Whirlwind Summer

As crazy as it seems, I'm back to work already; summer flew by so quickly! I worked during summer school for the month of June, so that took up a good chunk of my time, but I still managed to fit in some really good stuff. Some of my favorite parts were: 

1) Spending a few slow days at home, listening to records and catching up on some reading and binging shows (side note: I am knee-deep in The Handmaid's Tale right now, and holy smokes is it good! Definitely can't binge that one, though--talk about emotional.). 

2) Checking out a brand new KC coffee shop, Monarch. While nothing can ever replace my beloved Thou Mayest, Monarch is SO GOOD. Everything from the drinks to the decor is impeccable. I definitely see some coffee dates in my future, especially since it's right around the corner from where one of my best pals, Leeann, lives.

3) Speaking of Leeann, she went out of town for a few days this summer, and I got to cat-sit her two sweet kitties. One of them was much more agreeable to photos (and to me being there in general), but it was heaven to go hang out and play with them for a couple hours a day. It's been so long since I've been around a kitten!

4) I drove across the state to spend a few days with my good friend Sarah. I always have a blast with her and hate that we live so far away. She lives close to my favorite Missouri river town, St. Charles, and we always go down to the shops on the riverfront when I visit. They have an amazing British shop, so I stocked up on crisps (chips) and British chocolate. We also drove into St. Louis to go to the London Tea Room for afternoon tea. I was in heaven--seriously cannot recommend this place enough. 

5) Tyler and I took a vacation with my family to Alaska!  He and I flew into Oregon a few days early for our own mini-vacation, then drove to Seattle to meet up with my folks for the remainder of the trip. It was a million different kinds of amazing, and I'm working on a series of posts about it. Get ready to be bombarded with landscape photos. :)

And through all of that, this playlist has been my summer soundtrack. Do you have any good summer tunes or stories to share? Feel free to leave them in the comments!