It's almost conference time!

In addition to being busy with my "real" job, these past few weeks have been busy in my Thirty One business! And in just a few short days, I'm going to be heading to Columbus for our big national conference. Not going to lie - I'm pretty excited and can't wait to report back to you all :)  In the mean time, here's what I've been up to..

Random stuff:  Here's a picture of a baklava sundae. You're welcome :)

 and also a dog doing agility from a horse and dog show we went to. It was so much fun to watch! Makes me want to practice with Conway!

Baseball: Despite the All-Star Break, there's been a lot of baseball in my life lately. Before the break we went to a home game and sat in club seats. This was my first time in club seats (which include a buffet) and it was pretty awesome. Immediately following the break, we headed down to Cincinnati to help my mother-in-law cross another ballpark off her list. It was a very hot weekend (and a little thunderstormy on Sunday), but we saw two Tribe wins, ate delicious food, and bought a ton of bourbon in Kentucky. Overall, a winning weekend!

Packing for a weekend away, Thirty-One style!

Thirty-One: In addition to preparing for the conference, I did a bridal event last week. Love these :) So much fun and I met a ton of new people!  Excited about establishing some new relationships with some of them.

My setup from the bridal show

Summer band: My fun summer band has started up again. Love the rehearsals. We practice super close to my house and the music is always light and fun.  Our first concert is this week! If you're in the area and want to come, just let me know :)

You know you want one... 

Running: The 10-miler I signed up for is just a few weeks away and I'm feeling ok about it. Just finished 9 miles this morning. I'm also planning on signing up for a half (or two) this fall, just need to pull the trigger!   Some of my inspiration has been coming from my monthly StrideBox subscription (more on that in another post) and some has been coming from a new friend at run club. It's always so, so nice to have a running partner!

Etsy: I'm beginning a soft launch of my Etsy shop with exercise headbands and cute ponytail holders. If you're interested in being one of my first customers, let me know!

Hope everyone is having a great summer!

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!