Document: July

Tomorrow begins August, month of back to school sales, humidity, grilling, and busyness!!!

...but July was pretty great ;)

First, I finished my (super unnecessary) class on Church Administration!!!  Even though I found the class entirely unnecessary (I won't be running a church) and somewhat boring (for someone who naturally organizes everything), I managed to focus and pull an A!  Wow!  If only I could focus like that on my Genesis class...

Second, we had an amazing weekend celebrating the Fourth with Doug's family followed by a fun and relaxing week in Williamsburg!  This trip conveniently was scheduled during a massive power outage in our area, which was truly a blessing!  Though we came back to no power, no food, no water, etc, we were able to deal with the situation for the small amount of time it was necessary.

We were also able to host my mom and gram for a few days; my gram had never been to visit before, so it was really exciting.  Even though I was fighting a sickness (including a high fever the day they were driving down), we were able to have fun and show her the city, including a trip out to Appomattox.

As far as my goals are concerned...

12 in 2012.  Organizing!!!  In the last week Doug and I cleaned and redecorated our bedroom, which included getting rid of a lot of clothes (there goes September's goal) and a lot of clutter.  We took care of the final touches today (hanging pictures, hanging a clock, getting the laundry station set up), so I should be able to take photos and show you all of our hard work!!!

Reading.  Oh my beloved books, I have failed you!  With so much reading for school and so much work on our apartment, I have very little time to read!  I was only able to add one book to my list, making a total of 49 books (23 new) for the year.  I am close to finishing 3rd Degree, and I will have 2 more books from school to add to the list in August.  My loving husband just bought me Red Pyramid. (Can you tell I like reading Rick Riordan?)  Plus, with Mark of Athena coming out in early October, I will be perusing through the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series in September. (Yea for 8 more books!)  AND I still have three more Women's Murder Club books to finish after 3rd Degree, so I should be able to catch up quickly!!!

Cooking.  Due to coming home from vacation to an empty fridge and freezer, cooking has been a struggle.  Now that we have finally caught up, I am excited to try some new things!  This week I will be trying to grill a London Broil, which I have never done before.  I am also working on my own version of Easy Mini Beef Wellingtons and a Southern-Style Mac and Cheese.  I also bought instant oatmeal at the store today; I have never tried oatmeal before, so this will be a new experience for me!

Health/Fitness.  Honestly, between vacation, catching up on school, sickness, visitors, and cleaning...I haven't found much time to get to the gym!  I have been stretching and trying to do yoga ever morning, but making it out the door early evening has been really difficult for me.  I have been considering some alternatives (walking, at home DVDs) while trying to make sure they fit into my Fall Schedule.  Hopefully this will be much better in August ;)

Speaking of August, it will hopefully be a month of rest for us before school starts!  We are planning on redoing our Guest Room over the next two "weekends," but our priority is getting on a set schedule for when classes begin.  Doug will be starting with three classes, two of which are residential (and one online that ends in October).  This will be a big change from this summer (no classes) or even the Spring (one class at a time).  I am also taking a residential class, which I have not done for the last 3 semesters.  Getting into a set schedule early in August will definitely give us one less thing to worry about when classes begin!