July Favorites and Other Things that Made me Happy in July

Hey all! Here are my Non-beauty July favorites and then just a few things listed below that weren't favorites, but made me happy anyways!

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Strawberries: They taste like my childhood. They’re not my favorite thing in the world, but a slightly over ripe strawberry in July makes me very, very happy. They also make fantastic galettes, popsicles, and are especially fantastic in award-winning strawberry ginger jam, which will come around very soon.

Slippery Slope Shea Butter Lotion: I went on vacation. I got super tan. I can back and resumed working in a sunless office with an over active air conditioning unit. My skin is dry as heck. That’s where this little tub of love is coming in hugely handy. It smells like earth, it saves the world, and it stops me from turning into the lizard man from Spider Man, which brings me to…

The Amazing Spider Man: Andrew Garfield was fantastic in Boy A, he was perfectly creepy/sweet in The Imaginarium of Dr. Pernassus, he underestimated Tommy’s character in Never Let Me Go, he was the best and most brilliant Peter Parker ever. And I’m a harsh critic because Spidey’s my favorite super hero.

Greek Yogurt: I’ve been using it in everything from pie dough, to salad dressing, t cheesecake, to regular cake, to big bowls of peaches. It worked wonderfully in all of the above.

Grapes: Roast them. With rosemary. Eat it. Smile.

Pound cake: I’m not a cake person, but I’ll eat a little of this. Just a little. I love making them, though. There’s something rustic about them. If my grandma cooked, she’d make pound cakes. I’m making a whole bunch of these guys because they freeze well, and that’s going to be increasingly important in the next two weeks of cooking. We’ll get to the reason why in 3…2…1…

Post-Its: I keep an Idea Book at all times. It’s a Moleskin where I write down the things that are taking up a lot of space in my brain. I have a lot of clutter up there right now. I’m going to college in the fall, buying new clothes (no dress code!) and trying to squeeze all the summer things I planned into a 2 ½ week period. PostIts are cheaper than Moleskins, and they stop me from filling up something I keep for fun with stressful deadline lists. You can also stick them to the counter and edit recipes as you go.