OMG. We were lucky to have a cool June but now summer has come for us in Los Angeles. Three digit heat, bright sun and little wind. I can’t read outside or I’ll melt. And honestly, I don’t want to know what our air conditioning bill is like. Cause that baby is cranking it.

This book, and this book and this book…

This was a bad/good book month. I did buy some books and I got a few for review. But every book I bought I really thought about and decided to read in the next month. They’re currently in their own little pile next to my dresser. I have a beach trip coming up and I’ll be taking at least two of them with me.

The Seas by Samantha Hunt and The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman I got at the local book store Diesel in Brentwood. I had an hour to kill in that area before making my way home. The book shop is tucked away in this older market area. It is lovely and meticulously curated, small but airy inside. The workers were not overly friendly, but that isn’t a bad thing. They let me browse and seemed to have lively conversations with the regulars and locals.

Here are the ones I bought this month and honestly, I’m not feeling guilty about them at all!

I’m so excited to got an ARC of Cursed by Frank Miller and Thomas Wheeler as well. Thank you Simon & Shuster. I’ll be reading that very very soon. (Comes out in October).

I’m participating in quietly, the Netgalley reviewathon that’s going on. My review book pile is out of hand and I plan on focusing on that for the rest of the year. Hopefully I can make a dent!

Knit knit purl purl

I went to a knit night at my LYS in Valley Village, CA with a friend. We had a relaxing dinner before hand and sat around a large wooden table and chatted with the new owners of The Altered Stitch. They are lovely women with big ideas on creating a lasting community of crafters around their store. Their air conditioning had broken earlier that day which made the shop a little stuffy, but I think this actually worked out for us. It was only us that night and we had a really nice chat with them. I bought this lovely project bag, and worked on my Caress My Soul by Melanie Berg shawl.

Sadly, I’ve stalled a bit on this project because my stitches were so off when I first started the lace section. But I’m going to bring it with me to the beach and hopefully get some good uninterrupted knitting time in. It takes concentration on my part so no distractions.

I also spent some time starting new project! I started by Andrea Mowery. It’s my first to down sweater for the Blueberry. I’m making size 6 so she will grown into it and it will give me plenty of time to finish. So far it has been relaxing and easy to knit, but I haven’t gotten to the blending of colors yet!

Hygge

OMG guys. No joke. I am killing it!

I gave away two large pieces of furniture to a neighbor and it has been awesome. One was a large bookcase that needed to go. (I got new bookcases to replace them for more storage) and the other was a smaller bookcase we were storing DVDs in. I moved the DVDs we kept to small baskets under the bookcases and viola! More room in our living room, and less clutter.

The two bookcases have always bothered me because they didn’t really match any of the other furniture (different styles and different colors) and I really wanted to upgrade. Or in one case, remove!

Overall, killing it!!!

Health

I am reading How Not To Die and it has changed the way I eat. I’ve experienced less of my usual health problems. Less indigestion, less heart palpitations. I’ve lost about 5 pounds already. So what have I changed?

A lot more veggies, a lot less meat. Very little to no dairy. Almond milk. Coconut milk ice cream. etc. I bought vegan cheese for god’s sake. WHO THE HELL AM I???

Is it worth it? Yes and no. The other night we had book club at a Mexican restaurant and god, all I wanted was a quesadilla. But they didn’t have vegan cheese and that late at night meant heart burn and long hours thinking I was dying due to heart palpitations. So I said no, had a sweet corn tamala and a salad and called it a day. Restrictions are hard for me, but I’m trying.

Cause honestly, I don’t want to leave them

How was your July?