I never think summer is over when August is over. In the northeast, it’s hot well into October and sometimes we get a few sunny skies in November, too. It’s a cruel change of heart around Thanksgiving but I can recall a few years when we rode scooters in sweatshirts as December approached. So I’m not waving the white flag on summer just yet. Especially after the month of August we’ve had.

I mean, in August we did all of the things…

• Exercise (make room for one non-WIP workout per week): 16 bootcamp workouts this month plus one amazing outdoor bike ride. I fit in one game of softball plus lots of outdoor time.
• Allowance for the kids: Crickets though in an unexpected turn of events, the girls decided to use some of their saved money to buy themselves something small and I was inspired by their earnestness. We will resurrect this goal for the children now that school has started.
• Read 30 books this year: Read 2 books this month and started a third. Time at the beach certainly helped. 14 books complete but that means 16 until my goal is reached. I’m going to have to push hard but it’s going to be tough to read four books a month for the next four months. Tough but not impossible.
  • The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
  • Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
• Write regularly: I thought I was in a writing rut but the truth is I have been writing all summer. I took a break from working on this side project when our extended houseguest took over my dedicated writing space. Since we returned from our vacation two weeks ago, I’ve been trying to get into a routine. But I just took stock and I wrote close to 4,000 words this summer, so I’m going to feel good about that and keep pushing ahead.
• 1 hike per month, preferably with the kids: We didn’t hike but we did spend lots of time outdoors. There was an outdoor bike ride and lots of time on the beach on vacation. There was a full day of walking around Boston. We got in our steps for sure.
• 1 date night: No explicit date night all month. We did get lots of great family time but no just us time save a quick lunch or coffee meetup during the day.
• Donate blood 6 times: Fifth donation due up at the end of September. On track to complete 6 by the end of the year.
• Volunteer once a month: More volunteering with a friend’s campaign including poll standing and postcard writing. She won the primary so there will be more volunteer opportunities in the coming months until Election Day.
• Self care (once per quarter): Nada. I received a gift that will help jumpstart a routine.
• Experiment with podcasting: Yup, nothing to report
• Find new opportunities to speak in front of an audience: This continues to be a tough goal. I did pitch some new stories to a storytelling group but beyond that, it’s been crickets on this goal.
• Capture my “best thing all week” every week all year long (52 total): Going strong.
• Financial planning for the household: Nothing happening.
• Get our unfinished rooms completed: Furniture arrived for the porch and we have assembled the room! We spent most of our vacation looking for beachy items and the room is nearly done.
• Crochet regularly: I made a hat on our drive to Cape Cod and had a skein of yarn within arm’s reach most of vacation.

Additional August highlights:

• Adventures with our Israeli houseguest, including an incredible meetup at the Boston Public Garden
• Spending a sunny Saturday at the girls’ summer camp
• Taking the girls to see The Lion King
• Poll standing and seeing my friend win her primary run
• Chatham 2018
  • Biking with the girls to the beach
  • Day trip to Nantucket
  • Exceptional sunny days at the beach
  • Beach days with our West Hartford friends
  • Making it through the entire band concert
  • Our lovely cottage
• Last few days before school vacation ended–starting a new school year
• Another super backyard musical–this year it was Frozen (even though it was boiling hot on the night of the performance)
• Cousins moving to town

On to the fall…..