7/31 ~ Little blooms

They look like they could fly away and take root in a different home.  

Perhaps they will.

7/30 ~ Against a blue sky

The white orchids remind me of little dragons. Except prettier.

School is kicking in gear and the teachers will return on Friday.  I can't believe the beginning of the school year is almost here.

The amount of sleep I get is about to take a serious hit for the next few weeks.

7/29 ~ My favorite

My favorite color is orange unless we are talking about smoothies -- and then I am all about the green superfood smoothie!

During my lunch break, I picked up the girls and their mom and took them to get the girl's registered for school.  They won't be in my school next year and that is bittersweet for sure.  After getting them back home, I had just enough time to grab a smoothie for lunch.

It is all good.  The girls.  The smoothies.  Life.

The man says, "We helped a family get back together."  And we did.  For that, I'm thankful.

7/28 ~ Us

At the end of the day (not to mention a hot run), he still makes me smile.

7/27 ~ Writing

I've neglected my poor journal lately.  Writing has such a way of calming me.  I'm working on it....

7/26 ~ Silhouette selfie

I just wish my husband's catering van wasn't in the background.  It looks like a serial killer van.

7/25 ~ Fennel flower

Worked all day on cleaning out the teacher work room.  Came home and spent a few minutes in the yard enjoying the muggy breeze.  The man and I ended the day by meeting some friends for a drink and appetizers.

What a great Friday!

7/24 ~ Black rice in a jar

Back to work today.
A mouse ate some of my dark chocolate.  With edamame.
A rat with good taste.

I need to get a jar for my chocolate.

7/23 ~ Three

Three.  Three happens to be LESS than the number of trips I took to the pharmacy today.

I went to the eye doctor as I was convinced that my contacts had morphed into evil creatures and were attacking my innocent eyes.  As it turns out, I have an infection in the tear ducts in my eyelids.  The doctor electronically sent in the prescriptions and sent me on my way.   Well, he sent my on my way after checking to see what I had in my wallet and taking it all.  I kid.  Not really but I'm not bitter.  I'm just not digging wearing my glasses right now in the humidity.  One can get used to walking in fog, right?

Trip ONE (to Pharmacy A): "We are sorry but our computer system is down.  It is a corporate problem.  We suggest you get your doctor to call it in to a different place."

I called the eye doctor and relayed the message.  No problem.  They said they would call it right in to Pharmacy B.

Trip TWO (to Pharmacy B): "Thank you for your business!  Here is your prescription.  What?  Only the eye ointment was called in, not the antibiotic.  You need to call your doctor about calling in the other one."

I called the eye doctor.  Again.  And left a message on the answering machine.

Trip THREE (to Pharmacy A after realizing the doctor's office was not calling back today): "Our system is working again!  Thanks for your patience.  Oh, you don't need the ointment now?  No problem."

When I got home, I opened the bag to realize I had another tube of ointment.

Trip FOUR (to Pharmacy A to get the oral antibiotics): "Do you need medical counseling from the pharmacist?  Oh?  You mean you wanted the oral antibiotics.  No problem.  I'll refund the ointment and you now owe $174.83.  You see, I thought that you didn't want to pay that much so that was why I put it back.  Insurance?  It says here that the number is wrong.  Oh, I guess I can type that in again and see if that helps.  And it does!  That will be $20."

And that was how I spent my last day of summer.  Back to work tomorrow!

7/22 ~ Measuring up

I've been taking an online class on phone photography so I can better my skills with the camera that is always with me.  It has fun so far and I've learned several tips and about quite a few apps.  Also, I've learned there are gadgets to go along with the phone that I now want....

7/21 ~ And there was pie

Unless you hide in the closet (and no money back guarantee on that), there will be a little dog watching and staring whilst you eat your food any time you are in my house.  You might think the short dog never gets treats but you would be wrong.  She only eats her dog food when all other options have failed.

7/20 ~ Beat the heat

Slept in and then ran at the gym in the AC.

7/19 ~ Treasure

At the junkyard, I found a little snail shell on a pile of bricks.  The day was actually gray and overcast so I decided to add some sunshine with an app.

7/18 ~ Date night

After spending way too many hours in the garden weeding in the sun, the man and I decided to go out on a date tonight.

He had a scotch.  I had a Moscow Mule.

It was perfectly lovely.

7/17 ~ Learning to iron

Julia learned how to iron today and she was so excited.  It cracked me up to see how carefully she ironed the cloth napkins.  According to her, she is ready to graduate from napkins to whatever.

I think I'll let her practice with the napkins some more before I give her whatever.

7/16 ~ Long shadows and love

It was cloudy most of the day but the sun did come out at the end of the day.  I called for the girls to come join me in some shadow fun.  As Julia walked outside, she said, "Beth, you do realize that I'm in pajamas."

After several minutes of being silly and playing, she didn't want to come back inside.

7/15 ~ Red

Perhaps I should cook something for dinner from one of the red cookbooks on this rainy afternoon.

7/14 ~ Fig-tastic

The fig tree in the backyard is putting out tons of fruit!  It made me start thinking about fig newtons.  When I looked up recipes, it turns out all of them call for dried figs.  So that prompted me to drag out the dehydrator and dry some figs.

Hopefully, I will get to try my hand at some homemade newton cookies soon.

7/13 ~ Mood lighting on Mili

Basically, it was a slug-fest of a day.  Getting to bed around 3 AM can do that.  Mili didn't let us sleep too late.

I missed that silly pup.  Even if she does have bad breath.

7/12 ~ Back to the regularly scheduled programming

After a walk to Macy's and then to Grand Central Terminal, we headed to the airport to catch our flight home.  My sweet husband picked us up at the airport and whisked us (as fast as one can whisk a four hour drive) back to our houses.

This was an amazing trip but I was ready to be home.        

7/11 ~ Manhattanhenge

When the setting sun lines up in the city grid.  Barely got this picture as we were rushing from the Thai restaurant to the theater to see Avenue Q.  Dinner, the setting sun and the show were all fantastic!          

7/10 ~ Out the ferry window

Finally rode the Staten Island Ferry.  My mom liked it because she could sit down.  I loved it because it was an awesome view of the Statue of Liberty.  And for free!

7/9 ~ Out and about

We toured Radio City Music Hall then went to see The Lion King on Broadway. Wow!  Afterwards, we went to The Top of the Rock for amazing views of the city -- and my camera battery was dead.

After the rock, we met Drew for dinner. All in all a busy and awesome day.

I'm in the sandals, my sister is in the Chuck high tops and my mom is in the crazy Manhattan socks she bought at a gift store. She loves those socks and it cracks me up.

7/8 ~ In the Big Apple

My mom tires easily so we bought tickets to ride the double decker bus around NYC. My sister and I had a blast, too!  This is definitely not my favorite way to see the city but it is all about what my mom wants to do and we are still having loads of fun!

7/7 ~ Our view

We made it to NYC (a special thanks to the bus driver who drove). We are on the 34th floor and we have a fun view of Times Square. My mother is excited and ready to see the rest of what NYC can offer.

7/6 ~ Facing my geese fears

Where I live, the geese sometimes chase me while running when they are flocking to a nearby pond. They are terrifying and have snapped and bruised my bum with their beaks.

I've learned to keep my distance.

The geese in Boston didn't even seem to notice me at all when I went for a run near Jamaica Pond in the early evening. I decided to be brave and snap a picture with my phone.

7/5 ~ USS Cassin Young

Touring Boston has been awesome!  We rode a trolley tour, took a harbor cruise, toured some boats, walked parts of the freedom trail and ate at a couple of great restaurants!

7/4 ~ Hello, Arthur

Running the Peachtree Road Race with Alex was amazing!  The crowds were huge and there were a lot of people who were amazingly festive (think runners drinking beer at 9 AM).  All in all, it was a fantastic way to kick off Independence Day.

After the race, I rushed to Alex's apartment to shower and then hurried to the airport to meet my mom and sister for our flight to Boston. We flew right over Hurricane Arthur.

7/3 ~ Red, white and blue

Traveled to Atlanta with some friends and went straight to the expo to get our number for the race tomorrow. 

Alex came to get me and we met up with Mallory for dinner. 

It was a great evening with the girls! 

7/2 ~ The Essentials

Tomorrow starts my ten day travels.  I've been ridiculous with the lists of what to pack and coordinating clothing items so that I am only using my carry on luggage.  Can we say OCD?  I am packed and feel so accomplished.  Perhaps I should film a YouTube video. There is even room for more stuff which means hello shopping.

I did make the decision to leave the big camera and accessories at home.  The point and shoot will be just fine.  Plus, it is a lot lighter.

Tomorrow, I will be leaving with some friends to stay with my step-daughter in Atlanta because we are running the Peachtree Road Race together on Friday.  Excited!  After the race, I will get showered and rush to the airport to meet my mom and my sister to fly to Boston.   After a few days in Boston, we will hop over to NYC for the remainder of the trip. My mom just turned 70 and this was what she wanted to do to celebrate.

It has been a long time since my sister and I vacationed with our mother alone but we are pumped about showing her around NYC.  Boston will be new to all of us.  The only downside is that I have never been away from my husband that long.  I'm sure we will survive but I know I'm going to miss that man.

7/1 ~ Our secret

Earlier today, I took the girls to get ice cream.  They'd never had waffle cones and they wanted to try it out.  Sure.  I'm game.  Two scoops of quickly melting bliss.

I took my camera.  My big girl camera.  And I took several pictures of the chocolate chow down.

When I got home, I tried to download the pictures only to find out that there was no card in the camera.

Ack!

Yesterday, I had put the card in the little Nikon Coolpix to get it ready for a road trip later this week.  I forgot to put it back in the big camera.  Great.  There went those adorable, drippy pictures.

I really wanted a picture of ice cream for today.

While the girls were showering this evening, I whipped up some more homemade "ice cream."  They don't know that it is really just blended up frozen bananas with a little bit of chocolate and almond milk.  They think it some banana chocolate ice cream that I know how to make.

And they think they got ice cream twice in one day.  You won't tell, right?

6/30 ~ NEL and the yellow building

The prompt for today was graffiti.  Perhaps I should have photographed the graffiti the girls had drawn on the dresser -- but I didn't think of it this morning and now it is cleaned up.

As I drove around town, I kept on the lookout for graffiti but found almost none.  Finally, I settled on the initials (I guess they are initials) on one of the old buildings downtown.
     
Next time, I'll look for some train cars.

6/29 ~ After breakfast

It is time to clean up and get moving. The man and I slept in today -- the exhaustion of weekend had caught up with us.

Happy Sunday!  It has been a long time since I've slept in.

6/28 ~ I wish I could hold clouds on my lap

After a wonderful evening with friends, we met up with the girls for brunch. Afterwards, we went to a sweet friends house to help with a memorial to honor her partner who recently passed.

It was great seeing old friends and meeting new ones.

6/27 ~ The View

Traveled to Atlanta to move Mallory into her new apartment. The view from her patio was just lovely.

6/26 ~ Watching the World Cup

And we watched the game, too.

:)

Excited about the USA advancing on to Round of 16!

6/25 ~ I spy

I spy some tomatoes that will be in my salad tomorrow.

6/24 ~ Sprinklers and popsicles

The girls played in the sprinklers while I pulled weeds in the garden.  Mili stayed on the porch until I brought out some popsicles for the girls.  At that point, she slowly ventured out to remind the girls that she, too, loves popsicles.

It may be hot and humid but I still love summer!

6/23 ~ Tadpole scouts

Spent some time at the park and by the creek today.  Julia likes to declare different ways that she is NOT like me as she is an indoors girly girl kind of girl -- but even she had to admit that tadpoles were cool.

6/22 ~ Half Time

A little cider for the half time pause.

USA! USA! USA!

6/21 ~ Laundry Queen

My husband calls me the laundry queen.  Instead, I wish I were the laundry fairy so I could wave a wand and have it all washed, dried, and put away.

6/20 ~ Lucky

I consider myself lucky to still have my grandparents in my life.  My 92 year old grandfather has been in the hospital for the past couple of days and is already feeling better.  He should be home tomorrow.

I want to have at least half as much pluck as my grandparents have when I'm 90.  They are pretty awesome!

6/19 ~ Mugilicious

A little mugging for the camera by the dragonfly on a muggy afternoon.

Good news!  I put the back on my computer and turned it on.  Everything seems to be in perfect working order.

I've missed you internet!

I feel so lucky right now.  Maybe I need to go buy some lottery tickets.

6/18 ~ Grownups were talking

We had company for dinner and this was what happened when Danielle was told to let the grownups talk.  She plopped down in the hallway and read a book out loud to herself instead of playing in her room with her sister.

Cracked me up!

6/17 ~ My reminder that water and electronics are not friends

On Sunday, I clumsily spilled water on my laptop.  It wasn't a lot of water but enough to make me worry.  The computer was turned off immediately, unplugged and the back taken off.  It was then lovingly put aside to be given the opportunity to dry.

On Tuesday, I considered turning it back on to see if all worked well and then decided I would wait a couple more days to be sure it was really dry.

This could be called "Not Facing Facts."

It was surprisingly not too hard to step away from the computer for several days.

6/16 ~ Afternoon shower

I do love the quick afternoon showers that can brew from nowhere.  They cool things down -- for just a minute.

6/15 ~ Happy Father's Day

My sister and I are very lucky to have an awesome step-dad.

Hopefully, all the great dads out there were appreciated.

6/14 ~ The gift of time

Alex, our oldest girl, spent the afternoon and evening with us.  She is in town for the weekend and we had a great visit with her today.  For supper, she and her dad made spring rolls -- perfection on a hot summer night.

6/13 ~ Clementine love

The man and I went to Gainesville to see some friends of ours... friends who are now raising Clementine.  I almost cried when she came running straight to me.

That dog.  I love that she is happy in her new home.  Still, I miss her.   This won't be the last visit we have with her.