Other than our recent trips to Chicago and Lake Chelan, we’ve certainly kept busy! The weather in Seattle has been unbelievably amazing the last several months. It sure seems like it’s going to be a HOT summer – highs in the 90s are forecast for this week {average late July/August temps are in the high 70s}.
We recently acquired some new outdoor pillows for our patio table chairs. I love setting up my “office” in the backyard when it’s nice out, but sitting with a wooden back on the chair was getting old, so now I can work in comfort outside! We also finally got some zero-gravity reclining chairs for our backyard, too, finally, which are ah-mazing!
Since early April, Alex and I have been having a once-weekly Spanish lesson with our Spanish tutor, Elizabeth. We are definitely getting more comfortable speaking Spanish, but struggle to work it into our weekly routine to practice enough to really be making faster progress.
Along those same lines, one of my goals is to get into a good rhythm this week. I was anticipating having a much more low-key work schedule this summer but that has proven to be quite the opposite. I’ve had a ton of meetings and just a lot going on, so I have been feeling like each day is so different it’s been hard to get into a good schedule. I’ve got a half marathon to train for, Alex still needs to train for his bike ride in August, and I really need to get back into a good Pilates and yoga groove. It’s amazing how un-motivated I have been since leaving my Pilates studio in March. It’s not the same bouncing around to different studios all the time – kind of a lack of accountability, almost.
Last week marked the first week of our CSA {Community Supported Agriculture – we get a box of produce from a local farm each week}! I absolutely love our CSA – most CSAs are “farmer’s choice” which means you don’t choose what’s in your box, but ours allows us to pick and choose from their crops with what we want based on what is available and in season. This year I am really striving to try new things. In our first shipment we got fava beans, cipollini onions and kale, none of which I had cooked with or eaten. We also splurged and got some dairy with our CSA too {actually, it’s not even a splurge – it’s less expensive than the grocery store} – I ordered chocolate milk, regular milk and butter. There’s really nothing like that butter! I might even add eggs to our share, too. We’ll see…
I’ve been trying to eat lighter and more real foods lately. I think up until the last few weeks most people would agree that I ate pretty well, but I still have some work to do. I think I eat too much bread and too much meat and not enough leafy greens, vegetables and whole wheat, as opposed to refined white flour. I’ve been trying to incorporate more salads into my lunch routine as a great way to get more greens and veggies, and so far it’s going better than I expected. Now my biggest challenge is coming up with “no-cook” dinners because it’s really going to be a summer where it will be too hot to cook in the house. I think I see a gas grill in our future?!
All in all, life is good. We’ll be in town for the next few weekends, enjoying all that our beautiful city has to offer, and catching up with some friends and yardwork.