June! How much there is to say. June is relief; June is happiness; June is lightness. June has brought about more changes than I could have anticipated, and they all seem to be heading in the right direction. I can only hope that things will continue this way, but I’ll be soaking it all up just in case.

[[And if you're wondering, I've given in to Instagram. It's the "make my crummy pictures look a little fancier" tool, and despite my feeling like a poser who wants their pictures to look vintage, I'm so upset I didn't give in earlier.]]

It all started with my birthday, which is really in May, but close enough to June to count. A rough start caused by a skateboarder had me dreading the rest of my “special” day, but it all turned out wonderfully in the end. AJ treated me so well, with a pretty gecko necklace and a rose plant as a present. It will be a gift that keeps on giving.

The flowers are a bright orange, with hints of an underlying yellow. They are such a happy color, and go by the name Gingersnap.

Another birthday gift caught me completely by surprise, and was the best part of my day:

My parents are two of the best, most special people I know, and they will do anything for my sister and I. I am so thankful for them, and am so blessed to have them in my life! [[See pretty gecko necklace above!]]

I also made the most AMAZING chocolate cake I’ve ever had, thanks to Hannah at Bittersweet Blog. It was incredibly moist, amazingly sweet, and the perfect end to a great meal. I didn’t remember to snap any fancy pictures of it, but thankfully my mom took one before I gobbled it all down.

My birthday was followed by a couple of weeks of crazy stress brought about by the end of the school year and searching for a new place. These both resolved themselves on the last day of school, with decent grades and a new roof to put over our heads. The new place is a little further away, but it’s on a quiet street and it’s a full-on house. No more noisy townhome – I won’t be missing that! I celebrated this turn of events with a bike ride on my first day off in many months. It was a beautiful, clear day – just the perfect way to get a breath of fresh air.

Both AJ’s parents and my parents came up (again, bless their hearts) to celebrate AJ’s graduation. We ate a lot of good food, drank some good wine, and had a wonderful time. And in proper SLO fashion, the weather was exactly the opposite of what I had hoped – the sun was shining, the day was a clear as could be, and it was a balmy 80 degrees or so. I was hoping for overcast skies, but we endured the hot sun for a couple hours during the ceremony. I don’t have any pictures of that weekend yet, as my mom was the one with the camera. I should make a habit of carrying mine around!

AJ started his new job on Monday (an engineering job in San Luis Obispo – unbelievable!), and it was back to the bike shop for me. I really love the consistent schedule I have with my job. Even though I work all day, I get a couple days totally off each week, and I don’t have to worry about doing homework! And I really like working at the bike shop.. I get to play with bikes all day!

So anyway, we moved. It was a lot of work, I got grumpy a couple of times, and I slept like a rock for a few nights. Moving wears you out! But it’s done (except the organizing), and I’ve already turned some cookies out of my oven.

AJ was a big fan, but I still think the recipe needs some work. I’ll work on it! We are also working on planting a garden. AJ built a nice little planter box for my herbs (from scratch – and it only took him like an hour!). It’s so cute! I’ve got some thyme, sweet basil, genovese basil, parsley, and cilantro growing. We also planted some  a ton of zucchini, squash, cucumbers, and corn. It’s really late in the season, but I wanted to put some stuff in the ground and give it a shot anyway.

And then there was a drive down to Santa Barbara, a doctor’s appointment that said I don’t need another surgery (!!) and blueberry picking on the way home. Those little buckets are HUGE when you actually have to fill them with blueberries!! This was the first time I’ve gone to a U-Pick farm, and I’m so glad I did! I wish it was closer, but it’ll be nice to go any time I head down that way.

And yesterday ended with a sweet batch of Apricot Jam, which tastes like summer in jam form. It’s my favorite spread for toast, and I’ll probably burn through the whole batch pretty darn quick. I’ll try to get a recipe up for it one of these days…

That’s about it! Life is so much more exciting during the summer months. So many things I can do! I really hope it continues this way for the rest of the summer. Like I said, June is happiness, and i think July will be too :)

Until next time!