed the book from a theoretical/psychological/historical perspective, and on the other I was like “Well damn.  I have some things to work on”.  Which is still good.
8. The Between Boyfriends Book by Cindy Chupack.  Hilarious book!  Chupack is actually one of the writers for Sex and the City, which I didn’t know until I was reading the book.  She is a hilarious writer and really does a great job at writing for/towards the single woman.

So that’s the brief reading update.  Which leaves me almost finished with my post…I am just anxiously awaiting this weekend; after this weekend, things take off and there is a lot of fun on the horizon   Here’s what I’m looking forward to…

1. Friday, July 24th: road trip to DC with some of my favorite ladies
2. Monday, July 27th: padres stopping in Winston for dinner
3. Wednesday, July 29th: dinner with Jamie in Greensboro
4. Friday, July 31st: road trip to Cincinnati for Laura’s wedding!!!!!!  SO EXCITED!
5. Monday, August 3rd: visiting Rachel and Thomas in Asheville on the way back from Ohio.
6. Wednesday, August 12th: TRIP TO GUATEMALA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
7. Sunday, August 23rd:  Weekend at the beach with siblings

Oh life.  I am blessed