well, whaddya know?

I didn't fall off the face of the earth!

I am still here...and I survived all that's been taking place these past few weeks...Seth's graduation, family visiting from out of state, the house being painted, my husband installing floors, hosting a graduation party, wrapping up my job for the summer and getting ready for my new one come August 1.

Whew...it's been a whirlwind around here!

The biggest thing is that Seth graduated from high school...with honors no less. It was the hottest day of the year...108 degrees. Crazy hot. But the ceremony was short and sweet and Chris and my dad set up an EZ-Up in the bleachers. Thank goodness.

The grad party was the following weekend and it was a success...loads of chicken soft tacos with all the trimmings...cheese, tomatoes, guacamole, sour cream, salsa....a (really) big bowl of chips and bowls of fresh fruits. Mom made carrot cupcakes and I made regular cupcakes for dessert. We sat out in the backyard, eating, listening to music, sipping cold beverages (Aunt Lisa made homemade lemonade from her Meyer lemon tree...SO good) and enjoying one another's company. And...the weather was literally perfect that day. 80-something with a nice, cool breeze. It was a really good day...

The home improvements are amazing...I love all of our choices and am so happy with the outcome. In the process of redoing the floors we had to empty out the living room. And once we started bringing things back in I realized that I was liking the simplicity of less stuff. Granted, it was very full and cluttered before...16 years of gathering and arranging and adding without subtracting will do that. Every bit of space was taken up. Too much. So I decided to pair things down...bring things back in carefully and selectively.

And I decided to get rid of what we don't need or want anymore. I'm calling it The Big Purge. And I mean it.  I told myself it was going to happen this summer. I was going to give myself a week of rest after school got out and then get to work. But then I decided to just go for it...to just get in there and get it done. Why wait, right? And so that's what I'm doing. The to-go piles are growing and I am feeling a lot better. We'll have a big yard sale next weekend and whatever doesn't sell goes straight to our local thrift store.

As you can see...life is humming right along. And I am doing my best to keep up...

And maybe now that I'm off for a few weeks I will be better about spending some time here at Give a Girl a Fig. I miss this little space when I'm away for too long...