This has felt like a long month! Early July seems almost like a distant memory, though of course it isn’t. I didn’t necessarily do anything huge this month, but a lot of little adventures make the texture of time feel thicker.
The first few days I was recovering from my Slovenia/Venice trip + jet lag. The first big “landmark” of the month was the various celebrations for July 4th weekend. On the 2nd, my family went to the Longwood Gardens fireworks and fountain show with lots of patriotic music. Then on the 3rd, we had friends over for a pool party and a few fireworks. On the 4th, my husband and I went to watch the France vs. Paraguay World Cup match downtown. The weather was boiling, but this was quite the spectacle, and it was fun to say I’ve now seen part of that competition live. That night we saw the Narberth fireworks, which were not bad for a small municipality! It started storming after that, which broke the heat, thank goodness. On the 7th, my husband and my two older boys and I went to see Sarah McLachlan perform at the Mann. This was something I had wanted to do for a while, and it was a beautiful summer night after the weekend heat had cleared. So a good memory for sure.
The next weekend was consumed by my niece’s wedding celebrations. On Saturday we went to Princeton for a brunch, then drove into NYC to go to the American Museum of Natural History. We saw the dinosaur bones and giant whale, then walked around Central Park (briefly seeing the reservoir). We went to a reception in northern NJ and chatted with various relatives before heading home. Then the next day we went to the actual wedding and reception in northern NJ, which was lovely. Much food! My niece and her husband met through competitive ballroom dancing so it was fun to watch their first dance. It was also fun to watch my little guy dance in his dress shirt, pants, and tie. I think he’s been seeing videos of break dancing or something, because he was spinning on the floor at times.
Then, immediately after that weekend (as in up bright and early Monday!) I took my daughter and my oldest to Boston for a few days. My daughter hung out with her cousins for the week, and my son and I stayed in Boston near Fenway so he could do some shadowing at a nearby hospital. I had fun exploring the city and going out to eat with him. I particularly enjoyed the roof top bar of the hotel. It’s always fun to work in a new place.
We had lost power at the house for a few days in here after some storms – the net result was that we finally threw out (among many other things) the old stored breast milk that had been lingering in the garage freezer (yes, it took me a while to get rid of it…even if no one was going to use it that stash represented a lot of time!)
The next weekend was supposed to be the Summer Ale Fest at the zoo, but that didn’t happen. Instead, I wound up going out to eat twice — one family dinner, one date night dinner. Then I took my two little guys to Ocean Grove for our first beach trip of the summer, followed by watching the end of the World Cup.
The next two weeks were fairly low-key, just normal work and pool time at night. My husband and I went to a Phillies/Yankees game on Friday the 24th and then on Sunday the 26th we took our oldest out for his belated birthday dinner at Friday Saturday Sunday, one of Philadelphia’s three Michelin starred restaurants (we are now looking into eating at the other two — It’s fun to have a project!). We said goodbye to the 11-year-old, who is at sleep away camp now for a while.
I gave a speech on Wednesday the 29th (local, so I drove myself there) and then on Friday I traveled to a work gathering of various creatives/content creators, which was cool. Lots to think about, and lots of nice dinners and chats.
I knocked several annoying tasks off my list, including going to the dentist, getting a mammogram and then getting a follow-up mammogram (good times, but seemingly fine). I got approved for Global Entry (which involved an extra trip to the airport), and getting my volunteer clearances so I can volunteer in the schools.
I went on two bike rides (wish this was more) but spent a lot of time in the pool — I went in 18 times over the course of the month. I’m doing reasonably well with my intention to drink my coffee outside in the mornings.
I’ll do another post looking forward to August, but the key thing for my household is that the month is still completely off school for my younger kids – they don’t go back until Sept 8th. So while I’m seeing a lot of back-to-school content out there (I’ve even been producing some to get ahead of my August content deadlines) I’m not really in that mindset. Well, my oldest is going to school in August, but not the rest. I also plan to take some significant time off in August. Or at least I hope to!
How was your July?
