
Sidewalk blooms, North Ballard

Prettiest lunch date
Downtime: August was just a lovely blur of sunshine, work, sunglasses, chores, weddings, homies, and summer.

Shilshole Marina, Seattle

Summer BBQs done right

Happy 21st birthday to Dan!
Exercise: I’ve been experimenting with exercising later in the evening. For years, I would work out immediately after work but with a 50 min commute I was just too hungry and tired and it wasn’t happening. Now I come home, make and eat dinner right away, chill for a bit, and then work out around 8pm. It’s not a perfect system but it’s yielded more consistent results than before. And my strength is improving! Yoga with Adriene has been fantastic for gaining strength and flexibility. Her jokes are corny but, hey, so are mine!

Bridesmaid-ing on the beach, Carkeek Park

Snack break
Travel: Just over a month to go….and I’m ready. London is all set and Spain is coming together as Siiri’s fall plans solidify a bit more. Need to brainstorm a rough packing list so I don’t box up things I need in the move (plug adapters and my passport come to mind).

August bounty
Retirement: I managed to not freak out the day the stock market nose dived! And then I held off for two whole days before looking at my accounts. Working on taking deep breaths and forgetting they are there.
Currently receiving much fiscal inspiration from my buddy Megan who is blogging openly about her six month campaign to get her financial house in order on The Billfold.

The beat lives on
Arts: Blerg. This just hasn’t been on my radar. It’s like summer, man. So in true summer spirit I went to two outdoor concerts with my beloved Kat: Alabama Shakes at the gorgeous Marymoor Park concert space (new to me!) and The Coup at the Mural, part of KEXP’s awesome free summer concert series.
The Seattle Public Library summer reading challenge really pushed me to try new things. While I wasn’t successful in completing a “bingo” I did tackle some new or lesser explored genres. Plus, the bingo square prompts were so fun!
Published the year you were born [1986]: Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Finished in a day: Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Author under 30: The Tiger’s Wife by Tea Obreht (didn’t finish this one, it just wouldn’t hold my attention)
And a fun beach read plug for The Royal We by Heather Cock and Jessica Morgan. A well researched and engaged meringue of a novel! Would probably be equally great for a rainy weekend under a fluffy blanket.

Under the needle
*Edited to include all the books I read and rudely forgot to post. I’ve been posting book recos on instagram under #LTTW2015readinglist.