Can I pretend I've been here all along?

Obviously I have been somewhere but being here, in this space, has been a rough go. I loved this space when I was really going at it and now I'm indifferent. But I don't want to be. I want to be here again, releasing my small, beautiful voice.

To me, that is what this place is about. Somewhere to relieve the day-to-day stress, to put out the chatter and whining. 

Most recently, I've been working- a lot. In Long Island, which means many hours at a pool, paddleboarding (a new favorite sport) and surprise- running! I started again and I haven't died! I even did a race a few weeks ago, and I kept my target pace! Granted I completed the last two miles in a legit thunderstorm it was basically the highlight of my weekend.

after 2 miles in a thunderstorm- not too shabby!

 This also means living in a house with limited wi-fi, no computers and only a handful of AC units. Needless to say the summer has been interesting so far. 

I went to a super fantastic country music festival in NYC, it was so amazing I want to fast-forward to next years pronto. Luke Bryan, Brad Paisley and Dierks Bently headlined. And I repeat this was the first year! We also saw favorites like Maddie & Tae, Cassedee Pope, Joe Nichols, Randy Houser, Dustin Lynch, Wade Bowen and soo many more. One of the best weekends ever!

did I mention it rained the entire second day? everything I was wearing was completely soaked through...

cause tequila makes her clothes fall off..

I also attended my best friends wedding, and had a spectacular time. Seriously drowned down way too many glasses of wine before my maid of honor speech and then danced the rest of the night away. So much fun.

some more of my chalkboard crafts that I did for the wedding!

look at this cake! is it not amazing?!

the bride and friends!

one of my favorite shots from our photobooth reel

Another event for my alumnae group went down- this time at the rooftop bar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Even more attended this time, so far so good! 

I've also spent many day visiting with my sister and nephews, they are both getting so big!! And I got to see my Little J and Big J over 4th of July weekend. It was so fantastic to get to give them both hugs, kisses and lots of snuggles. Hoping to see them both (as well as new baby sister!) soon!!

The rest of the summer is looking pretty stellar. My birthday is coming up, not quite sure how I feel about that (28 ack!). On the fun side I booked another trip to Europe. I have a few weeks off in August leading up to my birthday and one of my friends was meant to visit and had to cancel so I was basically like "hey- I have all this free time now, let's go to Europe and party". 24 hours later I have a plane ticket to Amsterdam and Brussels. Plus my return flight gives me a 5.5 hour layover in Dublin which is basically asking me to go get some beers there. I'm beyond excited. 

Drama for the time being was finding out one of my roommates has been stealing from me. This meant packing up all of their things and kicking them out. Locks are changed- done and done.

Basically it's been a whirlwind of a summer so far- hoping to get back into the groove of this place a little better as the summer simmers down... don't get too excited, it may only be a small post here and there. But something is better than nothing!

I hope everyone has had a great summer so far- am trying to start the blog reading catch-up now!!

(p.s I have a million books to review for you all- well not a million, but a lot. I'm book #78 currently for the year)