WHEW! i can’t even begin to tell you how busy the past month and a half has been. i wasn’t really home a single weekend in july, plus i was gone during some of the weekdays too. the busyness started with the very first day of the month as i came home from a work trip to minneapolis on july 1st [you probably saw photos of this trip in this post], and it’s been chaos ever since! fun chaos, but definitely chaos! there was july 4th weekend, a very quick trip to NYC, a weekend trip to galveston, a weekend trip to nama’s in hot springs, a wedding weekend [which are always busy], and our annual trip to the PMA foodservice conference in california [which will be in a separate post]. aaaaand it’s continuing into august with trips to colorado and indiana! lots going on, and although all the travels have been wonderful, i’m pretty glad that things should be slowing down in the near future. here are some photos from july:
{on the left, the usual stuff. and on the right, ignore the grain and the freaky eyes, but note to self: don’t wear braids on planes. because when you wake up, your hair will look like this.}
{this trip may have been my shortest yet – i wasn’t even here for 24 hours. got to my hotel at 8:30 pm and checked out by 7:30 am. i wish i could have stayed longer, NYC… but real life was calling and i had things to do and more places to go! next time…}
{our little home sweet home for our weekend in galveston! we rented this cute little beach house via VRBO. it was just a few blocks from the water.}
{the house was so cute, and i took tons of photos of the different rooms because i loved the details. this was the living room.}
{the kitchen and dining room. that giant round table may have been my favorite part about the house!}
{it was an old house, and i loved the creaky wood floors and that strip of exposed brick.}
{a little seat at the front entryway and one of the bedrooms. the house had four bedrooms – there was a master bedroom with a king-sized bed and master bathroom, two bedrooms with queen-sized beds, and one bedroom with two sets of bunk beds. there was another bathroom upstairs besides the master bathroom, and then a half bathroom downstairs. overall, pretty spacious!}
{the master bedroom}
{the bunk bed room}
{the back balcony and backyard}
{the whole reason we went down to galveston was to attend an awards ceremony at which priscilla received a prestigious award/scholarship for med school, the student award in oslerian medicine. it was such a fun occasion and we are so proud of her!}
{priscilla and her cute mother and boyfriend.} :)
{the whole group before the event}
{the “kids!”}
{gathering around our shining star!!}
{congratulations, priscilla!!!!}
{i was dying laughing because shiner had a legit JBiebs side swoop going on!!}
{he did this to himself, i swear! that’s very JBiebs 2010 of you, shiner. i can’t even!}
{priscilla and her mom were so sweet to take us to breakfast at farley girls. mom and i shared this breakfast pizza and it was amazing!}
{old red, the oldest medical school building in texas.}
{dinner at the round table and then s’mores in the backyard!}
{priscilla took us to a beach that looks private but is actually public, which was sooo nice because it wasn’t crowded. it was shiner’s first time at the beach, and he loved it! he was having a big time jumping over waves, digging in the wet sand, and rolling in the dry sand. i laughed when i saw these pictures because you can’t tell where the water starts and the sand ends because they’re the same color…that’s galveston for you! ;) but we had such a fun weekend and enjoyed celebrating priscilla and staying in our little beach house.}
{i look like a bobblehead, but one last pic in front of our little home!}
{on the left, just a couple goodies i scored on sale at my favorite store. and on the right, one of the local dives put our an inflatable pool with a few inches of water on their patio and then set up a table and chairs inside the pool so that people could sit with their feet dipped in the water [while listening to some live music…]. first of all, brilliant. second of all, i love my neighborhood.}
{two throwback photos, one with each set of grandparents, because i LOVE my grandparents! on the left, nama and poppy meeting me for the first time [their first grandchild], and poppy was going to take me home with him! and on the right, me with mimi and papa at the beach. we miss pops! [both grandfathers, in fact.] i can remember these papa faces vividly. :) i’m a lucky girl to have had the most wonderful grandfathers and the most wonderful grandmothers.}
{spotted on the way to hot springs…}
{here’s a closer look!}
{this three-day weekend of lake time, time with nama and the family, and rest & relaxation was much needed. it was a glorious little trip.}
{a yummy breakfast and lunch, made by nama}
{our first night at nama’s was a girls night and we thoroughly enjoyed it! and our rosé.} ;)
{hanging out on the screened-in porch with shiner, watching the lightning. and our peppy little boy loves the lake!}
{shiner hanging out on the lounge chair and my cute parents driving the pontoon boat}
{lovely ladies!}
{tubing!}
{such a calm day for being out on the water!}
{house divided. #always}
{this little guy loves being a boat dog!}
{picnic lunch on the boat}
{our little family!}
{champagne + chambord on the balcony}
{strawberry shortcake…i can’t believe i ate the whole thing!!}
{nama and i showed up one morning in matching outfits! aaaaand the best part of all was that we also noticed that mike matched us too, haha.}
{tasty work snacks… jicama sticks with chili powder, fresh lime, and salt; a palmier that i picked up in the break room [not sure where they were from]; and fresh strawberries in a waffle cone! i try to keep things interesting.} :)
{the caption on instagram that i wrote for this picture read: “yesterday i walked to pick up a prescription at CVS and to get pizza, today i walked to meet a friend for happy hour at uchi. i’m three years in, and let me tell you, this whole living-in-a-walking-community thing can’t be beat.” TRUE.}
{walking in a part of my neighborhood that i rarely go to and taking pictures of things that i haven’t really paid attention to before. there are always new adventures to be had, friends!}
{on the left, rosé and small plates to share at uchi was the perfect way to bid farewell to my friend who is moving to NYC!! i will miss her but am so excited for her new adventure! and next time i’m in new york, she can show me allllllll the cool places to go. :) on the right, dinner the other night: perline pasta with prosciutto [from trader joe’s], mixed with a variety of types of hothouse tomatoes [also from trader joe’s] that i lightly sautéed in butter and the tiniest bit of brown sugar, very lightly drizzled the whole thing with brown butter and sprinkled it with fresh parsley from the balcony herb garden. yum.}
{my dad sent me this picture – apparently shiner was curiously watching a bunny out on the front porch. i love that he was able to capture this! also, doesn’t shiner from behind look exactly like lucky in this picture?? it’s the lighting – it’s making his fur look red – but i think it’s so funny.}
{another throwback. cousin love! only i think one of us may have been more enthusiastic about it than the other one of us!} ;)
{this was the chapel where my friend brittni got married. [she’s the one whom we hosted the bridal shower for and the one who had this bachelorette party.] isn’t it pretty?}
{i was a reader at the wedding so i got to go to the rehearsal & rehearsal dinner, which was fun. both the flower girl and ring bearer were adorable and took their jobs very seriously!}
{practicing!}
{at the rehearsal dinner: the tables were decorated with photo confetti and heart origami with love quotes inside! such great ideas! and the food was great – these hors d’oeuvres are the only thing i managed to get a photo of, but the whole thing was lovely.}
{it was so great to spend time with karen at brittni’s rehearsal dinner and wedding. i hadn’t seen her since japan and it was fun to reminisce about that trip and about alllllllllll the memories we have together [and with brittni] over the years. karen is going to grad school at rutgers in the fall, and we’re just happy to have her back in the states!}
{i can’t believe the cutie on the left got married! we’re thrilled for brittni and loved getting to celebrate with her!}
{lots of beautiful ladies. i love these girls. and of course the bride and groom!}
{they’re husband and wife!!}
{even though it’s not very clear, this might be my very favorite picture!}
{the first dance. they are perfect together.}
{i’ve known brittni for 22 years and her dad for almost as long… it was so special being here and getting to see them dance together at the father-daughter dance. such a sweet moment.}
{sadly, my dad couldn’t make it to the wedding because he had to fly. the wedding was a blast, and my mom, mike and i enjoyed getting to see so many friends that we’ve known for years [and they got to meet priscilla too!]. good times, even though we wished dad could have been there.}
{i loved the glittery gold photo booth! here’s mom and me at the booth [a little blurry!]. such fun!}
{mike’s girls!} :)
{a bunch of crazies. ;) we missed you dad!}
{mom and i stayed in a hotel near the reception venue and got some quality girl time during this weekend. we had brunch at mexican sugar on sunday morning. this was our benedictos rancheros!}
{because a month can’t go by without a couple selfies!} ;)
{just look at this baby! all laid out on the porch.}
{i took this on my first day back at school after the shooting that took place here. the school has a different feel now. all the side doors are locked, you have to show an ID to a security guard to get in, and it was pretty dead in the weeks after the school opened back up. but #elcentrostrong is displayed on banners and on every TV, and i have a new appreciation for this place. four years of learning, food, and lots of fun have taken place here! i’ll graduate in december and it sure will be bittersweet to have this season of life over with.}
{from an evening run. have i mentioned that i love my neighborhood?? counting my blessings every day.}
and that was most of my july! photos from my trip to california should be up any day now. :)