July already?

Somehow it's July already and I'm in the second week of my summer classes. Things are going very well so far *knock on wood*. My classes are pretty big compared to my regular academic year classes. Fortunately, for our ESOL classes "pretty big" means about 20 students.  For the GED side of my program, things get a little crazier (the woman who teaches in the room next to mine has 50 on her roster!)  Still, 20 students in the room means 20 different abilities, so I'm working hard on trying to make sure everyone is getting at least a little something out of the class.

It's been a good (and busy, of course) few weeks since my last update.  Other than getting back to the classroom, here are a few highlights:

I've been successfully keeping up with my meditation practice using Headspace. I'm very happy with it so far. Is it helping? It's probably still too early to tell for sure, but I'm tentatively going to say yes. :) I also just finished reading  10% Happier. I really enjoyed it and there were a few quotes/pieces of advice that really stuck with me from reading it. 1) "There's no point in being unhappy about the things you can't change and no point in being unhappy about the things you can." and 2) "It's ok to worry, plot and plan... but only until it's not useful anymore."

Running has been going well. I've signed up for a 10 mile race in August. My long run is up to 7 miles and I'm doing ok health-wise. I even had something to eat before that 7-miler! 8 miles planned for my long run for this week. Fingers crossed.

I've finished a sewing project that I'm totally in love with. It's a relatively simple sundress, but I love the fabric and the fit is just perfect! Hoping to get some better pictures of it soon to submit to Girl Charlee fabric's blog, but for now here's the obligatory selfie in the mirror. :)

The last weekend of June was supposed to be our local Pride parade and festival. I was looking forward to it, especially after the Supreme Court Verdict the day before, but mother nature had other plans. Heavy rain and severe thunderstorms cancelled the event, but I still got together with some friends from church for lunch and a trip to the Natural History museum.  Despite some craziness there (including an evacuation from the museum), we had a good day together and I'm glad we at least got to hang out!

Sad faces at the rained out parade and the museum evacuation!

This past weekend we spent at J's family's lake house. It always nice to get the chance to go up there for a long weekend and we actually had amazing weather. We enjoyed good food (including s'mores), a couple trips out on the boat, and a fantastic fireworks show put on by my father-in-law :)  J and I also celebrated the "official" 7th anniversary of deciding to give our long-distance relationship a serious chance. Needless to say, I'm very happy about that choice :) And here are a couple more pictures from the weekend...

Fireworks shaped like a giant mug of beer

Goofy dog

My favorites on the 4th of July :)

Hope everyone is having a great summer so far!