August In Review

I can never decide if I like the month of August or not.  On the one hand it can start to feel a tad like fall, kids are getting ready to go back to school, parents are ready for a change of pace, and life becomes totally hectic as people squeeze in every last bit of summer fun they hadn't done yet.  On the other hand the summer heat can start to feel oppressive and makes a person irritable, stores are shouting to get kids ready for school, parents can seem a bit ragged from chasing kids all summer long, and life becomes totally hectic because what if we miss that one perfect opportunity for that one family memory we'll all remember for the rest of our lives.  And so I'm left wondering, is August a good month or a bad month?

For us August felt like a busy month.  How much of this could be chalked up to pregnancy hormones and constantly feeling the need to start doing some sort of nesting around the apartment while also feeling like I need to run out and visit everyone NOW because I finally feel better is something that perhaps The Husband could answer having a more balanced view of the situation.  All I know is that it felt both crazy busy and yet I desperately wanted to be doing just a little bit more.

 I started the month off by indulging my desperate need to organize something, anything, and reorganized our coat closet/pantry.  Really it's just the place extra food goes until it gets filtered into our actual pantry (ahem, cupboard).  I wish I'd remembered to take a before picture as you couldn't really see where anything was and we'd end up having to rummage through everything.  But alas, no before picture exists as the only reason I took one at all is because The Husband likes to make fun of my incessant hording of cardboard boxes and I needed to prove that they come in handy.  Also, my stash is now mostly depleted so I will be scrounging like a mad woman for a bit.

 Next came a lovely visit from my mom and aunt as they were taking an Alaskan cruise for their birthdays and were able to stay with us briefly on either end of their trip.  While a day here and there is never enough it was so nice to catch up with both of them and they managed to catch me just as I was starting to feel better so not completely useless.  If you're wondering about the odd number/configuration of candles all I'll say is that we have a tradition in my family that the candles on a birthday cake be made into a math equation which equals the age of the birthday person and only they are allowed to solve it before the cake is cut.  We're a dorky family, what can I say.

 I was also incredibly lucky to have a good friend of mine come out and visit for a weekend during which we went all over the place!  We witnessed some incredible salmon swimming through a salmon ladder which is always just mind boggling to me.  They are so incredibly big compared to what I think of based on the size of fillets you get in restaurants.  I somehow always forget just how big they are.

 Of course what visit with friends is ever complete without a tour of a chocolate factory?  Although all I can think about when I see this sign is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but it's pretty cool to witness the whole thing in action.  Of course the plentiful samples throughout certainly don't hurt...

And there, just there, do you see it?  The puddle of chocolate that's dripping from the machinery?  Is that not the most glorious sight?!  I do think that if there weren't stringent rules as to where we could walk and the chocolate weren't over 100 degrees I would have dipped my finger in, it's just too wonderful!

Aside from the goings on with company in town and being able to rediscover the city from a more touristy perspective our month continued to be busy.  Being firmly in the second trimester now at 17 weeks I am finally feeling better and have energy to catch up with friends and on the various bits of housework that have remained untouched for the past month or so, oops.  I'm still really wanting to start figuring out what our apartment will look like with a baby and start preparing for that although we've hit a slight glitch there as we've found it necessary to start looking for a new apartment.  Due to various components we could either be moving in the next two weeks or at some point in October, so yeah, trying very hard not to stress about that and trust that the right place is out there for us somewhere.

I want to wish all my friends going back to school this week either as teachers or students a great first week!

Thanks for reading!