How is it already July, y'all? I swear we were just talking about May, weren't we? But here we are. Time to link up with Leigh!

On My Bookshelf

I read What Alice Forgot this month and I LOVED it. It's about a woman who has a head injury and forgets the past 10 years of her life, including the fact that she's had 3 kids and is in the middle of a painful divorce! Definitely recommend this one.

I finished A Homemade Life that I mentioned last month, and I really enjoyed it. So many recipes I'd like to try in there, not to mention the touching stories she shares. I might have cried openly while waiting for my SUV's oil to be changed.

I slowly made my way through Notes from a Blue Bike by Tsh Oxenreider this month. Slowly because I needed time to process the book. I love the ideas she shares. A life lived simply, one that focuses on what's important to her. There are some things I'd like to apply in my own life, but there are also some things that I know I won't. As much as I love the ideas she discusses, I know they won't all work for me. I think that's why I like the book so much. She doesn't make me feel bad about that! She seems to know that this life she writes about is specific to her and her family; it isn't a life she thinks everyone should lead. Or if it is, she doesn't push it on you!

I also read two memoirs by Melanie Shankle: The Antelope in the Living Room and Sparkly Green Earrings. I preferred the Antelope in the Living Room, which is her newest one. Of course, that would be because that one is all about marriage. Sparkly Green Earrings is mostly about her journey as a mom, which I can appreciate now but not really relate to. I'd like to re-read it a few years down the road when we have kids and see how much more I like it :)

Of course I have more books in my to-read pile. I recently downloaded a few new e-books (#Girlboss, The Martian, and Alice I Have Been) that I'm anxious to dig into!

On My TV:

J and I have started watching Orange is the New Black together. I'd only seen the first couple episodes so I started over with him. We are only on Episode 4 now. Clearly we aren't in any hurry. I still haven't decided if I really like it or if I'm just intrigued. I know that's pop culture blasphemy apparently, but it's the truth. I'm still behind on Scandal but I'm almost to the end of the last season! And there are a couple of shows coming out in July I want to see, including Married on FX. I'll report back after I've watched a few episodes!

On Me:

I decided to give Stitch Fix another shot. I've had mixed luck with them before, but I've been feeling rather blah about my wardrobe so why not? This one went a bit better than before. I kept two shirts, sent back the tie-dyed skirt, crochet top, and necklace that was cute but more expensive than I'd like. I'll get another one in July and see how it goes! I also bought some new wedges from Nordstrom Rack. They remind me a lot of some shoes I had in 6th grade, which is why I like them.

In My Ears:

I'm still on my podcast kick. Lately I've just been listening to Stuff You Missed in History Class. My poor husband has to deal with me constantly asking him if he's heard about this event or that. I'm still amazed that I didn't know a vat of molasses exploded in Boston and caused a flood of the sticky substance that actually killed 21 people and injured 150!

In My Belly:

Food - It's been a rather boring month food-wise, at least after the wonderful Key West experience. We did have friends over this month for a catfish fry, I introduced my parents to one of my favorite restaurants downtown (Packards New American Kitchen), and I've given into my love of the Blue Plate Special at a local mom and pop restaurant near my office.

I also talked about office lunches on the blog this month and y'all blew up my Facebook with suggestions! I think I'm going to set up some sort of office meal plan for August to try them all out.

Drinks - I set out to recreate the Blossom that I raved about last month. I got close, but it's not quite there. Once I figure it out, I'll share the recipe on here. We have polished off the white wine from the wedding now, but we still have three bottles of red and a few bottles of champagne that I found. I donated several bottles to our church earlier this month (yes, our church serves champagne!) so I though we were out, but then I came across more. The wedding wine is starting to remind me of Jesus's first miracle at Cana ;)

Other Important Stuff from June:

The saddest thing has to be my engagement ring. I'd had it back exactly one week before the center stone fell out!!

Yes, we were a little upset to say the least. We took it to the jeweler the next day and we have not been impressed by them. The manager we spoke with basically accused me of lying when I said I didn't know what happened. One of the prongs was bent badly, which is why the diamond fell out, but I honestly have no idea what happened. I don't remember catching it on anything since we got it back from them, so it had to have happened before that (and should've been fixed when they had it, right?). We left it with them not knowing when we'd see it again because apparently this manager had to call corporate or something. Lots of phone calls later, it was determined that it could be up to 10 weeks before we get my ring back! We could've had it back sooner if we'd let them put a smaller or lower quality diamond in, but c'mon. This is a ring I'm going to wear the rest of my life. Do we really want to compromise and get a lesser ring? I don't think so. My husband worked hard to buy that ring for me! We don't want to settle for less than the ring he originally picked out for me. But apparently that means waiting forever to get it back. So for now I'm wearing my wedding band and silently cursing our jeweler in my head when I look down at it. But thank goodness I didn't have the band soldered to the engagement ring!

Fun stuff: A friend and I spent a weekend this month watching all 5 Twilight movies. I'd seen the first two before and she'd seen the first one, but we both wanted to watch all of them to see what the fuss was about. Thank goodness we'd planned to drink wine while we watched. Otherwise I don't know if we would've made it through those first ones again. The acting was so bad! It did get better as they went (or maybe that was the wine) but we made it through all 5. Neither of us plan to watch them again, but it was a fun little experiment.

And that same weekend, our husbands ran the Conquer the Gauntlet race and played golf together. Since we live about an hour from each other, it's nice that we can plan weekends like this so we can hang out while our husbands go do their own thing :) I did go with the guys when the ran the race to take pictures (my friend was working that morning and met up with us after).

Oh, and I cut my hair off!

Coming up in July:

DIY projects like our king size bed frame, our tiki torch porch, and the gallery walls that I keep mentioning but failing to actually blog about. Oops!
A fun giveaway, a first on this blog.
And hopefully better photos because the Mastering Your DSLR class I'm taking started yesterday!

So tell me, what are you into? Share a link to your post below, or just leave a comment letting us know!