A few insane things happened this particular weekend... One is that I camped in that ^^ orange and gray tent with NO power, NO cell phone reception and most importantly NO white noise machine to put me into a sound and peaceful sleep each night. Also, by the time I got home after a couple days of being here, I think I was running on less than 8 hours of sleep for the entire weekend. Everything smelled bad (including myself) and it was an honest struggle to figure out what was going to come first - a nap or shower.
I say all of that to tell you that it was the best weekend of my summer so far and I would go back and do it all over again in a heart beat!
Here's another crazy thing - I camped with 9 of my very best friends. There were a lot of laughs, embarrassing stories, teamwork during breakfast AND campfire shenanigans. It was a pretty gray and rainy weekend so I couldn't have my camera out as much as I would've liked to so please accept the combination of Canon DSLR pictures as well as some iPhone ones. It's not so much the quality of the photos as much as it's the quality of the great time we had!
First thing first, coffee. (and maybe even coffee with a little something else!)
We miraculously left the fire going for the entirety of our weekend! Even rain couldn't put out our flame.
WARNING: Breakfast photos may cause you to be very hungry for a big, greasy and overly fulfilling breakfast.
During the day we tubed ... five miles, I think? Anyway, probably not the best day for tubing considering the mass thunderstorms (lots of lightning!!) but we made the best of it! At one point the storm was so bad that we had no choice other than to hide out under a tree... in the water... while it was lightning! I'm pleased to tell you that it was one of the better parts of my trip though. So much fun!
Then the day time campfire hangs lead to the nighttime campfire hangs...
My view in the tent each morning...
My views outside of the tent each morning...
I know I joked up there about what I didn't think I could live without while camping but truly, camping is a great memory from my childhood. Getting to be apart of this weekend was nostalgia on so many levels and to do it with great friends was amazing! Next year can't come soon enough but it won't stop me from asking if we can do it again every weekend until then.
The whole gang!
Me and the birthday girl!
My last blog post was August 10th and even more sad than that is that August 10th was also probably the last time I logged into blogger. Whoa!
This is the longest I have gone in a while of feeling absolutely zero motivation to write [insert biggest, saddest emoji face]. It's not for lack of what to write about... I've done a lot of fun things lately and I always have the intention of sharing them on my platform here. I think the real issue is just taking time for myself to actually sit down and do it. This month has been busy and a little stranger than usual. Not strange in a bad way - all good! But because of all this, it leaves less time within my day where I'm all like "ok, what should I do now?"..
Anyway, sorry for the radio silence. I'm hoping that by posting this I'll remind myself to prioritize a little better. That good ol' blogging Renee will make her comeback!
In the meantime, I am going to write a quick post about my recent camping trip, Lilah's 2nd birthday AND just my life lately.
Thanks for sticking around :)
It's already creeping up on Mid-August! Can you believe it? Plus, the best part of all is that we are only about 137 days away from Christmas (not sorry!). It's been a fun summer so far but the real excitement is still to come. Here's what's been going on!
As I was scrolling through my photos I came across this and figured - why not?! My blog, my rules. I can post a picture of a dill pickle beer that was surprisingly refreshing if I want! Really though, I was impressed with how much I liked this. Can't wait to eventually get down to the actual brewery in Cincinnati!
Back in mid-July I got to spend the day with these precious babies and my momma! What started out as a very fun day turned horrid when sweet Lilah got very sick with a stomach virus. Of course, as the story goes, within 24-48 hours my mom and I both were pleading with whatever we could to make our own sickness go away. Glad that's all over with! Regardless though, a day spent with these two is a day well spent!
PIZZAAAA! I must admit.... I gave up on Citizen Pie last summer. It didn't impress me and I thought why spend money there when I can get a pizza I actually enjoy for the same price? But alas, my forgiving self decided to give it another try and boy am I glad I did. We got the cacio e pepe pizza (below) and YUMMY. It was cheesy, it was buttery and most importantly it was delicious! I am officially sold on Citizen Pie.
Did I already mention Lilah once in this post?! Well it was so fun so let's do it again! We recently visited the Memphis Kiddie Park here in Cleveland and had so much fun!
Above: Lilah's first go-around on the roller coaster!
Below: Lilah's second go around on the roller coaster!
Momma and I went to see Eighth Grade (movie) and it was ... emotional to say the least. I've already preached it on social media, but wanted to throw it in here too. Check it out if you get a chance! I'll add my original review (from Instagram) below.
Sweet Heidi's getting married! (#tilldeathdouspark) I was able to get a picture with some of my favorite ladies but of course - I missed one photo with the sweetest Chelsea (she was busting her booty getting everything taken care of and if there is one thing I've learned in life it's to never distract a motivated woman!).
Speaking of ladies getting married... ^^^ This one just got engaged! Congrats Steph! <3 font="">
Of course we picked a super hot day to go to an Indians game but at least we got to see a great win AND these #couplegoals (below). Um, where can I find these pants for Cade and I?
I recently (and finally) went to Astoria Cafe and Market with my girlfriend and before the meal was even over we were already planning our next visit. It's SO good. And photo-worthy.
In true fashion, I am saving the best for last! Cade gets a chance to be a part of our local coffee shops Art Jam! It's a really great event that provides local artists an opportunity to showcase their work. The last one was back in June and it was so much fun. The next one is Sunday, August 12th and it's sure to be even better!
Phew! I think I covered most of it. I've already mentioned in a previous post that we have some trips coming up which means I'm already looking forward to sharing those adventures here. August is proving to be a little busy for me, so stay tuned! :)
My New Years Resolution was to read at least 3-4 books a month which would have meant a total of 36-48 books read in 2018. I am currently reading my 37th book! That is so exciting to me and what might have started as a challenge has turned itself into my new norm. Reading is my own form of meditation and when I get lost in a truly good book, there's no telling when I'll get out of it. July was filled to the brim with those good stories and I'm really excited to tell you about them!
In July I read:
Kitchen Confidential
The Perfect Mother
Big Magic (Creative Living Beyond Fear)
Pretty Girls
Visible Empire
The Light of Paris
Kitchen Confidential
Read the all-telling personal memoir of Anthony Bourdain as the next up and coming, best you've ever seen, crazy rockstar, hectic and dark life of New York's best chef they didn't know they had.
I took my time with this book. Not because it was difficult to read, but because two things happened... the first - I read this entirely in Anthony Bourdain's voice with his witty and unique sense of style and humor. I couldn't speed read and I definitely couldn't get distracted. I read it as if I were watching one of his shows and he were reading it aloud to me. That was reason number 1. Reason number 2 is because his writing raised my already high expectations of "perfect" writing. Never have I read a book with so many great references, analogies, stories and raw feeling. I laughed out loud and even physically covered my mouth! I ran into the kitchen to read a paragraph to Cade because it was so funny that it had to be shared. I don't too often read autobiographies/biographies/memoirs but I can say that if they were all written this well then I don't think I'd ever have to read anything else. I miss Tony and I miss his show. This gave me parts of him that were new and I felt happy about that. You don't have to know the service industry, you don't have to know food... you don't have to relate in any sense of the matter... You just have to take it all in, word by word and appreciate a good, nay, great thing.
The Perfect Mother
A group of mom's who all gave birth in May have pegged themselves "The May Mothers" and try to meet up frequently to discuss life with their newborns. Winnie, a single mom from the group seems to be having a tougher time adjusting and so the group does what they think is best - they plan a girls night out! It was a great night until Winnie's son, Midas is taken from his crib. Now, with the help of fellow mom's Francie, Nel and Collette, Winnie must try to find what happened to her baby.
This is a tricky one to review. I will say that I give this book an easy 4.75/5 stars! The ending shocked me, the writing was phenomenal and the character development was just right. I'm afraid however, that if I say too much then it would give it away... So I'll simply say that this book surprisingly blew me away! I thought it was going to be painfully predictable. Thought.
Big Magic
Elizabeth Gilbert has given the world so many great novels, short stories and articles... She didn't need to give anything else but she did. In this book you will discover nearly everything that could've ever been thought of to help you live your absolute best creative life. From every corner, nook and crannie of this exciting world... you will close this book ready to do whatever it takes!
Gilbert, through this book, gave a whole lot more than I was expecting by way of motivation and inspiration. She gave me the permission I apparently needed to do it my way and not care so much about what other people think of me (and I get it now - they don't think of me!). This book and You Are a Badass are the two best self-help books that I'll ever need. And I'm saying that now, at 28 years old with so much future left in self-help books. That is how confident I am that this book will stand the test of time. Read it, take it all in, take notes and when you need it, open it up and read it again!
Pretty Girls
Claire and Lydia are two sisters living their own separate lives. Claire is married to a very wealthy man and Lydia had troubles in the past with drugs and forming bad relationships... The one thing they have in common is the grief they share over the murder of their sister, Julia twenty-plus years earlier. When something terrible happens, they are brought back together to see if they can answer the age old mystery - Who murdered Julia?
This was a page turner. If you enjoy mystery/thrillers then it should come as no surprise that a Karin Slaughter book is horrifying and gruesome. There were parts of this book that were difficult to read, but the truth in the matter is that it made for an intense story. Readers beware: there are some very graphic and detailed parts of this story. If you can handle that then I would highly recommend the read!
Visible Empire
Based on true events of a plane crash in 1962, this book delves into the lives of those impacted by the tragedy. In this book you will get to know characters from the wealthiest of Atlanta, to the poor black man just trying to get by in a very scary world and everything in between. With a main focus on Robert who is trying to navigate through a horrible dilemma he created, you will feel every emotion that he, and the city of Atlanta went through.
This novel was phenomenal. When I went into it I didn't realize that it was based on true events (good research, Renee!). However, I was immediately hooked on each individual character. Robert got himself in somewhat of a mess and in a strange way you can kind of feel for him. It wasn't difficult for me to form each character in my imagination as I read and by the time the story was over I wanted to ask the author (Hannah Pittard) to please write a Visible Empire II.
The Light of Paris
Madeleine is not happy in her (forced) cookie cutter lifestyle. Her husband isn't loving, her mom has high expectations for her and she can't do anything that she's truly passionate about. When she goes back to Magnolia to visit her mom she finds a chest in the attic full of her late grandmothers diaries. She begins to read them and get a feel for the woman she apparently knew nothing about it. In this story, you will go from Madeleine to Margie (the grandma) and see how similar they really are.
I'm just going to start right out by saying that this book is a skimmer. The author is very detailed in everything (and I really mean, ev-ery-thing). To someone who enjoys that, then this book is very much your cup of tea... For those like me, however, I skim. The story was good and the description about Paris made me want to go there even more, but other than that, the story kind of dragged in some areas thanks to the authors over-the-top detail.
There you have it! There were a couple other books that I started in July that I either didn't mention in this post, or started and didn't finish. Hopefully I can add those to an upcoming month to share my thoughts! For now though, I'm planning to read the following in August:
How to Be Parisian Wherever You Are
Beneath A Scarlet Sky
I'm hoping to read more than just the two but there is so much going on this month that I'm trying not to set my own bar too high. Self-induced anxiety is for the birds and I'm slowly learning how to avoid it!
Happy readings and thanks for following along!
