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Friday, August 1, 2014

My 10 Favorite Things in July

July is my favorite month of the year (and not just because it's my birthday month). It's because July is pure summer. Fall is nowhere in sight. We celebrate the independence of our country. We watch fireworks, and we light sparklers to swirl around the night sky. We eat thick slices of watermelon and sip cold beverages. We soak up the warm sun and cool off in swimming pools, lakes, or the ocean. We grill and spend lingering evenings out on the back porch talking with family and friends.

Granted, we barely partook in any of those July festivities as our lives have been in such transition this month, but that hasn't kept us from enjoying ourselves! We've had lots of big firsts this month, and lots of exciting things are going on, even if we haven't been able to sit in the back yard sipping rose wine. I guess there's always August for that!

1) Closing on our first house
Big transition Numero Uno! At the beginning of the month we closed on our first house, and now we're working on unpacking boxes and getting settled. Now we do things like mow the yard and submit forms to an HOA.
2) Inviting family over for lunch
This is totally why we moved back home -- we get to see our families now! One weekend, we invited my parents and grandparents over to see the new house and to have a little lunch. It was a BYOLC (bring your own lawn chair) type of event with paper plates and take-out from Rudy's!
3) The 4th of July
We kicked off Independence Day with a parade through downtown McKinney where we saw both a goat AND a horse painted like American flags, classic cars, and cute little kids waving flags. We cooked out with the Ranges (see Item 4), cooked out with my husband's family (see Item 5), and even swirled around some sparklers!
4) Cooking out on the 4th with the Ranges
Our wonderful friends the Ranges, already settled in a lovely new home in the area, were nice enough to invite us over for a cook-out on the 4th where we devoured burgers, vegetable and halloumi skewers, roasted radishes, corn, chips and guacamole, ice cold watermelon, and ice cream sandwiches. We were tickled pink to spend the day with them, and not just because they had a grill (as ours was somewhere between Boston and Dallas on a moving truck).
5) Celebrating the 5th of July with family
Basically, we just hopped from one house with a grill to the next during July. You do what you have to! I could really get used to seeing our families a little more often!
6) Antiquing with my mom
Another weekend, my mom popped over to McKinney for a little antique hunting. It was so fun spending a girl's day together!
7) Date night
 We didn't take many date night excursions this month, but we did spend a really nice evening at the BarnLight Eatery in Frisco for summery cocktails and southern fare. It was nice to get cleaned up and to go out for a fun evening together!
8) Adding this fluff ball to our lives
Not only did July bring us new jobs and a new home, but we also we added a cute little puppy to our lives named Charlie. It turns out that puppies are a lot of work, but he's so sweet and so much fun that most of the time, I'm pretty sure the hard work is worth it.
9) Cooking in our new kitchen
As more and more boxes are unpacked, our house is turning into a home! Our kitchen is fully unpacked, and we're able to start cooking again, which adds a wonderful sense of normalcy and enjoyment back into our lives!
10) My birthday! 
Last but certainly not least is my birthday! I turned 29 years old on Monday and had a great time doing it. We drove to Paris on Saturday for a family celebration over plates of chicken spaghetti, purple hull peas, fried okra, and blackberry peach cobbler with Blue Bell ice cream. On the actual day, I got fun cards in the mail, sweet notes from friends, presents in the mail from my husband's family, a phone call from my big brother, and my husband grilled swordfish for me. Gosh, everyone knows how to make a girl feel loved!
 

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