1. Last Saturday, we took the kids on a day trip to the Mid-Ohio race course in Lexington, OH, where there was qualifying for an Indy race. We took them there two years ago, and they have been so excited to go back. We had such a great day with nice weather and tons of fun! I’m so glad we could make this happen this year ❤️

Three kids watching a race car being pushed into a garage area.

2. Dominic is finishing up another week of treatment; glad to complete yet another and hopefully get us closer to the finish line. He did fairly well this week and enjoyed getting to see Joseph and Isabelle quite a bit :) (Also, hospital bingo is not to be missed!)

Three kids sitting around a hospital bed playing bingo.

3. Having to spend a holiday in the hospital isn’t ideal. Still, when you’re perched on the ninth floor, you get an incredible view of the downtown fireworks display and the skyline lit up alllll over from neighboring displays. A highlight of the week spent in the hospital!

Fireworks over a city skyline.

4. Both Amazon Prime Day (July 11-12) and Nordstrom Anniversary Sale (July 17 – August 6) are coming up. Is there anything that you regularly buy during either of these?!

5. For her birthday, I gifted my mom a color consult from Created Colorful, where you take photos of yourself draped with different colors, and they tell you what color season you are, what colors look best on you, and which ones are best to avoid. She loved it so much and then gifted it to me for Christmas. I loved getting my results back (I’m a “Cool Winter”); this is a great gift for a mom, daughter, friend, sister, or something to gift to yourself!!

6. I have been using this Affresh washing machine cleaner for well over a year now… I love how easy it is to throw a tab in the washing machine and know that any odor-causing residue gets deep cleaned. I use it every month! I also found that they have dishwasher cleaner tablets that you use the same way monthly to remove limescale and mineral buildup. I’m also adding the coffee maker cleaner and garbage disposal tabs to my list!

7. Excited to peruse the USA Today best-selling booklist, which had been on hiatus. Do you have a favorite book of 2023 so far? Mine was probably Every Summer After (and Carly Fortune just released a new book, Meet Me at the Lake, which I haven’t read)… you can see all of the books I’ve read so far here.

8. And speaking of books, does anyone belong to Book of the Month? I’m considering it, but I already have a list of books a mile long I want to read, and sometimes I read a book in two days, and sometimes it takes me two months, so I’m not sure how realistic having a membership like that would be?

9. Today is National Chocolate Day! If you need some baking inspiration, you can browse through all of the recipes that use chocolate on this site… enjoy!!

10. TGIF! Duke thoroughly enjoyed celebrating the big 1-0 last weekend!! Such a sweet, sweet boy 💙

Golden retriever dog in front of number "10" lit birthday candles.