Finally! July Wrap-up and Week-in-Review

July was so much fun! It's my favorite summer month. June is my birthday but July has so much going for it. The wildflowers are in full bloom in the mountains so it's warm enough and the snow has melted so we can hike!

Independence Day is the big holiday of the summer for us. We host a big neighborhood BBQ and light all the fireworks. There's usually at least one trip planned during the month and in Utah we celebrate Pioneer Day--or as us heathens call it Pie n Beer Day! Another neighborhood BBQ and I add a little extra pie and beer. Plus more fireworks!

The kitties enjoy lounging in the sun and spending nights rolling around on the concrete outside on our porch. It's the month where you finally find your groove and yet school is still too far off to worry about.

I read 10 books over the course of the month. I joined in on High Summer Readathon hosted by Michelle over at Seasons Reading. Check out my post for info on all the books I finished this month.

Lammas Day was August 1st--it's the first sabbat for Fall. It comes from Old English for loaf mass and is a way to celebrate the wheat harvest or bread! I love bread! It's about the only time I put forth some cooking skills to make homemade bread. It turned out yummy (which means I should so more of it!) I like to celebrate little things throughout the year and Lammas day is perfect. It gets us thinking about the end of summer and the good food that is in season. I'm not much of a baker or cook but I do the best I can and enjoyed making a little Lammas figure and some homemade honey wheat bread along with honey butter. A simple grilled chicken dish, grilled corn on the cob and some blackberry cobbler rounded out the meal.

Saturday we headed over to a Food Truck and Brewery round up for some good eats and drinks! The air had cooled a bit and we enjoyed walking around and soaking in the sunshine.

Saturday night was my 20 year high school reunion! What?! How time flies. A group of us got together for an impromptu dinner at Chili's.

Reading:

I'm about halfway through Children of Blood and Bone by Toni Ayedemi on Audible. Also listening to Longbourn by Jo Baker for Austen in August. Halfway done with The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. Still reading The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert but it is a difficult read because it is a tad tale to tell about us and our world. I'm also making my way through the graphic non-fiction anthology Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Penelope Bagieu. Wishtree by Katherine Applegate--reading with G aloud before bed.

I finished up  in one day How Not to Get Shot: And Other Advice From White People by D.L. Hughley. It's so good. Heart-breakingly funny and sad.

Watching:

TV: I finished up The Sinner and will start up the second season soon. Quite a few plot holes but it was such an interesting storyline. I truly enjoyed it despite its flaws. Plus I have a crush on Bill Pullman. I've been a fan since Spaceballs!

Sharp Objects. I really want to read the book now. Fascinating.

Hulu's Castle Rock. I haven't read a lot of Stephen King. He's a little too wordy for me. But I do enjoy watching anything that gets made of his. There are a lot of Easter eggs spread throughout. I had to look up many of them but I did catch quite a few! It's weird and creepy. My kind of TV show.

Dietland: Just bingewatched the first 7 episodes yesterday due to illness...Love! I need to read the book as well.

Making It: Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman. Gold. Pure TV gold.

Movies: I saw The Darkest Minds in the theater. My brother wanted to see it for his birthday...it was as good or bad as I thought it would be. Though, I did enjoy the actors. They just didn't have much of a script/story to work with but they were all phenomenal and look forward to Amandla Stenberg in The Hate U Give.

Books acquired:

Library: My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, I'm Fine...and Other Lies by Whitney Cummings.

For the Kindle: Happy Doomsday by David Sosnowski, Special Topics in Calamity by Marisha Pessl, Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman, and The Cutting Season by Attica Locke

Looking Forward to:

DH's work is having a night at the zoo tonight. We get to see the animals and enjoy free food!

G has another summer camp this week and I'm enjoying the time to get caught up on my items and to-do projects.

The Book Rat