Simple Joys of the Week, July 28th Edition

Last Friday in July! Where is this summer going? Lets slow things down by chatting about gratitude + simple joys, shall we?

It feels good to get back to simple pleasures after Wednesdays gripe-filled post, but that sure was a fun one to write; thanks to all of you who shared your similar annoyances on social media--I had a lot of fun reading them ;)

Anyways, here are a few things that brought me happiness over the past 7 days...

HEAR: "Light Upon the Lake" by Whitney
My brother [the music snob] introduced me to this band and they're great! They have a really unique sound and I've been enjoying listening to them while I work lately. You can listen to to their full album, "Light Upon the Lake," below:

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​SEE: Charlie Mae playing with "the boys" at a BBQ with friends
We went to a family cookout with friends last weekend and there were 4 little boys under the age of 4 there. When all of the kids were playing with trucks on the floor together, Ben and I got a HUGE kick out of seeing Charlie Mae crawl right over in between the boys to get in the mix to play with them. She had no problem shoving up against the biggest of the boys and grabbing at the trucks in their hands. She needs to work on learning how to play with others in a way that is fun for everyone, but still, it was SO cute ;) 

TASTE: Theo Salted Almond Dark Chocolate
Theo Dark Chocolate is my go-to brand these days and although I'm usually partial to the Coconut flavor, I was totally loving the Salted Almond bar this week. There's just something about dark chocolate + sea salt that is SO delicious, isn't there?

SMELL: Middle of the week/midday trip to the beach
Welp, we did it again this week: Charlie Mae and I took a solo trip to the beach on Wednesday around noon/ And it was as divine as a solo trip to the beach with a baby can be (which is divine, but not as divine as a trip by yourself with a good book, nowhere to be, and no one to worry about). We both enjoyed ourselves immensely and Charlie Mae mostly wanted to walk around on the sand and in the water, stopping to take splash breaks. Totally worth it despite all of the logistics involved. 

TOUCH: Our refinished deck!
As mentioned in last week's SJOTW, once we realized we would never make it happen on our own, we decided to pay someone to refinish our deck and they started late last week. They finished it on Sunday and it has been extremely satisfying walking out onto our smooth, water-tight, improved deck all week long. I love the feeling that comes with investing in and improving our little house {that we love so much}. 

Also, I got to two classes this week, got some great (+ fun) work done, + Charlie Mae turned 11 mos on Monday (WHAT?!?), so the week really was chock full of loveliness.

What made you smile over the past 7 days? I encourage you to take some time to reflect on your SJOTW today if you can. Enjoy the weekend!