June Simple Pleasures

summer is here my friends, and we are living for it!

The busy-ness of May has come and gone and June has followed suit. My children finished another year of school (and next year I will have a third in our elementary school!) and we have started summer break the best way we know how - by doing nothing.

Here is a little recap of this month:

Reading: a few books, this month mostly non-fiction. I am ready Profit First to educate me on making smarter financial choices for my business and Forever Strong, a book on the importance of building muscle. Both are really interesting and I am trying to power through them, although our long days leaves me with tired reading eyes before bed. I also have The Giver of Stars on hold at our local library.

Writing: letters to my children on their birthdays. I started the tradition of writing each of my children a letter on their birthday, sharing milestones and joys that happened throughout the year. Each child has a colored notebook and I plan to gift it to them on their 18th birthday. It will be something special they can look through when they are grown. My daughters turn 10 and 8 in May/June and so I am pulling these books out of my desk for the year.

Listening: to podcasts. I love them so much and find that I can complete mundane chores more efficiently when I have something in my ear.

Eating: Greek chicken bowls. These are so flavorful and you can alter your veggies. I like to marinate my chicken in a Greek yogurt sauce and then top it all with a crisp Israeli salad and feta cheese! You can find my recipe here.

Doing: purging. Usually I have the urge to purge in the middle of winter but lately I have been adding many things to our donation piles. Maybe because we are currently in “garden home” season and the state of my home is putting me in a frenzy. When it comes to decluttering, one tip I have is it always have a donation bin set up somewhere within reach so when you come across something, you can put it right into the bin. We also try to donate every 1-2 months. We have a donation service that picks up from our porch and I will schedule them in advance so I am forced to get things into boxes.

Enjoying: Early morning quiet time and late night garden walks. These are two things I do for myself everyday to center my heart. I wake up before my home to spend time in God’s word and I end each night admiring God’s beauty.

Watching: Season 5 of The Chosen. Have you watched this show yet? If not, you must. It shares the story of Jesus and the production of the show is immaculate. I am left in tears often. (You can watch it on Prime).

drinking: iced coffee. I make a full pot of coffee every morning for my husband and myself to enjoy, but many days we don’t finish it all. I have been pouring the extra into this pitcher and enjoying it later in the day over ice and with a splash of cream! It’s such a lovely little treat!

Traveling: up North. Traveling to the northern part of Michigan is something I look forward to every summer. We usually go at the end of May when the weather starts to warm up and then right before the kids go back to school. Michigan has so many wonderful places to travel to and we never feel the need to venture outside of our state. We like to travel up to the Traverse City area and stay in the Leelanau peninsula so we can wade in Lake Michigan at search for rocks.

Picking: Strawberries. The season was a little late this year due to a pretty cold Spring but strawberries are ready and we have been picking! This year I froze most of them to use in our smoothies and to make strawberry jam. I have been having a craving for strawberry scones so I might have to make those this weekend too…

Cooking: skirt steak. We recently started buying skirt steak from our local butcher and using it as a quick protein for dinner. When made correctly, it’s so tender and so flavorful! You could use it for tacos and such but I honestly just like to eat it on it’s own. Use this marinade recipe:

1 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

3 cloves garlic minced

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons honey

add all the ingredients into a ziploc with your steak and let it marinate for one hour.

Cleaning: my photo album on my phone. Guys, this has gotten a little out of hand. I know my 12,000 iphone photos in not a lot in comparison to some but that’s an insane amount for me, especially when half of them are of my meals or screen shots of things found on the interweb. Once a week I am scheduling a time to sit down and delete. I am also backing them up to an external hard drive and printing my favorites from each year to keep in a classic photo album on my living room shelf for my kids to flip through and enjoy.

Growing: Ranunculas. Ok, what a fun flower to grow! They are a bit finicky in the beginning but once I figured out what they needed, they were amazing. I am currently letting the stems dry out so I can dig up the corms in the fall to re-use for next year.

Dreaming: of what is next for The Family Table. This space and my instagram space has become such a joy of mine and I would love to take it up a notch in the business sense. Thinking about which avenue I want to venture down and what I want to share on my account. It’s been really fun to watch it grow and hit milestones. I thank you all for being here and there and supporting me along the way!

Changing: my attitude inside of my home. This is something I have been needing to work on and I am finally taking it into action. A lot of times when it become total chaos in our home, I need to stop and reflect - is it them or is it ME? More often than not, I am the one that needs to check myself before I wreck myself. Being intentional on how I respond before I react and also doing things that support my nervous system, including sleep, are how I am going about this.

Thank you for hanging out with me this month! Love having you here.

xo,

Angelina