June 3rd Daybook {summer fun}

 My first month of using the Project 365 app.  Since I'll never be a scrapbooker this is a fun way to record our days.

Listening to
The playlists are changing in our family.  During the past school year my boys have begun downloading their own music preferences onto their devices.  Now every time we get in the van, one of them announces that he will be the DJ during the drive and selects his favorite songs to share with the rest of us.  I must say they have greatly broadened my musical horizons and I freely admit to being stuck in a rut between Maroon 5 and Zac Brown Band. Thanks to my boys I have begun listening to some fun new music: The Script, Imagine Dragons, and that hair-bandish song by Fall Out Boy which has become the theme for the Stanley Cup playoffs (go Hawks).   Of course all this downloading has created interesting observations by my boys about how many songs have explicit lyrics (which they cannot download) and they really think musicians should clean up their acts and simply leave out the bad words.  I agree.

Reading
Oh my goodness do I have too many books going at once.  This is a bad habit of mine and it gets worse during the summer when I imagine I have more freedom to read so I bring home way too many books from the library each visit.  The pressure mounts and soon I am ten pages into seven different books and not really enjoying anything.  My mom and I always say that we like to have a book in every genre going to suit what ever mood we may be in at that moment: non-fiction, fiction, self-help, spiritual, creative etc...  It can make me a little crazy.  There are just so many good suggestions out there.


As of this moment I have going:
The Thirteenth Tale
Poser My Life in 23 Yoga Poses
A Field Guide to Now
And I recently finished this memoir and I liked it a lot for the first half, less so for the final half but still it kept me reading.

Making
Vacation plans, Summer Bucket Lists, play dates, Mommy dates, and anniversary dates.  Lots to look forward to in the next few weeks.








Learning
I keep learning lessons in saying no.  This is a greatly under-respected skill but those who have mastered it are to be revered.  I am still practicing my new found confidence in this area.  Brene Brown tweeted this yesterday and I felt that surge of recognition at its truth:

Any good boundary-setting mantras out there? Mine is always "Choose discomfort over resentment." #NoisGold
— BreneBrown (@BreneBrown) June 3, 2013

Check out her hash tag "no is gold" for many more inspiring tweets about how to practice No. I must be getting good at it because a friend recently enlisted me to word a delicate "no" response for her.  I did and she used it!  LOL!

Loving
iced americanos, the last day of soccer, pool parties (thank you friends with pools!), sun-kissed skin, the scent of Banana Boat tanning oil, no homework, pale pink manicures, my boys playing in the sprinklers while fully clothes, the essence of time filling our days






Around the house
I have a list of about 20 mini organizing projects I hope to accomplish over the summer.  I already managed to revamp the pantry so one down/19 to go.  Maybe telling you this will keep me accountable?

a recent evening out beach side

A few plans for the rest of the week
Our last track meet was cancelled due to weather so the make-up is this Wednesday.  Should be nice as the forecast looks mild.  Being outside on metal bleachers from 2-8pm can be brutal when hot.
Haircuts for the boys.
Parish Council discernment meetings.  Will have to see what that is all about. Luckily I have a friend who is also going so we can make it an excuse to go out for dinner afterward!
A mommy and boys road trip to visit my mother and sister in NC for a week.  Pool days and fire pit nights.  I cannot wait.  This annual vacation is the epitome of summer for me.







Loving