I'm going to pause all my adulting for the day to give myself a pat on the back.
What adulting did I accomplish?
I went to church with some girl friends, then brunch. These two activities should go hand in hand.
I did laundry.
I un-decorated the house from yesterday's make up & manicures party.
I made a grocery list and meal planned for the week.
I finished another product for TpT.
I paid bills.
I wrote down all my commitments for the week.
I got out coupons for upcoming purchases.
I resisted the "take a nap" urge.
I worked on thank you cards.
...and I'm now exhausted. I'll combat the #adulting situation with popcorn for dinner.
I struggled today to find things to be joyous about.
Father's day brings up all sorts of unpleasant feelings. Last year we conveniently adopted our puppy, so that distracted me as I overwhelmed the internet with pictures of my new baby.
Seriously, look how cute and little she was:
She's still cute, just not so little anymore.
Father's day is rough. B's dad is out of town on an annual fathers' trip but I still picked him up a card and gift from the both of us.
I had an appointment with my ENT this morning. We are going to proceed with sinus surgery to correct my deviated septum and blocked sinus passages. It's tentatively scheduled for Monday, August 8th (right after a dress fitting appointment). It's an 8 day recovery time, which takes me right up until I can go back to work. I have an appointment with my primary care physician at the end of July. I'm optimistic that insurance will get things done in a timely manner and that I can have this operation before going back to school. Because you know, breathing is important.
However, I also haven't had the best relationship with my teacher's health insurance, so I'm fully aware there's a possibility that this operation will take place in December. I also have no idea what the cost will be, so that's a little terrifying as well.
While I was super excited about saving money at Target, it was kind of an expensive trip. We needed new light bulbs, trash bags, and a father's day gift, so that was a good chunk of change.
The rest of the day was spent cleaning in preparation for tomorrow's {make up} and {manicures} girl time. Sunday will involve girl time and a nap.
Even though I've been out for two weeks, I feel like summer "officially" starts next week. I won't have any trainings or appointments (except at the hair salon for my wedding hair trial!). I've got girl time next Friday with some of my bridesmaids to finish up bridal shower stuff.
I'm trying to still find some joy in this Friday. What are you excited for?
I've been working on The Hidden Oracle, which is the first in The Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan.
(This is the UK cover. I like it much better than the US cover.)
Like all his other works, I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though I got angry at plot twists.
However, it's hard to keep all the specific details of a book in my head so I take copious notes while reading. I turn these notes into novel guides and my newest is now available {here} on TpT. Coming in at over 40 pages, it looks like I'm going to need a big binder for all my novel guides for next year!
The accompanying chronological order sort will be available in the next few days!
One of my aunts had a milestone birthday this year and was going to celebrate in Michigan with my other aunt. My mom flew back to surprise the birthday girl and those three are off on a week adventure of shenanigans.
I was proud of my mom for keeping a secret from her sister, but what she didn't know is I kept one too.
I sent a check to go treat all my aunts (and a cousin) to a fun night out. While I was hoping they'd get a little silly on wine, they went out to a fabulous lunch instead and used the left over money for shopping.
I'm fortunate enough that I was able to spoil my mom and aunts. They don't get together often enough and when they do, trouble ensues!
Since my father is not in the picture, my mother got double spoiled!
I got lots of happy selfies today. I'm glad my family is having fun!
I finished the Hidden Oracle.
With help, of course.
I have a lot of feelings about it. I also used a lot of curse words at the plot twists.
I very much enjoyed it, despite the profanity. Rick Riordan may be my second favorite author, but no one tops J.K. Rowlings. She's number one, always.
So, I feel like this:
I hope to have the novel guide and chronological order sort done by Friday, so stay tuned.
I finished my training today. It left me rejuvinated and excited for the future, which is a feeling I've been lacking. I'm not quite through processing my learning, so stay tuned for that as well.
My mama found a very pretty dress while out shopping with her sisters today for the wedding. She looks happy and that makes me happy.
My dear friend (and officiant) Marlene became a first time aunt today. Congrats to the growing Q family!
I finished the end of Gilmore Girls (again), so the combination of the book and the television show has left me in emotional shambles.
Instead of sharing a long, rambling post about my frustrations with scheduling an appointment with the passport office (over an hour on hold y'all), I'll simply share this:
We have our appointment for Saturday, July 2nd.
He's unable to take off work, which meant we needed to find a location that was open Saturdays. Luckily the nearest one is at our post office, a mere two miles away. His mom is looking for his birth certificate and we're taking our pictures this weekend.
Since I'll be changing my name next year, I was worried I'd have to pay for this again. However, if it's within the year (which it will be), it's free to renew for a name change. Hooray!
I'm joyful because:
1) One more wedding task is complete.
2) We're moving in the right direction for operation honeymoon!
3) I only have to pay once!
I knew my streak of blogging every day wouldn't last.
Luckily it's catch up time!
Saturday my dear friend Erin got married to the love of her love. Finances prohibited B and I from attending (plus it was in Ohio!), so we celebrated from a distance. They are moving out here within a few months and will do a vow renewal on the beach next summer, so we will be able to celebrate with them again.
(I know she worked very closely with her Kari Humphrey, her {photographer}, and this was the first released shot. Can't wait to see the rest!)
I had such a joyous time planning my wedding while she was {planning hers}. I know my bridesmaids and mom want to hear all about it, but it's nice to have someone I can talk to about all the little details because she's going through it too!
She thought about each and every aspect of her wedding and it was truly a beautiful event. I had the privilege of attending her bridal shower at Disneyland a few months ago:
And it was a great girls weekend!
The pictures keep flooding in on her wedding album and the joy radiating from her face is contagious. Congrats Mrs. K, I can't wait to celebrate you in person!
Sunday, June 12th
Our niece turned seven and we celebrated at Chuck E. Cheese. If you ever want to see what true joy looks like, it's B winning lots of tickets on silly arcade games.
However, he then giving them all to his niece. He patiently counted the tickets at the machine with her and helped her decide against a large slinky (because they break easily) and in favor of both a Frozen themed make up kit and nail polish.
We also had dinner with friends as a thank you for helping Kendall move. Yet another friend officially crossed another adult level and owns a home.
After dinner we went to the East Side Cannery (where some of our guests will be staying). I managed to make my free $5 in slot play last for over an hour (and three drinks worth!), so I'll call that a win. The smoke was barely noticeable, which was a definite plus.
As always, B and I had some miscommunication about what type of faces we were making for a selfie:
#bluesteel and I missed it!
Monday, June 13th
I'm not quite ready to debrief my training (and it goes on for two more days), but it's really informative and I'm excited for this new opportunity! I haven't left the classroom, I'm just toeing my way out of the classroom and up in the district. We did learn it was a paid training (we'd previously heard it wasn't), so that was a joyous surprise! I like learning, but it's nice when I'm also being paid to attend 7 am classes on summer break.
Instead, I'll share today's simple joy. Waffles decided she likes her dog food again and is eagerly eating it up! All of last week was spent forcing (bribing with string cheese) her to eat. Now it's the complete opposite. I'll get longing looks in the morning and a "feed me" pout even though I know damn well B fed her before leaving for work. I'm on to you pup!
She also played a little too hard with her new stuffed dragon and severed a limb.
B is her knight in shining armor and reattached it for her. See how patiently she waits?
The cats are also back to coexisting peacefully, which is a huge sigh of relief. Crooksie went to the vet to get groomed last week and Chloe has been acting strange ever since. Apparently this is normal pet behavior because of a change in scent, but it was still stressing me out that for the first time in five years, they weren't getting along.
Tomorrow and Wednesday my training will be done at 1 pm, so I'll still have most of the day ahead of me. We voted to start at 7 am, thus beating the traffic and parking situation. There are hundreds of middle schools in Las Vegas, but naturally, there are several different trainings scheduled at the same one, on the same day, at the same time. High school parking lots can accommodate the parking, but middle schools cannot. (Again, one of the things I would change if I was allowed to be in charge of everything!)
What's bringing you joy this month?
