The Summer Of...

“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees,  just as things grow in fast movies,  I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” 
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

While casually chatting with my friend Steph in May, we decided to make this the 

"Summer Of" {insert a bucket list of sorts...}

Our kitchen chalkboard {and my terrible handwriting} captured my list. 

I am happy to report that almost everything on my Summer Of  list was accomplished. 

{The #purge/#organize did not happen as planned. Our junk drawers are still junky and our storage room is still ridiculous, but it's safe to say that #yummydrinks #CABIN! and #Nora are some reasons why this didn't happen....}

Gratefully, #refueling is what I needed the most and this definitely happened.

Here are some highlights:

I feel so lucky to have all this goodness in one summer. 

Summer of 2016, I shall miss you. You have been good to me. 

xoxo

On Disconnecting

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the blue sky,

 is by no means waste of time." Sir John Lubbock, The Use of Life

A while back, I stumbled across this article about how to avoid burnout as a teacher based on choices that we make to keep our sanity. One of the choices is to disconnect and one of the the absolute perks of the teaching cycle is summer break. 

Teachers have a chance to replenish, rejuvenate and get ready for

 the chaotic demands of a school year during the glorious months of summer.

I have absolutely ravaged the idea of disconnecting. 

And it's been amazing.

Calendar Party!

It's a Calendar Party!

I wrote about the history of  The Calendar Party here and decided to keep up the tradition.

{Never mind that I forgot to do it from June to July...and who knows if I will remember next month...but here I am now! :) }

My month of July has been delightfully lazy relaxing. 

I hung out with the kids

Read a lot and went to pools

Went to lunch with friends

Had lots of drinks dinners with friends

Went to Rapids Games

Survived a garage sale {barely}

Saw my nieces and nephews

Hiked with my best buddy

Stomp, clap, clap, clap, clap, stomp.

And now on to August.

Oh August. 

I sort of  hate dislike you.

There are many reasons why, but this year, I am going to give you a chance.

So.

Since I am back to work, let's make the most of this space, K?

I get to see this girl

And. I .Can't. Wait.

We'll go to Brian's company picnic that will feature his home brew.

Our family will celebrate my baby brother's 40th {!!!!) birthday. 

{He lives in Italy with his wife and so it will be a remote par-tay!}

We hope to go camping, attend more Rapids games, pack fun into the weekends, and enjoy what we can from silly old August.

Stomp, clap, clap, clap, clap, stomp.

Love that dog...and that cat...

My post- CABIN! summer days have been spent with these two crazies:

And it's been pure perfection.

There is something about companionship with pets that makes me so very happy.
I went on a hike with Baxter and man, we had fun.
He called shotgun, obvi.

He frolicked through fields,

and posed with me, his bff for the summer.

When I'm home, I have been enjoying our backyard with both pets!
Birney is an indoor cat, but we discovered this summer that he is able to be outside with us because he doesn't try to get out of the yard. 

 He walks the perimeter, rests, sniffs, rolls, eats grass, chases Baxter, and rests some more.

Love, love, love my boys!

 This weekend my parents watched Baxter for us and when they dropped him off I said

thanks for taking care of Baxter and my dad said,

Oh, he took care of us.

That's the truth of it.
My companions this summer have taken care of me and I know that they will continue to do so when the reality of life sets in {t-minus 7 days...}

Oh, B&B I love you so.

Ode to summer

The Keep Calm series of quip sayings may have hit their ceiling--but I really, really like this one as another school year comes to an end:

Oh summer! 

Thank you for being here. 

I look forward to celebrating you with items from this non-exhaustive list:  

CABIN!

ice cream

garage sales

bistro nights

leisurely mornings

late nights

lunch with friends

long, long walks
ice cold beer

audio books

kindle books

real books

water fun
summer drinks

grill food

tan lines {with SPF of course}

beach weddings {!!!!!}

flowers

color

dresses

sandals

slowing down

iced coffee

thunderstorms

parks
backyard goodness

outdoor concerts

peaches

nephews

nieces

family

etc.

etc.

etc.

{What's your "etc."?}

My luxurious summer...

I've said it before and it has proved to be ridiculously true...a teacher’s summer is nothing short of luxurious. I've also said, (in many ways shapes and forms…) that it's ridiculously hard being a teacher. So truly having some space to re-generate is essential.

This has definitely been my summer of luxury. I found luxury in many, many things like amazing "cake and shake",

sleeping in, watching re-runs of sit-coms, reading/listening to books, writing one chapter of my book (sort of...), blogging, figuring out my iPhone, loving and playing with my fur-babies,

having lunch with my ‘niece and nephews’and their amazing moms,

CABIN! (twice!),

games of Tripoley with friends, dinners, lunches, Rockies games,

and even though it was for excruciating reasons, seeing my extended family (including my brother who now lives in Italy!) at the memorial services for my Aunt and Uncle.

There are a million other things that proved to be luxurious this summer and every single thing rejuvenated my soul. I am sad to see it go, but I also know that as I go into my 4th year of teaching middle school, teaching is really for me. Yes it’s draining and hard, but I adore those kids with so much of who I am. I want to be able to give them what they need and be the best teacher I can be. It’s scary, and difficult, but because I have had this summer of luxury, I’m ready. (I hope!!!!)

Summer Lilies

When someone dies, it's often difficult to to see everyday things like you normally do. Often all of your senses are dulled and stuck in a sort of fog.

I am attending 2 memorial services this month. One for my Aunt Donna who passed away in April from cancer and one for my Uncle Roy who died Saturday-- 47 days after he found out he had a large tumor on his liver. Both of these amazing people were on my Jacobsen side of the family. My Aunt was married to my Dad's oldest brother, Dave and my Uncle was my dad's next oldest brother who lived here in Denver. There are a million things I could say about the extraordinary lives that my Aunt and Uncle led. They were both courageous, inspirational and wonderful people to be around. My family is forever changed because of these losses. I am profoundly sad.
My Uncle Roy with my dad at a Broncos game.
My Aunt Donna with her son Danny.

It is difficult to understand how meticulous and vicious cancer is. It's difficult to see what it does to a person and how to make sense of all the questions that loom once they're gone. I know this is true for any sort of death, but cancer, evil manifest, confounds me.

Thankfully, as I question "the big picture" I have been blessed by many of my friends supporting me and loving me. For this I am truly grateful. And, as luck would have it, right now is the prime blooming time for summer lilies. These magnificently bright flowers are showing me color I've had trouble seeing. Thank you summer lilies for being so miraculous for me this week.

The dog days of summer

Happiness in summer can be found here:

Check out Baxter's grin!

Ahh the dog days of summer...what a wonderful miracle. :)

SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am officially celebrating the joy that is summer. I am in a bit of shock that summer is acutally real, and really mine...I taught summer school last year...(boy, was that for the birds!!) So this is my year. I plan on re-fueling, re-energizing, reading, blogging, sleeping, exercising and all in all relaxing...

This is plan 'A'. We may be getting a dog, so if that happens, my energy might shift a bit...but it will be worth it, right? Yikes.

All I know is that summer is a grand season. The flowers, full green trees, vacations, sun, cold drinks and oh so much more is all mine...I plan on sharing it with you if you'll have me...

Cheers to Summer! xoxo