So, I know you’ve been wondering what is happening in my world. You probably find yourself thinking, “What is going on with Aaryne, The Awkward Bird? Is she still packing boxes?”.

I found this pic on my phone. My kiddos will ask to use my phone and take pics once in a while. I’m not surprised that boxes showed up!

Yes, I am still packing boxes but that activity is dwindling. When I started purchasing boxes, I cleverly decided to try to use sizes that I might also use as shipping boxes when I start my online Awkward Bird Country Shoppe over this next year. Then I would be able to reuse them and reduce waste. But I soon realized that my boxes are labeled with the box contents, and I label on three sides of the box because it never fails that the one side you label is covered and inaccessible by other boxes when you need to read what is in the box. Now, someone will get their delightful shipment of goodies from The Awkward Bird online shoppe in a box labeled with my unmentionables.

Awkward.

We have some good ideas though to jazz up the boxes and hide our packing inventory lists.

Summer is here in some fashion, whether it’s triggered by the sunny warm weather you have at your place, the end of school, or the picnics and BBQ’s filling up your calendar. You may also have a special road trip or vacation coming up that signals summer is here.

Or it may be triggered solely by the calendar saying it’s so.

Being a seasonal girl, I’ve been waiting for summer weather to prove to me that it really is summertime.

I’ve been thinking of our summer traditions and there is something so comforting in those moments that we look forward to every year when summer hits. Our weather has been very gray and chilly and wet up to this point, and it made me realize that although there are other signs of summer, despite the weather, my bones can’t catch up to the seasonal change until the weather is warm.

“Shorts and flip flop” warm EVERY day.

Right now, we flip flop between warm and cold days, hanging out more on the blue end of the thermometer. But, we are enjoying a heat wave now and I’ll take it. It feels like summer.

We’ve been to the beach.

We strolled along for a beach walk and came back to find our towels and beach bag tossed about, wet and sandy. I immediately suspected that bullies came along and kicked sand on our stuff but soon realized that we had plopped everything too close to the water and a wave came and sullied our belongings. My magazine and book were completely water logged and my beach bag was filled with sand. Our towels were a wet sandy mess. Sigh.

We have enjoyed watching thunderstorms roll in.

I love to go outside and watch it all happen.

And I hang out as long as I can, then I retreat inside.

I just love storms. But not every day.

I also messed with my hair again.

I decided that I wanted to use more of my natural plain brown hair, and just brighten it up around my face instead of using highlights over most of my hair as I have done in the past. I bet you’ve been wondering about that too. There is a very slight sprinkling of gray hairs showing up, but I’ve been assured that they look like blond highlights. You need to surround yourself with people who will tell you those things.

Well, I highlighted too many bangs and the color stopped lightening at bright orange, so I needed to repair that fiasco with a brown semi-permanent hair color all over my head. I was patient enough to wait a few weeks for it to wash out and blend in, then I highlighted just a few teensy weensy hairs around my face and it worked. I feel like “me” again. But, this time with more brown hair, my natural color, and I am enjoying it. In about a month or two I will become restless with it again, but I’ll take the current contentedness.

This was pre-messing around with my hair. I found this on my phone too. Kids.

I think I was babysitting my son’s doll. Either that or getting into my stance for Sumo Wrestling.

We began our annual smoke-out-the-neighbors campfires and had s’mores already.

And, yes, I have been able to snap a few of my favorite sky pics.

Love my wide open sky.

We have our annual road trip to NY this summer. Yay!

Who doesn’t love a road trip? Our local McDonald’s has this on the bathroom door and I had to put in in my file of fun and clever ideas for my own shoppe someday.

I also spend most of my road trip time in the bathrooms so it is a fun nod to my road trip moments.

Yay road trip!

Yay summer!

Yay traditions!