A Farewell to Summer

This time of year is always bittersweet for me.

I just love Munch's summer tan :) It seemed like the perfect cover image for our sun-kissed summer farewell.

Islanders, today is the first day of Autumn!

Fall is my favorite season but I do have an unhealthy affinity for the hot summer months.  There's just something about uncontrollable sweat behind the knees that makes me happy, lol.  I almost long for it in December.

The winter of 2013-2014 was rough for our area!  It made me vow to appreciate the summer heatwave... to promise that, no matter how hot it got, I would never complain.  Maybe because it wasn't hellishly hot this year, maybe because I hid in the arms of my air conditioning unit... whatever the case, I enjoyed the hot months of the summer.  Before I bid a formal farewell to grill-burned hot dogs and potato salad, I'd like to take this opportunity to share some of our summertime lost files.  Enjoy!

I believe our summer officially started with the Real Life Community and Faith Exchange (C.A.F.E.) in June:

Janice provided awesome real estate information!

After the C.A.F.E., our women's ministry hosted a Fearfully and Wonderfully Made event.  We enjoyed massages, makeup, jewelry, great food and more.  I enjoyed the fellowship but I always enjoying watching how others fellowship more:

Those two fabulous ladies, Mommy and Janice, have such an inspirational friendship.  They serve as each other's biggest cheerleaders and ONLY seek to uplift and encourage those around them.  I just love to witness their friendship blossom.  It's encouraging to see women love on one another.

O, it's also exciting to see my mom has gone natural and, even more MAJOR news of the season, she rocked her puff!  Her soft fine hair is beautiful.  Sensing her friend was insecure, Janice didn't hesitate to shower her with loving compliments in an effort to fill those gaping holes of insecurity with love!  If only society would make that the norm - women pray FOR instead of PREYING on one another.

Munch even got in on the makeup fun (you knew she would):

Other activities this summer included my planting date with Jasmine:

Gross.  I mean, doesn't everyone get nauseous while doing this stuff?

I do love my plants (even if all but two died before the end of summer).

Janice introduced me to the BEST ginger beer ever (like ginger ale but stronger):

It soothes the achy stomach instantly and... unfortunately, it's only sold in *like* one grocery store in the area.

I finally hung this up in the kitchen:

The kid spent Independence Day in GA with Mommy and Uncle Dave:

Yes, she ALSO rocked rough and tough with her afro puffs (heeeyyyyy! ROCK ON WIT' YO' BAD SELF).

I cleaned out the party supply section of the craft room for the church's sidewalk sale:

That same day, I was the guest speaker for the Real Life C.A.F.E.

Munch devised and crafted her first guest post for the island (it'll post to the blog soon).

I enjoyed lunch and dinner dates with friends:

Munch got a bible from Pop-Pop and started with the book of Esther.

I completed the ALS challenge and, ironically, the man behind the camera didn't capture it.

The kid rocked her first full twistout and a tiara headband:

I planned some awesome weddings this season.

Munch got her first boy doll from my Aunt Terry.  She named him Jordan (after her favorite sneakers):

Mom finished a fabulous vintage-meets-modern guest room and I can't wait to share the details:

My kid said I was Beyonce pretty:

We loved on Pop-Pop and Grandma Lisa a LOT:

She picked up the habit of using manicure sets to disassemble matchbox cars:

The man was on work-related travel until the morning of our 10 year wedding anniversary.  This was the face I saw at the start of our conversation to OFFICIALLY ring in our anniversary at midnight:

Grandma Lisa did an awesome job entertaining Zion and Genesis (her friend from church) all summer.  They golfed, painted, planted gardens, went to the pool, hosted Goodwill days, had library days and more.

She had a BLAST with her grandparents. As if I needed another reason, I just love them [even more] for loving her!

Our summer was awesome and our autumn is off to an awesome start!  Now that I've given summer its due, I think I'm finally ready to embrace fall :)

Pumpkin spiced latte, anyone?