Previous months: Jan / Feb / Mar / Apr / May / Jun
Am I terribly excited to write this post? No.
Do I think it will be a somewhat useful reflection exercise anyway? Yes.
And so . . . here we go! This may be an abbreviated version . . .
BIG THINGS
Things I did not do: visit PHL for 4th of July; go to Hawaii and then visit friends in Portland and Seattle
Things that happened instead: we made it through a tough time, I worked while our nanny was on vacation and Josh was home with the kids but not driving yet (TOUGH TIME, but vacation days in the bank for a brighter future!), A finished geometry.
Plus, some fun stuff I will recap below!
BOOKS READ
Only 3, though I did finish one on 8/1 (so close). Here’s the 2026 book list!
These included Guilt Free by Dr. Jennifer Reid (BOBW guest), Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut (1952 book with modern-day relevance), and Joyful Anyway, a memoir by Kate Bowler (wasn’t my thing though I know many love her and she sounds like a lovely person!).
DATE NIGHTS
Only with Kae AND Josh 🙂 — we hit a lovely Italian place together and there were no kids, so I say it counts!
Oh, and we did get a couples massage in Bonita Springs! Maybe that counts . . .let’s say it does 🙂
HABITS
- Headspace 19/31 days
- Walked outside 20/31 days
- Read 31/31 days (and somehow still didn’t finish many books — but I think I was just very consistent with doing at least some reading each morning)
- Listened to music 20/31 days
- Duolingo 10/30 days! Oops. August is looking better, though.
I did play a good amount of piano and now feel like I have 3 of the Bach 2-part inventions “mastered” (ie: can play them through at a reasonable tempo without many mistakes and occasionally with 0 mistakes).
FITNESS
- STRENGTH: 13 sessions, mostly Emma’s Empowered workouts. I don’t have the breakdown of how many were at the gym, but definitely a handful of these (mostly lower body days).
- PILATES: 6 sessions in the studio (better than June but still not my goal of 8!)
- WALKING: 20 days out of the month- ave steps: 8558 over the month (slightly lower than yearly ave of 9208!)
- YOGA: 4 sessions, all Yoga with Adriene.
- NUTRITION: Ehh, I give myself a B-minus. I didn’t really track macros or protein or anything for most of the month which was fine – I wanted a break and it was nice to take one.
TV/Movies/Performances
Non-driving non-weight bearing husband = more time to sit around together and watch things!
Finished Beef Season 2 (eps 3-8)
Sheep Detectives (super cute!)
Coming to America (kids loved)
Little House on the Prairie Netflix – eps 1-8
Elle several episodes
Toy Story 5 in the theaters!
SUCCESSES (selected)
BLPA2.0 Fall launch!
Take G to Poppet Project – check!
Duke reunion emails – check!!
Watch 3 movies with Josh – check
Book a massage – check (couples massage on trip)
FAILS
Organize G&C’s room. Still on the list . . .
Go to 8 Pilates sessions (made it to 6)
Finish workbooks (what was I thinking? Copy for one is done! Two to go, plus I have an idea for another project . . .)
HIGHLIGHTS
Two main ones:
Kae’s visit!!! HUGE highlight and I am so grateful she made the journey. It really was a bright spot when I needed one badly!
Bonita Springs trip – entirely on points, planned fairly last minute (who am I?), relaxing and fun.
(SIDE NOTE: I liked this property so much that we decided to move our Maui stay to a Hyatt Regency — had previously been planning on the Fairmont which is in theory ‘nicer’ but we would have been crammed into essentially one room and for the same cost, the Hyatt will allow for connecting rooms which means a kid-free bedroom and probably much better rest for all.)
I was also excited to have great interest in Fall’s BLPA2.0!
LOWLIGHTS
The ~10 days when I worked, our nanny was away, and the kids were home. Just . . . a somewhat miserable time. 10/10 do not recommend.
WELL. THAT WAS A MONTH. And then I dove straight into a rough call week, but I can report that the dawn of Q4 has definitely instilled some positive energy that I am HERE FOR.
Onward + Upward!
3 Comments
Wondered based on phrasing – do G and C share a room? I’m sure you’ve been over this before…
Nope! We did have an era where all 3 slept in the same room (!) but they all have separate. Agree I was unclear 🙂
Well, now that you’ve written the recap you can finally put the month behind you! Of course there were some silver linings, but it’s probably not a month you’d care to relive. The Bonita Springs trip look fun though! And seeing Kae was so fun.