Time is weird: This month seemed to fly by but also Fourth of July weekend feels like it was 10 weeks ago? Also, there is no way tomorrow is August. Nope. I refuse to believe it.

Holiday weekend: On July 4th morning, I went for a run at my old high school’s track (surprisingly, there were a few other people there) and then went to my parents’ house for dinner.

On that Saturday, my friend Alex (our favorite third wheel for the beer corn maze in the fall) and I went to the cat cafe that Josh and I went to earlier in the year. She loves cats, and once we went, I knew I had to bring her. We were the only two people in our booked session, so we got all of the kitties to ourselves to pet. After that, she came back to my parents’ house for a full BBQ and to see the pups.

New volunteer opportunity: I started volunteering with a new organization this month. (I’m still with the local theater group, too.) This new group is a dog rescue, and I had heard about them a few times recently and looked into their volunteer opportunities. I started working on the IT team, helping with website updates, and my timing was pretty good as they’re now working on a website redesign. I met with the IT director one-on-one and then had my first IT team meeting last week. So far, so good. And they seem happy with my website skills, so I’m glad to help.

Maine part one: Yes, part one, because as this is published, we’re back up in Maine again. (I wrote and scheduled this post on Tuesday—shhh.) Here’s the recap post from our July trip up north! We went for our four year anniversary—yes, FOUR YEARS together. It’s insane.

Miscellaneous:

• We had to cut our Maine trip a day short as we had to come back home to attend our niece’s baptism. My parents were invited, and it was a nice ceremony. Plus, my parents got to meet Josh’s extended family, which is basically like the modern-day Kennedys—there are way too many aunts and uncles and cousins (and not even all of them were there).
• We also went to a local homebrew competition. We’ve gone the past few years—I used to work with the event’s organizer at my old job—and it’s a smaller competition, which we like since you don’t feel so overwhelmed to try everything.
• I ran a few more times this month! Either at my old high school’s track or on the treadmill at my parents’ house. Once we get back from Maine in August, I want to get more consistent in my running because I think I’m going to run the Hartford Marathon 5K again in October.

What I’m Watching

TV

• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
• Resident Alien

Netflix

• Younger (S5E5-S6E12)
• Untamed

Hulu

• Bones (S8E3-S8E9)
• Child Star
• F Marry Kill
• God Forbid: The Sex Scandal that Brought Down a Dynasty
• Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke
• Untouchable
• Little Miss Innocent: Passion. Poison. Prison.
• Sins of the Parents: The Crumbley Trials
• Death in the Dorms (S1-S2)
• Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time

Peacock

• Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
• Jurassic World: Dominion
• Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy
• The Idaho Student Murders
• Below Deck (S12E1-S12E4)

Paramount+

• Dexter (S6E1-S6E4)

YouTube

• CohhCarnage – Kingdom Come: Deliverance (Episode 70-92)

What I’m Reading

• Maine Characters by Hannah Orenstein: 3 stars
• The Tell by Amy Griffin: N/A
• Wild and Wrangled by Lyla Sage: 4 stars
• Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson: 4 stars
• Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe: N/A
• In the Weeds by B. K. Borison: 5 stars
• The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson: N/A
• The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach: 4 stars

(I also reached 50 books read so far this year! My goal is 60, which I will definitely surpass.)