Where Did That Summer Go?

I can't believe we're two weeks into the school year already! Shocking. I don't understand how this happened. It seemed like the shortest summer ever. It was full of fun, but I feel like I would've like to pack so much more into it. I realize it's been a month since my last post, which is poor on my part. Let's catch up!

It seems like it was Memorial Day just a couple of weeks ago and we were celebrating July 4th with visiting friends and so many wonderful friends from here just days ago. Since then we were able to pack in another golf camp for Kiddo and a visit to my family. Kiddo stayed for a week and had all kinds of fun camping and playing golf with my family. Lucky girl. The best part is that my sister brought her home and we had a fun weekend with her here in ABQ, even though it was WAY too short of a visit.

 We ended off the weekend before school started with a fun barbecue dinner on our back patio. Only the second or third we've had all summer. Aunty Tru made copycat Levain Bakery chocolate chip cookies which were delicious! Here's the recipe she used. For our dinner we had all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables, chips, barbecue bacon dogs...oh it was so good and such a beautiful night outside. We need to have a few more of those nights before summer's official end.

It's been rainy and overcast here much of the past four weeks, which makes it feel not very summery. I feel like fall hit us towards the end of July and isn't going to let go. I can't complain about the cooler temps and less intensely hot sunshine but it's a bummer to not be swimming in the pool in the afternoons when it's overcast or raining...not to mention that everytime it rains it leaves a huge amount of water on the pool cover that has to be cleaned off before even thinking about uncovering the pool. Needless to say we haven't been in the pool the past few weeks, which is a big drag.

We've had some crazy, amazing torrential downpours and major lightning/thunder storms in the past few weeks. It's fun for a change of pace, but still I feel like summer is cheating us a bit. Autumn is undoubtedly the most completely enjoyable season of the year here in New Mexico. Along with it comes Balloon Fiesta which is such a fun time to be here in the city.

We are gearing up for school and extracurricular activities to get very busy for the next couple of months. I have always been that parent who insisted kids schedules are not overbooked, but despite my best efforts we're going to be a little bit overbooked for about 8 weeks. But by then we'll just about be into the holidays and things will quiet down again until we get into spring. Life in middle school seems to be going okay which I'm happy about. I'm staying plenty busy during the day managing my little empire, squeezing in some service opportunities and catching up with friends now that all the kids are in school again.

I think this will be a nice fall. Looking forward to it. Yesterday while I was driving home from brunch with a friend as I looked up at the mountains I thought I like my life right now. Things are good. This is not to say there aren't life's major challenges, heartbreaks and frustrations, but counting one's blessings makes if apparent that there is more good than bad in life.

How are you feeling about the last month of summer, the beginning of school and the changing of seasons?

Big Likes #8: Rodan and Fields Redefine Lip Renewing Serum

It's tough trying to keep your lips soft and pretty in the desert. So my big like for this week is Rodan and Fields lip serum. It's amazing. The first time I used it I put it on The Man's and Kiddo's lips. It was the end of winter and both of them had cracked, bleeding and dry lips. The next morning their lips were soft and smooth. A little miracle.

The Man has now become religious about using it and boy do his lips look and feel nice. I love how it softens and smooths my own lips and apply it on my own lips nightly and in the mornings when I remember. I try to get it on Kiddo as often as she'll hold still to do it.

I like to use it as a base coat before lipstick and gloss. The gloss seems to stick to the serum better than lipstick but I've always been a gloss girl and never much liked lipstick so that works just fine for me when I apply them both at the same time. If you're a lipstick wearer and want to try it I would just put it on well before I'm ready to do lipstick and it should be just fine. Even without any lip color my lips look healthy and shiny and fine as they are.

Another thing I love about it is that it has no taste or flavor. Super simple. This is just one of the products I initially tried from Rodan and Fields that made me say, "I need more of this stuff!" This is why Rodan and Fields Redefine Lip Renewing Serum is a Big Like for me!