July was less busy than June, which was nice. Though I still felt like I had quite a bit happening. Part of that is because I don’t think I’ve gotten a Sunday at home to relax after the blur that is Friday evening through Saturday night. It would be really nice to have a whole weekend at home, but Sunday usually involves going to Spiral Scouts, which is important, or swimming on the weeks we don’t have Scout meetings, which is something I do for Rowan. 

Reading

In July, I read my favorite book so far this year, and that was Fourth Wing. Yes, I know, I know. Practically everyone loves this book and with good reason. It has dragons, a cutthroat academy where the main character is well aware she doesn’t belong, intrigue, and romance. It kept me invested throughout and I can’t wait to read the sequel.

Cross-stitching

I still worked my way through Summer Quaker by Lila’s Studio and finished the entire top row of pages of the pattern, so it’s more than 1/3 complete. While I would love to finish it before Labor Day, while it’s “in season,” I’m not going to be disappointed if I don’t make it there. I will probably pick up another of my projects to complete, because I have too many WIPs for my personal taste – 4 or 5, I believe. I’m usually like to work on one, finish it, and then do the next. But so many patterns caught my eye this year that I got caught up in the excitement of starting them. 

Gaming

D&D 5e is still happening once or twice a month, which suits me fine for now. I want to make some improvements to my world’s cities, towns, and villages before the next session.

The Genesys campaign hit a lovely moment with one of the characters being knighted, and the Cyberpunk Red game is so much fun! 

Watching

As with June, I haven’t watched many shows or movies. Though one of the Fridays after work when I didn’t have any other commitments, I came home, flopped on the couch, and re-watched The King’s Speech while I cross-stitched. That was a lovely, cozy couple of hours. 

Exploring

At the end of the month, one of my partners brought us to OCon Expo, which is the comic con in Omaha and Council Bluffs. We had fun and I met the co-creator behind my favorite comic book series, West Coast Avengers, which had my favorite hero, Mockingbird. I’m not the kind of comic fan who tends to know writers and artists. I am well aware of some of them, and whose styles I like and whose I don’t (for example, the Chris Claremont/Jim Lee pairing in the early 90s, yes. John Byrne drawing Wonder Woman, no). But I don’t dig deeper than visuals and I was about 12 when I started reading WCA, compared to being a teenager when X-Men #1 came out in 1991. So I didn’t pay attention to writers and artists. I just knew that I adored Mockingbird.

I had no idea one of the co-creators was from and lived in Nebraska, let alone that I was going to see him that weekend. Man, I had no chill. I went completely fangirl at this poor guy. He set into a motion a comic book series that not only featured a hero I appreciated – a normal, everyday woman with no special powers – but also one that had strong conflict and deeply personal storylines. So I couldn’t stop thanking him once I got talking to him.

July was quieter than June, for the most part. Now that school starts in a little over a week, I’m looking forward to getting back into that routine. Not the waking up early part, of course, but the rest of it. I’m ready for summer to drift into autumn, and bring on the cooler, cozier days.