I just wanted to do hoodrat stuff with my friends...

July is shaping up to be a painfully busy month. My hands are busy and my brain is running at maximum speed and there are a bunch of things written in on the calendar on the kitchen wall. It's a bit ridiculous.

We've gone from worrying incessantly about our finances and not breaking even to getting news of a raise for Seth and a large custom sewing order for me. My custom order fell-through, but the increase in legit weekly pay is a go! Our shoulders have loosened and our brows have unfurrowed and we're far more pleasant to be around, which is good, considering how much time we've been spending being social these days.

Amber was up in the PNW a couple of weeks ago to pick up her daughter and take her back to Boston for the summer and she squeezed a 24 hour visit in Port Townsend while here. We went out on the town in matching little dresses and drank booze and ate pizza. It was a good time. There were a lot of people in town who hadn't seen her in ages and so it ended up being one giant reunion of sorts.

Our 4th was spent on the beach out on Discovery Bay at our friend Chris' childhood home. There's nothing like rum, an ipod dock, and a private beach on a hot day with fun people.

We didn't even stay out there after dark, as the breeze picked up and it got a little chilly, but we're not fireworks people anyway.

We're more drinking and sitting on blankets in the sand and taking silly pictures type of people. We're pretty easy. It works out.

And last week my little brother came out to our house for a couple of days to visit. He was originally out here to meet up with a friend, but when his plans fell through, we forced him to spend some quality time with us. As you can see, we didn't have to pull his leg too terribly hard. Plying him with milkshakes made it easy.

I'm looking forward to the rest of July (and more Summer in general, obvs). Now that we're not worried about money and know that we're not going to have to relocate or sell the house (these weren't anything set in stone, but we were to the point of discussing them as possibilities, especially pertaining to Portland, OR), the fire of excitement about finishing the yard has been reunited. The idea of putting time, elbow-grease, and money into the landscaping, only to turn around and sell it was making me feel indifferent towards the whole thing. I wanted to love my yard and not look on it as a nuisance, but I wasn't feeling excited about it anymore. Now that I know we can be here in this house for a good long while if we want, I am driven to make it everything I want it to be. This is a good feeling.