what I learned

what I learned this summer

by Laurie |

This may be the first time I’ve ever joined up with the fun started by one of my favs, Emily P Freeman, but now is better than never! Especially since this was one of the best summers we’ve had around here in a long time. This season typically isn’t my favorite. So much sweat and swelter; not enough structure.

But this summer was different. Here’s the fun, silly, and serious of what I learned:

Maybe I’m not actually a plant killer but have always given up on them too easily? Sometimes all it takes to revive a brown, parched house plant is a little encouragement and a few ice cubes.

Never say never. And certainly don’t post your “nevers” on social media. “I’ll never have to write another paper again” came up on my Facebook Memories, and all I could do was shake my head. This summer conjured distant memories, as I facepalmed over my American Government textbook, of raising my hands in the air after a World Civ final and shouting “I’ll never have to take another history class again!” to the entire commons at my university. Oh, 2005 Laurie. I could practically hear Samuel L. Jackson’s voice saying, “Little did she know…” History and I are not friends. Give me polynomials and electron configurations any day!

Boiled eggs are actually quite tasty and nutritious–when they’re not overcooked. Thanks to Queen Ina, the salad bar variety with the green ring are a thing of the past. Here’s how she taught me to prepare them and here’s the recipe for this magical Shrimp Cobb Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette from Paleo Running Momma. I made it at least four times this summer.

This is going to sound really weird, but I actually don’t enjoy a lot of things that help many other women “unwind.” I’ve always considered bubble baths, red wine, massages, pedicures, and the like rare luxuries. But as it turns out, I don’t actually like doing those things very much. Maybe my tastes have changed? Maybe I just don’t like sitting still? Either way, I can see how other women like those things, but I’m not going to do them anymore!

Speaking of luxuries, this Raw Sugar Lemon Sugar body wash is a bottle of summer sunshine and my skin’s new best friend. It smells like pink lemonade and leaves the skin feeling super silky even the next day, plus it’s a cleaner option free of many harsh chemicals found in other soaps. I haven’t tested this theory yet because it’s still 90 degrees here, but I believe it possesses the power to stop the winter blahs in their muddy, slushy gray tracks.

Magical things happen when you turn off the Internet and have fun. Maybe I knew this before this summer, but I’m not very good at putting it into practice. But I tried to be super intentional about planning fun things with my kids a few times a week. The work was still there when they went to sleep (or back to school, in some cases), but babies don’t keep, y’all. And the world actually did not end if I turned my Wi-Fi off and found out about things a little later than when they actually happened 🙂

A pretty progress tracker is great motivation to get things done! Of course, that may or may not also be correlated to turning off the internet 🙂 My progress tracker is featured in my Get to Work Book planner, which I absolutely love. This is my second one!

What did you learn this summer?

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