On lovely days we go out to my in-laws' house on the lake and swim in their mini-pool then play in Freddy-ville (aka: the playground on the left). While the girls swim, I get to catch up with my MIL and actually relax a little bit with some sweet tea, a southern tradition that I'm really learning to love. (BTW: we might live in IN, but this definitely feels like the south sometimes with all the sweet tea, carports, and small town-mindsets.)
The girls and I have started making a habit out of going to a local farmer's market on Friday mornings. This was our fantastic loot from last week. I made the most delicious roasted vegetables from the zucchini and heirloom tomatoes and then made a quinoa beet salad with the greens too. I LOVE all the fresh veggies and fruits of the summer harvest!
Summer is also a great time for catching up with friends. I met a girlfriend halfway between our two distant towns for a little lunch date. Tree and I have been friends since Brownies, and I think we only mildly annoyed our waitress by sitting and chatting for 2 hours. There were cosmopolitans!
Then some friends come over and are so addicted to Candy Crush that they can't even stop to visit. I'm only teasing Kyle & Jenny, you know we love you guys.
Last but not least of the summer so far, is that I've gotten to spend loads of fun times with just Mayzie as Annika has been going to various summer camps around town. We went to this awesome block party playdate organized by the Purdue extension here, and we even got a free box of 100 Melissa & Doug blocks to take home with us just for showing up and filling out an evaluation. Mayzie LOVES her some blocks, and I love hanging out with my munchkin.
I heard on the radio that there are only 6 more weeks left until school starts. 6 more weeks of glorious summertime with my girls. 6 more weeks of swimming pools, farmers' markets, and free time to do what we want when we want to do it. 6 more weeks of rainy day cuddles on the couch watching movies. 6 more weeks of not scrambling out the door in the morning.
I also have 3 more weeks to finish my next dissertation chapter and prepare a presentation for a possible research collaboration on an R01 NIH grant that could be my post-doc. Apologies if that was all gobblety-gook for you. Despite the laid-back-ness of this post and the general veneer of calm that my summer has, I am actually more stressed than I have been in a while. Deadlines tend to do that to me. I've been trying to relieve it with more exercise and better eating. I AM training for a 1/2 marathon after all. So I continue the relaxing days and stress filled evenings schedule for 6 more weeks. This too shall pass and I'll have 1/2 days free to work on my dissertation while Mayzie is at preschool. Annika won't come home from Kindergarten until after 3pm soon, and I'll have so much time to actually work. Naturally, my deadlines are all before that happens. Naturally I'm stressing.
What do you do to relieve your stress? What is your favorite place to go work outside of the house if you are a WAH parent? How's your summer going so far?
I LOVE this link-up with GFunkified, though I am totally late for the party this week.
