Life: It Goes On - August 11

You guys - wasn't it just yesterday that we were saying "I can't believe it's August already?" and now we are a third of the way through August? Summer has gone by way too fast! Why do the good things seem to go by so much more quickly? I mean, February may show that it's only 28 days but we all know that it really lasts 56 days!

Also, hit up some garage sales while I was out!

In bookish news, in one of our older neighborhoods, some people were clearing out a space to open a new business and they let people come this weekend to take away as many books as they wanted. I filled three bags and walked out with 25 "new" books. Truth be told, I'm mostly going to be using them as decor items so my first criteria in choosing a book was that it had to fit the color palette that I wanted. But, because I might pick them up to read them someday, they still had to sound interesting. The first thing I need to do with them is to get them out in some fresh air and sunshine and take brush to them because they are filthy and stink. See that top one? That's Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott. It's one of the worst offenders but I love that book so I couldn't leave it behind!

Last Week I:

Listened To: I about half way through Elizabeth Gilbert's City of Girls and will finish it this week. I am really loving it.

Watched: Some more episodes of Orange Is The New Black with Miss H. More importantly, preseason NFL football! I know there are a lot of things the NFL needs to clean up and I know it's a terribly violent game that leaves men with brain damage. But I can't help myself, I love the game. I just keep hoping they can make it safer and solve their other problems.

Read: I raced through Minrose Gwin's The Accidentals which I really enjoyed and now I'm reading Melanie Benjamin's latest, Mistress of the Ritz. My reading lately has me thinking about the "six degrees of separation" game. The Accidentals includes a wayward daughter who is sent off to live with her aunt. City of Girls also has a wayward daughter who is sent off to live with her aunt and includes a reference to Coco Chanel. Yesterday I was reading Mistress of the Ritz and, lo and behold, there was Coco Chanel!

Made: Lots of salads, lots of pastas, and BLTs. It's tomato season and if I can use tomatoes in a dish and I don't have to turn on the oven, there's a pretty good chance we're eating it.

Enjoyed: Spending last evening and this morning with my sister and brother-in-law who had made a quick trip down for a funeral. Sad day for them but we were happy to get to spend some time with them...and their dogs. Not gonna lie, I kind of miss going over to their place for a pup fix, especially their Puck who loves his Aunt Lisa!

This Week I’m: 

Planning: Remember all of those things I had here last week? Yep, still need to do most of them. My half day got consumed with sofa shopping (we had, unsurprisingly, no luck finding anything we agreed on) and then yesterday I ended up going down to get those books and hitting up garage sales instead of staying home and doing the things that needed to be done. 

Thinking About: My niece's wedding, which is only 20 days away and which means I get to have my whole family together and I get to travel. What a great way to close out summer!

Feeling: Lazy. And I definitely don't have time for being lazy.

Looking forward to: Tuesday we meet the Big Guy's sister and niece for dinner and Wednesday I'm having dinner with friends. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to not having to cook for two nights and seeing people I haven't seen in a while. 

Question of the week: Anyone have any tips for cleaning up old books?