July 4, 2026 – My Fourth of July plans? Reorganizing my bookshelves. I spent a lot of time pulling books off the shelf, rearranging them, deciding I hated the new look, pulling them off again… It’s been a lot. The bookshelves look a lot better today than they did on Saturday, though. They’re coming along!
July 5, 2026 – Have you ever been sitting on a window ledge, contemplating life, and then the weird woman who lives with you squeals, “OMG YOU ARE SO CUTE DON’T MOVE!” and then shoves a phone in your face? No? Eloise has.
July 6, 2026 – It seems like every quarter, I want to revamp my planning system. I guess this means I just haven’t found the right planning system. Maybe one day I’ll do a post about it. Anyway, I bought this planner via Amazon, and I didn’t realize how big it is! It’s like carrying a Bible around. We’ll see if it sticks.
July 7, 2026 – I had an auntie date at the library with Mikaela and Kim and their kiddos. We mostly played games, and sometimes the kids hung out in the play area without us. My favorite part of the night happened after Olive (age 6) won round after round of a matching game against her sister (age 4), and started cheering, “Let’s have a drumroll for the winner… ME!” I asked Mikaela and Kim, “Is this what I’m like?” (My worst trait is my competitiveness. Book club has banned me from ever playing Phase10 with them.)
July 8, 2026 – I took the day off for my mom’s birthday, and we kicked things off with an epic dolphin tour on Clearwater Beach. We were starting to get despondent about seeing any dolphins when suddenly, there they were! It was a nursing pod with three female dolphins and two baby dolphins, and the babies were so, so, so, so, so cute. No jumping, but they did get pretty close to our boat! (This photo isn’t zoomed in!)
July 9, 2026 – Does anyone else take a cute photo of their pet and then show it to them to get approval? Just me? Hmm.
July 10, 2026 – While we had a family dinner on my mom’s actual birthday, she was really craving a fancy steakhouse dinner, so that’s what we did yesterday! We went to Fleming’s and enjoyed some complimentary champagne, delicious food, and a to-die-for dessert (a gooey brownie). We had a great time!
Oooh that does look like a fancy restaurant!
Those dolphins! How magical.
We were starting to joke that we were going to pretend to see dolphins when they came right up to our boat to play! It was amazing!
“the weird woman who lives with you” – This is exactly how my girls think. I don’t know how they think the bills get paid.
Who took the photo of you and your mom? I need to know?! Sometimes Bestest Friend and I ask waitstaff to take our photo and that always seems weird, but I do it anyway.
The server took the photo without us even asking! He handed us our champagne, set up the table, and asked for one of our phones to take our photo. I always forget to ask someone to take our photo, so this was great!
Oh man, I went to Fleming’s once years ago and I still have fond memories…drool…
Poor Doggo does not get any say in which photo I pick for our Official Selfie of the Day. But she also never takes a bad picture, so there is that.
The dolphins! How amazing! And the special dinner out with your mom sounds amazing, too. I love that the girls know how competitive their auntie is. That version of Guess Who is so much better than the one we have!!
I love the photo of you and your mom! Happy birthday to your wonderful mom! I have never shown my cats their photos, but I’ll have to next time! Ooooh, the dolphins! How wonderful!
Your cats are so photogenic. How could you not shove your camera in their faces? 🙂
So lovely you went out to dinner for your mom’s birthday! It looks fancy!
And a dolphin tour! How fun.
Hey- that second photo of Eloise is the first one I’ve seen where she doesn’t have “murder eyes.” I take WAY too many photos of my cats, but I don’t go so far as to show them to them. Maybe I should try it, but I’m pretty sure I know what the reaction would be.
Happy Birthday to your mom!!! Sounds like you guys had a really nice dinner. And omg… baby dolphins!