Summer celebrations

Are we having fun yet? Maybe. 

For real though, we are still deep into pandemic life despite the internet pretending it's another just "hot girl summer" and everything is back to "normal." 

I think that's been one of the hardest things for me during this liminal space between full covid lockdown and herd immunity is that it feels like people are just pretending like we didn't just live through a year and a half of weird, isolated trauma. (Or that it's unlikely, especially in conservative places like where I live, that we'll ever actually reach herd immunity).

Thanks to a lot of therapy sessions, I realize I am carrying around a lot of grief. (And maybe that's partly why I've been struggling with depression this year). I am working through it/learning how to live with it. But I also am trying to be more intentional about highlighting the good stuff too. I've read a lot of stuff about how the practice of gratitude is really helpful for mental health, especially if one is experiencing burn out. So I thought I would make the time to highlight some of the celebrations this summer has brought so far.

1. Eating in a restaurant for the first time

There were a lot of small things I missed during the height of the pandemic, and going out to eat at new restaurants was one of them. Back in mid June, my girl friends and I headed to The Belmont, a bistro in Wichita that is in (what looks like) an old car dealership. At first, I thought I would feel really anxious eating in a room with a ton of strangers. But it turned out not to feel that big of deal. (It was also helpful that the space had very high ceiling and garage like doors that were open the whole evening. Definitely a great pick for easing into public life again).

2. Slowly getting back into swimming

Since I ruined my body trying to be #FitnessGoals 7 years ago, swimming is really the only cardio I can still do. But more importantly, when it is 1000 degrees outside, all I want to do is be in the water. I realized a few years ago that I am happier in the summer if I can spend a lot of time at a pool. I was slightly delayed by my fibroid surgery but in August I finally got back in it. It was rough not swimming for a year and half but it felt so good to be back in the water.

3. Books!

In May, I finally got to live out my hearts desire of browsing the library shelves once again. The Newton Public Library had been open for awhile but just for pick up. It was amazing to wander through the bookshelves again and picking out way too many books. 

4. I had the best garden season of my Kansas life. 

When I moved to Newton in 2019, I was not sure if I would get back into gardening after several sorry attempts at it in Hesston. However, I've slowly been adding it back into my life and this seems to be the right way for me. (Plus, I really was committed to watering every day. Shocking how much that helped. ha). My strawberry patch is still being established but it seems to be thriving and I am hopeful of having way more berries next year. 

I struggled with bugs in the summer, as one does. But I managed to still get a bunch of tomatoes and even a few eggplants. 

My strawberry harvest. Hopefully next year there will be more

There were an annoying amount of baby bunnies growing in my garden this year too. Thankfully they didn't actually do any damange

This was the best and biggest tomato I ever grew

5. Birthday celebrations

Levent's and my birthdays are like two weeks a part, which I think is kind of fun. This year, Levent's parents came for a visit on his birthday (which also happened to be Memorial day weekend). We hadn't seen Levent's mom since Christmas 2019; so it was really nice to be together again.

A lemon cake for Levent

Tito actually got Siena to play with him. It was a Memorial Day miracle

A few weeks later, Levent and I went to George's French Bistro for my birthday celebration. George's is this fancy, delicious place that I had been dreaming about going to again throughout the pandemic. Well, on my birthday, dreams come true. It was a magical evening. 

6.  4th of July

For the past 3 years, Blake (Levent's brother) has been at our house during the 4th of July. This time, he brought his finance, Brendan, with him. (We had "met" Brendan before via family zoom calls but this was the first time meeting in person. It was so fun to have them in Kansas. We went on our annual fireworks walk where we half fear for our lives, introduced them to GBBO, and generally chilled. I love being part of the Miller family. 

7. Prairie Fire Cake

My creativity has been lacking these days (thanks covid depression), but I did get inspired via Kim-Joy's instagram, where she introduced me to using rice paper in cake decorating. I was so amazed I needed to try it out for myself. I opted to make a "prairie fire" cake and was so happy how it turned out. 

It's been a good summer, despite the fact that I loath Kansas in summer. But it had some really good moments.