After traveling back to Denmark for two weeks last month, we figured it would be a quiet June. Boy was I wrong! After a very wet and dreary spring, the summer turned absolutely beautiful, giving us the opportunity to get out and do a lot. However, we are now in quite a drought, so we are begging for rain.
But anywho, here’s what we were up to in June!
june highlights
This month we celebrated both mine and Emma’s birthdays by getting dressed up in our finest apparel. When you work from home (me and Peter) and work outside with horses (Emma) you take every chance you get to dress up! I chose to celebrate my birthday at Field & Main in Marshall, VA and later in the month Emma chose to celebrate at Goodstone Inn in Middleburg, VA.
We took advantage of a beautiful Saturday evening and attended a Sunset Polo match at Great Meadow not too far from our house. The theme was Hawaiian shirt night, and for the first time ever Emma talked me into dressing according to the theme. And yes, she got a lot of comments on her earrings!
One of the things I really enjoy about my job working in the exchange student industry is meeting the students! One of our Mongolian students that was placed in Cleveland, Ohio had a very long 12-hour layover at Dulles International Airport, so Emma and I picked him up and took him to the Udvar Hazy Air & Space Museum and plane spotting which he absolutely loved.
While we are always fostering dogs for various rescues, we rarely have time these days to foster puppies. Once in a while, however, I start missing having a puppy in the house, so when I saw an urgent plea from Canines & Kitties rescue go out for a foster for this sweet girl I immediately texted “bring her to me!” and we named her Gretel.
Between our own dogs and the hundreds of dogs we have fostered over the years, the carpets in our living room had seen better days. So we finally made the decision to invest in new floors, replacing our carpets and hardwood floors on our main level with luxury vinyl planking. After a day of having the new floors, I wondered why we didn’t do it years earlier!
One of the biggest highlights this month was seeing one of my favorite travel and adventure inspirations of all time – Josh Gates – in person! It was also cool to experience it with Emma and my sister, we had a lovely girls night out. I loved listening to him talk about his adventures and how he got started in the television industry and his show Expedition Unknown.
If you ever have the opportunity to attend one of his live events, I highly recommend it! His show reminds me to never stop exploring!
At the end of the month I took a croissant baking class with Jenn Bradshow Almond of Savor Travel Co. at Erin’s Elderberries here in Warrenton. I absolutely love eating croissants but have always been intimidated at the thought of making them. She took us through the entire process and it really made me feel super confident about them now. I have since then even made a gluten free batch for Peter and Emma, even though I think they were being nice when they said they were great and tasted better than the store-bought brand we buy upon occasion.
what i read this month
Whenever we foster puppies, I lose precious reading time. However, this month I did manage to read a book Emma picked up for me when she was out shopping one day, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil. It was a beautiful book and I greatly enjoyed it.
puzzles i assembled this month
As with books, my other hobby of assembling puzzles also suffers when a puppy is in the house diverting my attention. However, I did manage to finish a couple.
june blog posts
This month was a slow month on the blog, but I started sharing photos and stories from our trip to Denmark last month, along with one local event.
I am not entirely sure what will happen in August, but I am looking forward to two events for sure! On August 17th I will be attending a Dahlia Days photography workshop with Lori Lankford and on August 22 Emma and I will be attending an Imagine Dragons concert!
What were your favorite highlights from June? Share away in the comments below!