July Round Up

Well, July was a scorcher, wasn’t it?! When I wrote my last round up post this time last month I was in awe of the fantastic weather we’d had, and didn’t really think it could be possible that we might see more of the same in July – a whole month of sunshine is pretty much unheard of in England, but two?? No chance. Except we did! July has absolutely outdone itself weather wise, and bar a little and much needed 3 day storm last week, we have had nothing but blue skies and 20 plus degree temperatures, and I, for one, have LOVED IT! I mean, I have had a little moan here and there – I’m British, after all – and this post and this post both quite aptly demonstrate that there are downsides to this weather. But the fact is, despite the struggles sleeping and the parched gardens and the embarrassing sweat situations, life just seems so much nicer to me when the sun is shining. Everyone seems happier, everything looks prettier, we spend more time outside, more time socialising, more time eating and drinking delicious things – it’s frankly been the most lovely, enjoyable Summer I remember ever having (at least since I was a youngster, anyway) and it isn’t even over yet! The strangest thing is, nothing all that exciting has gone on recently, in fact if anything, events have been quite dull and grown up. Such as….

I Broke The Wall At Driving…

For those who don’t know, I can’t drive… kind of an embarrassing statement for a 35 year old to make! For reasons best known to the inner workings of my brain, I have always been riddled with anxiety about doing it, but I forced myself to crack on and start learning last year. After a great start, things ground to a halt in December thanks to all the snow, and I really struggled to find my feet again after we resumed in the Spring, but in the last couple of months we’ve switched to morning lessons and I’ve seen an amazing difference! I’m so much more alert at 8am than I am after a tough day at work, and it is so much more challenging driving in rush hour in the city, so I’ve really come on leaps and bounds and hopefully will be ready to start looking at booking my test soon! Though after a million reschedulings of my theory test (thanks again, anxiety!) I still have that to get through at the end of the month… So, very exciting for me, but not your usual fun Summer activity!

I Stripped Wallpaper 

The building work on phase one of the house is finally done, which means the decorating is about to start! We spent a beautiful (!) day stripping the wallpaper last week, ready for the new kitchen which is due any time now! Again, not your usual fun Summer activity!

I Spent The Most Money I’ve Ever Spent

About that kitchen….. It cost sooooooo much money. I mean, it didn’t, not in the grand scheme of what you can spend on a kitchen, but for ME it was a lot of money, because so far in life I have managed to get by without ever having to spend a real adult amount of money on anything. I don’t have a car (yet – though hopefully that will be changing in the next few months!) I’ve never bought a house (thanks Dan for letting me live in yours whilst also regularly dictating what it looks like!) and I’m yet to bear children, go travelling or get married, so I have not yet experienced that excruciating feeling of handing over an amount of money that seems unreal. Until now! I thought the hot tub was expensive. And the sofas. But they were both doable without making a particularly sizable dent in my savings. The kitchen is a bit different though. I don’t know if you have ever felt the same, but when you have been saving for so long it gets a bit addictive, and it actually hurts a little to see the number in your account drop – which is daft, because this is EXACTLY the kind of thing I’ve been saving it for, but it still feels odd to let it go. I am super excited about it arriving and being fitted and I know I won’t regret it one bit, but it’s been an odd life experience for me!

Aside from all of that, we have, of course, managed some fun, far more blogworthy, activities! We started the month on a high at our favourite annual event, Moseley’s Jazz Funk and Soul festival which I blogged about here. We always have a fantastic time and the weather, paired with an England win in the World Cup made the atmosphere incredible! The only downside of it is that it always clashes with my brother’s big July 4th BBQ (my sister in law is from the US) so I’ve already got my thinking cap on to work out how I can do both next year! We’ve also been trying to make good on our New Year promise to explore more of our local surroundings, so a couple of weeks ago we decided to brave the crazy heat and take a walk to the top of The Beacon with the pooch, where we were met with the most incredible views and some much welcomed breezes! Later in the month we had our annual work Summer ball. It isn’t a ball at all, to be fair, just a social gathering, but we always have the loveliest time and it always makes me remember how lucky I am to do the job that I do. This year we had a ‘Pimp Your Prosecco’ station complete with lustre dust and ‘Pop ‘a’ Balls (blog post to come on that at some point in the future…) darling bunting and polaroid photo board! As I said, it isn’t a ball really, merely a chance to get all dolled up, eat delicious food and drink an awful lot of Prosecco.

And we all know I don’t pass up any opportunities to get dolled up. Or drink Prosecco….

How was your July?

Love,

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