Have you had swass?

Swass: the sweat that runs down your back and settles into the crack of your ass. 

We kicked off the summer with a trip to NYC with our oldest. It was HOT. No big deal if you're not spending hours walking in the suffocating city or waiting for a subway train in stagnant, recycled air. 

Still ...

It was an unforgettable trip filled with laughter, new adventures, amazing food, and swass. (Sweat running down our asses ALL day long) 

Swass-free for five seconds. 

The night we splurged and took a Lyft to dinner and the show. 

Laughed my ass off, until ... 

During 

intermission, we got several texts from home. (Iowa) Home got 10 inches of rain in one day! By some miracle we didn't get water in our basement. 

I still get tears ...

There's nothing more breathtaking than seeing the world through your child's eyes.  

He watched the city ...

I watched him. 

I stood at this spot for long minutes ...

waiting for this image to tell me a story. 

And so we said goodbye ... 

Two weeks later ...

This girl drove 10 hrs. to Colorado. Aaannnddd ... I was home. Okay, not home, but back to my place of birth. Once a mile-high girl, always a mile-high girl. Feel free to make your own interpretation. ; ) 

Seriously ... 

I'm sorry, but no skyscraper can compare to this. I didn't want to come down from my happy place. There was this little gathering of book nerds called Book Bonanza, but me? Nope ... I wanted to stay in the mountains. 

Nope. 

Still not coming down from these mountains. 

Eventually ... I came down. 

Book Bonanza 2018. Wow! What can I say? I met Jonesies and ... other readers! WTF? Yes! I have more than 5 people who read my books. I was BLOWN away. On Friday, from 8-midnight, I had a line at my table. Not one sip of water, not one potty break. I fought back tears on several occasions, luckily I was too dehydrated to squeeze out a single watery emotion. 

"This isn't my life." <— My mantra the whole weekend. Seriously! I am a professional daydreamer. I get PAID to tell you stories. This isn't my life. 

But ... I'm going to pretend that no one catches on and takes away this dream. 

And then there's this ...

We started a mainlevel renovation in June—another reason we are so grateful our basement didn't flood with the 10 inches of rain. We would have been homeless. 

I have cabinets!

And a HUGE island. I am over the moon about this island. No countertops yet. Next month I'll share them with you.  

My pride and joy ...

My walk-in pantry. It's going to be the first place I take guests when they come to visit. 

Look! It's my nook!

It's a lovely little table shy of being my new hangout spot to drink tea and write all the words! But soon ... 

So there you have it ... my summer thus far. 

I'm off to Europe on Tuesday for two weeks. I can't wait to see some of my friends/readers from the other side of the pond. I just hope they won't be afraid to hug me after seeing ^^^^. Yeah, I swam in the swamp. After 4 days of Swass ... I just didn't give a rat's ass. 

Peace, 

Jewel