When you can’t get anything done because it’s still summer on a Monday

Seriously, how on earth is anyone to get anything done when you play all day with two 8-year-old boys?  My sweet boys are suddenly 8 and I have no idea how that happened.  8 is such a grown-up sounding number and it’s way too close to 10.  But because this made me feel sentimental I wanted to savor the summer with them, so this was the summer of almost NO camps and instead we’ve been hanging out together and it’s made it impossible to get any work done because I’m EXHAUSTED by the end of the day.  Do you know how much energy two 8-year-old boys have???!!!!

But in the next few weeks when school starts up again you’ll see posts about San Diego, Asia and a trip we just did to England.  I found some really fun family things that you might have seen if you follow along on Instagram.  I promise I’ll definitely fill you in on these things and I bet you don’t have time to read them anyways.  How busy do the last few weeks of August get, right?  In the meantime, I wanted to quickly share a few shopping things that I have loved lately, like these adorable board books I received from Little Bigfoot to read with my niece and nephew.  The Three Bears of the Pacific Northwest is perfect if you’re looking for northwest themed books and the Good Night Wheedle book is such a great “Seattle” themed gift for someone with Seattle connections too.

I’m excited to back to school shop in Bellevue so I can get milkshakes at a place called Vivo53.  I remember drooling over some Australian milkshakes ages ago and these milkshakes are probably the closest things I’ve seen to them in the Pacific Northwest.  If you’re shopping at Bellevue Square and check them out I’d love to hear if you loved them too!

I also heard that two local Bartells have ice cream parlors IN their stores.  I really want to try the one in Ballard.  Have you been?  I do love Bartells for all the neat local things they sell and I usually buy a ton of my Christmas presents there.  I so wish we had an ice cream parlor in my neighborhood Bartells.

And I just learned that Office Depot has been doing a really sweet thing.  They have been donating TONS of back to school bags with school supplies to kids in need since 2001.  I really like a bunch of the designs they have on these backpacks and it’s always nice to hear when companies do things that help their communities.

If you’re looking for some Back to School (or work or just back to Monday) clothes for yourself,  I have to recommend Goldentote.  I have ordered SO many of their totes and I have really appreciated how this company has helped me with my style.  I have worn many things I might not have picked myself because of this tote and the clothes have been comfortable and make me feel nice and I get asked a lot about where the things they’ve sent me have come from.  I always love the surprise stack that arrives in the mail…this is my most recent order and I can’t wait to see how much I love these things.

And on our travels I bought an adorable sloth necklace in Edinborough in the 6-mile market that I’ve received a ton of compliments on. It’s by an artist called Diedododa.  I saw a few different animals at the market but the sloth was definitely my fave and I wish I could find these necklaces in the US too.  (Do you love sloths?  Please tell me you love them. We stayed at a sloth sanctuary once…..)

So I’m still alive and blogging even though it’s been sporadic this summer but you can find snippets of what is to come on Instagram and I hope you’re taking in AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE these last few weeks of summer if you still have them too.  (I’ve heard some people are already back to school?!! Is that true?!)  And if you have found anything wonderful to shop for or been to anywhere amazing I’d love to hear!  Happy Monday!

(PS. I received board book samples and backpack samples for the purpose of review, but the opinions and thoughts in this post are mine and mine alone.)

Terumi

Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys.  She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live.  She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)